Rainbow In The Wastes

The key.

The key to the Armory.

She saw it.

Falling downward through the dark abyss, her head facing toward a dim light floating high above her and her mouth wide open in fright, time began to slow, and soon enough, she felt as if she were not even moving, as if she were not falling endlessly through a dangerous drug-induced hallucination.

Turning her head, she found it again.

The key. Floating beside her, just out of reach, its silver surface shimmering in the light that attempted to entirely illuminate the darkness below, instead succeeding in bringing the one object she needed, the one object she so desired, into the light. Reaching her left hoof out to grab it, she became suddenly aware of a ticking sound, emanating from her half-extended foreleg. Raising a brow, she stole a glance toward her Pip-Boy.

A small Geiger counter located on the top left held a likewise small pointer, which was erratically shaking over a set of numbers the mare couldn't see in the low light she was currently falling through. Speaking of which...

Suddenly remembering her predicament, the mare found herself unfolding her wings from her side, spreading them out as wide as she could. For all she knew, and for all she was sub-consciously preparing for, she would need to be quick. Closing her eyes and focusing, she let out a long breath she had no prior knowledge of holding. As she began to feel the wind against her face slowly beat faster, she opened her eyes, took a long glance at the suspended key, and popped her neck.

She flapped her wings.

Without warning, the world accelerated, and the key flew to the ground with renewed speed, out of the clutches of Rainbow's hoof by a mere millisecond. As the mare looked toward the still falling object, she grit her teeth, cursed, and threw her forelegs out in front of her, turning downward.

Like a streaking arrow, the mare soared easily through the otherworldly wind, her mane flapping behind her head and whipping at her neck. She didn't dare give it a second thought, she hadn't flew like this for weeks, but the feeling wasn't unfamiliar whatsoever. Gaining a short distance from the key, she could barely make out the sound of that ticking noise, but not wanting to ruin her aerodynamics and possibly risk losing the key, the mare shrugged it off.

As she reached it, the ticking became louder, the Pegasus barely being able to hear herself think. Suppressing the instinct to clench her ears tightly so as to drown the monotonous sound out of her head, she gained speed, throwing her right foreleg out at the last moment, feeling the cold exterior of the key within her grasp.

Holding it and giving a wide smile, she looked down, suddenly beginning to scream as she found herself staring at a metallic surface, quickly approaching her. Bracing herself for impact and holding the key close, she clenched her eyes shut tightly, gritting her teeth and expecting her life to swiftly end in a bone shattering end.

The hard impact would never come, however, as she was instead greeted to a thin surface breaking under her weight, scattering it and embedding small chips into her mane and armor. Daring to crack open a single eyelid, the darkness that had previously surrounded her was replaced with a familiar, yet peculiar sight.

The rusted interior of the Atrium greeted her in the form of a large group of squater-looking individuals crouched behind a multitude of cabinets, desks, and tables, all except of select few aiming various weapons at a doorway, its usual purpose being abused, the metal door in the gradual process of flying through the air.

Barely able to be seen through the cracks of the obvious break-in, a large, very muscular Raider stood, his right, armored boot raised in the air and making contact with the door. Flying toward the door, Rainbow suddenly noticed, was a small rectangular object, with two large hexagons fixed on either end, a red pin flying freely next to it.

Still slowly flying toward the ground, she took notice of a small collection of heads turning her way in a much faster speed than what she was currently accustomed to. It hit her as she found the key still grasped within her hooves, held tightly against her chest with no room to fall out whatsoever.

Time resumed, and Rainbow fell stomach first onto the floor below, glass and unspent bullets falling down beside her as she winced in pain. Looking up, she found a shotgun-wielding man turning his head her way and muttering what she made out to be,

"Close your eyes."

Doing so, she could barely make out the sound of a small explosion, and white flooded her vision through her tightly shut eyelids. Two heartbeats passed, and she opened her eyes again, finding the man up and looking away from her and toward the door, his shotgun aimed at their intruder and fire erupting from its barrel.

Slowly getting to her hooves, she turned her head at the sound of her name being called. Jake stood, his friend next to him. Both waved their hands toward her, repeatedly yelling her name through her impaired hearing. Looking toward the ground, she picked the key up from the floor as fast as her body would allow her, and with what she assumed to be an audible, "Catch!" she threw the key toward Jake, who held his hands out like a beggar and reached for it.

He caught it, and with his friend close behind, he mouthed his thanks and quickly turned tail, disappearing into the corridor behind them. Falling back to the floor without a second thought, Rainbow spread her forelegs out and lay on the ground, looking toward the ceiling with a look of serenity. She was cut and bleeding all over her body, she could tell just by by the stench and by the amount of glass she found embedded into her Vault suit, small patches of crimson soaking the fabric around the affected areas.

She could hardly hear anything, the battle occurring right next to her reduced to a barely audible volume in her ears. Her heart beat slowly, and the mare contemplated whether she was about to die right then and there. Turning her head in thought, she was met with the sight of a .44 magnum, the barrel following the same direction she was staring at, the hammer already cocked, as if someone knew she would find it.

Reaching for it, she coiled a few inches of her leg around the grip, placing the tip of her hoof in the trigger guard, ready to fire. Not even bothering to check the chamber for ammunition, she rose to her hooves, aimed with both forelegs gripping the revolver, and pulled the trigger, being answered with a bright flash and a loud explosion.

Neither emerged from the barrel of her gun.

Looking down at her gun, she looked at the chamber, finding not a single bullet within its confinement. Gasping in surprise, her mind stuttered. Then-then who?!

Her answer came as she looked back toward the Biggun, who sat idly by, staring at her with his minigun grasped within his large hands and his armored welding mask strapped tightly to his face, the view-ports glaring darkly at her, before the muscled Raider fell to the floor, a large collection of holes in his back oozing blood.

The Biggun was dead.

Mouth wide open in awe, realization suddenly hit her as she remembered that there was no way anyone got behind him from inside the Vault; all of the remaining inhabitants were all grouped together, standing right next to her with expressions mimicking hers. As a pool began to form from underneath the Biggun, his murderer suddenly appeared from the doorway. For a split second, Rainbow thought that Carter was here to save her. That Carter, the ol' coot himself, was here to swoop her away from impending danger and help the McCoys survive this brutal hellhole.

A dark skinned man calmly walked into the atrium, his black goggles covering his eyes and a black leather flight cap over his head. In his hands, he held a dark red hunting shotgun, which he cocked, a spent shell flying out the side and clattering onto the floor, breaking the silence in the room.

Soon after, half a dozen more men with similar outfits emerged from the door, each carrying small machine guns, machetes strapped to their belts and hung from a skirt that fell to just above their knees. Rainbow, watching with a look of curiosity, noticed that they were wearing what appeared to be padding for Hoofball, their dark brown surfaces darkened by both aging and wet mud.

The final member of the squad walked through, the skinned head of a fox atop his head and a pair of swimming goggles over his eyes. Rising from his back, suspended by two short yellow poles was a dark red flag, its surface full of small holes and torn in many places. Emblazoned proudly in the middle of the red plain was a golden bull.