Rainbow In The Wastes

Rainbow counted the days in her head.

The wind whistling through her mane and clothing gave her a sense of distraction, and with the numbers about to be added in her head, she brushed it aside to glare at the natural occurrence as it swept through the air and flew off into the long distance of the plains behind her. Turning her head, she stared longingly at the trail that expanded great distances in her wake, as if contemplating a heroic return to the plagued lands she had left behind.

Returning her attention to the trail ahead and the numbers in her mind, she found she had lost the latter, and quickly snorted out a huff of annoyance to show her frustration at losing a collection of important data to the wind. Narrowing her eyes as she stared into the wind, she adjusted her cloak with a brush of her shoulder, feeling newly discovered comfort reach her entire left side as she continued to walk through the plains.

The air smelt of ash and smoke, the wind blowing through the mare’s rainbow mane polluting the usual smell of rain drops with the contaminates carried from the burnt plains surrounding the mare currently walking along the dirt path once known as Highway 17.

Her cloak continuing to whip around wildly in the wind, the mare narrowed her eyes in retaliation of the coming gust of floating sand, turning her head to the left to avoid becoming blinded. After what she estimated to be around three and a half months of time spent in this world, she didn’t want to come all this way just to get permanently blinded by a collection of dust particles.

Not like that.

Feeling the long familiar sensation of dust halting its beak-like torrent, the mare turned her head back to the trail ahead and found a sign she must have missed standing a couple feet in front of her.

The wooden surface had seen better days, assortments of cracks and chips marring its obviously beaten exterior. Swaying in the wind, the mare cocked an eyebrow and stepped toward it to observe the carved lettering scrawled across its length. Reading in a hushed tone, she barely uttered out the first two letters before she heard a groan from next to her.

Looking to her left, she found the old man, arms crossed, staring darkly at the sign. Raising a brow, the mare licked her dry lips and asked, “What?”

Gaining no response, Rainbow inquired, “Something wrong with the-”

“The name.”

Looking over at the sign, the cloaked Pegasus gave a disbelieving look and glanced back over to the man standing next to her, “It’s called Ulysses, what about its name?”

Giving a slight sneer underneath his graying beard, Carter replied, “Bad blood with the sort.”

“The town?”

“The person.”

“Well,” the mare started, adjusting her cloak, “I hope you didn’t kill him for what it’s worth.”

As the mare gave a small chuckle, Carter snapped, “Wasn’t the person I was pissed at.”

As the two continued to walk across the highway, Rainbow turned her head and asked a simple question, “Then who?”

Looking back at her, Carter stated simply, “The person he was warning me about.”

Feeling a hint of curiosity creep into her mind, Rainbow stared at Carter, his armored duster flowing freely in the wind still blowing heavily through her own brown cloak. About to ask another question, she noticed a slight discomfort emerge from her chest. Looking down, she noticed the collar of her dirt-ridden Vault suit, out of place and somehow tucked into the rest of the leather. Nudging it with her muzzle, she looked back at the Wanderer and inquired.

“What was his name?”

Carter suddenly slowed down, his eyes narrowed in what the mare easily made out to be anger. Shifting the anti-materiel rifle slung across his back, he gave a long pause before replying harshly, “His name was John.”

Chuckling at the seemingly generic name, the mare decided to pull a joke, still smiling in amusement, “Heh, what’s his name now?”

“Legate Anderson.”

Blinking once, twice, and then three times, the mare stared blankly at the old man next to her before bursting out in laughter, not noticing until too late that that same old man was glaring at her like a stern father.

“Wait. You’re-”

“Legate Anderson, slayer of Lanius and Kye-sar’s right hand man.”

“Who the hell’s Kye-sar?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Why not-”

“You’re just full of questions today, aren’t you?” the man asked suddenly, the mare walking next to him immediately realizing the sensitivity of the topic.

Carter gave a soft smile, the previous encounter with his old accomplise now forgotten in his mind. Peering over at the Pegasus trotting alongside him, he gave her a quick pat on her head, deciding to mess up her mane while he was at it.

His hand was quikly swatted away by a muddy cyan hoof, its owner giving the accused a blank look of disapproval as he chuckled in retrospect. Rolling her eyes, Rainbow adjusted her cloak once more and looked around for what she lazily estimated as the umpteenth time that day.

"Hey, Dashie?"

Groaning at the nickname, the mare gave a lazy response, "What Carter...?"

Hearing the familiar sound of liquid splashing against a bottle, Rainbow looked to her right, finding the Wanderer lightly tossing a bottle of alcohol to himself. Giving a sly grin down to the mare, he asked, "How old are you, Rainbow Dash?"

The question caught her off guard.

Here the two were, walking against the wind on a deserted highway in New Kansas, dust blowing in their eyes, guns strapped to their backs, and miles ahead and miles behind them, taking an over two thousand mile sojourn to Arizona from Washington D.C., and the ol' coot was asking about the mare's age.

The mare stumbled with the answer, "Uh, why do you ask?"

Shaking the bottle and causing the brown liquid inside to fizz, Carter replied, "Because, I have a whole twelve ounces of moonshine in this definitely more portable bottle here," he looked over to the mare, "and I just wanted to make sure it was legal...." he added with a wink.

Giving a smirk, Rainbow laughed, "Didn't see you as being a Lawbringer, Carter."

"I was a looooong time ago, Dashie-"

"Dammit Carter."

"I'm just a Messiah now."

"You're no God," Rainbow laughed, casually bumping the man's hip with her leg.

Unscrewing the lid of the moonshine, Carter gave a toothy grin as Rainbow's mouth widened in anticipation.

"And who says?"

And with that, Rainbow could only watch as a stray bullet pierced through the air, landing in Carter's chest and causing him to fall to the ground in a cold heap.