Fallout Girls: Friendship Is Magic

The morning light finally shone through the hotel windows, making the fiery haired girl groan. She had a hard time falling asleep until she finally fell due to exhaustion, and by then, she had only a few winks. Twilight on the other hand had gotten dressed, zipping up the vault suit, strapping her Pip-Boy, and enjoying a quick drink of the cold bottle of cream. Grabbing the backpack, she threw it at Sunset's bed, hitting Sunset's side.

"Ow."

“Come on, Sunset, I need your help. We have a job!” Twilight clapped her hands. "Let's go, grab a bottle of milk and meet me downstairs."

"Go away..." Sunset moaned into the bed.

“Applejack wants our help, seven person team. And she said she’d be willing to pay us,” Twilight said, nodding her head to come out.

Sunset groaned as she slapped her head down on the pillow, wishing she had just gone back to sleep. Twilight poked her head out, groaning as she came back in, putting her hands on her hips.

“You can’t stay here all day, Sunset. We need to learn how to live out here, and we have friends who are willing to help us,” Twilight said, firmly but fairly.

“I don’t caaaaaarrrrre…” Sunset moaned.

“Mind if I try?” Pinkie asked. The cowgirl entered the room and she slapped her bandana to the floor, Twilight still not getting a good look at what she was about to unveil. Without waiting for Twilight to give an answer, she grabbed Sunset by the legs and dragged her out of the bed, letting her body slam onto the floor—

“OW!”

--and dragged her down the hallway until she finally was kicking her legs back against the rough skin that held her.

“Okay, okay, I’m upppppaaaaaaaaaah what the hell is that!?” Sunset screamed.

Twilight had to jump a little bit as well. Pinkie's face looked more rough than ever; her charcoal eyes were much more clear in the daylight, she had no nose, and she looked deformed beyond all belief. Worse, she looked exactly liked those feral monsters that were hauling ass back in Feral Town.

Sunset's legs kicked harder as she pushed the cowgirl away, scrambling to her feet and clinging to the wall as if she had seen a spider. Pinkie could only look with a chipper smile on her face as if she didn't know what the problem was.

"Why do you look like that!? What the hell is wrong with your face!?"

"What?" Pinkie tilted her head. "Wait, do I still have cream cheese on my face?" The ghoul reached for a cloth and wiped both cheeks. "Mmm... nope, no stains." Casually she just walked out of the hotel room--

"--Oh by the way--"

For two seconds.

"--you should probably put some pants on."

Finally, Sunset got out of her room, and in a much more calm state after her freakout, meeting in the café of the Commons, where Twilight, along with a few others were waiting. Some of the residents that they met the day before were gathered as well; Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack respectively. Sunset’s eyes glared heavily towards Rainbow who sheepishly waved at her, after hearing about her escapade in the Power Armor the day before.

Dressed in her road leathers attire, she faced the group of women, ready to hear what they had to say.

“Alright y’all, here’s the deal. For the two of you who don't know, my job is lookin' out for any settlements who need our help. If they want it, we help. If they don't, we still do. Even if they don't want to be a part of the Minutemen, we help those in need simply because, it's right. One of our settlements radioed in, told us that there’s a gang held over in Lexington that’s been harassin’ them for a good long while: stealin’ food, supplies, and caps. They did give us a location of where they’re coming from, but they don’t have the means to fight. Which means, we will,” Applejack instructed. She then turned back to Twilight and Sunset who were ready with them. “I know you two are new to this and all, and y’all are gonna need the caps, and the experience to survive out here, so I’m willin’ to pay you two if you can survive and help us on the job.”

“Seven of us: I don’t know how many caps you have on you, but that doesn’t seem like you’d be able to pay us just to make sure it’s even,” Sunset raised a brow.

“Nah, I’m not doing this for the money, I do this because it’s good to help people,” Pinkie shrugged. “And if we get a few stuff off a few raiders, then that’s cool too.”

“Agreed. I’m healthy on caps as well,” Rainbow added. “Actually... that might be good for you two learn anyway. I know it sucks, but any raiders you take out? Check for any goodies worth stealing. Caps, ammo, armor, anything that’s useful, take it. Even if it’s junk, we repurpose that stuff, or turn in to make some more caps.”

“Agreed. Now, this trip will only take a day to and back, bring food and munitions with you. We will rest somewhere for a night, which is why we’re bringin’ sleeping bags. Any questions?”

Sunset raised a single finger.

“Yes, Sunset?”

“Is she going to rip off my clothes again?” Sunset pointed at Rainbow with a glare.

“… I wasn’t careful,” Rainbow admitted. “Sorry.”

“Just keep your hands off me, okay?” Sunset sneered.

“Can we focus?” Fluttershy whispered in a rather stern and authoritative tone. That got everyone to turn to her. “… thank you.”

“I don’t know what kind of issues you’ve got with the former Brotherhood here, but like it or not, we need you both, and we need her,” Applejack said, folding her arms. “So I suggest y’all find a way to get along, alright?”

“… Fine,” Sunset groaned.

--

The following hour, Sunset and Twilight sat outside the Commons gates. Some leather armor was strapped over Twilight’s vault suit, while Sunset used two basic raider pieces over her shoulders and her knees. Despite the ghastly spikes that jutted out like they were poorly applied, they were all she had to work with at the moment. Needless to say, she was still particularly grumpy she had to be dragged out of bed to start the morning. Especially in this hellish lands that would be around them every day now.

Pinkie soon joined them, twirling her revolvers around like a gunslinger from the old west. She adjusted her hat, giving them a cute but weird grin as she looked at them.

“Nice revolvers,” Twilight complimented, trying to be polite.

“Thanks!” Pinkie squeaked. “I won these, actually!”

“Won them?”

“Yep! There’s a traveling carnival back in Applelachia, I won these during one of their competitions. Worth it!” Pinkie chirped. And showing them the guns, Sunset and Twilight could see the Nuka-Cola branding on the weapons.

“I did not know Nuka Cola also worked in arms dealing,” Sunset blanked.

“Nah, these were painted. But I liked them anyways,” Pinkie shrugged, putting them at her holsters. “Oh, that reminds me, if you two need any guns,” she dug into her backpack, “I’m your girl!”

Fluttershy was next to join the party, with 10mm pistols in her holsters, and a 5.56 service rifle hanging off her back. Like Pinkie, she had a backpack strapped to her as well, but she carried medical supplies and chemicals rather than weapons and ammunition.

“So um, how long have you been here in Bostrot? You’re from Coltifornia, right?”

“Mmmhmm,” Fluttershy meekly replied. “I’ve uh… been here for about a few months, I suppose.”

“But why out here?” Sunset asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“I wanted a change of scenery. Coltifornia’s a real mess out there. Between that, the Western chapters of the Brotherhood, and the still on-going fight with the Legion over at Hoofer Dam, I wanted an assignment where I could clear my head and figure out what I want to be. So, I volunteered to track down a Legion criminal out here,” Fluttershy said, wistfully.

“But why would this Legion send someone so far out here? I haven’t seen any cars or vehicles of any kind aside from those Vertibirds that worked. Seems like an unnecessary trip to make out here,” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy froze. “W-Well, um… n-no one said the Legion were smart.”

“Agreed.”

Now Rarity had joined the party outside, her feet clicking with each step she took. “Fluttershy informed me all about this group, this ‘Caesar’s Legion’, as they’re called. Extremely terrible is what I’d call them. Slavers, misogynistic, xenophobic—”

“—You won me over just with slavers,” Sunset held a hand up. “I understand the point.”

“Regardless, they’re a faction that must be stopped. And I volunteered to be Fluttershy’s partner in tracking down this missing member.”

Rainbow Dash was next, marching towards them with a junker suit of Power Armor; the chest and helmet were T-60 model colored in black with flame detailing, but the limbs? The limbs were a different story altogether. One leg used a model of an X-02 Hellfire piece in dark blue, while the other leg was a standard T-45 in red. The chest and head were still T-60, blazed in the flames of an old hot rodder. One arm was covered in raider armor with many spikes, and the other had tesla-coils attached in bright white and pink hot rod style, over a T-60 model.

“Hey Pinkie, I hope you don’t mind, I wanted to use the Raiden outfit, if that’s alright,” Rainbow asked.

“Not a problem. I was gonna suggest my suit anyway, it’ll let them know the Brotherhood won’t be wasting their time with them,” Pinkie reassured.

Rainbow stretched her arms in the suit, doing a few punches at air to hype herself up for the travel ahead.

Finally, last to step out was Applejack, holding a laser musket, armed and ready.

“Alright y’all, you ready?”

“Yep!” Everyone said, collectively.

“Then let’s get a move on. We’ve got raiders to fight.”

One by one, the girls set off on the road...

An hour had passed since they left the Commons, with everyone mostly enjoying a little bit of quiet. A rarity to come by in a never-ending insanity of the Commonwealth. Everyone just moved as a single unit, following behind Sunset. Occasionally she checked the map, making sure they were still going in the right direction, or for any radioactive deposits, but nothing too hazardous as they made their way.

She stopped briefly at the end of a bridge, waiting for the others. Twilight kept walking, followed by Rarity, then Fluttershy, then Pinkie, and Applejack, and lastly followed by Rainbow, who made sure the group stayed safe as she covered their back in the Power Armor. Sunset looked behind them to make sure, and quickly dashed behind Rainbow.

Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don't they know it's the end of the world
'Cause you don't love me anymore?

Sunset took note of everything as they walked through the open roads. More houses, mixed with the destruction. Those intact, mainly boarded up with no means of access. Some open from the destruction, with brick and other junk discards surrounding them. A few skinless mongrels walked about, taking note of the group of travelers, but left them be, noting the strength in numbers.

It was almost funny in an tragic sort of way. The skies never changed from how beautiful they were, and yet the rest of the land still was touched by atomic energy and destruction.

Crossing another bridge over a river, the group passed some ribbiting frogs, and the few normal sized flies buzzing about, only to be consumed by the frog’s sticky tongue. Rarity’s head swiveled with a soft whir of her gears, observing the frogs for a second before focusing back ahead.

Pinkie in between their walk, took a few sips of her own mixture of a purifying drink, helping recharge some lost energy that was taken as they walked. She passed it around, making sure everyone got some, even though Sunset politely declined.

I wake up in the morning, and I wonder
Why everything's the same as it was
I can't understand, no, I can't understand
How life goes on the way it does

Sunset for a moment, felt the group stop their pacing. Turning around, she saw what got their attention. All of them were gazing at a cute little animal that peered out of the fields, one of them approaching the group softly. Fluttershy reached into her pack, taking a knee down and held out a small bit of food for it, luring it in.

The animal in question, was something that Sunset wasn’t expecting: a small baby deer. It was… normal. Normal coat, same size as a baby, it was the most mundane thing she had ever seen. And yet, she smiled when she watched the baby accept the food from Fluttershy’s gloved hand.

The deer, feeling calm enough, allowed Fluttershy to softly pet it’s head, affectionately saying hi to it. Sunset just stood there, patiently watching it be cute to the animal expert. And when it decided it was done, it frolicked along the fields, while the girls watched it do it’s thing.

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said goodbye

And so the journey continued, as the girls made around the corner, moving towards an abandoned store, Cambridge Hardware. Not that far ahead would be the assembly plant that housed the gang that they were tasked, but by the time they arrived it had become nightfall, and the group was tired after a long day of walking.

Carefully everyone moved into the store, setting up sleeping bags and other makeshift cots to get some rest. Rarity stayed on watch, not requiring any sleep, pacing back and forth outside to do routine checks of the perimeter. Sunset tried to stay away, not feeling any safer being out in an abandoned store with a bunch of strangers. But she knew she had to trust someone, and better it be them than anyone else. She stayed up as much as she could, until eventually she fell asleep.

The following morning, after breakfast, the group made their way once again, getting closer to their location. To Sunset's surprise, she saw most of the buildings were still standing, even after the bombs. Some of them still had usual signs of age like destroyed windows, boarded up doors to keep people out, and a few cars covered in rust with no wheels to move. Occasionally, Pinkie was found scouring some of the trunks, grabbing a few random assortments of junk that she found; something Sunset wasn't understanding for what purpose, but did not ask.

“Okay, so I’m curious, I don’t have functioning organs like the rest of you. What is your favorite food?” Rarity asked, as they passed through the empty city.

“Salisbury Steak, cooked medium rare, sprinkled with some salt, and a drink of Nuka Cola,” Rainbow answered.

“Rocketeer was the spokeswoman for that. She was the Nuka Girl,” Pinkie remembered.

“You consume that every day?”

“Nah. Brotherhood of Steel was really strict on diet, Salisbury is a once in a while food, I’m just glad I didn’t make the mistakes of some of my others. There’s a reason why I don’t make it a daily meal, let’s put it like that.”

“Fair enough,” Rarity understood. “Fluttershy?”

“Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, with a side of Brahmin milk. It’s a quick meal, not that hard to make, and if I’m in a rush, I can bag it up on the go,” Fluttershy responded.

“Smart and practical,” Applejack commented, looking at their surroundings, making sure no one was in any immediate danger.

“Applejack, darling, what about you?”

“Hard apple cider for the afternoon; brahmin milk and fresh pancakes, drenched in syrup for the mornin'. Always had them after settin’ up the cookin’ pit, makes breakfast all the more rewardin’ when it’s done,” Applejack smiled.

“Sounds nice,” Twilight complimented.

“I’ll make some for y’all sometime. Pinkie, what about you?”

“Oh, I have too many! I kind of learned to love a lot of food over the years, I’m not really picky,” Pinkie replied, deep in thought. “Buuut if I had to pick one… yeahhh come back to me on that one, too many.”

“Seriously,” Rainbow chimed in, “She’s got a lot. Shared some of her favorites with me before I left the Brotherhood, first real taste of freedom I had in a long time.”

“Mine is grilled cheese sandwich. Always loved getting to make those in the old dorm kitchens,” Twilight added in, getting a few resounding nods and murmurs of approval.

“What about you, Sunset? What’s your favorite food?”

“I… I dunno girls, you all would want me dead if I told you.”

“If it’s another person who has new flavors on a cookie pizza, I got ya beat. And also, all the flavors are okay on pizza,” Pinkie squeaked.

Sunset could tell none of them were going to get moving unless she told them. Why they decided now was a good time to stop their mission, she didn’t understand, but she wanted to move on anyway.

Letting out a small sigh, she worked up the courage to speak, and addressed the group.

“You have to understand something about me first; where Twilight and I came from, times were very different from now, I don’t know the same norms exist these days, but I felt the need to address this first.

This was probably maybe a year, maybe two before the bombs fell. My late partner and I were on our first date, looking for someplace to eat. Turns out she found a nice place owned by a new couple who just moved here to Bostrot. Nice people, knowledgeable when it came to cuisine. It was a place I hadn’t eaten before, and I wanted to give it a try. Nice marble floors, beautiful tapestries, there was a lot of culture from where they lived that they loved and brought over. I could probably go on and on, but we’re on a time crunch.

Anyways: one of them, the wife I think, gave us some sushi with a side of hot wasabi. Two minutes after taking a bite… I had to stop a fight. One of the folks that entered was screaming about us supporting ‘Commies’ by eating here… despite the fact that no one in the vicinity was from Chineigh. The concept of don’t put all people of an ethnicity went over his head.”

Everyone’s eyes still remained locked on Sunset, and thankfully without any present danger from the outside world to interfere.

“I was ashamed of what I did next: I apparently hurt him so hard… he had to get surgery for his nose. Now thankfully the patrons did witness everything and convinced the judges that there was no evidence to prove the owners were communists, but… word broke out, and the couple’s restaurant had to be moved elsewhere. I honestly thought it was my fault that I sent them away.”

“… okay, so what happened then?”

“We never heard from them, but my partner loved that I even bothered to stand up for them, and didn’t care how that would affect my social standing, that wasn’t something I was really worried about, we were in war after all. But yeah, my favorite food? A nice hot plate of sushi and wasabi. Inspired me to wanna make a sushi truck, but my hope of that went out the window when the war ended and, well… you see.”

"I don't know if I've ever had sushi before. Sounds wonderful," Fluttershy replied.

"It is. Though stay away from wasabi, that stuff is hotter than the fiery pits of Tartarus," Sunset forewarned.

"Fair enough," Applejack nodded, silently waving her hand up for the group to continue forward, through the town. Going around the corners of some of the apartment houses, they crept up their way up a road and past a few steps, seeing a little bit of the holdout. A few sand barriers with a turret swaying side to side, surveying for targets, and a few raiders with makeshift armor.

Rainbow kept her movements slow as she walked up, moving herself behind the wall of the plant to stay out of sight, with Pinkie, and eventually the others lining up against the wall too.

“Okay, so what's our strategy?"

“First thing’s first," Pinkie reached into her backpack, hooking a few grenades onto Sunset's belt. "You're going to need some of these; just pull the pin and throw, standard grenade."

"Got it," Sunset acknowledged, making sure they were secure on her pants.

"Most of them will be outside tryin' to keep us from goin' in. Pinkie and Rainbow are needed out here; that kind of energy is gonna be needed for them to focus on us," Applejack instructed. "That bein' said, go a little nuts. Scare them a bit."

"Best job ever?" Rainbow grinned under the armor.

"Best job ever!" Pinkie quietly cheered as she fist bumped Rainbow Dash.

"I'll be joinin' y'all as well, Sunset, you too. The other three," Applejack looked to her group. "Get inside and take care of any raiders inside. There may be a boss in charge livin' like a king," the captain ordered. "But keep Twilight safe and give her any pointers you can."

"No one will dare cross me, and if anyone does; I will BURN THEM TO CINDERS."

Twilight and Sunset blinked from the sudden distortion but quickly nodded in understanding.

"Alright, got our plan. Let's get goin'."

"One more thing," Rainbow added. "Pinkie, you brought that old tape with you?"

"Yep!"

"Load it up," Rainbow requested.

Opening a panel on Rainbow's armor, Pinkie inserted a holotape inside, and closed it. A beat started to play through a small set of speakers attached to the sides of the armor, echoing as she began to walk towards them. At first, she moved casually, as if she was going for an ordinary stroll, which didn't take long for the raiders to focus. Two of them on the ground aimed their rifles at the Power Armor, waiting for the user to do something impulsive.

A little less conversation, a little more action, please
All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me

"Hold it right there, wastelander," one of the raiders called.

But Rainbow didn't respond, she kept walking towards him, as if she didn't notice he even called to her.

"I said, hold it!"

"Are you deaf from that song?"

The second raider clicked their weapon, only for a bullet to go straight through their forehead and splattering the ground in brain juice and innards. Dropping to the ground, the second raider's body went, The first raider turned to look for the shot, only for a high powered laser to strike their chest and reduce their entire body to ashes, screaming for a few seconds as his last breath escaped him.

The raiders on the catwalk above the doors saw them, and fired down, shooting at Applejack who ran to hide behind an old bus stop cover as bullets ricocheted around her. Rainbow still kept moving, and eventually a shot from a rifle came and hit the shoulder of one of the raiders above, fired by Pinkie Pie who held a her Nuka Cola themed lever-action rifle out, and fired a second shot.

The turrets locked on and fired at Pinkie who dodged them, and hid behind a few sandbags. Rainbow, taking her cue ran to the first one nears the doors and crushed it with her hands, the armor bouncing off several bullets in the process. Then looking up, Rainbow ran up the steel stairs that were able to hold her armor, and pulled out her laser rifle, firing several shots at the second turret before watching it explode. One more raider was left on the catwalk, giving Rainbow the chance to fire her shots and finish her off.

"Alright, door's cleared!" Rainbow called. "Come on, let's go have some fun!"

Picking up her feet, Rainbow ran down the road with the other two in tow, with Sunset keeping up behind them. And so, Fluttershy led her group inside through the front doors. Upon opening the doors, they were met with the remains of a waiting area; a front desk in the middle with a set of chairs and coffee tables for a waiting room on the left, and on their right, was a Corvega model with corrosion and rust all over.

Moving past the desk, the girls stayed close together, hearing some noises coming from the raiders in that hallway. Rarity gave a hand gesture to Twilight, silently ordering her to stay put and to let her make the first move. Giving the nod, both Rarity and Fluttershy opened the doors wide open, staying out of sight and letting the two raiders in the hall get a good long look at the robot who approached them.

"What the hell...?"

"Oh shit..."

And a more distorted voice droned from Rarity's vocabulator.

"Your termination commences now. Operation: Humankind Destruction."

A single blast fired from her face, something Twilight did not dare see, but the screams of pain and agony were enough for her to understand what she had done, especially seeing her body arched as if she was screaming at them.

After a minute or two, Rarity stood back up, her red eye laser hissing from the inensity. "Whoo... that was, rather intense. I'm really sorry if I scared either one of you," the Assaultron apologized.

"It's okay, really," Twilight reassured as she poked her head out. Her theory turned out to be correct; this Assaultron, even 200 years later, still had high powered weaponry that reduced her enemies to cinders.

Moving forward, the girls were greeted by the sounds of more gunshots, as a raider poked from out of a doorway, firing with her pipe gun towards Twilight. The vault dweller hid just in time, and fired two shots back, missing her target. The raider fired again, forcing Twilight to lean back to avoid being shot. Another shot, and miss.

"You got to give her something to focus on," Fluttershy suggested, stepping out in the open and firing at the door frame. Taking the bait, the raider moved out farther, hitting a few dents on Fluttershy's riot armor, and giving Twilight the chance she wanted. Raising her gun up, she got two shots in, hitting the shoulder, and then her chest, making her drop.

"Tell the boss!" One of the raiders called. "We've got intruders attacking! We got intruders!!!"

Taking the chance, the trio moved forward and ran through more of the back, moving through destroyed walls to cracked hallways, leading to multiple routes on the factory floors...

--

Outside, Rainbow marched up the driveway where trucks typically came up to unload tools and resources for the assembly lines, getting shot by a few bullets at her shoulders. One of them hit the back of her head, and Rainbow turned to look at who shot her, firing him in the chest with a single shot. Sunset stayed close behind Rainbow, feeling safer with the Power Armor being a bullet sponge and reducing her chance of getting hurt. Rainbow even moved an arm out to deflect a few shots coming at Sunset, showing she didn't mind acting as a guardian.

Pinkie just casually walked, head bobbing to the music as she twirled around, letting the tails of her coat fly with her, only for her to grind her boots on the ground as she shot another raider in the face, with a glint in her eye. Another raider came forward, taking a few shots at Pinkie, making her wince slightly, but with barely any reaction. Looking up, Pinkie smirked and fired at her, sending her falling off the scaffolding and slamming on the ground with an intense thud.

Applejack moved more strategically, catching the few raiders that were more triggerhappy and stupid, and firing on them if she could see them getting ready to take a shot from above. She spotted another one on one of the stairs, and ran up towards them, winding her laser musket to take a shot, and was yanked to the side by two more raiders. Not held back, Applejack kicked one raider in the foot, and elbowed another in the face before pulling out her pistol and tapping both raiders in the stomachs, and letting them drop.

"Sheesh. Some raiders," Applejack rolled her eyes as she turned her musket onto the raider from afar, reducing him to cinders and ashes.

Sunset still was afraid to fight, taking cover in one of the open trailers that was thankfully void of any raiders inside. So many bullets went flying, and could hit her at any moment; it was a risk she wasn't willing to take. She knew she had to fight, but she didn't know how, what could she do. Searching the truck, she did find a pair of weapons laying in the back, poking out of a wooden trunk. Pulling them out, she spotted a pair of Power Fists. She wasn't going to do much good getting up close, she knew she'd be shot instantaneously if she tried. Until her eye spotted something on her left... a small case with a bold red font, reading 'Mentats'. Sunset remembered them well; they were a recreational drug that sharpened people's mental processes and memory-related functions.

She looked back outside, cringing as she watched Pinkie kick a knife up with her boot before stabbing it through the skull of one of the raiders, only for Rainbow to punch her hand against the blade, sending it through the raider's skull, gruesomely killing him. Sunset struggled to fight the urge to throw up, but she couldn't. Violently, she hurled against the wall of the trailer, sending her breakfast right back up. Coughing, she wiped her mouth with disgust and shame before noting that one of the raiders had taken notice of her.

"Oh no..."

"Well, what do we have here," the raider chuckled as he paced towards her, his yellow teeth smirking sinisterly. "I haven't seen a pretty thing like you around. You're with those wastelanders shooting up my men, aren't you?" He snickered. "Well, that's okay. I'll make sure you suffer just as good as them," he said, reaching to unzip his pants.

Realizing what he was about to do, Sunset gripped the insides of the gauntlets and immediately punched him in the face; but the launch was so hard that his head went flying out, rolling on the ground, with a permanent mush that destroyed any semblence of who he once was. Looking down, she saw his body on the floor and then at the gauntlets. They actually packed a serious punch, something that made her smile a little bit. If she had a chance to fight, maybe she could help them. Looking to her side, she eyed the Mentats again, silently judging if she should take them or not...

"Ffffff.... aggh, no, what are you thinking? That'll kill you... well, m-maybe just one tab won't hurt. But just once! Just this once..." Sunset reached for the box...

A few more raiders decided to come out of hiding, thanks to Applejack going above and picking off the ones that hid more strategically, sending more of the coked out raiders to Pinkie and Rainbow. Neither one of them were breaking a sweat, this was a Monday morning for them!

Come on, baby, I'm tired of talking
Grab your coat and let's start walking

But then, out of the trailer, Sunset started to strut forward. Her eyes locked forward at the two raiders who had turned their attention to her, seeing the weapons on her arms. Sunset couldn't help but grin as she looked down at the Power Fists, holding them up as if she was a boxer. One button click on both of them, and a pair of sharp saw blades extended from the top of the fists, making Sunset gasp with excitement.

"Oh no..." one of the raiders murmured.

"That's not good..."

Sunset looked down at them, and slowly looked up at the raiders. A slasher smile started to grow on her face as she felt her focus on the group in front of her finally lock on. And with one mighty roar, she planted her feet firmly, ready to charge at them.

The main factory floor was almost cleared out. The main room was what was left of an assembly floor, where cars rested on lifts so engineers could oversee part installations and do final checks before the cars were okay to be shipped out for consumer purchase.

Rarity and Fluttershy were clearing out the raiders on the ground while Twilight moved to the platform to the main control room. Pressing the button, the bridge extended itself as she made it across, narrowly avoiding the turret fire that rained down upon her. A shaky breath and a loaded pistol, Twilight readied herself to shoot the last few raiders left up in that room.

Twilight leaned around a corner, checking for any other raiders. One did slip out of the corner of her eye, and she moved just in time as they fired upon her. But she soon found herself corner as three more came out to box her in. Quickly thinking, she shot another man in the head, only for the other two to pin her against the wall, one of them flashing a knife in her face.

"Lookie what we got here. Fresh out of the vault. One of you pretty things cost me and my sister an eye," a one-eyed raider growled. "I'm going to have a lot of fun taking it out of you..."

Twilight could only look back at the knife in fear as she tried to find a quick way to push back against them and get her gun without getting stabbed...

--

"AGHGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

That sound sent shivers down Rarity's processor. Quickly, she ran up the platform stairs with Fluttershy coming up behind her, quickly reloading her rifle. Upon reaching the control room, the two of them froze. Another dead raider on the ground, with a second one dead against a desk. Only one other one remained, as he clutched his bleeding chest, sitting across from a pony-tailed girl.

"What did you do... WHAT'D YOU DO!?" Rarity shrieked.

"She's the one who did something!" He screamed as his foot slammed down on something gross and squishy. "She stabbed me in my fucking leg!"

Neither one of them could see Twilight's face, but they watched as one of her hands, covered in blood reached for a gun, clicking it to make sure there were still bullets.

"Wait. No! NO! Please, have mercy! I beg of you!"

Twilight did not respond, and instead she kept the gun pointed at him, listening to him scream and panic. A reflection of what she was like moments ago.

BAM!

One shot, and the raider was killed. Her arm slowly lowered as she dropped the gun, thankfully not setting it off as she did so, only to drop to the floor from the pain, and laid against a wall. Fluttershy and Rarity moved closer, and quickly saw the issue. Blood was leaking from her right eye... and a lot of it. No visible ball was in sight, as she weakly looked up at her friends, speechless and with misty vision.

"Oh heavens, Twilight! Fluttershy, quickly!"

Fluttershy didn't hesitate for a second, grabbing her medical kit and quickly applying some healing solution around Twilight's eye to clean her up before wrapping a few bandages around that side of her head.

"I'm so sorry we didn't catch up with you, it's all my fault!" Rarity apologized as she hugged her friend. "I'm... I'm so sorry--"

"R-Rarity... I'm... I'm okay," Twilight reassured, putting a hand on a shoulder plate. "Hurt, but I'll be okay. He... he didn't get far," she looked back at the dead raider. ".... I killed him. ... I really killed him. Just like the others up here... what have I done?"

"Twilight, listen to me, you were in pain, he was going to kill you. You did what you had to do to defend yourself," Fluttershy addressed, carefully cleaning off last bits of blood and wounds she could find. Her red tinted eyes looked down at Twilight's leg, finding a stab wound visible as well. "Alright, I have a spare stimpak on me, I just need you to sit still."

"O-Okay..." Twilight tried to keep her breathing steady, knowing how painful needle insertions were.

Once it was prepped, Fluttershy injected it near the spot where the wounds were, making Twilight hiss from the injection. But the pain started to subside after a few seconds, as the open stab wounds began to regenerate, tendons reattaching themselves from within. Feeling her strength back, Twilight slowly stood back up, finally seeing herself in a broken mirror. Her hand briefly touched the sides of her face, keeping directly off the center of her eye and the bandages.

"I'm so sorry," Fluttershy apologized. "I have specialties in medicine, but I'm afraid I can't restore your eye. It's gone."

"... it's fine," Twilight said, her one functioning eye looking back at the mirror. "I... I can work with this. My other eye is still intact, no pain there... just need to keep it together. And to never again let someone with a knife that close to my face."

A few moments of silence passed between the group.

"... Well, enough about that. Maybe we should stop the rest of the raiders then?"

"Darling, you helped clear this floor of the factory. If that makeshift throne is anything to go by, you just eliminated these ruffians leader," Rarity reassured. "And my sensors indicate that our friends outside have only but a few raiders remaining."

"Really?"

"Mmmhmm. Applejack's going to be so proud of you when she hears this," Fluttershy wheezed, pounding her chest armor a bit to clear her throat. "Come on, let's go meet the others."

Back outside, the last two raiders were cowering in another control tower, listening carefully for the sounds of approaching feet from their attackers. Neither one of them were sure how they could have lost, there was over thirty of them, and it didn't look like there was any more than four of them outside--

BAM! BAM!

And now all thoughts were gone as their brains splattered against the walls. Pinkie's revolver was puffing steam that she blew away before twirling it around and putting it back in her holster.

"Found them!" Pinkie called out.

But one more came around the corner, trying to tackle Pinkie before Sunset Shimmer slammed her power fist against his back, sending him flying and hitting the wall. He weakly moaned as he tried to get up only for Sunset to punch him several times, letting the saw blades grind up his innards like meat, and splattering blood against the wall. She didn't stop grinding for about two more minutes, finally snapping back to reality when she looked down.

"Hah... HA! HA HA!" Sunset taunted. "Try to assault me, I'd like to see you all try again, suckers!"

Rainbow and Pinkie only stared at her, seeing how crazed she looked with the weapon.

"Ho... lee... crap," Rainbow muttered. "Sunset, are you okay? I-I know that can't have been--"

"--Are you kidding me? I feel AWESOME! All that time, I spent cowering, and for what? I didn't need to be afraid, these guys don't have the power over me! Or even that settlement Applejack talked about, now they'll have to think twice! Oh wait, no, because they're all deaaaaaad!" Sunset sung with a little bit of a laugh.

"...."

Pinkie and Rainbow shared a look and Pinkie flatly went forward, sniffing the breath coming out of Sunset's mouth.

"Uhhh, okay, getting a little too close to me right now--"

"--How much did you take?" Pinkie asked, seriously.

"Um... t-take what, I didn't---"

"How. Much. Did. You. Take." Pinkie repeated, sounding more like a disappointed mother.

Sunset looked at Pinkie with fear before sighing. "... I took one tab. But it was just one, I swear!"

Pinkie's hands went to Sunset's thighs, feeling her pockets, and then very awkwardly slapping her hands against Sunset's butt, feeling a metal tin stuffed in a back pocket. Grabbing it, Pinkie opened it up to examine it before glaring back at Sunset.

"I know you're feeling a kick right now, but this is not going to help you fight. Trust me, I've tried that before... it never helps," Pinkie shook her head. "Take it from a recovered addict."

"B... but it helped me fight. But what if another raider attack happens and I need to fight, what if I don't--"

"--We will help you fight," Rainbow intervened, joining her. "Do you remember what the after effects of that drug does to you?"

"... No," Sunset sunk.

"If you only took one tab, that's fine, it won't do much damage, but it will make you tired once it wears off. But if you take too much of it, it's going to give you serious migraines, or health complications, or worse; that could kill you. Just promise us you won't take any more, okay?" Rainbow asked, somehow still sounding scary even with the polite words being filtered.

"I... o-okay," Sunset slumped.

Pinkie softly gave the vault dweller a hug and patted her back to reassure her.

"We're here for you. And we care about you, okay?"

"I understand," Sunset nodded, starting to feel the effects wear off.

Exiting out a set of doors were none other than Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight, who were more than glad to meet up with the others.

"Glad to see y'all are still alive and--HOLY TARNATION!"

"Twilight, what happened back there!?" Pinkie exclaimed.

Twilight rubbed the back of her head. "Um... a raider took my eye. So I might have put a bullet into him."

"Dang... that's hardcore," Rainbow admired, folding her arms. "But are you okay? I can't imagine that was easy."

"... no, it wasn't," Twilight shook her head. "And, I personally blamed myself. I don't know what I was thinking, I didn't see there was a larger group up there, I thought I could shoot them down, and that would be it but.. .well you saw what happened," Twilight pointed. "I deserved it."

"Pump the breaks, newbie. No one deserves getting their eye stabbed out, and I'm sorry you lost it. ... Though on the plus side, if we find you the right attire, I think you'd pass as a cool pirate."

Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy all slowly glared at the suit of armor.

"What? I'm serious! I mean, Hancock still wears a tricorn, doesn't he?"

Sunset didn't say a word, but instead just pulled Twilight in for a much needed hug. Twilight hugged Sunset back, trying to calm down from the intensity. Their ears had finally stopped ringing from the bullets flying past them, and they were thankful to be safe, but after all that had happened that afternoon?

"If it's all the same to you girls, I'd like to go home," Twilight requested.

"Of course. We can head on back. We will need to stop at that settlement to let them know the problem's taken care of. Minutemen can only grow if we can show people we're not afraid. Sides, I think it'd be good for you both to see more of the wider Commonwealth."

"Okay..." Twilight moaned with disappointment. "But can we go home after?"

"I promise," Applejack reassured, placing a hand over her heart. "You have my word."

And so, the group made their way down from the platforms and scaffolding, heading back to the ground outside the main Corvega entrance.

“Well, all in all, I call that a successful job,” Rainbow prided with a smirk. “Who’s up for some grilled radstag when we get back?”

“I do, I do!” Pinkie raised her hand.

“I feel like we might have forgotten something though,” Sunset wondered, looking around.

“AGAHAHAH!!!”

“DAH!”

Everyone yelped as one more raider came running out, bloodshot eyes, huffing one last puff of Jet (another recreational drug) with a crazed look. He was ready to charge at them like a bull, forcing everyone to quickly pull out their weapons. But to their surprise, none of them could get a shot.

Someone beat them to the punch, as a massive gaping hole was created in his skull, making him drop to the ground. Smoke drew from a brightly colored pistol, held by a hand covered in scars and cuts. The girls gasped when they saw who it was, but Twilight and Pinkie had no reaction.

Across the road in front of the factory was an unknown figure: charcoal hair and mocha skin, eyes and face blocked by a bandana and a pair of road goggles. A long brimmed cowgirl hat covered her head, and she wore specialized combat armor. She stood there, observing the girls who were waiting for a move.

“Is… is that who I think it is?”

“N-No one ever sees her, I thought she was a myth,” Rainbow stuttered.

“Who is she?” Sunset asked, completely clueless.

“They call her a lot of things. The Chosen One,” Applejack tried to remember.

“The Lone Wanderer,” Rainbow piped in.

“The Sole Survivor,” Pinkie concluded.

“Some say she was the last resident of her vault, with every one of the members inside all dead due to unknown reasons,” Fluttershy explained. “No one knows who she is, or where she came from.”

“Only thing we’ve ever known is that she doesn’t leave a lot of survivors to tell the tale,” Applejack gulped before reaching for her revolver.

Sunset eyed the stranger carefully, watching her movement. The stranger only stood there, observing the group for a minute. Everyone waited for her to make an attack, but she didn’t. Instead, she slowly put her revolver away and walked away, disappearing in the moor of the waking night.

“Who was that…?”

As the sun began to set, the group came that much closer to returning home. Twilight's eye was still in pain, but the bandages and healing salve that Fluttershy had provided were doing its job and making it subside. Sunset still blamed herself for not sticking with Twilight like she was going to suggest, but glad that she was still walking okay.

"Hey um, girls? Can I say something?" Sunset asked, stopping everyone in their tracks. All eyes turned to the fiery haired vault dweller who looked more ashamed than anything else. But everyone gave her the undivided attention she wanted. "Thank you for helping us. I know I haven't really been saying it, but I do appreciate you all looking out for us, and I do appreciate that you helped Twilight, I... god, I don't know why I didn't stay with her, if I had, I'd... " Sunset's fist clenched up and then released. "I... I'm sorry."

Applejack was the first to speak up, with a small but sincere smile. "Not a problem, sugarcube. And I mean it. In fact, I meant to give you both these, but here," Applejack tossed a medium sized sack that jiggled with caps inside to Sunset. "The payment for holdin' your own out there. Should be enough for you to get some more supply and essentials. Course if you wanna keep survivin' and earn some more, I'd be happy to help find you both some jobs in town."

"Well... I suppose it would be good to find some work again. But maybe wait a few days before we go back into a fight?" Sunset requested with a stressed face. "I'd like to relax after I spent half the day watching Rainbow and Pinkie dancing to an Elvis Prancely song and murdering people."

"THEY'RE RAIDERS!!!" Pinkie and Rainbow protested.

"The moment they started raping and stealing is when they lost the right to come out of the fight alive," Rainbow folded her arms. "And we couldn't just let them come back to harass the settlers again. We made a promise. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this kind of how most the problems get solved up here."

"... right," Sunset sank back into a meek state.

Twilight however spoke up, with a mild cough, "What I think she's saying is, it's a little bit taxing to have to suddenly learn how to fight and kill everything, and we need some time to adjust to it all."

"Nothing wrong with that. I certainly understand after an event like that, you two are more than deserving of some much needed normalcy," Rarity chimed in as she guided the group to walk again.

"Yep! Sides, when we get back, I had a fun idea for how we can--DAGHHHHH!"

Pinkie didn't watch where she was going and fell face first into a large pit with a small puff of cloud dust billowing above her like a mini mushroom cloud.

"I'm okay, the dead bodies broke my fall!" Pinkie shouted.

Her fingerless gloved hands reached above and climbed out of the pin, dusting the scuff on her duster. Pinkie turned to look at where she fell, and let out a large gasp that made everyone worried. Pinkie zipped all around the large pit that she fell into, and then pointed to her left. All heads slowly turned to where she was looking at, and fell quiet.

A similar sized pit was a few feet across from it, baring a similar shape. Circular, but with multiple triangular forms at the top of it; a footprint. But this footprint was larger than any animal that the Commonwealth had seen, not even deathclaws, or the dreaded mirelurk queens had feet of that size. It was almost the size of two giant trucks paired together. Horrifying visions went through everyone's minds, trying to even imagine how big that animal, creature, thing, whatever it was that could even make something that huge.

A silent agreement was shared as the group continued to go forward, walking around the footprint shaped pit and head back to the Commons on a more familiar road where they would be more safer than whatever else was possibly lurking out in the open...