Fallout Girls: Devastated Desert

The girls had never been the type to run from fights like this, but then again, they’d never fought anyone who used a real gun before. Even with their magic, they knew they were out of their league. Sunset especially was traumatized by what they’d just seen and wanted to be nowhere near the site, so they hightailed it out of the small town down the ridge as quick as they could.

The late-night air chilled the girls to the bone as they moved along the broken road out of town, but Twilight grew more and more concerned. “Sunset, we can’t keep this pace up for long.” she pointed out. “We need sleep.”

“An’ Ah know fer a fact we ain’t gon’ last an hour in the desert without water.” Applejack agreed.

“Our priority is to find a way back to our own world,” Sunset argued. “We can worry about water when we absolutely have to.”

“I don’t think we’ll have to worry for long.” Rainbow pointed out. “There’s a shack over there.” The girls looked and saw a small ramshackle shack on the far side of an intersection near a scorched road sign.

“Um, what if there’s someone home?” asked Fluttershy.

“I think we’ll have to risk that.” Sunset shrugged as she moved to the door and knocked on it. “Hello?! Is anyone in there?” No one answered, and the door appeared to be unlocked. She pushed it open, being sure to watch the rusty metal and splintering wood as she opened the shack… finding nothing inside but junk against the right wall, a ham radio and blown-out computer on a table in the middle of the room, and a bank of lockers against the far wall.

Twilight immediately turned on the ham radio and tried talking into it. “Hello? Hello, is anyone out there? Can anybody hear me?” No response, so Twilight just turned the radio off in annoyance. “Figures.”

“Check the lockers; there might be supplies in there,” Sunset ordered.

“Should we really do that?” Fluttershy asked in concern. “I mean, I don’t want to rob anyone.”

“I don’t think there’s anyone staying here to rob.” Twilight pointed out. “The latch is rusted away and I didn’t see any sign of anyone being here before us.”

“Guess the lockers are free pickin’s though.” Applejack shrugged as she opened all the lockers one after the other.

“Ain’t much here; just this,” she noted and retrieved a revolver, holding it cautiously by the cylinder like she didn’t want to touch the handle.

Twilight seemed a bit uncomfortable at the sight of the gun. “I want to say we won’t need that, but… we might run into those guys from that town again,” she said simply.

“Say no more.” Applejack nodded and slipped the barrel of the gun under her belt, pouring about ten bullets into her pocket.

“Hang on, there’s a key here,” Twilight noted, quickly finding a key behind the ham radio which she handed to Applejack. “Check the other locker.”

Applejack quickly did so and gave a surprised whistle. “Hot diggity, would ya look at this?” The locker was filled with ammunition and had a simple one-shot shotgun, which Applejack quickly secured.

“Two weapons,” Twilight noted. “Guess that leaves us with a question; who uses what?”

“Ah'll keep the pistol if no one minds," Applejack noted, holding the shotgun forward. “One of y'all can take this one.”

“I'll take it.” Sunset shrugged as she accepted the shotgun from Applejack and a few shells, one of which she promptly loaded into the shotgun’s chamber. She got some disconcerted looks from the other girls at that, but she just shrugged. “Just being cautious. We might need it.”

“I’m sorry; can we get back to the big question here?” Rainbow asked seriously. “Where are we? And how did we get here?”

“The magic tracker must’ve malfunctioned somehow.” Sunset theorized. “That’s the only explanation. The question is why?”

“Great. Yet another of my experiments gone wrong.” Twilight rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Darling.” Rarity assured. “You couldn’t have known what would happen when we turned on the machine.”

“Yeah, and we definitely don’t blame you,” Rainbow assured. “Trust me; if we held a grudge every time one of your experiments blew up in our faces – literally or figuratively – we wouldn’t hang out as much as we do.”

“Somehow I don’t think saying that helps.” Sunset pointed out.

“Hey, gimme a break; you’re the one holding the shotgun,” Rainbow remarked in seeming annoyance.

“I’m trying not to think about that.” Sunset shrugged, her hands obviously shaking as she held the weapon at the ready.

“Do you… want someone else to take it?” Twilight suggested.

“No. No, I… I should take it.” Sunset shrugged as she held the gun, her hands still shaking. “I don’t want anyone else to have to deal with this.”

“Yeah, we’ve got enough to deal with right now,” Rainbow remarked. “Like – again – where are we?”

“I don’t know. The tracker must’ve drawn on some of the portal’s magic somehow.” Sunset theorized.

“So you think it shot us into another world?” asked Rainbow.

“That would make sense.” Twilight shrugged. “What doesn’t is why we were sent to this world, whatever it is.”

“Are we really sure we can find something in that city to send us back?” asked Sunset.

“It’s our only lead. A city like that has to have some sort of technology that can get us home.” Twilight shrugged.

“Alright, we’ll camp here as best we can and head out for the city in the morning,” Applejack suggested.

“Not gonna be very comfortable,” Rainbow remarked, looking around at the absence of any beds. Then she saw an empty bottle on the table and smirked at the label. “Hey Sunset, check this out.” Sunset quickly caught the bottle when Rainbow tossed it her way and saw it was for something called Sunset Sarsaparilla. “All it needs is your face on the label.”

“Oh, ha-ha.” Sunset rolled her eyes as she tossed the bottle into the pile of junk in the corner, the glass shattering safely away from the group. She walked over to the desk in what looked like annoyance and grabbed up the bottlecap, which had a small blue star on the underside. She shook her head and slipped it into her jacket pocket.

Out of nowhere, Pinkie’s knee started pinching and she fell to the floor on her side. “Oh, that’s not good,” she remarked, confusingly calmly. Everyone at CHS knew about Pinkie’s infamous Pinkie Sense, and they weren’t about to distrust it now… especially not when Applejack heard someone’s footsteps in the sand outside.

Cautiously, Applejack pulled the revolver from her belt and held it at the ready, her own hand shaking as she held the gun at the ready and slowly cracked the door open… before she saw two large men outside in strange blue outfits holding rifles, which prompted Applejack to immediately slam the door shut. “Nope!” she announced and pulled a large crate over from the side of the shack, barring the shack door.

“Hey, what’s the big idea?” one of the men outside asked as he knocked on the door.

“What’s wrong, AJ?” asked Twilight.

“We’re trapped,” she said simply.

“What? No, you’re not.” the other man outside assured. “We ain’t gonna hurt ya.”

“Ya promise?” asked Applejack.

“Promise.” the first guy assured.

Sunset was less sure as she moved to the door. “Prove it. You drop your weapons, we’ll drop ours.”

“Deal.” the first guy nodded, followed by the sounds of two rifles dropping into the sand.

Sunset nodded to Applejack as she set her shotgun against the wall. Applejack wasn’t sure, but carefully moved the crate away from the door, setting the revolver on top of it as Sunset opened the door to see the two men… who appeared surprised.

“Whoa! What’n the holy world of fuck kinda mutants are you?” the first guy asked, making the girls all cringe at the foulness of his language.

“What’re you talking about?” asked Sunset.

“Well, ya ain’t ghouls or supermutants, but no one in the Mojave looks like that without bein’ some sort of mutant.” the first guy remarked.

“Mojave… is that what this place is called?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, where the hell have you been; California?” the second guy asked.

“No way, Matt; look at ‘em. Barely any dirt.” the first guy pointed out. “You think they could’ve made it all the way here from California lookin’ like that?”

“Look, we don’t want no trouble,” Applejack assured. “We’re just lookin’ to reach that city over yonder.” She pointed over her shoulder to the spire on the northeast horizon.

Matt glanced and appeared surprised. “You’re tryin’ to get to New Vegas? Pfft; good luck. You’d be lucky if you made it half a mile goin’ up that way.”

“Nah Matt, they’d be lucky if they got past us.” the other guy smirked.

“Gentlemen please, we’ve said we don’t want trouble.” Rarity argued.

“Well, you definitely ain’t from round here.” the second guy smirked, clearly referring to her accent. “But if you really wanna move on, you gotta pay the toll.”

“Toll?” asked Twilight.

“That shack? Everything from there to Scorpion Gulch out east is our territory.” Matt pointed out. “You wanna pass through our territory, you gotta pay a toll; simple as that.”

“We could always just… not go through your territory. Just a thought.” Rainbow shrugged.

“No-no, too late for that.” the second guy argued. “That shack’s on our land, and you passed through when you went in.”

“Oh come on, that’s the flimsiest excuse I’ve ever heard,” Sunset remarked in annoyance.

“Doesn’t matter; you still gotta pay.” the second guy smiled, his eyes obviously locking onto the geodes. “How about those shiny things you’re wearin’ there?”

“Over our dead bodies.” Rarity said pointedly… prompting the second thug to suddenly crack his knuckles threateningly.

“That’s fine by me” he assured.

“Ya had to say that, didn’t ya Rarity?” Applejack asked in annoyance.

“Whoa-whoa-whoa, calm down.” Twilight tried to negotiate. “I’m sure there’s something else we can pay you with.”

“Ooh! I know!” Pinkie smiled and reached into her hair, suddenly pulling out a small plastic box containing four fresh cupcakes. “I totally forgot those were in there.”

The thugs just looked at Pinkie Pie in confusion, but Rainbow leaned into their peripheral and shook her head. “Don’t question it,” she said simply.

Sunset didn’t seem to mind; if all it took to get the girls out of jams like this was Pinkie Pie bribing people with sweets to leave them alone, they would be on easy street. “It isn’t much, but…” Pinkie shrugged. “Well, I bet good food is hard to come by.”

Matt was still confused but accepted the box from Pinkie Pie without any further questions. He looked at the confections through the plastic and raised an eyebrow. “Alright, this oughtta square your toll. For now.”

“Thank you kindly.” Applejack nodded. “So why shouldn’t we go up that way to New Vegas?”

“The NCR’s up that way, and they don’t take too kindly to folks they don’t know.” the second guy pointed out. “Not to mention the Deathclaws.”

“D-D-Deathclaws?” Fluttershy stammered; even the name sounded terrifying to the girls.

“Nasty lizard motherfuckers almost as tall as this building that tear people apart if they get too close, even if they’re wearing armor,” Matt explained. “Believe me; I’ve seen it. A whole pack took over Quarry Junction up that way a few days ago; slaughtered a lot of the miners… and our friends.”

The girls appeared destroyed by that news; to see one’s own friends butchered in front of you… none of them could even imagine it. “I’m so sorry for your loss.” Sunset nodded.

“Appreciate it, kid.” Matt shrugged. “But yeah, if you wanna get to Vegas, you’re gonna have to go the long way around; follow the road south then loop northeast. There’s some of ours in Primm down that way; they’ll take care of ya.” He pointed down the highway to a town with what looked like a large roller coaster dominating the skyline.

“Thanks,” Applejack noted as she dipped back into the shack and grabbed the guns, handing Sunset the shotgun as she slipped the revolver into her belt.

The two thugs appeared surprised. “That’s all the weapons you have? Shit, you’re gonna get yourselves killed out there.” Matt remarked.

“Don’t worry; we can take care of ourselves,” Rainbow smirked. And though Sunset could tell she was putting on a brave face to try and seem tough to these two goons, she knew Rainbow was thinking the same thing as herself when she heard that; “Can we?”

“Alright, suit yourselves.” the other guy shrugged as he and Matt bent down to grab their rifles… letting the girls get a look at the lettering on the backs of their blue jackets.

“Hey, what’s that?” asked Rainbow.

“What?” Matt asked.

“That. On your jackets; NCRCF. What is that?” Rainbow asked.

Matt and his friend looked at each other cautiously, almost unsure of what to say. “Wait, NCR… you mentioned a minute ago that they were up the road,” Twilight remembered, pointing in the direction of New Vegas. “Who are they exactly?”

Matt glared up the ridge in annoyance. “New California Republic; big nation out west. Only out this far to find more resources and honest folks to exploit,” he remarked with an edge to his voice. “They’re the reason we both ended up with these outfits, courtesy of the NCR Correctional Facility.”

“‘Correctional’…” Rarity muttered before it struck her right between the eyes. “You’re… you’re criminals?!” The girls were more than surprised by that; this whole time, they’d been talking to two hardened criminals?

“Only as far as the NCR care.” Matt’s friend assured, though if he was trying to sound convincing, it wasn’t really working. “They brought us in from the west to work on the railroad lines as slaves to work off our sentences. Bunch of us busted out though, and we’re plannin’ on making this part of the wasteland our own.”

The girls grew worried as they looked at the convicts. On one hand, that did sound like Matt and his gang got the short end of the stick from the NCR, but on the other, they were still escaped criminals and the girls had no idea what they had been sent to prison for. For all they knew, these two could’ve been murderers or rapists; both things they wanted nothing to do with. “Well, we’ll uh… we’ll just let y’all get on with that then.” Applejack shrugged.

Matt seemed concerned and held his rifle ready. “Just one thing; if you tell the NCR where we are…”

“We won’t, I swear,” Sunset assured quickly, her nerves obvious in her voice. “Thank you for the directions, but we can handle things from here. Our lips are sealed, promise.” With that, the girls moved on down the road south toward Primm.

“We can’t seriously be letting them stay there.” Rarity objected.

“If we don’t, who knows what they’d do?” Sunset argued. “Besides, who knows how many of them there are?”

“More in Primm, that’s for sure.” Applejack pointed out.

“We’re not actually staying in that town, are we?” Twilight asked.

“Absolutely not.” Sunset agreed. “We’re looking for help we can trust not to hurt us in our sleep.”

“That’s if there is anyone in this desert we can trust like that,” Rainbow remarked.

“Hey, we got out of that fairly unscathed.” Twilight shrugged, pointing back at the shack.

Sunset couldn’t help but smirk and nod. “Okay yeah, that was a good move, Pinkie. Got anything else like that on you?”

“I think so.” Pinkie shrugged; even she barely knew what all she had in her hair.

“Well, make sure you have something on standby,” Sunset instructed. “If we can get out of trouble like that just by you throwing cupcakes at it, we’ll be just fine.”

That was when the girls heard a gun cock nearby. “That’s close enough!” a man bellowed, prompting all the girls to immediately stop in their tracks, seeing a man in some sort of uniform aiming an assault rifle at the girls.

“I don’t think cupcakes are gonna get us outta this one, Sunset.” Applejack pointed out. Sunset hated that she couldn’t argue with that.