The Mojave Wasteland
Hidden Valley, Brotherhood of Steel HQ

Conference Room

“Scribe Veronica, are you absolutely certain that Courier Six is no longer in the Mojave Wasteland?” Elder McNamara asked the woman in question, who gave a grim nod in reply. McNamara gave a frustrated sigh and turned to the others that occupied the room with a solemn expression.

“Well, shit.” Rose of Sharon Cassidy, or Cass, swore as she took a seat. “What do we do now? Six’s been missing for nearly a week. Someone should’ve found him by now.”

”Let’s not assume the worst just yet.” Pearl, the leader of the Boomers, chimed in. “We all know how resourceful the Courier is. I do believe that he is still alive.”

“Then where could he be?” Ambassador Crocker asked. “There were no signs of a struggle at the drive-in. He can’t have just…vanished off the face of the planet!”

“Maybe he did.” The King added, causing everyone to look at him in disbelief. “What? I’ve trained people to disappear before, like people wanting a fresh start or escaped Legion slaves. It's not that hard to do.”

Elder McNamara put a hand to his forehead, but then the door opened suddenly. A man wearing Brotherhood T51B Power Armor saluted as he entered. McNamara recognized him as one of the Knights sent out to secure the Drive-In and protect the scribes that were already there.

“Knight Schaeffer, I see you have returned.” McNamara said, beckoning him to come forward.
“Did you find anything at the drive-in?”

“I believe we have.” Knight Schaeffer replied, taking off his helmet. He was about Veronica’s age, with fair skin, a clean-shaven face, and ashen hair. As he hoisted a large duffel bag onto the table, Elder McNamara raised an eyebrow in confusion.

”I’ll explain.” Schaeffer said. “My team managed to find what’s left of a Pre-war satellite at the drive-in. The reason we didn’t immediately recover it was that it was buried under the rubble of a nearby shed. The casing of the satellite was unrecoverable, but the tech and circuit board inside of it was remarkably preserved.”

Schaeffer extracted the circuit board, and placed it onto the table. Veronica immediately began examining it visually, while the other visitors looked at the board incredulously.

“What’s this circuit board supposed to do?” The King asked. “I’m not exactly qualified to speak about pre-war tech, but it should do something, am I right?”

”That’s what my team also reasoned.” Schaeffer replied. “We plugged it into the drive-in’s generator, and this happened.”

Schaeffer pushed his thumb down on a section of the board, and an optical lens at the center began to glow with a strong white light. Then, a swirling vortex appeared in the center of the table. It spun for a few moments, but then the board began to sputter and give off sparks, and the vortex disappeared.

“What the hell was that?” Cass asked in disbelief.

“We think it’s some kind of gateway to another location.” Schaeffer said. “When it was hooked up to the generator, it remained open long enough for us to send an eyebot equipped with a camera through the vortex. Shortly after, we received a video transmission, which we captured on a holotape.”

Schaeffer plugged the holotape into a nearby screen, and despite the grainy, stained display, the group could see a large, verdant forested area near what appeared to be a large homestead, with fruits hanging off of the countless trees. Then, a child’s voice spoke.

“Hey, Applebloom, Scootaloo, get over here! I found something!”

Then, the camera turned and revealed a trio of young equine creatures. The first was colored a pale gold, with a red mane and a crimson bow. The second was orange with a pink mane, and the last was white with some pink in its gray mane.

“Nice job, Sweetie Belle.” Scootaloo said, poking the camera lens. “What do you think it does, Applebloom?”

”Well, it looks like some kind of a fancy camera to me.” Applebloom mused. “Like the one we took photos with at our last family reunion.”

“Now that you mention it, it does look like a camera, or at least this thing here does.” Sweetie Belle added. “Come on, let’s see if we can get it over to Princess Twilight’s castle, I think she might know what to do with it!”

”Sounds good to us!”

As the camera was again moved and placed into a small red cart, Elder McNamara’s expression was that of barely contained shock, while the others were simply dumbfounded. Eventually, he cleared his throat and turned to Schaeffer and Veronica.

”What am I looking at?

“No clue.” Ambassador Crocker replied. “At least we can understand them.”

“If I had to guess, they’re ponies.” Cass mused, drawing everyone’s attention. “Think of a smaller version of an animal called a horse. They were used for riding, transport, and other farm work back before the bombs dropped. At least, that’s what some wandering traders from the northeast told me when they walked two of ‘em by my office. They were sleek and strong, with fur like a radstag, only without the radiation.”

“Horses and ponies, huh?” the King said under his breath. “That works for me.”

”Is there any way we can communicate with these ponies?” Pearl asked out loud.

”The eyebot should be able to relay audio through its speakers, but I’m not sure…” Veronica started, only for Elder McNamara to stare at her in an expectant manner.

”…but I can try.” Veronica nodded, and she picked up a spare microphone jack from the bunker’s PA system. She plugged it into the circuit board, and then to a terminal nearby. As she fiddled with the keyboard for a few moments, Ambassador Crocker turned to Elder McNamara.

“This changes everything…” he whispered. “What do I tell my superiors about this?”

“We cross that bridge when we come to it.” the Elder replied. “Let’s just take this one step at a time. Scribe Veronica, have you finished?”

”Yeah, we’re all set!” She replied, handing the microphone over. Elder McNamara cleared his throat and leaned into the microphone.

”Greetings, young ones.”

The cart immediately stopped, and the three equines spun around to look at the camera.

“Did that thing just talk!?” Apple Bloom said in shock. “I can’t be hearing things, I’m too young for that!”

“You are not hearing things.” McNamara replied. “I am speaking to you through the eyebot you have in that cart of yours. My name is Nolan McNamara, Chief Elder of the Mojave Brotherhood of Steel.”

”Nice to meet you, Mr. McNamara!” Sweetie Belle responded. “I’m sorry we took your…whatever the thing in our cart is. Does it belong to you?”

”You could say it belongs to the Brotherhood, but that’s best discussed another time.” McNamara replied. “By any chance, have you encountered a being that answers to Courier Six?”

“You mean the Courier Six that Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight, and the Elements of Harmony brought in from the Everfree earlier today?” Scootaloo answered. “Well, I’m sorry to say you just missed him. He went to the capital city of Canterlot a few hours ago. He hasn’t come back yet.”

“That is a relief to hear.” McNamara replied. “I see him as a great ally, along with many in the Mojave Wasteland. However, do you know of any way we could reach out to him? His presence back in the Mojave is important to us.”

“Well, we could ask Spike.” Scootaloo suggested. “He’s Princess Twilight’s assistant, and he could probably send a message for you.”

“Excellent!” McNamara said in a tone of success. “I implore you to do so immediately. We are still working on a method to reach your world from the Mojave, as such I would like to ask if you can keep us updated on whatever happens.”

“Well, sure, we can do that!!” Applebloom nodded. “We’ll head over to Princess Twilight’s castle and get Spike. in the meantime, do you need anything else?”

“Information.” McNamara replied. “We like to know more about your world, as to better aid Courier Six when we hopefully arrive to assist him. I must also inform you that time is of the essence. The quicker this is done, the better.”

“You got it!” The three fillies cheered, and as they began moving again at a faster pace, McNamara simply muted the microphone and turned to the dumbstruck visitors.

“It seems we have much more work to do than we thought.” Ambassador Crocker sighed. “A world full of…ponies…and Courier Six on the other side with ‘em. Just wait till my superiors see this.”

“There’s no time for that. Right now, just as you said…we have work to do.” Elder McNamara gave a rare smile. ‘Those three gave us the first real lead we’ve gotten in a week. One way or another…”

“We’re getting our Courier home.”

Author's Note

Update!