The Cards That We've Been Dealt

“When we get back home, I’m seriously going to murder Wild Haze. He’ll make a raisin look smooth by the time I’m finished.”

Anova let out an annoyed sigh as she rolled over in Bezezelle’s lap and wiggled around until she was comfortable again. The pair of best friends now found themselves in the ghost town of Goodsprings, a quiet place with only a hoof-ful of residents located in a desert they called the Mojave. In the two days they had been there, Bezezelle and Anova had learned quite a lot about the world that the malfunction of Anova’s invention brought them to. They had first arrived just outside what they were told was the Goodsprings Source, a place where the townsfolk were able to collect purified water. They had learned from the thing that had saved them that the lizardy creatures that had attacked them were called geckos and a common nuisance in the area.

As for the creature that saved them, she called herself a human and went by the name of Sunny Smiles. As for the weapon she had used to kill the geckos, Sunny called it a varmint rifle; a type of gun common in places like Goodsprings. Sunny had been kind enough to shed some light to Bezezelle and Anova on where their science fair mishap had landed them. They were no longer in Equestria, not even on Equus. Instead, they were on Earth, in the country of somewhere called the ‘United States of America’ and in the Mojave desert specifically.

Much to their dismay, Sunny Smiles wasn’t able to provide Bezezelle and Anova with much of a history lesson as they made their way to Goodsprings and up a small hill to the home of the town’s only doctor. Being in an alien world and a pair of intellectuals, they felt a desire to know as much as possible in order to get home- Anova more so than Bezezelle. However, Sunny was able to tell them a little bit about the strange world they found themselves in. Roughly two centuries ago, the world came to a fiery end when powerful nuclear bombs began raining from the sky and turned the world into a wasteland, an event they called the ‘Great War’. Miraculously, somehow humanity managed to survive and slowly rebuild over the course of those two centuries. Even in a place as ‘unforgiving’ as the Mojave, there were still ‘glimmers of hope’ as Sunny had put it.

“We’re still a long, long way from fully recovering and rebuilding the world like it was before the reset button was pressed,” Sunny had explained “here, you’ve just got to take it one day at a time and hope you’ll see tomorrow.”

After hearing a bit of what Equestria was like, Sunny had made it clear to them that the Mojave was nowhere near as nice and friendly of a place as their homeland had been. The people, creatures and everything else that called the Mojave home weren’t always friendly like the folks of Goodsprings, Sunny had said. The world was full of awful people and awful things, some by nature, some by nurture and some just didn’t understand the concept of good and evil. She left them with the wisdom of ‘always watch your backs and keep your guards up, even if you know someone won’t mean you any harm’ before she left them with Doc Mitchell.

Sunny had been plenty friendly with Bezezelle and Anova, but the good doctor’s gentle, caring nature made him more pleasant in Bezezelle’s eyes. He was an old soul with a kind, fairly wrinkled face and a white mustache that curtained his upper lip. Doc Mitchell was completely bald on the top of his head, but had just enough of his thin, white hair to cover the rest of it. He had on a red bandanna tied around his neck and wore a long sleeved, gray button up shirt that he had tucked into his brown overalls. His feet were covered by a pair of worn, brown boots and his hands were covered by a pair of equally worn, brown gloves.

He listened to their story of misfortune as he administered first aid to them. Although the sensation of being jabbed by a weird needle contraptions he called ‘stimpaks’ was uncomfortable, both young mares were in awe at it’s fast healing capabilities- Anova more so than Bezezelle. After bandaging the deeper wounds that weren’t immediately healed by the stimpaks, Doc Mitchell was kind enough to give them a little bit more information about the world and how it met its fiery doom. He added on to what Sunny had already told them by clarifying that the ‘Great War’ was fought primarily between the United States and another country by the name of ‘China’, something he learned as a child living in an underground shelter called ‘Vault 21’.

“The folks who know about how the war came about have a whole slew of different ideas on how the bombs fell that fateful day. Some say China striked first, some say it was the US,” Doc Mitchell had explained “but ultimately, who fired first has always been an unsolvable mystery. I reckon it’ll stay that way for a long time.”

Some humans were able to find shelter in these nuclear bunkers called vaults, which were built by a company by the name of Vault-Tec. Not everypony was quite so lucky, however, and many perished when the bombs dropped. Of the lucky few who did manage to survive the atomic fire, their bodies became disfigured by the resulting radiation and much of their outer flesh rotted off their bodies. Those people were referred to as ‘ghouls’ and quickly became stereotyped and banished from certain areas of the world because of the transformation. Some eventually had their brains rotted away over time by radiation and became known as ‘feral’ ghouls.

Both sound-minded and feral ghouls were effectively turned immortal against time, as the radiation drastically slowed their aging, but were still susceptible to the dangers of starvation, dehydration and death in general. This information particularly amazed Anova, who tried to picture ‘zombified’ humans in her head before Doc Mitchell briefly described the different dangers the radiation had produced and the ones they’d best steer clear of if they knew what was good for them. Bloatflies, geckos, radroaches, giant ants, radscorpions, giant mantises, mole rats, yao guais. Full of so many strange and unfamiliar animals, the list was almost endless. The descriptions he gave of some of the animals, like the yao guai, sounded too terrifying to be true.

Doc Mitchell had apologized after that, though the apology was mostly aimed towards Anova, who was visibly frightened by the lesson on wasteland creatures. With a chuckle, he had offered the couch in his living room to them and apologized once more; this time for not offering them the bed in the next room over. Although it didn’t happen often in their neck of the desert, he never could be exactly sure when a new case would walk through the door and need his assistance. Having to share a small couch with one another was, of course, hardly an issue for Bezezelle and Anova. After all, they had shared the same bed when Bezezelle had been first invited to live with Anova and her family.

“That’s lovely and all, Bezzy, but please go to sleep,” Anova said quietly“I’m upset with him too, but it can wait until we actually get home.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb your slumber, Novie. I’ve got too many thoughts swimming around in my head that I can’t sleep,” Bezezelle said apologetically.

“Mmm. Think about sleep, then,” Anova mumbled before drifting back to sleep.

“Right,” Bezezelle sighed quietly to herself.

It was now the end of their second day in the Mojave wasteland. Bezezelle and Anova had spent the day meeting the other residents of Goodsprings and keeping Doc Mitchell company. Despite how desperately they wanted to return home to Equestria as soon as they possibly could, they understood that they needed to take their time and be careful in their search, lest the hostile sands of the Mojave claim their lives. Bezezelle’s mind was far too occupied to even consider sleep, not that she was even sleepy in the first place. Slowly and carefully, Bezezelle slid herself up until she was sitting on the couch and Anova’s head rested on the cushions between her flanks.

Bezezelle carefully swung her leg over Anova as she quietly stood up and stepped away from the couch. Another sigh escaped her lips as she trotted over to the nearby trio of windows. Faded, worn chairs were placed on either side of a small wooden table beneath the middle and last window. Beneath the first was a bookshelf with only a handful of neatly organized books. Bezezelle took a seat in the chair closest to the bookshelf and peeked out into the surrounding desert through the boards that covered each of the windows.

A cold darkness stretched over the Mojave as the night marched, the moon perched high in the starry sky and watching vigilantly over the wasteland. Stars twinkled in the sky like glitter in the light and clouds slowly danced overhead. To be a land filled with as much terror and evil as she been lead to believe, Bezezelle couldn’t help but admire how beautiful the relatively peaceful nightscape was. Despite its beauty, a sadness panged at her heart. Was their moon and their sun raised daily by some magical deities like the sister princesses back home? Or was it a natural occurrence, left untouched by deity and human-kind alike?

Bezezelle’s silent pondering was interrupted by a commotion near the front door. Curious, Bezezelle rose from her seat and poked her head out into the hallway just in time to watch as Victor- a friendly Securitron robot with a cowcolt-themed personality that wandered the town- carefully handed Doc Mitchell the limp body of an unconscious man. From where she stood, she could see that nearly his entire face was caked in mostly dried blood and that he was struggling to breath normally. Bezezelle silently wandered forward and overheard Victor and Doc Mitchell’s conversation.

“Found him up at the ol’ bone orchard during my usual nightly stroll. Some bad eggs round those parts, up and shot him in the head and then buried him,” Victor explained in a surprisingly cheerful tone “couldn’t shake the feelin’ he might’ve been still kickin’, so I dug him right up and brought him straight here, Doc.”

“Thank you, Victor. I’ll see what I can do for him,” Doc Mitchell said with a small nod.

“My pleasure, partner. Happy trails!” Victor cheerfully exclaimed before turning and calmly strolling away from the house.

Doc Mitchell kicked the door shut with his foot and then quickly yet carefully brought the injured man into the clinic area. Bezezelle half turned and trotted over to the doorway that led from the living room directly into the clinic. It was a small room that Doc Mitchell had converted into a space for practicing medicine. In the far left corner was a bare mattress on a wooden bed frame with a privacy screen positioned at the foot end. On the floor between the two was a bag of medical supplies and next to the bed a small chair was placed nearby.

Along that same wall on the left corner closest to the doorway was a long desk with a broken computer, a chemistry and assortment of other items that Bezezelle had no clue what they were. On the floor next to it and between the desk and the privacy screen was a wooden crate with a broken gun sitting on top of it. In front of the desk was another privacy screen and on the other side of it was an operating table, a small rolling utility cart and an operating light affixed to the ceiling above. Across the room from the bare mattress was a gray, metallic gurney.

Against the short wall on the other side of the gurney was a small desk with a typewriter and other miscellaneous items scattered on top. Around the corner near the other doorway led to the hallway and in front was a set of heavily rusted metallic shelves that had seen better days. On these shelves was a couple of metal containers and a small assortment of items the good doctor had collected. On the rightmost wall and closest to Bezezelle was this coin operated machine that called itself a ‘Vit-o-matic Vigor Tester’. What it was and how it worked was a complete mystery to Bezezelle. Not even Doc Mitchell wasn’t entirely sure himself and had told Bezezelle and Anova that ‘not even Val’ knew herself. Whoever that was, they had no clue. Not even Doc, who was unsure why he had said it in the first place.

Bezezelle watched as Doc Mitchell laid the injured man on the operating table and pulled the utility cart closer. He noticed Bezezelle watching him and offered a friendly smile to her before walking away to grab the supplies he needed to help the man.

“If Victor saw this man was in trouble, why he didn’t help?” Bezezelle questioned.

“Couldn’t tell you. Victor is… well, a bit strange. He’s friendly enough, but it ain’t hard to see there might be more to him than even he’s aware of,” Doc Mitchell answered with a shrug.

“Is that man going to make it? I mean, I don’t know much about guns, but I don’t think it takes a scientist to figure out bullets plus brains probably equals death,” Bezezelle said, taking a seat in the doorway.

“I can’t say for certain, but with a bit of luck and the best of my skills, I’d say there’s a chance he’ll be just fine,” Doc Mitchell said as he walked back over to the injured man.

Doc Mitchell opened the bag of medical supplies and peered inside. A concerned frown appeared on his face as he pulled out what he needed. Bezezelle saw the frown and grew worried that something was wrong.

“Everything okay, Doc?” Bezezelle asked as she quickly stood up.

“Yes and no. Didn’t realize I had used up more of my supplies than I thought I had when I was patching up the two of you,” Doc Mitchell replied as set to work cleaning the man’s face “normally doesn’t take much to heal a gecko bite or scratch, but I guess with you two being from another world, your bodies needed a bit more than usual to properly heal.”

“Just a guess, though. I’m no scientist,” He added with a small shrug.

“So you don’t have enough supplies to help him?” Bezezelle asked.

“I have enough to get him through the night, but after that, well, there won’t be much I can do for him unless I can get more supplies,” Doc Mitchell replied “I just recently bought all the medical supplies Chet had in stock, too. Won’t be no caravans coming our way for a while yet either.”

“Unless you can get your hooves- er, hands- on what you need by tomorrow,” Bezezelle surmised.

“I hate to send you out into the wastes given the circumstances, but we don’t have the bodies to spare to go pokin’ through the ruins outside of town to find something,” Doc Mitchell said in an apologetic tone “but I reckon now’s as good a time as any to not only learn how to fend for yourselves out in the wasteland but how to scavenge for medicine, food, water, stuff like that.”

“I can’t argue with that. Well, I could, but I’d be in the wrong,” Bezezelle said with a small chuckle “and I guess we won’t find our way back home if we just sit around in Goodsprings either.”

“I won’t lie, though. I’m scared to venture outside of town,” Bezezelle added with a sigh.

“Don’t worry, I won’t have you two risk your necks without first knowing how to use a gun,” Doc Mitchell said reassuringly “Sunny Smiles can definitely help you with that. She might still be at the saloon, but with it being so close to closing time, she might not.”

“I hate to wake Anova up, but I know she’d kill me if I didn’t at least let her know where I was going,” Bezezelle said with a small sigh.

“By the time you finish talking to Anova, find Sunny, learn to use a gun and come back, I’ll have a list cooked up for you,” Doc Mitchell said in a grateful tone.

“Got to get this man stable first,” He added.

Bezezelle nodded in response as she turned around and went over to the couch. Anova was snoozing away peacefully with her back facing Bezezelle and curled up into a ball with her tail tucked between her legs. Bezezelle reached out a hoof and gently shook Anova until she stirred and sat up on the couch. Anova stretched as she loudly yawned and looked up at Bezezelle. She rubbed her eye sleepily and sniffed a bit.

“Is it morning already?” Anova questioned sleepily.

“No, it’s still nighttime, but I have a good reason to be waking you up,” Bezezelle answered apologetically “I just wanted to let you know where I was going, just in case you wake up and suddenly I’m nowhere to be found.”

“Huh? What- where are you going?” Anova asked, her head tilted in confusion.

“Doc Mitchell is trying to save a man who was just brought in by Victor. You know, that cowcolt robot we met earlier today? Anyways, Doc doesn’t have enough supplies and-”

“Wait, wait, wait. You’re just heading to Chet’s, right? Or the saloon?” Anova interrupted.

“Well, I’m heading to the Prospector Saloon to talk to Sunny Smiles if she’s there, but after that I’m heading back here to get the list and then out of the town to look for the supplies Doc needs,” Bezezelle explained “he bought all the medical supplies Chet had and-”

“I’m sorry, did you just say you were heading out on an adventure into the wasteland of an alien world and leaving me here by myself? I-I think I misheard you. I must still be half asleep or dreaming one,” Anova said in an angry, confused tone.

“Of course I’m going alone, Anova. I can’t let you get hurt or worse,” Bezezelle said with an annoyed sigh “I won’t be gone for long, I promise.”

“Like hell you’re going alone. What if something happens to you? If I lose you here of all places, then they might as well dig two graves! I’m not living in a world like this without you,” Anova said angrily.

“You’re not going to lose me, Novie, be reasonable. If it’s just me out there, I can easily get myself out of trouble. I can evade danger like a pro, you can’t,” Bezezelle argued in a matter-of-fact tone.

“And what exactly makes you a ‘pro’ at ‘evading danger’ and better than me at it, hmm?” Anova snapped angrily.

Instead of answering Anova’s question, Bezezelle squinted her eyes and gave her a look as if to ask if she was being serious. Wordlessly and in a quick flash of green magic, Bezezelle transformed into an identical copy of Anova and repeated the question in a mockful tone. As she spoke, she transformed herself into copies of Ms. Lila, Principal Breeze, Jet Force and Blossom Dance before turning back into her disguise.

“I can turn into almost literally anything, Anova. If I can get out of sight, I can turn into a rock or a bug and then they’ll lose track of me and fuck off,” Bezezelle said in an annoyed matter-of-fact-tone “but not you. They’d still find you and hurt you.”

“Oh, don’t be a smartass, bugbrain. I’m still half asleep,” Anova said snarkily as she rolled her eyes “but so what? You think the thought of almost getting hurt or potentially dying scares me?”

“I seem to recall the both of us running for our lives and you screaming in fear just yesterday,” Bezezelle said sarcastically “so, yes. I do think so.”

“Oh ha ha ha, funny as always. I was going to say that it doesn’t. You know, because of how many times I’ve almost blown myself to smithereens? But whatever,” Anova sneered.

“Seriously, this isn’t a big deal, Anova. I’ll be back before the morning even comes. Why are you acting like this?” Bezezelle said in an exasperated tone.

Anova looked at Bezezelle like she had grown three heads. She stood from the couch and brought her face inches away from Bezezelle’s.

“This isn’t a big deal?! Maybe it isn’t to you, Bezezelle, but it absolutely- and clearly- is for me! I get it, you were a lone bug for so long and given the circumstances and the stigma around changelings, you didn’t grow out of that mentality entirely as a precaution,” Anova began, angry tears welling up in her eyes “but me? Even though I had my family, I was alone. Always. Not by my choice either and I hated it! Daddy might have been an engineer, but not even he could quite understand my work, my passion.”

“When I met you that night at the park, you stood out ‘cause I hadn’t seen you around town and that gave me the chance- and the hope- that I could make a friend that didn’t know me for my hobby and the trouble it caused,” Anova continued as tears rolled down her cheeks “I’ve never told you this because I didn’t think I’d ever be in a position where I could lose you like this, but that night we met, I had plans to not be around for much longer when I got back home. I had taken a walk to think things through and had made the decision, but then I bumped into you, a total outsider.”

“Anova, I-”

“Shut up, I’m not finished. After we became friends, I always stuck to your side like glue because I hated being alone. I could deal with it just fine at school and during other circumstances because I knew you’d come back to me as soon as you could. It’s a big deal to me because you’re my everything, Bezzy. My best friend, my sister and platonic soulmate wrapped into one. Do you understand that? There isn’t a ‘me’ without ‘you’ anymore. If you die, I die and there’s no other way about it,” Anova continued as she gently but angrily shoved Bezezelle “you saw me for who I really was and not how everypony else- aside from my family- saw me. Finding out you were a changeling after hearing about the fiasco in Canterlot didn’t scare me or sway how I felt about you. Even if you were disguising your physical form, I knew you for who you really were on the inside, for what really mattered.”

“My point is, Bezzy, is that I need you. I’d rather die out there at your side then sit here wondering if you’ll come back to me. Promising you’ll ‘be back by morning’ doesn’t mean shit in a place like this. Let me… No, I am coming with you and that’s that,” Anova concluded.

Bezezelle stared at Anova- completely speechless- as she wiped the tears from her eyes and backed away. Bezezelle understood how Anova felt and everything she had said to her. Truth was, Bezezelle felt almost the same. The main difference was that Bezezelle had already partly- but not entirely- accepted losing Anova, her family and everypony else she cared for. She woke up every morning feeling like it might happen and made her feel like she was trotting on eggshells. She was prepared to be alone again if something happened and her secret was revealed.

Anova sniffled a bit as she sat back down on the couch and looked down at the floor, her ears drooping back in what Bezezelle assumed was sadness. She wasn’t quite sure what to say to her that hadn’t already been said by Anova and she was sure Doc- who undoubtedly overheard the exchange- probably preferred if they kicked their mission in gear. Bezezelle sighed loudly as she looked in the direction of the clinic. Even though Bezezelle felt she always needed Anova just as much as Anova needed her, Bezezelle couldn’t bear the thought of more harm coming to Anova. In fact, Bezezelle would accept dying if it meant that Anova would live on and if it were to actually occur during their time in the Mojave, Bezezelle would want Anova to keep going until she made it back to Equestria.

Bezezelle looked back at Anova, who was still staring at the ground. Wordlessly, Bezezelle trotted over to the doorway in the living room that led out into the hallway. She looked back to see Anova now looking at her with a look on her face that told Bezezelle that Anova was thinking she was leaving her behind anyways.

“Well? Are you coming or are you just going to sit there looking at me like that?” Bezezelle questioned, raising her eyebrows.

The look on Anova’s face immediately turned into one of relieved excitement as she jumped up from the couch and quickly trotted over. Anova grinned at Bezezelle, who chuckled at her quick shift in mood.

“Chances are, we’ll be stuck here for a long while. In the meantime, let’s do our part, Anova. Starting with helping Doc Mitchell,” Bezezelle said confidently “I don’t know how long we’ll be here or how much of an impact two ponies like us can make, but let’s leave this world a better place than we found it. Well, try to anyway.”

“How much of an impact can a changeling and a unicorn make? Well, let’s walk out the door and find out, Bezzy.”