Wasteland Wanderers

It was just then that Twilight heard what sounded like a single wheel rolling along the road behind them. She looked and saw a strange boxy machine with tube-like arms and a screen on the front… with a cowboy’s face on it. “What the…?” Marty looked and was surprised as well.

The robot whirred over and smiled at the courier. “Howdy pardner!” it smiled chipperly. “Might I say, you’re lookin’ fit as a fiddle.”

“Victor?” Marty asked flatly, almost predicting the response.

“At yer service.” the robot smiled.

“Well, thanks for diggin’ me out of that grave,” Marty noted.

“Don’t mention it. I’m always ready to lend a helpin’ hand to a stranger in need.” Victor smiled.

“How’d you happen to find him?” asked Applejack.

“I was out for a stroll that night when I heard the commotion up at the old bone orchard,” Victor remembered as he pointed up the hill. “Saw what looked like a bunch of bad eggs, so I laid low.”

“Yeah, we thought the same,” Rainbow remarked, but quickly clapped her hands over her mouth once she’d said it as Marty looked back at them.

“Wait, you saw what happened to me?!” he asked in annoyance.

“Yeah, but we ran as soon as we heard the gunshot,” Sunset assured in concern. “Frankly, we’re more than a bit surprised to see you up and about again.”

“Well, they ain’t the only ones,” Victor remarked. “Once them fellers had run off, I dug you up to see if you were still kickin’. Turns out you were, so I hauled you off to the doc right quick.”

“Do you know who they were? The guys who attacked me?” asked Marty.

“Can’t say that I’m familiar with the rascals.” Victor shrugged. “Some of the fine folks in town might be able to help you out with that.”

“I have to say, I’ve never seen a robot like you before,” Twilight remarked as she looked the machine over.

“I’m a Securitron. RobCo security model 2060-B. If you ever see any of my brothers, tell ‘em Victor says howdy.” Victor smiled.

“So how’d a nice feller like you end up out here?” asked Applejack.

“Oh, I moseyed into town, oh, ten, fifteen years ago?” Victor shrugged. “Before that, I…” He stopped, as if trying to think. “Hmmm. I can’t quite seem to recall. Odd.” Twilight quietly agreed; that was odd, but Victor didn’t seem too bothered by it. “Anyway, it’s a right peaceful town and I reckon it’s as fine a place to settle as any.”

“Thanks, Victor. See ya round.” Marty shrugged as he walked off.

“Happy trails!” Victor smiled and kept on rolling.

“So… that was weird,” Sunset remarked.

“No kidding.” Rainbow agreed. “What’s a robot like him doing all the way out here? And why doesn’t he remember anything?”

“I have a bad feeling we’ll find out and we won’t like it,” Twilight said, though she could clearly see it was upsetting Fluttershy. “On the other hand, it could just be a glitch in his systems or something.”

“Hey guys!” Pinkie called from the porch of a saloon nearby. The group quickly wandered over and smiled as they saw their friend… as well as an old man sitting against the wall.

“Howdy.” Marty nodded to the old man.

“Howdy. What can Easy Pete do for you?” the old man asked.

“Well for starters, how’d you get a name like that?” asked Rainbow.

“Was a prospector until I decided to settle here to get away from the NCR.” Pete shrugged. “Now I just take it easy and help out with the Brahmin and Bighorners.”

“Prospector… like diggin’ fer gold an’ silver?” asked Applejack.

“Nah, nah.” Pete countered. “Means I poked through old buildings lookin’ for workin’ tech and such. Some folks just call it ‘salvaging’, but never liked the term.”

“Why not?” asked Twilight.

“Well, way I see it, salvage means it’s broken, near-worthless,” Pete explained. “Me, I looked for the good stuff – guns, chems, spare parts. Good money in it.”

“Find anything really good?” asked Rainbow.

“Nope. Had a pretty good claim once, way out east by the river, but got run off by raiders.” Pete remembered. “Eventually, got too old to keep goin’ out.”

“What’s everyone’s deal with the NCR?” asked Sunset.

“Aw, don’t get me wrong; NCR’s got a lot of decent folk in it. It’s just that they make you part of ‘em whether you like it or not.” Pete explained.

“They’re conquerors.” Sunset rationalized.

“Fraid so.” Pete shrugged. “Towns like Goodsprings or Primm don’t stay independent for long, not if you’ve got something the NCR wants. Still, the NCR keeps the Legion away.”

“‘Legion’?” asked Rarity.

“Caesar’s Legion.” Marty elaborated. “Nation of slavers east of the river.” The girls were shocked; they figured the apocalypse would be bad, but they weren’t expecting slavery to be present. Especially not Sunset Shimmer; slavery in Equestria had been unheard of for thousands of years, but now she was in a place where it was part of life for some?

“Couple years ago, they tried to take over Hoover Dam, but the NCR beat ‘em back.” Pete continued. “The NCR didn’t – or couldn’t – finish the job though. Now the Legion’s got its strength back and is getting ready for another round at the Dam. My money’s still on the NCR winning, but you never know.”

“Always smart to hedge your bets in a time like this.” Marty agreed, looking back at the girls. “I’ve heard rumors about a few Legionnaires this side of the river, so unless you wanna get caught and enslaved, you gotta know how to shoot.”

“Right. Is Sunny Smiles in?” asked Twilight.

“Yeah, she’s in there.” Pete nodded. “Figures a bunch of rookie outta-towners would be lookin’ for her. But I gotta say; in all my years in this wasteland, I ain’t never seen mutations quite like yours.”

“We were born like this,” Sunset said simply.

“Well then, I’d say you’re lucky.” Easy Pete remarked. “Most folks who get born with mutations don’t end up lastin’ very long.”

“So wait, what’s so important about the dam?” Rainbow asked.

“Powers a lot of New Vegas,” Pete replied. “Then there’s all that clean water sittin’ in Lake Mead too. Anybody who owns the dam owns the territory.”

“Makes sense,” Twilight remarked. “If you have access to the biggest power generator and source of clean water in the desert, you can threaten to turn it off any time you want. That gives you a lot of power.”

“Indeed it does.” Easy Pete nodded.

“So what’re them Bighorners for?” asked Applejack.

“Meat and hide, mostly.” Pete shrugged. “Can’t put a pack on ‘em; they just lay down until you take it off.” He pointed up the hill. “Can find a bunch of wild ones high up in the hills, but gotta be careful around ‘em. They can put up a decent fight if cornered.”

“What about that Victor fellow?” Rarity asked, pointing after the robot. “What do you know about him?”

“The machine?” Pete asked. “Harmless, no matter what Trudy says. She thinks it’s hidin’ something, but I think it’s just a broken-down relic with no place to be.”

“What about those guys who attacked me? Know anything about them?” asked Marty.

“The one in the fancy suit seemed to be callin’ the shots, that’s as much as I know.” Pete shrugged. “Other folks in town might know more. Word of advice though: if you ever catch up with him, watch out. The man’s got cold eyes like a snake. Can’t be trusted, I’d say.”

“Don’t gotta tell me that,” Marty noted bluntly.

“Well, thanks, Pete.” Twilight nodded. “Have a good day.”

“Keep a gun handy if you go pokin’ around some of the abandoned places around here, like the schoolhouse. Critters move in there sometimes.” Pete warned.

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Sunset noted as the group went into the saloon… and were immediately accosted by a dog in the billiard hall, which barked and snapped at them.

“Whoa there, hun; easy.” Applejack tried to soothe the beast until a young woman walked over.

“Cheyenne, stay.” The dog relaxed at that as the woman looked at the group. “Don’t worry, she won’t bite unless I tell her to.”

“You Sunny Smiles?” asked Marty.

“The one and only.”

“Doc said you could help teach these kids how to survive the wastes.” He pointed at the girls.

Sunny raised an eyebrow at the girls for a moment but shrugged. “Yeah, I guess there’s a thing or two I could show you.” She glanced up at Marty with a smirk. “Sounds like you need all the help you can get after what they done to you.”

“What do you know about them?”

“Not much. Trudy probably knows more. Right now, cmon out back.” Sunny led the group out behind the saloon where she’d set a few empty bottles on a fence. Then she handed Marty a rifle and a few rounds of ammo. “Alright, now take this and try to shoot some of those sarsaparilla bottles down.”

“Piece of cake,” Marty remarked as he shouldered the rifle. He looked down the sights and with a quick shot, one of the bottles exploded off the fence. The girls were more than a bit concerned as he reloaded the rifle and handed it to Sunset; none of them had ever needed or wanted to shoot anything before, and though they knew they were strapped for options, they still really didn’t want to.

Sunset took a breath to try and calm herself as she leveled the rifle, taking a quick shot. The rifle kicked her in the shoulder like a mule, and when she looked, she saw she’d only managed to shoot the top off of the bottle she was aiming for. She figured that was close enough, so she reloaded the rifle and passed it down the line.

The other girls all took a shot with the rifle and all ended up with variable results, though surprisingly Fluttershy was the best shot out of all of them… which was especially a surprise considering how much she didn’t want to use the rifle at all. “Well, that’s a start.” Sunny smiled. “But I don’t reckon you came to me to learn to fight sarsaparilla bottles.”

“You’re right; we didn’t,” Marty noted as he took the rifle back. “Got anything more challengin’ in mind?”

“Tell ya what; I gotta go chase some geckos away from our water supply anyway.” Sunny shrugged. “Damn critters are attracted to it. Why don’t you come along?”

“I suppose if you want us…” Rarity shrugged.

“Follow me; it’s just down to the southeast a short ways.” Sunny remarked as she hiked off in that direction, the group quickly following her along the old road through what looked like residential ruins until they reached a high ridgeline… where the girls heard some familiar snarling. “Hear that? Them’s the geckos.”

“So what are they; mutated desert lizards or something?” asked Twilight.

“Buncha little monsters is what they are.” Sunny smirked. “Seems like Doc Mitchell treats more gecko bites than anything else.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Rainbow noted as she gestured to her stitched-up leg. “Look, I don’t know how much help I’m gonna be here.”

“Just stay low; we can handle it,” Marty assured as he and Sunny prepped their rifles.

“Let’s see if we can get a little closer.” Sunny suggested. “If we move quietly, we can get the jump on ‘em. More likely to hit something vital that way.”

“Right.” The two quickly slunk around toward the well, with the girls following close behind. There were only two geckos the group could see near the large well, and it looked like they didn’t notice the group yet… until Marty whistled tauntingly which immediately drew their attention and sent the geckos running straight at them until Marty and Sunny put them both down with a few well-placed bullets. “Bullseye.”

“Two more wells that still need clearing.” Sunny suggested. “Might be nice to let the kids have a turn with the rifles. Be worth a few caps if you help me out.”

“Sure.” Marty smiled as he passed Rainbow his rifle. “I still intend to collect when I win that bet.”

“Someone’s awfully confident,” Rainbow smirked as she checked the rifle.

“Let’s just say I know how people react to the unfamiliar.” Marty shrugged.

“Whatever.” Rainbow shrugged as she slung the rifle onto her shoulder.

“Shouldn’t take more than a couple minutes. Especially with you guys helpin’.” Sunny said as she led the group onward. Rainbow seemed to be dragging her leg a bit to keep up with her though, and Marty noticed.

“Here,” he said and handed her a small needle with a strange gauge at the top.

“What’s this?” Rainbow asked.

“Stimpak. Painkillers, stimulants, and coagulants; wanderer’s best friend for when they’re hurt, even heals bones a good degree.” Marty shrugged. “I’ve only got a few on me though, so unless I can loot some more, I’ve gotta be sparing with ‘em.”

“Looting? That seems a bit dark, don’t you think?” Rarity remarked.

“Listen, kid, I don’t know what it’s like in your world, but when someone puts a bullet in your head or steals meds from you in the Mojave, they ain’t doin’ it ‘cause they wanna be your friend.” Marty returned, turning back to Rainbow. “If you don’t want the Stimpak, give it back.”

“No,” Rainbow said almost protectively as she brought the needle to her leg. It hurt more than a bit going in, but once she pulled the small trigger and let the contents into her leg, it immediately felt better. “Huh. Man, this thing’s nice.”

“Yeah. One use only though.” Marty shrugged. “You can just drop that in the sand; no one cares.”

“Um… I-I care.” Fluttershy countered quietly.

“Fluttershy’s an environmentalist.” Rarity explained simply.

“Pfft. Look around, kid; this place is a radioactive dustbowl full of bloodthirsty pests.” Marty shrugged. “It doesn’t care about us; why should we care about it?”

“Heads up; more geckos.” Sunny remarked, driving the group from this discussion as they saw the lizards charging toward them. Rainbow quickly raised her rifle and took one of the geckos down with a quick headshot as Sunny took another, but the third was still charging.

Rainbow tried to shoot it, but her gun wouldn’t work. “Uh, I think I’m jammed!” she remarked.

“I got it.” Marty nodded as he pulled his pistol. It took a few more bullets from this gun than the other to take down the lizard, but it went down all the same.

As they moved to the third well, Rainbow did her best to unjam her gun. They reached the third well, but Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Everything looks okay to me.”

Suddenly the group heard someone screaming near a lower ridge. “You were saying?” Twilight asked as they followed the screaming… and saw a settler cornered by a group of geckos.

“Oh no ya don’t!” Applejack remarked as she grabbed the rifle from Rainbow, which she quickly managed to unjam and kill all three of the assailing geckos.

Twilight was relieved this was over, but couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for Fluttershy. “Are you okay?”

“I… I don’t know…” Fluttershy shrugged. She’d tried to talk to the gecko that attacked Rainbow that morning, but it wouldn’t listen to a word she said, and she knew these geckos were no different, but that didn’t make it any better to see them die.

“You okay there, pardner?” asked Applejack.

“Yeah, thanks.” the settler nodded up at them. “If you hadn’t come here like you done, I’d be a goner for sure.”

“What are you doing out here?” asked Sunset.

“I came up here to draw water, but here.” the settler tossed Sunset a small pack full of freshly-filled water bottles. “You should have what I got. You look thirsty.”

“We can’t accept this,” Sunset said seriously.

“Naw, sure ya can. Think of it as me makin’ sure we’re even.” the settler smiled as she wandered off back toward town.

Sunny smiled as she approached the two. “Now that was some good work,” she said. “Even got a little exciting there at the end.”

“I’d say so.” Sunset shrugged as she slung the small pack over her shoulder.

“Here. Little spending money for your trouble.” Sunny handed Twilight a small pouch of caps.

“Thanks,” she said as she checked, seeing it pretty well-filled.

“One more thing I wanted to show you.” Sunny noted as she walked over to a small campfire made of cinder blocks. “Thought I might teach you about living off the land and making useful things for yourself. Interested?”

“Couldn’t hurt.” Twilight shrugged.

“Alright then. We’ll need a couple ingredients to get started; Xander root and a broc flower.” Sunny noted.

“And where do we find those?” asked Applejack.

“Uh, lemme think now; I know I’ve seen Broc flowers growing up at the graveyard.” Sunny pondered. “And I seem to remember there being Xander Root over by the schoolhouse. Bring those on back to me here, and we’ll get cooking.”

“Looks like we’re splitting up.” Twilight shrugged. “Half of us check the graveyard, half check the schoolhouse.”

“I’m goin’ to the graveyard, that’s for damn sure,” Marty noted. “Wanna see where I was buried; try and find some clues as to who that guy in the suit was.”

“Alright, Twilight and I will go with you,” Sunset noted. “You too, Rainbow. The rest of you check the schoolhouse for that root stuff.”

“Got it.” Applejack nodded.

“Whoa-whoa-whoa, when did we put you in charge?” asked Rainbow.

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack seemed offended by this suggestion.

“What? I’m just saying that maybe we’re a little out of our depth here.” Rainbow remarked. “Shouldn’t we have the more experienced guy take charge?”

“This ‘more experienced guy’ got shot in the head and wants to find out why. I think you’re better off with your own hierarchy.” Marty countered as he leaned against the rocks nearby.

“Look, I know this isn’t ideal, but fundamentally, it’s no different than anything else we’ve ever gone through,” Sunset assured. “As long as we’re all together, we’ll manage just fine.”

Rainbow sighed as she looked at her friend. “I hope you’re right. For all our sakes,” she said as she walked up the ridge back toward town.

“Me too,” Sunset muttered to herself.

Soon enough, the group had all made it back to Goodsprings and Applejack had led her team into the ruins of the town as the others went up the hill. “Think you’ll be able to talk whatever critters we find here down, Fluttershy?” Applejack asked seriously.

“I- I hope so.” she returned; she was still worried that all the animals of the Mojave might be just as violent as geckos, but was silently hoping for something better.

It wasn’t hard to find the schoolhouse; it was a large red building near the hills. They searched the perimeter but didn’t find any of the root Sunny sent them after… but they did find some interesting critters; two abnormally massive praying mantises near the east door. “You’re on.” Applejack whispered to Fluttershy.

She gulped a bit and approached, quietly talking to the mantises which seemed to understand as they clicked and chittered to her. Fluttershy smiled as she stood up. “They know where the root is and they say they’ll lead us to it.”

“Well, that’s lovely. We were due for a spot of good luck today.” Rarity smiled as the mantises led the group to a certain spot where the bugs started digging and produced a small claw full of strange brown roots.

“What’s so special about this stuff?” asked Applejack.

Pinkie immediately took one of the roots and licked it, much to everyone’s concern but Pinkie just spit into the dirt nearby. “Ugh! Bitter. Whatever Sunny wants to teach us how to cook, it can’t taste good.”

“You make me ask a lot of questions I never thought I would otherwise.” Applejack remarked.

Once they’d separated off from the group, Marty and the others wandered up the hill to the north. There were a few giant scorpions and a few large strange flying insects Marty referred to as bloatflies they had to deal with, but once they were cleared out, the cemetery was clear… and it was bleak. The view was magnificent, but being surrounded by so many graves unsettled Sunset more than a bit.

But what really unsettled her was a recently opened grave near a large “keep out” sign at the northern ridge. “This was it,” she noted to Marty. “Where we saw those guys bury you.”

“Well, they gave me a nice view at least.” Marty joked though it didn’t do anywhere near enough to help ease his mood. With nothing else to do, he started looking around the grave… and saw some distinctive cigarette butts lying around. “Hm… this oughtta come in handy.” He picked up a handful of these butts and slipped them into his satchel.

Twilight wasn’t sure those would be enough to really help Marty, but it didn’t matter to her because she suddenly found a small plant nearby. She plucked a flower from it and examined it in her hand. “Is this what we’re looking for?” she asked.

Marty looked and shrugged. “Must be. Cmon, let’s get back down to the others.” With that, the team left the graveyard with sobering thoughts on their minds.

The team reunited on the way out of town and soon returned to Sunny near the campfire at the well. “Got what you asked for,” Rainbow noted, handing Sunny the materials.

“Yeah, these’ll do just fine. Just fine.” Sunny smiled. “Alright now, we’re gonna be making somethin’ folks on the trail call healing powder.”

“Folk medicine? Why would we need this if we have Stimpaks?” Rainbow asked in confusion.

“There aren’t that many Stimpaks left in the Mojave to go around.” Marty shrugged. “Besides, you’d be surprised how often folk medicine actually works.”

“He’s not wrong.” Fluttershy agreed nervously as she accepted the ingredients from Sunny and moved to the campfire, grinding the ingredients on a stone into a fine powder.

“Hey, that’s not bad.” Sunny nodded. “See? All it takes to make a recipe like this is the right ingredients and the right know-how.”

“Yeah, but a campfire won’t help when your gun starts to fall apart or you run out of bullets.” Marty countered.

“Yeah, important thing to get is it’s all the same idea.” Sunny remarked. “Just need to find the right place to set up shop. Workbench or… a reloading bench, whatever.” She stood up and brushed the dirt off her legs. “Well, I hope that’s enough to get you started. I’m heading back to town now; hope I didn’t miss anything good on the jukebox. Cheyenne would never forgive me.” The dog barked happily as she rubbed against Sunny’s leg.

“Alright, thanks Sunny.” Twilight smiled as the rest of the group stood up and they all made their way to town.

“Hey, do me a favor?” Sunny asked.

“Anything,” Sunset noted.

“Trudy; she’s the bartender up at the Prospector, kinda the town mom. She likes to welcome newcomers.” Sunny shrugged. “She’d be cross with me if I didn’t ask you to poke your head in and say hi.”

“Thanks, we’ll do that.” Sunset nodded as they made their way to the saloon… but what they would find there was something they were in no way prepared for.