Author's Note

Here are all of the original chapters. Some similar plot points will take place in the revised version, so new readers should beware of spoilers.

The contents of this "chapter" were copied and pasted from the individual chapters. No changes were made (apart from adding in the chapter names and dates published).

At the moment, I'm unsure if I'll unpublish this chapter once the story is complete or not. It's still a possibility, but it's not a certainty.

The Original Chapters

Chapter 1 - Rough Start

May 19, 2017

The Arlington Library.

The Lone Wanderer hadn't been inside its walls more than twice, if his memory remained true. Both times had been significant, although more to those he had helped than to himself. That did mean that he hadn't ever fully explored the building, however, and that was something he was keen of fixing.

He chuckled to himself. This exploring is going to get me killed, one of these days.

He walked up to the main doors and sighed, unholstering Blackhawk. Though the weapon had begun to degrade due to years of makeshift repairs and near-constant use, it still proved a trustworthy companion, and he never went on an exploration mission without it.

After one final check of the visibility through the scope, he was ready to enter.

Weapon at the ready, he braced himself and slowly opened one of the front doors. Quickly entering the building and shutting the door behind him, he scowled. The smell of the ghouls that had likely come to inhabit the place in his – or anyone else's – absence was strong. It wasn't overpowering, as it would have been had he been fresh out of the Vault, but he would never find it pleasant.

A low hiss to his left revealed the position of a feral ghoul. A quick turn and a few well-placed bullets left it face-down on the ground, motionless and lifeless. Unfortunately, the noise alerted what ghouls were in earshot, and multiple hisses echoed through the halls. Crouching down and unsheathing his knife, he waited, watching and listening.

It didn't take long for the remaining ghouls to appear. Two of them walked around opposite corners, searching for the source of the noise. He silently cursed his luck and stayed as still as possible.

The one on the left spotted the dead ghoul on the floor and roared in anger, rushing over to it. Turning to its left, it spotted him, but was unable to react before his knife entered its skull. In its death throes, it scratched at his combat armor with its claws, but the attack was easily blocked. Pulling the knife out with a sickening sound, he turned, only to find the other ghoul rushing straight at him. It skidded past him as he rolled to the side, pulling out Blackhawk and activating VATS. Time itself seemed to slow down, and he chose his target.

Two shots flashed out of Blackhawk in quick succession, hitting the ghoul in the chest and head. It, too, went down in a heap, letting out a faint cry as it fell. Sighing in relief that there were no more of the things in the immediate vicinity, yet staying aware of any other noises, the Lone Wanderer turned back to the task at hand. He knew they wouldn't have much on them – nothing more than a few bottle caps each – and so there was no point in attempting to search their bodies for valuables.

He kept his weapon at the ready, however, in case he found more ghouls - or worse, super mutants. While they hadn't been too much of an issue in the past, that was usually in wide, open areas. If they caught him unaware, in close quarters like these, he would be in a world of hurt.

Stepping around the front desk, as well as the first ghoul's corpse, he made his way up to the second floor. He had already searched the first floor for anything of value when the Brotherhood of Steel had occupied it, so there was no point in going through it again. Up on the second floor, a row of doors enticed him with the unknown, although he had a minor setback trying to choose which door to actually take. After some deliberation, he chose a doorway to the far right.

There wasn't much in the first few rooms, aside from bottle caps and ammunition scattered about in drawers and desks, but he did come across one oddity on the way: a well-stashed weapon room, likely left there when he had killed the raiders residing in the upper floor. Although the room didn't have much that he needed or wanted, he took what weapons he could use to repair his own, as well as the ammunition that accompanied them.

Why hasn't this been cleared out yet? He thought, curious. Surely scavengers would have come through here by now. Shrugging it off and deciding to holster Blackhawk for the time being, he continued onward.

He continued to find more ammunition and more caps, yet nothing else; no ghouls, no raiders, nothing. It was as if they had vacated the premises when they heard the gunshots. Or something else scared them off, he thought, growing slightly unnerved. He shook his head before that thought could fester further and dismissed it; it was probably just luck, like finding that weapon stash.

Still, he had to admit that the building was eerily quiet, even more so than most in the Wasteland. He checked every door he could find for use; if anything else was here, it would have to use them. Despite his best efforts, nothing on either of the floors showed signs of use prior to his arrival – except for, now that he thought about it, the door to the weapon cache. Suddenly suspicious, he backtracked to the room and searched it more thoroughly. While there were small marks here and there, he couldn't find anything to support his theory. Cursing under his breath, he left.

With the main area cleared out, the Lone Wanderer went to the Children's Wing to see if he could find anything useful. He was doubtful, partially because of the name, but he had found better items in stranger locations than this. His search ultimately procured only one item that he thought might be of use to him: a book entitled Lying, Congressional Style, which he kept for later reading.

His final stop was the media archive, which had been one of the few places he had gone to on his previous visits to the library. Content with the knowledge that the rest of the library had been thoroughly explored and looted, he made his way through the door.

The difference was noticeable immediately. For one, this area was much cleaner than the rooms he had just been searching. Another drastic difference was how much of the larger debris – rubble from when the bombs fell, as well as extras added by raiders – had been cleared out, although according to the scrapes and indents on the floor, it had been with some effort.

As he made his way through the twisting corridors, he swore he could feel eyes boring into the back of his head. Having had enough of the sensation, he whipped around and attempted to activate VATS. Receiving nothing but an error message for his troubles, he grumbled under his breath and continued on, the feeling returning as soon as he turned back around.

Whatever is following me has to show itself sooner or later, he thought, continually unnerved. It's only a matter of time. Despite the long and arduous trek, the feeling stayed with him, growing more noticeable – and, at the same time, worrying – as he neared the end room that held the archives terminal.

His eyes widened as he turned the corner and looked into the room. The room was even more transformed than the rest of this section had been. As opposed to the jumbled mess of blockades that had been there when the raiders lived there, he saw that the room was now relatively neat and orderly. While there were still things on the ground here and there, they were in nowhere near as high a concentration as when he had last seen this room. Looking around, he noticed a gun cabinet in the back left corner of the room, where the lockers had been, as well as the terminal and desk that held the archived data.

A single light bulb dangled from the ceiling, casting the room in an ominous light that made the Lone Wanderer shiver. At that moment, he noticed that the feeling of being watched disappeared. He spun around to look at the entranceway, but predictably saw nothing.

Shaking his head again, he walked up to the computer terminal that he had come to find so many years ago. Looking over the desk, he noticed a few new additions. To the left of the terminal was a miniature map of the general area, as well as a large red X directly on top of the library. To the right, he found a piece of paper with some sort of writing on it. Curious, he picked it up and read it aloud, if under his breath.

"Large library with good rooms for defending. Will try to scour the areas around here, see if I can find anything." He frowned, puzzled, and went down a quick list of possibilities in his head.

Okay, so it definitely isn't raiders; they wouldn't have survived for this long without being detected. It isn't Super Mutants, since they don't know how to write and I would have smell them even over the ghouls. The Brotherhood isn't interested in this area anymore, either, so they have no reason to be here. That means whatever wrote this isn't something from around here.

He froze as he heard a loud click behind him. Growling under his breath, he spun around and drew Blackhawk. What he saw wasn't what he expected however. Despite what he had seen, he had still expected a raider, or perhaps a settler from some other area. No, this creature wasn't something you would see in the Wasteland, or anywhere else for that matter.

The thing that was staring him down, and aiming a .44 Magnum at his head... was a pony.

That was the best description he could give for the strange equine, at least. It stared him down, magenta irises gleaming in the light, and glared at him as if daring him to pull the trigger. The pony’s light blue fur was fairly easy to see, despite the dried blood that covered parts of its body and head. A bandana, put in place to conceal the fresh blood slowly oozing from a wound on the right side of its face, covered one eye and pushed its multi-colored mane back slightly.

Its weapon was another oddity. It was fairly obvious that the trigger guard of its weapon had been modified to fit its hoof, and the weapon was surprisingly polished. In addition to that, it had a knife strapped to one of its forelegs that stuck out slightly and appeared to be difficult to walk with. A bandolier of .44 Magnum rounds was awkwardly slung across its chest, which seemed impractical and difficult to handle at best, and a potentially lethal mistake at worst.

The final curiosity was its armor. The leather body armor it was wearing was patched together from what appeared to be many different armor pieces, likely put together in that way so that it would fit on the pony’s body. Two wings poked out of the armor on its back, and there appeared to be a hole for a tail of similar color to its mane, which idly moved back and forth as its owner stood there.

The two stared at each other, neither moving, each holding a revolver to the other’s head. After what felt like hours, but was likely only minutes, the pony smirked, a cocky look on its face. The Lone Wanderer narrowed his eyes and scowled, wondering what this thing was up to.

He didn’t expect it to speak.

“Well, isn’t this a surprise?”

Chapter 2 - Introductions

May 19, 2017

The man in front of Rainbow Dash blinked, although whether in surprise or just because he needed to she wasn’t sure. While he was still glaring, his face seemed to have softened a bit, and he lowered his weapon a tad. Although this didn’t make her any more comfortable, as he was still pointing a gun at her, it did give her some measure of confidence that he could be reasoned with.

“Did you seriously just talk?” He asked as he raised an eyebrow, confusion evident in his voice, if not his actions.

While she did understand why he was weirded out by that – after all, there were no other ponies in this dump that she knew of – she still took the time to be sarcastic. “Yeah. What about it?” She asked, keeping the smirk on her face.

He sighed and shook his head before lowering his weapon. “This may actually be the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.” He seemed to be talking to himself more than to her, though, so she didn’t respond; she just stood there, still pointing a magnum between his eyes.

He started to chuckle.

It wasn’t that evil sort of laugh that the likes of Nightmare Moon or Discord would do, but it was still kind of creepy. It got even weirder when his laughter grew, ending with him almost doubled up. Rainbow tried to keep her cool, but his laughter was infectious, and she began to chuckle a bit as well.

Worriedly, she looked around. While he may have appeared to be alone, she could never tell if there was more than one up until the moment she was getting shot at. All the while, the man continued to laugh, although by that point it had calmed down again to a light chuckle. It seemed he had noticed her distress, as well, as he all of a sudden stopped laughing and just looked at her. The only result this had was further panicking the mare, who raised her gun’s sight to his head. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pulled the trigger.

There was no gunshot. No scream as the bullet entered his head. No sound of a body falling to the ground. She opened her eyes to find him glaring at her, only inches away from her face. She gasped and flew back, breath shallow, before calming herself and glaring back. The man didn’t flinch, though, and he just kept staring.

“What the hell was that for?” She asked.

“I should ask you the same question.” He replied, obviously annoyed.

She deflated and looked away, embarrassed. She hadn’t meant to pull the trigger; it had been a split-second decision, one that she likely would have regretted. Again, she was at a loss for words, so she said nothing.

She heard a sigh come from him, then footsteps as he walked closer. He put a hand under her muzzle and she flinched, expecting a blow or worse. Instead, he lifted her head and made her look him in the eyes. There was no anger there, no annoyance; only worry. This was so unlike the other people she had met here that she blinked multiple times in confusion.

“Hey, are you alright?” He asked, this time with concern on his face as well as in his voice.

“Y-yeah,” she replied, still a bit unnerved by him. As she pulled away, she asked, “How did you do that, though?”

“Do what?” He replied, although he seemed to know what she was talking about.

“Make it so my gun didn’t fire,” she said, looking around. “You did do that, right?”

“Yeah, though it wasn’t that easy,” he responded with a sigh. “I keep a dose of Turbo on me wherever I go, in case something like that happens.”

She scrunched up her face, confused. “What’s… Turbo?” The name sounded interesting, whatever it was.

“It’s a chem,” he replied, sitting down where he was. “Slows down time for only about 3 seconds, but that can be invaluable in a lot of cases.”

“Whoa,” she said, interested. “So, where do you get it? It sounds pretty cool.”

He shook his head as he looked at her. “You can’t get it around here,” he said. “It uses ingredients from the Mojave Wasteland, on the other side of the country.” He looked at the canister lying on the ground and sighed. “I only have about five more of these left, and then I’m out until a merchant arrives.”

He smirked then, saying, “Besides, I don’t think you would want any.” Cutting off her retort, he continued, “it’s pretty addictive, and I’ve had to go to a doctor more than once. Really slows you down when you’re in withdrawal.”

Nervous – and now not really wanting to try any based on his description of "withdrawal" – she turned around and sat down next to him. She looked at him, somewhat unsure, before speaking up again.

“So, thanks for not killing me,” she said with an awkward chuckle, then under her breath added, “It’s more than most in this hellhole would do.”

He stifled a laugh and replied, “It’s no problem. Killing is usually more of a last-ditch solution for me, anyway.”

They sat there for a few minutes, enjoying the company of someone else who didn’t want to kill them.

Suddenly, an idea popped into Rainbow’s head. Quickly flying over to the door, she turned around and said, “Hang on, you came from a town or something, right? That means you can get me to somewhere other than this library!”

He stood up slowly, then walked over to her. Leaning against the door frame, he said, “It’s civilization alright, but not exactly the kind of town you’re probably used to.”

She scoffed. “Please,” she replied, exasperated. “I’ve been here for… about a month, I think? I can’t remember the specifics. Anyway, I think whatever you’re going to show me is nothing compared to this.” She swept one of her forelegs around in a grand gesture, then stopped and snickered.

“Not too difficult to forget the passage of time when you’re trying to survive,” he replied with a small smile. As they began walking toward the entrance, he shook his head again and said, “Let’s get out of here before anything else shows up. I already had to deal with three ghouls in the entranceway, and it’s entirely possible there will be more where that came from soon.”

“What the heck is a ghoul?” She asked, a bit worried. She had only had to deal with a few raiders, and didn’t really want to find out what he meant.

It seemed fate had other plans, and a roar from in front of them cut off whatever reply he would have said, as well as halting their movement. Before she could react, a mass slammed into her and pinned her to the ground. Shouting, she attempted to fight off whatever was holding her down, but to no avail. It was only after a gunshot and a splattering of… something on her face that she was able to push the weight off of her and stand up.

Looking down at what had just tackled her, she almost retched. The thing on the ground in front of her looked almost like the person she was walking with, except... it was wrong. Its skin was wrinkled, it had only patches of hair, its teeth were jagged, it had hands that ended in claws, and its eyes were wild and feral. If it hadn’t been dead, she would have been terrified. As it was, she was still pretty scared, considering she would have been eaten alive by the creature if not for her companion.

She shuddered and looked up at him. “Well, now I owe you twice, don’t I?” She said in a somewhat-joking manner. He only shrugged, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Shaking her head and giving him a confused look, she continued on. Only when she heard his footsteps behind her again did she allow herself to relax somewhat. Despite what had transpired – or perhaps because of it – she trusted him the slightest amount. Definitely not as much as her friends back home, but still enough that she trusted him to watch her back.

They made their way back through the library, stopping to rest near the main doors. The armor weighed down on Rainbow, making her slower to move and turn, but it was better to be protected than not. As for the man, she couldn’t tell why he waited. While he was sort of trustworthy, she didn’t know if he was trusting of others, and so she chalked it up to wanting to keep an eye on her.

Like I need watching over, she thought to herself, but she soon shook her head, realizing how dumb a thought that was. He had just saved her life; what was the point in being stupid and arrogant about it?

She opened her mouth to speak.

The front doors slammed open, one hitting her and the other narrowly missing him. The coming dawn – as well as the fact her face had just been slammed by a door – blinded her and made it so she could only see the shapes of three people walking in. The next few moments passed in a blur, although that was likely more due to pain than actual speed.

A bullet flashed out, but from whose gun she couldn’t tell. The resulting cry of pain was all the answer she needed, however, and she saw her companion fall to the ground, clutching his shoulder. A trio of raiders stood in the doorway, all but one of them just as confused as she was. The one who had fired the shot – most likely their leader – walked over to him and laughed.

“Well, if it isn’t the Wanderer of the Wastes! What a surprise seeing you here!” She said with a dark chuckle.

Rainbow heard another cry of pain from him as the leader’s boot stamped on his arm. "Hey idiots, grab his weapons. We don't want him getting any funny ideas."

The two flanking her reacted immediately, the one on the right grabbing his gun and the one on the left getting his knife. Setting them on the ground at their feet, they drew their own weapons and pointed them at “the Wanderer” in a menacing way. Although now that she thought of it, there wasn’t a non-menacing way to point a gun at someone. You were either going to fire it at whoever you were pointing it at, or you weren’t pointing it at someone. End of story.

She was shaken out of her tangent as the leader spoke. “What do you think, boys? How big of a ransom will this handsome devil get us?”

“I was thinking somewhere around 5000 bottle caps!” The one on the right replied, sounding a little unhinged.

“Are you crazy, man?” The second replied. “He’s worth way more than that! Think about double that amount, and you’ve got something worth going for.”

The first scoffed, and appeared to be about to reply, when the leader cut in and said, “No arguments! It was a simple question, alright? Now knock it off and focus on what we’re doing.”

The three were so busy focusing on the helpless man on the ground in front of them that they hadn’t even noticed her, Rainbow noted. Slowly getting up so as not to make much noise, she winced at the pain in her face and chest. Figuring the situation in front of her was more important than that, though, she cracked her neck, opened her wings, and flew straight at the rightmost raider.

The knife on her forehoof connected with his neck, and he went down gurgling in a mess of blood. She pulled her knife out and turned, only to see the butt of a rifle aimed right at her head. Dodging to the side with inhuman reflexes, she flew up next to the leader’s face and slashed, blade easily cutting through. A scream echoed through the halls, but she ignored it for the moment; the last of the raiders was running away, sheer panic on his features.

Unholstering her magnum, she lined up and fired off a quick shot. It hit him squarely in the back of the head, and he collapsed forward onto the stained marble, dead.

She began turning around just as a shot rang out. She fell to the ground, blazing pain shooting through her chest like, well, a bullet. Out of the corner of her blurred vision, she noticed the leader of the group standing there, hunched over, her pistol aimed at Dash’s head.

“Bitch!” she screamed, kicking Dash in the stomach. Doubling over in pain, she didn’t notice the woman lift her off of the ground until she was having difficulty breathing.

“For that shit you just pulled, you stupid animal, I’m going to put you down.” The pistol was pressed against her chest now, right over her heart. She watched, helpless, as the woman pulled the trigger.

Click

The woman looked from Dash, to the gun, and back again before screaming in frustration and throwing both to the ground. Drawing a knife, she stated, “Fine! If a gun won’t work, I’ll do this the hard wa-“

A bullet broke through her skull and she toppled forward, lifeless.

In too much pain to do anything more than stay there and focus on breathing, she was only roused – and only then, just barely – by a prick in her side and a feeling of liquid entering her bloodstream.

“Damn it, this better work,” she heard “the Wanderer” mutter under his breath.

The feeling was instantaneous. The pain in her chest and head cleared up, although there was still a dull aching, and she found she was actually able to move. Sitting up with a gasp, she choked and sputtered, coughing into the side of her hoof. It took her a few minutes for her lungs to stop trying to kill her all over again, but she eventually managed to get it under control.

She heard a sigh of relief to her right and looked over at him. He noticed her watching and cracked a tired grin. She responded with one of her own, but immediately frowned and walked over to him, inspecting him closely. The bullet hole in his shoulder was gone.

“What the heck was that?” She asked. “Even the best unicorns can’t heal wounds that fast!”

He looked at her as if she had lost her mind and said, “I’m going to ignore what you said about unicorns for now, and just say it was a Stimpak.” He shook his head again and said, “And no, I don’t know how they work so quickly, so don’t bother asking.”

She chuckled to herself. “What other miracles does this world have to offer?” She asked under her breath.

Apparently overhearing her, the Wanderer responded, “Fewer than I would like.”

She frowned and turned to look at him. Saying nothing, she walked over to him.

“So, when are we going to leave?” She asked, "I'm starting to not like this place more and more."

“Oh, yeah, right,” he responded with a slight chuckle. “Let’s get going.” He stood up and began walking, Rainbow following close behind.

She followed him to the front door, but then stopped and said, “Hang on. You never told me your name.”

He stopped as well, and turned back to her, saying, “Well, you haven’t told me yours either.” A grin spread across his face as he said, “Let’s meet each other 'properly', shall we?”

Matching his grin and sticking out her hoof, Rainbow said, “I’m Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in Equestria!”

Smirking and shaking his head, the Wanderer grabbed her hoof and shook, saying, “And I’m Carter Thompson, ‘Messiah’ and Defender of the Wasteland, and occasionally known as the Lone Wanderer. Pleased to make your acquaintance, you crazy pony.”

She matched his smirk with one of her own. Their introductions finished, they turned and walked out into the Wasteland.

Chapter 3 - Megaton

May 22, 2017

A light breeze blew on Carter's face as he and Rainbow Dash stepped through the front doors of Arlington Library. It was somewhat refreshing, and he hadn't realized how stifling the Library was until now. Taking a quick glance at his Pip-Boy to check his vitals – even with a Stimpak, a bullet wound was no laughing matter – he nodded to himself and looked over at the pony next to him.

He had known of her existence for less than an hour, but in that time they had already saved each others' lives. She shouldn't even be here, he thought. It's obvious she doesn't belong in this place, but I don't know where her home is, or even is she has one. Or, now that he thought about it, how he would go about getting her home. She had mentioned some place called Equestria just prior, but he had no knowledge as to whether that place actually existed or not.

He was snapped back to reality when a hoof collided with his leg. She was glaring at him, he noticed, and he chuckled nervously when he realized he had just been standing there, watching her. Seeing that his attention was actually on her now, she asked, "Are you just going to keep standing there, staring at me, or are we gonna go to this town of yours?"

"First, I need to ask you an important question," he said, looking over at her. She impatiently nodded, and he continued. "How is your chest feeling? I need to make sure before we get going."

She looked at him, confused. "It's fine," she replied, feeling at where the bullet wound should have been with one of her hooves. "Maybe a bit sore, but considering I was just shot, I'd say it feels fantastic!" She flew up to his eye level – apparently those wings of hers were actually functional – and laughed. "Seriously, that... 'Stim pack', or whatever you called, it's amazing!"

"Don't get too carried away, though," he cautioned. "They may be able to heal something like a bullet wound, but too much trauma will still kill you." He looked away, then said under his breath, "I found that out the hard way."

An awkward silence followed, and neither of them said anything for a few minutes. The only sound in the air was Rainbow's wing beats. Flap. Flap. Flap.

The rhythm of it calmed him somewhat, and he sighed and looked back at her. "Well, I've stalled us long enough," he said with a quiet chuckle and a small smile. "Let's go to Megaton."

"Alright!" she replied, pumping a hoof into the air. She started flying in the direction he was facing, but stopped when she noticed he was still just standing there. "Are you coming?" she asked as she flew back over to him, expression puzzled and becoming more so by the second.

He glanced to the side, thinking of how to word his next sentence, then looked back at her and said, "I have a way of getting us there almost instantly. It would be pretty risky, though, since I've never used it with anyone else."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said with a deadpan look. "I mean, the 'instantly getting there' part I get - that's teleportation - but not why it's risky."

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "It's experimental technology that was given to me by a... friend. There are more than a few glitches in the system, though, and while most of them are benign, I don't want you getting hurt by any of them." He looked at her, concerned.

She didn't seem to care, though. "So what if it's not been tested too much?" she asked nonchalantly. "We'll be the test subjects, I guess! It's not like I'm not used to it." It appeared as if she almost giggled, but she seemed to realize something with that last sentence. Her expression fell and, seemingly without realizing it, she came down from her flight and lay on the ground, head down.

He attempted to divert her attention away from whatever had gotten her so upset so quickly – it probably has something to do with the... ponies back at her home – and back on the subject they had been talking about. "Anyway, if you're absolutely certain you want to do this, I won't stop you. I'll probably warn you once or twice more, though."

Thankfully, this caught her attention and her mood lightened up. She brought her head up and smirked, saying, "Well, let's get going, then!"

He walked close to her and squatted down, saying, "This thing works based on... well, I think it has something to do with body heat. I don't remember exactly. Anyway, that means we're going to have to be touching for it to work for both of us." He scowled. "Hopefully. Like I said, this is my first time attempting a teleport with someone else here."

She just kept smirking, so he sighed and put his left hand on her back, right between her wings. She shifted a bit, obviously uncomfortable, but he kept his hand there as he navigated the often-confusing menus of his Pip-Boy. Finding the section he was looking for, he scrolled through until the selection bar landed on the correct one.

"Experimental Teleportation Attachment – ETA" it read, letters bright and bold to distinguish them from the entries for the integral machinery in the Pip-Boy. He chose it, and it brought up one final menu, the selection bar hovering over the Teleport option. Scrolling down to the Configuration option and opening its menu, he noticed something odd: it had automatically changed to take into account the extra mass Rainbow Dash would provide. Wanting to test something, he took his hand off her back – causing her to shuffle her wings and look up at him in confusion – and there on the screen, the mess of numbers reconfigured back to what it had originally been.

"So, she thought of that beforehand. Why did I doubt that she would?" he asked himself under his breath. Shaking his head, he again placed his hand on Rainbow's back, scrolled the selection back up to Teleport, and pressed the button.

The world cut out. Sight, sound, and feeling were gone. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't move; he couldn't do anything.

It cut back in just as abruptly. Gasping for air, he tumbled to the ground. Unlike with his previous uses of the ETA, he had been teleported in a few feet above the ground, and so had had a bit of a surprise waiting for him. The impact was somewhat cushioned by his armor, but it still rattled his bones and left him aching just a bit.

As he regained his breath, he looked around, spotting Rainbow close to him. It seemed she had taken the brunt of the malfunction's effects, though, since she was actually unconscious. At least she's still breathing, he thought to himself with a sigh of relief. Even so, he gently rolled her onto her other side to check for any external wounds that might have been hidden.

Finding none, he sighed and sat back. He pulled Blackhawk from its holster and looked it up and down, searching for any damage. Unsurprisingly, he couldn't find any. Lovely, he thought as he put it back in its holster. Shaking his head as he looked over at Rainbow, he slowly stood up and cracked his neck, prepared for the likely-difficult task of carrying the pegasus inside.

Thankfully, he didn't need to worry about it, as she woke up with a start and sat up. She spun her head every which way, panicked, before her eyes lighted on Carter. Calmed down somewhat by his presence, she sighed and rolled onto her back, hooves up in the air.

She growled and asked, "What the heck happened?"

He shook his head, although she couldn't see it. "I have no idea," he replied honestly. "It might have been the Pip-Boy reacting negatively to your different body structure, but I don't see why it would. Biologically, you're probably very similar to a human – apart from your wings – so you should have slipped under the sensors just fine."

She lifted her head up just enough to glare at him with one eye, then flopped her head back onto the ground. With a slight groan of pain, she said, "I don't think I want to do that again anytime soon."

Smirking, he decided to tease her by being as literal as possible. "Oh, don't worry," he said nonchalantly. "The attachment has a 24-hour recharge time, so we can't use it again for a long while." He chuckled.

She snorted in response and cracked a grin, saying, "Who are you, Twilight?"

He looked at her, puzzled. "I don't know who that is," he responded with a somewhat-sheepish smile on his face.

Her own grin vanished and was replaced by a scowl. "Right, I forgot." She shook her head and began speaking again. "Well, we should-"

She cut off so abruptly that Carter had to look over to make sure she was alright. As far as he could tell, she was still in the same position as she had been before; staring up at the night sky.

It took him a moment to realize what he had just thought. He smacked his head with a hand and slowly pulled it down his face.

"It's one of those glitches I told you about earlier," he explained as she looked over at him. "It's supposed to be an instantaneous teleportation, taking you to another place, well, instantly. Instead, this model takes you there, but time passes as if you had walked on foot. So, since the Arlington Library is pretty far away from Megaton..." He paused to bring up the City Map on his Pip-Boy so he could show Rainbow, who had gotten up into a sitting position as he was explaining.

Her eyes widened as she saw the sheer scale of the city, and her mouth formed an o-shape. She nodded her head and said, "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. It sucks that the entire day was wasted, though."

"Well, not much we can do about it," he responded, shrugging. "It still beats actually walking there. The city may be mostly cleaned up, but there are still pockets of resistance here and there. Never know when one could pop up." She nodded her head in understanding.

"Let's head inside," he said with a weary smile. "I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted." A combination of little sleep the previous night, mental exhaustion from the teleporter malfunction, and the fatigue his body was experiencing due to the Stimpak's effects left him far too tired to function at full capacity.

In the years since his arrival fresh from the vault, the large gate that marked Megaton's entrance had been replaced with a smaller door, one with an automatic sensor that allowed it to swing open whenever enough pressure was put on a certain spot right in front of the door. Thankfully, due to its location it was never easy to miss, but the rate at which the door opened and closed was quick enough that he had almost gotten caught by it a few times, and he noticed that Rainbow almost got a few tail hairs caught in it as it slammed shut. I should talk to Moira about fixing that, he thought. See if she can't add a bit more delay.

According to the compass on his Pip-Boy, there were very few people out at this time of night. He quickly checked the time, just to make sure, and saw that it was close to 2 AM. Shaking his head, he began walking toward his destination, Rainbow quickly following behind him.

Speaking of Rainbow, her reaction was almost a mirror image of his when he had first entered the city. Sprawling catwalks of partially-rusted metal, a makeshift dome roof that really needed to have more repairs done on it, and a giant – disarmed – nuclear bomb right in the center of town completed the imagery of a broken, but recovering, society.

"Like what you see?" he whispered, managing to break her out of her stupor.

"What?" she replied, looking at him in slight confusion. Suddenly, she got what he said and replied, "Oh, uh... yeah! It's not what I expected, I'll tell you that much." She looked around, eyes wide in astonishment. "I definitely take back my statement about this place being 'nothing'."

At that moment she spread her wings and crouched down as if to take off, but Carter stopped that notion immediately with a hand. Looking over at him in puzzlement. "What? I just want a better look!" she exclaimed.

"It's probably not the best idea to fly up into the air when there are people out, even as few as there are now," he responded. "They could think of you as anything; a threat, a wasteland monster, or something else; none of the possibilities are pretty. What I'm trying to say is, the people of Megaton can be trusting, but it would probably be a good idea to get to know them before doing something like that."

She chuckled, embarrassed. "Yeah, that would be a good idea," she replied, looking away.

It didn't take them much longer to reach their destination: Craterside Supply. Rainbow began to speak up, likely to ask why they were at what looked to be a shop, but he shushed her with a motion and unlocked the door with the key Moira had given him. Once inside, the first thing they noticed was that the lights were still on despite the time of day. Originally assuming Moira was up late working on some new project, his concern was quickly assuaged when he heard her snoring in the back room. Sighing is relief, he motioned for Rainbow to follow him and went through the left side doorway, up to the second floor.

Despite the material used in the construction of the floor, their footsteps were fairly quiet. He knew why, though: Moira had put a synthetic, fabric-like material on the floors of Craterside Supply to make it less grating on the ears when people were walking around. Thankfully it worked wonders, and while there was still some noise, it was nowhere near as bad as it used to be when it had been plain metal. Now that he though about it, the noise reduction alone had increased trading in the shop considerably.

Pulling two spare beds out of a corner, Carter arranged them so that they weren't too far apart, but weren't touching or on top of each other, either. There was no padding except for the mattress itself, but considering he had slept on the hard ground many times before managing to get a house for himself, anything was a bonus.

Rainbow seemed to feel the same way, as she quickly jumped onto her own mattress and settled into it. She didn't even bother taking off her armor, which looked rather uncomfortable on her form, but he shrugged it off. He always slept in his armor, as well; who was he to judge?

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen a bed anywhere back in the Library. It was entirely possible that she had been sleeping on the floor in there. If that was the case, that meant this could be the first restful night of sleep she had gotten in a long while. Smiling at this small victory, he lay down on his own mattress and rolled over to face in her general direction.

"Goodnight, Dash," he said, remotely turning off the lights with his Pip-Boy.

After a long pause, he heard her softly reply, "Goodnight, Carter."

Chapter 4 - Anticipated Reactions

May 26, 2017

Rainbow Dash woke up feeling more rested than she had in almost a month. The floor of the “Arlington Library”, as Carter had called it, hadn’t exactly been the most comfortable place to sleep. Of course, the only alternative had been the beds that were there when she arrived, and she didn’t plan on using any of those. Dragging out the damp, mold-covered mattresses had taken a few hours, but she had had no intention of speeding things up by moving them with her mouth.

She stretched and yawned loudly, glancing around to take a closer look at where she was. Although she knew Carter had brought them to some kind of shop based on the giant SUPPLY she had seen perched atop the store last night, she didn’t know the name, the owner, or anything else about it. I really should have asked him about that last night, she thought. I’ll just talk to him about it later. Of course, she had been pretty tired last night, so those things might have just slipped her mind.

She stopped and perked an ear up. If she listened closely, she could just barely hear a hushed conversation coming from downstairs. It was as if someone was trying not to be too loud. Although it was probably Carter talking to the owner of the store, she wouldn’t be able to tell until she went downstairs. Sighing, she trudged over to the stairs and made her way down to the first floor.

Already the conversation was getting louder; even if she couldn't make out any of the words, she could still tell that they were to the left of the doorway. These walls must be pretty good at blocking sound, she thought, interested. She shook her head, focusing back on what she was doing.

Peeking around the corner, she saw Carter talking to a female. Whether it was the shop owner or not, she couldn’t tell, since she didn’t have a description to go by. Carter had been very secretive about it, which made her kind of suspicious. What is he trying to hide?

The two in front of her hugged. Dash heard the female say, “Oh, I’m so glad you made it back safely! You have no idea how worried I was!” She pulled away from him slightly and looked at the hole in the armor of his shoulder. “Huh, I’m gonna have to fix that up, aren’t I? Eh, I’ll do it later!” She said shaking her head and pulling him into another hug.

“Come on Moira, you know me better than that!” Carter replied, a smile on his face and his eyes closed. “I haven’t died on you before, have I?” He chuckled.

“Maybe not, but you’ve gotten way too close multiple times!” Moira responded, her voice tinged with worry. “I don’t want to lose you, you know? You’re my partner and my best research assistant ever!”

Carter sighed and shook his head. “Well, I’m here now. That’s what matters, right?”

He opened his eyes and noticed Rainbow watching them. Grin widening a bit, he said, “Oh hey, I’m glad you’re up.”

Moira pulled back fully from her hug with Carter. “Oh, is that the super-secret guest you told me about?” She asked, the grin on her face audible to Rainbow. “I’ll go into the back room and wait for you to call me!”

As she walked out, Rainbow walked up to Carter. Looking over to make sure Moira wasn’t watching, she asked, “So that’s the shop’s owner, huh?” She smirked. “You two seem like good friends.”

Carter laughed. “You could say that!” he responded jovially. He sighed and shook his head, then crouched down to Rainbow’s level and whispered, “You do know she’s going to freak out when she sees you, right?”

She playfully glared at him. “Of course I do! As far as I know, I’m the only pony in this wasteland.”

Carter shrugged. “I was more thinking because you’re a pegasus, but that’s a good point.” He smiled then, a mischievous look on his face. Suddenly, he stood up and said, “Alright, Moira. You can come back.”

Dash heard Moira’s voice from the back room. “Oh, hang on just a second. I’m almost done!”

It was actually a few more minutes before Moira came out of the back room, but Dash wasn’t in too much of a hurry; she had waited longer for less in the past, after all. When Moira did finally arrive, she was holding her hands clasped in front of her and had her eyes closed. Rainbow tilted her head, curious as to what the extent of her excitement would be.

Moira approached, a wide grin on her face, and stopped a few feet away. “So, this is a bit delayed since I was kinda asleep when you came in, but welcome to Craterside Supply!” She opened her eyes and promptly gasped when she saw Dash.

“Oh my gosh! Carter, is that a pegasus?” Moira asked, a grin almost splitting her face in two. She jumped up and down multiple times, hands up to her face. Now that Dash thought of it, Moira was acting a lot like Pinkie Pie. She hoped the two weren’t exactly the same; otherwise, things would get really awkward, really fast.

Carter laughed. “Yes, she is! I met her at the Arlington Library.” He motioned toward Dash. “She’s the one I told you about, who saved my life.”

She frowned at him. “First off, you save my life, twice. And besides, I just distracted those raiders. You took their leader out!”

Moira cut off whatever Carter’s reply would have been. “Oh my gosh, she talks too?” She squealed like a filly. Abruptly, she darted at Dash, arms outstretched as if going for a hug. Startled, Dash shot up and over Moira’s head. Not realizing her target had moved until a bit too late, she ran headfirst into the wall. Stunned for a moment, she got back up and pouted. “She doesn’t seem very nice.”

“You seem to have forgotten about personal space again,” Carter said, chuckling. Moira suddenly looked self-conscious.

“Oh! Oh. Right, my bad. Sorry!” Moira gave Dash a small smile.

Landing on the floor, Dash frowned and said, “It’s fine, just don’t do that in the future. Being here hasn’t exactly been a fun experience, and I’m kind of twitchy.” She smiled back. “I’m sorry, too.”

Moira’s expression changed to confusion. “Wait, you don’t like it here? Why not?”

She looked at Moira, puzzled, but quickly realized what had happened. “Uh, I was talking about the wasteland, not this town or… house? I’ll say house.” She laughed sheepishly. “My bad.”

Moira, to her credit, understood immediately. “I get it! You don’t like the big ol’ Capital Wasteland is all!” She smile again. “That’s understandable; not many people do, after all.”

A silence fell, but it didn’t have a chance to turn awkward before Moira perked up. “I know what we can do! We can have you meet all the townspeople!” She began bouncing up and down again. “That way, they'll all know about the super amazing new resident we have!”

Carter grimaced slightly. “That might not be the best idea.” He smile apologetically as Moira looked his way, and continued. “We don’t know how they’ll react to something as… different as her.” He shrugged. “For all we know, they could shoot first, ask questions later.”

Both Moira and Dash recoiled at that. Moira looked especially upset. “Oh, that wouldn’t do at all!” she exclaimed. “We can’t just have them getting all uppity and hurting her, now can we?” She pouted. “But who can we show her to that won’t freak out?”

He grinned. “We could start with the sheriff. He’s always been level-headed, even when I first met him.”

Moira nodded her head enthusiastically. “Yeah, that’s a great idea!” She paused, expression puzzled. “But how are we gonna get her there?”

“Moira, you have a stockpile of Stealth Boys in the back room that you bought for you experiments, remember?” He shook his head and chuckled.

“Oh right, duh! I completely forgot about those!” Moira smacked her forehead with a palm. As she walked into the back room, Rainbow heard her mutter under her breath, “I swear, my memory is getting into the dumps. That’s not a good place for it to be!”

As they waited for Moira to get back – from the sound of it, she was rummaging around, looking for them – Carter noticed something that had both forgotten.

“I don’t think you’ll need to have that bandana on anymore,” she heard Carter say from behind her. Dash turned around and noticed him looking at it. “The Stimpak probably got rid of whatever damage was there,” he said, grinning.

“Oh, yeah,” she responded, taking the bandana off and looking at it. It was a bit stained, but the rest of the cloth was still a pristine white. The grime of the wasteland hadn’t damaged it, and for that she was grateful.

Carter, on the other hand, was curious. “Where’d you get that fabric?” he asked, leaning over it. “As far as I know, almost all of it was destroyed when D.C. was, and what’s left is either irradiated or filthy."

She looked away and sighed. “A friend of mine gave it to me, as part of an outfit. Before I was… brought here.” Wrapping it around her right foreleg, she shook her head and looked back at him. “I don’t really want to talk about it, if you don’t mind.”

Carter smiled. “I won’t press the matter. You’ll tell me when you’re ready to.”

Moira had pretty good timing, as she returned before things could get uncomfortable. In her hand was one Stealth Boy, or at least that’s what Dash thought it was. She hadn’t ever seen or heard of one before now, so she was more than a little intrigued.

“Alright, here ya go! One Stealth Boy, ready for…” Moira paused, puzzled, then spoke to Carter. “Wait, I don’t know her name.” She turned to Dash. “I don’t know your name!”

She smiled and stuck a hoof out. “I’m Rainbow Dash! Nice to meet you!”

Moira tilted her head, then balled up one hand into a fist and bumped Dash’s hoof. “And I’m Moira Brown!” she said with a smile. Satisfied, Dash put her hoof back down.

“So anyway, how does putting this Stealth Boy thing on work?” Dash asked, puzzled.

Carter spoke first. “It's designed for a human, and it usually straps around the wrist. Since you’re a pony, though, it’ll probably work just fine being on one of your forelegs.”

He snapped it onto his wrist as a demonstration. Immediately, he became almost completely invisible, save for a small shimmering aura where the light moved around his body. Taking it back off, he handed it over to Dash. She mimicked how he had put it on – with some difficulty, on account of the technology being built for humans – and finally managed get it into place.

She snapped it on. Her whole body became invisible as the stealth field kicked in. “Whoa,” she said, mystified. “That’s really freaky.” She attempted to take the Stealth Boy off, and managed it after only two slips. Turns out being invisible is really hard on hoof-eye coordination, she thought.

Carter and Moira were looking at her with differing amounts of surprise. Dash looked at each of them in turn, curious. She sat down and, clearly not understanding whatever had them so surprised, asked, “What?”

This time it was Moira who spoke. “I couldn’t see you at all, even though I knew you hadn’t moved!”

Carter frowned and shook his head. Picking up the Stealth Boy, he looked it over and said, “It must be another technological... quirk caused by your different anatomy. It’ll definitely make out job of getting you through Megaton undetected easier, though.”

Shaking her head, Dash spoke again. “So, is that it? Are we going now?”

Carter nodded. “Yep, we should be heading out now.” He turned to Moira. “We’ll be back soon. Shouldn’t take us more than an hour.”

Moira smiled and waved. “I’ll be here! Take care!”

Rainbow grabbed the Stealth Boy from Carter and reattached it as they stepped out into Megaton. As Carter began to walk, he whispered, “We’re going back to the front gate. The sheriff will be on duty there.” Nodding her head – Wait, he can’t even see that, can he? – Dash followed after him.

Their walk was uneventful, save for a few settlers stopping to say “Good morning!” and the like to Carter. He’d respond, chat with them for a little bit, then go on his way. Due to the number of them – she counted at least five, which was a large number as far as she was concerned – it took them around ten minutes just to make the short walk to the front gates.

Thankfully, the sheriff was at his post, so it was easy to find him. Rainbow stayed back as Carter walked up and tapped him on the shoulder. Spinning around, the sheriff sighed and said, “Carter, how many times do I have to tell you not to sneak up on me?” He shook his head. “You know my dad would kill me if I accidentally shot you.”

“Come on, Harden, lighten up!” Carter cracked a smile. “I actually have something pretty important to show you both.”

Harden frowned, looking around. “Are you sure? I’ve got to keep watch.”

Carter just shook his head. “Stockholm may be old, but he isn’t slow. He can handle things while you take a bit of a break.”

“Alright, fine. I’ll bite.” Harden began walking toward what Dash assumed to be his house, and followed quickly behind Carter. Best not to draw too much attention to herself; Moira and Carter might not have been able to see her while she was standing still, but that didn’t mean others couldn’t when she was moving.

Harden knocked twice on the door and entered. Rainbow followed right behind Carter, bumping into him a few times – he looked down at least once before realizing it was her – and made it through before he closed the door.

The inside of the house was nothing spectacular. A table in the center of the main room was some of the only furnishing there, and there were a few side rooms on both of the floors. It was a compact, functional house.

“Hey dad, we've got a visitor!” Harden shouted up to the second floor. He sounded a bit impatient, probably wanting to get back to his post.

After a few seconds, they heard a deep voice respond with, “Coming!” Out of the room directly in front of the stairs came a middle-aged man wearing an old, worn-out cowboy hat. He quickly descended the stairs and walked over to Carter, giving him a bear hug.

“Carter, how have you been?” He pulled back and held one hand on Carter’s shoulder. “It’s been far too long since we last talked.” He smiled. “Was there a reason for you to come here, or were you just visiting?”

“Those two aren’t exclusive, you know,” Carter said, a warm smile on his face. “There’s definitely a reason, though; otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten Harden to come as well.” He shifted a bit. “Megaton is going to have a new resident for a while.”

Harden and his dad looked at each other, then back at Carter. “Well, are you going to tell us who it is, boy, or are you going to keep us in suspense until I die of old age?” the old man asked. He didn’t sound impatient, oddly enough; it was almost curiosity in his voice.

Carter just chuckled. Realizing this was her queue, Dash unlatched the Stealth Boy from her leg and heard the distinctive sound of the stealth field falling.

The two in front of her stared. It wasn’t quite the reaction she was expecting, and she was starting to get nervous by the time Harden’s dad spoke up. “Carter, this isn’t some kind of trick, is it?”

He simply shook his head. “I swear to you, she’s real.”

“You’ve given me no reason not to trust you in the past, but this seems just a little far-fetched.” Harden’s dad squinted at her.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and spoke up. “Are we just going to keep wasting time, or are you two going to believe him?” She glared at the two in front of her.

Harden, who had been looking at Carter, went back to staring at her.

Frowning in annoyance, she opened her mouth to speak again, but he interrupted her. “Forget it.” He groaned. “There’s a talking, multi-colored pegasus standing in our living room. I’m going back to my post.” He walked up to them, muttered “Excuse me” under his breath, and walked past them and out the door.

She just stared, bewildered. Looking back at the old man, she asked, “Is he seriously not fazed by that?”

He just shrugged. “Weirder things have happened in the Wasteland,” he responded, a frown tugging at the edge of his mouth. “People get used to it, after a while. Takes some longer than others, but Harden’s never been one of ‘em.”

She shook her head. “Well, whatever.” She looked up at him and asked, “So, what’s your name? I don’t exactly want to refer to you as ‘Harden’s dad’.”

“The name’s Lucas. Lucas Simms.” He tipped his hat to her. “Please to meet you, Miss…”

“Rainbow Dash,” she replied.

He raised an eyebrow, but continued. “Pleasure to meet you, Miss Dash.” A small smile crossed his face.

Turning back to Carter, he said, “I’m sorry, boy, but I’m gonna have to cut our little meeting short. I’ve some fairly important papers to look over, and I’ve probably taken more time out of my ‘schedule’ than I can afford to.” The smile remained as he patted Carter on the back. “Feel free to stop by at any time, though, you hear?” he said, voice sounding as if he knew what Carter's response would be.

Carter laughed. “Of course, old man. Of course. I’ll see you around.”

The trip back to Craterside Supply was even less eventful than the trip to the Simms’ household had been. Nobody stopped Carter on the streets, and it seemed that those who wanted to get his attention already had. That meant they got back to Moira’s house in record time, arriving only two or three minutes after they finished talking with the Lucas Simms.

Carter opened the door to Craterside Supply and almost ran into a merchant who was walking out. As the merchant apologized for not watching where he was going, Rainbow took note of an odd insignia on his coat. Shrugging it off as a stylistic choice – or just a marking she hadn’t seen from her admittedly short travels of this wasteland – she walked inside.

Dash tapped Carter’s leg and he shut the door behind them, safe in the knowledge she wouldn’t be locked out. As she had done before, she undid the strap of the Stealth Boy and let it fall to the floor. Its battery was apparently exhausted this time, however, if the flashing red light on top of it was any indication. Frowning, she poked it with her hoof.

“Hey, you two!” She looked up to see Moira, and as she did, she caught a glimpse of something that Moira quickly hid behind her back. She didn’t know what it was based on such a short sighting, but she was curious all the same.

“So, I just got some amazing stuff from that merchant guy you almost bumped into!” She giggled.

“What kind of stuff?” Dash asked, hopes rising.

“Ah ah ah!” Moira replied, smiling and shaking a finger. “I need some research assistance first, and only after you help will you get your reward!”

Dash was disappointed, but whatever it was Moira was hiding behind her back, it had to be important enough to get excited over. Carter, in contrast to her reaction, sounded suspicious, as he said, “Why the secrecy, Moira? Is it that important?”

She turned to look at him. “Duh! Why else would I say it’s important? I mean what I say; you know that!”

He frowned. “Yes, I do, but that doesn’t mean I appreciate the secrecy.”

“Well, I would love to tell you,” she responded, “but I don’t want Rainbow Dash to eavesdrop or accidentally listen to our conversation! After all, then that would spoil the surprise for her, too, and we can’t have that.” She moved to cross her arms, but remembered she was hiding something behind her back at the last second.

He sighed. “Alright, where do you need us to do the research at?”

At that, Moira looked sheepish. With a quiet voice that was more befitting Fluttershy than Pinkie Pie, she said, “I kinda need you to go the the Deathclaw Sanctuary.”

Carter sputtered. “The Deathclaw Sanctuary? Why do you need us to go there?” He looked at her, a bewildered expression on his face.

Moira flinched slightly. “I need some research on how Deathclaws behave in their natural habitat, and I figured the Sanctuary would be the best place since it’s, you know, a sanctuary and all. It’s small, it’s a cave, and we have a lot of Stealth Boys, so I was thinking you could… I don’t know. Hang around them for like 30 minutes to see what they do?” She smiled awkwardly.

Carter looked over at Dash and said to Moira, “I’m assuming you want me to bring her along?”

“Oh, yes,” she responded eagerly. “She needs to get more experience with the Wasteland, and although that probably isn’t the best place to start, I could give her some weapons and she could be your backup!”

Carter opened his mouth to speak, but Dash interrupted him. “I hate to break it to you, Moira, but I don’t exactly have fingers. My hooves won’t fit in that tiny space around the trigger.”

She perked up somewhat at that. “Oh, not to worry. I’ve been studying the changes you made to the trigger guard of your .44 Magnum, and I’ll be able to replicate that for a few more weapons.” She smiled. “Careful, though. Some of the guns I’ll be giving you have a lot of recoil, and could potentially hurt you. I don’t want that to happen.”

Dash frowned. “That shouldn’t be too much of an issue. I’ll just fire in smaller bursts.”

“That’s the spirit!” Moira was back to her normal self by now. “So, what do you say, Carter?”

He still looked uncertain, but eventually relented. “Alright, I’ll go along with it.” He sighed. “I’m still a bit worried, though.”

Dash let out a quick laugh. “Come on, Carter, you know I can take care of myself! And besides, you’ll be there too, so that means that we should have no problem getting out if anything goes wrong!” She smirked at him.

He shook his head. “Alright, but we’re going to use the teleporter to get there. I don’t know about you, but being ambushed and killed on the roads doesn’t exactly sound appealing.”

She groaned. “Do we have to use that again? Being knocked unconscious isn’t exactly fun.”

“You should definitely used it again!” Moira chimed in. “It’s most likely completed the calibrations to make sure the approximate mass is as close as possible, as well as accounting for how much energy will be required to pull off the sudden teleportation of matter!”

Dash turned to Carter. “Explain what she just said, please.”

He chuckled. “There’s a very low chance that it will happen again, since the attachment has apparently adjusted the parameters to be as perfect as possible when you’re there as well. It’s not a guarantee that it will never happen again, but it’s still better than not knowing anything about it.”

She grimaced. “Oh fine, we’ll use the teleporter. Don’t blame me if it blows up, though!”

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that. I ironed out that bug before even giving the attachment to Carter!” Moira smiled innocently, apparently oblivious to the alarmed look Dash was giving her.

“Anyway…” Carter said, diverting attention from Moira, “what should we do now? It’s not exactly nighttime, and those modifications seem like a one-man job.”

Moira looked back at them as she walked over to her workbench. “Not to worry about that! Carter, you go enjoy a bit of a break. You’ve been working an awful lot lately, and I don’t want you getting overly stressed.” She grinned and looked at Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash and I, on the other hand, will be staying here and modifying the weapons.”

Looking back down at the Magnum on the table, she said, “I may have understood what she did, but – no offense, Rainbow Dash – her work was makeshift at best and would require a lot more precision than I could possibly have without using her hoof as a model.”

She suddenly looked back at Dash and frowned. “Hang on, will you be alright with that? I mean, it would definitely help for you to have a weapon other than this Magnum with you, but if you don’t want me to, I won’t.”

Dash smiled. “I don’t really like ponies – people – touching my hooves, but I’ll make an exception for something as important as this. And besides, I’ve done modeling work before for a friend.” She shook her head. “Can you make me some armor, too?”

“Oh, sure!” Moira replied, nodding. “Our stuff will take a bit longer overall, but it won’t take more than a few hours. I can stitch together something from the Combat Armor pieces Carter has brought back over the years.”

“Nice!” Rainbow said. “So, are we doing that now, or…?”

“Yep, we’re gonna get started right now!” Moira said, smiling down at her. She heard Carter open and close the Craterside Supply door as the measurements began.

I’ll get some better weapons, and then I can prove that I can be just as useful and helpful as Carter.

I hope.

Chapter 5 - Dangerous Proceedings

May 29, 2017

“Alright, let’s make sure we have everything.”

Dash groaned. “Why? We just put all of it there!” It was pretty obvious she wanted to just get this over with, but Carter wasn’t taking any chances.

He looked over his shoulder at her and shook his head. “We have to be absolutely sure everything is with us before we leave. I don’t want one of us dying because we forgot to bring something.”

She smirked. “Come on, how tough could those Deathclaws be?” She looked uncertain for a moment. “I mean, other than the name.”

He turned back around and returned to surveying their equipment. Sighing, he replied, “In all honesty, the name is probably the best part about them.” He gave a dark chuckle. “They’re an absolute nightmare to deal with, whether up close or at a distance, and we’ll be near them almost constantly for the amount of time Moira needs us to be there.”

“Well, at least we’re not going in there defenseless, right?” she asked, voice only slightly masking her concern. “I mean, we have the Stealth Boys, and if those fail we can always just get out our weapons.”

He nodded. All the items they would be bringing on their trip were strewn about in front of him, sitting on Moira’s workbench.

The two Stealth Boys, one for each of them, were the most important parts of their inventory. They would allow the two of them to sneak past any Deathclaws they happened to come across, and they would also allow for a getaway if the Deathclaws managed to detect them by some other means.

If those failed or they were detected, their weapons were there as backup. Carter had a combat shotgun for if the creatures got too close, and Blackhawk would be there for those shots that he needed to aim properly. Dash had a dart gun for crippling them and the .44 Magnum she had introduced herself.

Finally, they would be bringing five Stimpaks for emergencies. They were far too valuable to take in larger numbers than ten, so they were there mainly for wounds that wouldn’t otherwise be fatal. Of course, there wouldn’t be too many instances of non-fatal wounds, especially considering they would be fighting Deathclaws. Due to their speed and size, it was either kill them or be killed by them; there wasn’t too much room for error.

Smiling in satisfaction, Carter announced, “Alright, everything we need is here." He turned around and looked at Dash. "I think it's about time we head out.”

She frowned. “Hang on, do you need to eat anything before we go? Or, did you eat when you were out?”

He smiled. “Well, the answer to both of your questions is no.” Raising up his Pip-Boy so it was more easily visible, he said, “I could explain it to you, if you’d like.”

Shaking her head, she said, “Nah, I don’t really want any more delays. You can just tell me when we get back.”

He shrugged. “Alright, if you’re sure.” Smirking, he grabbed his share of the equipment and continued. “Grab your weapons and Stimpaks and head to the door. I’ll be there in a second.”

She raised an eyebrow at that, but complied.

As she went about getting her gear, Carter walked over to Moira. “So, how have you enjoyed having a pegasus as a houseguest?” he asked, giving her a quick hug.

She returned the hug and beamed. “It’s been the best thing ever! You have no idea how amazing it is to have a living, talking pegasus in your home, who you get to talk to and help out and spend time with!” She giggled, then looked over at Dash. “So, Rainbow Dash, how are you enjoying the new combat armor?”

Dash glanced in her direction, then went back to holstering her weapon. "Is that what it's actually called? Combat armor?” Finishing what she was doing, she turned to give her full attention to Moira. “Seriously though, it looks awesome.” She jumped up and glided over to them. “It’s a bit more difficult to fly in it, but that’s probably just because it’s heavier than what I had on before. Shouldn't be too much of an issue!”

Moira winced slightly. “Yeah, I did my best to make it as light as possible, but combat armor is intrinsically heavy because of its construction.” She went back to smiling as she said, “I’m so glad you like it, though!”

Carter grinned. “Considering you’ve never done anything like this before, I’d say it’s pretty amazing.” Dash nodded her head in agreement.

Moira basked in the praise. Smiling, she said, “Well, I’ve probably repeated myself enough about being glad you like it. I’m going to go back to my work now. Have fun, you two!”

She turned away as Carter spoke. “We should head out now. The sooner we get going, the sooner we can get back to safety.”

Dash nodded, ready and eager to go.

He stepped up to the door. Suddenly remembering something, he lowered his head and chuckled. “You should probably activate your Stealth Boy before we head out. I personally don’t want to have the entire town freaking out, especially considering most of the residents will be out right about now.”

Dash pulled her head back, then nodded. “Yeah, that would probably be a good idea.” Moira giggled, apparently amused at their antics.

As he put his hand on the doorknob, he heard the sound of a Stealth Boy activating. Smiling, he opened the door and stepped out, waiting for Dash to tap him on the leg before closing the door behind him. She did so and he grabbed onto her leg, making sure they were in direct contact for the sensor on the attachment. He scrolled through the Pip-Boy's menus and, finding what he was looking for, selected Teleport, whisking them away to the Deathclaw Sanctuary.

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Thankfully, Moira had been right. The teleport succeeded without a hitch this time, and they arrived at their destination no worse for wear. That’s good, he thought. That means it actually was a glitch and it won't happen every time we teleport somewhere. He sighed to himself, relieved.

The mouth of the Sanctuary cave loomed in front of them like a gaping maw. Shivering, he briskly stepped back. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Dash had done the same. He shook his head and looked over at her.

“Well, I should probably teach you what that dart gun does before we go in.” She looked up at him and blinked. Suddenly realizing what he was talking about, she unholstered it and carefully handed it over to him.

Nodding, he took it and began explaining. “The first rule for any firearm is to never point it at yourself. You know what damage a bullet can do, right?” She nodded, shivering as she remembered the pain that she had felt in her chest when she was shot. “Well, these darts don’t have quite as much direct punch to them, but they have another nasty effect. Namely, the Radscorpion poison used in them completely cripples the legs of whatever creature they hit.”

He searched the area for a target, and found a mole rat snuffling the ground in front of it. Wincing at what was about to happen, he pointed the gun at it and said, “Observe.”

A very slight noise came from the gun as it fired a dart out, which struck the mole rat in the neck. It screamed as it fell, small legs kicking around frantically as the poison coursed through its body. Thankfully, its movements quickly stopped as it succumbed.

He grimaced and glanced over at Dash. She was, rather expectedly, giving him a horrified look. He sighed and handed the weapon back to her.

“I’ll definitely be using this as a last resort,” she said, the expression still on her face, “if at all.” She handled it even more carefully now than she had previously, making sure to keep her hooves away from the trigger.

“I personally don’t blame you,” Carter said, walking toward the large gate that marked the entrance to the Sanctuary. “That thing is no laughing matter.” He heard Dash’s hooves on the rock behind him, and waited for her to catch up.

She stopped walking, and he spoke. “Our plan is pretty simple: find some Deathclaws, and see if and how they interact with each other and their environment.

“In terms of navigation, I have my Pip-Boy’s map, so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. I won’t get lost unless I somehow lose it, and that’s not going to happen.” He smirked.

Sighing, he continued. “You don’t have one, though. It'll probably be best if you either stay along the wall on the left or stay within sight of the entrance so you don’t get too lost.”

She frowned. “How do you know if I won't be able to find the entrance again or not?”

She sighed and said, “Whatever. Let’s just go in and get through this.” She shuddered. "I don't want to be near these Deathclaws a second longer than I have to be."

“That’s the spirit!” He chuckled as she gave him a dirty look. “Let’s go.”

The old, rusted gate that closed off the Sanctuary opened with an ear-piercing screech, its age evident. Wincing, Carter crouched. He almost motioned for Dash to do the same, but quickly remembered that she was shorter than him even when he was crouching, so there was no need.

Grimacing, he said, “That definitely gave our position away. Quick, put on your Stealth Boy!”

No sooner had they done so than a Deathclaw came running toward the entrance, its lumbering steps echoing across the halls. It slowed to a stop as it saw there was nothing there, and looked around in confusion. As it stepped closer to their position, Carter moved to the right so as to avoid it running into him. His own footsteps – and he assumed Dash’s hoofsteps – were masked by the creature’s own, so he had no issue skirting around it.

Unfortunately, the disruption – combined with the complete invisibility Dash's Stealth Boy provided her with – caused him to lose track of her almost immediately. Shaking his head, he waited for the Deathclaw to walk back down into the cavern, then moved forward himself.

A ramp of rocks led down into a large, cavernous area. Stray light from the setting sun shone in through cracks in the rock ceiling, but the surrounding parts were nearly pitch black, severely limiting visibility. He couldn’t use his Pip-Boy light – it would give his position away even with the Stealth Boy – and so he had to make use of sound and touch instead.

He slowly made his way along the wall, allowing his eyes to better adjust to the darkened interior. When he was finally able to see his own hand in front of his face, he looked around. A tunnel lay before him, with the cavern off to his right. Seeing no point in going someplace he assumed there would be no other Deathclaws, he proceeded through the tunnel.

While he had been correct in telling Dash he could use the Pip-Boy’s built in map, he had forgotten about how difficult it was to understand at times. The cluttered lines on the screen which were meant to indicate all the different passages served only to confuse him, and he shut off the display in frustration.

Shaking his head, he continued inching his way forward, hoping to find a group of Deathclaws… interacting with each other, or something. At this point, I'll be happy with just getting out of here in one piece, let alone bringing the information Moira needs back to her.

A loud snap echoed from his right. He froze, then glanced over.

A Deathclaw was standing there, not ten feet away from him, staring in his direction.

It had seen – or heard – his movement, and now it was standing guard over the area.

He was trapped.

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The vaguely reptilian creature lumbered past Rainbow Dash as she stayed in the air, flapping her wings slowly so as to not draw the creature’s attention. Any description Carter might have given her was nothing compared to actually seeing one of the things with her own two eyes.

She gulped and let herself breathe again, knowing that for now, the danger had passed. She shook her head and landed. Grinning to herself, she started following it, doing her best to make as little noise as possible. What better way to find out how Deathclaws behave than to follow one around? Even if she was a bit worried about these things, the total invisibility given by her Stealth Boy would be more than enough to get her out of this unharmed.

She shook her head again. Getting sidetracked definitely wasn’t a good idea, and she wasn’t about to fall into the trap of getting too caught up in her own thoughts to notice what was going on right in front of her.

The Deathclaw trudged into the cavernous area across from the entrance and stopped next to another that had been hidden from her line of sight. She instinctively flinched back, then launched up into the air to get a view of the two from above. Better to be safe in the air than dead on the ground, especially with two of them there.

From what she could see, they were just staring at each other. If they were making any subtle movements using their arms or legs or something, she wasn’t able to tell in the dim lighting. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the one that had originally stayed behind moved off to some unseen part of the cavern.

Dash landed softly, taking extra care not to alert either of the two to her intrusion. She looked between them, having difficulty choosing which to stay with, before finally deciding to go with the one that was going deeper into the cavern.

Her quarry had already gotten pretty far ahead by the time she came to a decision. As she opened her wings to take off again, she heard the tell-tale sound of a Stealth Boy deactivating.

Looking down, she saw her hooves.

Uh oh.

Turning back around, Dash saw the original Deathclaw staring at her, not moving. It seemed to be just as surprised at her presence as she was at the malfunction. As she slowly backed away, she drew the dart gun and shakily aimed it at the Deathclaw. One shot is all I need, she thought, panicked. I just have to hit it.

The creature in front of her stood to its full height and roared.

The intimidation almost worked. She felt her legs shake and she took an involuntary step back.

Steeling herself, she fell into a sitting position and aimed the dart gun with both hooves.

She fired.

The Deathclaw’s legs gave out from underneath it, and it howled in pain as it fell. She didn’t get much of a reprieve, however, as it began crawling its way toward her using its arms. Too close, way too close! she thought, frantic.

She discarded the dart gun and drew her magnum, aiming it squarely for the Deathclaw’s head.

One shot. It flinched back and howled again. Its crawling slowed, however, giving Dash the opportunity she needed.

She flared her wings and took off. Stopping in the air above the Deathclaw, she aimed again and fired into the back of its head.

The creature’s natural armor was weaker there than on the front, and the bullet struck true. The creature didn’t even have time to turn and look at her before it flopped to the ground, lifeless.

Dash landed behind the creature’s body, breathing heavily. She stood there, stunned, before letting out a cry of joy. I just took out a Deathclaw! Her elation suddenly vanished, as she realized she had probably drawn the attention of whatever other Deathclaws were in the Sanctuary.

Her fears were confirmed as two more Deathclaws rounded the edge of the tunnel. They spotted her almost immediately due to the light still shining in through the ceiling.

She shouted out in panic. Flying was the only option she saw, but as she spread her wings and prepared to leap into the air, she saw one of the Deathclaws launch itself at her. Eyes widening, she rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding its claws. She put a shot into its arm, but this only seemed to anger it.

It roared at her and charged again, swiping low so as to catch her with its claws. Thinking quickly, she jumped over the swipe and planted another shot into it, this time aimed for its face. It snarled and reared back, clutching its face near its eye and howling. She winced, but aimed a shot toward its neck, intent on finishing it off.

She screamed as sharp claws dug into her, puncturing one of her wings and tearing into her side. She watched, helpless as she was slowly lifted into the air. Whatever was holding her turned her to face it, and she stared directly into the face of the second Deathclaw.

She had completely forgotten about it.

It roared in her face and threw her against the wall. Her head and right foreleg slammed against the wall with a sickening crack that was loud enough to echo.

Her vision swam. Her ears rang. Her vision was blurry and distorted.

Her breathing was shallow. Her whole body screamed in pain.

She saw the Deathclaws closing in.

She laid her head down and closed her eyes.

I’m gonna die.

Chapter 6 - Nick of Time

June 2, 2017

Two gunshots echoed through the tunnels.

Carter’s head whipped up, and he looked in the direction the sound had come from. By his best guess, they had come from the front of the cave, near the entrance. A quick glance at his Pip-Boy confirmed it. Dash must be back there, he thought, worried. If her Stealth Boy failed…

He frowned. But why would it?

Shaking his head, he turned back to look at the Deathclaw that had been ‘guarding’ him. As he did so, he saw a blur of motion speed past his vision. The receding, thundering footsteps he heard were confirmation enough; it was running off to explore the noise. He followed closely behind it, not concerned about being heard.

Its footsteps grew quiet, even though he had been directly behind it down the entire tunnel. He slowed to a stop as he reached a corner, and leaned around it to see what was happening.

Two Deathclaws stood directly in front of him, staring at Dash, who was standing over the corpse of a third.

She let out a panicked scream and tensed, preparing to fly away. Just then, the closest to her launched itself at her, attempting to catch or grab her. She dodged to the side, and the two fought.

Carter slowly snuck his way closer, prepared to help in any way he could. As he searched for an opening, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning to look, he saw the second Deathclaw doing something similar to him; it crept closer and closer to Dash, who was too focused on fighting the first to notice it.

He took his combat shotgun off his back and tried to shout out, tried to warn her.

It was too late.

He watched as it sunk its claws deep into her side.

He watched as it threw her aside, and heard the snap of her bones breaking.

He watched as the two of them closed in, ready to finish her off.

Not on my watch.

A spray of buckshot flew out of his shotgun and hit the closest Deathclaw, the one that had gutted her. It howled and fell to the side, flailing about, trying to hit him. The other turned toward him, roaring. He fired again, and it, too, received a face full of buckshot. This one fell to the ground, unmoving.

The still-living Deathclaw continued flailing, trying and failing to get its feet under it. One final shot ended its attempts, and all movement in the cavern ceased.

He breathed heavily for a few moments before rushing over to Dash. Kneeling down, he looked over her wounds, doing his best to not take in too many details. Grimacing, he moved to pick her up, but saw something that made him widen his eyes in shock.

She’s still breathing.

He scrambled to put his combat shotgun on his back, then gently picked her up. Being careful not to do any more damage than the Deathclaws already had, he turned around and began running toward the gate.

She weakly cracked an eye open and gave a small smile. “Took you… long enough,” she said, voice faint.

“Shut up,” he replied, gritting his teeth and glaring down at her. “Don’t talk.” He quickened his pace, and made it to the gate of the Sanctuary in short order. It was still open, thankfully, and he squeezed through the opening they had made when they entered.

Only after they had gotten a good distance from the cave did he set her down. Sitting down next to her, he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. He thought through his options.

These wounds are way too severe for a Stimpak to deal with, and even if I had access to an actual doctor, even if I had the best medical machinery in the Wasteland, it still wouldn’t be enough to save her.

He had seen the wounds Deathclaws could inflict on people, but none of them had been as bad as this. Of course, it made sense that the wounds would be more severe than normal; considering how small she was compared to a human, it was a miracle she wasn't already dead. Still, it still scared him.

He screwed up his face and scowled. “I won’t let you die, not without doing everything I can,” he said under his breath. She shifted slightly, but remained silent.

Sighing, he scrolled through the menus of his Pip-Boy. Even though there was little to no point in trying it, seeing as the unit still needed almost a full day to recharge, he still decided to check and see if the teleporter was available for use, just in case.

Flicking through the attachment’s menu, he scrolled down to the Power option and selected it.

He stared down at the display, comprehension slowly dawning on his face.

User Energy Level: 159.43%
Unit Energy Level: 1.39%

Teleportation Available, Not Recommended

How could I forget about that?

He bolted up and grabbed ahold of Dash, bringing his Pip-Boy to bear. The closest safe settlement is Arefu, and from there I can get us to Megaton.

He scrolled back up and selected Teleport.

Carter thought of only one thing as they disappeared: saving Rainbow Dash.

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He was breathlessness and weightlessness, as he had been the first time he teleported with Dash. There was a new sensation as well, however; a dull, aching pain that slowly spread through his chest and abdomen. He ignored it.

As reality rushed back, he became acutely aware of its extent. He landed with a stumble, but managed to stay upright.

Shaking his head and wincing, he scrolled through the menus as before, but ran into a notice when he selected the attachment.

Warning: Total Energy Level Below 100%. Teleportation Dangerous, Not Advised.

Growling, he dismissed it and selected Teleport.

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The pain was worse.

It was quite obvious to him that it would be, considering the warning he had just been given, but he hadn’t expected it to be to the degree that it was. As they reappeared, he gasped and fell over, landing on his side so as to avoid crushing Dash. He breathed slowly as he righted himself, eyes squeezed shut.

He opened them and ran. The only place he could go was Craterside Supply, to Moira. If anyone would be able to help, she would be the one.

The door to Megaton proved little problem, as it opened rapidly enough for him to stay going at full speed. Residents weren’t an issue either; the only one Carter saw was the sheriff, who stayed back when he saw the state the two of them were in.

His footsteps clanged loudly as he sprinted up the ramp leading to the store. He burst the door open soon after and looked around. Moira was likely in the back room considering the time of night, so he ran straight to it. She was indeed asleep.

That soon changed. “Moira!” he shouted, trying to get her attention.

It worked. She shot up in bed, looking around blearily before her eyes settled on Dash. Gasping, she darted over to them. “What happened?” she asked, tiredness gone from her features and replaced with worry.

“A Deathclaw got her,” he responded. As she heard this, her face fell, mouth agape.

He laid Dash on Moira’s bed, making sure to keep her wounded side up so that it would be more easily reachable.

Suddenly, Moira gasped and ran out of the room, to her workbench. Grabbing something off of it, she quickly spun back around and came back in.

In her hands was a child-sized Pip-Boy.

He looked up at her and gaped, saying, “Where did you get this?”

She frowned and glared at him. “Is this really the time to be asking that?”

He shook his head and winced. “Right. Put it on her, quick!” She was in motion before he finished speaking.

The Pip-Boy slipped easily onto Dash’s foreleg, and tightened slightly as the strap was closed around it. The device came to life with a low hum, its screen powering on.

A pulse went out from it, and Dash screamed, curling up into a ball. Carter rushed over to her, but she had relaxed again by the time he got there. She was still breathing, but it was even shallower than before.

The status screen on her Pip-Boy popped up, revealing just how weak her vital signs had gotten. She was much closer to death than he realized.

He panicked. Quickly pulling out a Stimpak, he jabbed it into Dash's shoulder.

She tensed up at the sudden prick, but soon relaxed again as the Stimpak partially healed her wounds. From what he could tell, she was even resting somewhat peacefully now.

Carter laughed under his breath, relieved. He glanced over at Moira and saw her doing the same thing. She looked back at him and smiled, overjoyed.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he said, “Now, all we can do is wait.”

As the adrenaline pumping through his body wore off, the pain from earlier took its place. Gasping, he stumbled back and fell against the wall. He breathed slowly, hoping it would ease the pain even a little bit.

It didn’t. As the pain got worse and worse, he found himself losing consciousness.

Moira jumped over to his side. He knew she said something, but he couldn’t make out the words as he slipped into unconsciousness.

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Dash woke up.

Her entire left side was aflame, and her wing screamed at her. She squeezed her eyes shut and groaned.

Slowly, she opened them and sat up. Her balance wasn’t completely there, however, and she nearly fell over twice. As she steadied herself, she looked around, taking in her surroundings.

Her eyes locked on Moira, who was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, asleep. Why isn’t she in her bed? Dash thought, confused. She grabbed her head in her hooves and groaned again. As she reopened her eyes, she noticed something that definitely hadn’t been there before.

A Pip-Boy?

She stared at the device, puzzled. It had to be a Pip-Boy; the design was unmistakable. Where did it come from?

She shook her head and looked at her surroundings more closely. The first thing she noticed was that she was in the back room – Moira’s room – and was in Moira’s bed. That answered her first question, at least. Now she just needed to figure out how she had gotten there.

Dash shut her eyes and lay down again. I can ask them about all this in the morning.

She yawned and stretched out her legs. For now... I need to sleep.

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The pain was still present when Dash woke again, but it had lessened somewhat. She slowly opened her eyes and rubbed them, clearing away whatever was in them.

She heard footsteps out in the main room, and from the weight of them, it sounded like Moira. Yawning, she sat up again and sighed. Well, time to tell them I’m awake.

“Hello?” she called out, voice weaker than she would like. Nearly dying will do that, she thought with a sigh.

The steps Dash had heard stopped, then rapidly grew louder and quicker as Moira raced to the back room.

She poked her head around the corner, and her face lit up as she saw Dash. “Oh my gosh, you’re awake!” Walking in the rest of the way, she said, “We were so worried about you! You almost died.”

Dash smiled wearily. “Yeah, I remember that.” Looking around, she asked, “So, where’s Carter?”

Moira chuckled. “He passed out right after getting you here. He’s still asleep, but I’ll go wake him and bring him in here.”

It took them a few minutes to get back, and Dash noticed something was wrong as soon as Carter walked into the room. He was limping, which he certainly hadn’t been when he had gotten her out of the Sanctuary. When did that happen?

Carter sighed. “Gave us quite the scare there, Dash.” He grinned. “Glad to see you’re alright.”

She smiled back at him. “How did you get me back here, though?” she asked, confused. “There’s no way you could have run all the way back to Megaton quickly enough for me to not die!” She frowned. “I mean, the teleporter needed to recharge, and everything! So, what did you do?”

Moira punched Carter in the arm. He winced and rubbed it, embarrassed. “I used the energy stored up in my Pip-Boy to power the teleporter. Cost me a lot, too, as you could probably tell from my limp.” He shrugged. “It’ll only be a few days until I’m back to being fully functional.”

Dash raised an eyebrow. “And why didn’t you tell me about that before now?”

He sighed and lowered his head. “I only mentioned the basics when I explained it to you the first time, since I thought that was all I would need to tell you. I didn’t expect that part to ever come up, nor did I think I would ever have to use it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, it’s a good thing to know for the future, at least.”

Dash looked down at the Pip-Boy on her leg. “So, where’d you get this?” She glanced up at Moira and continued. “I mean, it seems like a pretty important thing for someone to just give away.”

Moira smiled. “Oh, I wasn’t just given it! I had to pay a lot of caps for it, as well as give away a few other items. In the end, I’d say it was worth it.”

She abruptly winced, and her face fell. “That was the super-duper special thing I was hiding behind my back when you two got back from talking with the sheriff. I had planned on giving it to you once you returned from your amazing adventure.” She looked away. “Well, I guess that counted as you ‘returning’.”

Dash frowned, concerned. “Hey, Moira?”

Moira looked in her direction.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said with a smile. At Moira’s confused look, she continued. “You didn’t know something like that would happen, and if you had, you wouldn’t have sent us to begin with!”

“That’s the problem,” Moira said, on the verge of tears. “I knew that something like that could happen, but I sent you two there anyway! You almost died because of me!”

Struggling, Dash stood up and, despite Carter’s protests, hopped to the floor. She stumbled, but managed to stay upright. Steeling her gaze, she crossed the room to Moira.

“Hey,” she said, placing a hoof on Moira’s leg. When that didn’t get a response, she raised her voice and pushed slightly. “Hey!”

This time, Moira glanced over at her. She looked miserable, which was something Dash needed to fix.

“Moira, it is not your fault for what happened. You may have asked us to go there, but you didn’t make us. I know that I went willingly.” She glanced away. “Sure, I mainly went because I wanted whatever ‘reward’ you were hiding behind your back, but that does not mean you forced me to go there.”

Moira continued looking away from her. Dash sighed and walked away, over to Carter.

“So, how did it happen, anyway?” he asked, frowning. “I wasn’t able to see you when I heard the gunshots.”

“My Stealth Boy shut off,” she responded, annoyance plain on her face. “It just… stopped, right where I was visible to a Deathclaw.”

That got Moira’s attention. “Wait, it did what?” Looking at Carter, she said, “Do you have it on you? I don’t remember taking it off her.”

He shook his head. “It must have fallen off when she was fighting them.”

Dash looked between them, and said, “The same thing happened with the Stealth Boy we used to get me through Megaton. It shorted out or something right after we got back here.”

Carter glanced at her, then looked back at Moira. “So, do we chalk it up to ‘different biology’ like we did with the teleporter, or what?”

“Oh definitely!” she replied. “I’ve never heard of Stealth Boys working like they have on her before. Total invisibility with about a quartered duration. That’s so interesting!”

She looked away again, and sighed. “Of course, if we had noticed that beforehand, this whole mess wouldn’t have happened…”

Dash growled in frustration. “Seriously, cut it out!” She stepped over to Moira’s side, jumped up, and punched Moira in the shoulder.

“I’m sick of you beating yourself up over this. Just stop!” She walked back over to the bed and hopped up. “Why are you moping around so much? If you’re trying to atone for sending us there, or something stupid like that, I’d say you've more than made up for it!” She raised the leg that had her Pip-Boy on it and shook it for emphasis.

“Heck, if it wasn’t for you, I would be dead!” She raised a hoof. “And quit giving me that crap about sending us there. You’ve used it up, and it’s getting annoying. Just stop!” she slowly rested her head down and covered it up with her hooves.

She sighed. “Just… stop.”

After a few moments, Dash felt a weight settle on the bed. She moved to look up, but stopped as she felt Moira hugging her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, hugging a little tighter. Dash returned the hug as best as she could.

Soon enough Moira pulled away. She gave Dash a small smile and said, “I sure did get overly dramatic there, didn’t I?”

Dash returned the smile, but didn’t say anything. Moira still wasn’t to the level of happiness that she seemed to normally be at, but it was better than her moping about because of something she hadn’t done.

The conversation lulled, and Dash found herself thinking of what they could talk about. Remembering something, she turned and looked at her still-aching side. What she saw there didn’t really surprise her, but she had still been hoping against it.

Pink skin greeted her gaze all along her side and on her wing. She poked at it, and winced as she found out the hard way that it was still sensitive to touch. Guess it’ll be a bit before I can fly again, she thought with a sigh. Her feathers and fur would grow back eventually, but it wouldn’t be a quick process.

She frowned, suddenly thinking of something. “Hang on,” she said, looking over at Carter. He met her gaze and tilted his head.

“You risked your own life to get me back here, even though you didn’t know if I would survive or not.” She stared at him. “Why?”

He deadpanned and glanced around, unsure of how exactly to answer the question. “Why wouldn’t I?” he asked as he looked back at her. “I mean, I knew that if I did nothing, you would have definitely died. I still consider it to have been worth the risk.” He smirked. “And it payed off, didn’t it?”

“Well, okay, that makes sense,” she responded, tilting her own head. “But why do you really trust me enough to do that?”

He shook his head and gave her a look. “In the entire time we’ve been traveling together, you’ve never given me a reason to not trust you. I mean, you’ve saved my life… twice, now that I think about it, and the only time you’ve ever attacked me was when you didn’t know me or my intentions.” He smiled. “That’s a pretty good track record, in my opinion.”

She sighed. “Alright, fine. You win.”

Shaking her head, Dash asked about another thing that was on her mind. “So, what else can you tell me about this Pip-Boy?” She looked down at it and frowned. “I mean, it’s obvious that it changes how Stimpaks work, but I don’t know anything else about it.”

Moira and Carter glanced at each other. Eventually, the latter asked, “Do you want to take this, or should I?”

Moira thought for a moment, playfully bringing a hand up to her chin. “You should probably do it, since you’re the one with an actual Pip-Boy.” She smirked at him, and he rolled his eyes. “Besides, I still have to get the shop set up for the day.”

Chuckling and waving her off with a hand, he turned back to Dash. “So, you’re ready for that explanation I talked about earlier?” he asked with a slight grin.

“Sure, lay it on me,” Dash replied, sighing. This might take a while.

“Well, now that I think about it, there’s only one thing I even need to tell you!” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “You know how the effects of Stimpaks have changed, right?”

“You mean how they actually healed me instead of… whatever they did before?” Dash asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, exactly!” He grinned. “Without a Pip-Boy, they only speed up the rate at which your body’s natural regeneration happens, but severe enough injuries – like yours were – aren’t able to be mended; they’re too severe.” He was really getting into this lecture. “With a Pip-Boy, though, they’re actually able to heal wounds. Sure, they definitely aren’t perfect, and you’ll still need some time to recover after one is used, but it’s still a hell of a lot better to be weary than dead.”

He nodded and continued. “The only other thing to tell you about is how it changes eating and drinking. The Pip-Boy immediately converts whatever food and water you have into energy, which it then gives to your body whenever it needs.

“The teleporter attachment is able to draw from the food energy, and then from your body’s energy if there isn’t enough in the food storage. You can see the effects of the latter quite clearly," he said, glancing awkwardly in Moira's direction.

“It will never draw from the water supply, though. Water is much more scarce than food around here, even with Project Purity active. I made sure Moira programmed that in, so it won’t be an issue.”

He clapped his hands together. “And that’s pretty much all you need to know that you didn’t already. If there is anything else, I can just show you rather than explaining it. Sound good?”

Dash stared at him, head tilted to the side. She slowly blinked before shaking her head. “Okay,” she responded, still reeling from all the information he had given her.

She yawned. Dang, I’m still really tired.

Sighing, she said, “I’m gonna go back to bed, if that’s okay with you. I need some more rest.”

He nodded and stood up. “Of course. I’ll leave you be, and let Moira know too.”

“Thanks,” she responded, already falling back asleep.

He stepped out of the room. Poking his head back in, he whispered, “Sleep well.”

Dash lifted her head and smirked at him. He chuckled as he pulled his head back out.

She shook her head and laid it back down on the mattress.

Soon enough, she slept again, welcoming the relative peace of her dreams.

Chapter 7 - Call to Action

June 10, 2017

Three days.

It had been three days since Dash was nearly killed.

It had taken three days for new feathers to start growing on her damaged wing.

She wasn’t particularly happy about it. While she didn’t complain out loud about not being able to fly, her actions spoke volumes as to how she was actually feeling. The occasional twitch of her wings, her generally displeased attitude, and her tone of voice when she spoke all said far more than she could have actually said.

Moira checked in on her every now and then, whenever she wasn’t busy chatting or bartering with a trader. Although Dash had been staying in the back room – more because of Moira’s worry about Dash being seen than Dash’s own – Moira still checked with her to make sure she was feeling alright.

Now was one of those times. The last merchant of the day – at least as far as Moira could tell – had just exited Craterside Supply, and so she decided to do one final check up on Dash. Never hurts to be careful!

Dash was laying on her side on the bed when Moira entered, but her ears perked up when she heard Moira walking toward her. She lifted her head to see who it was, and put it back down with a sigh when she saw Moira.

“Hey,” Dash said, staring at the wall. “When do you think I’ll be able to try out flying again?”

“Oh, I’d say it should only be a couple more hours until sundown, and then we can get you back out there to get your strength up more!” Moira smiled over at Dash.

“Alright,” she replied. Moira’s smile fell a bit at the curt response, but she kept it up until she had walked back out into the main room. Sighing and leaning against the wall, she thought, She’ll be feeling better, soon enough.

She shook her head. She just needs to get some time out there, flying around. Then she won’t be nearly as unhappy. I hope.

She heard the front door open, and looked over to see Carter standing there.

“There’s another trader here to see you,” he said with a smile.

“Really?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Alright, let them in!”

Nodding, Carter stepped out of the doorway.

The trader walked in a moment later. He looks awfully tired, Moira thought. Although, considering the strenuous nature of being a traveling merchant, it wasn’t too much of a surprise that he would be in that state.

Thankfully, it seemed as if most of that tiredness melted away when he saw Moira. “Ah, it’s so nice to finally meet you, Ms. Brown!” He said, excitement tinging his voice. He tipped his hat. “I have heard many great things about you, both in regards to your trading expertise and your impeccable book-writing skills.

“Tell me, is it true that the two of you wrote the Wasteland Survival Guide?” he asked, looking between Carter and Moira.

“Please, call me Moira,” Moira responded, smiling. “I wrote the book. Carter here was my research assistant, although I will say that without his help, it wouldn’t have happened!” She laughed. “Well, it might have, but it would have taken much longer, possibly long enough that I would’ve been too old to see how much it helped people!”

Shaking her head, she said, “Well, no point in getting too worked up over possibilities.” Giving the trader a small smile, she asked, “So, what brought you here? I’m guessing from how tired you look that you came a long way.”

“Actually, this is my first trip this far east,” he replied with a small smile. “My normal area of trade is the west coast, mainly in the Mojave, but my overseers had me travel over here to potentially improve – or would it be begin? – relations with the survivors in this area.” He chuckled. “I can see reconstruction is going surprisingly well, considering how heavily this area was affected by the bombs falling.

“Speaking of which...” He trailed off as he glanced out the front door. “Is that an undetonated nuclear bomb in the center of town?” His voice was calm, but based on how he was shifting, Moira could tell he was anxious.

Carter chuckled. “Yeah, it is. You don’t have to worry about it, though. I deactivated it soon after I arrived here for the first time, which was around seventeen years ago.”

The trader sighed with relief. “Ah, that does take a burden off my mind. I would have been quite concerned if you had stated otherwise.” Shaking his head, he turned back and stepped into the shop.

“My name is Anthony,” he said, bowing his head slightly. He smiled. “As I said earlier, it is an absolute pleasure to meet you, both of you. Shall we get down to business?”

Two hours later, the three of them were still talking. Moira and Anthony had long since finished trading, with both sides receiving items they wanted or needed and a few caps being passed between them, but they had continued chatting about almost every subject imaginable afterward.

Carter was sitting in a chair right outside the doorway to the room Dash was in. He rested there, leaning his head against the wall and quietly listening to Moira and Anthony’s conversation.

“So, hang on,” Moira said, suddenly intrigued. “Do you have any information about what’s going on in the Mojave? I don’t think we talked about that.”

Anthony frowned. “No, I don’t recall that either.” He sighed nodding. “Very well. I’ll give you a cursory description of the events unfolding over in the Mojave.”

He paused for a moment, then said, “Actually, first I must ask you an important question. Have you heard of Caesar’s Legion?”

Alarm bells rung in Carter’s head, but he decided to play ignorant. “I’ve heard that name once or twice,” he said, “but I don’t remember much about it. Why do you ask?”

Anthony shook his head. “I simply wished to know if you had any knowledge on them before I told you.” He sighed. “For the past... how long has it been now, fourteen years? Yes, that sounds about right. For the past fourteen years, Caesar’s Legion has been in control of the Mojave Wasteland. With the help of the Courier, the Legion took over Hoover Dam and kicked the NCR out of the Mojave.” He frowned. “I sometimes wish I could have been there, simply so I could have seen exactly how the Courier did it.”

“The Courier?” Carter asked, raising an eyebrow. “I’m assuming from the fact you said ‘the’ both times that it was intentional?”

Anthony chuckled. “Oh, certainly! Did you know, they tracked a man – who had shot them twice in the head, mind you – across half the Mojave? It is that determination, I’m told, that intrigued Caesar and made him choose to have their aid in his mission! In fact, he even made them his Legate, after his previous, Lanius, died in the Second Battle of Hoover Dam.”

Carter frowned. A lot of that sounded familiar, but he again decided to act ignorant. “I haven’t visited the Mojave before, so I don’t know what or who most of those are. Thank you for the information, though.”

Suddenly looking rather self-conscious, Anthony responded, “It’s no problem at all, really! I didn’t mean to confuse you.”

Smiling, Carter said, “Hey, don’t worry about it. Any information about what’s going on outside over there is news to me.” He paused for a second, then asked, “Do you happen to know the Courier’s name? Sounds like something that would be fairly important to know.”

Anthony looked away, embarrassed. “Sadly, I don’t. No person I’ve talked to has told me. It’s like they’re scared of her, or something.” He grinned sheepishly as he looked up at Carter. “If I did, I would certainly tell you, have no doubt of it.”

Carter raised an eyebrow. Her. Well, that certainly speaks volumes as to how much he trusts us, to only reveal the Courier’s gender as a slip-up. Still, if he pointed it out, it could cause Anthony to be suspicious of them or just blow it off, so he said nothing.

Anthony suddenly stood up and clapped his hands together. “Well, I must be off,” he said, smiling. “I will be staying in town until tomorrow morning, so if you have any questions you would like to ask, please feel free to stop by the common house and let me know!” With a tip of his hat, he walked out the door.

After waiting a few moments to make sure he wouldn’t be able to hear them, Carter said, “He sure did leave in a hurry.”

“Well, we should at least give him the benefit of the doubt,” Moira responded, frowning. “He was probably just concerned about how we would react to what he told us.”

He shrugged. “Anyway, I wonder if Dash has died of boredom yet.”

“I heard that!” Dash said.

Oh duh, she’s right there. Chuckling, he stood up and walked into the room, Moira in tow.

Dash was lying on the bed, as she had likely been doing for the entire time they were talking. She slowly rolled her head around, popping her neck a few times before standing up and stretching.

“Dang, staying in one position for that long sucks,” she said, hopping down. “At least we can see if I can fly, now.”

“How long do you want to try for?” Carter asked.

“I don’t know,” Dash responded. “As long as possible, if that’s alright with you.”

“Sounds good to me,” Carter said, walking toward the front door.

“Have fun, you two!” Moira called, watching with a smile from the doorway of the back room.

“Don’t worry, she will,” he replied, shaking his head. Hopefully this doesn’t take too long.

The trip to the front gate was uneventful, thankfully. There were few enough people out that Dash didn’t need to use a Stealth Boy, although the sheriff did give him a funny look as they passed by.

Dash, as it turned out, was actually able to fly. It was noticeably difficult for her, however, as she had to strain to stay in the air. After only a few minutes, she had tired out enough that she had to take a break. It made sense. Her wing – and especially her side – were still recovering, so most of her energy was probably being used up by that.

Their trip back was similarly uneventful. When they arrived, Moira was sitting in the chair Carter had been earlier. She glanced over at them as she heard the door open, and smiled. “So, how did it go?” she asked, curious.

“Well, I was able to get up in the air, at least,” Dash responded, irritated. She sighed. “At least I was able to stay like that for a few minutes. I’m still not happy about it, but at least I can fly.”

Moira beamed. “That’s great!” she said. “Soon enough, you’ll be up in the air and flying with no difficulty in no time!”

With a small smile and a shake of her head, Dash said, “Well, I’ve already seen what Stimpaks and stuff can do, and how much I’ve already healed since... you know. May as well keep up a positive attitude.”

“That’s the spirit,” Carter said.

He looked over at Moira and frowned. It's now or never.

"So, Moira. I have something... kind of important that I wanted to ask you about," he said, uncertainty clear in his voice.

She gave him a soft smile. "Well, you don't need to wait for my permission. Go ahead and ask!" she replied.

"What are your thoughts on me traveling to the Mojave and helping out the people there?"

She frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but he continued before she could say anything. "I've never heard a good thing said about Caesar's Legion. Granted, my information is from years ago, but that doesn't mean I think they've changed."

"Carter..."

He continued. "Just because that Courier helped them take over the Mojave doesn't mean she's in a position of power. Considering what I've heard of how the Legion treats females, what Anthony told us – about Caesar making her his new Legate – is the stupidest thing I've heard today.

"I'd rather go there and see if and where I can help, than to just stay here while people keep suffering."

Moira crossed her arms and tapped her foot, giving him an impatient look. He sighed. "I'm done now."

She smiled at him. "You know, you didn't have to go into that long-winded speech about it. I was going to say that I'm fine with it." With a chuckle, she said, "I know how you are when it comes to helping others, and it would be wrong of me to tell you to stay here."

She gave him a mock frown and said, "Just make sure to actually come back, alright?"

He hugged her. "Don't worry, I will."

After a few moments, they pulled apart.

"I assume I'm going with you?" Dash asked, raising an eyebrow.

Moira and Carter looked at each other. "I don't see why not," he said with a grin. "I could always use the extra help."

Dash nodded, and gave them both a tired smile. "Well, in that case, I'm going to bed. See ya."

"Sleep well!" he called after her as she walked off. Looking over at Moira, he gave her another hug and said, "Good night. I'll see you in the morning."

Giggling, she smiled up at him. "Good night."

She sighed. "I'll miss you when you're gone."

He sighed. "I'll miss you, too."

Chapter 8 - Long Haul

June 19, 2017

“I’m sorry, could you repeat the question?”

Anthony looked at Carter in astonishment. He didn’t believe that he had misunderstood what Carter had said, but he wanted to be absolutely certain he had actually heard him correctly.

Carter chuckled. “I asked if it would be alright for me to travel with you to the Mojave.”

Anthony stayed there, stunned for a few moments longer. Shaking his head, he smiled, enthusiasm visible on his face. “I would absolutely love for you to accompany me! I was simply surprised by your request is all.” With a sigh, he said, “It’s not every day that the defender of the Capital Wasteland asks to travel with your small caravan, after all!”

He turned, and added under his breath, “And it will hopefully repel any raiders who happen to come across us.”

Carter just smirked, seemingly amused. Anthony could see the traces of doubt in his eyes, however. While Carter’s suspicions were warranted – Anthony had given away more information than he had meant to in their conversation last night – he was still making it fairly obvious that he didn’t entirely trust Anthony. Let’s hope he doesn’t think too much about it.

Carter tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. “Anyway, when do you think we’ll be leaving?” he asked. It seemed he wanted to be leaving sooner rather than later, if his impatient shifting was anything to go by.

“If it is alright with you, I would prefer to leave now. I’m assuming you’ve said your goodbyes, and gotten whatever equipment you believe you’ll need?” Anthony gave him a sheepish grin. At Carter’s nod, he continued. “The sooner we can get back to the Mojave, the better. I don’t want to keep my employers waiting for too long.”

“That makes sense to me,” Carter responded. He paused, hesitating, as if debating with himself on whether to say something or not.

Anthony tilted his head and waited. The silence was dragging on enough by the time Carter spoke up again that Anthony was beginning to suspect something was amiss. His thoughts were quickly eased, however, by Carter’s next words.

“Before we leave, I have something fairly important that I need to show you,” he said, looking around. “I wanted to wait until I got your response before doing so, but now that you’ve agreed...”

Anthony gave him a small smile. “I think I may know what you’re talking about. Please, do continue.”

Carter raised an eyebrow, but shook his head and looked to Anthony’s right. Anthony followed the motion and caught the last glimpses of the invisibility field of a Stealth Boy fade away.

He stared at the pegasus standing there, taking in as much detail as possible. She was holding a Stealth Boy in her right hoof, which had quite oddly provided her complete invisibility. Another oddity was the Pip-Boy wrapped around her left foreleg, the screen set to display her current status. Considering those devices are built for humans, I’d be surprised if she’s even able to get the thing to work for her.

Shaking his head and disregarding the equipment for a later time, he studied her coloration and anatomy more closely. Her coat, as well as the wings nestled on her back, was a shade of blue that reminded him far too much of the sky in the Mojave. A mane in all the colors of the rainbow cascaded down her head and neck, although at the moment it was cut somewhat short and haphazardly. Although he couldn’t see it from his current position, he assumed she had a tail of a similar coloration.

Her armor was perhaps the most interesting thing. A suit of combat armor covered her entire body, with her face and wings being the only parts exposed. An assault rifle lay on her back, resting in between her wings, and a .44 magnum revolver was holstered on her side. The armor – and, now that he thought about it, the weapons as well – appeared to have been modified to fit with the anatomy of the pegasus. Perhaps I underestimated Moira’s abilities, he thought, interested.

The final points of interest were the injury on her left wing and the tattered white cloth wrapped around her right foreleg. The injury appeared to have been recent, as some skin was still visible underneath the newly-grown feathers, but he wasn’t going to press matters by asking. As for the cloth, he could not for life of him figure out what its purpose was, so he dismissed it as unimportant.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a pegasus before,” Anthony said, intrigued. “At least, one that was not within the pages of a comic book.”

Carter raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. “You’re surprisingly calm about all this. Mind telling us why?”

Anthony blinked, pausing for a moment, then chuckled. “Ah yes, that would definitely be a good idea.”

Shaking his head, he said, “It’s very simple, really. I saw her in the back room as I entered. I wasn’t able to get a good enough look before she ducked back around the corner, but it was enough for me to recognize her again today.”

Carter wasn’t buying it. “If you saw her, why didn’t you bring it up? Seems like something that would be pretty important to bring to Moira’s or my attention.”

Looking away, Anthony said, “I didn’t know if I was imagining it or not. It was rather... out of the ordinary, even for a place like the Capital Wasteland. You can never be sure if you mind is playing tricks on you, right?”

Carter reluctantly nodded. “I get your point,” he said, sighing. “Just try to make sure that something like that doesn’t happen again. If you see something, you need to let one of us know, alright?”

“I will certainly do my best to,” Anthony replied, a small smile on his face.

Clearing his throat, he said, “Well then, shall we begin this expedition?”

Carter and Dash looked at each other, then as one nodded at Anthony. His smile returned, and he motioned for them to follow him.

Things are going better than I expected. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Six grueling weeks had passed. According to Carter’s map, they had crossed a majority of whatever remained of this country, but Dash was beginning to get impatient. Six weeks spent with the same two people would get on anyone’s nerves, no matter the place. It didn’t help that one of them had blatantly lied about having seen her.

Carter’s response when she had brought that fact up hadn’t been the most encouraging. “I know,” he had said with a sigh, “but he’s our best bet for getting to the Mojave. We’ll just have to put up with him until then.” She shook her head, annoyed.

The three of them had talked more near the beginning of the trip, when Anthony still had things to tell them about the Mojave, but they had quickly exhausted all of those. For the remainder of their trek, they had for the most part stayed silent, only speaking when something new came to mind.

Oddly enough, the world around them had also stayed silent. Even though the long, broken road they had traveled along to get this far had had dense vegetation all along the sides, no person or animal had tried to attack them. From what Dash could remember, she hadn’t even seen any living beings anywhere near the road. Either they got lucky, which she doubted, or the residents of those areas avoided it. But why would they?

Anthony spoke from up ahead, bringing Dash’s attention back to the present. “This area looks familiar,” he said, looking around. He glanced over at Carter. “Can you bring up the map on your Pip-Boy? I would like to check on something.”

“Sure,” Carter responded, raising his Pip-Boy to eye level and navigating through the menus. When he reached the map, he blinked.

For a moment, he stood there, staring at the screen. Confused, he looked up at Anthony and said, “The entire area is lit up, as if I’ve been here before. Why?”

Anthony laughed, and gave Carter a large grin. “There’s a radio tower nearby that downloads the regional map to your Pip-Boy. It was specifically put here to allow merchants to navigate this area easier.” He chuckled. “Of course, that means that most merchants have to travel with a Pip-Boy owner, and they’re quite rare these days, but it’s much easier to navigate once you’re out of this area.”

Carter looked back down at the map and searched for the name of the area. “Zion Valley?” he asked. “Isn’t that in southern Utah?”

Nodding, Anthony said, “Indeed it is! In this valley is one of only two ways to get to the Mojave. Thankfully, the radio tower also marked out a path for us to follow, both in Zion and the canyons leading to the Mojave. We should be able to make it there with minimal difficulty.”

Carter nodded, and they continued onward. The conversation lulled yet again, and Dash found herself becoming increasingly annoyed at their slow progress. As she was about to speak her mind, however, a low hum caught her attention.

Her ears perked up and she looked around, trying to pinpoint the direction the noise was coming from. By that point, it seemed that Anthony and Carter had heard it as well, as their progress slowed to a stop. Anthony in particular seemed alarmed, as he crouched down and motioned for them to do the same.

When they complied, he turned to look at them and said, “That buzzing is the wings of Cazadores, wasp-like creatures that are the size of a man.” He shuddered. “One sting is enough to kill someone if they don’t have any antivenom handy, and if a swarm attacks you, you’re as good as dead.”

Dash recoiled, alarmed. If they were as big as Carter or Anthony, they would be giants compared to her. She shook her head and frowned. While she continued idly listening to Carter and Anthony talk in the background, she focused her attention on the noise, making sure it didn’t get any closer than it already was. She was sure the two were doing the same thing, but it was better to keep a dedicated watch either way.

“I don’t remember there being a swarm this close to the path when I last traveled this way,” Anthony said, sighing. “We will have to fight our way past them if we want to get out of here unscathed.”

“How many do you think there are?” Carter asked, assault rifle held at the ready.

Dash responded before Anthony could. “I think there are only four or five, but there might be more.” She looked at them and frowned. “It’s kind of hard to tell their buzzing apart.”

“No worries at all,” Anthony responded, eyebrows raised and a small smile on his face. “That gives us a definite tactical advantage, since we now know how many each of us will have to face, assuming the worst and that there are indeed five.”

The plan they came up with was relatively simple. Dash would distract them by flying past them, drawing their attention in the opposite direction. When they turned their attention to her, Carter and Anthony would burst around the corner and gun down whatever survivors there were. It probably wasn’t the most efficient course of action, but it was the only one they were able to come up with limited time and resources.

They looked at each other and nodded. Dash flew up and hovered for a few moments. Grinning from both anxiousness and excitement, she darted along the road, passing by the Cazadores – which, by the looks of it, had indeed noticed and focused on her. All five of them were trailing behind her, although quickly falling behind despite what seemed to be their best efforts.

Their relatively slow speed ended up being their downfall, as Carter and Anthony followed close behind her. Bringing their weapons’ sights up, they unloaded everything they had at the Cazadores. Dash saw the motion as she looked back, and she flew directly up, out of the way of the incoming hail of bullets.

There wasn’t much left to be seen once the two of them had emptied their weapons. All five of the Cazadores lay on the ground, either dead or twitching. It seemed these five were the only ones, as well, since the buzzing had completely stopped.

Dash flew down and landed next to Carter, breathing a sigh of relief and wiping sweat from her forehead. She slowly sat down and let the adrenaline work its way out of her system. I think that’s enough excitement for today.

Anthony cracked a grin. “I’ll admit, we did better than I thought we would.” Shaking his head, he said, “Cazadores are usually much more difficult to deal with. I’m glad you were here to help us...”

He trailed off. Suddenly, he winced and chuckled awkwardly. “Oh my, I seem to have forgotten to ask your name.”

“Rainbow Dash,” she said, smirking at him.

He raised an eyebrow and said, “Well, that’s certainly fitting. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Rainbow Dash, and I thank you for the help you’ve provided us.” Looking away, he grimaced. “Let’s hope it isn’t needed to this magnitude anytime soon.”

Dash jerked her head up as she heard footsteps coming there way. Looking down the trail that lead further into Zion Valley, she saw five men walking toward them.

Carter apparently recognized them, as he cursed under his breath. “Legion soldiers,” he said, readying his weapon.

Anthony put a hand out, as if to stop him, but Carter shook his head. “I won’t raise it or fire unless things go poorly. Just trust me.” Reluctantly, Anthony backed away.

It was easy to tell the leader apart from the rest of the small group. He walked with an air of dignity that seemed out of place next to his four subordinates. His armor also looked like it was the highest quality of the five, although that wasn’t saying much considering it appeared to be made from a mishmash of armor and sports equipment.

The Legion soldiers continued to walk closer until they were approximately ten paces away. As one, the leader stepped forward and the other four stepped back.

“Vulpes Inculta,” Carter said, speaking before Vulpes could open his mouth. “What do you want from us?”

Frowning slightly and shaking his head, Vulpes replied, “Come now, Carter Thompson. There is no need for this hostility. I simply believed it wise to congratulate you three on a well-earned victory.”

He turned toward Anthony and smirked. “You have especially proven your worth, Antonius.”

Chapter 9 - Outlander

June 26, 2017

Anthony – or, according to what Vulpes has just called him, Antonius – stalked toward Inculta.

He stopped a few steps away and scowled at him. “Vulpes,” he said, anger dripping from his voice. “First you travel into Zion Valley against Caesar’s orders, then you have the gall to reveal my identity to these two?” He motioned toward Carter and Dash. “Some Frumentarii you are, if you can’t keep sensitive information hidden.”

“Watch your tongue,” Vulpes replied, holding his ground and glaring back at Antonius. “You may be my successor, but that does not give you the right to talk to me as if I were your inferior. If Caesar were here in my place, would you still be so bold?”

Antonius blanched and took a step back. “Of course not!” he said, appropriately horrified at the thought of disrespecting Caesar. “That does not mean I should not call you out on such an idiotic idea,” he continued, quickly regaining his composure.

Vulpes sighed. “I am not worried about the tribals, if that is what you are thinking. The contingent I have under my command may be small, but they should be able to take care of any we happen to run across.”

Shaking his head, Antonius sighed. “You’re not worried, Vulpes? If you don’t recall correctly, they know the lay of the land better than any of us could hope to. Even though our weaponry is better than theirs, you have with you...” He paused, counting the men behind Vulpes, and recoiled. “You have with you only four recently-recruited Legionaries. How is it, then, that we have the advantage?”

“Do not blame me for the incompetence of our military leaders,” Vulpes said. “Silus sent us here with an undermanned squad, and he did so despite Caesar’s orders to the contrary. If you wish to argue, bring up the matter with him. I’m certain he’ll be happy to talk it over with you.”

Dash leaned over and whispered to Carter, “how long do you think they’ll keep going?”

He shrugged. “I dunno.” Looking around, he said, “We should probably get their attention if we want to keep moving, though. I don’t like the thought of going through this place alone, even if they are Legion.” She reluctantly nodded.

Carter stepped forward and cleared his throat. “I hate to break up this little reunion,” he cut in, glaring at Vulpes and Antonius, “but we’re not exactly in the mood to stand around all day, waiting for you two to finish arguing.”

Vulpes raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at Carter. “Ah yes, Carter Thompson.” He chuckled. “Defender of the Capital Wasteland. Lone Wanderer. Messiah.” He spat the last word with contempt.

“We all know why you are here,” he said, “and yet you have not attacked. Do tell us why.”

Carter hummed. “Let me count the reasons,” he said, bringing his hand up to his chin in mock contemplation. “I think I’ll start with the weapons. One of your men has an anti-materiel rifle strapped to his back, two have what appear to be assault rifles, and the fourth has a shotgun of some kind. That’s not to mention whatever weapons you and Antonius are carrying.”

He glanced at Dash. “On the other hand, I have an assault rifle and Dash has a .44 magnum revolver. And, even if I were able to fire off an entire magazine of this thing, it only has enough bullets to kill two or three of you before you return the favor.” Giving Vulpes a mocking smile, he said, “Not exactly the best odds, wouldn’t you agree?”

“First hostility, and now sarcasm,” Vulpes said, smirking. “You are not making a very good first impression, Carter Thompson.”

Carter shrugged. “I figured I may as well dig myself deeper, seeing as you haven’t already condemned me to being hung up on a telephone pole.”

He slung his assault rifle back over his shoulder and sighed. “So, you obviously came here for a reason. Mind filling us in on that?”

Inculta nodded. “Almost from the beginning of your journey, Antonius has been relaying information to us through the use of Legion members stationed along the road you traveled. In the time it has taken you to reach this place, all the highest-ranking members of Caesar’s Legion have learned of you and your exploits, as well as what you initially intended to do once you arrived.”

He scowled. “That has not stopped them from taking an interest in you, however. I am here bearing an invitation from Caesar. The two, or rather three, of you will meet in the Lucky 38 casino on the New Vegas Strip.”

Carter sighed. “And what happens if I refuse?” he asked, although he already knew what the probably answer was.

“There are three possibilities,” Vulpes replied. “The first is that you would be killed right here, right now, leaving your dear wife Moira behind, wondering what happened to you, despairing that you will never return home.”

He smirked. “The second is, as you mentioned, for us to crucify you, which would be quite the fitting end for one who has been labeled Messiah by the people of the Capital Wasteland. And the final is that you would be made into one of the Legion’s numerous slaves, spirit broken, toiling away endlessly and longing for a death that will come far too late.”

He turned his head and gazed at Dash. “As for the... pony you have become such fast friends with, she would simply be killed.” Her eyes widened and she took a step back.

Chuckling at her reaction, he said, “Antonius’ messages made it quite clear that she has an unbreakable spirit, and an insurmountable temper. Those wings of hers are also functional, if he is to be believed, meaning she could fly off at any time she so wished.”

He shook his head. “No, it would be much easier for all of us if you simply complied, Carter. No harm will come of you in your meeting with Caesar unless you deliberately cause unrest, and I believe you are smart enough to know when it is a poor choice to do so.”

Carter sighed and looked down at Dash. “Seems like we don’t have much of a choice, huh?” She nodded, agitated.

He looked back up at Vulpes, glaring. “Fine, we’ll go with you.”

“I’m glad you can see reason,” Vulpes said, nodding. He motioned for them to follow him. “Come along.”

Dash didn’t enjoy the silence. She didn’t enjoy the constant unease from being surrounded by people who could become hostile at the drop of a hat. She didn’t enjoy being helpless, unable to do anything other than walk silently toward what would probably be their doom. If I try to leave, to fly out of here and get help, they’ll just kill me. And besides, I don’t even know where to look for help in the first place! She shook her head.

After a few more minutes of walking in silence, she stepped a bit closer to Carter. “This feels like a trap,” she said quietly, ears flat against her head. She glanced around at the Legionaries surrounding them. “I mean, doesn’t it seem too easy? You come here to take care of the Legion, and all of a sudden you get invited to go see their boss?” She shook her head. “I don’t like it.”

He nodded in agreement. “Well, we both know that we don’t have much of a choice. I figure if we play our cards right, we can just get in there, hear whatever Caesar wants to tell us, then get out before anything bad can happen.” He sighed. “I’m sorry for dragging you into thing mess.”

She thumped a hoof against his leg. “Really?” she said, glaring up at him. “I came along because I wanted to, remember? And besides, it’s not like you knew this would happen. You aren’t a time traveler, and you aren’t cruel.”

He chuckled. “It would be really useful right about now if I were, though, wouldn’t it? A time traveler, I mean.” Shaking his head, he said, “You’re right, though. No point in worrying about the past. Let’s just keep focused on what’s going on right now, and try to survive this.”

Dash nodded and scanned the surroundings. They were almost out of Zion Valley according to the map on Carter’s Pip-Boy. Up ahead, she spotted a gap in the rock face not too far from where they were. We’re almost there.

Her eyes widened as she thought of something else, something very important. We haven’t seen anything since we got past those Cazadores.

She turned her head this way and that, searching for places where an ambush could be sprung, and found that they were right in the middle of all of them. Although she wasn’t sure is he could be trusted or not, Antonius had certainly sounded like he knew what he was talking about when he said the tribals knew the land better than they did.

A slight rustling in the bushes up and to her right caused her ears to perk up, and she whipped her head in that direction. There was nothing there, at least as far as she could see. Am I being paranoid? she thought, frowning and looking down at the ground in front of her.

She took a few deep breaths to calm herself, but even then she was still slightly on edge. she glanced over at Carter, who noticed her looking and gave her a reassuring smile. She gratefully returned it.

Up ahead, Vulpes raised a hand and stopped, the entire procession stopping after him. He looked around, his eyes narrowed, searching for something.

Motion from the corner of Dash’s eye caught her attention, and she turned to look. Standing there, and holding a rifle that looked worryingly like the anti-materiel rifle on the back of the Legion soldier, was a tribal. She tensed up as she realized he was aiming it directly at her, and took a step away from him.

Looking around, she saw that they were completely surrounded.

There were about eight tribals in all, each occupying an advantageous position. Two had appeared from up ahead, having apparently hidden just out of sight against the edge of the cliff. Two more had come up from behind to block off any possible escape, although that was a greater precaution than was probably needed. The final four were situation on elevated positions which would allow them to snipe down at anyone who tried to fight back or flee. Yeah, I was definitely being paranoid, but apparently not without reason! Dash thought, her ears pressed against her head.

A few tense moments passed, nobody daring to move or speak.

Suddenly, a third tribal appeared over the ridge behind them. He wasn’t carrying any weapons that Dash could see, and he appeared to have been running a good distance, if his somewhat fatigued expression was anything to go by. He slowed considerably as he neared the group, and came to a complete stop far enough away to still be safe from anyone trying to grab him.

“You should not be here,” he said, glaring at each of the Legion members in turn. Motioning to the tribals near him, he said, “They will escort you to the Mojave, but it would be for the best if you did not return.” He frowned. “If you are foolish enough to come through here again, however, do not expect us to be so friendly.”

“I find it interesting how different your and your tribals’ attitudes are compared to the last time we were here, Follows-Chalk,” Vulpes said, glaring back at him. “If I recall, you directly attacked up without provocation, and took out a good number of our men before we fought you off.”

“You are lucky you are in the company of someone important, Inculta. Otherwise, you would all be dead.” He scowled. “And do not try to play innocent. We know what your people have done to us in the past, and what you have had others do in your place. We do not let go of offenses like that easily.”

Vulpes shook his head. “Well, if it is Carter you wish to speak with, I am not stopping you.”

Snorting, Follows-Chalk turned to look at Carter. “I need you to come with me,” he said. “Joshua Graham has an important message for you, and he sent me to bring you to him.”

Carter frowned and sighed. “Sorry... Follows-Chalk, but I don’t know who that is.” Vulpes chuckled, apparently amused by his ignorance, but Carter ignored him.

Follows-Chalk looked surprised for a moment, but quickly shook his head. “That makes a good amount of sense. You are not from around here, after all. Suffice to say, he is a very important man who has helped out our tribe many times. If not for him and one other, we would have been wiped out.”

Shaking his head again, he said, “But that is not important right now. What is important is that I get you to Joshua.”

Carter hesitated for only a moment before saying, “Fine, I’ll go with you and talk to him.”

Follows-Chalk’s face lit up. “Oh, good! I was worried for a second there that you would not accept his invitation,” he said, chuckling. “I don’t know how he would have reacted if you had said no.” He motioned for Carter to follow him. “Come along, we should not keep him waiting much longer!”

Dash watched as Carter walked off, growing steadily more uneasy at the thought of being left alone with the Legion. She took a quick look around, trying to gauge how the others would react. Seeing that they were more focused on each other than on her, she flew over to Carter and Follows-Chalk.

“I’m coming with you,” she said, looking back at the two groups. They were still focused on each other, as if the three of them didn’t exist.

“So you talk,” Follows-Chalk said, blinking in surprise. He tilted his head and frowned. “I do not know if that is a good idea. We have no way of knowing how Joshua will react when he sees or hears you. He is only expecting Carter, after all.”

She sighed. “Think of it from my perspective,” she said, frowning. “I don’t know any of them, and I don’t know you. I don’t know if you’ll try something when you two are out of sight, or what they will do once they’re alone. All I know is that I don’t like it, so I’m going to stay with the one person I do know. Okay?”

He nodded, then shrugged. “That makes sense to me. And besides, there is not much I can do to stop you.” He turned and began walking, Carter and Dash following close behind.

Dash took one last look back at the scene behind them, an ambush for all but the two of them.

“You know that won’t end well, right?” she asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked back at Follows-Chalk.

He sighed. “Yes, I do. Even though my tribe members are good warriors, they will not hesitate to kill if one of the Legionaries does something they consider out of line. By the time we find them again, I expect one of the two groups will be dead.”

Carter gave Follows-Chalk a small smile. “So, can you tell us anything else about Joshua Graham?” he asked, diverting the conversation away from that topic. Considering we’re going back in the direction we came from, we may as well do something to pass the time.”

“Yes, that is a good idea,” Follows-Chalk said, nodding.

And so, he told them.

He told them of Joshua Graham, and how his growing unrest with the White Legs attacks and his own inner demons had brought him to a tipping point. He told them of the one known as Claire, who had arrived in Zion Valley with a doomed caravan, fought off the White Legs ambush, and met with Joshua. He told them of how she almost single-handedly saved the Sorrows and Dead Horses from having to leave Zion, or worse, being completely wiped out. He told them of how she calmed Joshua’s inner fire, having convinced him to spare the White Legs’ leader, and how much he changed as a result.

“For a time afterward, she stayed behind and helped us rebuild.” Follows-Chalk chuckled. “Of course, she eventually had to go back to her own home, the Mojave, and finish up her business there.”

He sighed. “Sometimes I wish I had followed her, but I am glad that I stayed with my tribe.”

“Thank you for telling us,” Carter said, frowning down at the ground, “but that seemed to be more about Claire than Graham. I assume that’s because their stories are closely intertwined?”

Follows-Chalk paused. “Yes, that is correct. For the most part, since her visit, Graham has simply worked as a protector. He stepped down as our war chief a few months after she left, and had me take his place.”

“Wait, you’re the war chief of your tribe?” Dash tilted her head, interested.

Follows-Chalk blinked and turned to look at Dash. “That is what I just said, is it not?” She looked away, somewhat embarrassed, and he chuckled. “To answer your question, yes I am. With Joshua’s assistance, I have been leading our tribe as well as I can for the past thirteen years.”

He looked back in front of him and smiled. “We are nearly there!” he said, stepping into the water in the base of the valley. “It seems we have been talking longer than I thought.” He chuckled. “We are very close to camp now. It is just through this passage up ahead.”

The next few minutes passed in near-silence. The only sounds were Follows-Chalk and Carter slogging through the water, and Dash’s soft wingbeats as she flew above them.

The quiet was finally broken by a sigh from Dash. Carter looked up to see her lazily flying on her back, following the general path. “You know,” she said, smirking, “it’s actually kinda sad you two can’t fly. It would make this trip so much quicker, and easier too.”

He chuckled. “Well, I don’t plan on mutating and growing wings any time soon. Thanks for the thought, though.”

She shrugged, and they continued on.

Not much later, they rounded the final corner and came upon the small camp that was apparently set up by the Dead Horses tribe. There wasn’t much to be seen, really: tents lined the edge of the water, and they seemed to surround the mouth of a cave.

“There it is!” Follows-Chalk said, smiling.

As they neared the cave entrance, Follows-Chalk stopped. “This is as far as I will go, for now,” he said, smiling. “I will be waiting here for you when you are finished talking to Joshua. You should be able to find your way around easily enough once you get inside.”

He hesitated for a moment, frowning. “I still do not know what Joshua will think of you,” he said, looking at Dash. “I know he will not do anything too drastic, but he may react with surprise or shock when he sees you. Just as a warning.”

Dash chuckled. “If he is, I wouldn’t be surprised. He definitely wouldn’t be the first. And besides,” she said, a grin on her face, “it’s nice meeting new people, especially ones who don’t threaten to kill you!”

“That is the spirit!” Follows-Chalk said, smiling. “Now, go on!”

Dash and Carter turned to each other and nodded. They both took a deep breath and stepped inside.

Chapter 10 - Inner Fires

July 3, 2017

Joshua Graham sat waiting in the cavern at the end of Angel Cave.

For the past few hours, he had been examining the .45 Automatic pistols strewn across his workbench, checking for any flaws or deformities that might cause them to malfunction in the heat of battle. Over the years that he had been doing this, he had found very few that failed his inspection, but it was always best to be sure that the weapons in the hands of your soldiers would not fail at a critical moment.

While the task was monotonous, and at times thankless, he continued with it anyway. After all, he had the time to spare. Follows-Chalk was the current war chief of the Dead Horses, passed on to him from Graham only months after Claire left Zion Valley, so Graham found himself doing much less in the daily lives of the tribals than he had previously.

They still respected him, of course. In fact, some even worshiped him as a deity. While he had tried multiple times to quash such notions, they always found a way to spring back up, each new group more invigorated than the last had been. It was irritating at the best of times, and downright infuriating at the worst. He never let it show, at least not openly, but his disappointment in them was clear to those who knew him well.

He focused his attention back on his work, despite knowing he would soon be interrupted. Zion had recently received two new visitors by the names of Carter Thompson and Rainbow Dash. The Dead Horses scouts stationed close enough to hear the conversation between them and Vulpes Inculta had been clear: they had been invited to meet with Caesar. Whether it was the same man he had served under or not, Graham could not be sure, but he intended to use them as messengers either way.

Less than an hour ago, he had made a request to Follows-Chalk: that he and an eight-man band of Dead Horses ambush the Legion party escorting Carter and Rainbow Dash through Zion and have the two brought back to him. He did not know how Follows-Chalk had gone about doing so, but Graham was almost certain that he would succeed. As he had taken a back seat to leading the Dead Horses, it was Follows-Chalk’s strategies, not Graham’s, that had helped the Dead Horses defeat many of their enemies in recent years. This would be no different.

Motion from the entrance caught his eye, but he did not look up immediately, instead opting to finish examining the pistol he currently had in his hands. It wasn’t difficult for him to tell who was there, however. Although he only saw them in his peripheral vision, the oddly-colored coat and mane of Rainbow Dash stood out against the darker colors surrounding her, even if they were matted and marred by dirt and dust.

He set the pistol down and looked up at them. They simply stood there, watching him, likely examining the bandages that covered his body from head to foot. They would not be the first, he thought, chuckling to himself.

“So, you’ve finally arrived,” he said. “I hope your first impressions of Zion were not too poor.”

“The Valley itself is fine,” Carter said, frowning. “I’m not too sure about the people in it, though. The Legion I won’t count against it, but the Dead Horses ambush wasn’t exactly appreciated.”

Graham sighed and said, “While I apologize on behalf of the Dead Horses who ambushed you, I did not command them to do so. I do not believe they would have actually attacked, unless you tried to, but if you wish to talk to someone about it, speak with Follows-Chalk.”

Turning to look at Carter, he said, “Either way, I assume you would like to know why I had the two of you brought here?” Carter nodded in response, so he continued. “The Dead Horses scouts Follows-Chalk has stationed throughout Zion Valley overheard the... offer Inculta gave you.” He chuckled. “It certainly seemed more like you were captives than guests.”

He paused for a moment, then said, “Before giving you my request, I must first ask you, what do you know of my past? Specifically, in regard to Caesar’s Legion?”

Carter raised an eyebrow. “Follows-Chalk told us enough to know that you and Caesar have a rather complicated history together. You used to be the ‘Malpais Legate’ before the First Battle of Hoover Dam, right?”

Graham nodded. “And after Caesar failed to kill me, he began sending his Frumentarii to make up for his mistake. Despite their best efforts, none of them managed it.”

He narrowed his eyes. “However, only a year or two after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, the sightings of Legionaries in and around Zion Valley slowed to a trickle, and even more recently, stopped almost entirely. In fact, before today, the most recent intrusion within the Valley itself was the guards escorting Antonius through.”

He glanced to the side, thinking, before slowly turning back to gaze at them both. “I want you two to be my messengers to Caesar.”

Carter opened his mouth to speak, but Graham raised a hand, not wanting to be interrupted. “If he himself is still there, leading his Legion, it would be best if you did not say anything about me,” he said, shaking his head once as emphasis. “You do not want to face the same consequences as those who have spoken my name around him before. If there is indeed a new person on his throne, however, I want you to tell them that as long as they do not invade Dead Horses or Sorrows territory, we will keep out of the Mojave and the affairs that occur within.”

Silence fell, and after a few moments, Carter took the opportunity to speak. “I have a few other questions, since you answered that one,” he said. At Graham’s nod, he continued. “Why didn’t you go down there and tell us yourself, or have Follows-Chalk tell us?” He frowned. “For that matter, why tell us? Why not send the message through Antonius or Vulpes, who know whoever the leader is better?”

“That is the exact reason,” Graham said, looking at Carter with the slightest hint of annoyance. “They are obviously close to this leader, and they therefore know where his resolve is weak. The two of them would be able to twist my words in such a way as to make them appear as a threat, and play off the leader’s fears. That is also why I requested for Follows-Chalk to bring you here, rather than having him tell you there.” He shook his head. “I do not want to take that kind of risk, to bring my mistakes down on the heads of the Dead Horses and Sorrows again.”

With a sigh, he said, “The reason I did not go myself is a matter of security for the tribe, as well as personal safety. While I have survived much, if something were to happen and the Dead Horses saw me fall in battle, their resolve would be broken. I could not allow that to happen, so I stayed behind.”

Dash looked at Carter out of the corner of her eye. She glanced around the room, frowning, before turning back to Graham. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself and said, “I’ll help.”

He nodded, appreciating her willingness, and turned to Carter. “And you?” Graham asked, watching him.

Carter hesitated. Eventually, he sighed. “We’ll deliver the message for you,” he said, giving Graham a look of finality.

“Good,” Graham said, nodding again. “Follows-Chalk will guide you back to the cave that leads to the Mojave Wasteland. After that, you will have to fend for yourselves as you travel through the canyons that bridge Zion and the Mojave.”

Carter gave him a small smile. As he turned away, he paused and said, “Thank you for having us.”

Graham nodded, and focused back on his work. Before they had left his sight, he glanced up one last time and said, “God be with you.”

Follows-Chalk’s face lit up as he saw them exit Angel Cave. “Ah, you are back!” he said enthusiastically. “How did your meeting with Graham go?”

“As well as could be expected,” Carter responded, chuckling.

“Can we get going now?” Dash piped up, looking around. “I don’t really like it here.”

Follows-Chalk looked disappointed for a moment, but he shook his head soon after. “Yes, we can,” he said, turning. “I will lead you back to where the ambush took place.”

Their return trip was spent in silence, as the end part of their trip to the Dead Horses camp had been; the only noise they made was the sound of their movement. There was not much to discuss, after all, and they had already said all they wanted to say.

As they walked – or flew, in Dash’s case – Carter reflected on what Graham had asked of them. On the surface, it was a simple task: bring a message from one person to another. Deeper down, however, it was much more dangerous than it seemed, due to factors outside their control. For instance, if Caesar was still leading his Legion, their lives would be in great peril even if they didn’t mention Graham.

Even if it isn’t Caesar himself, we won’t be much better off, Carter thought, shaking his head. Anyone who would lead the Legion probably isn’t right in the head.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up to see what it was, but all he saw was Follows-Chalk, who had come to a stop. Carter looked around and blinked in surprise as he realized they were back where the ambush had taken place. He looked back at Follows-Chalk and noticed that he was searching for something, but didn’t seem to be having any luck finding it.

“What are you looking for?” Carter asked, walking up beside him. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

Follows-Chalk shook his head. “It is nothing,” he said, frowning. “I just thought the fighting would have occurred around here.” He glanced at Carter. “I will travel with you through the cave. I will not go farther, though, and if we do not find them...” He sighed, trailing off. “If we do not find them, I will return to camp and hope for their safe return.”

“Alright, if that’s what you want to do,” Carter said, giving him a reassuring smile. Nodding, Follows-Chalk returned the smile and continued onward, Dash and Carter following close behind.

The cave leading to the Mojave was a maze of twists and turns. Follows-Chalk had never been through it before, doing his best to stay within the valley itself and only traveling near the entrance when he had to, and so they quickly got lost. Even the machine on Carter’s arm was of no use, as the map of Zion given by the radio tower did not extend to the cave or the canyons beyond. Therefore, they were forced to go in blind and manually find their way through.

At times, Follows-Chalk couldn’t tell who was guiding whom. While he tried to take the lead many times, it was Carter who was more experience at traveling, and so he found himself following more often than leading. For the most part, he was alright with it – it was almost always better to let those with more experience in something handle it – but he did find himself getting annoyed from time to time. Am I not supposed to be the guide? he thought, frowning.

He looked down and began studying the ground in front of him, watching for anything out of the ordinary. He made sure to glance up every once in a while to make sure he did not run into Carter or Rainbow Dash, but that was not his main focus. Rather, he was keeping a lookout for anything that might indicate a fight, specifically watching for blood that had recently been spilled. That would be all the confirmation he needed that something had gone wrong.

It didn’t take him long to find something, and it seemed he was not the only one to notice. There was indeed blood on the ground, smeared in a trail that lead into one of the side corridors. Near the entrance to it, Carter had stopped as he waited for Follows-Chalk to catch up. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was trying her best to avoid looking at it, or even acknowledging it was there, as she flew above it. She is lucky to have wings, Follows-Chalk thought as he caught up to them.

The three of them looked at each other for a moment, then nodded and followed the blood, trying to find out where and what it lead to. As they traveled further into the cave branch, Follows-Chalk became more and more concerned about what they would find. No matter what they saw, it would not be good.

As one, they turned the final corner and stopped, staring at the grisly sight in front of them. All eight of the Dead Horses and three of the Legionaries were piled there, with no care for how they were placed. Follows-Chalk gaped at it, not fully comprehending what he was seeing.

“Not since the White Legs attacked us have I seen something like this,” he said, shuddering and turning away.

“You’re lucky, then,” Carter said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “If you lived in the Capital Wasteland – or the Mojave, if this is any indication – this would be a pretty common sight.”

Follows-Chalk shook his head. “Well, I thank you for letting me come here with you.” He sighed. “Once I have seen you through the rest of the cave, I will bring the Dead Horses’ bodies out and give them a proper burial.”

None of them spoke after that, either because they were paying respect to the dead or had been shocked into silence. The only other thing they found of any significance, at least before they found the exit, was the body of the fourth Legionary some distance away, who appeared to have expired from wounds he sustained in the fight against the tribals. In fact, the Legionary was more useful to them dead than he had been alive, considering he had died facing the direction of the exit.

When they finally found the exit, the three of them exchanged goodbyes and well-wishes.

As Follows-Chalk walked back into the cave, his face set in a determined expression, Carter looked down at Rainbow Dash. “So, you ready to get going?” he said, smirking.

She grinned up at him. “I was born ready!”

The Northern Passage.

Over the years, Claire had grown to dislike this place. It wasn’t to do with anything that had happened within the passage itself, however. Rather, it was because it reminded her of what had happened to the Happy Trails caravan when they entered Zion, and how she had failed to protect them. She had let her guard down at a critical moment, and in the next instant they had been dead and she had been fighting for her life. It wasn’t necessarily a fresh memory, but it was still brought up any time she came back here.

Despite her ill feelings for this place, she had been here many times before. In fact, before she was bogged down by other matters, she had traveled to go see Joshua as frequently as she could, which was often a few months apart each time. Even in the short amount of time she had been gone, each time she returned, the Dead Horses and Graham himself had changed. Although it wasn’t dramatic like it had been the first time she had visited after driving off the White Legs, she was still pleased to see how they were growing as a people.

I wonder how he’s doing, she thought, frowning. I really do need to start visiting him again. Once I get some time to myself, that’ll have to be the first thing I do. She chuckled. It’ll be fun seeing what’s been going on in Zion since I last saw him.

Nevertheless, she did not currently have any time to herself. In fact, if Vulpes’ information was correct, she would be having even more work on her hands rather soon. Two new travelers were bound to arrive in the Mojave today, and she had made absolutely certain that their first impression of the Mojave would be as good as she could make it. That meant no bodyguards – except for Vulpes and Antonius, who were already there when she arrived and therefore were unlikely to leave – and only her Ranger Sequoia as a weapon.

She would greet them properly, even if they were still planning on fighting the Legion as soon as they arrived. Even if one of them was indeed a talking, multi-colored pegasus.

Speaking of Vulpes, he was standing in front of her, glaring. She looked at him and chuckled, somewhat embarrassed to have not noticed him.

“Sorry, I was lost in thought,” she said, smiling. “What can I do for you?”

While she had never liked his controlling, and at times condescending, attitude, she had to say that the man himself wasn’t the worst person to have in her company. Even if he did occasionally commit atrocities that she would never agree with, he still was not the worst person with in the Legion.

“You know you should not be here,” he said, obviously annoyed. “How many times now have I told you not to leave the safety of The Strip?”

She chuckled. “Sorry, Vulpes, but you aren’t my boss. And besides,” she said, shrugging,” I traveled far and wide when I was a courier. When I was The Courier. Why are you so worried about where and how I travel now?”

“Must I remind you, Claire?” he said, scowling.

She waved a hand and shook her head. “No, I already know,” she said, sighing. “You tell me often enough.” She started counting each worry Vulpes had told her about on her fingers. “Boone’s still out for my blood and still has the Anti-Materiel Rifle I gave him,” she said. “What else is new?”

Vulpes opened his mouth to retort, only to sigh and turn away. “Sometimes I worry about your carefree attitude.” He turned back to her, another frown on his face. “If you were to die, what would happen to Caesar’s Legion? Its strongest fighter and brightest mind, gone because of a lack of self-preservation.” He shook his head. “There are still many more than Craig Boone who wish to kill you, Claire. I simply do not wish to see that happen.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you for your concern, Vulpes,” she said, “but I’ll be able to handle myself.”

She turned away from him to face Antonius, who she noticed had been sticking to the background, trying to avoid detection.

“Antonius,” she said, walking over to him, “how was your expedition to the Capital Wasteland?”

He nodded and said, “It went well, all things considered. Even though the roads not controlled by the Legion were more dangerous to travel, I was able to make it there without any damage to myself or my cargo. I traded supplies with one Moira Brown in a town called Megaton, then returned here with...”

He trailed off and looked to the side, embarrassed. “Well, I made it to Zion Valley with two travelers, who you already know about.”

She frowned. “What happened to them?” she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“We were ambushed by Dead Horses,” he said, giving a dark chuckle. “They killed three of our men, fatally wounded the fourth, and kidnapped Carter and Rainbow Dash. We weren’t able to track them down, so we returned here.”

Claire gave him a disapproving look. “Antonius,” she said, her tone causing him to wince. “Your lie was pretty flimsy, considering how well I know the Dead Horses, and you know better than to lie to me.” She took a step back. “I highly doubt they would kidnap someone, even though I know they have changed much since I last visited Zion.” She chuckled. “And besides, if they had actually attacked you, you two would be dead alongside your guards.”

Antonius shook his head and sighed, looking back at her. “Nothing gets past you, does it, Claire?” He chuckled. “No, that isn’t quite what happened. After the Dead Horses ambushed us, Follows-Chalk asked the two of them if they would meet with Joshua Graham, and they said yes. As for the guards, they attacked the Dead Horses as they were escorting us back to the Mojave. Killed all eight, but the four of them died as well.”

He looked behind him, back at the path leading to Zion. “Those two should only be an hour or two behind us, if their meeting went well. We should probably wait here for them.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” she said, sitting down against one of the cave’s walls. Eventually, Vulpes and Antonius followed suit.

As it turned out, Antonius’ estimate was surprisingly off the mark. Not even an hour later, Claire heard footsteps echoing through the cave. She looked up and in the direction the sound was coming from. There, she saw those who were causing them: the Lone Wanderer and his pegasus companion. Well, to be completely honest, it was Carter who was causing the footsteps. Rainbow Dash, as was apparently her name, was flying next to him, her wingbeats surprisingly quiet.

Claire quickly rose to her feet and dusted herself off, wanting to look as presentable as she could. Although, considering her hair was a bit of a mess and she was wearing leather armor that needed to be repaired soon, it was probably a waste of time to do so.

Turning her focus back to the matter at hand, she saw Vulpes and Antonius rise, having finally heard the footsteps as well. Claire turned to face the two new arrivals, a small, well-used smile on her face. She hadn’t greeted any new people to the Mojave before, but if they were anything like the people she had dealt with as a courier, she wouldn’t have any difficulty with them.

Carter and Dash slowed when they finally noticed her standing there, Vulpes and Antonius flanking her, and stopped at a respectable distance away.

Taking the initiative to start the conversation, Claire said, “I’d like to be the first to formally welcome you to the Mojave!” She chuckled. “It’s been a long while since we’ve had new visitors.” Carter raised an eyebrow, and opened his mouth to speak.

It was Rainbow Dash, however, who spoke first. “Who exactly are you?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Oh, right,” Claire said, wincing at her faux pas. She cleared her throat and chuckled, trying to alleviate the mood a bit. “I should probably introduce myself properly, shouldn’t I? You two are new here.” She nodded in answer to her own question, and braced herself for their reaction.

“I am Claire Anderson, former Courier and current Caesar of Caesar’s Legion.”

Chapter 11 - What Goes Around...

July 12, 2017

Disbelief. That was the expression on Carter’s face.

He doesn’t believe me.

Claire was puzzled. She had expected surprise, or even shock, but for him to completely disregard what she had said? She wasn’t quite sure how to react.

The five of them stood there, silence slowly sinking in around them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dash looking between the two of them, occasionally glancing over at Antonius and Vulpes to gauge their reactions. As the silence continued, growing more awkward with every passing moment, she looked like she was getting impatient, possibly even annoyed. Claire didn’t blame her.

Eventually, Dash simply said, “I don’t get it.”

That seemed to be all the incentive Carter needed to start talking. With a sigh, he said, “Look, I don’t know if this is funny to you or something, but I’m not exactly in the mood for jokes.”

He gave her a condescending smile. “I’m here to see Caesar – the real one. If you were willing to lead us to him,” he said, shrugging, “well, that’d be great. Otherwise, I’d appreciate it if you three left us alone.”

Realization slowly dawned on Claire face. She chuckled under her breath.

“Well, if you don’t believe me, you can just ask either of them,” she said, motioning to Vulpes and Antonius. “You already know who they are.” She frowned. “Well, you at least know of Vulpes from how you instantly recognized him. Antonius, on the other hand, probably not,” she said, glancing over at Antonius with a small smile on her face.

“So,” she said, giving Carter a condescending smile of her own, “I’d say Vulpes has more authority in your eyes than I do, at least for now. Go on,” she said, motioning toward Vulpes, “talk to him.”

“There is no need for you to inquire,” Vulpes told Carter coldly, cutting him off before he could say anything. “You know that my response will only reinforce what Claire has already told you.” He glared at Carter. “And I know that you do not trust me or Antonius enough to take our word for it.”

“It seems we’re at an impasse, then,” Carter said, looking between the three of them.

Claire sighed. “Fine,” she said, frowning at him. “Will you at least go with me – us – to the Lucky 38? It’s where we were originally supposed to meet, before the Dead Horses ambushed you.”

“And how do I know it isn’t a trap?” he asked, although some of his drive had been lost.

She groaned. “Look, Carter,” she said, rubbing her temple with a hand, “if I wanted you dead, you already would be. I wouldn’t have let you leave Zion Valley alive. Vulpes and his troops would have shot you on sight.”

He started to argue again. “That doesn’t mean anything-”

Dash interrupted him by smacking a hoof against his leg. “Would you just quit it already?” she said, glaring up at him.

“Why are you siding with them?” he asked, motioning toward the three of them and looking down at her incredulously.

“Weren’t you the one who said you wanted to ‘get in there and hear what Caesar has to say’?” She pointed at Claire with a hoof. “Well, like it or not, she’s our best shot at doing that right now.” She glanced at Claire. “And besides, we still don’t have much of a choice.”

He looked, one by one, at the four others in the tunnel with him. Apparently realizing that he was now alone in his own stubbornness, he relented with a sigh.

“Fine,” he said, turning to Claire. “Lead the way.” Sarcasm dripped from his voice, but at least now he was being cooperative.

“That’s the spirit!” Claire said cheerily, the enthusiasm in her voice only somewhat forced.

Once Vulpes and Antonius had gotten into position behind Carter and Dash – a precaution she had learned to make use of after a few too many people tried to escape – she nodded to herself and lead them out of the Northern Passage. Their destination: The New Vegas Strip.

Their trip to the Lucky 38 was surprisingly uneventful. Nothing that Claire could note happened as they traveled from the Northern Passage to the Strip, despite Vulpes' misgivings. And aside from an intense staring contest and a quick exchange of words between Carter and one of the Legionaries guarding the doors of the Lucky 38, nothing much happened in the Strip itself.

Claire sighed to herself and smiled, glad to have dodged at least one metaphorical bullet.

The inside of the Casino was the same as it had been when she had first arrived, but its glamour had quickly worn away as she repeatedly visited. A cursory glance around revealed that, as she had expected, nothing had changed. Shaking her head, she stopped in front of the elevator that would lead up to the presidential suite.

Looking to the side, she said, "Vulpes, Antonius. I want you both to stay here, and make sure we aren't disturbed."

After a pause that stretched on for a bit too long, she heard Vulpes sigh. "Fine. If you wish to risk your life, I will not be able to stop you."

Claire turned around fully and glanced over the four lined up behind her. Focusing her gaze solely on Vulpes, she responded, "Trust me, alright? I know what I'm doing." She smirked at his irritated groan, but he said nothing. Motioning for Dash and Carter to begin following her again, she stepped into the now-open elevator.

A few minutes later, they were sitting in a side room in the suite. Claire sat across from the two of them, watching them, gauging their reaction to what they had seen.

It was Carter who spoke first, as seemed to be the norm. "Well, you brought us here. Now what?"

"Well, now I tell you my plan, of course!" Claire chuckled. "I am the evil villain after all, right? Or, at least that's what you believe."

"You haven't given me much reason to think otherwise," he responded, frowning at her.

Claire shrugged. "Fair point." She looked between them, smirking. "Let me start by saying that most of the stuff you 'know' about the Legion is outdated. I know," she said, putting up her hands, "it's hard to believe, but just hear me out." She chuckled.

"I've been ruling over these idiots for eleven years, now," she said, sitting back with a sigh. "Ever since I killed Caesar and took his place." She looked down. "Some know what actually happened, like Vulpes, but the rank and file believe what I've told them. That he went peacefully in his sleep. Not that he died, cowering in the corner of his tent with a shotgun pressed against his head.

"Since that day, I've done my best to keep the Legion in check, so to say." She shook her head. "Although I wasn't originally the one meant to take his place – I was, surprisingly enough, fourth down on that list – I..." She chuckled, looking back up at them. "Took care of his first two choices. Vulpes was his third, but he would never want to take charge of the Legion. He's content sticking to the shadows, and so I've allowed him to do so.

"Back to the topic at hand, though. Since I took control of the Legion, I've done my best to keep them in check. Despite whatever worries or concerns Vulpes may have, I have always used my authority to go on missions with the Legionaries. Every single one of them has ended with an... 'accident', you could say. No matter the circumstances, the Legionaries end up dead." She smiled, more to herself than at them. "Pretty good at keeping morale low, huh? Of course, they always just bounce back from whatever I throw at them, so it's not a long-term strategy.

"Another damper on my plans is their growing suspicion. You'd be surprised how much power the common soldier can have, especially when there are tens of thousands of them all bickering against you." She snorted. "They've started disregarding my orders to avoid traveling west through the Mojave Outpost, toward California. The idiots think I'm trying to keep them from attacking the NCR, but in all honestly? The I-15 past that point is an irradiated nightmare waiting to slowly kill any who enter. If, that is, the inhabitants don't get them first.

Aside from that, I've also had to give them 'permission' to begin expanding north." She waved a hand. "Only a few have traveled east, toward the Capital Wasteland, so you need not worry about that. It's mainly to keep the road safe. I want nothing to do with that wasteland you came from."

She looked between them, smiling somewhat sheepishly. "You have to understand, your arrival presents a perfect opportunity. A way to continue undermining the Legion's expansion while keeping undercover myself. You two would be my agents."

"Now why the hell would we do that?" Carter asked, glaring at her. "You've still given us no reason to trust you, since we have no way of knowing if any of what you just said is true or not."

She sighed. "Think of it this way," she said. "You can either go in blind, with your only goal being 'I want to defeat the Legion', or you could listen to the rest of what I have to say and know that I'm giving you a head start on your own plans. Now, are you ready to keep listening, and not interrupt me this time?"

Carter reluctantly nodded. Smirking, Claire continued. "I know a way to get you in contact with someone who absolutely despises the Legion, and definitely wouldn't hesitate to help you fight them."

She reached behind her back and pulled out the 1st Recon beret Boone had given her, all the way back in Novac. She handed it to Carter, who took it gingerly.

Claire sighed. "Oh, quit treating it like it's a bomb that's going to blow up in your hands. I wouldn't do that unless I had a death wish." She shook her head.

"Look, that beret is one of only two remaining in the Mojave. If my guess is right, the owner of the other will be watching the entrance to the Strip soon. He always does about this time of day." She chuckled. "If you were to put that on where he could see you, and if you were far enough from the gate for him to know it wasn't a trap, he would probably not shoot you." She winced. "I have no way of knowing for certain, though."

Carter sighed, frowning down at the beret. "I still don't get why you're helping us, though." He glanced up at Claire. "What's the point of working to undermine a faction you lead?"

She gave him a small smile. "Ah, but that would spoil the fun, wouldn't it? You'll understand in time," she said, shaking her head.

"Now, you should really get going," she said, glancing at the clock on the wall. "Vulpes will get worried if I don't come back down soon."

Carter's face seemed to light up as he remembered something. "I have a message from Joshua Graham, in Zion Valley," he said.

"Oh, really?" Claire said, tilting her head. "Well, go on. Tell me."

He hesitated briefly, but eventually said, "If you don't invade the territory of the Dead Horses or the Sorrows, they'll stay out of whatever happens in the Mojave."

She chuckled. "Oh, that? You won't have to worry about it. If you ever go back that way, tell him I'll leave Zion Valley alone." She grimaced, looking to the side. "The Legionaries might disobey me, but it will be at their own risk."

After a few moments of silence, Carter got up and walked toward the entrance, Dash following close on his heels. As they neared the elevator, she stood up and walked out to see them off.

"Thank you for hearing me out," she said, giving them both a genuine smile as she looked between them. She watched as the elevator whisked them away, and sighed.

Turning and looking around the suite, she said to herself, "Everything's in motion. Let's see how the ball rolls from here."