Fallout Girls: Friendship Is Magic

The late night did not help the journey for the two vault dwellers any better. While it was peaceful, the merchant's warning put both Sunset and Twilight on edge the more and more they wandered through the night. It was only 7:00 now, past dinner time. But neither of them could think about food, they just wanted to find someplace safe to relax, if only for a little bit.

Their travel brought them back onto road again, shrouded by the forests. There were some damaged cinder-blocks that divided the road, but nothing out of the usual. That is until they turned on the Pip-Boy lights... just up ahead were remains of deceased bodies, laying on the ground. But these ones were not the skeletons that they had gotten used to seeing, these bodies were recent, like the crazed bodies found in the middle of Concord. Carefully checking, Sunset squatted down to press a finger down on the wrist of one of them.

"Dead. But this looked recent..." Sunset observed.

Twilight shined a light over the wound in the dead man's chest, slowly giving a closer inspection. "I... I can't see any blood. No wet blood anyway. Looks dry."

But the fear the two had once before elevated once they heard a sound of a twig snapping. Like a deer in the headlights, the two of them froze, eyes darting in all directions to look for the source. Shining lights around, they tried to find a source of the noise, anything that was setting it off. The noise grew louder, sounding more like a hungry animal this time. They looked everywhere, whoever or whatever it was, was getting dangerously closer.

Finally, picking up the sound, the two girls turned to find a sight of something they hadn't expected; a two headed fawn. It was a doe, but like the brahmin, it too had been mutated by the wasteland. Two heads, and spindly little hooves dangling like arms out the middle of the chest. The vault dwellers had no clue if this animal was violent or not, only waiting for it to respond to their presence or make a move. It just gently walked towards them, sniffing Sunset, and not once did it attack.

A smile was on their faces, seeing the animal act very sweet and calm to them. Reaching down, Twilight found an intact blade of grass, offering it to the animal. Gently the left head leaned down to nibble on the grass, while the second tried to push itself to grab some. Sunset moved to the other side, offering some grass as well, watching the two-headed beauty enjoy their offering.

"How much do you want to bet every animal we find just has two heads?" Sunset asked with a confident grin. "I mean, if this is all the damage it did to animals, I am not going to complain, I think I can live with this."

"Me too. But it's still so fascinating," Twilight looked in awe.

But a nearby sound broke the attention between all three, one that made the doe's ears perk up and turn, staring deep into the woods. Slowly it backed away, as if it had seen something that neither of the humans could see. The ground started to shake from heavy steps, forcing the animal to hop off into the night. Understanding quickly of the danger, the two of them kept moving, trying to find a potential spot to hide if they could, until they looked ahead. A few destroyed husks of cars were piled up, and a few cinder blocks were present as well.

Taking a chance, the two vault dwellers ducked behind the blocks, listening carefully. The footsteps got heavier as several branches were snapped off from the trees on the other side of the road, hearing soft growling of an unknown animal. Two heavy feet kept marching down the road, looking around and sniffing around, searching for prey. Neither one of them wanted to look out, fearing for their lives as they stayed down.

Sunset could however see something in one of the shattered mirrors that reflected behind them, seeing something large with two feet and giant claws coming down the street. Scared for her life, Twilight cupped her mouth, trying to stifle her breath and not to scream. Both of their hearts pounded against their chests as they remained there, listening for the animal. It briefly went near the rusted cars, sniffing around and snarled, trying to find its next victim.

One heavy thump after another, the animal poked its head out past the rusted cars, forcing Sunset and Twilight to carefully sneak away to get out of it's line of sight, knowing if it just looked closer past the cinder blocks, it would find them. Whatever this animal was, it scared them to the core. It looked almost reptilian with the scales and skin, but the giant horns like a bull mixed with a ram did not help alleviate the fear.

Sniffing one final time, the animal let out a snort of disappointment before walking over the cinder blocks and going back into the forests, in search of more food elsewhere. Unbeknownst to the vault dwellers, they were spotted by someone from afar, looking at them through a pair of binoculars, wearing a long tan coat. She looked at them with a curious face, but relieved to see them still alive.

Realizing they could take a chance to leave, the two vault dwellers ran as fast as they could down the road, trying to get far away from where that animal would have traipsed off to. About five minutes of running and the two had finally realized they were away from where the animal was. But before they could get far--

“Get down!”

Sunset and Twilight were ushered to hunker down by an unknown figure who yanked them to the ground. Dressed with a militia hat, green plaid under blue denim shirt, a long coat, and denim work jeans, She looked at them with a finger up, telling them both to be quiet.

The woman peered up for a second to check, showing a branding of a lightning bolt crossing a rifle on her jacket’s back. Checking carefully, she watched as two soldiers marched out of the fog, old style military gear under black combat armor. A man and a woman, both of them nodded to each other as they surveyed the area, checking for anyone outside their perimeter. It was hard to tell but to Sunset and Twilight, the combat armor they wore had a bright capital E surrounded by stars blazed on the chests.

“Anyone?” The first woman asked.

“Nothing,” the man responded. “Hightower checked in earlier, no sign of Brotherhood, or the Minutemen. Think we can talk with them?”

“No. They live out here, they’re unpure. Only way to save them is to put them out of their misery, that’s our orders,” the woman replied.

Sunset and Twilight’s eyes bulged. That went from a zero to 180 very quickly. The soldier growled quietly as she listened to them, biting back her tongue so she didn’t give them away.

“Come on, we gotta check in with the major. Make sure the western camp’s secure,” she ordered, leading the two of them away.

“They’re gone now. Which means we need to get far away as possible, come on,” the southern-spoken soldier ordered.

Taking their leave as quick as possible, the group of three moved fast, avoiding anything that would make their presence more known to the mysterious soldiers.

“Who were those guys!?” Sunset whisper yelled.

“Bad people. Ones that would not like seein’ you two strangers around,” the soldier replied. “Especially me.”

“Yeah, but who?”

The woman looked at her with a stone-cold glare, uttering one word that sent shivers down her own spine.

“Enclave.”

Seeing the coast was still clear, the woman led the small group farther away from the site, roughly a mile or two until they were completely safe.

By the time they arrived at the southerner's base camp, it had become completely dark out, with the sounds of crickets chirping around. The mystery woman led Sunset and her company to a settlement house cobbled together out of concrete, brick, and wood. A few lights hanging on the porch to lead inside, and upon entering inside, it looked nothing like they had expected so far.

There were a few cots set up, a couch, some old books still intact. An old television with a few holotapes collected for entertainment. Even the kitchen despite its rustic and decrepit state looked like it could still function despite it all the damages done.

“Y’all are welcome to spend the night here, that’s the least I could do. I don't want anyone bitin' the dust early cause of those creeps,” the woman explained, setting her bag down. “Name’s Applejack, by the way.”

"Thanks. I'm Twilight, and this is Sunset. We appreciate the help but, who... why did you help us?"

"Those folks are Enclaves, bad news. Not folks you want to be lendin' a hand to," Applejack explained. "But more importantly, I saw you two comin' down the road and having a near death experience with that Deathclaw. I never seen anyone try to hide from 'em and still come out alive. Y'all either got insane luck or yer smarter than ya look."

"... A Deathclaw?" Sunset repeated.

"Yes. Don't tell none of y'all see one of 'em things before?"

“… NO!” Sunset snapped.

“Okay, did you all hit your heads against a crate of cider or somethin’? How could you not know what that was, those things are common in this part of the woods.”

“Yeahhhh… about that…” Twilight hissed. “We’re… not exactly from around here.”

“Well, where are you from? Anchorage? San Palamino?”

No reply.

"Los Pegasus?"

"We might as well tell her, Twilight. Not like it matters in the long run," Sunset gave up, slapping her arms down.

“Tell me what?” Applejack asked, raising a brow.

“Okay, this is a long story,” Sunset had to pause, before sitting in the chair across from Applejack. “But, we used to live here. Like, a long time ago. Before… all of this,” Sunset gestured to the outside with her hands.

“I’m not understanding, what do you mean you used to be here?” Applejack still didn’t get it.

“We lived here 210 years ago,” Twilight explained, making gestures with her hands. “We are from the Pre-War.”

“Wait… but if that’s true, how are you all still alive? Y’all synths or somethin’?”

“I’ll ask about that later, but no. We were frozen in a vault. We only recently got out,” Twilight answered. "Everyone we know is dead, it's just us now."

Sunset and Twilight then proceeded to explain everything that they had known up to that point. How Twilight’s family had been killed while on ice, how their neighborhood was obliterated, how they used to remember things before the wasteland.

“… Wow. That… that’s amazing,” Applejack took in, leaning back against the couch. “I’m sorry about your loss. Both of you. I know exactly how that feels.”

Sunset took a moment to collect herself. “Yeah, it… it’s not been fun.”

“Oh, heavens, I haven’t been a real host. Y’all must be hungry. Want somethin’ to eat?”

“Yes please,” Twilight nodded. “If that’s not too much trouble.”

“No trouble at all, Twilight,” Applejack walked over to the kitchen area, pulling out items from the functional fridge to prepare for a meal.

“But enough about us; we know your name is Applejack. But what were you doing out there, and why did you help us?”

“Commonwealth Minutemen, I’m one of the captains,” Applejack explained.

“Minutemen? So we’re going backwards in time now?” Sunset snarked without thinking.

“Heh, no nothin’ like that. Protect people at a minute’s notice, that was the idea of them. I joined up sometime when they grew in popularity. We're still growin' even today, building ourselves back up after our last battle,” Applejack shook her head sadly as she stirred the pot. “There’s a collective us still out there, but we’ve lost a lot.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Twilight sympathized.

“No need to be, it ain’t your fault,” Applejack reassured. “But the fact of the matter is, we’re down serious numbers. But whether one joins us or not, is entirely up to them. You two were walkin’ into Enclave territory, and I stepped in to keep you all safe because I wanted to.”

“That’s the other thing, what are the Enclave?” Sunset asked, leaning her head back.

“I don’t know much, but I learned a few things. The Enclave are remnants of the United States government. Unfortunately, their obsession with ‘purity’ has made them… no dancin’ around them, they’re about as sick and twisted as a mad scientist with access to all the brahmin he can steal.”

Eventually, Applejack finished preparing the meals, passing them down to the two girls. Meals were nice hot soup, with a little bit of spice.

“Mmm… that tastes wonderful, thank you. You’re a great cook,” Sunset complimented.

“Thanks,” Applejack chuckled. “Anyways, the Enclave only care about one thing: purity. They hate anyone and everything that’s lived in the wasteland. If you weren’t from there, you’re pure. They blame mutations for everything being wrong with this world.”

Sunset and Twilight looked at each other.

“Mutations? What do you mean?” Sunset asked.

“Anyone who lived out here; whether they be settlers or raiders, they’re considered targets to be killed. They even despise ghouls, synths, super mutants, claiming all of them are undesirables that need to be ‘cleansed’… they can’t be reasoned with,” Applejack quivered at the thought.

“A faction that thinks anyone who isn’t them needs to go?” Twilight surmised with some fear in her eyes. “Sounds all too familiar.”

“Familiar or not, they’re a problem. The good news is, out here, they’re only small numbers, not much bigger than your typical raider gang. But they’re still a problem, especially if there’s more of them on their way. Which means, we need to get farther away from them until we have stronger forces or better weapons.”

“Sounds fair, I guess,” Twilight nodded off.

“… Hey, tell y’all what. Look, I know I just dumped a lot of info on you that you didn’t ask for, and I know you just got out here… why not come with me? Tomorrow, I was gonna head over to the Canterlot Commons anyway, I think y’all should come with me. I can help keep you safe, and help show y’all around while you get used to things up here. How does that sound?”

Twilight and Sunset looked to each other, nodding a bit before looking to Applejack.

“Not like we have any other option,” Sunset rested her head back against the couch, thankfully not spilling the last bits of her dinner. Instead, she just laid limp, staring blankly at the ceiling. “I just wanted to get up, go to the park for a run. All I wanted to do, and now I get frozen in time by a bunch of psychopaths...”

She grabbed a nearby pillow and slammed her own face into it, groaning into it.

Sunset looked up briefly, without turning her head. But she was met with some sudden warmth as Applejack pulled a blanket that was folded up in the corner to cover her in, trying to provide some comfort, any that she could.

“We’ll be safe in here tonight. But tomorrow at first light, we pull out,” Applejack remarked.

The following morning, the group pulled out of the cabin, heading out on the road. No raiders, radroaches, or any other surprise creature or vermin came to attack them within the first few hours of light. Sunset was still hesitant to follow this stranger, but Twilight remained optimistic. Weapons were loaded, armor was readjusted, and Sunset had some tunes playing on a radio at a softer tone to not alert any nearby threats that would be around, potentially. Her eyes now moved everywhere, trying to stay as perceptive as possible.

"Thanks again for taking us with you, we do appreciate it," Sunset said, not looking at the Minutemen captain.

"Not a problem y'all. Sides, we gotta help each other out, no one does that anymore," Applejack agreed.

“No one helps each other out here?” Twilight asked. “How does anyone even survive?”

“Mostly by being violent, I’m afraid. You have to fight to survive out here, and fight for what you want,” Applejack sadly remarked. “The Minutemen had to fight a lot of bad people to build their numbers up. Somethin’ we’re still tryin’ to do since the massacre at Quincy.”

“Massacre?”

“I’ll get into that another time,” Applejack brushed off for the time being.

The group went over a stone bridge, going over a small river that was still flowing nicely. Sunset in the meanwhile had been playing with the switches and toggles on her Pip-Boy, trying to understand all the settings. She found multiple tabs, all of which managed to keep track of her own personal health, rad detection, inventory, and even a personal radio station.

“Still studying that device?” Twilight asked, looking back.

“Yeah. Trying to get used to all these tabs, a lot to keep track of,” Sunset toggled the switches some more.

“I don’t like what they did to us, but you got to hand it to them, they did not play around with having the technology to prepare for nuclear war,” Twilight said, feeling a bit sheepish at complimenting their former captors. “I'm assuming if the world has devolved into anarchy, there are no real establishing governments?”

"Not really," Applejack shook her head, climbing over a massive tree that had been pushed over long ago. "The Commonwealth tried that once, no luck. We're just doin' things on our own for the time bein'. Everyone wants to make things better, but we've kinda got our own different ways of doin' things. No one can agree on anythin'."

"So not really any changes," Sunset said, her snark coming back.

"Sunset!"

"It's true though," Sunset rolled her eyes. "Aside from the animals, and well, everything being more dangerous than it ever was, has anything actually changed since we got out here?"

"Before we even left the vault, all I thought we were going to have to worry about was maybe going crazy from isolation," Twilight protested.

Applejack just let the two of them continue to argue, leading them over a stone bridge that remained intact, passing by a few stray dogs that were off doing their own thing. Just up ahead, twenty minutes from where they were was a town long abandoned, making Applejack double check her weapon; a laser weapon modified into a musket.

"Whatever, look, let's just find somewhere safe," Sunset groaned. "I don't like being exposed any longer than we have to be."

"We're not that far from the Commons, just keep goin'. But if y'all don't mind me goin' on... I need to give you both a warnin'," Applejack stopped the group and looked at them both with a serious face. "Now, we can do this one of two ways. We can take the longer way around, or we cut through Feral Town right there," the captain pointed up ahead. "Now, it'll be faster if we do so, but we need to stay absolutely quiet."

"Monsters?" Sunset asked, recognizing the fear in Applejack's voice.

"Somethin' just as bad, equally. Now, if we move quietly and don't make a sound, and watch your steps, we will be completely fine," Applejack warned. "No one with guns, but the kind that lives there moves fast. Now, can I trust you both to stay quiet?"

Sunset and Twilight exchanged brief eye contact before nodding quickly to the captain.

"Alright. Now let's move. And turn off any radio stations, noise carries," Applejack warned.

The next twenty minutes were kept in silence. Sunset felt as if her conversation wasn't over, but she did understand the dangers present, and she had no idea what other kind of horrors now existed here in the wasteland. Keeping her mouth shut, she followed Applejack close behind, as the gang made their way to Feral Town.

Before crossing the bridge, there was a partially destroyed sign with the few remaining words reading 'Welcome To'. The rest of the sign was destroyed, and it didn't look so good further ahead. The few stores that were up in this town, most of them were boarded up with no entry inside. A few were open, which Sunset wanted to explore for maybe any other goods that they could plunder, but if Applejack was right, then they needed to stay far away.

Twilight meanwhile kept her eyes down on the ground, watching her step, making sure where she walked did not create any loud noise. The path was one thing, but shattered glass or broken doors were another. Her ears meanwhile were listening to the sounds of everything else, hearing the whistling winds and moans of broken doors in various houses.

Applejack kept a brave face as they gently walked, but her eyes kept darting around. She knew the dangers of this place, but she felt as if there was another force potentially watching her. Even the small rubble of movement on top of one of the buildings made her spine quiver. But she had to stay focused, they were almost out of the town.

The group of three had to stop when they heard the sound of a twig break. Everyone looked around each corner, wondering who or what could possibly be in this abandoned town. Everywhere their eyes turned to look, they could tell someone or something was there, watching them from above, but they didn’t know where.

“I’m getting the feeling we’re not alone,” Sunset worried, pulling out her gun.

Another snap.

Everyone slowly looked to their left, seeing a what appeared to be some disheveled man leering over someone’s dead body… snacking on them. Lots of loud crunching and snarling, as if he was desperate for food. The sight was as gruesome as the sound.

Eventually his desire for food had stopped when he sniffed something more alive and delectable. And standing up, everyone got a better look; he looked less like a man and more of a decaying zombie, with rotting flesh, no nose, stiff movements.

“… What is that?” Twilight whimpered.

“Ferals. Not good, grab your guns,” Applejack ordered, pulling out her recon pistol.

Quickly the girls grabbed their guns. The feral charged straight at them only for Sunset and Twilight to fire wildly at the monstrosity. A few bullets hit the shoulders, and one of them grazed it’s leg, but it didn’t stop it.

“Wait, aim for the head!” Sunset thought. “Can’t focus on eating if it doesn’t have the brain stems for it!”

Deciding to play with Sunset’s idea, everyone fired straight at the feral ghoul’s head, making it rattle back until it finally dropped dead.

“Huh, okay, that wasn’t so bad,” Sunset thought.

“No, it’s worse,” Applejack reached for her musket, charging it up for a full blast. “Where there’s one feral, there’s more.”

And indeed she was right, two more came running out of the door of one of the houses, growling and snarling as if they were ready to feast. Pulling the trigger, Applejack eliminated the two that were making the move. Several more came running from the other direction, looking to go after Sunset and Twilight. Both of them fired as much as they could, but they just kept coming.

Sunset and Twilight stayed close together as they tried to blast the growing ghouls away from themselves, and from Applejack, but there was just too many of them.

"Just keep moving, they'll leave us alone if we make it out of the town!" Applejack ordered, winding up her musket again for another shot.

But ten more ferals came out of nowhere to block the exit out of town, shambling towards them.

“Agh, great!”

Sunset and Twilight raised their guns again, firing non stop at all directions, but were taken aback by extra shots coming from out of nowhere, hitting them from the sidelines without their impact.

More bullets flew through the air, hitting more of the ferals. But it didn’t come from AJ or Sunset. But what was shooting at them?

Across the street came a new stranger. A long dark brown cowboy duster covered her body with the iconic Bottle and Cappy cartoon characters on the bottom of the chaps. The back of her duster had ‘Nuka World’ read across for anyone who saw her walk away. Even the shiny gold belt buckle holding the denim jeans under the chaps had something Nuka related. Her color-matching hat had a shiny metal badge in the forehead reading ‘Nuka Wild’ just like the branding.

Masked with goggles and a red bandana, the stranger twirled two revolvers as she strut along the road as happy as a clam, shooting up the ferals without a problem.

I was walking along
Mindin' my business
When out of the orange colored sky

Spinning around, the tail of her duster rose up as she danced like she was on Broadway, focusing on another group of ferals that were shambling towards her.

POW!

Flash!

BAM!

Bam!

KA-BOOM!

Ali-ca-zam!

Wonderful you came by

Sunset and Twilight were completely flabbergasted by the sudden stranger’s helping hand, watching her take on the next few without so much of a worry or issue.

I was hummin' a tune
Drinkin' in sunshine
When out of that orange colored view

Stopping for a second, the stranger quickly reloaded her guns before slamming her hand down on the hammer of one before firing again.

One final ghoul came around the corner, grosser than the other ones before it. Bloated all over the upper portion of the body, and glowing bright green. The stranger stopped for a second before clicking her guns again, focusing on the last feral in sight.

BAM!

Flash!

POW!

Bam!

KAPOW!

Ali-ca-zam!

Several bullets went through the legs, and into the forehead of the bloated, before it started to bleed glowing green blood, collapsing onto it’s knees, and finally dying on the ground, leaking over the broken roads.

Twirling the revolvers around, the stranger set them back down before taking her hat off, wiping sweat off her head.

“That was fun!” The stranger chirped. Somehow an excited high pitch voice was not at all the voice that Sunset and Twilight were anticipating from this gunslinger looking woman. "Hi Applejack!"

"Whoo-wee! Now that's what I call a fine showdown," Applejack grinned, giving the cowpoke a high five. "Where'd you come from?"

"I just wanted to stop by the Party Cave, that's all," the gunslinger shrugged.

“… Wow. Um… I-I don’t even know what to say but, thank you,” Sunset said, trying to be polite to the woman who saved their life.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Those guys were easy,” The stranger shrugged off. “Oh by the way, the Canterlot Commons are that way! See you all there!”

And in a complete 180, she just bounced along like nothing had happened, humming a tune to herself. Sunset and Twilight could only stare in complete disbelief.

"Y'all will meet her later. Come on now, let's get goin', we're almost there."