As Twilight Sparkle left after Applejack, Rarity turned to Sunset and asked:

"So... Twilight has seen this world and..."

"And what?"

"Has had to adapt to it?"

"If by that you mean learning how to operate weapons and kill other things within days, then yes."

"Oh my... Has this been hard for her?"

"It certainly hasn't been easy. It wasn't easy for me, but I had the benefit of learning at a slower pace."

"And how did she get out of Canterlot? This place is considered a deathtrap..."

"She didn't appear in Canterlot. The portal's destabilized on this side."

"Oh no!" Rarity gasped. "Is she doomed to stay here? Forever?"

"We surely hope not... we have a plan."

"Oh?"

"But I am not telling you right now."

"Why would you... oh, wait. Right. I am the Black Widow."

"I think it's better for Twilight to decide whether to trust you with this information or not."

"Man, Rarity," Spike spoke for the first time in minutes, "if honestly, you were the last person I would have expected to become Black Widow."

"Well, I didn't expect it either. I never wanted to become a fighter. Fighting is not really my thing, I am more into fashion..."

"...but you would rip anyone to pieces if they dared to attack those dear to you," Sunset finished.

"I would," the indigo-haired girl nodded.

"This reminds me of one time I tried to join some dragons to discover what it really meant to be a dragon. Alas, those dragons turned out to be plain bullies, and when they wanted me to smash a phoenix's egg and I refused, my friends, who followed me, were ready to fight them. And Rarity - the pony one - said: "Fighting is not really my thing, I am more into fashion... but I will rip you to pieces if you touch one scale on his cute little head!"

"Sounds like me alright," Rarity laughed a bit, but at this moment, the door creaked and Twilight and Applejack came back in.

"You two fine?" Sunset asked.

"Yes," Twilight answered.

"Eeyup," Aplpejack replied.

"Got any plans?"

"We still need to give that fusion core to CWN's boss... I don't want Brotherhood of Steel hounding them."

"Sounds good ta me, but what 'bout Rarity? Ah still don't wanna give her weapons back," Applejack spoke.

"Well, we can still carry them. You ready for some walk, Rarity?"

"I am darling. But may I change armour first? I do not want anyone to know Black Widow's identity... not yet, at least."

"Where is it?" Sunset asked.

"That crate close to the... ahem... bed."

Opening it, Sunset saw a full set of armour similar to the one Rarity had, but it was painted in camouflage for dry grass instead of black. As she gave it to the ex-fashionista, the latter took off her signature black armour and put it on instead.

"OK, I'm ready."

"Good," Twilight said, "let's go."

The quartet (or quinted, if one is to take Spike into account) arrived at the headquarters of Canterlot Wastelands News pretty soon. As they arrived at the gates, they noticed the familiar form of Ear Drum, who grinned and gave a sign to open the gates.

When they went in, he came up to them and asked that the "boss" wanted to see Twilight and Sunset first, while Applejack and Rarity would have to wait.

"How come?" the farm girl inquired.

"The boss didn't tell; they have some business they wanted to discuss with them," Ear Drum replied. "The boss is kinda very secretive about their identity. There could be more than one "boss" for all I know."

At these words, Twilight and Sunset did their best to maintain a straight face.

"An' y'all are fine with that?" Applejack continued.

"Sorta. CWN is not simply for music, surely you know? They also inform where it is too dangerous to go, where the raiders were last seen, that sort of thing. Many folks owe their lives to the broadcasts, so yeah, most don't care that the boss - or bosses - likes to hide themselves. So people volunteer themselves for the common good."

"I must say," Rarity interjected, "it seems like you have already established a solid community."

"True; aside from several bad apples, the people here work fine. That said, rumours say that the boss may lend some assistance to Appletown, is that true?"

"Ah don't know."

"We will ask about it," Sunset said.

"You may try, although I'm not sure they'll answer."

"That'd be a bummer. OK, we'll go to see the boss."

"And what shall we do?" Rarity asked.

"There's a bar, you may sit there."

The fashionista wrinkled her nose, not amused at the idea.

"It's decent, and if the bartender today is a man named Hunter Rose, you may enjoy chatting with him. He's a flirt, though."

"That does not sound reassuring, darling."

"Ah hay, Rarity, gentlemanry's almost dead here, don't be picky," Applejack interjected as the girls parted ways.

"Fine. But if he compliments me in an uncouth manner, give me back my pistol."

"No promises. Ah still wouldn't trust you with weapons right now."

"Hey there, you two! How's it rocking?" Lemon Zest greeted both Equestrians enthusiastically, giving both a hug, while Vinyl Scratch restricted herself to a big smile and a thumbs-up.

"We're doing good, Lemon," Sunset replied, "and we came with gifts. Twilight?"

"Oh yeah!" Twilight took out a fusion core that she had not taken out of her rucksack (luckily, as it was evident now). "Vinyl, remember you asking for a spare fusion core? Well, we found one."

"Ooohhh, that's fantastic!" the DJ beamed at them. "Now I will be able to power up some additional transmitters! Mind if you two wait and chat with Lemon while I do that? 'Cause I really don't want to invite her up there."

"Hey!" the acid-haired girl exclaimed. "I didn't know one wasn't supposed to plug that... whatever that stuff was... into that socket!"

"That socket was not designed for that... ah screw it, just stay here," with these words, Vinyl left with the fusion core.

"OK then," Lemon chirped, smiling widely, "anything you guys wanna listen to? I have some awesome rock to rock your brains!"

"More like wreck your brains," Twilight said. "How can you listen to music at those volumes?"

"Dunno, I just preferred it so," the former Crystal Prep student shrugged her shoulders as if that fact was as undeniable as Princess Celestia raising and lowering the sun in Equestria.

"And ear health never worried you?"

"Nah!"

Twilight facepalmed, while Sunset emitted a small chuckle, hiding it behind her palm.

"Anyway, Lemon," the fiery-haired girl said, "want to tell us what happened to you before apocalypse?"

"Oh, nothing much. Me, Vinyl and Octavia became close buddies, although you wouldn't have said from first sight. I mean, Vinyl's into dubstep and electronic music, I prefer rock, and Octavia's into classics, but our creative union actually bore good fruit. Our music was popular among some people, we even made it to the tops of charts once or twice... until Octavia left."

Both ponies-turned-human pointedly refused to look at each other.

"Vinyl was distressed. She tried to contact her, but Octavia disappeared without a trace. Her MyStable account was deleted, her phone was rendered unavailable, her flat was abandoned... we filed a "missing person" report, but the police told us plainly that we shouldn't be too hopeful... at that time, a number of missing persons was going overboard, apparently. We still composed music, but it was not really as good as our previous hits with Octavia, so we had to give up and go work on radio."

"What, right here?"

"Not really, the station was in the city, albeit on the outskirts. That's where we picked up on operating stuff like what you see here, by the way. Shortly before the apocalypse, Vinyl believed that bombs would fall soon, so we turned in our resignations, got our essentials and moved away, to one of the makeshift villages. It was nice and all, but turned out it was not far enough - when the bombs fell, the radioactive fallout came there with the winds, so we had to bail outta there. By chance, we stumbled upon a village that had a well-stocked hideout with some anti-radiation measures as an added bonus - apparently, the owner was paranoid enough to set that up. We waited out until most of more dangerous radionuclides fell apart, then donned hazmat suits that the basement's owner had apparently smuggled, and went around."

"Ballsy," Sunset said. "Walking around on surface at that time was almost suicidal."

"Thanks," Lemon Zest beamed, taking the words as a compliment. "We tried listening to emergency broadcasts, but there were none. When we came here, we understood why - this very building was supposed to act as an emergency broadcast station, but no staff was here - apparently, they either didn't make it or just outright abandoned this place, so we got here and brought it up as best as we could. Vinyl had dabbled in some programming, so when we found a couple of deactivated Commissariat eyebots, still with original programs - that is, not those of NSC - she screwed up some code and we were able to observe the situation. So we started broadcasting once interference was tolerable. At first it was irregular messages, but then it slowly developed into an information network; plus, we found some music recordings and played them sometimes. So we started calling ourselves Canterlot Wastelands News, and the name stuck... oh hey, Vinyl, did it work?" the girl turned to the girl with shades who just appeared in the room.

"Yep," Vinyl smiled and gave a thumbs up, "and it all worked well! Thanks, Twilight, Sunset. If possible, can you tell the Brotherhood that I can reprogram the extra transmitters now?"

"We will at our first opportunity," Twilight replied. "Also, Vinyl... about Octavia..."

"Yes?" the smile faltered; somehow, the DJ felt that she would not like the news.

"We have encountered Bon Bon. She told us that she and Octavia worked for Directorate of Intelligence..."

"Oh! Well that explains why she bailed out on us!" Lemon Zest exclaimed.

"Yep, if DOI grabs you, you're essentially gone," Vinyl mused, "but why Octavia? And Bon Bon, for that matter."

"No idea," Sunset took over. "Patriotism, maybe?"

"Maybe, but it's still too out of character for her... anyway, what happened?"

"Well, they were working in Yakyakistan against TODC, but something went wrong with their cell - she and Bon Bon were considered to have turned away from UFE."

"Wha-a-a-a-a-at?!" the DJ raised her voice, disbelieving. "Octavia may not have been a gung-ho UFE patriot, but she certainly wouldn't do that!"

"Well yeah, Bon Bon also insists that they were not traitors, but they lacked proof - in fact, both of them were unaware of them being considered traitors. They were divided and "evacuated", and Octavia was apparently handed over to Commissariat..."

"She was executed, wasn't she?"

"Yes," the fiery-haired girl did not beat around the bush.

An uncomfortable silence fell across the room. Slowly, Vinyl Scratch raised her hand to her face, shaking, and took off her shades, revealing her cerise eyes, which were sparkling with tears. Lemon Zest's eyes widened as she heard Sunset speak, her hands flying to cover her gasp.

"Oh, Octy..." Vinyl's voice cracked as the air from her lungs met obstructions in form of lumps in her throat. "My best friend..."

Then, suddenly, she flung her arms around Lemon, burying her face in her shoulder and sniffing as the torrent of emotions overwhelmed her. Stunned for a moment, the lime-haired rock music fan embraced the DJ, lending a friendly shoulder. Twilight and Sunset looke slightly away, feeling bad about upsetting the one who helped them defeat the sirens.

However, Lemon shook her head in the direction where she and Vinyl were standing, and mouthed "group hug" at them. Taking the hint, both Equestrians joined in. Though surprised, Vinyl appreciated the gesture of comfort.

"Thank you," she said, turning to Twilight and Sunset. "I know what they say about ignorance being bliss, but I would rather know what happened than torment myself with not knowing."

Going up to one of the cabinets, she opened the door and rummaged inside for a bit, before approaching both of them.

"Here, for your trouble," she gave them a small box with neatly organized Nuka-cider bottle caps. Doing a quick count, Twilight realized that there were 400 caps in total.

"Thanks, Vinyl," Sunset said.

"Since you've given me the power core, I will keep my promise and send some of my militiamen to Appletown. I know that you have other business to do, but if you help me once more, I will be very grateful."

"What does this help entail?" Twilight asked.

"If Commissariat got their slimy hands on Octavia with treason charge, it's highly unlikely that she survived, so I am not holding out hopes for her miracuously appearing out of nowhere... but if there is something of her belongings that survived, I would like to get it. There is also our apartment in Trottingham - if it survived, check it out; we had a secret stash of sorts for something to leave for others if one of us... didn't make it."

"We will see if it's possible," Sunset said. "Twilight, your opinion?"

"Well, I hope we can spare some time," the Princess replied.

"Then you accept?" Vinyl asked.

"Yes."

"Splendid!" for the first time since receiving news of Octavia's death, Vinyl smiled for a bit. Rummaging in her pockets, she took out a small piece of paper and a set of keys. "The address is written on paper, and the keys are for our flat and the safe in there. Don't know if your Pip-Boys have the map with streetnames, though."

"It doesn't, but I lived there for a while; I remember some things," Sunset replied.

Suddenly, a buzzer sounded, its annoying tones resembling those of an annoying insect. Upon hearing this, Vinyl quickly came up to one of the panels and spoke, pushing down one of the buttons:

"Yes?"

"Boss," Ear Drum's voice sounded from the loudspeaker, "we've got problems. Raider gangs incoming."

"White Knives?"

"Doesn't look like them; may be their allies, though."

"Defend the base, I'll send the guests to help," closing the connection, the cobalt blue-haired girl turned to the Equestrians. "Girls? If you two and your friends assist my men in defending the HQ, me and Lemon will have more men to spare for Appletown."

"Say no more," Sunset answered, "I, for one, am already tired of raider scum."

"...so yet another green FNG comes to me and says: "Quartermaster, Sir? I was ordered by Lieutenant Adamant to fetch a bucket of prop wash", and I was so fed up with Adamant's jokes that when I informed that poor private that "prop wash" is slang for the turbulence created by the air being blown by an active propeller of a helicopter, I offered him a chance at revenge," Hunter Rose spoke, taking a swig of Nuka-Cider and telling Applejack and Rarity a story from his army days.

"How uncouth of the Lieutenant," Rarity scoffed. "To deliberately misinform the new soldiers for mere amusement? Lunacy."

"Hey, it's never easy in the army, Rarity, surely the soldier fellas you knew taught you that?" Applejack spoke up.

"I do know that it is not easy, but doing such things is still rather counterproductive, don't you think?"

"She has a point there," Hunter said. "Anyway, I knew from my friend that there actually was a real Prop Wash, which is a solution used to clean propellers of aircraft or the rotor blades of helicopters, borrowed a car, drove for about 6 hours to a nearby Air Force Base that had some extra for their own airplanes, and then drove back. My god, when the private showed Adamant the cans of Prop Wash - man, his face was priceless!" the bartender laughed hard, and both young women joined him. "Needless to say, he stopped pranking FNGs after that."

"Did he give ya beef for that?"

"He was pissed, but hey, he gave the order himself, so he had no reason to complain."

Suddenly, someone burst into the bar and shouted:

"Raiders incoming! Everyone to the defense wall!"

The patrons of CWN HQ's bar immediately dropped all their business and rushed out to join them. Frowning, Hunter Rose unholstered his sniper rifle and said:

"You two aren't obliged to join, but if you do, no one will say anything against it," he said, and went out. Rarity turned to Applejack and said:

"Applejack, are you planning to help them?"

"Ah'd rather wait and see what Twilight and Sunset will say 'bout this," the farm girl replied. "Why're you asking?"

"You still have my weapons..."

"Oh hay no, Rarity! Ah'm not givin' those back!"

"Do you expect me to stay away and not fight?"

"Ah don't think you can actually fight," the stress on the last word was laced with sarcasm.

"Oh puh-leeeease," Rarity adopted the high-and-mighty tone she tended to use when miffed, "I am no less of a competent fighter just because I prefer precise strikes over spraying and praying," the derisiveness towards Applejack's method of fighting was plainly hearable, and the latter got pretty irritated.

"Now listen here you..."

"Applejack! Rarity!" Twilight shouted at them as Sunset rushed past her towards the exit. "Come on, we must help the CWN militia! That means you as well, Rarity!"

"I will be most delighted to help," the indigo-haired girl replied, giving a pointed look at Applejack. Seeing this, the blonde girl asked:

"Ya sure about this, Twi?"

"Positive, now come on!" with these words, Twilight ran away. Sighing, Applejack handed over Rarity's sniper rifle, silenced pistol and knife to their rightful owner.

"Much obliged," the ex-fashionista said.

"Yeah, yeah; don't cry too much when mah count is higher than yours!" Applejack shouted over her shoulder, sprinting out of the bar.

"Oh; it is on..."

The militia defending the HQ of Canterlot Wastelands News was already busy with defense when the quartet arrived at the scene. The raiders were apparently packing a punch - one of the militiamen was already dead from a headshot, and three more were nursing their wounds as the medics were working on them. The defenders were firing into the embrasure-like holes, covering the whole area with a nasty un-rhytmic staccato of gunfire.

Smart move, Twilight thought, noting the position of embrasures and sand bags near them. This provides the fighters with some decent cover while having a good vision on the battlefield. Just like the castles back home...

Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt as she recognized the similarities between Equestrian and human warfare. While the instruments of war were vastly different (Twilight has decided long ago that human guns were vastly superior to bows, crossbows and lances in terms of military effectiveness), the underlying principles were not.

War remains the same, no matter the world... apparently.

All these thoughts ran in her head for no more than a second as they approached the wall and stopped, trying to analyze the situation. Fortunately, a militiaman who apparently passed for an officer (and who already had a bloodied bandage on his left forearm) quickly dispersed the concerns and shouted at them:

"Stop gawking, ladies, we're in a pickle here! You, with a hat," he addressed Applejack, "go support our fighters on the right wall! You two," he pointed his finger at Twilight and Sunset, as the farm girl ran to her post "support those on the left wall, we're taking most casulaties there! You, the sniper, - pick a position and snipe as many as possible!"

"I already found one," Rarity replied, pointing at a place to the right of her.

"Then don't stand here looking pretty, kill something!" with these words, the "officer" left to get at the wall.

"On it!" Sunset replied and dashed away.

"Stay safe, Rarity!" Twilight called, following her compatriot.

"I will! Same to you!" the ex-fashionista called, unholstering her modified sniper rifle.

Now is the time to focus on something else aside from vengeance, she thought as she approached the position she had picked for herself. As she came close, she recognized Hunter Rose with his sniper rifle, who was steadily trying to pick the raiders away.

"Came to join the fun of sniping, beautiful?" he called flirtatiously to her, moving away to reload his sniper rifle.

"Certainly," despite the rather chaotic situation around, Rarity answered with her trademark prim and proper voice.

"Well, Miss, not gonna say no, although I am not sure if that scout-sniper infiltrator armour will work well. Maybe you will throw on one of those spares?" the man jerked his thumb into a direction where several armour vests were scattered.

"Thanks, but no thanks - I find them too cumbersome," the indigo-haired girl slipped her rifle into the embrasure, putting herself on one knee. Looking into the telescopic optical sight, she adjusted the distance and the focus, taking note of the enemies clustered below. Some of the raiders were very lightly armoured, while some had more high-quality armour plates on themselves.

Could be that some of those would be military-grade.

Noting one of the enemies who stuck out from the nearby tree and unwittingly exposed himself, Rarity set the reticle on him.

Phut.

Equipped with a silencer, her weapon emitted a quiet sound, barely distinguishable among gunfire. The enemy fell, a cloud of blood appearing shortly before his head's contents fell down under the influence of gravity.

One down.

Quickly surveying the battlefield, Rarity noticed a raider with a squad automatic weapon who was trying to lay down suppressive fire. As soon as his head appeared in her crosshairs, she fired.

Phut.

The aim went sideways a bit, and her bullet hit the throat instead, but a destroyed windpipe is no more life-compatible than a torn brain.

Two down.

Suddenly, a storm of gunfire rained on Rarity's position, making her squeal and fall down somewhat clumsily - undamaged, thankfully.

"You OK, pretty?" Hunter Rose shouted.

"Aside from a bruise on my - ahem - butt, I am unharmed!" she replied.

"Bruised butt?! That's what you're worried about? Really?" Applejack shouted as she changed position closer to Rarity and heard the latter's complaint.

"Change positions from time to time, and don't stick the weapon out if you can!" the bartender gave some advice.

"Will do!" carefully, Rarity took position neighbouring Applejack's. The farm girl asked:

"Well, how many kills you have? Ah have five!"

"Two," Rarity replied curtly, pulling the trigger. Phut. "Scratch that, three." Phut. "Four. Maybe you should be more precise?"

"Ah'll show you precise..." Applejack growled, and began laying down bursts of three shots upon the raiders below. Spending half of her magazine, she changed her position again, moving to the left.

Meanwhile, Rarity caught another raider in her crosshairs. Phut, and his carotid artery was split in two and he fell, gushing blood around.

How undignified, she thought, and changed position, finding herself close to Applejack yet again. Aiming down the field, she aimed at another raider with an assault rifle, but before she pulled the trigger, his torso was torn by several 5.56mm bullets from Applejack's AP-79.

"Oops. Sorry Ah stole your kill," the country girl said, smugness hearable in her tone. However, her victory was short lived as her embrasure came under a strong assault, with no less than five assault rifles and one LMG raining down a lead storm on her. Applejack managed to evade the onslaught in time, but was forced to crawl away from her point quickly, as some of the bullets were penetrating the metal plates used as "fortress walls". Rarity decided to capitalize on that and focused her fire on the enemies suppressing Applejack.

Phut. Phut. Phut. Phut. Phut.

Five .308 bullets went to the heads of the raiders, killing them instantly. The last one turned his assault rifle in the approximate direction of the fashionista and fired blindly.

Rarity ducked as some of the bullets pierced the metal walls and got stuck in sand bags, gritting her teeth and doing her best to stop herself from unladylike swearing.

This matter of firing is most gauche, not to mention wasteful.

A loud BOOM of a sniper rifle to her right snapped her out of her thoughts, and then she heard Hunter Rose shout:

"He's down, you can look again!"

"Thank you kindly, Mr. Rose!" the ex-fashionista called out.

"Anytime, beautiful!"

Focus, Rarity, the girl told herself, gentleman as he is, compliments are way less important right now...

She noticed one of the raiders running away, with his back to her. He was at a considerable distance, so she opted for aiming at his back instead of his head.

Phut.

The bullet hit him straight between the shoulder blades, shattering his spine and piercing the spinal cord. Even if his major blood vessels somehow remained intact, one would not live very long with injuries like that in the Wastelands.

"They're retreating!" Applejack shouted.

"Cease fire!" Ear Drum shouted, running up to them. "We have repelled their attack, no use in wasting bullets. We'll be guarding the walls, but this seems to be it for now. Hunter, get back to the bar and give everyone some drinks, I will replace you here. You two can cool off," he addressed Applejack and Rarity.

"Alright, fella, thank ya kindly," the farm girl replied, dropping the spent magazine and inserting a fresh one. Rarity did the same thing with her sniper rifle.

"So how many magazines did it take?" she asked, as they made their way back to the HQ's entrance.

"Come again?"

"How many magazines did you spend on the raiders?"

"Three, if you consider the last one. And you?"

"Just one. And how many bandits did you kill?"

"Eleven of 'em varmints," Applejack gained the smug expression again. "And your precise fire got how many?"

"Eleven," Rarity flipped her hair in a grand gesture of smugness of her own.

"Wha-huh?" the farmer raised an eyebrow. "An' how did ya do that if that magazine holds ten rounds?"

"Easy. I pre-loaded one of them into the chamber and added another one to the magazine."

"Uh-huh. So?"

"So, I think that you shouldn't mock my preference for careful and precise work, especially when it's more cost-efficient."

"Cost-efficient how?" Applejack raised an eyebrow.

"Well, if we are to count the average cost in caps, you wasted ninety caps worth of ammunition, while I spent only thirty-three," Rarity finished haughtily.

"Uh-huh. An' you never heard the saying? About the greedy one pays twice? Probably with one's life?"

"Why I never..!" the fashionista-turned-assassin's face reddened with anger. "I will have you know, Applejack, that while I prefer not to overspend, the sin of greediness is not something that you should say about this!"

"Really? It sounds a lot kinda greediness. Ah guess you just aren't generous when it comes to giving bullets to those who deserve them."

Rarity gasped at the insinuation behind Applejack's words, the feelings of being gravely insulted flooding her veins. Blood rushed into her head, and her ice-cold glare bore into Applejack's emerald green eyes; the latter stood unflinchingly, her own angry stare judging Rarity for her past, her face unapologizing.

Seething, Rarity prepared herself for a long and loud tirade, when...

"Hey girls!"

...Sunset's voice snapped both of them out of their mutually directed anger. The unicorn-turned-human was marching towards them with a grin on her face, Twilight lagging slightly behind her.

"Hey Sunset," Applejack greeted the fiery-haired girl, forcing a smile onto her face. "Hey, Twi."

"Hello, darlings," Rarity did the same. "It fills me with joy to see you both up and around."

"Heh, feels good to be alive, especially when one kicks raiders' ass!" Sunset exclaimed vigorously.

"Must you use such crude lexicon, darling?" the indigo-haired girl grimaced at the language used.

"Ah dunno," Applejack butted in, "she kinda got to the point, if you catch mah drift."

"Still, there were other ways to do that, more ladylike and fitting of us."

The country girl rolled her eyes.

"By the way," Sunset continued, "how many kills have you scratched up?"

"Eleven of 'em varmints," Applejack replied.

"Same here," Rarity said.

"Aw man, I have only ten. Twilight here scored fifteen, though."

"It's not my fault!" the equine Princess exclaimed. "They just shot less in my direction!"

"Pfft, yeah, sure, stick the former she-demon out and have her soak bullets while you steal all the kills," Sunset grumbled, but a smile on her face betrayed her cheeky faux sarcasm, and Twilight punched her in the shoulder with mock indignation.

"Shut up, you. Anyway, wanna hit the bar again?"

"Good idea, Twi," Applejack agreed. "Ah could use a drink."

"Me too," Sunset agreed.

"Me three, then," Rarity spoke. "This fighting is truly tiring."

"Maybe ya should exercise more," Applejack quipped, making the fashionista puff her cheeks in indignation.

"I will have you know that while I do not buck apple trees, I am not a frail brittle-boned porcelain doll..!"

Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Like Me! You gain Reputation bonus when helping some group.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Like Second Skin: Penalties imposed on your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats by middle armour are reduced by 1.

Reputation increased: Canterlot Wastelands News HQ

Your help in the defense of people and territories controlled by this group make you an always welcomed guest there. You gain a 10% discount at local shops.

Rarity's S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:

Strength: 4
Perception: 7
Endurance: 4
Charisma: 8
Intellect: 6
Agility: 6
Luck: 5

Unique Trait (Rarity)

Gifted By Another World: You possess a piece of Equestrian magic. Under certain circumstances, you may gain a magical anthro-form that grants you additional bonuses.

Unique Trait (Rarity)

Element of Generosity: You can be very giving. Each act of generosity towards your allies or Good characters has a positive effect on your Karma and betters your Reputation with an individual or a group to which said individual belongs. This also gives you +1 bonus to your Charisma when interacting with said character/group for the first time or if your Reputation with them is neutral, and +2 bonus if your Reputation is good. When trading in shops, you can choose to pay extra caps while buying and/or make a discount while selling for positive Karma and +1 or +2 Charisma bonus and +10 or +20 bonus to your Barter skill in future dealings with the trader, depending on how generous you are.

Unique Perk (Rarity)

Femme Fatale: In combat, you do +10% damage against male opponents. Outside of combat, you'll sometimes have access to unique dialogue options when dealing with the opposite sex.

Unique Perk (Rarity)

Fearsome ("Black Widow"): When you use a certain persona, you gain +3 Charisma bonus and +45 to your Speech skill when you try to intimidate someone.

Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

Scout-sniper infiltrator armour

Designed as a lighter variant of standard personal body armour, it was primarily used by snipers and scouts of UFE military, hence the "scout-sniper" prefix. While it offers less protection and leaves some body parts uncovered, it has lesser weight and offers greater mobility both in and out of combat, which is very valued by scouts and snipers and anyone else who mimics their combat style. It also integrates well with Pip-Boys and Stealth-Boys - optical camouflage devices - making its user an unseen (and thus more dangerous) threat. Typically, this armour is painted in camouflage colours that are based on the chosen area of operation (e. g. forest, desert, steppe, Arctic and so on).

Being military-grade armour, this item is not seen too often in the Wastelands, but it can be relatively easy maintained with spare parts salvaged from standard issue combat armour.

Stats:

Damage Threshold: 15
Weight: 8 kg
Value: 480 caps (if 100% CND)
Effects: +1 Agility bonus; Stealth-Boy lasts for 20% more.

Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

MSR-90 sniper rifle

This sniper rifle became standard issue shortly before the Day of Burning, but quickly became popular among snipers in UFE army (and a coveted trophy among TODC troops as well). Its higher ammunition capacity and compatibility with many types of sights as well as barrel modifications and silencers earned this weapon a good reputation.

Unfortunately, few of such rifles are available in the Wastelands, and they are quite expensive. This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that this weapon is more durable than common sniper rifles available on the market, and it is easier to maintain; with proper cleaning, this rifle can serve for a long time.

Weapon stats:

DMG: 75 (if 100% CND)
WG: 3.5 kg
VAL: 700 caps (if 100% CND)
Critical Damage chance multiplier: x2
Critical Damage bonus (Head): x4

Ammo type: .308 rounds
Ammo capacity: 10

Author's Notes:

Work is hectic now, so I decided to make a "stepping stone" chapter, elements of which will be expanded in the future.

So here's the glimpse of Rarity's combat style, but that's not everything...

Sorry if the end looks like one major infodump - I totally forgot to add Rarity's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. and Traits before, but I could not delete the Survival Guide Entries too.

Thoughts, comments and criticisms are welcome in the comment section. Stay tuned! Hopefully, next chapter will be there in 10-20 days