Fallout: the Elements in Vegas

Chapter 1: Mojave

My eyes slowly opened and closed as my vision blurred, and my ears rang with a high pitch hum that felt like it was grinding into my brain. Groaning, I rolled over onto my back, staring into the moonlit night sky. My breath rolled out into the cold air in puffs of ghost white steam as my head pounded, like Pinkie was throwing multiple parties at once in my living room… while I was hungover. That would cause even more of a headache, trying to figure out how she was able to get up to my house in the first place.

‘Speaking of Pinkie, did she spike my drink again? I seriously can’t remember the last few hours,’ I thought as I tried to recall previous events. My headache doubled in intensity as I placed a hoof on my head while clenching my eyes shut in a grimace.

‘Wait…’ I thought in utter shock, feeling limbs in the wrong places.

My magenta eyes shot open to look at the five tan colored digits illuminated by the moons glow. I leaned up to gaze upon a set of legs covered by blue and gold spandex, the knees of said legs bent forward and connected to strange looking feet. From one quick look, I knew what I was. Between the descriptions Twilight gave me from her lone adventure in the crystal mirror, I quickly realized that I was a human.

‘Why? Why am I a human? I definitely didn’t go through the crystal mirror. Oh crap… better stay the hay away from Lyra,’ I thought as I involuntarily shuddered, ‘If that mint green mare gets ahold of me…’

Shrugging off the scary thought, I got up from my spot on the ground, finding it really easy to stand on two legs. It was a trick I used to performed when I was a pony, standing on my hindlegs and walking. A real eye-catcher seeing an awesome mare like me strut around on two legs instead of the boring old four.

With my new position, I began to properly look myself over. I was in a human version of a Wonderbolt flight suit and goggles, my slim build still seemed to apply to my body, and for some reason I had a minotaur’s satchel bag adorned by my cutie-mark, which was a storm cloud and rainbow lightning bolt. It was probably my saddlebags, but it transformed along with me for some reason.

Opening it up, I pulled out a book, unable to see the cover. It was most likely my copy of Daring Doo and Dr. Bones, and I cracked it open to where I left the bookmark. However, just like the cover, I couldn’t read anything in the dim moonlight.

Groaning in frustration, I shut the book and put it back in the brown satchel, securing the cutie-mark shaped buckle. Twilight had told me that humans walked on two legs, so I started to take small, shaky steps to get a proper feel for two-legged walking.

Looking around, the darkness didn’t reveal much in the way of landmarks, except the distant silhouettes of mountains. The land I was standing on sloped upwards in a small hill, and I knew it would allow me to potentially see more of the area around me.

In the span of five minutes of slow and unbalanced steps, I made it up the hill before a rock decided to get in the way of my new feet. That caused me to roll head over human feet down the sandy mound into even more dirt.

I wasn’t going to let a stupid rock keep me down. Getting up off the ground once more, I popped the kink out my neck and muttered a few curses that would get me bucked into next week by Applejack if I used them around her sister. Taking a look around in the dim moonlight revealed next to nothing except a small campfire glowing like a beacon down the paved road. Then realization dawned on me, paved roads are in the cities like Mareami and Manehattan, how did I get this far out?

With that in mind, seeing the fire reminded me that the night was cold. Hugging myself with my new arms to try and keep in warmth, I decided to make my way towards the orange glow. After a while of walking though, my bare feet were beginning to feel the painful effect of walking without hard hooves on pavement.

After what seemed like a small eternity, I finally made it there with great effort to keep from tripping again, my soft, hoofless feet were killing me. Sadly, the little camp that I found was nothing more than an old tree stump with a guitar, campfire, and some supplies in a pile that made even my chaotic brand of organization seem organized. There was also a light blue bedroll sitting right next to a very faded, illegible billboard, but nopony in sight to ask where I was.

Knowing that traveling around in the dark wouldn’t help me figure out where in Equestria I was, I sat near the fire to take the cold nip out the air. I heard the coffee pot boiling before I saw it, a grey cylinder resting on some coals while vigorously bubbling and steaming. Hopefully the owner of this camp would return soon and tell me just where I was.

I wasn’t going to take anything without permission, so with nothing else to do, I pulled out my book to read using the firelight. Sure enough, it was my personal copy of Daring Doo and Dr. Bones. Cracking the hardcover copy decorated with a stylized griffon skull made of crystal open, I began to read.

As my eyes moved over the words describing a train scene and snakes, my memory began to return.

I was on a train bound for Ponyville because I was tired from training. I had recently earned my sergeant stripes, I still had my flight suit on because I wanted to show how awesome I looked in it to everyone in Ponyville… That’s when my memory blanked out again. Groaning with disappointment, I decided to read and wait for whoever owns this little camp to return.

<>~<>~<>

It was a few minutes before the sound of human feet began to creep up on me; sadly, I was too enthralled - thank you Twilight for getting me that big word of the day calendar - by the adventures of the two archeologists that the entire outside world was ignored. I didn’t hear the crunch of sand under-hoof before there was a sharp clicking sound, and the feeling of a cold metal object pressing against the back of my skull.

“I want you to get up, and turn slowly,” A gruff, male voice ordered, smooth and evenly, “Any sudden moves, your head is gone.”

With the metal thing pressing into my skull, I decided it would be the logical choice to comply. Getting up slowly from my seat, I turned at an agonizingly slow pace for me towards the voice. It was another human. He was, as his voice hinted, a male. His face that was worn with stress or age was locked in an intimidating scowl, a black Stetson hat adorned his head and he was clothed in a long brown duster coat made of what appeared to be… true leather. My mind shivered at the thought of how many pigs were needed to make that coat.

“Just who might you be?” The man asked after I turned to him. He placed the metal weapon at his hip in a some sort of sheath, his face softening at the sight of my face, “Sorry for the gun, needed to see just what type of person you were.”

“Huh?” I stammered out, confused at his change in demeanor.

“I needed to see if you weren’t some raider, pretending to be friendly just to slit my throat when I walked up. So who are you?” He asked, face hardening again.

Totally ignoring the red flags and alarms going off in my head, I answered, “Sergeant Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolts first platoon, Cloudsdale branch,” I recited like I was being interrogated, which, in a sense, I was. He did have a ‘gun’ pointed at my head a second ago, whatever that ‘gun’ did was a mystery to me, but I didn’t want to find out.

His face instantly lit up, he reached out a hand to me, “Nice to meet you Miss Dash, so are the Wonderbolts a branch in the NCR correct?”

“No,” I replied courteously, grasping his rough cracked hand for a ‘handshake’, which was a lot gentler than a hoofshake from Applejack, “I sorta just got here somehow, and now my mind is running a blank. Would you please tell me where the nearest town is so I can radio Cloudsdale and figure out where in Equestria I am, and why I’m a human.”

He took a step back, surprised at what I said, and I hoped I hadn’t said something that would put me in a tight spot, before he began to look at me again in the firelight.

“Explains the crazy colored hair and those red eyes, figured they were just mutations,” He mumbled just loudly enough for me to hear.

I smacked my face with my human hand; great, now I’m definitely not in Equestria anymore. Mutations, humans, these gun things… just where am I.

“So,” he began slowly, studying me like the alien I was, “Where is this Equestria place? Never heard of it,” he cracked a small smile, “but I'm sure you knew that. You mind telling me what were you before you were a human?”

I began to speak, thinking he was crazy for never hearing of Equestria, but he cut me off, “Actually, forget it, I can tell by how you wandered right into my camp and didn't steal anything that you're not from around these parts, so heed this advice,” He leaned close to me, I noticed the amount of dirt and grime on his face in the orange light, “Get some socks and boots and don't trust anyone you don't know. Now, you can sleep here tonight, but don't expect me to feed you, although you're welcome to some coffee.”

I was surprised by the order, and after his offer, he moved to a metal box beside the bedroll, opening it up to retrieve two coffee mugs. Handing one to me, he moved to the stump and sat, bending down to retrieve the steaming pot. Pouring himself a mug, he offered me the grey spouted cylinder, which I kindly refused. Not much of a coffee person, unlike Captain Spitfire, my commanding officer.

After I refused the beverage, I sat buffalo style on the ground. The mysterious male drank from his mug, with his guitar at his side, for around a minute, in near total silence, not a sound to be heard but the occasional whistle of the midnight wind over parched sand. Setting his now empty white mug down on the ground, he picked up the guitar and began to strum the strings, tuning it a few times before humming lyrics.

“This is a song I wrote a long time ago,” he said before strumming the guitar at a faster pace, “Well I won’t back down,” He began to sing in a gravelly tone, “No I won't back down. You can stand me up at the gates of Hell, but I won’t back down.”

I found myself being drawn towards the voice, like a moth to a flame.

“Gonna stand my ground, won't be turned around, and I’ll keep this world from draggin me down, gonna stand my ground, and I won't back down.”

“Hey baby, there ain’t no easy way out. Hey, I will stand my ground, and I won’t back down.”

He placed the guitar back to his side, looking straight at me with eyes that seen a world of pain, “If you’re ever in a spot of trouble, just think of the song and be strong.”

I stared back, near inaudibly I mumbled, “Thanks,” I knew in this new place I would need it, and a pit dropping in my stomach told me that the others would be needing it too. I couldn't be sure my friends were here, but something told me we were in this together, and ever since we were fillies, I could tell when Fluttershy was in trouble.

I looked around, seeing nothing but dirt and dust, “So where am I exactly?” I asked.

The human looked to me before slowly turning his head to the left and right before motioning with a hand in a circle, “All this you see around here, is nothing but a godforsaken pile of sand with a city devoted to sin right smack dab in the middle of it.”

I tapped my chin, thinking of where I heard the city description before, actually it sounded like Las Pegasus… what with its gambling, bars, and the very occasional murder.

There was this one pegasus from there. He was nice guy, but he had a bit of a temper problem. We met in a bar a few weeks ago. I think Dusty was his name, light grey, light blue eyes.

“Hey,” The stranger said to catch my attention, “You seem to be lost in thought there.”

I blushed a little bit at getting caught, “Remembering a date I had a couple weeks back. Your description reminded me of a city in Equestria, Las Pegasus.”

He gave a chuckle, “Funny considering the city here was named Las Vegas before the bombs, now its New Vegas”

My mouth hung agape, bombs, as in explosive bombs, “This place is at war,” I asked nearly yelling, “With who, I’m sure Princess Celestia could negotiate between both sides.” I exclaimed, trying to make sense of how we haven’t heard of this war in Equestria.

He shook his head, “Wherever this Equestria place is, I guess it ain’t on Earth, the war was over two hundred years ago. If it were, I figured you would have known about the entire planet going to Hell.”

“Uhh…” I slurred out, my brain not wanting to work after the new revelation. I figured we just somehow ended up in some new country, not a new world altogether.

The sudden feeling of being utterly, and inescapably out of my element passed over me with a blinding wave of terror. I froze, having to let my brain reboot and catch up with the fact I was, indeed, no longer on the face of Equus.

The human must not have realized my distress, as he continued to speak while I half listened, “Don’t worry, I can believe you’re from a different world, even the bit on why you’re a human. There have been rumors of an alien ship and little green men for a while now, and the Mojave holds even stranger secrets than that,” With that he stretched his arms and yawned, causing me to stop thinking and yawn with him, “Well, I’m tired, had to go hunting for some plants to replenish my stock, needless to say, it wore me out. You can use the bedroll tonight.”

“Um… thanks,” I mumbled out. But really, a war over two hundred years ago and it’s still affecting them, not just them, but the whole planet… just, wow, I can’t believe I’m on another planet.

Moving over to the bedroll, I laid down and closed my eyes, exaustion causing me to instantly fall asleep.

<>~<>~<>

A loud bang caused me to jump up from the bedroll. Surprised and confused, I looked around, noticing I was still in the human world as a human and it wasn’t all just a wacky drunken dream.

Another bang sounded out in the morning light. Getting up quickly, I moved away from camp, the human nowhere to be seen. Crossing a road, I neared an embankment to a dry lake bed. As soon as I looked down the embankment I was shocked speechless. There, down the slope, was the BIGGEST ant I ever seen. It was the length of two foals, and around the height of one, its massive scissor jaws were snapping at another giant ant.

As soon as one fell, the others head exploded with a loud bang. I turned to see the human holding his gun, the tube of it smoking. It dawned on me that the purpose of guns were to kill. I was unimaginably grateful I decided to listen instead of fight for once.

He looked at me, my mouth waiting for a fly to buzz in and choke me. “Judging from that expression, this Equestria place doesn’t have guns,” he said near sarcastically.

All I could do was nod my head. After I second I found the words I was looking for, “That was… you killed it!” I exclaimed out. In a flash, the gun was pointed at me, if minotaurs’ names for body parts apply to humans, he used his thumb to pull back a piece of metal, right before another bang and flash of fire.

What I heard through the ringing in my ears was the sound of bug shell breaking along with the squash of soft organs. Turning my head slowly, there was an even bigger ant right behind me, a hole neatly drilled between its beady soulless eyes revealing green goop that once was its brain, Its massive jaws prepared to cut me to ribbons.

How I hadn’t managed to hear the large creature sneak up behind me, I never would know.

“A second later Ms. Dash, and you would have been dead. Your world, whatever shape it’s in, forget about it. Here, you’re on the bottom of the food chain, the lowest rung of the ladder.”

I stood there, my ears still ringing, blankly staring into what just about killed me. The humans words echoed in my mind as I stared. Bottom of the food chain? What have you gotten yourself into Dash?

The human shook me out of my thoughts when he spoke, quickly and authoritatively, “Now, let’s get back to camp. I’ll grab you something to wrap your feet with so you don’t blister on the way to the 188. The asphalt gets hot as hellfire come noontime.”

With that, we moved back to camp. Opening a nearby wooden box, the gun toting stranger took out a few items.

He handed me a set of dirty clothes, the brown pants had pockets-galore on it, and the shirt was so dirty it appeared that the white fabric was brown.

“The form fitting stuff you’re wearing might look good, but you don’t want to stay in clothing like that.”

“Why?” I inquired.

He looked at me blankly, “Cause ya may end up under someone who took a liken to the way you look.”

My mouth hung open for like the umpteenth time, “Pon- I mean, people here will force themselves onto a mare?” I asked using the word Equestrians use when dealing with large crowds of non-ponies.

“Yes, especially the Raiders, or Caesars Legion. Oh yeah, Rainbow, if you see any men in red skirts, run like Hell is on your heels,” He took a very serious tone and grim look, “because it is. Caesar’s men will haul you back to The Fort and keep you as a slave.”

At the word slave, my mind said a few choice words, probably mouthed them to, “Why?” I asked under my breath… I could barely speak. Keeping others as slaves is… well it’s completely wrong.

“Just because,” he started to explain as he pulled a brown cloth bag that was no bigger than a hoof from the box, “They keep you as a worker, that’s if you’re lucky. If they deem you one of good traits, a Legionnaire gets you pregnant with a potential soldier. They choose healthy women like yourself to make strong legion boys.”

I dropped a few shades of color, my tan skin now a milky white, “That’s…” I trailed off, not able to find the words to describe the horror of what I was just told. I wonder how my friends would react. Rarity would faint, Applejack would damn near want to kill them, Twilight would exhaust herself finding a way to change the entire Legion, Pinkie Pie’s hair would deflate, and I would have to go through THAT again… and Fluttershy… oh my... her kind heart would not be able to handle it. The concept alone would make her sick with grief, but it being a reality… I don’t think a soul like hers could cope with the fact.

I felt my stomach double over, a few more turns and I was on my knees, losing my lunch in the sand.

Wiping my mouth with the sleeve of my uniform, I calmed down from the little bit of information, the stranger handed me the bag. Opening it revealed bottle caps, which I didn’t ask what they were for. Taking the bag and the clothes, I stepped around the corner of the billboard. Twilight had told me humans considered it immodest to be nude in front of them after her experience with the crystal mirror.

I set the bundle of clothing to the side and put the bag of caps in my satchel, along with my flight goggles. Setting the satchel with the rest of the clothes, I reached behind my head, taking the zipper of my suit in my hand and pulled downward, the zipper easily gliding down my back until it reached just above my waistline. I quickly slipped out the skin tight suit, my bare skin being kissed by the warm desert sun.

Looking over myself, I discovered my cutie mark was still on my flank. With how much had stayed the same, I figured I would have ended up with blue skin and wings, but no luck. I was literally grounded.

The realization made me smack my forehead and groan loudly. I was stuck on the ground with no way to fly.

Just bucking great. Wait, this is so bad, it doesn't deserve the foal safe-language… this is just fucking great.

Stopping my mental tirade, I decided I better stop griping, get dressed, and find my friends. I just wonder where in this world they may be. Or of they were even here at all.

<>~<>~<>

I found out that human and pony clothing are really similar. The pants worked just like the ones back in Equestria, but were much easier to get on with my new legs. It took me only around a minute to get the pants on right, and after I got them on, I put on my shirt, packed my old uniform in my satchel, and stepped around the corner of the billboard to see the stranger rummaging through yet another box.

“Here you go,” He calmly said as he handed me tattered cloth wrapping for my feet, like not a few minutes earlier had he told me there wasn’t a band or rapist slavers wanting to find me.

“Where are we going?” I asked, my mind still not fully recovered from all the recent shocks. I would probably be watching over my shoulder until I found one of my friends.

If I can find them. Bad Rainbow, no thinking like that now.

“The 188 Trading post, someone there can take you with a caravan to Freeside. From there you’re on your own.”

“Before I forget again, I never asked for your name,” I asked, tilting my head like a pigeon inspecting a piece of bread.

He blushed and took off his hat, revealing that his left ear was missing a small piece, “Well missy, now that is a secret I don’t want to share.”

I crossed my arms in a pout, “You said don’t trust anyone I don’t know, so tell me your name or how can I trust you?”

He smacked his face with the palm of his hand, obviously regretting setting my ground rules, “You make a valid point, don’t laugh or I will refuse to take you,” He said with a hint of anger before looking down, “My name is Sue,” he said exasperatedly.

“And you’re embarrassed about that? Why?” I asked, confused as to why his name caused him so much humiliation.

“It’s a girl’s name. When my pa up and left when I was born, all he left me was his gun, guitar, an empty bottle of booze, and of course the name. He’s also the one that cut a piece of my left ear off.”

I gasped, “Why would he do that!?”

“Self-defense, I threatened to kill him. We had a drunken fight, then we became best friends after we ended the fight by drawing our guns on each other,” He explained while chuckling a bit. The look of nostalgia in his eyes told me he was quite fond of that moment.

I concluded that humans are strange, nearly kill each other over a name and become friends, “So,” I said, “let’s put all this nonsense about killing behind us and get me to that Trading post.”

<>~<>~<>

The wraps helped my feet during the walk. Sue helped me learn that humans use a combination of minotaur and dragon terms to describe body parts, mostly minotaur, since the torso and arms of a human are nearly visibly the same as minotaur males and females.

It wasn’t that far to walk to the trading post, maybe an hour and a half of walking. I didn’t really pay heed to what the scenery looked like, I was too busy asking questions and observing Sue with the ferocity of Twilight with a new issue of Science Monthly, but learning nothing like the egghead could from just simple glances.

While we both were walking there, sue had answered as best he could with the questions I had bombarded him with. They were all about Caesar’s Legion and the war that was two hundred years over.

I was amazed and horrified by the fact the humans had invented weapons powerful enough to wipe out entire cities in one shot. Some numbskull thought something that powerful would never be used, but on one fateful day, catastrophe struck and the world was plunged into fire that left behind something Sue called radiation. I had asked him about radiation and that led to a conversation about things that look like zombies but are called ghouls, but that route stopped dead after I asked how radiation could do that since he didn’t know.

I had also learned that Caesar’s Legion was formed after some doctor from the Followers of The Apocalypse - very good choice of a name - went west to spread humanitarian aid, encountered a man who knew the native languages, and somehow from there the Legion was formed.

After I finished asking Sue my questions, a thought, with the subtlety of me, hit my mind, “How do you know all these things?” I blurted out, stopping both of our walking.

“Courier 6 stops by my camp all the time,” Sue explained before looking foward with a nod, “I guess this is your stop, the 188 Trading Post.”

I turned to look ahead of me, and there it was, a collection of dull grey metal trailers and scrap metal huts positioned on a small overpass. A flag with a two headed bear waved over the outpost, proudly displaying the words, ‘New California Republic’ in dark black lettering. I turned to say thanks to Sue for help, but he was gone… ‘sheesh, the nerve of that guy, disappearing on me when I needed a question answered.’

Shrugging off being abandoned by the only person I knew would help me, I began walking to the collection of buildings on top of the bridge.

Before long, I began to encounter bored looking humans in tan armor and helmets, carrying long weapons that looked like they worked like Sue’s gun. I went on a pure guess and decided they must be guns as well.

“Christ,” one of the humans in armor said in a swear, looking to another “with this heat, I shouldn’t get hazard pay, I should get sweat pay.”

“Quit your moaning and stay alert. Who knows, fruit hair here could be a spy,” the other said with a quick point towards me.

I grit my teeth, rolled my eyes, and kept walking as the two let out peals of laughter.

Stopping by what seemed to be an outdoor bar, I nodded to the bartender who had glasses and bottles lining an old bookshelf behind the counter. After taking a seat on one of the three stools at the bar, I heard the clank of a cowbell. I turned to see a passing cow with a rather large amount of boxes on its back that had two heads.

Wait… two heads?

Turning with an alarmed gasp, my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. Sure enough, it was a red, hairless cow with two heads. I’d have ask her something later, but right then, I needed to ask someone if they may have seen any of my friends. I doubted a two headed cow would know, plus she - guessing it was a she due to the udders - was following someone in leather and metal armor.

Looking around, I saw a woman, wearing a brown hood with a silver-grey metal fist. Putting the red flag of ‘metal fist’ away until we spoke, I got off the barstool and cautiously walked up to her. She saw me, turned and lowered her hood with her nonmetal hand, and revealed a kind flawless face, her black hair clean as a Canterlot palace floor, “Hey,” She kindly said to me, “I like that cool hairdo, but it probably doesn’t really fit with all the sand does it?”

“Not really,” I said back to her, “and you are?”

“Who’s asking?” she asked bluntly, her face going from a smile to one of curiosity.

I stopped to think, what do I tell her? I decided to tell a little bit of the truth, “I’m kinda lost, have you seen any of my friends? Their names are Twilight Sparkle, Rarity Belle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack Apple? By the way, the name’s Rainbow Dash. Fastest flyer in all of Equestria,” I said proudly before I remembered where I was. “Well, was,” I sighed out, remembering I could no longer fly.

She looked me over, placing a hand on her chin, “Allll-right then, I’m Veronica, and I live in a hole in the ground.”

My somber mood changed to curiosity, “You... live in a hole in the ground?” I asked, shaking my head in disbelief.

“Actually, it’s more along the lines of a bunker, but it sounds more interesting my way,” she chuckled out. She straightened her face, looking dead serious all of a sudden, “So, it seems like you’re on a mission to find your crazy named friends, and I need somewhere to go, can I tag along?”

“Sure… but first, do you know where I can buy myself a gun?”

“Yes,” she shouted in excitement, “Us two girls roaming the Mojave, kicking ass and taking names, all on a quest to find your missing friends, who may or may not exist.”

I didn’t hear the rest of her sentence after Mojave though… why didn’t I ask Sue what desert this was?

Veronica looked at me concerned, “You okay?” she asked me.

I looked back, confused and admittedly scared, “Mojave and Las Vegas equals Marejave and Las Pegasus…” I said to myself. I had already admitted I was lost on another world, ‘but to still have such a coincidence,’ I thought.

‘Not that far fetched with the mirror world version of me.’

“Um, Earth to Dash, come in,” She said tapping a finger on my head, causing me to snap back to reality, “You went wide eyed for a second there.”

“Sorry,” I admitted, shaking my head, “If you havent realized yet, take a good look at my eyes and hair. I’m guessing humans don’t quite have the same colors,” I didn’t know if it was a risk to tell someone that I was from another world, but it was one I was willing to take to find my friends.

“So those aren't mutations caused by radiation?” Veronica asked low, rubbing her chin as if in deep thought, “If so, then that means you can’t be human and you’re obviously not a ghoul ghoul,” I could hear the excitement building up in her voice.

“Yes, believe it or not, I’m from another world. For some reason it seems that my world contains a desert and city closely named to this one. Also, I need to find my friends and make it back home somehow.”

All she did was mouth an excited and soundless ‘wow’ before looking at me again, “So what now miss alien?” she asked with the enthusiasm of a cake fueled Pinkie.

I facepalmed hard enough the smack was probably heard around the trading post, “I would really appreciate it if you would just use Rainbow or RD, whichever you like. I need a gun and training, can you teach me?”

She looked at me with a cocked eyebrow, tapping her chin with a thumb for a few seconds before she gave me a reply, “Guess I can,” she cracked a near manic smile, “Now let’s go do my kind of shopping.”

A few minutes later, I was browsing the various guns sold from the back of an olive green truck, a machine that worked like the parade floats back home, but instead of using magic to run, it used something that was far too eggheadish to wrap my head around.

Also, it seemed the bits used in this world were old bottle caps, paper NCR money, and… Legion coins. I shivered at the thought of them. Veronica gave me the crash course on the currency and fair exchange rates so I wouldn’t get swindled.

The woman I was talking to was an ex-NCR soldier, I asked if she was in the NCR after I noticed the manner in which she spoke, nearly shouting ‘yes ma'am’ and ‘no ma’am,’ the only way getting chewed out during physical training by a drill instructor multiple times could give you.

The bag that Sue gave me contained a whopping seventy five caps, enough to buy me a ‘9mm pistol’, as Veronica called it, and enough ‘magazines’ of ammunition to fight any pesky giant ants I could possibly encounter.

To me, guns seemed nothing more than small versions of cannons, the kind of cannons that don't shoot party supplies and confetti.

With that notion in mind, I felt a slight unease in my stomach. I knew for a fact Veronica was going to teach me how to seriously hurt, maybe even outright kill things. But in the end, I would do anything short of murder to save my friends.