Author's Note

I know it's close to Christmas, but I didn't have time for a holiday-themed chapter, and I have been pushing this one off for longer than I should have, Yeah sorry about that.

Chapter 4: A crushing reality.

Chapter 4: A crushing reality.

"Wait what?!" Lyra said in shock.

"Alex, be nice," Veronica said in annoyance bordering on anger.

"What, I don't do soft, I tell it as it should be told," Alex replied as he put the bull on a table.

"I know, but she is still dealing with a culture shock... I think... And she doesn't need to know about that," Veronica shot back.

"Well, how are you going to keep her safe if she doesn't know what the world is like," Alex pointed out.

"Wait a minute, what happened?" Lyra asked trying to understand what happened and to stop the fighting.

"Well, do you want to say something, or should I give the history lesson?" Alex asked Veronica with a sarcastic tone.

"(Ugh), Fine," Veronica groaned in annoyance. "Lyra, in the year 2077 a... War happened, it lasted two hours, but, it almost wiped all life away from the earth's surface. The death toll was countless of mass proportions."

Lyra was horrified at what she heard, how was it possible that a two-hour war could do such harm to the whole world? Why did a war happen in the first place? And the most unanswered question in her mind was, how could a war get so bad it would cause unknown amounts of death?

"I, how, uh," Lyra tried to say something but all the information she had just heard was causing her to get a migraine.

Seeing what was going through the ponies head Alex answered, "Nuclear weapons were waht caused the near death of all life. Greed, for why the war was fought in the first place. And then the how it got that bad, well, war never changes."

After calming down Lyra was confused at how the human knew what she was thinking, but the last thing he said caught in her head. "What do you mean by war never changes?"

"I mean why war exists, there are different forms of war, but they all have one thing that links them, and that is one side thinks that they are the right side," Alex stated.

"(Sigh), Really, did you have to say it like that?" Veronica asked still annoyed.

"What? I said it the kindest way it could be told, I am stating facts, not opinions," Alex shot back just as annoyed.

Lyra tuned the two humans out as she thought of the saying that war never changes, it made no sense, there hadn't been a war in at least 800 years in Equestria. But then again an immortal princess was ruling over the country, it was the reason why the sun and the moon moved around the planet. That and this was not Equestria, maybe things don't work the same way here.

"Huh, I wonder who moves the sun and moon of this planet," Lyra thought with interest.

Looking over she saw the two humans still arguing like foals.

"Look, it's not like, Lyra, is not going to stay here forever, so she should know the dangers of the wastes, and how to defend herself," Alex stated.

"What if she could use magic, I know a lot of our history was lost, but I know that unicorns have magic," Veronica replied. "Unless you don't believe in magic."

"One, I never said that magic didn't exist, and Two, it won't be enough to defend herself from everything, it only makes sense to learn how to use weapons," Alex stated with steel.

Veronica wanted to say something but knew Alex was right. She grew up protected in a bunker, while he lived in the harshness of the world.

"Uh, why do I need to learn how to use weapons?" Lyra asked confused.

The two stopped when Lyra spoke, Alex turned and answered, "Is you not becoming someone's next target or meal a good reason?"

Lyra paled at that, "Y-yes, I can see how that is a good reason."

"Again STOP, SCARING, THE PONY!" Veronica shouted in anger.

"Unless you want to lie to her, be my guest, I won't lie about the truth," Alex said as he walked out.

Before he left, Lyra spoke up, "Who is in charge of these lands?"

"No one is, it hasn't been claimed by anyone, well, not while the war goes on," Alex answered, before Lyra could say or do anything Alex left.

Veronica gave a humph at Alex's back she looked at Lyra and could only be more annoyed at Alex, she walked over to the pony and gave a hug. She knew if Lyra were to stay here she would need to learn how to survive in this hell of a world. It was easy for humans to live in a wasteland due to being omnivores, but Lyra was a pony and would have a vegetable and fruit-heavy diet. This was not looking good, nowhere good at all.

The hug from Veronica helped with the panic of what Alex said, looking out the window she had to make a life-changing decision. The only thought going through her head was if she was strong enough and not let it change her.

"Veronica... Can I ask you something?" Lyra asked with some hesitation.

Letting go of the hug, Veronica replied, "Of course, you can ask anything."

"Who was that?" Lyra asked about Alex.

"Oh, where is that man's manners, that person is Alex, he is, or was a courier," Veronica answered.

"Is it true, about what he said of the rest of the world?" Lyra asked worried for her future.

Veronica didn't want to tell the ugly truth but she Like Alex would not lie, "Yes and maybe no, I can't tell you about the rest of the world, but this Country has seen better days. It is not safe to walk out there without any weapon training."

"Well, what about Alex, is he in danger?" Lyra asked worried.

"Ha, I wouldn't be surprised if he went out in only his underwear and only dealt with a sunburn. No, he knows what he is doing, like he said, he lived in the wasteland his whole life," Veronica stated with a more cheerful tone.

"Wow, is that why he can, be... Harsh?" Lyra questioned.

"I guess," Veronica implied. "All that I do know is he most likely had a hard time out there."

Looking at the bull of food, Lyra's stomach growled, with a blush she moved the bull over so she could eat the food. The salad was fresh, well, not same-day fresh, but it did taste good.

After swallowing her food Lyra asked the question in her mind, "Where did he get this?"

"I think it was from the Crimson Caravan, they do bring stuff from the NCR, so I assume it was refrigerated the whole way here," Veronica answered the best she could.

As the elevator opened Alex put his helmet on, getting ready for the training he would do with Lyra, first, he needed to find someone to make custom armor and one for a pony. He only hoped whoever it was didn't try and have him sent to a looney bin.

"(Sigh), I hope this is the right thing," Alex said to himself but not loud enough so others didn't hear him.

As he walked off, he was mentally preparing for the foreseeable future, it seems a courier's job is never done, or at least for him. Yeah, Alex was regretting taking that job with the platinum chip, he wouldn't have to deal with shit like this, or maybe he still would, life tends to be like that with him.

As Lyra finished her food, she looked at Veronica and asked, "Do you know who moves the sun and moon?"

At hearing that, Veronica nearly spat the water she was drinking out, she was coughing but managed to talk, "What do you mean?"

"Back where I am from the sun and moon don't move on their own, and I was wondering who does that here," Lyra implied.

"Well, it doesn't work that way here," Veronica said trying to understand what she was told.

"But, it could, you did say, a lot of your history was lost," Lyra pointed out.

"I did, but, where I grew up, they kept track of pre-war history, and there was no mention of anyone moving the sun and moon," Veronica answered.

"Oh, well is there something to read?" Lyra asked hoping to not be bored.

"Well, we have books on how to make drinks," Veronica implied with a smile and shrugged. "Alex doesn't get books, due to most stuff he reads being on his PIP-BOY."

"Waht is that, a PIP-BOY?" Lyra asked in confusion.

"That is what is on your front left leg," Veronica said as she pointed to Lyra's PIP-BOY.

Finally learning what was attached to her, Lyra asked about it, "What does pip mean?"

"Uh, oh, it means Personal information processor, it was made to help people from the vaults to survive out in the wasteland," Veronica answered.

"So this will help with surviving out there? If it was made to do that, would I still have to use, weapons?" Lyra asked not wanting to hear what could be the answer.

"Yes, I'm sorry, but it isn't that great, you would still need to learn how to fire a gun," Veronica said disappointed.

Lyra didn't say anything, she didn't know what to say, the only thing she thought to do was to read, to at least distract herself from unwelcome thoughts popping into her head. "Where are these books? I would like to do some reading I would just like to think of something else."

Walking to a nearby table Veronica picked up a blue book, it was called The Art of Mixology, and when she handed it to Lyra she looked at it. But Lyra remembered that she could not read the human language.

"He, Uh, I can't read this," Lyra said embarrassed as she gave the book back.

"Oh, if you are going to be here for, well until we can help you, I can teach you to read," Veronica said while taking the book back. "We can start now if you want."

"Yeah, that would be good," Lyra said as she sat next to Veronica.

"Before we do, have you seen what your PIP-BOY says about you?" Veronica asked interested.

"Waht does that mean?" Lyra asked confused.

"Well, Alex told me that the PIP-BOY gives stats on what you are good at and what you aren't good at. Here let me show you," Veronica answered.

Lyra let her friend look at the PIP-BOY, she searched through and found what she wanted to find.

"This is your special stats, let's see, you have 5 in Strength, 7 in Perception, 6 in Endurance, 9 in Charisma and. Wow, you have 10 in Intelligence, 7 in Agility, and 9 in Luck, not bad if I say so myself," Veronica stated with a smile.

"So, that's good?" Lyra asked interested.

"Yeah, I don't know a lot about this stuff, but I do know numbers, and these are good numbers," Veronica stated with a more happy tone.

~~Five hours later~~

The sun had been setting and Alex walked back into the Lucky 38, finding a person who made custom armor was harder than he thought. The only question was how to get Lyra there without her dying from the elements, Hunters, Slavers, or worse Raiders.

"I will think of something... It's not like I have done this shit be- wait, no I haven't. Goddammit, why does the weird shit follow me around," Alex thought annoyed.

As he took the elevator up the sweet where everyone else would be for the night, As he walked into his room he saw nothing had changed. He had replaced the giant bed with a smaller one. After changing the door opened and Veronica was in the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest, her face was neutral but there was a lot of thinking behind those eyes.

"So, were you able to do everything you wanted?" Veronica asked with interest.

Confused about what she wanted Alex answered, "I found a place that will make armor for Lyra, though getting there will be hard. I had to buy more ammunition for... Does Lyra want to train to use weapons?"

"Oh, and I thought you wouldn't give her a choice," Veronica said dripping with sarcasm. The only response she got was a bird sign. "(Sigh), Sorry, I admit that was rude of me to say, but yes she is, and she is interested in learning how to read English."

"That's good, won't need to worry about trouble with that," Alex said.

"Anyways, did you have any thought of which weapons she would need?" Veronica asked with interest.

Alex took a list out of his pocket, "Yes, I was planning to give her the Medicine Stick, Mysterious Magnum, Li'l Devil, Lucky, the Liberator, and the Great Bear Grenade Rifle."

"That's... An interesting list, why those guns?" Veronica asked confused.

"They are the best for her, the PIP-BOY will do it's job, now is there anything else? It is late and I would like to sleep," Alex answered.

"Uh, excuse me," Lyra called out, "I'm sorry to interrupt but I never asked, how long was I out?"

Taking a couple of seconds Alex answered, "Three days."

"Wow, I was out that long? It... Feels like I was only out for hours," Lyra looked at the ground, she looked back to meet Alex in the eyes. "Is there a way for me to go back home?"

"Well, until I know how you got here... I honestly can't answer that," Alex stated with a neutral tone. "You might feel better after a night's rest, god knows we all can use it."

As the two left, Alex was in his room thinking about what to deal with tomorrow, training or armor. It would be better to have armor to train with, but, Lyra would be in less danger if she knew how to defend herself.

"If memory serves me right, there should be rubber bullets in the basement, and I think the Gun Runners have some for Lyra to use," Alex said to no one. "It wouldn't hurt to start that soon, let's just hope this turns out better than we think it might."

He laid down for sleep, and as soon as his head hit the pillow he was out like a light.

Alex was walking through a fog-thick forest, none he had ever seen before, he didn't remember how he got there. His PIP-BOY was gone and the only weapon he had on him was Blood-Nat, thankfully for him, he still had his elite riot gear. Holding the Bowie knife, he continued forward, weary of his surroundings. As he continued, he found an odd sight, it was an old castle, though it did look like it had seen better days.

"This has to be a dream, cause I have never seen this before," Alex said to himself.

"Thow aren't right, this is a dream."

Spinning around Alex had his knife pointed at the neck of whoever decided to sneak up behind him. What he saw was shocking, he thought of Lyra but this pony was taller than the mint pony, the pony had both wings and a horn. Her fur was midnight blue and her main and tail looked like blobs of the night sky.

Luna was impressed with the human's speed but wasn't worried for her safety, no one can be physically harmed in a dream, "We must commend your swift action against an unknown force. But We, I am not your enemy."

"If you aren't my enemy then what are you?" Alex asked.

"We, I am Princess Luna bringer of night co-ruler of Equestria, what is thow's name?" Luna said.

As he put the knife down he answered, "You can call me Alex, I assume you are here because of Lyra?"

Luna was shocked but figured this was one of those meant-to-happen things, "Thow is right, how did you learn of young Lyra?"

"I pulled her out from the desert, and saved her from becoming a fried pony," Alex stated.

"Forgive us, but I have to ask, are you a human?" Luna asked interested.

"Yes," Was the only thing Alex said.

Luna was shocked to speak, she had thought humans were only myths, she and the other princesses owed Lyra a huge apology once this was over.

"Since you know of Lyra, can you keep her safe?" Luna requested with a somber tone. "We would help but thow's world is out of our reach, even though this is a far stretch of our power."

Feeling sad for the pony, Alex answered, "I can't make promises, but I will make sure she stays alive."

"Thanks, it pains us that we can't help one of our subjects in this trying time," Luna said with relief. "We must leave, like I said this is stretching it, even for my powers, my fellow princesses are helping me get this far. So it will be a while before we speak again, and tell Lyra we are doing our best to bring her back home."

After that Luna disappeared and the dream ended.

As Alex got out of bed, he knew things were going to get more complicated, "Well, let's get this show on the road."