(Diamond Dog Town)

“What do you mean you lost the Element of Honesty?!” yelled Vanessa, causing Littlepip and Blitz to cover their ears.

“I wouldn’t say lost it per say. It was pretty much stolen during when I was exploring something weird in the abandoned building where you killed that mutant frog thing.”

“All I hear is excuses.” Littlepip groaned.

“Don’t judge me, this was something that you rarely see in the wastelands now a days.”

“Okay then smartass, tell us who stole it so we can kick their ass after we kick yours. You only had ONE job and you still screwed up!” Blitz rolled his eyes at Vanessa as he pulled out a picture of what the monster looks like.

“This is what the thing looks like.”

“Oh… COME ON!!! Not again!!” Vanessa screamed. “We’ve already dealt with enough shit the last few times a monster was the reason for something. Don’t these guys ever just mind their own fucking business?!”

“It’s the wasteland, what do you expect.” The Diamond dog said as he handed the picture to Vanessa. “The thing is holding up outside in in the wrecked city. You can’t miss it really, just follow the trail of bubbles.”

“Well, that’s one thing… However, something about this… doesn’t feel right. It’s like it wants us to come to the wrecked city to lay a trap for us.” Littlepip then looked at Vanessa, who was thinking through what the mare just said. “Vanessa, do you know anything about this creature?”

“Hell if I know, the monster hunter book doesn’t have anything on this creature.”

“What about the bubbles though?” Littlepip asked. “Are they like poisonous?”

“No, it just makes it hard for you to keep your footing on the ground. Not to mention hard to get that stuff off of you seeing how we don’t have that much clean water.” Blitz said as he point to some of his guards sliding on the ground.

“Wow… sucks to be them… Okay, since we know what the bubbles do and the dragon is the cause of it, what else are we missing?”

“So far that pretty much it. Just be careful though, some raiders have been sneaking around the place last time my men checked.”

“Piece of cake, Raiders are a daily occurence for us.” Littlepip smirked. “Don’t worry, we got this… right?”

“Yeah we got this.” Vanessa said as she unsheath her long sword. “Let’s just get this over with before we lose the element.”

(Half an hour later, Wrecked City)

“Boy… when they said wrecked, I didn’t think that would mean OBLITERATED!!”

“Littlepip, be quiet!” Vanessa shushed. “You’ll disturb the dragon if you keep shouting like that.”

“Sorry, so what building do you think the dragon is hiding out in?”

Vanessa took a few moments to look around the scene as she looked at the ruins of the city that they were in. One thing stood out to her though as she looked through her binoculars. It was a building that looked like a stadium. Or more accurately put, a coliseum. That wasn’t the only thing she was seeing though, she was seeing a few bubbles leading inside from the main entrance.

And what looked like the skeletons of dead raiders, with their supplies looted off of their bodies. “I think I found out where our dragon is.”

“Really? What gave it away?”

“The Coliseum has bubbles and dead raider corpses that have already been looted. That just makes me worry that someone is trying to get to the Element before us.” Vanessa insisted. “Let’s move.”

“I was being sarcastic about that, but yeah let’s go.” Littlepip said only to notice two raiders heading towards them. “But first, we better hide.” she said while levitating Vanessa behind a broken wall. Soon, they began to overhear the two raiders from their current positions.

“I don’t see why we have to get that stupid element from that dragon. Why do we even need it anyway?”

“Because stupid, it’s part of Red Eye’s plan.”

“Do you even know what it is?”

“No, but we’re being paid in a lot of caps just to bring them in. Now quit your whining and let’s just find a way to take care of that soap dragon thing.” As the two raiders walked off, Vanessa and Littlepip moved from behind the broken wall and continue their way to where the dragon is.

“Guess we’re not the only one’s looking for the Element of Harmony huh?” Vanessa said as she scratched her head. “This might be a problem for us.”

“Nothing we can’t handle right?” Littlepip asked. “Though, we now know a name. Maybe we should ask the Diamond Dogs about it once we’re done here.”

“That or Sunny, but let’s ask them both just incase they might have different info on the guy.”

“The more info we have, the better.” Littlepip said. “Now… should we start with killing those two Raiders first or should we just let them lead us to the dragon?”

“Let them lead us to the dragon. Something tells me that if we do kill them now, their friends might alert the others.”

“Maybe… or they were sent to go look for their friends?” Littlepip brought up a good point. The corpses that Vanessa saw earlier were fresh, meaning that they weren’t in here for very long. “How about they lead us to the entrance, we take them out and then enter the coliseum from there. Something tells me that the ponies they’re looking for… are already dead aren’t they?”

“Yeah while you talk about your plan, their heads were cut clean off by a jet stream of high pressurized water.”

“... Are you being sarcastic?”

“OF COURSE I’M BEING SARCASTIC!!!” Littlepip facehooved herself, thanking Celestia above that the two raiders did not hear the sudden outburst. But it was a few moments later that the air was soon filled with the horrid and bloody screams of those two raiders. When the group arrived, they were greeted by a bloody scene. The first one’s head was bitten clean off with teeth marks around the neck line and the second one was nothing but a bunch of tiny pieces of flesh and bone. Dematerialized.

“Well… that’s one way of doing it.”

“Look out!” Vanessa tackled Littlepip to the ground as a stream of water jetted past them. “That was close.”

“Too close-.” The Unicorn was cut off by the sight of the source of the high power stream. What she saw… was nothing she would expect. “Uh… Vanessa… B-behind you.”

“The dragon’s right behind me isn’t he?” Vanessa asked as she turned her head around slight. What she saw was the dragon itself… but what she heard was something else.

“Are you in league with Red Eye, or are you just a bunch of Raiders trying to steal the element of honesty?”

“Woah woah woah… Steal the Element of Honesty?” Littlepip asked. “You were the one who stole it from us!!”

“I didn’t steal anything! That dude was the one that stole the Element of Honesty. I was merely getting it back before Red Eye tried to get it.”

“We’re not in league with Red Eye,” Vanessa told her. “And that dude you mentioned? He was a friend of ours that was trying to keep it safe from Raiders. So technically… you did steal it from us… Wait a second… Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Why should I answer your question thief?”

“Because something tells me you’re not from Equestria… Like me…” She told her. “Do you see any other humans walking around here in broad daylight? Plus, we’re trying to gather the elements of harmony to restore balance, not to do something like other thieves would and sell it to the highest bidder.”

The dragoness move up close to Vanessa as she began to sniff her. “Weird, you look like a human but you smell like a gore magala.”

“That thing tried to kill us!” Littlepip chimed in. “Trust me, we’ve been trying to survive through the wastes and every time we get even a few steps ahead, a monster comes from nowhere.”

The dragoness then turned her attention at Littlepip, and began to sniff her as well. “You both have the same smell as a gore magala. Explain yourselves.”

“That… might take some time to explain, but to get to the point, never fight a chaos gore magala on a train near radiation.”

“...... So that’s why you smell like one… That’s a relief. For a moment, I thought you were one.” The Dragoness said, confusing Vanessa.

“One of what?”

“I mean you were a monster.” She clarified. Now though, the dragoness began to glow, growing in size to her full dragon form, looming over them briefly before going back down to the same size as Vanessa. “And for the record I'm not a human per say, I am a pure blooded dragon, just gain some abilities over the years or so."

“I don’t know if I should find that as a good thing or not? But anyway, my name is Vanessa and this is my friend Littlepip.”

“Pleasure to meet you both. My name is Skye… do you mind if I ask you something?” The Dragoness said, causing Littlepip and Vanessa to look at each other first before looking back at her.

“Um, sure.”

“It seems we both have similar intentions regarding the elements… Would you mind if I joined you two in your travels? I believe I can help you two in finding the rest of the Elements.”

“Y-You sure you want to join us?” Vanessa said hesitantly.

“Of course. You are the first ones I met who haven’t tried to kill me, so I am grateful for that… Also, it’ll be like the Three Amigo’s right?”

“Well the more the merrier right?” Littlepip said as looked at Vanessa. “What do you think?”

“As long as she follows my orders and doesn’t wander out of my sight, then sure.”

“Great!!” She proclaimed. “First though, let me put together a bag.”

“You have bags? For what pray tell do you need them for?”

“I’ve been harvesting supplies from Raiders, including Food. I do get hungry, you know that?” She deadpanned.

“Fair enough, let’s just get the hell out of this place quickly.” Vanessa said as she look at the hole in the broken ceiling. “Something tells me we’re being watched by someone.”

“Actually, I had that open for sunlight. Plus anypony that tried getting through there gets blasted immediately.

“Who said they had to be close to be able to see what’s going on.” The huntress said as she made her way to the exit. “I’ll be outside checking the area. When you’re done we’ll head back to town.”

“Got it!”

“*Sigh* How long does it take to get your belongings together. I’m starting to get bored just waiting for them.”

“Please… I already did mine. I just had so much extra stuff left over that I get some things for you two.” Skye replied, holding a backpack and saddlebag.

“What took you two so long? I had to read the monster hunter book to fill the boredom.”

“Skye got bags for both of us. Trust me, she had a LOT of stuff. Including a couple weapons.” Littlepip replied.

“Unless she has some materials for me to make some weapons or armor out of, the you can keep it...well beside the shotgun base weapons.”

“Materials are here yes,” Skye replied, grabbing something and tossing it to Vanessa. “Your shotgun?”

“Perfect, looks like I’ll be busy tuning and making some new stuff on the way back to New Appaloosa.”

“Lead the way… Although, I might want to try learning to use one of these.” The Dragoness said, pulling out a sniper rifle with a knife ducktaped to the end of it.

“.....No.” Vanessa said as she grabbed the sniper rifle and gave it to Littlepip. “So far you do much better without a weapon, plus something tells me that you’ll shoot someone by accident.”

“The safety’s on. Plus, I can’t transform freely. There are limits.” Skye told her. “For one thing, I can’t transform into a dragon again until after an hour..”

“....Wow, you are the grand central station of disappointment huh?”

“Not likely. Plus, I prefer to have my transformation be a trump card.” Skye told Vanessa.

“Yeah because it didn’t stop you from ripping those raiders to pieces.”

“Hey, what would you do when someone invades your private space?” Skye asked. “Like if someone walked in on you while you were taking a shower.”

“.....Fair enough I guess.” Vanessa was about to say something else, but was unable to as she felt a sharp pain coming from her lower back. “O-Oh hell…”

“Vanessa?” Skye said, worried. “Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine… just…ugh.” The huntress lower her head as she kneel down grabbing her stomach.

“Vanessa?!” Turning around, Skye shouted out to the Unicorn in front. “Littlepip! Something’s wrong with Vanessa!”

“Guess the mutation is starting to kick in.” Littlepip said as she pulls out another set of Yukumo gear for Vanessa. “Sunny did say that it will hurt when the effects happens to the both of us.”

“Wait… What effects?” Skye asked. “You two don’t have an infection now, do you?”

“No, it’s more like our DNA is changing for use. Radiation mix with The Frenzy virus will do that to you.”

“You’re going to have to tell me later,” Skye said. “For now though, can she walk? Or is she going to need some help?”

“You tell me if she’s able to walk?” Littlepip said as she was about to levitate Vanessa onto her back. Only for her to see a tail sticking from her lower end.

“... Okay, nevermind. Let’s just get out of here before anything else happens.”

(Diamond Dog Town)

“So you’re telling me that this dragon here,” Blitz said pointing to Skye. “Thought that I stole the element from her because she thought I was a raider?”

“Pretty much yeah, sorry about that.” Skye said bowing to the Diamond Dog. “With what’s been going on around the wasteland, you can’t be to sure who’s friend or who’s foe.”

“Well you didn’t kill any of my men, so I guess I’ll forgive you for that. So what about that Vanessa girl, is she going to be okay?”

“Well she’s stable, but we’re gonna have to head back to New Appaloosa. Now that we have someone that knows the location of the elements, we need to think of a plan on how to get the other from the five dragons.” Littlepip said as she hopped onto the train.

“Feel free to stop by if you need to stock up on supplies, or need some info about something.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, but mind telling who this Red Eye pony is?” Blitz facial expression harden as he tilted his hat over his eyes.

“It’s best that you don’t make enemies with him. Believe me, he’s not a pony you should fuck around with.” He said while walking away from the train as it began to move.

“Um….o-okay?” Littlepip simply closed the door to the train cart as she laid next to the unconscious huntress. “I hope finding the other elements won’t be as difficult then it sounds.”