Chapter 6: Hell and Back

<~Legion Raiding Camp, Mojave Desert~>

Applejack opened her eyes slowly, the very act bringing her head splitting pain. Groaning, she tried to move and speak, only to be muffled by a cloth gag that tasted like dirt, and ropes cut into her ankles and wrists, keeping her on the ground. All she could do was stare into a crackling fire, the added heat making her uncomfortable under the sun. Every now and then, the wind would shift, sending her the pleasant smell of burning brush and wood wafting into her nostrils.

It reminded her of the fireplace in the farmhouse’s living room. Though the comfort made her feel guilty, the soft sobs of Fluttershy nearby stabbed at her heart like a razor sharp dagger. She couldn’t imagine what was running through the poor girl’s head. The battle alone would have scarred her psyche, but being captured and carried off to who-knows-where?

Struggling some more in her bonds, she twisted and pulled until she tired herself out and her wrists were raw. Panting in the dirt, the balled up cloth gagging her became drenched in her saliva. Applejack began to hear men cackling in joyous revelry, clinking bottles of booze, and speaking in a language she didn’t know. She could hear footsteps approach, an uneasy feeling dropping into her stomach.

She was violently rolled over, a legionare clad in red with wild looking hair and a scar over his left eye, locked his eyes with her’s.

“Heh, nice try back there,” he said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. His breath reeked like he hadn't brushed in months, and his eyes screamed sadistic and insane, “I… have to really applaud you,” he said slowly and with a heavy accent, pausing to let his compliment sink in, “While the others ran like little bitches and didn’t help, you,” He punctuated, pausing just a second, “...tried to drag your little friend to safety… only to be surrounded.”

She knew her friends didn’t leave her and Fluttershy alone on purpose. The Legionare seemed to wait for an answer, but never got it due to the gag in her mouth.

He saw the spit soaked gag and let out a wheezing laugh, “What? Cat got your tongue?” He asked, quite sincerely, “But yeah… nice whack to my head,” he said as he pointed to his scar with his index and middle finger, his thumb pointing up. She vaguely remembered hitting him in the head with the butt of her pump-action shotgun.

“Now, you lie there, and listen to me give your little friend a nice chat.”

She heard him walk off as she stared into the sky, the sheer distance the blue ceiling seemed to be away from her, sent her head spinning.

She head Fluttershy squeak in fright as the Legionnaire flipped her onto her back, “So, how are you doing?” He nonchalantly asked Fluttershy, who only whimpered through her gag.

“HEY, I AM FUCKING SPEAKING TO YOU!” He screamed in rage, and Fluttershy whimpering in fright. “So why don’t you give me the goddamn courtesy, of looking me in the eyes, huh?”

“Lloyd, calm down,” Applejack heard another legionary say, “Keep acting like that, and I might have to fucking stab you… again.”

“Jason,” Lloyd said with venom, “She’s being a little bitch and not speaking when I ask a fucking question.”

“She’s got a fucking gag in her mouth, so chill the fuck out.”

Applejack wasn’t amused by the sheer amount of cussing they were doing. It won’t right to cuss like that. But at least the other Legionare managed to shut the psycho up, and they both walked off, leaving Fluttershy sobbing more than ever. Applejack knew she could shrug off being called a bitch, but Fluttershy... she had more social problems than a snake in a knot tying contest.  

Applejack hated herself for getting her into this mess. If she had just told Fluttershy to stay in Goodsprings with Doc Mitchell, instead of going with her and Cass with the caravan they started at the Mojave Outpost, then she wouldn't be in this situation.

She shivered when she remembered the blood… so much blood… did Cass even make it?

<~Just outside of Novac~>

We carried the stretchers we made from thick boards and old shirts we found in the Ranger Station, that no one had mentioned fell to the Legion earlier. Dried blood covered the floor and old walls… but that was in the past.

I never got to ask Rarity what ‘The Divide’ was before Jamie said we had to get Cass and Veronica - now sedated - back to town. Cass had lost so much blood, it was a miracle they were able to stop the bleeding in time to save her life.

I could almost picture myself lying on the ground, a hole in my chest. Bleeding profusely and it just, not, stopping. Dixon could have easily killed me.

We were carrying them to the local doctor in Novac who lived outside the motel fortress’ walls in a small house.

While we walked, I took a good look at Pinkie, who was in front of me, carrying the front of Cass’s stretcher. Her hair was fixed into it’s rigid state, not a single errant curl remained.

We both had killed that day, in defense of ourselves, so it wasn’t murder, but there was no way to tell what problems all of this would cause for her. Simply ignoring her while planning a surprise party had easily sent her over the edge. I could easily accept it was a fact of life here. I was a wonderbolt, we’re tough as nails.

Plus I had Fluttershy and Applejack to worry about.

Those of us who were uninjured talked of rescue plans for our friends before dropping off Cass and Veronica, where the female doctor rushed them into her house, her guards waiting patiently outside the door.

Rarity waved her hand to catch my attention, before walking towards town.

Of course, I followed her, curious about the scars. Pinkie stayed with Jamie and Twilight, who were going to buy supplies for the whole group. We needed all we could get for the upcoming rescue mission.

The fact we were planning a rescue mission kept me from breaking down over Fluttershy and Applejack’s capture. We would get them back, and soon.

Following Rarity into town, she sat down on a bench, removed her helmet, and pulled a small red and white plastic package out a pouch or pocket that was hidden under the trenchcoat. Flipping up the lid, she pulled out a white cylindrical piece of paper and bit down on a tan colored end.

Replacing the box, she pulled out a silver lighter with a black skull painted on it. Opening it’s lid, she spun a wheel with her thumb until a small orange flame spewed from the top. She held the flame up to what I suddenly realized was a cigarette, and took a puff before closing the lighters lid.

Walking up, still shaking slightly from the whole ordeal, I decided to ask, “When did you start smoking?” I sat down beside her, hoping I wouldn’t breath in any of her secondhand smoke. The stuff was so bad, it could kill you, and I needed healthy lungs for flying.

“I was eighteen and it was such a buzz with the elite,” Rarity said with a shrug, “That was before they started linking smoking to health risks, that is. Even after they found out it was harmful, I still smoked… but I had to quit when customers began to complain of the smell on the fabric.” It was strange hearing her speak. She sounded a lot like Rarity, but then again she didn’t. Like her voice was a constant, dry rasp.

She didn’t look much like a ghoul, or what I heard that they look like. The worst thing about her looks were the few patches that were skint down to muscle.

“So why start back now?” I asked. It was something to keep my mind off the fact everything had went to shit, really fast.

“If you’d seen the things I have…” Rarity trailed off. This wasn’t her usual, pansy, overdramatic, out-of-proportion self. It was genuine, the look in her eyes said it all. She took an extremely long draw of the cigarette, before blowing smoke out her nose.

If Spike saw her do that...

“What happened. In the Divide, I mean?”

She sighed, and let her dramatic self return, “I turned into a monster…”

<~The Divide, Rarity’s first day~>

A raging tempest of sand and wind whipped at a lone woman’s flesh, sending wave after wave of sand to cut and scrape her nude body.

She screamed in pain, blood trickling down her arm from a cut. She desperately searched for safety, but the sandstorm she found herself in reduced her visibility to near zero.

Stumbling around in the storm, more and more flesh fell victim to the raging wind and foul sand. Unknowing to her, the sand also held a hidden side effect.

Some of it was irradiated.

When all hope seemed lost, she found herself something to block the sand. She couldn’t tell what it was in the storm, but it felt like metal. At least it blocked the storm, so there she waited. A warm feeling constantly with her. Soon she felt weaker and weaker, before collapsing by the object… an undetonated nuclear warhead, that was slowly poisoning her along with the irradiated sandstorm.

Hours later, the storm was over, and Rarity awoke to the sound of silence.

Crawling out the cubbyhole she found earlier, she surveyed her surroundings. A large concrete wall surrounded three sides of the area she was in, and a few arch-shaped metal huts were evenly spaced around. She felt strange, and hadn’t noticed that her minor wounds had healed, or that parts of her face were stripped down to muscle. All she saw was proper shelter, and she ran for it.

Flinging open the door, she ran inside, and then, very unladylike, slammed it. Panting, she observed her new surroundings. Books littered the floor, blood was splattered onto the walls, and a pile of dismembered body parts and bloody bones were sitting in a far corner. It took only one more second for her to see the body that was hung upside down from the top frame of a bunk bed, disemboweled and decapitated.

Her pupils shrunk to pinpricks before the stench of death and decay hit her nose. The pungent stench made her deposit all her stomach's contents onto the wooden floor of what was once a barracks.

She began to feel dizzy at the sight of the carnage, but a thought kicked her out of fainting and into defense mode, ‘Something had to do that to those unfortunate souls.’ That single thought had her searching for a weapon. Grabbing the red handle of a bowie knife that was stuck into a nearby bookshelf, she began to back out of the building, hoping whatever killed and mutilated the corpses wasn't around.

She backed up until she felt herself bump into something, something alive, something very, very, pissy.

A growl yelling ‘kill’ from a creature behind her as it shoved her forward, causing her to drop the knife from the unexpected encounter. Landing in the pile of bloody body parts, she managed to roll and quickly get up, facing the creature, the knife clattered to the floor only a few feet away.

The creature that was attacking her was wearing an atrocious barding of what was once football padding, patched up with license plates and spiked with rusty nails. Pure hatred was in it’s eyes as it snarled like a rabid animal... an animal content with making her a chew toy.

The creature lacked visible skin. Where skin was once before was peeled down to the muscle, making the creature appear hellacious red.

Rarity made a dive for the knife, the creature, a Marked Man, made a dive for her, teeth prepared to sink into the white, tasty flesh of a human.

Rarity grabbed the knife, and rolled, the marked man, narrowly missing her. Getting up, she faced the ravenous beast, who she now knew there was no way of negotiating with, having heard the chomp of his teeth as he tried to bite her.

“I’m sorry,” Rarity whispered, before lunging forward with the knife, catching the Marked Man by surprise as he tried to turn for another attack. The large twelve inch razor-edged blade sunk deep into his chest, killing the skinless ghoul instantly.

Pushing the corpse away from her, she found herself covered in blood… with the fight over, she collapsed to her knees, and began to sob.

<~Novac, Present Day~>

“Whoa,” I said, as Rarity recounted the tale with such clarity that it had me shivering, “That was… wow.” I couldn’t believe Rarity had it in her to kill, or to deal with what she saw in the Divide, “How did you manage to bring yourself to kill so quickly?” I asked.

She dropped the stub that was left of her cigarette and crushed the smoldering cylinder with her boot, and laughed.

<~The Divide~>

On her knees she cried, cried for having to kill, for being completely and utterly lost, for being alone. All the problems in the world seemed to press down on her as she sobbed by the body, the knife still lodged in his chest.

‘I had to kill him, there was no other way,’ she kept telling herself, ‘If I were to die here, then I would never get to see Sweetie again.’

Then, even more waterworks came as she envisioned her little sister, Sweetie, at her funeral, never getting another magic lesson from her, or a scolding for torturing poor Opalescence. She both hated and loved that cat. Hated her for scratching everything to pieces, but loving her for being her constant companion for so long before Sweetie came along.

With the sole purpose of getting back to her family, she grabbed the knife handle, and pulled it from the corpse. Determination in her eyes, she began to think. She needed clothing and weapons to protect herself, and somewhere to hide in case there were more of those… things.

The little shack she was in didn't seem to fit, the tin walls as thin as paper, and the wooden door wouldn’t last a kick from Fluttershy.

With that in mind, she let all squeamish thought leave her mind for the sake of survival, and searched the corpse’s pouches. She managed to find eight gold coins. The coins had a man’s head wearing an olive wreath on one side, the other was a bucking bull. ‘Aeternit Imperi’ was stamped on the head side, and the bull read, ‘Pax Per Bellvm.’ 

Her Romane was a bit rusty, having learned it at a young age, so she had to search her memory for the meaning of the coins… she gasped when she remembered the translation, ‘Eternal Empire, Peace by War.’

<~Back in Novac~>

“Legion coins really say that?” I asked as she nodded her scarred head, pulling a gold coin out her pocket and handing it to me. The coin reminded me of the standard gold bit a little too much.

“I hope those ruffians have some honor, if they so much as harm a single hair on either of Applejack’s or Fluttershy’s heads, I can show them how marked men treat the corpses of their slain foes.”

I nearly wet myself from hearing those words. Her description of the carnage in the Divide had me thinking I would lose my lunch, and I had no desire to witness it firsthand.

Pinkie decided to pop out of a nearby trashcan, a sour look on her face. Her apparel had changed again, she was no longer wearing the green fatigues, but now a white, sleeveless shirt, camo-print pants, and a red piece of cloth on her head like a bandana. She still had the same rifle, though.

“They are so dead, Pinkie Pie style,” Pinkie said in growling voice she had used when she was angry and tried to crush my head. Was it possible to pity the people who kidnaped two of your friends and tried to kill you?

“Fuck yeah,” I heard Rarity growl out as she quickly put her helmet back on, “We can continue my story later, and with an audience.” She then graciously received several clips of ammo from Pinkie for her massive sniper rifle.

Jamie and Twilight - she will always be Twilight to me, not Midnight - ran up, both of them wearing backpacks, and Jamie carrying a few other backpacks for Pinkie, Rarity, and me.

“Now, listen up,” Jamie said, his voice demanding attention, “A friend by the name of Craig Boone will join us in a few minutes. He has a lot of hate for the Legion, and he want’s some payback. Normally I would just pay for your friends release when they make it to Cottonwood Cove, but the survivors that attacked us probably have spread word through the Legion that I was there, so no chance for that. I packed enough food, water, and gear to lead an expedition to the Sierra Madre and back. We can go when Boone gets here.”

I nodded, and grabbed a bag from Jamie, finally realizing I was out of ammo for my only weapon.

“Hey, I need a new weapon, or some more bullets,” I said, pointing to my pistol that was devoid of a magazine.

Jamie nodded and handed me a rifle he called a ‘marksman’s carbine’ and enough ammo for it to fend off a small army. That is, six magazines of ammo. He also handed me a knife, and three new magazines of nine millimeter ammo.

After he handed off the black colored weapon to me, Jamie also gave me instructions on how to reload and use the ‘scope’ on it. During his instructions, a man with a red beret, dark shades, and a scowl that would make a manticore think twice before attacking him, walked up. He had a long, brown and silver colored rifle with a black scope on top on his back.

“Where are those Legion pukes, Jamie?” He asked gruffly, hate lacing his every word.

“The force that attacked us must have a camp nearby,” Jamie announced, looking between us, “I think that since Nipton and Primm were nearly destroyed, the Legion wanted to destroy Novac. Except that we were in the way.”

I nodded, it sounded logical, though I didn’t know where Nipton or Primm was. Boone smiled wickedly, cruel intent in his eyes, “Guess it’s high time to kill some Legion.”

<>~<Outside the Legion camp>~<>

We found the collection of tents that served as a base for the Legion that attacked us. All we had to do was follow the footprints heading away from Ranger Station Charlie, plus the few drops of blood in the sand.

It was night by the time we found it. The best time as any for a rescue mission, even the moon was hidden behind a cloud, masking us from it’s light. An embankment proved to be a good spot to hide behind and observe the entirety of the small camp, as well as give us the high ground.

We waited behind cover as Jaime entered camp, dressed as a Legionnaire. He was using a uniform graciously donated to us by a dead guy - great, now I’m using grim humor.

We saw him slip out of camp and slink towards where we were hiding. Sitting by me Jamie whispered only loud enough for us to all hear, “They're gone, two Legionnaires left with them a few hours ago. There heading to Cottonwood  Cove, the last stop before The Fort.”

“That's all I needed to hear,” Pinkie growled out, shifting in the darkness.

Rarity, who had night vision integrated into her helmet gasped, “Where on Equus did you get that?”

There was a loud hiss, like a lot of steam escaping at once, then the loudest bang ever in boomed from the middle of the legion camp. Half the legion camp was flattened as a mushroom shaped flame shot skyward, blinding all of us for a brief second.

“You messed with my friends, so now you’re going to pay!” Pinkie yelled.

The torches that remained standing in the camp illuminated the running Legionnaires drop as we all fired our weapons into the survivors.

It was nothing short of a full out massacre. One that Pinkie started by firing the first shot. Most of the Legion were too disoriented to realize where they were being shot at from, and I watched as I could easily shoot the Legion soldiers without fear of them shooting back.

<~Mojave Desert, En Route to Cottonwood Cove~>

Applejack was once again shoved by a Legionare. She and Fluttershy had been walking for the past few hours, but she was in no way able to satisfy the pace set by the Legionare behind her. Fluttershy on the other hand, got lucky. The one named Jason was assigned to trek her to wherever they were going.

The good thing was that he rarely pushed her, only giving light nudges, whereas Lloyd, gave Applejack violent shoves to the base of her back, while yelling expletives that would put a sailor to shame.

Applejack tried to grit her teeth through the gag as she stumbled, Lloyd screaming at the top of his lungs, “MOVE, BITCH!”

Every time he would yell at her, Fluttershy would whimper, even though the verbal assault was not directed at her.

The two legionnaires weren't giving the new slaves breaks on their journey, knowing that Jamie - The man that popped a round into Benny ‘s head, in his own casino, with his own gun - would pursue them. The Legion was in an uneasy cease fire with Jamie, who had single-handedly slaughtered the Nipton force, and was currently helping the NCR. His retaliation during their attack was a sure sign there was indeed, no way of turning him to the Legion.

By now they only had a few more miles until they reached the cross riddled entrance of Cottonwood Cove.  

<>~<The remains of the Legion Camp>~<>

To say that we were through with killing the Legion dead was a gross understatement.

Every body present in a red Legion uniform had been perforated with multiple gunshot wounds’ leaking freshly spilled blood onto the sand.

Some were even missing limbs from the explosion of the miniature nuke Pinkie had launched from the shoulder fired launcher. The launcher itself had since disappeared to wherever she stashes the things she pulls out randomly. Meanwhile, Rarity was meditating by the crater of the explosion, her helmet was off and I could see her glow faintly.

That’s...strange, but at least she can boast about having a glowing complexion. I thought in attempt to get my mind off the blood and gore I helped create.

Walking closer to Rarity, I asked, “What are you doing?” I was curious as to why she was literally glowing.

“Stay back, this spot still has a bit of radiation. And if you hadn’t noticed I’m a ghoul now... well, not enough for marked men to leave me alone,” She gave a hoarse chuckle, “You learn fast that the warm radiation heals most wounds quickly.”

“But you don’t look like a ghoul,” I said, using my only reference of the descriptions that others had given me. I hadn’t seen a ghoul before.

“Looks can be deceiving you know. At first I thought the marked men were mindless monsters, but they also could speak. While the others are busy, let me continue where I left off back at Novac.”

<>~<The Divide>~<>

Rarity kicked open the once locked door of an arch shaped barracks. The door of that particular one had been made of metal, and had a strange computer terminal she was unfamiliar with. Seeing the place was in no way scavenged - just very messy - she went straight to the lockers at the back of the building.

Opening it up, she pulled out a set of clothing that she knew would keep her protected; undergarments in her size, jeans, shirt, body armor, and a long trench coat. She dressed, then dug through the locker some more, finding a light green helmet with built in grey metal gas mask with red eyes.

Donning the helmet and armor, her vision taking a slight red hue, she took a breath of filtered air, glad for the relief on her lungs. She went about pilfering more from the small area.

Opening another gray locker revealed a leather belt with a leather holster, a weapon sitting in the sheath. She quickly threw on the belt, not even bothering putting it  through the belt loops of the pants. Sure the outfit looked drab and tacky, but she felt safe in it, and that’s what counted to her at the moment, staying safe long enough to see her family and friends again.

Drawing the weapon, she inspected it. It was vaguely ‘L’ shaped, made from metal, some gold, but most as black as night, adorned with golden ivy leaves. The dark sierra wooden handle she was grasping was adorned by a gold bear, its paws over a silver star. She then read the gold letters on what looked to be an octagonal tube: ‘For Honorable Service’, it read.

She fiddled around with the weapon, finally opening the cylinder shaped drum containing five brass shells she removed, seeing that they were sharply tipped with lead, she replaced the shells. Spinning the cylinder, she flicked her wrist and closed the drum back into the weapon with a laugh at how simple it was.

Drawing back the gold colored hammer, she pointed the weapon away from her, seeing that the tube had a gold sight that matched up perfectly with the one in front of the hammer.

Her finger found a small lever, and she squeezed, firing off the first shot of many to come, although, that first shot scared the hell out of her, making her drop the weapon.

The shot echoed throughout the valley, marked men hearing the sound.

“HUMANS!” Was shouted by all who heard the shot, making sure every marked brother within earshot, could join the feast on soft, delicate, warm  flesh of a human trespasser.

As a small army of angry cannibal skinless ghouls made their way towards a scared Rarity, all she could say was, “Oh shit.”  

<>~<>~<>

“So how did you survive,” I asked, wondering if it was just one or two, or actually an entire army of them, instead of her usual over dramatic storytelling.

“There was a man,” She started, her face now glowing a slight green, “He went by the name of Ulysses. He saved my life, taught me how to properly use a weapon, and handed me this beast of a gun from one of the marked men he killed. After that he said he had some business with a someone called Courier  Six, then told me how to get out of The Divide.”

“Whoa,” I said, “So did you leave right after that?”

“I did, but had to fight my way through all sorts of trouble to make it to Primm. Robots, Marked Men, more robots, a random coyote when I left The Divide, you get the idea.

“Just getting through all that fighting to survive changed me. You see what we done here,” Rarity said flatly, motioning with her hand, “We killed them all, yet I don’t feel a damn thing.”

Jamie ran up, having searched for clues in the dark with the light from his gadget he wore on his arm, “I found a trail, there taking a shortcut to Cottonwood Cove, but there is no guarantee the trail will hold up. If we lose the trail, we could be stuck in the middle of nowhere, but if we take the route I know, we might not get to Cottonwood Cove in time to save your friends. Midnight, Boone, and Pinkie said they want to follow the trail, do you agree?”

Rarity and I both said ‘yes’ at the same time, and before long, we were off. Hunting down the Legion and our captured friends.