She wasn't entirely sure about what exactly had rudely roused her from her slumber: the rather loud and admittedly frightening bang that emerged from beyond the locked door at the end of the hall, or her rumbling stomach. Choosing to continue on keeping her still present sanity, she picked the latter. Turning first her head, then her entire body, she rested her chin buried deep within her worn pillow, contemplating on what to eat. Her forelegs glued to her sides, the mare swept her sight about her room.

Opening her mouth wide open in a weakly suppressed yawn, her magenta irises rested upon the shelf a little way away and above her bed. Sighing in annoyance at having to get up to retrieve her food, she slowly got to her hooves, legs shaking with fatigue. Dammit Dad, you could've made me a unicorn, she thought, realization not yet kicking into her mind. Blinking her slumber away, the mare flicked her tail, feeling for the rifle that always loyally lay by her bedside. Since repelling the raider invasion from her cave weeks ago, the mare had grown attached to the .32 caliber work of wonder she had appropriately named Belle.

Feeling the moderately polished wooden frame graze her tail, she coiled it around and brought it to her left foreleg. Placing the barrel into the cold ground at her hooves, she used it like a cane, sleepily stalking the full three steps toward the shelf that held her food, taking in the various amounts of cans that lined its rusted length. Narrowing her eyes in concentration, she looked at the fading labels held together by tape and spit, courtesy of the mare herself. Choosing to skip over the dried prunes- as they had given her the trots- she craned her neck and clamped her teeth around a can of carrots. Turning around, she carefully leaned Belle against an adjacent table, walking seven more steps to reach her makeshift counter.

Using the tip of her hoof to pull out the top most drawer, she dropped her carrots onto the top of the counter to grab her bottle opener. Improvising, she clamped the can in between her hooves and began her usual process: once again craning her neck and anchoring the end of the device underneath the tab, lifting it with an upward jerk of her head. With the bottle opener still clamped inside her mouth, she positioned the sharp end in between the hole in the tab and hooking it, pulling it farther back so she could better access it.

As she brought her hoof up to pull it back and eat for what felt like days, a deafening shriek hit her ears, causing her to grasp them with her hooves and collapse to the floor. Cracking her eyes open to meer slits, she tried desperately to search for the source, which apparently involved two large speakers on either side of her room. She had previously kept them intact in case of chance contact from within the Tombs, but did not expect contact to this screeching degree.

Barely audible through both her crudely muffled ears and the still ringing shrieking sound came shouts of protest, which, after a few minutes, escalated to what sounded like guns firing in quick succession. Daring to reach for Belle with a free hoof, she held it in a very shaky grip, not even bothering to aim at the offending speakers that threatened to permanently prohibit her hearing. She wasn't about to let that happen.

Belle sparked twice, thoroughly destroying the devices that could have killed her not moments ago. Didn't trust those damned things from the start.. the mare thought, shakily releasing her hold on her ears. Checking both hooves for signs of blood, she was relieved to discover its absence. As if to thwart her joy, a tickle began to form from under her right nostril. Itching it, she drew her hoof back and discovered a wet crimson liquid clinging to her coat. A second wiping of her muzzle emerged with the same results.

Snorting, she thought back to previous events.

What the hell was that? Sounded like...fighting...and the speakers are only set to receiving from the Tombs... As if to confirm her suspicions, a loud bang emerged from further away in the Vault.

Oh shit.

Quickly grabbing Belle by her sling and throwing it over her left foreleg, she trotted through the door with renewed vigor, turning a right and proceeding down the hallway with haste. As the now known sounds of battle reverberated through the halls, she increased her speed, wishing that she could use her wings within the tight confinements of the Vault.

Shoulda picked up that shotgun back in the cave...stupid stupid stupid!

Another explosion reached her ears as she rounded the corner, quickly stopping in time to avoid an unneccesary collision with the door now in front of her. Atop it was a very dimmed sign that read,

"Atrium," she said, turning her attention to the control panel next to it. The actual panel itself hung from a long, insulated black wire, hindering it from falling to the floor, and two other wires were attached to it. Both were snipped from their cousins from within the structure itself, a last-ditch effort she attempted after hearing strange noises weeks before.

Lightly coiling the two ends in either hoof, she clenched her eyes shut and braced for the worst as she slowly inched the the two together. She practically jumped when she heard the door slide open with an audible screech barely above a growl. Slowly opening one eye, she found that the door was only up about halfway, and at a very noticeable angle. The sign above it lit up like a Hearth's Warming tree.

Looking down the staircase with a look of fright, she puffed out her chest in attempted bravery and thought to herself, Last chance. I could just leave now and shut this again. Keep it nice and closed.

Glancing at the control panel, she swiftly tied the two wires together and crouched underneath the door.

Obviously, my body isn't listening to a word my mind is saying.

Keeping to a crouched position, she slowly advanced down the staircase, making sure to remain silent in the very narrow hallway that lined the corridor. As she hit the bottom of the staircase with a low thump, she noticed something peculiar: the walls up top where she lived were polished, almost like mirrors. Down in the Atrium, however, the walls were covered in grime, rust, and...

Shaking her head, she swallowed the lump she had no prior knowledge of and walked on, staring straight ahead of her as she trotted through the poorly lit hallway. There was absolutely no way that was blood. There's way too much to be blood...right?

She dared not let her eyesight stray from wandering away from the corridor in front of her, lest she take in the sight that threatened to meet her gaze with every step she took. Shoulda brought a flashlight... she thought, straining her eyes to see through the dim lighting that guided her path. As she reached the intersection of a three way hallway, she suddenly became aware of a sound.

Flicking her ear upward and holding in her breath, she listened for it.

"...no."

"No?"

"That's what.....said, 'no'. Now step....the office, you won't.....needing it."

"I don't.....so."

The mare flinched when she heard a muffled shot ring out, followed by silence. Approaching the corner to her right, she poked her head around it-

-almost falling to the floor as she was met with the stained leather boots of a raider. Clamping her mouth shut with a hoof, she fell to her haunches and swiftly inched herself away from danger, taking a single second to unsheathe her knife from her shoulder. Biting down on its handle, she righted herself and crouched into a ready position.

She turned out to be ready for nothing, in fact, as the raider she almost ran into never rounded the corner. Instead, she heard him break into conversation, "You McCoy's better not be plannin' anything." His voice sounded gruff and untrusting.

Another voice replied, "We ain't," the shifting of gear sounded, "and you, you traitor, should be the one better off without meddling." The other raider, obviously a female, came out as strong and reassuring, definitely not the type Rainbow could see as raider material.

"We ain't doing anything. It wasn't we that fired that first shot-"

"Us. 'It wasn't us that fired that first shot', and it was too."

"Fuck you-"

A deafening roar met Rainbow's ears, and she once again was required to cuff her ears tightly. Suddenly realizing she was back-flat on the floor, she opened her eyes and found black markings covering the hall to her right, creating what looked to be a sun-like pattern.

Releasing her hold, she shook her head wildly to swat away the ringing that met her hearing. The world shifted, and the mare fell to the floor face first. Throwing both forelegs out in front of her, she shakingly rose to her hooves. Once again poking her head around the corner, she was met with a gruesome sight that she presumed as the two raiders she had previously overheard-

Wait. There was only a single body lying in a pool of blood. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, the mare noticed that the body was male, as evident by the bare chested body covered only by a leather strap running up to his shoulder. Without warning, an eruption of explosions resonated through the hallway, signifying something very, very bad. Every inch of Rainbow's mind urged her to continue forward and turn a left instead, but with a pop of her neck, the mare trotted as fast as she could toward the commotion, smirking all the while.

Author's Note

Short chapter, yes, but for a reason involving me deciding to halve it, and keep the second, much longer part for Commotion.