Wasteland Wishes

Chapters

Prologue: Out of Chaos
Chapter 1: Into Chaos... Again
Chapter 2: Escape from Chaos
Chapter 3: Chaotic Night
Chapter 4: Chaotic Awakening

Prologue: Out of Chaos

The chaos has finally been put to an end. The Elements of Harmony have successfully defeated Discord, and by doing so they returned peace and order in all of Equestria. In their honor, Princess Celestia has declared the following week to be dedicated to the six mares. In order to make sure that everypony knows what happened, Princess Celestia informed Equestria’s biggest news company called “Equestria Today”, whose head office is located in Canterlot, in person about the events that had occurred in the short, yet vital period of time.

Equestria Today’s personnel was both excited and shocked to hear the story, and they were ready and eager to start gathering information about the heroes as soon as they heard what Princess Celestia had to say. They decided there and then to have Monday’s edition cover Discord as well as the events which had occurred, while the remaining six days of the week would be dedicated to cover each of the Elements of Harmonies themselves.

Upon finally gathering all the needed information, the order in which the ponies will appear on the papers in the upcoming “Elements of Harmony Week” has been decided. Obviously, the first one to make it to the headlines on Tuesday’s edition is Twilight Sparkle; the Element of Magic. She was so excited about the whole idea that she even wrote notes for the interviewers to read. The next day is about Applejack, the Element of Honesty, who gave the interviewers a sample of her newer apple pie made with an improved recipe in the hopes that it would be mentioned in the news and thus boosting her sales. Rarity, the Element of Generosity, took advantage of the opportunity and decided to wear some of her finest works for the pictures on Thursday’s edition. Friday’s newspapers stood out the most out of the week’s papers, as they were filled with confetti that burst out from between the pages as one opened them. Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter, really wanted to spread her party to everypony in any way she could whenever she could. Saturday’s edition was not as information-rich as the rest, with Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness, being too shy to tell anything about herself in the interviews.

It was surprising to many ponies how Rainbow Dash was covered last. Most ponies from Ponyville and Cloudsdale expected Fluttershy to be the last one. The reason for this was explained by Rainbow Dash herself on Sunday’s papers. She would’ve gladly been the first pony to be seen on the news, but the latest Daring Do book was released on Monday and Rainbow Dash wanted to get herself a copy and read the book she described as “so awesome” as soon as it came out.
She ended up asking the other ponies if they could take the interviews before her. Of course, as friends who understood her reasons, they agreed. But even so, once everyone but she, the Element of Loyalty, had been interviewed, she had no choice but to get it over with. Of course she couldn’t resist mentioning Daring Do in her interviews, as she and her newest volume in the Daring Do franchise were the reasons she delayed the interviews in the first place.

It was Sunday eve and Rainbow Dash had read the day’s papers. She was satisfied with what had been written and the pictures that had been put there, but she felt a bit empty inside because a big adventure is now behind her and she might never again go on one as dangerous and important. As she was thinking back to what had happened about a week ago, she went to her wardrobe and dressed up in her Daring Do limited edition outfit. Though it might be “limited”, the truth is that Rainbow Dash wanted a matching outfit so bad that she begged Rarity to make one for her a while back. Rarity saw is as a challenge that would improve her tailoring skills, so she gladly accepted. She thought the costume would help her ease her nerves and feel like herself once again, but it made it worse; Daring Do has gone through so many dangerous and rewarding adventures, yet she had only gone through a few. The saddened pegasus moved towards her bedroom and lied down on her bed made out of clouds and slowly started to imagine what it would be like to go onto adventures as Daring Do’s sidekick. She let her imagination go wild, letting dangerous scenarios come into her mind and how the two pegasi would overcome them.

Suddenly she was brought back to reality by loud bangs outside. The ponies of Ponyville were celebrating the ending the week with fireworks in the honour of the Elements of Harmony. Rainbow Dash thought the fireworks looked cool (and pretty), but she was also annoyed about how they were also interrupting her daydreaming. She slumped. “There’s no way she’d take me with her on her adventures…” she murmured to herself. She went to look outside from her bedroom’s window and she looked high up into the sky for a moment. She saw nothing of interest until a shooting star went by. Princess Luna had set it to fly through the sky in celebration of the six mare’s victory over Discord. Rainbow Dash opened her mouth and said in a saddened voice:

“I wish I could be Daring’s sidekick and go onto adventures...”
As soon as she blurted out those words, she was surrounded by bright, white light which appeared out of nowhere. She was startled and she tried to move away from the light, yet her hooves and wings refused to listen to her. After a few moments the light got closer to Rainbow Dash at a slow, yet steady pace, and soon, along with her, it was gone into nothingness.

Daring Do was taking it easy in her home in Canterlot, relaxing and thinking about adventures. It was the evening and there was not much else for her to do. She started to read the day’s newspaper and saw the article about Rainbow Dash. At first she though Rainbow Dash meant nothing to her, but as soon as she read about her feats, goals and, especially, how she admired her and loves her works, she got the sudden urge to know all about this pegasus.

After reading the article the second time with more thought, she placed the newspaper onto the table near the couch she was sitting on, took a comfortable position and started daydreaming about how she’d go onto adventures with Rainbow Dash being there by her side. She mostly thought about how Rainbow Dash would help keep her safe from dangers they might encounter in their adventures. And how the glory would shine on her.

But the ruckus from the fancy party outside interrupted her and brought her back into reality. She felt really sad. She thought to herself, I don’t suppose she would mind coming onto adventures with me, would she? She moved near a window and looked at the sky. She saw a shooting star fly by. She gave out a long sigh and said in a disappointed tone, “I wish I had a sidekick who would protect me from any dangers I could encounter…”

And once again the white light appeared, this time surrounding Daring Do and not allowing her to get out of the bright ring. Like with Rainbow Dash, the light got closer to Daring Do until both of them vanished into thin air.

Chapter 1: Into Chaos... Again

He was huffing and puffing from all the running he had done in the past ten minutes. He could still hear them faintly, shouting and shooting at something behind him. The shots were not aimed at him, so he got a little curious to what were they shooting, but he also realized that if he didn’t find someplace to hide in soon, he would be a goner.

Luckily, the area he had stumbled upon had broken-down houses in which he could take cover for a while. He quickly picked one of the houses that was somewhat still standing, and sprinted towards what appeared to be the front entrance. Once inside, he found himself in the house’s ruined living room. Scorched books surrounded the living room and there was almost no furniture anywhere inside the first floor. In the sense of panic, he ran further into the house and immediately spotted a refrigerator in the nearby kitchen in which he thinks he could just barely fit himself inside. As he was about to climb inside the refrigerator, however, he spotted the raiders who were after him through the kitchen’s shattered window. At first he thought they knew where he was, which is why he tried to force himself into the small refrigerator, but as soon as they came near the building he was in, they ran right past it as quickly. As they ran towards the opposite direction, they left only an intense Doppler effect of screams behind them as they vanished from his sight into beyond the wrecked landscape of destroyed buildings and other debris.

He waited a moment before getting out of the fridge and walking back to the entrance from where he came inside, taking a peek from behind the open space where a door should have been. Seeing that the coast is clear and hearing nothing, he jumped out of the house and started to laugh in the sense of victory.

“Ha-ha! Did those raiders think they could really keep up with me, Herbert “Daring” Dashwood? I know those fellows aren’t the brightest folk, but running past possible hiding spots without searching and instead continuing pursuit is another thing.” Now that I’ve lost them, I should start looking for my manservant from whom I’ve been separated from. Will he be okay without me watching over him?

Before Herbert could make his first step, a beam of light stuck down to the ground in front of him from the sky. This sudden lightshow startled him badly as it came out nowhere. He hastily jumped back inside the house and carefully peeked outside, following the current event nervously with caution and squinted eyes. The light was brighter than anything he had ever seen before, but it wasn’t as bright as the light caused by a nuke going off, as his eyes had not melted yet.

What on earth is going on? He wondered with his eyes still fixated on the bizarre event. The beam of light seemed to be hitting the ground with a strong force, yet the beam itself did not make even a sound. He scratched the back of his both ears to see if he had become temporary deaf due to the noise shock-wave the beam might’ve cause, but he could hear his scratches loud and clear.

After a while the beam started to dissipate away. The ray of light was gone, leaving something on the ground where it hit. It was cyan-colored and it had the colors of a rainbow in the correct order. It was Rainbow Dash. The clothing she was wearing back at her home was gone, leaving her only with her coat.

She was still screaming even after the light had vanished. Suddenly she stopped and stood still with her eyes wide open. What she saw in front of her was a broken house with no roof on it. She couldn’t examine the house too long, as she started to notice the foul stench in the air. “Ugh! What is that smell? And where am I-“ She looked to her left and saw a sight she had never even dreamed about in her worst nightmares. Brown-covered plains and charred, lifeless trees was what she saw in front of her. The sight was horrifyingly unimaginable and she couldn’t believe it was real. “No… This is only a nightmare! I’m just dreaming! Yeah, that’s right… Soon I’ll wake up from this, covered in sweat on my bed in my home…” She sent out a small laugh of despair in the hopes it would help her reassure herself that this was just a nightmare.

“Excuse me, you there!” said Herbert, still hiding behind the wall. Rainbow Dash quickly looked to her left and saw another destroyed house. She could make out a faint shadow coming from behind one of the walls, which made her heart skip a beat and pupils shrink to the size of a pea. “Don’t worry, little one. I won’t hurt you.”

Herbert slowly came out from hiding and walked out of the house, keeping eye-contact with the mysterious, horse-resembling creature’s magenta-colored eyes while trying to figure out why it had a coat of cyan and what appeared to be wings on its back. Once he had gotten completely out of the house he asked the small creature:

“Can you… Can you understand what I’m saying?”

“Y-yeah,” said Rainbow Dash while taking small steps away from the tall being, “I can understand you… B-but who are you? WHAT are you? What is this place? W-why am I here?!”

Rainbow Dash’s behind touched the wall behind her. Noticing this, she felt cornered and started to hyperventilate and cold sweat was starting to form on her trembling body. She felt as if she was going to fall unconscious at any moment and was swaying a little.

“Calm down little one, I’m as confused as you are! Haven’t you seen a human before?”
“A… Human?”

Rainbow Dash’s anxiety and fear suddenly changed into confusion. Her big eyes were still wide open, but her pupils had grown a bit bigger than a pea and they were locked on the so-called ‘human’ as she examined him very thoroughly. Her breathing began going back to normal.

“How… How can this be? Humans are only mythological creatures! They don’t exist!”
“Well, I can assure you that humans are still alive and somewhat doing well, even after the nuclear war. But more importantly, what are you? I can see you are a horse, but what’s wrong with your… mane, for example? Why do you have, err… wings? Are those even wings?

Rainbow Dash looked at the human with an expression of disappointment. She jumped and started to flap her wings to stay airborne. “Uh, hello? I’m a PEGASUS? We naturally have wings which to fly with?”

“A Pegasus, you say? Last time I checked, they were considered a myth. Then again, these are really strange times, so I suppose anything can be possible. I still think Brahmins are one of the strangest things I’ve seen in my adventures. But never mind about that! What’s your name, little one? And where did you come fro-“

“Will you stop calling me “little one” all the time? It’s embarrassing me… I have a name, you know? It’s Rainbow Dash.”
“My apologies, Rainbow, but-“
“Rainbow. Dash. Not just Rainbow,” she corrected him with an annoyed tone, still hovering in mid-air. But she slowly started to descent onto the broken-down road with cracks and missing parts across it.

“Again, my apologies, Rainbow Dash… As I was saying, where did you come from? I can assume that if I’m the first human you’ve seen in your life, you are most likely not from around this planet, let alone this place. Just a moment ago I saw this bright light coming down from the sky and after that you were right there where the light hit, screaming your lungs out!”

Rainbow Dash was embarrassed, as she can’t believe she was doing something uncool as that. She took a moment to collect herself before she told the human anything, since she was worried she might do something else that’s uncool in her book. “Well… I was back at my home, thinking about stuff… And then I decided to look at the dark sky for a while and I saw a shooting star fly by… Then I wished that I could be my hero’s sidekick, and then all of a sudden this white-light–thingy surrounded me out of nowhere and the next thing I know, I’m in a place where the air smells really bad and I don’t see any green anywhere! I MUST be dreaming, even if you say I’m not!”

“I’m sorry that I have to break it to you, but this is reality. I’m sure of it, because I’ve pinched myself a dozen of times and even I haven’t woken up. It’s still hard to believe what other people might do without considering the cause and effect… But where are my manners, I haven’t even introduced myself yet! My name is Herbert. Herbert “Daring” Dashwood. But you can call me Daring.

For a moment there was only silence. After saying his name, Herbert noticed the Pegasus’ expression change once again. Then he noticed that it was trying to say something.

“Y-your name is “Daring”?” she asked with a shaky tone.
“No, my real name’s Herbert. I got the nickname “Daring” because of my dangerous adventures.”
“Adventures? YOU’RE an adventurer? And one of your names is “Daring”? Oh no… No, no, no… It can’t be.”
“What is it? You remember something?”
“My hero’s name is Daring Do… And I wished I could be her sidekick.”
“Are you saying that instead becoming the sidekick of this “Daring Do” of yours, your wish came true but with you being my sidekick instead of her?”

Rainbow Dash felt as if she was stabbed when he said that. The possibility of that being the case is not impossible. Then she quickly got airborne again.

“No way,” she protested. “I’m not going into adventures with you in this rotten place! I don’t mind danger, but THIS is another thing! And how will I get back my hom-“
“Shh!”
“What!?”
“…Do you hear that? Someone’s coming this way! Quickly, come here!”
“H-hey! Where are you going!?”

Rainbow Dash quickly started following Herbert who quickly dashed off back inside the house. This time he decided to
run upstairs and hide somewhere up there instead of trying to get back into the small fridge again. Rainbow Dash followed him, hovering over the staircase instead of walking on it. It didn’t take long for the unknown, unwanted people to appear at the scene. Noticing that Rainbow Dash was still airborne, Herbert quickly pulled her down towards the floor by the hooves.

“I don’t know who’s coming, but I can almost guarantee that they are up to no good. It’s best if we stay as hidden as possible.”

Rainbow Dash, though a bit upset about Herbert’s manners, understood what he meant and hid her wings behind her back. The pair, hiding in the bedroom upstairs, was now carefully observing from behind the window and the small hole next to the window. Shortly after they started to hear footsteps and finally saw who they were.

“Slavers…” Herbert whispered. “The raiders that were chasing me a while ago must’ve bumped with these fellows by sheer bad luck while they were chasing me.”
“Slavers?” Rainbow dash asked with a silent, surprised voice.
“Yes, slavers,” Herbert responded. “They kill a lot of innocent people who are unable to defend themselves. And the ones they don’t kill, most of which are children and woman, they take with them to their hideout and make slaves out of them. I’m sure that if they see us they will at least kill me… And take you with them.”

Rainbow Dash’s breathing got faster, as she started to imagine what they’d do to her if they were spotted. Herbert, however, noticed this, and gently yet swiftly placed his arms over her as the both watched the events unfold before them. Even though she had only been for a while in this wretched place, the sudden feeling of warmth and security felt like she hadn’t experienced anything like it, as if the only time she had experienced it was when she was just a little filly. She closed her eyes for a moment, but a loud, terrifying voice made her open her eyes almost by reflex.

“Goddamn it, I’m sure that goddamn light hit around here somewhere!” said one of the slavers.
“You? Sure? Ha, even I’m not sure if you know how to even wipe your ass right!” responded another slaver.
“Hey, FUCK YOU! Do YOU know where that light-thing came from then? No? Then do me a favor and shut up!”
“That’s enough!” yelled the group leader. “If I hear another word out of either of you, I will shoot you both in the fucking head! Now come on, let’s move onward. We were supposed scout this way as well, so we might get that out of our way right now.”

The two slavers, who were arguing just a minute ago, stood motionless for a moment before glancing at each other with the meanest look they could make and then started to run in order to catch up with the leader. The place was once again filled with silence.

The two were still in the bedroom, Herbert still holding on to Rainbow Dash and staring into nothingness. After snapping back to reality, and recovering from the demoralizing shout, Rainbow Dash found herself inside Herbert’s hold. She tried to squirm her way out of his seemingly tightening hold, but she got out as soon as Herbert realized what he was doing and released her.

“Hey! Why did you have to grab me like that?! I almost screamed!” said Rainbow Dash while annoyed and walking towards the bed that was in the bedroom.
“Sorry, Rainbow Dash, it’s just that whenever I’m in situations like this, I tend to try to imagine I’m in bed with my favorite stuffed toy from when I was a kid. And you just so happened to sort of look like it.”
“Oh, that’s SO lame! I can’t believe you are really an adventurer, let alone I’m stuck with YOU as your sidekick…”
She jumped on the bed and lied down for a bit. The bed wasn’t comfortable at all. It had springs that were loose and popping out of the mattress and most of the stuffing had been emptied from it, most likely by scavengers in search for soft material from which to make a bed from.

But even if it was uncomfortable, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but lie on it for a little while, until she noticed a filthy-looking used syringe lying right next to the pillow. The discovery made her back up from it in terror. She had always hated going to the hospital because they’d always had to inject something into her when she was there. Because of this, she had developed a phobia toward needles. It didn’t take her long before she jumped off the bed in horror and, by doing so, collapsing the whole thing.
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“Oh that’s just great, even the bed is a piece of junk!” she muttered to herself, still shaking from the sight of the needle. “This just isn’t my day…”
“’This isn’t just my day’, you say? I couldn’t agree any more with you. First I get separated from my manservant, and then I get chased by raiders and after that I almost had to take on slavers. If only I had cigarettes on me… I knew letting Argyle hold them for me was a bad idea.”
“Cigar-what? Never mind about that, we’ve got to get out of here! I don’t like this place one bit!”

Herbert nodded and walked downstairs and out of the house. Rainbow Dash followed using her own route, which was her flying out of the bedroom window. After looking around a bit to make sure they were completely alone this time, Herbert stopped to think about what to do next.

“I and Argyle were on our way to Megaton. I’d rather not leave him alone, but I’m sure he’ll be able to take care of himself… for a while, at least. Come, my new little, cyan-colored friend! Megaton’s this way.”

“You just called me ‘little’ again! Will you cut that out?! Are you even listening to me?! H-hey, wait up! Don’t go without me! Oh… and thanks a lot, Princess Luna…” She murmured to herself while running to catch up with Herbert and then paced herself to his walking speed.

The new adventure pair is now on their way towards their first adventure; head towards Megaton for possible leads on how Rainbow Dash will return to her home. (And why Herbert and Argyle were going there in the first place.) After a short walk away from the torn-down buildings, Herbert talked yet again.

“Say, uh… Rainbow Dash… I know this might be an awkward question and all but… Are you a boy or a girl?
That was the last straw for Rainbow Dash. She immediately flew herself to Herbert’s head’s altitude and turned around to give him a buck to the head. Herbert swayed from the little, yet strong Pegasus’ kick and decided to keep his mouth shut until he has something actually important to say. And so, in an awkward silence, the two set out on their journey towards Megaton.

Chapter 2: Escape from Chaos

“Finally… I think I’ve lost them for good this time. I thought I was going to run out of gas for a moment there. Good thing I’m faster than those slobs. I suppose this damn radiation has some positive effects… What am I saying!? Of course this whole thing is nothing but a curse! Damn raiders, was that big hunk of rock really that important to them?” said Argyle with a raspy voice that would attract anyone’s attention upon hearing, all while breathing heavily and looking for a good spot to sit on.

He had been running ever since he split up with Herbert, and the fact that they were carrying a huge slab of stone, for a certain person who was willing to pay a very reasonable price for its retrieval, before the desperate escape for survival made him feel even more fatigued in the end. He had stopped running now and was standing completely still, breathing heavily in and out while thinking about whether or not Herbert managed to escape his share of raiders.

“I wonder how Boss is doing… He can’t survive in this wasteland without me… I’d best get going to finding him fast before… his death falls on my conscious. But first, I need to rest a little… Oh, my back’s killing me.”

He walked onwards and eventually stumbled upon an area where lots of destroyed houses resided. “I can lay low here for a while, just in case those bastards decide to follow me this far,” he muttered. Still exhausted, he walked closer to the remains in the hopes that there would be at least a sofa or a bed or, in fact, anything soft on which he could sit or, better yet, lie on. After searching further from his starting point he found a house which had only a bed inside it, and even it was under debris. He was in no mood to be lifting them away, but he was desperate for the bed under it, so he started to clear a path for his aching body to lie on.

He moved to the end of the bed and thought it would be best to start with the bigger pieces. But after looking outside from the big hole in the wall he noticed something strange outside, “What are those? They look like... a merry-go-round, monkey bars and …a slide?!” He immediately stopped clearing the debris and slowly walked outside while still being heavily fatigued. What he found was a playground that had managed to stay recognizable even after the nuclear bombs exploded. In addition to the first three structures he saw, there was a small space rocket which had small ladders on the back and a pole to climb down from in the front, and a swing set.

“Ah… This slide looks really comfortable to lie on.” Despite the little stains on the surface, he didn’t hesitate at all and let his body-weight drop him onto the cold, metallic surface where he would be regaining stamina and trying to regain his composure. It was more comfortable than he had expected.

“I knew this job was too god to be true. Just carry a piece of rock, he said. You’ll have no trouble, he said… Why, I’ll give him a piece of my mind the next time I see that crazy Lincoln fanatic!”

After a while of rambling to himself he finally calmed down, took some deep breath which caused him to cough uncontrollably, for a while, and began to backtrack his memory in order to try to figure out to where would Herbert have run to when they split up. “If I’m correct, he ran towards West while I’ve been running to the South from where we split up…” he pondered.

Argyle looked around and noticed that he had been talking to himself the whole time. “I better stop talking to myself before I lose it and become one of those mindless things. I hate how things are as they are already…”

After a moment of rest he got back on his feet again and decided it was time to continue onwards. “Wow, time sure seems to go too fast when you’re trying to enjoy the moment… I’d better head towards Rivet City from here, before it gets too dark for me to travel. Megaton’s way too far for me to go to with the supplies I have left, anyways…” he mumbled to himself, immediately forgetting what he said to himself a few seconds ago. “Besides, judging from the direction Boss ran to, he should be quite close to Megaton by now. I’m sure he’ll be fine… At least for a while, I think… Come to think of it, why were we heading towards Megaton anyway? Weren’t we supposed to deliver that rock to that guy back in Rivet City?” Knowing Herbert, he knew it had nothing to do with the job they accepted, but rather with the fine women back in Megaton who were working to their bones to ensure a safe place to call ‘home’ where they didn’t need to worry about the reality all that hard with the details.

Clearing his mind from the previous thoughts, which he’ll be sure to keep noted for when he meets up with Herbert again, he began moving southwards towards Rivet City, a destroyed ship on where the current citizens of Rivet City have dedicated their time to fixing the massive airship carrier so that they could live on it without having to worry about sinking into the irradiated water or the possible raids initiated by Raiders, Super Mutants, Mirelurks or Slavers.

He continued walking towards South, but he noticed a structure of interest after just a few steps from the slide. He looked at the roof of the building and noticed the sign there. “Nation-“He realized he was talking out loud again and tried to stop it. National Guard Depot, huh? Why, I bet I’d find- his thoughts were interrupted by a sound. At first he thought he was just imagining it, so he continued to walk towards the huge structure. In front of him was a metal fence with barbed wire on the top. On the other side of the fence are four convoy vehicles, from which one was almost half what it used to be. Man, I guess not even the vehicles are safe from looters. He knew he weren’t going to be able to climb over the fence, so he decided to go around it from the left. But after a few steps more towards the National Guard Depot he heard the sound again which he made out to be a scream. He listened closely to any more sounds and he heard it for the third time; a scream that was fainter now than before. And judging from the tone of the sound, it belonged to a woman.

“Ah, jeez… If Boss heard those screams he’d order me to go with him to help her… Or rather that I should go and save her. And I can’t help but feel as if I’d be yelled at later if I didn’t do that even without him commanding me. Always with the dames with that guy…” He remembered his previous thoughts, about Herbert’s reason why they had to travel to Megaton. But once again he decided not to dwell in his thoughts for too long, as he knew that time is of the essence right now. He cleared his mind again and began to move towards the source of the screams; the damsel in distress.

The screams came from the North, from the direction he ran away from the raiders. He didn’t like the coincidence, as the woman might’ve been discovered and captured by raiders because of him. As he ran back towards North, he hoped that was not the case, as the numbers of the Raiders went up to a dozen when they started to chase him. He could hear more screaming which appeared to be getting louder, but he wondered how far she could be if all that he could hear was still a faint sound. Are they on the move? Is that why it seems that I’m not getting any closer, despite my hard efforts? He ran under a broken bridge that used to be a highway once and then soon he ran under another one. He looked down from where he was standing now and tried to figure out where she was. One particular structure got his attention, as there were lots of people walking towards it. In the group he saw no other females but the ones wearing the infamous raider outfit, but after scouting a bit more he noticed the strange, yellow coated creature that two of the raiders were carrying inside a metal box made out of, what appeared to be, two shopping carts attached together. I gotta admit, that’s an original cage if I ever saw one. Wait, is that creature… screaming for help?

He watched the pack of Raiders as they closed on to the building. He saw no entryway on either of the sides of the building he had vision on, so he knew he had to follow them around the building if they were planning on going northwest or, even worse, inside the building. He decided it was time to put his sneaking skills to the ultimate test, but before he got the chance to get closer he noticed the raiders going for their weapons and firing at something in front of them. What are they shooting at? Oh, Giant Mutated Ants.

The radiation has caused small ants to turn many times larger than they were before the nuke. The Workers were now the size of a six-year-old child and the Warriors and Soldiers, who protect the Workers, were almost as big as a full-grown adult if not larger. Ant hills are too hard to make when one ant is that big, so they find an abandoned house or a building and make it an “ant hill” of their own.

The Raiders kept firing, killing the ants as they came. But their numbers were superior and soon they had the Raiders surrounded.

“What’s happening? What are those loud bangs?! Please, let me go!” pleaded the mysterious creature inside the homemade cage, whose eyes were indeed blindfolded. But its words were not heeded, as only one raider was now carrying it while the other raiders tried to clear a way. They managed to do just that and the pack of raiders quickly ran away from the ants, towards the North side of the building by following the Eastern wall.

“Crap! I can’t lose them! I’ve got to get past those ants and follow them, before this whole place gets dark!” said Argyle, noticing how quickly the day is turning out to become a night. He had to act fast, before his vision is reduced to nothing and he loses sight of the woman he’s trying to save, wherever that woman is within the pack of raiders.

Argyle, instead of running towards the raiders, crouched down and began to sneak his way towards a position, from where he could see the Northern side of the building, in an arc-form. He didn’t mind sneaking in the wide-open area, as it was dark enough for him to sneak past the Raiders and ants without being noticed. He found a good rock to hide behind and just in the nick of time; the Raiders had been clearing their path from the seemingly never-ending amount of ants and they were forced to run inside the building from the door on the Northern-side of the building. Argyle knew he had to act fast, but he saw no way of getting past the ants.

But that thought didn’t last for long, as soon after the surviving raiders got inside the building the ants outside began running towards the Southern and the Western sides. Wait a minute… If this is their “home”, does that mean they have made a hole that connects the inside to the outside, by any chance? I’d better move fast, it shouldn’t take them long to get inside the building if that’s the case!

He saw no more ants in his way, so he started sprinting towards the entrance. When he got to the entrance, he carefully listened through the door if the Raiders were in the next room or they’d gone deeper into the facility. The facility he had entered was built quite straightforwardly. In front he could see a reception on the left wall and stairs on the right. The stairs were connected to a catwalk above the reception table and Argyle, which led to a room that was filled with broken computers and rusted desks. Further down from the reception desk was another set of stairs, and they ended at the same altitude the other stairs ended.

Running at full-speed without letting his body get used to it before is taking a toll on Argyle now. He’s getting exhausted once again, but this time he didn’t have time to rest. He had to keep moving he were to save the woman screaming for help. Where is this dame, I haven’t seen her yet. Just where is she? He suddenly heard a scream. But not just one scream, a scream that was composed by men and women screaming together. He dragged his exhausted body deeper into the building, up the stairs at the other side of the entrance. At the top of the stairs, a path on the left lead to the same direction the catwalk did, but there was a rusted car placed there as well for display. How long has that rust bucket been there? Something was written on the plate in front of the car, but Argyle did not feel like walking over there to find out what it said, especially with the dame in need of rescue. On the right was a door that seemed to be jammed shut very tightly from the other side, and right in front of Argyle was another wooden door. He noticed the screams came from the other side of this door. He carefully opened the door and saw another room which was almost completely empty, aside from the counter on the far-right corner. This must’ve been the room where the bastards that used to call themselves “workers” used to take their lunch breaks. On the right of the counter was a metallic door, from which behind came loud screams and gun fires.

Readying himself for anything behind that door and keeping himself well-hidden, Argyle closed in on the door and opened it quickly but quietly. What he saw past the glass in front of him was something he thought he’d never see; the raiders were unloading all of their ammo onto the surrounding Ant Warriors and Ant Soldiers. But most of them were focused toward an ant that was at least ten times bigger than the previously mentioned protector ants. The huge ant, the one bigger than the rest, was spewing acid towards the raiders, corroding their armors and burning through their flesh. That… That must be a Giant Mutated Ant Queen! Oh man, this day’s getting worse by the minute... Those Raiders don’t stand a chance. Around the ants and Raiders were various sizes of tires and components that were used in vehicles. Before the war, the facility was used to build the latest vehicle models that were popular back in 2077. Now it has been reduced to nothing but a makeshift anthill where humans were screaming and giving out war cries while desperately shooting at giant ants. But to no avail, as a few Raider’s will to fight ended with either acid melting his or her skull or one of the Warriors or Soldiers dislocating their neck with their powerful, mutated jaws.

He couldn’t take his eyes off the bizarre match-up which he was witnessing, but a rattling sound from his right made Argyle look to that direction in under a split-second. Though his reaction to the sound was very quick, it took him a few seconds to register what he saw. The noises were made by a yellow-coated, small four-legged “horse” that was trapped in-between two shopping carts. Then it hit him; it was the homemade cage in which the Raiders were carrying the strange creature he saw outside the facility. Upon seeing it up-close, he confirmed his doubts that she was, indeed, blindfolded.

“Please, let me go! I don’t like what I’m hearing!” The creature was getting panicky and tried to force its way out of the cage. Argyle suddenly realized that it wasn’t a woman that pleaded for help; it was this creature that sounds like a woman. This thing can talk? What am I thinking at a time like this?! That thing must be the one asking for help, so I gotta help her, since I’ve come this far.

Argyle quickly sneaked next to the cage and said, “Listen, you little thing. I’ll help you out of here, but you have to stay quiet. Even though those guns are loud, and the screams even louder, either party might turn their attention to us if they hear us.” He then immediately took a bobby pin and a screwdriver from his pocket and started a battle of life-or-death with the locks that were keeping the two carts together. Click, one locked was open before the creature even nodded in agreement while trying to hide the fact that she was startled. Poor thing, she didn’t expect my voice, did she? Click, click, two more were removed in the time the creature took a deep breath and exhaled it. Click, the last one popped open and Argyle proceeded to quickly, yet soundlessly, removing the top cart away from the creature, giving it the freedom it had been pleading for the whole event. Argyle’s experience in lock-picking came in handy in this dire situation, as it only took him ten seconds flat to unlock all four of the locks.

Argyle then proceeded to trying to peel the blindfold off from the mystical creature’s eyes, but it was tied up too tightly with a complex knot. He judged that it would take him too much time to try and take it off by hand, especially in the middle of a brutal skirmish, so he planned on being the her eyes for the moment. He decided this was the quickest and safest way to get them out of the facility, even if it was a bit cruel to the horse-like being. With the guns still blazing in the background and the screams still loud, but less due to casualties, Argyle made his move. He told the thing, “Okay, listen up. That blindfold looks like it’s been tied down tightly with tricky knobs. I won’t be able to get it off your eyes before I carefully slice it open. But right now, we have to move! Here, I’ll carry you.” This was to ensure that it would not be startled by being carried again.

“Thank you, my name is Daring Do.” responded the horse-like creature, not sure about what to say with all the thoughts rushing through her mind at the same time.

“Save the introduction for later. I need to focus right now in order to get us out of here alive.“ Daring Do said nothing in reply. She’s smart, I gotta give her that. Argyle was expecting her to try to give some explanation or apology or something similar, yet he was left in peace to continue the task at hand. Argyle went straight for the door and closed it behind him, making the sounds on the other room become fainter. Now that were out of there, getting to the exit should be a piece of cake. I mean, what could possibly stand in our way now? He walked to the other side of the room pretty relaxed, even though still tired. But after opening the door he immediately regretted the jinx he just did to himself; the Worker Ants from the outside had finally gotten inside the building and now were in the way of the escape door.

He knew he had to resort to his fists in order to get out of this one. “Listen to me, Bos- I mean Daring! There are big ants in front of our path and I’ll have to kick their giant, mutated asses if we are to get to that door. Stick close to me! I’ll need to use my fists so I can’t carry you at the same time!” As he lowered Daring Do to the ground behind him, she nodded in acknowledgement and, instead of trying to stay as close to him as possible, she decided to back away from him just a little. Not because she knew he’d need space to fight in, but because of the horrible stench that came from him when he held her in his arms. She knew that all that she needed to stay in contact with the helpful, but horrible smelling being, was her sharp ears. And she knew she could rely on them, even with the gunshots and screaming going on behind her.

Argyle rushed towards the first Worker Ant in the way, who was at the top of the stairs, which he punched right to the face with full-force, crushing the skull of the worker and making it stagger back. He then proceeded to follow his first punch with another one as powerful. The blow was so hard that it literally smashed the ant’s head into millions of pieces that flew around as if you’d just hit a watermelon with a baseball bat. The corpse of the ant was sent flying down the stairs, knocking a few fellow ants off their balances and causing a problem in their formation.

But Argyle knew it wasn’t over. That was just the first, and there are at least a dozen more to clear from their path. He pushed on down the stairs while dodging the onslaught of attacks from the ants, finally grabbing one from the neck and snapping it in an instant, leaving only a huge CRACKK behind. He then immediately released his grip and targeted the next neck to be twisted. He lunged at his target and ended its life as quickly as the previous ones’.

However, there were too many for him. The ants were cornering him at the bottom of the staircases, so he had to resort to the few frag grenades he had with him. He quickly backed up to the top of the stairs, released the safety pin from all of the grenades he had with him, five in total, and threw them onto the floor downstairs to cause havoc while keeping himself and Daring do away from the blast-radius and knocking back ants that were trying to get into the firework’s radius. The results were devastating, clearing out almost all of the ants from their way, leaving only a few crippled ants alive that were far from the staircases and fewer closer to the stairs.

Then Argyle heard the annoying creaking of an oiling-requiring door being slowly opened. Is someone behind us?! He quickly turned around to see that the door he had shut close was now open and a Warrior Ant was heading towards Daring Do. “Daring, look out! Behind us is a Warrior Ant!” yelled Argyle while quickly trying to finish off the ant he had a clutch on in order to reach her in time.

Upon hearing that, Daring Do immediately released her wings and got airborne, flew up as high as she could before hitting her head on the ceiling. Argyle was already rushing towards the Warrior Ant that was trying to attack them from behind. Only when he noticed that his fist’s path to the ant’s head was crystal-clear did he realize that Daring had disappeared somewhere. His blow connected, ending the Warrior’s life in a single blow which caused him to fly back into the other room from where it came from. Argyle then looked around left and right, down the stairs and was wondering where she was. He then wondered if those things on her back really were wings, so he looked up and found Daring Do all the way up in the ceiling.

Stunned by the new discovery, Argyle said, “What? Daring, you… You can fly? Never mind, stay up there for a while! And come to me when I say the escape route is reachable!” More Worker Ants had appeared in their path while Argyle was focused on the Warrior Ant and took his time looking for the “disappeared” Daring Do.

“O-okay!” she responded while rubbing the pain off her head. She could hear the sounds of bones crushing, limbs being torn apart and war cries followed by blows that always seem to send something flying towards the nearest wall. She was lucky that the raiders did nothing to harm her, especially her wings which were keeping her alive through this moment where she had no vision.

“Okay, we can reach the door now! Fly towards my voice!”
“R-right!” she responded and pointed herself towards the voices.
Daring Do swooped down, aiming herself towards the source of Argyles voice. He grabbed her, but she dived too fast and ended up head-butting him hard to the stomach.
“Oomph! You… you came down too fast… Ohh…”
“Sorry, mister! It’s just that I thought that time is of the essence, so I couldn’t waste time on descending slowly!”

Argyle opened the door, quickly went to the other side and closed the door quicker. The gunshots were now fewer than before, most likely due to the raiders fighting a losing battle. But Argyle paid no attention to that. He knew he had to get away from the wretched place before the ants emerge outside once again. He went for the rock he hid in before advancing into the building, and he walked towards it as fast as he could. But his strength was running out, as for almost the past twenty minutes since his rest on the slide had he been pushing his body to the limit physically. In addition to that, the head-butt delivered accidentally by Daring Do was making it harder for him to breathe, but he knew he was not done yet.

He finally got to the rock that was perfect for hiding behind in, and just in time too. Warrior and Worker Ants were appearing outside the building, searching for any traces of the trespassers. They looked and looked, but found no one. Argyle knew from the beginning that his stealth skills were to be put to the ultimate test, so he took the liberty of making sure that he uses everything in his arsenal to make sure he’ll be able to make a safe escape from the Raiders and the ants, with or without the damsel. But he didn’t save a dame in the end; he saved a small horse which had wings on its back. And it could fly too.

The night had fallen in perfectly. He remembers where the National Guard Depot is located and he knew that it was near a place where he and Daring Do would be safe for the night. After regaining his breathing rhythm he decided it was time for them to move that way. The ants had calmed down and gone back inside the building. Most like it was their time to hit the hay and call it a day. Argyle grabbed Daring Do once more and they headed towards the safe-zone.

After all that had happened to him, Argyle felt like the trip was nothing. But the opposite could be said for Daring Do. The horrible stench that came from her savior was unbearable and made the relatively short trip seem like an incredibly long one. As soon as they stopped and Argyle placed her on the ground, she tried to walk away from him in a quick pace. But Argyle, though he did put her on the ground, was grabbing one of Daring Do’s wings, as if she’s not allowed to go yet.

“Whoa, hang on, smoothskin! I haven’t even taken away the blindfold yet. Will you stop moving and stand still; I might
cut one of your eyes if you’re squirming like that…”

“Oh! Um… Okay. It’s just that… well… you kind of reek. I can’t stand the stench anymore… Even though the air here is disgusting, it smells fresher than you do! Oh, um, not that you’re bad or anything! What I mean is-“
“Simmer down, smoothskin! You’re not the first who wants to stay away from me because of the smell. But I can’t help it! Not with my condition, at least…”
“Condition?”
“I figure you’ll find out about it soon enough. Now stand still.”

After Daring Do finally stopped moving, Argyle pulled out a knife as if from nowhere and carefully placed it between Daring’s left side of the head and the tightly tied blindfold. He then proceeded to carefully moving the knife back and forth until the blindfold broke into two and gently fell on the ground from Daring’s eyes. As mysteriously as he made it appear, he made the knife disappear, as if he never had one on him in the first place.

“Whew! I can see again!” She blushed after saying that, as it was hard to see anything anyways because night had set in. Then she remembered what she was able to see in the daylight before the Raiders caught her. The memories froze her in her place, rendering her unable to even move an inch and drawing the redness off her face.

“…Well? Aren’t you gonna thank me?” asked Argyle with his unchanged, raspy voice.

Daring Do just stood there motionless without saying anything more. But she opened her mouth eventually. “I… I can’t believe this… When I first saw this place, I thought I was only dreaming. Then those “things” were running towards me and they kidnapped me…”

“’Things’? You mean Raiders? Speaking of things, what are you? You look like a horse, but as far as I know horses never had wings. Wait… Are you one of those robot horses that some of those rippled advertisements I've seen here and there are advertising?”

Having some breathing space gave Daring some time to think about things. What happened just now and how did she end up to this place from the comfort of her home. She walked towards the swing set that was in front of her, which she could just barely make out. She then tried to sit on it as best as she could but after too many failed attempts she decided to just sit on the ground. Though Argyle knew this was a sad moment for the alien creature, he found the failed attempts to be rather amusing. He wondered if the creature had even seen what he looks like yet, as he hasn’t heard a single scream or the word he hates the most in the Capital Wasteland, if not in the world; zombie.

“Equestria… This is not Equestria, is it?”

“Equestria? What’s that supposed to be? A land full of… horses? Heh-heh.”

Argyle asked that halfheartedly, as he was only kidding at this point. But the tone of his voice made Daring exhale a long, sad sigh as she seemed to become more camouflaged to the ground. Oh boy, I shouldn’t have said that… I guess there is really a place where horses still exist… “I’m sorry. I assume you really are from this… Equestria? Where is it, precisely?” he continued after a short moment of silence.

“I… I don’t know. All I remember is making a wish after seeing a shooting star fly in the sky. Then suddenly this bright light came out of nowhere and sucked me in itself! And the next thing I know, I’m in some place where every building seems to be destroyed, all trees charred and a foul stench is constantly in the air! And the pony that rescued me smells even worse! I hate this!”

“Whah? I told you before; I reek because of my condition and because of my condition ONLY! But calling me a “pony”… Now, that was uncalled for!”

“…You’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t think any pony could be so tall anyway, even when standing on two legs.”

Argyle was impressed with the horse’s speculations. Despite being blind the whole rescue operation, Daring had been paying attention to even the small details that were present to be sensed. “Ah, don’t worry about it. So… You say you strangely arrived to one of the worst places to be in by accident?”

“That’s what I said,” replied Daring and gave another sigh right behind it.
“Well, don’t you worry smoothskin. Since it was basically my fault those Raiders found you, I’ll help you get back to your home… wherever it is. I’m sure Boss won’t mind having you around with us in our adventures.”

One word from that sentence caught Daring Do’s attention; adventures. She pondered for a moment and came to the conclusion that her gut feeling was telling her the truth; she should’ve never even thought about starting to go onto adventures, as her guts were telling her it would be a painful way to commit suicide in the end. Why? Why is this happening to me? All I wanted was an adventure with no danger...

Argyle was still talking while Daring Do was lost in her thoughts, so as she came back to reality he heard something that might’ve been the cause to her being in this wretched place. Uncertain of whether or not she heard it correctly, she asked her savior, “Did you say you would protect me from any danger?”

“Yes I did. Because, well... It was kinda my fault that you were in that unpleasant situation.”

“When that shooting star went by, I wished that I would have a sidekick that would protect me from all dangers... Do you think this is the reason I’m here or, more precisely, why you came to rescue me?”

Argyle was surprised to hear that. He always believed that things, even his condition he still fins unacceptable, happen for a reason, so he had no doubts about it. But learning that he might be the reason Daring Do was brought to Capital Wasteland made him feel guiltier, so he made it his never-ending goal to ensure that Daring Do got back to her home. As he was about to say something, he noticed how he had pushed his body too far as he began wobbling and feeling heavier by at least two-fold.

“Daring, listen. Don’t worry about those things now. I know it’s hard to believe that you’ve ended up in a place that might be far away from your home. But I’m sure we can both agree that it should wait until tomorrow. It’s been a rough night, we should get some sleep.” Argyle let out a yawn with breath that would’ve probably killed plants outright if any were still growing.

“Sleep? HERE?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry about finding a bed; I think that space shuttle is a safe place for you to sleep in. It’ll be hard to kidnap you from those small holes and it’s probably a lot more comfortable than the ground or that bed over there under the debris.”
“But won’t it get cold?!”
“Sure, it might be January now... and Januaries used to be cold at some time. But here in the Capital Wasteland it seems as if it’s always summer. It never rains, either, thanks to those damn nuclear bombs. So don’t worry about getting cold or wet. While the days can be unbearably hot, the nights are usually just the perfect temperature to sleep in. And besides, it’s so dark out here that you can barely see your hands in front of you. So whaddya say?”

“Well... I guess sleeping with you protecting me won’t be a problem. But you’d better protect me from ANYTHING that might be out to get me! I need to sleep uninterrupted or it feels like I haven’t slept at all.”
“Hah-hah! Fine. Sounds like a deal. I’ll be sleeping on this comfortable slide. Why do the kids get all the good stuff?”

The two set out to find their “beds” in the almost-pitch-black-darkness, which was a little challenging for Daring Do since she didn’t have the leisure to see the place in the daylight unlike Argyle did. Eventually she found the shuttle and flew inside the small space that was inside it. Before falling asleep, she wanted to know one more thing. “Hey, mister. This might be a bit odd thing to ask so late... But I don’t think you ever told me your name.

“That’s because I never got the chance. The name’s Argyle. Nice to meet ya, Daring Do. Oh, and good night.”
With that, the two fell almost simultaneously into deep slumber. They both had a rough night, so it’s no wonder. Once both of them wake up, their new journey together will start until Argyle finds Herbert and the duo becomes a trio.

Chapter 3: Chaotic Night

Herbert and Rainbow Dash had finally arrived near the small settlement called Megaton. Despite it being dark, Megaton was easy to spot because of the nightlights the settlers had scattered across the front, gigantic metal gates to spot possible Raiders or any menace that was daring to invade the place they’ve constructed from scavenged metal from a mile-away airbus station to call their “home”. The settlement had grown so big that all of the usable material found from the airport station was scavenged, which caused the place to become unrecognizable to the point that it no longer exists. It was also built on a small hill, which makes guarding the only entryway, the giant gates, much easier.

Aside from Rainbow Dash telling Herbert about Equestria -- from where she came from -- the two adventurers said nothing to each other during the tiresome and long trip to Megaton after the chain of events. But after finally gathered enough courage to say something to Rainbow Dash again, Herbert stopped just before the light exposed them in the darkness. Despite having the courage to say what he had to say, his tone wasn’t as ready, making him talk with a crackling to frightened voice.

“Listen, Rainbow Dash... I and Argyle made a deal with one of the most trusted settler of Megaton that was to guarantee our safe-passage into the settlement even if they mistake us for Raider or Slavers due to pitch-black darkness like how it is now. Because the watchmen have been given orders to shoot first, ask later, I made this sign with the secret password that would tell the spotters that it’s just us. Well, me, for now.” Herbert made a sign appear into his hands out of nowhere and he held it high above his head, to show that he had no weapons in his palms and he was a friendly. “You hide behind the shadows for a little longer, I’ll tell you when you can show yourself. They don’t know what you are, so they might shoot you anyways to protect me,” he continued, this time with his normal voice.

Rainbow Dash frowned at the thought of how cruel the world she has ended up is. Herbert continued, “Don’t worry. I’ll get you back home where you belong. Maybe I could visit this “Equestria” myself. It would be a nice break from all the radiation, shooting and killing.”

Herbert stepped forward, into the range of the torch that was outside Megaton’s borders. He was still holding the sign above his head, hoping that the sheriff mentioned about this deal to everyone on guard-duty and they’d remember it right at this moment. Both stand true, it seems, as he hadn’t been shot yet.

“Colin, Herbert Dashwood and Argyle are just near the gates! Shall I let them in?” yelled the sniper on the night-shift guard-duty, who lowered his rifle after confirming the code on the sign and recognizing Herbert’s “charming” facial features. He yelled the question loud enough for even Herbert and Rainbow Dash to hear it. But after that they heard nothing about the conversation the guard and Moriarty were talking about.

“Herbert, ye say? Isn’t that the feller that helped us fend off the Raiders back in 2241? Although I appreciate him and his zombie-friend for the impeccable timing, I don’t want that moving body of rottin’ flesh to come and stink up my town. Kill them, that cheapskate Herbert never even bought anything in my bar and always flirted with me money dames and ended up going at it at a discount price. That bastard, I’ll show him to swindle money from me!” responded Colin with an Irish accent and an intimidating tone that was loud enough for the watchman to hear but not loud enough for the wind to send the message to Herbert’s location.

The sniper was surprised with the order he was given, as he already had his hand on the switch that opens the main gates to Megaton. He stood still for a moment, processing what he just heard to make sure that his mind wasn’t playing any stupid games on him at an important time like this. “Shoot them? Are you sure? Without them, Megaton wouldn’t have probably survived that assault! I can’t just-“

“Are you going up against me, the town sheriff AND the town mayor?! If I don’t hear two shots being fired from that rifle of yours soon, I’ll have to consider ye a deserter and a traitor. In other words, ye’d have to get your ass out of MY town before the sun gets up or I’ll have the whole settlement gun ye down! Do you understand me?! On the count of three! One! Two!”

The sniper, filled with terror from Colin’s threat, took a firm grip of his sniper, got into position and aimed for Herbert’s head that was clear in his sight due to the torches. His index finger was trembling near the trigger. He did not want to kill Herbert or Argyle, because they rescued him for a sure-death situation when the Raiders raided the settlement. His mind was filled with thousands of thoughts, vivid memories of that fateful day flashed before his eyes as the inevitable three seemed to come closer and closer, as if the Grim Reaper was getting closet to Herbert, ready to touch him with his finger and ending his life there and then. But before Colin even got the chance to call out the last number, and the sniper had to shoot, they were interrupted by the sound of footsteps dragging on the sandy ground. They both looked to the direction of the sound and saw one of Megaton’s other residents.

“Now, what the hell is your problem, Colin?” asked the young male teenager who was wearing a fine, over-sized duster, a state-of-the-art cowboy hat and holding a Hunting Rifle in his arms. “When did you become the sheriff of this town, let alone the mayor? That’s not something you can just decide on your own. It’s decided by every one of us together. Lower your gun and open the gates, John, I’ll go greet them.”

“Don’t get full of ye self, lad! Jus’ because he gave ye that duster doesn’t mean he’s a friend of yours. Why, he probably gave it to ye the last time he was here because he knew ye’d be his easy access inside this place right here 24/7. Think about it! What does he ever do in ‘tis place other than go after me ladies?!”

“I bet they could help us with the new Raider problem at our hand. You know, that one who’s caught all those Radscorpions? If there anyone who could take on that guy, it’s them. And besides, those people are forced to be your courtesans because they borrowed money from the wrong guy, namely you, and now they have to pay for it with their own bodies. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have people to welcome.”

“Since when were ye, a 12-year-old kid, in charge?! Didn’t ye jus' say it has to be decided by everyone who lives here?”

The young boy thought about that question for a moment and came up with a solution that wouldn’t violate what he just said and would be considered a good choice by the settlers. He looked up at the sniper, John, and asked him, “What do you think, John? Would the other settlers open the gates for Herbert and Argyle?”

Though it was too dark for Colin or the kid to see John’s facial expression, his joy of hearing the words he wanted to hear from the kid’s mouth spread all the way to the tone of his voice. “Why, they’d probably want to throw another party for the heroes if they’d know it was them out there! I’ll open up the gate immediately!” He holstered his rifle and went for the mechanisms that operated the gates. After a few buttons the gates gave out loud noises while opening themselves. In the middle of it all John had forgotten that Herbert and Argyle had been waiting for a response for quite some time now. He checked to see if they were still there. He saw Herbert, but wondered where Argyle had gone to. When he thought about it a bit more, he didn’t recall even seeing Argyle with Herbert. In any case, he yelled out a response: “Come on in, Herbert and Argyle! Lucas’ waiting for you two by the entrance!”

Argyle? Isn’t he Herbert’s “manservant”? Why is he calling out his name as well? Doesn’t he see that he’s not with us? And what took them, anyways?! Herbert said we could sleep here for the night, but at this rate I might fall asleep right there! I’m really tired now... Rainbow Dash had become a bit grumpy from all that waiting and the confusion of mentioning Argyle only seemed to make it worse. “Herbert, you hear that? They’re letting us in! Shall I come out now?” Rainbow Dash waited for a response, but Herbert said nothing and was still standing while holding the sign above his head. After a while Rainbow Dash though he didn’t hear him and tried again. “Are you going, Herbert?” Still nothing. “...Herbert?” She could not wait any longer, as she was feeling as if she would fall asleep at any moment if she continued to stand still while doing nothing. Risking the chance of being shot upon exposing herself, she walked in front Herbert to see why he hasn’t replied to any of her calls. “Hey, what’s the matter with you?! Are you deaf all of a sudden?” Upon getting closer to Herbert from the front she heard snoring. “Herbert... Don’t tell me...” Herbert had fallen asleep before Rainbow Dash because of the long wait period. Rainbow Dash couldn’t, yet again, believe what was happening to her, despite it not being the most bizarre thing to happen to her since the shooting star.

It was too much for Rainbow Dash. She suspected from the beginning that this human would cause her to snap a few times, but managing to do so in the very first day they met — twice, for that matter — is something she wasn’t prepared for. She gave out a scream that shattered the silence of the wasteland’s night and started to flap her wings to gain altitude. The scream startled Herbert, awaking him from his sleep and making him jump.

"Aaaah! What! Where!?” said Herbert while still half-asleep, looking for the source of the scream.
“I can’t believe you, Herbert! You fell asleep, OUT HERE! What kind of an adventurer are you, anyway?!” The long trips from her starting point to Megaton and the lack of sleep and comfort have made Rainbow Dash extremely sensitive and grumpy. She was so angry that she failed to notice the weapon that had appeared into Herbert’s hands.

“Huh? Rainbow Dash! What are you doing?! I told you to wait for my signal! Now hide before-“

“Look out, Herbert! There’s an odd, blue-colored creature close to you! I’ll save you!” yelled John who was back from opening the front gates and already had his eyesight inside the scope of his rifle.”

The worst-case scenario that Herbert imagined had become reality. John has mistaken Rainbow Dash for some dangerous wasteland critter that he thought was out to get Herbert. Just by reflex he grabbed and threw himself on top of Rainbow Dash to cover her from the potentially lethal shots that could be fired at any second.

“Herbert, What are you doing?! Get off of me!” Rainbow Dash tried to struggle her way out of yet another one of Herbert’s grips, kicking him in the stomach multiple times with her hind legs. “I’m warning you Her-“

*BANG*
A shot was fired. Herbert was expecting a surge of pain to strike him, but it never happened. Did he hit Rainbow Dash?! He quickly got up just enough that he could see her as a whole. No wounds? Then what did he aim for? He looked around a bit to find that there was a recently-fired bullet just inches away from his right. He looked up to the outpost and his gaze fixated on the dark figure that was the sniper.

“Jesus, Herbert! What are you doing?! That thing’s out to get you!” yelled John while still keeping aim at the alien creature who was under Herbert.

“She’s not out to get me! She’s my sidekick at the moment! Now, don’t shoot her!” responded Herbert with a voice as loud as the sniper’s.

“Sidekick?!” John was now confused, as he had thought from the very beginning, ever since 2241, that Argyle was his sidekick. He began to wonder if something had happened to Argyle. Hah! What am I thinking?! Nobody could beat that martial arts expert even if he had his hands tied behind his back! “Sorry about that, Herbert’s sidekick! I’ll get down from here before anything else can happen!” He walked back to the room with the switches and buttons that control the outer gates. Inside the room was also a small hatch from where he could climb down out from the outpost.

Herbert finally got off Rainbow Dash and was expecting a kick in the head or two for calling him a “she”. “Look, Rainbow Dash... I’m sorry. I was just thinking about protecting you and in the midst of that I blurted out something stupid.”

Rainbow Dash lied on the ground for a while longer, not knowing of that to think. She got up and thought about what Herbert said. “What... What do you mean? I-I don’t think you said anything strange.” She was in a small shock because of hearing a gunshot for the first time and the bullet landing so close to her she heard the impact.

“I didn’t? But didn’t it offend you that I called you a girl?”

For a moment, Rainbow Dash had a different opinion about Herbert. His heroic action to protect her from danger showed her that he had the spirit of an adventurer who cares for his companion in him, but that last sentence he said changed her opinion about him once again back to the one she had before the save. “Offensive?! I find it offensive that you think that I’m a stallion! Of all the things you...”

“Wow... so you’re a real horse?” said a voice Rainbow Dash hadn’t heard before, interrupting her anger moment and making her, once again, very cautious.

“Who’s there?!” said Rainbow Dash. The voice came from towards Megaton, but it was closer than that.

Herbert recognized the voice and finally lowered the guard he had put up when Rainbow Dash seemed like she was going to give him another kick. He squint his eyes to try to see the person who was near in front of them, but he really didn’t need to because he already had a pretty good idea to who the voice belonged to. “That voice... Simms, is that you?”

Lucas had walked towards Herbert and his companion from the front gates because it was taking them too long to get to the gates and he increased his pace a bit when John fired a shot. He had gotten so close they could hear his footsteps now. However, he stopped before he got to the light of the torches. “Yes. It’s me. And please stop calling me by my last name... It feels weird... I apologize for John shooting you and your companion, but we have to hurry back inside. That raider might strike again anytime soon, and I’m not willing to let that happen.”

Raiders were a constant problem for the settlers of Megaton, as they have taken the ruins of Fairfax as one of their hideouts. The ruins are located a distance to the South from Megaton, but the path between them is usually only infested with dogs Molerats or Bloatflies. Herbert and Argyle had cleared out the ruins back in 2241, when the Raiders raided Megaton and almost obliterating the settlement off the Capital Wasteland, yet it appears that they’re at it once again and causing bane to Megaton.

Moving towards Lucas and Megaton, Herbert knew his help would be needed once again. And especially after being separated from his manservant by people who fall into the same category, he couldn’t help but feel as Megaton was doing him a favor at the moment. “Raiders, you say? You need help in stopping them? I don’t know if I can do it without Argyle, but I’m sure I can manage by myself.” He looked behind him to check if Rainbow Dash was coming along with them, but he turned his head back forwards as soon as he saw the angry gaze Rainbow Dash was giving. “Ha-hah... Did I say by myself? I meant that I and Rainbow Dash can take care of them for you.”

Following Herbert and Lucas to Megaton, Rainbow Dash stepped up her pace until he was next to Herbert. She objected his help-offering and said to him with a tone not loud enough for Lucas to hear what she was saying, “Are you crazy? What about me?”

“What do you mean, Rainbow Dash?”
“I mean that have you already forgotten what you promised me a while ago. How am I supposed to get back home if you decide to go on a stupid adventure to help these guys? And what’s worse, you’re taking me with...”

Rainbow Dash stopped speaking before she could finish her sentence. Even if her wish didn’t come true the way she wanted, it was about to be fulfilled part-ways, to say the least. Going on an adventure to help these settlers? I’m not sure if I’m going to like it as much with Herbert, but it’s going to give me a chance to experience something I’ve always wanted ever since I read Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone. Adventure, the thrill of danger and, the best part, treasure!

“Hey! Rainbow Dash! Where did you go?!” Herbert yelled when he arrived at the front gates with Lucas and noticed that she was not close to him. In the pitch-black darkness it was harder to detect the cyan-coated mare who was small to begin with. She stopped walking when she realized she could be going on her very first adventure in this vast wasteland. She only noticed after Herbert’s yell that she had fallen quite behind, still being at the bottom of the small hill while the other two were at the top.

“...What? Oh! I’m here!” she responded, running up the hill and reaching the top with only seven large steps. “So... When are we going to get those Raiders?”

Lucas was still amazed how advanced the "Giddyup Buttercup" robot horses had become, as not only did the small horse look real, though a bit strange colored, its moves were completely fluent, it could talk like a human AND it included working wings. He’d been told that the manufacturer factory was wiped out in the nuclear explosions and robot horses were never made. But he didn’t understand why it acted like it was... tired. Slight swaying, wobbling and yawning often; Rainbow Dash showed signs that a person would show when he or she’s very tired. Wasn’t the base of Equestrian Robotic’s idea that the horses would not need any water, food or rest? Why is this one so tired-looking? He knew the robot was going to hear what he was going to say, but he figured it was just a robot so he just asked Herbert straight, “Hey Herbert... About your... sidekick. Where did you find it? I thought the Giddyup Buttercup’s factory and research lab was destroyed in the bombings?”

Since Lucas was only 12 years old, Herbert had to kneel down a little to be able to speak directly into his ear. With a soft yet serious tone he said, “Now now, Lucas... She’s not a robot. She’s a Pegasus from this place called Equestria. She can speak English as well as we do and she can think for herself.” He looked back at Rainbow Dash to see if she heard that but it seems that she was more focused in her thoughts than what Lucas said just now. Just a moment ago she was bursting with anger. Why is she smiling that widely? And are those... sparks coming out of her eyes? It was the first time Herbert had seen her smile since earlier that day when she stumbled into Capital Wasteland. “Rainbow Dash, is everything okay?”

She did not respond. She was deep in her thoughts due to adventure being involved. Treasure... I wonder what kind of treasure this place bears. In Daring Do and the Desert’s Amethyst Palace, the treasure was never heard of until her vigorous studies on the matter. The clues hinted her adventure towards the Chameleons’ Desert. It was the perfect hiding place for precious, stolen jewels because one expected anything to be found in the middle of a scorching desert. Another reason for it being well-hidden is because the thieving Unicorn managed to build-up aliases for every suspicion the police had on him regarding to the jewel robberies. Not only were the stolen jewels stashed in an underground palace, it was also the home for an amethyst that shone brighter than an ordinary amethyst and, according to legends, was the reason of distrust towards Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The amethyst was. Tre actually made by Discord just moments before he was petrified by the two rulers of Equestria and its purpose was to turn the citizens against their saviors. The Unicorn had been using its powers to make those around him turn to his side, which is why his stories were in synch with the “witnesses”, who suddenly did not see a Unicorn rob the stores, but an Earth Pony whose coat was of yellow and was famous for discovering valuable treasures and going on adventures. In other words, Daring Do herself. This place... This is almost like a desert except the nights don’t seem to be cold and we survived a day’s travel without me even taking a drop of water to drink. There has to be some kind of treasure hidden by somepony around here somewhere. Come to think of it, I’m quite thirsty right now... My throat’s all dried up.

“Rainbow Dash!” Herbert had been constantly calling for Rainbow Dash when she was in her deep thoughts, wondering that is Rainbow Dash able to sleep with her eyes open. And if she does, the curious question of whether your eyes send out sparks whenever you’re sleeping buzzed inside his head.

Rainbow Dash finally snapped out of it and heard the calling. She tried to say something in response, but before she had realized it her throat had gone so dry that it became very difficult to even send out a sound from the vocal cords. “W... water!” she managed to dish out in the midst of her panic of dehydration.

She looked around for a source of water. In the inner-side of the metal walls was much brighter than expected when you look at the place from the outer-side of the walls. Torches were placed across the small settlement to help navigation and avoiding accidental deaths from walking to the wrong place, like walking towards a makeshift fence and falling a great height. The shape of the ground was that of a crater’s, with the middle being at the deepest. There were standing building, but because of the whole place being one, big bowl the building had to be made on human-made even grounds which seemed very unsafe and unstable, since the supports were made out of scrap metal without proper welding in both the welding materials and skills. Pipes were connected around the place and they were on the ground instead of under. She could hear something flowing within the pipes and she had a pretty good hunch about what liquid was flowing within them.

Though she said it quite incomprehensibly, Lucas had a pretty good idea about what she said because of how she was staring intensively at the piping. With the mixed feelings of her being not a robot but an actual horse in the flesh, he proceeded towards John who had climbed down from his guard post using a rope-ladder and was eager to welcome—after apologizing to the for his bad judgement— the two guests from which one is seemingly having some kind of trouble. “John, get them both a cold glass of purified water. They must be thirsty from the looks of it. I think your patrolling shifts are soon not needed, Herbert might be able to help up with that Raider.”

“You think so? I believe so! I’ll go get them some fresh water right now!” Without either greeting the guests or apologizing to them, John headed to the center of the settlement and then before reaching the center he went up a makeshift path that was made on top of a metal house, Megaton's medical clinic, which was then a catwalk all the way to the “second floor” of Megaton, where the water purifier facility is located. But he was sure to do both of them once he brings them the refreshment they so badly need.

After seeing John head to get the guests of the hour some refreshments, Lucas turned towards Herbert and his sidekick. “When the two of you are ready, come to my home. You can sleep there for the night. I also have to keep you to your words, Herbert, as that Raider has been causing a lot of grief to us lately. As always, my home’s the one on the right.”

“You’ve been constantly talking about one Raider. Is one really giving you that much trouble?” Herbert replied, puzzled about a strong fortification as Megaton having trouble with a single Raider.

“It’s not just that Raider... It’s his companion’s that are causing us burden... I’ll explain it to you in greater detail back inside my house. I’ll leave the door unlocked for you two.” He walked towards his home and vanished inside without even opening the door.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had stopped gazing at the pipe lining and was pulling Herbert’s pants in the way you’d like someone to pay attention to you as you have something important to announce. Herbert looked at her, wondering why she didn’t just call him out loud. She pointed down to the middle of the settlement, noticing something big in the center, at the bottommost part. What she was pointing at was, what she though, a giant piece of metal where another human was nearby.

Herbert finally noticed what she was trying to ask him. “You’re wondering what that thing is? Why... that’s just one of the nuclear warheads that was used in the bombings about two-hundred years ago, back in 2077.” Rainbow Dash’s face was almost instantly filled with panic, as she was now face-to-face with one of the reasons the place she’d end up in was a wasteland. “But don’t you worry about that thing,” Herbert continued, “Since it hasn’t blown up, it’s safe to assume that it’s a dud. But more importantly, why aren’t you talking? Is something the matter? Just a moment ago you seemed... happy. But now you’re acting as if you’re in a desperate need to drink some water or something.”

Why won’t you understand?! I NEED water now more than ever!

“But if you ever need a drink, don’t drink that water near the bomb. It’s-“

Before he got the chance to warn her about the water, she was rushing towards it. “Rainbow Dash! Don’t drink that water! It’s radiated!” He tried to warn her, but his words fell in deaf ears. He started chasing her down the crater, but was cut-off quite quickly by a familiar voice.

“Well, well... If it isn’t good ol’ Herbert Dashwood. What brings ye to Megaton at this hour of the day? And where’s that zombie-friend of ye’s? Is it finally dead for good and six-feet under?

As much as his body urged him to warn Rainbow Dash about the water, he couldn’t let him go after talking like so about his best friend, even if he was a ghoul and tended to smell off constantly. He turned towards the man: “You haven’t changed one bit after these years, Colin. And as for Argyle, we were ambushed by a bunch of Raiders while we were trying to retrieve the stolen statue’s head of Abraham Lincoln back into Rivet City. But enough about me; how about you? How’s your saloon doing after your father passed away in that... incident?”

Colin never liked his father. Constantly pushing him to do things, never giving him time to rest, or any free-time for that matter, the other settlers saw him as a trustworthy man who knew what he was doing and contributed to the small settlement’s welfare. Colin’s father, who liked to be addressed by his last name, Moriarty, had started a saloon in Megaton to keep the laborer’s morale on the positive side while they worked hard through day and night to get the metal walls up around Megaton, when they still were vulnerable to the wasteland’s threats. After he passed away in the Raider’s raid, his saloon was handed to his only son, Colin Moriarty, who felt grateful for the Raider who let out the executing shot.

In order to feel as important to other as his father did, Colin also wanted everyone to address him as Moriarty instead of calling him by his lame name his mother gave him. Colin and his father left to the United States from Ireland when he was only a child, leaving her behind in search for sustainable income in the post-apocalyptic world. He hasn’t been in contact with her after departure and he intends to keep it that way.

Even after his death he does not like hearing people talking about his father, the “great” and “considering” fellow, as only he knew his dark, sadistic side. He snapped when he heard him ask about that one person he detests the most. “Don’t ye even dare ta mention the bastard! He was a bastard when he was alive and he still is one!”

Colin headed towards his saloon infuriated while Herbert stood back and wondered if he really said something that insulting. “Ye better say away from me saloon, ye hear?! Yer. not. welcome! Not ye or that metal horse of ye’s!

The mention of a metal horse made Herbert’s gears grind hard, as he felt as if he was forgetting something... Something important; something important that had something to do with a horse. Then it hit him. Noticing that Colin had vanished far away, back into his saloon which is in the other side of Megaton, he looked to the middle in the hopes that he wouldn’t see her near the water.

While Herbert stopped to chatter with Colin, she arrived near the puddle of water, ready to take a long, refreshing sip, she heard the man near the bomb saying something out loud. She had no interest in what he was saying, as every cell in her body was craving for water. Nevertheless she couldn’t help but overhear what the man was saying.

“Come and drink the blessed water of Atom, and gain the protection of our saviour.” The man was a preacher, which is why he was talking even though most were already in their beds getting some sleep and the ones who were out had heard the words a dozen times before so they’ve gotten used to hearing them without turning to the source.

The water tasted like a treat from heaven when it went down her dried-up throat. She felt like all of her exhaustion vanished in an instant. After taking a few gulps she felt like she had to savor the water inside her mouth. She twirled her tongue around the water after taking some more and suddenly she got the urge to vomit, but before she even could fight back the gag-reflexes she threw up all she just drank back into the puddle. “Fyi! What’s wrong with this water?! It tastes disgusting!” She had regained the ability to talk fluently after getting some water down her throat, but now her stomach felt a bit sick. The pain felt very small, so she ignored it and she didn’t feel it.

“Do not reject Atom’s gift, as it is the only thing that is keeping us safe in this time of need!” said the preaching with the voice he was preaching just a moment ago.

“’Atom’s gift’? But it tastes terrible!”

“That is because you don’t believe in Atom. Be careful, as he does not take kindly to non-believers! Those who reject his gift shall feel strong pains as punishment for disloyalty!”

The mentioning of pain brought back her small pain in the stomach. Only that it wasn’t as small as she remembered. The pain had seemingly grown so much that just standing seemed to be a burden. She held back the urges to groan and moan from the pain and little sweat was starting to form on her face.

“Do you not believe me now? Atom is dissatisfied with your behavior. But fear not! Though Atom is unforgiving to those who don’t believe in him, he forgives those who understand him and accept him as their protector and saviour, no matter how strong of a grudge they had towards him beforehand. This is because we are all children of Atom. Now come, drink Atom’s holy water and accept him as your savior! Only this will remove the pain of punishment!”

Rainbow Dash never believed in superstitious things, but the pain, the water and the words the man just said; they all suddenly made sense to her and she believed everything he said about Atom, his protection and punishment. Standing was becoming unbearable to her so she sat down near the pond of water. She was still puzzled about why a weapon that has destroyed all green is soaking in a pond of Atom’s water. She came up with her own answer that was based off what she had heard from the man and it was the deciding answer which made her want to try to drink the water once again; Atom had poured a small amount of rain water into the crater, which then drooled down to the middle of the crater where it protected the settlement from the nuclear bomb by making it deactivate upon touching.

She had heard enough, she was now a loyal servant of Atom. As she began to slowly take another mouthful of her savior’s blessed water, which was difficult with her pain seemingly becoming greater by the moment, she was pulled away from the pond before her lips could touch the water. Though the pull was gentle and was done with little strength, the pain she felt was so immense that she almost passed out. But even so, she didn’t let out a scream of pain. Wobbling from the agony, she tried to look behind her to see who’s doing it, but she recognized the voice before her head turned enough to see the face.

“Rainbow Dash, what are you doing! I told you not to drink that water, it’s irradiated! If you’re not careful, the radiation can leave a painful side-effect in your stomach-region! Hopefully you haven’t drunk any of it yet, have you?!” It was no-one else but Herbert himself, who has rushed down towards Rainbow Dash after wasting time in a pointless conversation with Colin.

Rainbow Dash tried to fight back, but the pain in her stomach had become so painful that even the simplest movement seemed to worsen the pain. “Let... me go... Herbert... I must drink... the gift of Atom to... gain his protection and forgiveness.”

“What are you saying?! That’s not a gift and there’s no such guy as “Atom” in this settlement! Unless he has moved in recently, but I find that highly unbelievable since you can’t just become a resident here like that.”

“No... Atom is real! He’s punishing me for not accepting his gift...! But He’ll forgive me... when I accept his gift!” Her being the Element of Loyalty is one of the reasons why she’s so... loyal. The preacher’s words have also dug deep into her noggin.

“Ah, if it isn’t Herbert Dashwood. Have you come to ask Atom’s forgiveness, as well? I know you don’t believe in Atom, but the proof is right before your eyes! She forsook His gift and now is being punished for it!” The preacher hadn’t left for even a second and witnessed the strange creature’s belief towards Atom.

“I thank you for your generosity, but I still don’t believe in this whole “Atom” thing. And if you cannot see, my sidekick needs me right now!” Herbert responded.

“So there you two are! I thought you two were already at Lucas’ house, but he said you two still hadn’t arrived.” John had gone to Lucas’ house, thinking that Lucas would invite them to stay there for the night. But since neither of them was there, he went back out with the two bottles filled with cold, purified water straight from the water filterer.

Herbert was worried about Rainbow Dash. She was not acting like the pony he met earlier, the one who seemed to get angry about even the slightest mistakes and had kicks that would literally drop your jaw if she ever kicked it. He turned towards John while still having a gentle grip on Rainbow Dash. “Quickly John, give her some water! She’s being delusional!”

John swiftly unscrewed the cap of one bottle and placed the head so that the contents would flow into Rainbow Dash’s mouth. If what she drank just a moment ago felt heavenly, then this one was something that felt beyond that what tasted even better than fresh apple cider. She had re-hydrated herself enough that tears formed in her eyes and then they ran down her cheeks. The drink made her forget all about her stomach pain. She emptied her bottle’s content fast and was still sucking even after, causing the bottle to become wrinkled and shrunken. Nevertheless she felt thirsty still. John noticed this and he figured Herbert could wait a little longer. He opened the second bottle, this time going a bit more slowly than with the first. At about halfway through the bottle she seemed as if she’d had enough.

Herbert was relieved, to say the least.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash... Are you okay?”
“Yeah... Yeah, I’m okay. I never thought water could taste as refreshing as it did just now.”
“Can you walk?”
“Yeah, I-“
She had forgotten about it after she got the water, but as soon as she tried to get up she felt it; the pain she was suffering from a moment ago seemed to surge back, causing her to fall on her side in agony. She tried to tell him about the pain, but now even talking hurt.

“Get a hold of yourself! This is bad, John! I think she might be suffering from a dangerous amount of radiation!”
“What?! Radiation?! A-are you sure? And from where would she have gotten radiation?” John looked at the atomic bomb and afterwards at the puddle which had been there for the past three months or so. “Oh no... She didn’t drink THAT water, did she?!” He looked intensively at Herbert first and then at the preacher, who never left his spot unless he was taking a break or sleeping.

“The blue-one drank some of Atom’s gift, but then she rudely spat out some. Atom is displeased with her!” answered the preacher, who felt insulted by Herbert’s and John’s behavior towards his beliefs. He continued, “But perhaps Atom is punishing her for your insolence! All three of you have angered Atom and now He’s punishing her!”

Herbert paid no mind to what he said and responded with what he had always answered to him: “That’s just nonsense! I don’t believe in this fellow named Atom and I doubt I ever will.” He then turned back towards John with a more serious attitude. “John, where’s the Doc at the moment? I can tell from my experience I’ve gained from my adventures that these are symptoms of a dangerous radiation poisoning, but you can never be too sure with illnesses.”

“The Doc’s at the medical clinic, but not how you think... At any rate, we should get her in there anyway! We should try some Radaway first, if what you say is true.”
“What do you mean? If he’s in there, he’s most likely willing to help us for a payment."
"No, what I mean is... He's there, but not as the doctor; he's one of the patients now, I'm afraid."

His explanation sounded to Herbert like a joke, but his expression told him that he was serious about it.
"He's a patient now? As in, he's one of the unconscious at the moment? How did that happen? No, forget about that for now, let's get her into the clinic now! I'm quite sure that this just radiation poisoning, let's give her some Radaway and hope she'll get better from just that."

"Right!" John was already heading towards the clinic to unlock the doors.

Herbert gently raised Rainbow Dash to his arms and walked towards the clinic, which was the house to the right of them. Upon entering the first thing that caught Herbert's eyes was the room right in front of him; the patient's room. One of those patients was Megaton's doctor, who was unconsciously lying on one of the three beds, along with two other patients. John knew it would confuse him, so he explained what had happened to them.

"He and the other two were attacked by Radscorpions. And not just the smaller ones, they were attacked by one that was bigger and white all around. That one must've had some stronger poison, because they have been like that for two days now... I'm not even sure if they'll ever wake up again."

"But... What are Radscorpions doing-" Herbert was interrupted by a groan of pain emitted by Rainbow Dash. "Can you see Radaway anywhere here?!"

Herbert eyed the whole place, trying to locate a single bag of Radaway. He looked left from the patients' room and he saw the empty table behind some curtains which was most-likely used as a operation table. His arms were getting tired from the carrying. Even if she's small... she's heavy! Got to get her on that table. He laid her carefully onto the table and then continuing his search for Radaway. Obviously, if he wanted to find some he'd best check the doc's room first, which was right behind him now, to the left from the doorway leading to the entrance.

"There should be some in the medical cabinet next to the computer, we took the key from the doc's pocket when we brought him here and we tried injecting him with everything we thought would help... But to no avail. The cabinet's key is next to the PC."

The stomach pain was intense, but that last sentence brought her attention to another thing, It didn't take much for her to realize what they were up to. Did he say... inject?! Does that mean they used n-n...needles?! No, they're just kidding me.. heh-heh... And besides, where would they even get needles? She calmed down, but the pain overwhelmed her once again, leaving her immobilized still.

She had been lied down so that she saw the doc's room right in front of her. She watched as Herbert unlocked the cabinet and searched its contents for this thing called "Radaway".

"Aha! Found one! Let's hope this does the trick!" yelled Herbert.

She finally saw what a Radaway looked like, and it didn't please her. She paid no attention to what the Radaway itself looked like, but to the container; the plastic bag was orange coloured, due to the orange liquid within it, with a small tube connecting to a needle..

Her needle phobia gave her enough strength to overcome her stomach pain and move some. She got off the table, falling on her side and causing a loud thump. The impact amplified her pain, but her fear of needles was stronger and tried to make a break for the entrance. She saw no obstacles, but all of a sudden a huge figure stood in her way in front of the doorway.

It was John, who had left the Radaway search to Herbert and tried to see if he could do anything to the three unconscious patients. The loud sound from Rainbow Dash falling off the table caught his attention and he rushed to the "operating room", as it didn't sound like a mug or a scalpel or anything in-animated that fell. He saw Rainbow Dash barely on her feet, staggering towards him until she touched his legs.

"Rainbow Dash, where are you going? If this is caused by radiation poisoning, you need to take a dose of Radaway before you get worse. Herbert, get that Radaway over here!"

"Why is Rainbow Dash over there?!" asked Herbert who turned back from the doc's room noticing that the table he laid her on was empty. He only saw her after completely exiting the room."

She was struggling to stay on her hooves, yet she was determined to escape outside and get as far away from the needle as possible. While trying to push John's legs out of the way, she said: "No... needle... I don't want..."

John finally grabbed her and brought her back onto the table. She had expanded all her energy she had left and now she was almost motionlessly lying on the table again. Herbert noticed this and realized that she has to get a dose right now. He didn't know where to administer the Radaway, since he's never seen an actual horse take one, so he looked for the best possible spot on her body while calming her down.

"Listen, Rainbow Dash... I don't like needles myself. I still cringe a bit when I have to take a Stimpack, but the pain caused by the needles is nothing compared to the pain it helps take away, when you think about it. I assure you, this needle will make you feel a LOT better... Um, where does your doctor usually place one?"

"...Front-right leg," she responded.

Herbert stuck the needle to where she said and the contents began to flow from the tube. He looked at her face, following if it was radiation poisoning she was suffering from or if it was something more dire that required the knowledge a doctor would have. This better work... After all, I did promise her I'd get her back to her home.

She kept her eyes closed, not wanting to see when the needle was going to be stuck in her. She held her eyes closed tightly, preparing for the inevitable sting that comes when a needle pierces the coat. In her mind it feels like it's taking ages, as if seconds suddenly became minutes. In the midst of all this she also felt herself getting more relieved, the pain in her stomach disappearing, just like it did when John first mentioned about injecting something to the other patients and when she first saw what a Radaway was. I'm so scared again, the pain is just... fading away. Get on with it, already! This anxiety is killing me...

"...Okay. That's the last drop. How are you feeling now?" Herbert said after a minute of silence.

"I feel like this waiting is killing me! Are you going to use that thing or not?!" answered Rainbow Dash, still holding her eyes tightly shut and waiting for the needle.

"What are you talking about? I've already placed the needle on your front-right leg... Now that you mentioned it, I need to pull it out now."

She felt the annoying tingle that comes when someone tries to remove a needle but does it recklessly and moves the needle a lot on its way out. She never like that feel either, but she was confused; she had not felt any pain when the needle was placed there. In fact, she hadn't realized until now that, while she was busy anticipating the needle and preparing herself mentally, Herbert had already place it there and the contents had been flowing into her while she thought that he was making some sort of preparations.

She looked at her front-right leg and saw a drop of blood ooze out of the hole caused by the needle before John placed a patch above it. She then proceeded to carefully press her stomach to see if it hurts. It must've looked a bit weird for the other two, but she didn't mind that at the moment. She only felt some pain when she pressed too hard.

"So... How are you feeling now?" asked Herbert, unsure of whether to take her actions as a good thing or a bad thing.

"It still hurts a little, but I can move again without feeling pain," she answered.

"It is common wasteland logic to let a doctor give you the Radaway if one is nearby, as they have a deeper understanding of radiation than those who have no medical knowledge. I've gained some experience about using Radaway more efficiently, but there's more to it than what I know. Maybe we should give you another dose, just to be sure."

Rainbow Dash didn't like the sound of that, as she still doesn't like needles, even though that previous one didn't feel anywhere. But before she could respond, John was already giving a negative expression.

"I'm afraid we can't give her another one just for "safety"... We're low on Radaway at the moment, mostly because of those three over there. In order to combat the poison, we even tried giving them Radaway and hoped that it would at least help them regain consciousness, but to no avail. The few Radaway we have here have to be kept for the cases when someone accidentally drinks irradiated water or eats irradiated food and gets radiation poisoning from them."

"...I guess there's no other way around it. Sorry, Rainbow Dash. Although I'm sure you wouldn't need another one right now, since you don't show any radiation poisoning symptoms at the moment."

Rainbow Dash did not respond immediately and jumped off the table, this time landing on her hooves perfectly."Sorry"? I should be thanking John for saying no for me! Who invented injections, anyway...? It's not fun at all... But that one did help take away the pain. "Don't worry about it..."

"Okay. Say, John... All this excitement has made me thirsty. You think you could get a bottle of water?"

"Of course! But then I'll have to get back to guard duty, that Raider might've sent some Radroaches here already... But the two of you shouldn't worry about that; that's my responsibility. I'll go get you two another bottle, so just head on to Lucas' home and relax for the rest of the night. If you wish to help us, you might be going up against that Raider tomorrow."

John went back and checked the patients once more before setting out of the house. At the same time, Herbert went back to the medical cabinet and he took out two Stimpacks. Rainbow Dash did not like it how he was going through the medical supplies, much less how he took two things from there which had long needles at the end.

"H-Herbert! What are you doing?! Put those away!" she said.

"He did say we might have to deal with a bunch of Radscorpions, so we need to prepare ourselves. Don't worry, I'll inform Lucas that we'll need these supplies with us if we are to survive. Now... We'd best get back to his house. He must be tired of waiting for us."

"I guess you're right... I am exhausted... Could... Could you carry me there? I think I'll fall mid-way if I try to get back up now."

This was an odd request for Herbert, as from the very first time they met they had an unstable relationship. "Carry? Not a problem, Rainbow Dash."

"Oh... About that... You can just call me "Dashie". Every friend of mine does."

"Dashie?... Very well. Not a problem, Dashie."

Just as he was picking her up, he added: "After all, an adventurer has to take good care of his sidekicks". That changed Rainbow Dash's mood, as he seemingly managed to add another unnecessary comment. And she suddently regretted the offer she just gave.

"...Just get us to Lucas' house."

The two of them exited the clinic, headed up the crater and then came upon Lucas' home. The door was unlocked, so they got in without problems.

Inside, Lucas was waiting for them at the other end of a dining table, which had food and two bottles of water on it. The first floor had only one room, of which the kitchen took a great deal. To the left of Lucas and the dining table was a staircase that led to the second floor.

"So you two finally came." he said with a calmed voice, not annoyed a bit about them taking their time.

"Sorry, Lucas... Rainbow Dash went and drank some of the irradiated water from the puddle in the middle... We had to give her some Radaway to get rid of some of the radiation. We might need another one soon, as I doubt one even got most of it out of her systems... And I took a few Stimpacks from the doc's cabinet. We'll need them tomorrow if we are to go against this Raider and his stingy friends." said Herbert while putting down Rainbow Dash and grabbing for a bottle of water.. Then he turned towards her again. "Come on, Rain... Dashie. Join us, have some more water if you're thirsty still."

She only let out a sigh and proceeded tiredly towards the table. She looked at the chairs and decided it was better if she sat on the table.

"I doubt I can sit in one of these... Could I sit on the table instead?"

"Go ahead. Make yourself comfortable. There are two beds upstairs that you two can sleep in. I'm going to sleep at Moriarty's Saloon today, I have to instruct the settlers on how to survive against Radscorpions before they go scavenging for more metal and me and Moriarty have to do some preparations. He's a pain in the ass to work with, but the settlers seem to listen to him more than they do to me." He then gave out a long yawn while heading towards the front door. Before he exited the house, he said: "Good night, you two."

The two of them looked at the door, confused by Lucas' behavior, but soon realized that perhaps he didn't want to prolong their already long night any more. They then continued to eat their food until their plates were empty. Wasteland food tends to have lost freshness and taste because of improper storage and exposure to radiation, yet neither complained about the taste, despite it tasting like an old rag.

In the middle of his meal, it occurred to Herbert. I'd be lying if I say that this food has no exposure to radiation... I wonder how Rainbow Dash will hold up? Maybe I should go get one Radaway, just in case something like that happens again... I'll visit the clinic once more before we depart tomorrow. I'm too tired to go down there again right now.

They finished their meals without exchanging words, and as soon as she was done eating, Rainbow Dash walked towards the stairs and up them. Herbert followed her as soon as he finished his.

The second floor had two rooms. Lucas had already gone to his own room, which was closest to the stairs. To the right was another room. Both had a bed and a nightstand, but the one closer to the stairs also had its own wardrobe, most likely storing Lucas' clothing and other big utilities such as a shotgun. They looked at each other and were trying to figure out who sleeps where? Herbert decided not to make a fuss about it, so he just said: "You take this one, I'll sleep here." and went inside his room, the one that was further.

"Okay... Don't wake me up, I like to wake up by myself." she said while going into her room.

"I'll try not to, but I might have to if we have to move out. Good night."

"...Yeah. Good night."

Both of them closed their doors and headed towards their beds. Rainbow Dash jumped onto hers and noticed how much more comfortable this one was compared to the one she broke when she first arrived to this place. The softness of the mattress, the warmth of the blanket and the puffiness of the pillow. They all felt so heavenly that it practically took her only ten seconds to fall asleep.

Chapter 4: Chaotic Awakening

Daring Do & Argyle

The sun is high up in the air, shining brightly and heating up the ground of the barren wasteland. The bright light has taken its toll and has woken up Argyle, who wished for an extra few hours of sleep after the previous day. He knew he wasn't going to get any more shuteye unless he finds shelter from the sun. As he tried to get up from the slide, his whole body was aching, sore from the hard "bed" as well as yesterday's rescue operation and ambush escape. Eventually he got up, stretching a little to try and ease the muscles; his bones crackled a little in the process. Still a bit groggy, he moved towards the space rocket to wake up his new companion.

Argyle looked through one of the holes and saw that she was still fast asleep, unaffected by the brightness because she's "inside" the space rocket. He knew that she was also most likely still somewhat beat from the capture, yet he had no choice but to wake her and continue onwards to Rivet City, since he only has that much food and water left. As he tried waking her by gently nudging, he said with a calm voice: "Wake up, we have to get going."

But no matter what kind of voice he tried to make, they all sounded the same: raspy, intimidating and scary. As soon as he said "wake up", she woke up in an instant and fled from the space rocket into the sunlight, which instantly stopped her in her tracks and blinded the unaware mare momentarily.

"My eyes! It's too bright!" said the mare while covering her eyes.

She tried to slowly get used to it by first only looking at the ground and getting used to it from there. But even the soil seemed too bright for her eyes. Nevertheless she had to get her pupils back to normal from the resting period..

Argyle was startled by the sudden reaction the mare gave. I've always enjoyed surprising unsuspecting humans by saying a few words before knocking them unconscious, but this the one time I wish that hadn't happened... He noticed Daring Do having some trouble with the sun, but before he could suggest anything she had found a solution of her own; she positioned her wings so that they blocked out the sunlight that was reaching out for her pupils. Wow. I don't think even birds realize they could use their wings like that... Not only is she a sharp one, she's smart! Smarter than Boss by a long shot! I wonder how he's doing right now...

In his enlightenment his sharp hearing caught a recognizable sound; the sound of an empty stomach rumbling for food. But his stomach had long before stopped doing that. He figured it had to belong to the horse in front of him and, judging from the body language she was giving, he was spot on. He remembered he had a couple of Mirelurk Cakes still in his pockets and he made one appear into his hand while he was walking closer to Daring Do. The sounds his footsteps made caused her to turn around. He was not sure how she would react this time, since he didn't know if she could recognize him yet with the sun blinding her a moment ago. When he thought about it for a moment longer, he realized that she had most likely not seen his appearance yet, since she was blindfolded during the rescue and they were taken off when it was too dark to see anything. Before he could say anything to clarify to her who he was, he already noticed the fear in her eyes.

She looked at the figure before her, shocked by the appearance. It looked like no other animal she had ever seen in any book she had read or seen. It seemed to have some of its skin missing so that the flesh was exposed, no hair in anywhere on its body and she could swear she saw a maggot crawling out of the tall figure's body. She tried to scream, but as she inhaled breath for it she recognized it; that horrible stench she smelt after she was set free from the cage she was put in. Though it felt strange, she no longer felt like screaming or doing anything of that sort. Instead, the first thing that came to her mind was: He... was the one who rescued me last night? He's Argyle? I can see what he meant by "condition", but this is a little bit too extreme...

"Hey Daring. Do you... Do you recognize me? It's me, Argyle, who saved you from the Raiders yesterday. I know my appearance must be a shock to you, but believe me when I say I'm not a zombie. I'm as much human as any other human!"

"A human?! Is that what you are? I've read books about humans, but all of them said that they are only mythological creatures..." said Daring Do, surprised by the discovery.

"Mythological, you say, but I could say the same thing to you. I don't think you ever answered my question yesterday."

"Question?"

"I do believe I asked you "What are you?" last night."

Daring Do closed her eyes and thought back. She does remember him asking her that, but it slipped her mind in the end.

"Yes... You did ask me that. I'm a pony.

"No, no.... I mean what kind of a pony are you. I've never seen a pony have wings, let alone use them to fly and as portable shades."

"Oh... I'm a Pegasus."

"A Pegasus, eh...? Those things exist here only in the books that cover mythological creatures... And by books, I mean the ones that haven't burned away."

Daring Do took a pause before continuing the conversation, processing what she has learned and trying to come up with a logical explanation. Ever since she made that wish on a whim she hasn't been able to find explanations to almost anything that has occurred around her.

When she first discovered her cutie-mark back when she was a filly, she was eager to go onto an adventure. But she got lost on her first one, as she went on an adventure into the Evergreen Forest when her class from Canterlot went onto a field trip to Ponyville to see how the Earthponie's lifestyle differs from that of Unicorns'. For one, she didn't bring a compass with her to help navigate back out of the forest. And secondly, even if she had one she didn't know how to use one. The Unicorn teachers eventually found her from the forest using magic to locate her and got her to safety. Ever since that incident Daring Do feared of going onto adventures alone, exploring the unexplored by herself. She then began reading adventure books a lot and figured that she was destined to be with the books more than with priceless artifacts. Her time around adventure books eventually led her to other books containing valuable information, like math, geometry and even dictionaries. She was inspired by all the text she had read. While she was still in school she started to write her fist book, which turned out to sell quite well. This is how she ended up becoming a renown writer, despite bearing the cutie mark of an excellent adventurer.

Argyle heard the sound of rumbling once again, and saw Daring Do's change of expression from a serious one to embarrassed. He look at his hand and saw the Mirelurk Cake which he intended to give to her before the chit-chat. Embarrassed himself for forgetting, he said: "Oh, right... Sorry. I was going to give you this Mirelurk Cake, but I forgot in the midst of talking. Here you go."

He handed the cake to Daring Do, who thanked for the offer and began eating. She took the first bit and almost immediately gave out a massive grin. In over 170 years has Argyle not seen someone eat something so... happy. He has helped people who've been famished for days by giving them food, but even their joy from finally getting nutrients seemed nothing compared to how Daring Do's enjoying the cake right now.

Even though he's a ghoul, Argyle has to eat something as well to survive. Inspired to enjoy his as much as she did, he took another Mirelurk Cake out of his inventory and began eating it. But before he knew it he had already finished the whole thing, with only the taste of radiation left in his somewhat-rotten mouth.

Disappointed from his high expectations after speculating a fantastic enjoyment, Argyle said after giving out a sigh: "So... How did it taste? Was it good?"

"Good? It was delicious! The way the meat is in synch with the other ingredient's is amazing! I've never tasted anything like it before. It's out of this world!" replied Daring Do.

Argyle gave out a chuckle and repeated the last sentence as if it was the pun of a funny joke.

Daring Do was confused, and annoyed, from Argyle's reaction. She asked with an annoyed tone: "Hey! What's so funny about it?"

"I'm sorry. It's just that... By "out of this world", are you possibly referring to Equestria or this world?"

Though Argyle didn't see anything wrong in what he just said, he realized that it was not the best thing to say right at that moment; Daring Do might've not wanted to hear about Equestria right now due to suddenly getting thrown into a completely uncharted world.

He stayed silent, judging whether or not he made a bad move. The silence was broken by laughter. Only this time it wasn't Argyle who let it out; it was Daring Do, who was laughing a bit uncontrollably and smacking her front-right hoof against the ground while gasping for air.

Argyle was not sure why she was laughing. She began calming down and finally said: "Ha-ha-ha-ha! That's a good one! Out of this world... I'm not quite sure! Maybe I do meant out of Equestria."

The reaction was not the kind Argyle was expecting after witnessing her reactions from last night. Nevertheless he gave out a smile and took a bottle of Purified Water from his inventory, drinking it half-way before passing it on to Daring Do.

"All that laughing must've gotten you thirsty. Drink this. After you're done, we have to move onwards to Rivet City. It's still a bit far away; it might take us the whole day to get there, so we'd better do it before it gets as dark as it did last night."

Daring Do nodded and finished the bottle, which disappeared as soon as it was completely emptied. This didn't startle her, however, as she knows now that what is logical in Equestria might not be as logical in this alien world. The two of them then head towards South to get to Rivet City.

Herbert & Rainbow Dash

Despite wanting to sleep longer, Rainbow Dash was awoken by the loud noises being made outside the house. She got up from the bed and walked towards the bedroom door. When she went for the handle, she noticed something. Something very peculiar; the door handle seemed to have shrunk in size. When she thought about it for a bit more, after looking around the room she was given for the night, everything seemed to be smaller: the bed, the nightstand and even the space that the room once had. She shrugged it off, as she thought it was because of what happened last night. She opened the door and looked down at the stairs. Even the stairs seemed to be smaller now. She was inclined to ask Herbert about if it was something common in this place, but his room's door was wide open and no one seemed to be inside. Instead of using the stairs she jumped down to the first floor and flapped her wings so that there would be no impact on landing. But even on the first floor it seemed to be the same; everything seemed to be smaller. Her wings were flapping so hard the cutlery and dishes on the dining table flew straight off and onto the floor. Luckily there were no glasses left on the table and the dishes were made out of metal. Embarrassed from the mess she had made and confused by the sudden changes in size, she dashed out of the door.

The first thing she noticed was the sun, burning brightly and warming her cyan coat. She did some streches to help herself feel refreshed. The commotion hadn't stopped and it seemed to be coming from the center of the settlement. She flew there to see what was it all about, as well as try to find Herbert.

She figured she needn't to go all the way there, she could see well from where she likes it best: high up, away from the ground. Just after going over Lucas' home she could see just about any part of the settlement: the nuke at the center of the crater and Moriarty's Bar just straight ahead. There was also what appeared to be an airplane on the top of Lucas' house. It seemed to be in bad shape and non-flyable.

The people of Megaton had most gathered near the nuke, seemingly asking either Moriarty or Lucas questions about something. Rainbow Dash tried to find Herbert among the big group, but to no avail. She slowly started to descend down to ask Lucas. She also saw no sight of the preacher that tricked her into drinking water from the puddle. She was a bit upset, as she was curious to learning more about Atom, despite being loyal to Princess Celestia and last night's occurrence.

Down at the crater Lucas was talking loud enough for even Rainbow Dash to hear: "Settlers! Those Radscorpions and the Raider controlling them all have been bothering us for long enough! We still need to scavenge more metal for the water pipe maintenance, not to mention other materials like nails for the loosening boards and such, yet we've been unable to safely go find any because of the Radscorpions! Even a few of our own have fallen seriously ill because of the white one! There's nothing we can do about it, but last night Herbert arrived to Megaton and has agreed to helping us with the matter at hand! Today, while he's dealing with the problem, we will have two groups head towards the Springfield Elementary school and scavenge anything, and I mean anything, useful that we can use to improve our safe haven! The rest will have to stay and guard Megaton from any other threats that appear when its most vulnerable! Start doing all necessary preparations now, as we cannot let Herbert's lending hand go to waste!

As soon as he finished the speech, the settlers gave out a loud roar. Rainbow Dash was amazed to how someone so small compared to the others was so moving with words. From what she just heard, she guessed what he just gave out was a rally speech. And a successful one too, as as soon as the other man she didn't recognize, Moriarty, said "Dismissed!", most of the settles began running towards the same house that was near Moriarty's Bar. In just a moment, the only people remaining near the nuke was Moriarty and Lucas.

She found the timing impeccable, since being around so many humans at the same time might have been too much for her, especially since she only just discovered them being real last night. She started swooping down towards Lucas to ask him if he has seen Herbert.

Just after the settlers ran back to their homes to make necessary preparations, Moriarty told Lucas: "Oy, lad... Don't ye be going stealing my spot as the leader o' 'tis settlement! What if they start listening to ye more that to me?"

Lucas said, "Listen, Moriarty... A leader has to be able think for everyone and not for just oneself. You tend to first think about how you could gain the most of a decision and then you just give orders without even thinking about the others' benefits or losses. A group with a selfish leader quickly goes downhill and before long everyone is most likely going to scatter and become unable to work with each other for a long time, if not forever. Why don't you try thinking outside the box sometimes?"

Moriarty was infuriated. Not because of how all he just said made sense, but how he said he was supposedly selfish.

"That's enough lies coming out of yer-"

Suddenly they noticed something flying towards them. Both of them went for their weapons, Lucas for his Chinese Assault Rifle and Moriarty for his Combat Shotgun. But before either of then could draw their weapons completely, an amazing gust of wind with lots of dust flied onto their face and inevitably into their eyes, which in turn caused them to let go of their weapons which fell into the pond of irradiated water. In addition to that, Lucas was almost sent flying and was struggling somewhat to keep his feet on the ground.. Neither of them caught even a glimpse of their assaulter.

Rainbow Dash had arrived down and flapped her wings hard because of the deep dive. As she was near the ground, the hard flapping caused a large amount of dust to fly towards the two men in front of her. Because of the dust, she didn't notice that they had mistaken her as a threat and were going for their weapons.

"Sorry! I didn't realise how fast I was diving! Are you two okay?" she said, scratching the back of her head with her right-front hoof while folding her wings back into their resting position. She immediately covered her mouth, as something was definitely off; her voice had changed noticably. Was it because of the radiation? Or has it something to do with everything being smaller than last night? In any case, her mind was somewhat racing to find the cause of her lower-toned voice.

While the dust was still blocking the view, Lucas and Moriarty were going for their sidearms, ready to fire at the first sight of the hostile. But after hearing the assaulter, Lucas understood that it was only Rainbow Dash. He was, also, astonished by how much dust she managed to lift up, taking her small-build into consideration. Moriarty, however, had not heard her voice yet, and was still considering her as an enemy who had nothing else in mind but to rob him of his recently acquired fortune; the ownership of all his father's belongings, including the Moriarty's Bar.

He whispered to Lucas: "Listen! As soon as I get some visual, I will unload the whole clip onto 'tis bastard who dared to come an' steal from me. Get ready! The dust is settling!" He readied his 10mm Pistol, the smokescreen getting thinner and thinner and soon revealing the hostile target.

The words he whispered caused Lucas' body to move on an impulse, his hands moving so that Moriarty's aim would be off by a long shot, the bullets flying high towards the sky. And he wasn't late by one second, as he barely managed to do so in time. The first few bullets were yet aimed towards the sky, but they were aiming higher than Rainbow Dash, one connecting with the ground and the other two towards the house that was behind her. The last 9 bullets of his 10mm Pistol were fired up into the sky, no longer potential of causing harm to her. Like the first three bullets, the rest were emptied quickly. No one came outside to check who was shooting what, as everyone were too busy preparing for what's ahead of them today.

Moriarty was focused only on firing his weapon, and it took him until the pistol fired no more to realise that his gun was set off course, with none of the bullets really hitting anything. He looked down at Lucas, first confused and eventually infuriated. He grabbed him from his duster's collar and flung him into the irradiated pond, right next to both the Chinese Assault Rifle and Combat Shotgun under each arm.

While reaching out for another magazine, he shouted at Lucas: "What the hell do ye think yer doing?! Trying to get us killed?!"

He reloaded his firearm and took aim at the target he hadn't actually seen yet. He took aim, but didn't fire a single round right off the bat. He look at the blue creature who was just about his size. What's this? Herbert's little friend suddenly became large after only a single night? What an odd creature you are... not to mention annoying! Rainbow Dash was petrified, and the first memories that came to her were those from last night, when she and Herbert were just about to enter Megaton, how the fired bullet hit the ground only millimeters away from her face and how frightening that was then. She tried to get the wings in front of her in a desperate attempt to block any shots Moriarty shoots at her, yet her wings were stiffened hard behind her back, almost as tightly as how one time Applejack tied them to her back with rope when they were competing in the yearly Leaf Run, when ponies race a lap through the same route every year to cause the leaves from the trees to drop down due to the trembling of the dozens of hooves hitting the ground at nearly the same time. Cold sweat began to form on her face.

His firing arm slowly lowered, which was so much of a relief to Rainbow Dash that she stumbled to the ground, still uncertain about what happened just now, even though it really quite simple. But soon it was pointing at Lucas, who was still in the irradiated pond, eyes widened and looking panicky most likely because of Rainbow Dash's reaction to the pointing gun and how he was expecting Moriarty to kill her. When Moriarty pointed his gun towards him, he was, surprisingly, calm again, for he knew he wouldn't dare to kill him even when he would easily get away with it.

Moriarty spoke once again: "So... Ye knocked me aim a little jus' cuz you didn't want me to shoot 'er? Or rather... Ye knew it was 'er, yet ye didn't have the heart to tell me?" He lowered his gun once again and walked slowly at the edge of the pond, giving out a sarcastically-sounding, slight chuckle. Then he, once again, pointed his 10mm Pistol at him, this time with a sharp feeling to it and an angered poise. "Ever since I got me Pa's bar, you've been nothing but a snobby brat! Always inspecting my inventory, constantly giving me warnings and complaints! "Colin, these glasses haven't been cleaned.", "Colin, you can't treat women like some sort of money-making machines, they're humans too, you know.", "Colin, will you stop pissing there.... You do realize that your customers get their beer from that still."... For two years, it's always been "Colin this" and "Colin that"! And what are ye going to tell me now?! "Colin..."" he was so angry, he couldn't really think straight and his rambling a bit incomprehensible. He himself could barely keep up with what he was saying. "Colin... You can't shoot that. I wanna ride it all day long. It looks real pretty and I want to take good care of it."

Lucas was unaffected by Moriarty's taunts and kept his cool, as a certain "law" made by the settlers of Megaton is on his side; "All for one and one for all, disobey this and it's one against all." Moriarty would never find the guts to pull the trigger and kill him, since that would mean him losing his place in Megaton as a "voice of reason" among the dozen, not to mention the ownership of his own bar inherited from his father.

"I can't shoot ye... That would cause me more trouble than worth... But I don't suppose anyone else would have a problem with me shooting that monster over there." He pointed his gun back at Rainbow Dash, who was still petrified from the gunshots, her heart beating like she'd been running for her life for a while now and still ongoing.

In an instant, Lucas rose from the puddle with the two guns at his hands, both now aiming at Moriarty. But he only gave Lucas a glance and then continued focusing his gun at the utterly confused creature.

"'Jes' like me pointing me gun at ye, do ye really think pointing guns at me is frightening? I can't kill ye, but ye can't stop me from killin' this outsider that's come to rob me of all that I own."

Still holding the heavy guns unsteadily towards him, Lucas said: "Is that it? Do you really think she's here to just steal your father's bar?!"

"...Not really. But it's good enough of a excuse to help the others see that me act was justified," replied Moriarty. "But enough is enough, you two have wasted too much of me time already. I don't know where Herbert found ye, ya blue menace, but I'm quite sure this bullet will return ye where ye came from; to the depths of Hell!"

*BANG*

A shot was fired, and the sound of a bullet exiting the bullet chamber echoed through the once-again-silent settlement, the air seemingly instantly becoming chilling even in the warming rays of the sun, as if the already thick clouds became more thicker and were blocking out the remaining sun rays. Moriarty was in front of his vision, so Lucas couldn't tell what had happened. And, for the moment, he did not want to see. He felt like he had lost his sense of hearing, as he could not hear anything else but his breathing and heart beating. The guns became too heavy to hold one handed, slowly slipping out of his grips. But his legs gave out on him, falling to his knees before the guns touched the ground. He closed his eyes in the sense of defeat; he was unable to protect a friend of Herbert's when he and Argyle had done so on a wider scale before.

Sadness overwhelmed him, but his sorrow was interrupted by Moriarty's voice: "Who ta hell did that?! You'd better show yeself! Ye won't get away with shooting me hand unscathed, mark me words! No one does! Damn, that stings!"

He immediately opened his eyes to see what was happening. In front of him, Moriarty was yelling out loud, scouting the upper platform, trying to locate someone. He no longer had his gun in his right hand; the hand that was now in the palm of his left hand. Due to Moriarty swaying and constant moving, he was no longer blocking the view to Rainbow Dash. Lucas saw that she was still alive, breathing without any bullet wounds visible on her body. She wasn't looking at Moriarty, nor the gun now lying on the ground, but up to the second level, towards the Craterside Supply store.

Lucas looked to the same direction, seeing the one who was able to do what he wasn't; it was Herbert, with his own Magnum that was clearly different from the rest. Herbert's personal gun was very strange the first time he saw it, back when he saved Megaton from the raiders. The scope was not like the others; it was a little bigger than the rest, allowing it better precision at a farther distance. And the schematic must've been different from the others, because the gun's able to shoot two magnum bullets with a single trigger. In addition, the bullets leave and fill the bullet-chamber noticeably quicker, which was why he saw him reloading more often than usual.

Herbert... Just how do you do it, he asked himself while following the still-unaware Moriarty's movements with his eyes. Then he looked back up to look at Herbert, but he had already vanished. He closed his eyes, this time out of relief, rather than averting very bitter loss.

He heard in a familiar, yet loud voice.: "Sorry, Colin! I was just trying to aim at your gun, but this thing is so unreliable that it might shoot another bullet at a whim!" The unexpected shouts startled him. He quickly opened his eyes to find Herbert next to Rainbow Dash, who finally stood on her legs once again.

"It was ye who shot me?! The nerve! I'll have the whole settlement after ye head for this! It's against the rules o' ta settlement to shoot 'nother settler, inside the walls or out! Just ye wait," responded Moriarty to Herbert's apology. "And now that I have yer head, may I add that I never like ye or yer rott'n friend. Both of ye are detrimental to me business. Neither of ye drink me beer and when ye take one of me gals for a ride, ye pay discount! Well, no more! As soon as the other's are done with their preparations and come out here to see this mess, ye's gonna get it!"

All four of them stood in silence for a while, with Moriarty's face red from the anger burst and breathing heavily, eye's looking deep down to Herbert's. The silence was ended with a chuckle that came from Lucas, who had picked up both the guns he dropped and had them vanish. Hearing the chuckle, Moriarty slowly turned his gaze towards Lucas, a blood vessel filling to its brim on his forehead.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Colin? Back when we asked him and Argyle to become a settler here, both of them refused. Right now, they're here..." He cut his sentence in the middle and looked around, as if looking for something. But he eventually continued: "Right now, he's here as a guest, so that rule doesn't apply to him. At worst, he'll have to pay you for causing pain, but even that decision comes from all of the settler's decisions. And I wonder whose side would they take if they hear the story from the beginning."

All of Moriarty's anger faded away in an instant and quickly became replaced with fear. Everyone but Moriarty considers Herbert a hero of Megaton, and they'd most likely side with him.

"And besides, what's the big idea, pointing a gun at Dashie. Look at her, she's completely harmless," added Herbert. "I had no choice but to shoot your gun away. Knowing you, you'd really pulled the trigger had I not intervened."

Rainbow Dash had fled behind him, still a little shaky. Like yesterday, he had helped her from a sticky situation she did not volunteer to be in to begin with. Breathing started to become easier for her, with her not feeling like the next inhale would be her last, and her heart rate started to escalate down back to normal.

The new argument was an open and close case, with Moriarty eventually snapping out of it and deciding to fall back to his sanctuary, still supressing the blood spill from his right index finger. But before he went up to the higher level, he turned around and yelled: "'Tis be not over yet, ye mangy lads! Ye'll be gettin' yers eventually!"

Now the crater was filled with silence once more. No one said anything, still trying to process what had happened. In the silence, Herbert grabbed his revolver from his inventory and examined thoroughly, trying to see what caused it to fire off that additional bullet. He checked the chambers, took it to pieces and checked that the pieces were not too used up, as finding pristine parts was rare since none were manufactured anymore.

In the end, someone had to say something to break the awkward atmosphere. Lucas was the one to do it, saying: "Thank you, Herber... You've been of assistance to me more than I've probably been to you and the citizens combined... Had you not taken the initiative," he paused, hesitating to even think what would have the outcome been.

"Don't mention it. I did promise her that I'd protect her, no matter what, until we find a way to get her back to the place where she belongs. However, Colin's behaviour was not what I had taken into consideration," he replied, finally assembling the parts back together, reloading the gun and giving it a good spin before holstering.

"Thanks for saving..."

"Again, don't mention it. Speaking of her, how are you doing, Dashie?" He turned around and looked into Rainbow Dash's giant eyes and saw that she was mentally fine, as if she'd already managed to cope with the suddenly-changed environment.

"I'm fine-" she answered, quickly remembering that her voice had become deeper-sounding.

"Hmm... I am by no means a doctor, but I can assume that you growing in size might have caused your vocal cords to grow as well, which might be the reason you sound so... So..."

"So...?"

"...Never mind, I forgot already!" You sound so boyish, but if I say that I might be missing a head soon, he thank while unintentionally now averting eyesight.

"Ok... Hey! How come you were not surprised by me being bigger? I'm almost as tall as you are now!"

Now he was acting as if he was caught off-guard, stuttering and at a loss of words: "W-why? Well, you see, uh... Because..." He was not making any progress with his sentence, which caused Rainbow Dash to give him a mean stare, with one of her her brow up compared to the other. "I- it's not like I knew it before you were even awake," he accidentally blurted out.

""Before I was even awake?" What's that supposed to mean?!" Rainbow Dash felt violated, from what she's been able to understand.

"Okay! I admit it... I... I tried to come and wake you up," answered Herbert, who then immediately placed his hands on his head to protect it from any upcoming attacks and closed his eyes so he wouldn't see it coming.

He waited, waited and waited some more. But nothing happened. He carefully opened one of his eyes to see what she was doing. And he saw she had a mean look on her face.

"You tried to wake me up? Why would you do that, after I specifically told you I don't like being woke up?!"

"There is a very good reason for it. Since we are going against a Raider, one so dangerous that he has even tamed Radscorpions to serve him, from what I've understood, we're going to need to get you something to cover that smooth coat of yours," he paused, thinking about something. "Smooth... I wonder how Argyle's doing." Despite knowing that he will be able to take care of himself even without him, he couldn't help but wonder.

The sudden transaction to a completely irrelevant topic and then to complete silence did not amuse Rainbow Dash. She had already planned to forgive him for doing the opposite what she said, but leaving the explanation half-explained and then dozing off to la-la land made her change her mind. Yet she was curious, as it seems that he had actually planned something important for her.

"You were saying," she asked with a mildly-annoyed tone, trying to hide her frustration as best as she could at least until he had finished explaining.

"Oh, sorry about that," he said as he came to his senses. "We're going to need to get you something that will protect you from bullets and possible scorpion stingers. I doubt we'll be able to just purchase one for you, since there are not any models suited for horses, so I will have to craft some for you."

Hearing about crafting from Herbert fascinated Lucas, as he has already witnessed one of his creations. He felt like he had to join the conversation now: "Speaking of crafting, did you make that gun of yours by yourself? I do remember seeing it a long time ago, during the Raiders' raid on Megaton, yet I never got the chance to ask you about it. Just how did you do it?"

"Oh, this weapon," asked Herbert, drawing the scoped revolver he used just now. "This isn't handcrafted by me. Good ol' Argyle's girlfriend gave it to me, said it belonged to Argyle."

"Oh... Well, at any rate, the two of you are in luck because today a caravan should be stopping by Megaton for supply trading. Maybe he has found something that will suit Dash- uh, Rainbow Dash.

She smiled, as she found his manners quite appealing. "That's okay, you can call me Dashie as well. And Herbert, I don't need any weapons or clothing. I can fly and approach that way, right?"

"That may be true, Dashie, but I don't think that's the best idea."

"Why not?!"

"You see... Well... You might have grown bigger, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you've grown in muscle strenght as well."

"Oh yeah? You want to test it?"

"Well, sure! Let's see... The last time you kicked me in the head, my neck almost dislocated. So, if you've gotten any stronger then you should be able to send me flying backwards just from kicking me in the chest or the back."

Without warning or even giving Herbert a chance to prepare himself, she dashed close enough to kick him with her hind legs, quickly turned around while keeping her balance with her wings and then gave him her strongest buck, maneuvering her wings to give extra kick to the kick. He was not only pushed back, but he lost his footing from the ground and ended up airborne, flying horizontally slightly above the ground until hitting the clinic. He fell down, twitching a little.

"Herbert! Are you okay," asked Lucas, who was amazed from the force of the kick.

He coughed a bit and was taking short breaths, but answered after taking a Stimpack: "I... I think well be... needing more... Stimpacks for our... trip, Lucas. I thought I was going... to die for a.... second there. Dashie, you win... You don't need any weapons."

"See? Told you," she responded and flew a short lap mid-air.

The two of them gather all the supplies they need for their upcoming adventure, with Herbert focusing on plenty of Stimpacks, just in case he makes Rainbow Dash mad again by accident. They head to the front gates, while the crater started to fill with prepared settlers once again. They left Megaton and headed onwards to Bethesda Ruins.

Even though they had gathered all they needed and checked that nothing was missing, Rainbow Dash felt like she had forgotten to do something. She thought about it while they were disembarking from Megaton and getting farther and farther. Then she remembered it: she was curious about what had happened yesterday, about Atom and his beliefs. She wanted to meet the preacher once again to ask him more about Atom. She is still faithful and loyal to Celestia, yet her gut's telling her that she'll need to do it once they return to Megaton.

Author's Note

20.12.12: After re-reading, noticed a lot of typos. Fixed ones I could spot out. Apologies for the mistakes.