“Unity can form from friendship, but it can also form from hate.”

Gotta admit, I look damn good in a suit.

Compared to the colorful coat and mane of my own sister, I was nothing but a deep gray. I had joked to myself on more than one occasion of being a mare version of my dad, and my current attire certainly didn’t help. A pitch black button-up and gray tie contrasted from the tan trilby my sister had chosen out. Mare couldn’t help herself; as soon as I had told her about Mister Pulse’s offer she insisted I wore a hat too.

It had taken quite a lot to convince her that it should not stand out like a sore wing. When Clear saw clothing, she thought bright colors, flair, and standing out in a crowd. I, by contrast, just wanted to be nice, comfortable, and in this case professional. The difference of how the world treated us, and what we desired, all made crystal clear through nothing but clothing. Nothing wrong with it, as long as she is genuinely happy.

Knowing that she has a special somepony, or somegriffon, definitely helps. Can’t personally ask anything better from the creature who will hopefully forever be her second half.

I turned my new hat this way and that, trying to find how it best sat on my head. When I managed to find it, I gave myself one more once over to make sure there were no horrible wrinkles, as well as to check on my mane and tail. This might not have been a first impression, but it was my first day; I was not going to show up to the Celestia Lodge looking even a little unkempt.

“Everything looks… good!” I said after numerous small adjustments. My eyes shifted from the mirror to a rather beat up alarm clock on my sister and I’s end table. “More than enough time to make it there.”

Might have slept in a little bit, partially thanks to the alcohol the night prior. Of the numerous impressions I had picked up from Mister Pulse the night prior, it was that he really liked to drink. Wouldn’t be surprised if we were both dragged out of the establishment, likely by both his bodyguard and my sister’s SO. For my own sake, I hope I didn’t say anything too embarrassing, though.

At the very least my sister and her SO didn’t have to worry about that, mainly because the two had no shame to begin with. It was impossible to not hear the two in the main room, enjoying each intimately. I rolled my eyes at the sound of what was clearly my sister climaxing and turned back towards our mattress. I was going to have to talk with them.

Had to appreciate the two of them for being willing to go shopping with me before that. They understood priorities, despite both being deviants. Besides, I know that anything I said about them could easily be thrown back at me considering the number of times I might have… joined in.

With a deep breath to calm my nerves, I walked away from the mirror and out of Clear and I’s room. Our place was not anything special, considering it was tiny and pre-end of the world. Small bedroom, small bathroom, and kitchen/living room hybrid as the main room. Things had been fixed, replaced, but there were still those hints of age in its walls, cabinets, or otherwise. It wasn’t much, but it was home, and I had grown comfortable with it.

As I stepped into our living area, I was greeted with the all to expected sounds of content from the sole couch we owned. It was impossible to not chuckle at the sight of Clear on top of a much larger griffon, the latter currently not quite as there as the former. The miniscule chances that the noises I heard from my room were actually innocent upon a single look at Clear’s muzzle. A smirk rose onto my face.

“Enjoy yourselves,” I teased.

“Yep,” she answered, letting her head lightly thump on the griff’s lower belly. “Always do.”

I snorted at her, which was apparently enough to wake the griffon under her from their afterglow. She shuffled a bit, her brown wings flapping as she did, having probably sunk into a far less comfortable position compared to when they started. Orange and black paws kicked the air as the stretched, before comfortably laying back down with her head on one side of the coach and legs off the other.

“Damn,” the griffon, and nice hen by the name of Dahlia Blackblood, said as their red eyes looked at mine. “Look at you Rainy. Looking suave and fine.”

“I’m aware,” I replied, tilting my hat forward like a cowpony for an old Equestria movie. “Seems we picked well.”

“Yeah well, I still think you’re missing something,” Clear replied, leaning over the couch in a way where she could fall off at literally any moment. “Something that makes ponies go ‘wow’ when they see you.”

“It’s not happening,” I told her. She pouted but didn’t offer a retort. “So do I have to talk to you two while covered in each other's juices or….”

Dahlia tapped Clear. A brief, hushed discussion about showering took place before me. Clear practically slid onto the floor, allowing her SO to get up. Only Dahlia went to the bathroom, Clear stayed with me. I brought a hoof to my nose, tapping it, and she rolled her eyes.

“Alright, give me a moment.”

She went to the kitchenette part of our living area, turning on the sink and running her muzzle under it. Clear hummed one of her band’s songs, and with her eyes not on me I shook my head and frowned. If the depravity of my younger sister wasn’t enough, how much happier she was irked me deep down. I was grateful she wasn't hated like I was, but at the same time…

“You know, I didn’t really get a chance to meet this Mister Pulse last night,” Clear said after turning the sink off at about the same time our shower turned on. She didn’t bother drying herself, and the moment I saw her turning to look at me I conjured away my frown and replaced it with a smile, “but I got to admit, he impressed me.”

“He did?” I asked.

“Yeah!” She replied. “It took Dahlia forever to learn how to read your face. He figured it out in minutes!”

I groaned. “It’s not that hard.”

“Sis, you got the expression range of a tree.”

“Do not!”

“Do too!”

“Do not!”

“Do too!”

“Do– agh, whatever,” I shouted, temporarily turning to my sister. When I finally did look back at her, she was sitting on the couch again. “I get it, I’m icy, but I’m not a Choripath. Nopony said it before that Cryptid encounter when we arrived in Brayington County. I have no idea what you see but I swear nothing has changed.”

“So you keep saying,” Clear muttered. “Yet you just said that with a completely straight face and no emotion. That’s Choripathia sis, plain and simple.”

I hung my head, knowing even before I started arguing that I wouldn’t win. Choripathia, or ‘Maud Syndrome’ as it was labeled in some older textbooks, was the complete absence of emotions on a visual or vocal level. It was rare, but enough ponies had it back in Equestria for it to apparently be considered a medical term. A medical term that she had shoved onto me, despite being undiagnosed.

Even then I could hear my emotions, I knew I was moving my facial muscles. Maybe I wasn’t as expressive as her, but I was not a Choripath. I was certain of it.

“Anyways, are you excited?” Clear asked as I plopped down on the couch next to her.

“Excited doesn’t begin to describe it,” I replied. “I finally have a job, Clear! I can make my own money, help pay the bills, buy food or clothing.”

“You realize most of that you never had to worry about to begin with, right?” she said, withholding a giggle.

“That’s the problem, Clear. That’s been the problem for me since you got your gig,” I said. With a sigh, I hung my head forward, ears flat against my head. “I like that you can look after yourself, but I want to be able to look after me. Everything I mention? You take care them. It’s just… I….”

“You feel like deadweight,” she responded.

“Have for a long time,” I replied. “It’s the older sibling’s job to protect their young sibling, not the other way around. Yet with every bit of trouble we ever got up to before coming here to Brayington, you were the one who saved me.”

Clear was blushing in embarrassment, a sheepish grin on her face as she laughed awkwardly at what I said. She didn’t deny any of what I said for a second, though. While I wouldn’t call myself useless, Clear was always the one first to act, to jump, to shoot. That last one was especially true; pointing a gun at some creature felt near impossible back then.

“Now you are the pony holding things together. You got money for a house, food, and water. Ponies here accept you on a basic level. Not to mention you got a significant other willing to deal with how much of a deviant you are.”

If her face was red before, it was most certainly red now. “I-I’m not that bad Rainy!”

“Clear, I was in our bedroom for five minutes,” I said, giving her a knowing smile. “In that amount of time, you both managed to paint each others faces with yourself. That's deviant behavior.”

“I, um, okay maybe I am,” Clear replied, pouting as she turned away from me in mock hate. It lasted for about five seconds before her shoulders laxed, and a content sigh left her lips. “Dahlia is amazing.”

“Yes she is,” I said. “Happy that you have her.”

“Thanks, you have no idea how–“ Clear cut herself off, then narrowed her eyes at me. She proceeded to punch my foreleg playfully. “Hold on, this wasn’t supposed to be about me!”

“What, I can’t talk about my sister?” I jokingly asked.

She lightly hit me on the head a few times, groaning in both annoyance and irritation. I simply sat there, allowing her to due to just how silly she was being. Clear was so caught up, in fact, that she did notice the griffon that had sat down right behind. Dahlia was only holding in her laughter so that her marefriend didn’t stop being silly. In any other situation I’m certain she’d be rolling on the floor.

“This is your day! Not mine, yours!” Clear yelled. She tried to sound angry, but even somepony who had never met her would tell in an instant it’s fake. “Just let me hype you up for wind's sake!”

“Okay dear, I think she’s figured it out,” Dahlia said, pulling her marefriend off of me.

Clear didn’t offer any resistance, only letting out a happy gasp as she was pulled into the griffon’s embrace. She looked up, beaming at her special someone, and gave Dahlia’s beak a kiss. She had expected it to be a quick peck, but Dahlia pressed into it. Rolling my eyes, I looked away and waited for them to be done with each other.

At least, that was the plan, until I noticed they were once again sliding into the exact same position they were in when I had entered the room.

“Okay, going to work now,” I said, quickly getting off the couch.

Dahlia and Clear immediately looked at me. Realizing what they had just done, both of them tried to get off the couch at the same time and immediately collapsed into a heap on the floor. I chuckled as the two lovers untangled themselves, my sister managing to stand up before her SO did. She quickly rushed up to my side.

“I’m coming with you this first time,” she said. “Just to make sure you are actually allowed into the Celestia Lodge.”

I blinked, and released a heavy sigh. She was right, the Celestia Lodge was one of the more higher class places on Equinox Mountain. Nopony with my social standing was getting in there. There was even a chance they’d try and have me arrested, given how that is what led me to meet Mister Pulse in the first place. I needed to make sure I actually got to him, and my only hope of that was having somepony accepted by higher society with me.

“Dahlia, you wouldn’t mind coming along as well, right?” I asked. “Just for an insurance policy.”

“Of course. Got to make sure my future sister-in-law gets to her new job fine,” Dahlia said, giving me a thumbs up.

I smiled at them both.

My sister and I lived on Equinox Mountain, one of the three mountains that made up Brayington County. It’s the southernmost one, where most ponies are likely to end up first if coming from San Palomino. To our east is Mount Solstice, and north is Mount Mana, and together the three of them once competed for the minds of many an equestrian who made the county their vacation destination. The exact specifics of that era is not something I ever cared about learning – ask a ghoul if you want to learn more – but it ended up the same as all the others on the Last Day.

At least, it should have. While it received a fair amount of magical radiation thanks to the wind, Brayington County is probably the luckiest place you could have ended up. Little in the terms of mutated monstrosities, no need to hide underground – though some still did – and what effect the lack of monarchs or ministries had left can be counted on a hoof. I’m of course speaking of bandits, or ‘cryptids’ as you’ll hear us locals call them. The culture they’ve created for themselves is as creepy as their name would suggest.

They’d be idiots to target the Equinox Mountain Village, however.

Yes, that’s its name. It was called that even before the end of the old world, and was the actual ski resort area with the main lodge, restaurants, and condos. Place is hardly a village, having a population that likely eclipses most places in Equestria proper nowadays, but nopony plans on changing it. The fact it’s where most of the wealthy live might have something to do with that.

Go far enough north of the mountain village, staying on the roads for safety, and you’d find the Celestia Lodge. Once it had been where tired skiers would rest, maybe grab some cocoa and a bite to eat, before either heading back onto the mountain or going home. The purposes of these lodges have all changed since then, and the Celestia lodge in particular has become a high society favorite.

Approaching the door, opening it, that is all easy. Going inside? Unless you got the ability to fool our ‘nobility’ into thinking you are one of them, the two likely responses would be getting escorted out for ruining the environment or lots of backtalk in hopes that you’ll just leave.

It was for that reason that Clear and Dahlia opened the door, not me. With the reputation I had being the first pony in, I was asking to have the Green Mountain Colts sent to arrest me. At least if I was behind my sister and her SO, the eyes would not immediately be on me. Small blessings, even if it was another reminder of how the entire county felt about us pegasi back then.

The Celestia Lodge, despite its status, was no different than any other lodge you’d see in Brayington County. Wooden walls, wooden floor, wooden tables and chairs, a set of stairs leading to a second floor of the same. Nothing that actually screamed opulence. It was a place as standard and casual as any diner or tavern, and it was being treated like the same exact place Clear and Dahlia had played at the night before. It was the dumbest place for the wealthy to claim as theirs…

But the perfect place for a PI or detective to pick up work.

I scanned the room, noting that more than a few glances had already been thrown our way. Most of them ignored Dahlia, and landed on my peppy younger sister. Barely contained sneers and chuckles of amusement filled the lodge’s first floor, showing the truth my sister buried and ignored deep within her own heart; the truth of her ‘acceptance’ in Brayington. She was nothing more than a shiny new toy for them to place on a pedestal till she one day withered, was forgotten, and brought back into the dirt.

Try and deny it all you want, but I lived that life. Very few creatures in Brayington are innocent in this.

“Good morning ma’ams,” the host, a unicorn, said. He was more than capable of seeing me with where he stood, but refused to acknowledge my existence. “How many of you will there be?”

“Two, at the bar if it is available,” Dahlia said. She motioned with a wing for me to move up, and with as much confidence as I could muster did just that. “Also, this young mare is looking for one Solitary Pulse. He should be here.”

The host tried to remain neutral, but his eyes revealed everything. Hate, fear, disgust, all pointed at me for no other reason than setting hoof in front of him. He would have much rather gone about his day having pretended I was dirt on his horseshoes. Instead I had been thrust in front of him, and he saw me as his problem to deal with.

“Yes, Mister Pulse is here,” he said, quickly scooping up two menus for Clear and Dahlia. He hooved them over, and then stepped around from the pedestal he was behind. “You two go and take a seat. I’ll show the young lady where he is.”

“Why can’t you just tell her? It’s not really that hard to figure out where to go here,” Clear said.

“It’s for her safety. After all, you have no idea what ponies might do with pegasi around,” he answered, unable to keep the animosity out of his voice.

“Well if it’s so dangerous, then I’ll go with her,” Dahlia said, stepping in front of him. She showed her talons to the stallion, leading him to gulp as he took in how sharp they were. The griffon might not have been a talon, but she was still some creature nopony wanted to mess with. “My sweetie and I will head to the bar afterwards. Besides, I think a griffon is a little more immediately threatening than some unicorn host, right?”

The host had no interest in aggravating Dahlia; she and her family were too recognizable for angering her to be considered a good idea. With a sigh, he motioned towards the stairs.

“Second floor. You won’t be able to miss them,” he said.

“Thanks sir,” Dahlia said.

The griffon motioned for us to move, and we did just that. My eyes stayed on the host, who gave me one last harsh look before once again choosing to forget my existence. A sigh of relief left my lungs, but a look to the rest of the lodge told me I was no longer an unknown. Where the majority of the looks my sister got were amusement, everycreature looking at me scowled. They whispered about ‘unwanted turkeys’ and ‘being let out of my cage’, keeping their voices just high enough for me to be able to hear it.

“Bastards. Rest of the wasteland hates your kind and they just mimic it,” Dahlia muttered, “and they say they have class.”

“Nothing we can do about it,” I replied. “Can’t change how a pony thinks.”

“I don’t get it,” Clear said, her head hung in defeat. “After all this time, I figured they’d like us a little.”

I put a wing around her, the only support I felt confident in giving. By the wind did I want to tell her everything would be fine, that they’d come around, but that would be a lie. We probably would have left Brayington quite some time ago if Clear hadn’t found Dahlia and her band. It wasn’t a great home, but it was something. Certainly more than we had before arriving.

My sister and I followed Dahlia up the stairs to the lodge’s second floor, finding it far more void of ponies at this time in the day. That alone would have been enough to pick out Mister Pulse, but the company around him certainly made it easier. They had put two tables together, Aereo sitting at a separate one from his boss just like he had the night before. He noticed me before anyone else did, eyeing the company around me cautiously with his talons ready to grab the gun holstered at their hip.

Granted, with the other individual next to Mister Pulse, the mercenary wasn’t the one who scared me.

I had heard about the former alicorns of the Unity and the Followers of the Apocalypse, of course. In the years between running away from the Enclave Remnants and arriving in Brayington County neither my sister or myself had seen one. All we had were stories of what they had been like before the Goddess’ death, how terrifying they were, and the vaguest sense of what they were trying to become. Never expected to meet one, let alone work alongside one when I had accepted Pulse’s offer.

Yet right next to him, horn aglow as she worked on some paperwork, was exactly that. An alicorn, big, green, and seemingly bored at the mundane work before her. I felt my hindlegs freeze at the sight of her, Clear letting loose a nervous ‘eep’ next to me. The metaphorical ice that had incased my legs only disappeared upon noticing exactly what the alicorn was doing, and how she hadn’t noticed us. If anything she seemed prepared to fall asleep from the mountain of paperwork in front of her.

While Mister Pulse certainly couldn’t see us, the twitching of his ears made it clear he definitely heard us. His head shifted in our general direction, a pleasant, fanged smile immediately taking over his muzzle. I returned it back, the gesture unseen to everycreature around me for reasons I can’t explain. Seeing a pony I barely know greet me with something other than hate or fear, it was nice.

“Got here a little earlier than I expected,” he said. “Perfect. Though I do believe I heard more hoofsteps than just your own.”

“My sister and her marefriend came with me. I wasn’t getting through the front door otherwise,” I explained. It was at that moment the alicorn finally looked up to look at me, and then immediately looked back down a second later. “Did you have any issues?”

“Small one at first, but nothing Mori and Aereo’s presence couldn’t defuse,” Mister Pulse replied.

“I met Aereo last night carrying your new employee back to her,” Dahlia said. She pointed a talon at the alicorn. “That’s Mori I take it?”

“Do you have a problem with our presence?” the alicorn asked. I felt a shiver go through my body at her voice, Clear staying behind Dahlia for her protection. Low, naturally oozing threat without any need to raise her voice.

“Nah. Just making sure I know who is who,” the griffon replied.

The alicorn moved her eyes but not her head, first looking at Dahlia and then at me. “I see. Solitary, that is the new hire you mentioned?”

“It is,” Mister Pulse said, nodding. He opened his mouth slightly, and then closed it before tapping the chair next to him. Didn’t realize at the time the strange action was echolocation. “Right here Rainy, next to me.”

I quickly turned my attention to Dahlia and Clear, giving the two a reassuring nod; I would be alright from here on out. The former simply nodded, my sister moving out from behind her with her wings extended. She wrapped them around me, and I returned the hug without a moment of hesitation. Her muzzle pressed into me protectively.

“Stay safe sis,” she said softly.

“I will,” I replied. “See you at home tonight.”

Our wings returned to our sides, and for the time being we went our separate ways. They went downstairs to get a drink before heading back to my sister’s place (no need to guess what they would be doing there, with the deviant my sister was), and I walked around the table. Mori’s eyes trailed me the entire time, inspecting me in a fashion similar to that of Aereo, but far less trusting. The only unfriendly face of the three around me so far.

“Well you got one part right, Solitary,” she said as I sat down. “She’s got a good poker face.”

“Is that a compliment?” Aereo asked.

It was the first time I had heard his voice; it was high by stallion standards, bordering on androgynous. The accent was thick and unknown to me, from a place in Equestria my sister and I never crossed before reaching Brayington. Stalliongrad maybe? The Hoof? San Palomino? All possible, but I’d have to hear what somepony from there sounded like to know for sure.

“It’s an observation. Come now Aereo, what has she proven so far other than knowing how to be on time?” Mori replied. Her magic lit up, grabbing the stack before her in it and slightly tapping them against the table till they were neat. “Expected, given her background.”

Mister Pulse shook his head. “Don’t mind Mori. She’s the all-business type.”

“Well someone has to take care of the paperwork now, with your fading eyesight,” Mori replied. The papers were floated into a metal box filled with folders placed under the table where most ponies wouldn’t see them. “Besides, who else in this wasteland would you trust to examine a body?”

“You do forensics?” I asked.

“A skill we picked up during our minimal time with the Followers of the Apocalypse,” Mori replied. “Healing ponies isn’t our thing.”

“While the wasteland is becoming a better place, murder is unfortunately still common. Not a lot of raiders, slavers, or want-to-be-heroes are interested in a world with peace officers and rules,” Mister Pulse explained. “Our purpose as freelance detectives is to deal with those ponies as requested by those who do care about the law, whether it be a regular civilian or local peace keeping forces. With any hope, one day those with our profession will only have to worry about cheating wives and the like.”

“Just like they did before megaspells fell,” I said. Pulse smirked, giving me a nod. “Having somepony with forensic knowledge makes sense.”

“Now if only they weren’t a bitch,” Aereo muttered.

Mori glared at the hippogriff, but otherwise did nothing about the insult.

“Now, we do have a client on the way and there is one thing I have to give you beforehoof,” Pulse said, momentarily reaching under the table to pick something up. What he brought up was a simple black box, which he held out to me. “This is for you.”

I took the box, eyes stuck on it with curiosity. My mind couldn’t fathom what was inside, but it did make sense that a decent outfit was not everything required in my new line of work. Placing the box on the table, I opened it up and peered inside. All I was able to do was stare at what was inside.

A snub nose material revolver laid inside, with some .38 bullets and a holster to go along with it. The thing looked new, either well cared for or made by somepony in the current day. It didn’t have a serial number, the mouth-handle was made from some wood I didn’t recognize. Six shots fit inside it’s cylinder. The sight of it made me nervous.

“You’re giving me a gun?” I asked my employer.

“No choice I’m afraid. Our line of work is too dangerous,” he said, placing a hoof on the back of his chair as he motioned towards the hippogriff to the other side of me. “Aereo is a damn good shot but they're only one griff. Mori and I have one ourselves, though I barely touch mine anymore.”

He patted his flank with a wing. He wasn’t carrying it last night, but there was indeed a holster with a pistol. It lacked the shine of mine, its age apparent from both that and the serial number on the back of its receiver. Mori didn’t give any mention to hers, but I was fine not knowing what it was. A gun was a gun, no matter the caliber, size, or shape it took.

“If you don’t like it, that’s good,” Pulse said. The smirk had completely faded from his face, taking on a similar demeanor to that of the alicorn behind him. “The less you want to use it, the more I can trust you with it. Enclave taught you gun safety, right?”

“Yes,” I answered, looking back to the revolver before me.

As much as I didn’t want it, Mister Pulse was right about needing it. As he stated, the idea of law was not common to most creatures in modern day Equestria, and that included here in Brayington. Most wouldn’t allow any sort of law enforcement to arrest them, preferring to die and take as many ponies with them as possible. If I were to be a detective, a means of self-defense was a must.

With a great amount of reluctance, I strapped the holster around where my suit ended. I load the revolver, making sure the safety was on before letting it rest inside its new home. There had been only twelve rounds, more than enough as far as I was concerned. After removing the now empty box from the table, I felt a leathery wing pat my back. It was an odd feeling with how familiar I was with wings having feathers, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

“I know how you feel. I was no different when I first came to the surface,” Mister Pulse said. I blinked, opening my mouth to ask him what he meant, but his attention was pulled away with the flick of his ears. “Seems our client has arrived.”

Author's Note

So... it seems I have gotten people's interest.

I was definitely not expecting to get this sort of response with a Fallout Equestria sidefic, especially considering the other one I'm currently working on did not have the smoothest start. Not complaining though, and I'm happy to know that people are liking it. Hopefully I continue to impress.