"Cheers!"

Five glasses of cold beer clanked against each other as Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Rarity and Hunter Rose congratulated each other on a work well done.

The raiders that attacked the HQ suffered massive casualties, with more than sixty of them dead and about a dozen lying debilitated from heavy wounds; the latter were exterminated with shots to the head without any mercy.

CWN militia also suffered losses - seven men were killed and eight were out of commission due to their wounds, but the five-to-one casualties ratio that worked in favour of the militiamen was still considered a good thing.

Vinyl told Twilight and Sunset in private that she would still honour her earlier promise, and send out twenty-five of her own people to assist Appletown. When asked whether she would be able to protect the HQ, Vinyl smirked and said:

"Got it covered. You just need to relax for a couple of hours and then you'll be able to go back to Appletown with everyone."

She also gave Twilight two hundred caps, "for everyone who assisted". Heeding the hint, Twilight split the caps into four equal shares and gave each of her friends their own.

Which lead to the celebration that they were currently having right now, drinking the second glass of beer. Rarity huffed a bit at drinking such alcoholic beverages, but buying wine for ten caps per a wine glass was not on her current financial agenda, and so she settled for what others drank. She begrudgingly admitted that the beer was good, though.

Once the glasses clanked, everyone drank their beer in their own way: Applejack took a healthy swig while raising her head upwards along with the glass, Sunset drank in large gulps, Twilight in lesser gulps, and Rarity was more sipping than gulping.

"That's some damn fine beer, partner," Applejack addressed Hunter Rose. "Where did ya find it?"

"There used to be an old alcohol drinks factory nearby; when apocalypse happened, everyone who survived swarmed that place like vultures. Dunno how did those babies make it here, though; rumour has it that the boss raided it, although what for... they don't seem to be the kind to drink themselves to a stupor. The other folk trades sometimes if they find something decent, like a couple of those red wines," the man pointed to the bottles in question, "although people aren't that keen on wines now."

"Too bad," Rarity sighed. "Not many appreciate how exquisite a taste of good wine is."

"How would good wine taste any better than not-so-good wine?" Applejack spoke up. "Isn't it the same drink?"

The indigo-haired girl looked at the farmer as if the latter had just spoken blasphemy, and huffed:

"Of course it isn't! The older a bottle is, the more it is fermented and more exquisite it becomes! Provided one is produced in accordance with all wine-making traditions and from good grapes."

"Oh hay; Ah don't think there's too much of a difference."

"To each their own, I guess," Hunter Rose spoke up. "While I like wine, I don't think I would be able to easily tell a difference between a bottle of wine from year 2090 and, say, a bottle from 2070."

"Well, I cannot claim to be an expert in wines," Rarity spoke again, "but I did enjoy the more refined vintages before the apocalypse."

"Uh-huh, and going down with gout like pre-revolution nobles didn't worry you?" Applejack interrupted.

"Well it is not like I would drink wine every day, you know!"

"Alright, you two," Twilight barked authoritatively, "can it! Honestly, if one of you were a man, I would have said that you argue like an old married couple!"

"OK, sugarcube."

"If you insist, darling, although I resent the implication about arguing like a married couple."

"Well don't argue, then. That goes for you too, Applejack."

"You two rivals or something?" Hunter Rose asked the quarreling friends.

"Not quite," Sunset interjected. "More like they just have different outlooks on life. Applejack is a practical, down-to-earth, hard-working person, while Rarity aspired to enter higher society and had refined mannerisms and tastes, which she apparently retains. I say "apparently" because we only just... reunited," Sunset stumbled for a moment when thinking of their "reunion", "and haven't really had a serious talk about it."

"Well you aren't wrong, darling," Rarity spoke, "I do try to retain my usual pre-apocalypse manners, even if in this world they are largely... ahem... unsought."

"Which is too bad," the fiery-haired girl sighed. "I didn't tell you that I got molested once, did I?"

"What?!" the ex-fashionista's indignant cry attracted the attention of bystanders, but Rarity ignored it. "Who was the uncouth, barbaric ruffian who did this?!"

"No idea, some Paladin of Brotherhood of Steel. He decided to cop a feel of my chest when me and Twilight were being frisked - they didn't want us armed inside their bunker. When I expressed my... disapproval, Twilight gave another Paladin who was frisking her a death glare, so he didn't molest her... or maybe he was just more well-mannered."

"Methinks that that ruffian should be deprived of his, ahem, baby-makers for that so he would use his head for thinking," the indigo-haired girl declared with a deadly serious frown that would normally have looked out of place on her face.

Suddenly, other girls remembered that Rarity was, in fact, the Black Widow.

"Well here is to girls not being molested and karma punishing the molesters!" Hunter Rose declared in an attempt to discharge the tension, raising his glass of beer.

"I'll drink to that!" Sunset beamed, and the glasses clanked together again. When everyone finished drinking, all the cups were empty.

"Aaaaallllll-right," said the phoenix-haired girl, stretching herself backwards. "That was some damn fine beer, Hunter. I think I'll call an end to it."

"Me too, I am feeling slightly... dizzy," Twilight spoke, standing up and slightly swaying. "Oh, I think I do not have that good of an alcohol tolerance."

"Yes, I think all of us should cut it out," Hunter Rose agreed. "You might not believe it at first sight, but this beer kicks quite well."

"Indeed," Rarity said, standing up and also swaying slightly, "I am actually feeling the slight buzz forming in my head."

"Maybe we should go to the front yard, have some fresh air?" Applejack suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea," Twilight said. "Thank you for the beer and the company, Hunter."

"You are welcome, pretties. Shine upon the Wastelands and stay safe. We'll be glad to see you again," replied the bartender.

As the quartet of girls left the bar in higher moods, content and slightly drunk (although the levels of drunkedness varied - while Applejack and Sunset were not that visibly drunk, Twilight and Rarity were more lightweight and were swaying slightly), they saw several Paladins of Brotherhood of Steel, fully clad in T-72d power armour coming up.

"Applejack?" one of them called out to the farm girl, and everyone recognized the voice of Helmet Steadfast.

"Steadfast?" she asked. "What're y'all doin' here?"

"We were invited here by the boss of CWN."

"Really?" Applejack raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, really," Vinyl Scratch appeared from behind the girls, wearing a set of police riot armour, a hunting rifle with a magazine protruding behind her back. "I managed to send a message to the Brotherhood, telling them I could provide them with access to the radio network. In exchange, they agreed to help protect the HQ. So you can relax now."

"OK then," Applejack said, and turned back to Senior Paladin Steadfast. "Sorry Ah was suspicious."

"With how... checkered our relationship was, I am not surprised," Steadfast said.

"So," Vinyl took over again, "thanks a lot for your help girls. You can go back to Appletown now, I am already sending the militia."

"Thank ya kindly, Vinyl," the country girl said, "we really need it."

"Hey, no prob. Make those White Knives pay."

"Heh, Ah definitely will. Bye, Vinyl."

"Bye, everyone! Rock the Wastelands!"

The path to Appletown was one of the most pleasureable moments Twilight Sparkle felt while enduring the Canterlot Wastelands.

The group of twenty-five militiamen was present and ready at the gates, as their de facto leader, who asked to call himself Hotlock, addressed the girls:

"OK, ladies, which one of you is Applejack?"

"Ah am Applejack," replied the country girl.

"As the boss promised, we will help you with defense of Appletown to the best of our ability. Our forces include ten common infantrymen with assault rifles, five assault troopers with assault rifles and heavier-than-usual armour, five marksmen, two guys with LMGs and three snipers. We also have a portable radio station so we can contact the boss if necessary. While we are required to stay in Appletown until you no longer need our help or the boss calls us back, only volunteers will accompany you on any attack missions; the boss trusts you, but it won't be good for CWN if you use us as bullet sponges to preserve lives of Appletowners."

"Makes sense. Ah wasn't plannin' on throwin' you to the grinder in the beginning."

"Thank you. Now, if all of you are ready, we will move out."

"We're ready."

"Let's go, then!"

Their group formed a circle where the girls along with several more women were in the middle, with men surrounding them. Applejack was giving directions to Hotlock, sometimes asking for Twilight's help if the map on the latter's Pip-Boy was needed.

As they were going, mutated beasts like radscorpions or bloatflies were encountered; however, even though creatures were in packs, they were not only outgunned, but also vastly outnumbered, and dealt with very quickly. Privately, both Twilight and Sunset were very grateful to the militiamen for keeping guard, because all girls were still inebriated and their aiming was not very good; Rarity in particular bemoaned her inability to steady the crosshairs on the targets, which eventually led to Applejack shutting her up and advising to simply walk. While irritated with the farmer's rather stern and somewhat rudely given advice, the ex-fashionista followed it.

Closer to the end of their trip, Twilight tuned her Pip-Boy to the Canterlot Wastelands News wavelength on an impulse, and heard the female speech:

"...raiders once again proved that their intelligence level remains abysmally low. I would have thought that their brains were turned into muck because of sleeping in radioactive craters if I didn't know that they would have to compete with packs of pissed-as-Tartarus feral ghouls for those. Anyway, the attack on our HQ failed, as usual, and the raiders' corpses will make an excellent fertilizer for trees and plants to grow. Oh yeah, their deaths also prevented passing down their genes of being a nasty asshole... I hope so, at least. Moreover, Canterlot Wastelands News has made an accord with Brotherhood of Steel, so don't be surprised if you see big-ass Paladins in power armour walking nearby. And don't piss them off. Actually, never piss any Brotherhood Paladin off. Still, my advice on being careful with them if you have valuable technology holds. Now, time for some awesome music! Today it's something to remind us of what we have lost but still can obtain: "Happy Times!" Enjoy the ballad, faithful listeners!"

"Hey," one of the militiamen turned to Twilight, "can you leave it on? It's sort of one of our favourites."

"Suit yourself," replied the lavender-skinned girl.

As everyone went on, the militiamen began singing in tune to the song, although, admittedly, not many of them had singing voices. Still, the singing certainly uplifted the moods, and despite the severity of the situation, Twilight emitted a heartfelt laugh.

She was surrounded by friends and allies, they were going to their base, the weather was fine (more or less), a good song was playing on the radio and everyone was singing.

The equine Princess barely was able to stop herself from asking "What could go wrong?". Unfortunately, human wisdom of not asking the question because it tempts fate to screw with someone was not as superstitious as she had initially thought.

As they finished the song, they were standing near Appletown. Their singing almost caused a panic among the inhabitants, and Big Macintosh and several Apples came up to them, armed to the teeth.

"For a moment, Ah thought there was a circus runnin' amok," he spoke. "Sis, mind explaining what all the ruckus is about?"

"So, this boss of CWN let you come here and help us?" the eldest Apple brother asked Hotlock once the latter was finished with explanations. The girls were also present, plus Lyra and Bon Bon joined in on the conversation as semi-official Appletown defense advisors.

"Yep; these raiders are becoming quite a nuisance, and we need caravans running more or less safely now more than ever. Few people want to risk their lives running here now, and those who do will skyrocket their prices 'cause Curve Blade's "taxation" is a robbery even by standards of other raiders' groups," was the reply.

"A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Applejack laughed uproariously. "Raiders? Having standards? Good joke, Hotlock!"

"Well, I did use the word "standards" relatively loosely."

"Well, we're mighty grateful to you and your boss for that, 'cause a little more effort an' they would've overrun us with sheer numbers," Big Macintosh gave a small smile. "It wouldn't hurt to have some extra firepower."

"It wouldn't," Lyra agreed, "but I am afraid that the stakes have been raised too high for purely defensive action now. With more raider groups flocking to the ranks of White Knives, there is a chance that a well-coordinated attack on Appletown or CWN HQ will take one of the groups out of the fight. The fact that Brotherhood of Steel actually agreed to assist CWN in the defense is a major victory for us; since Elder Aegis definitely would not want to lose the new possibilities of communication he has now, the headquarters is in good hands, more or less. Appletown does not benefit from such protection now, although Aegis did promise better relationship now. But we need to cull the enemy's numbers fast; time is not on our side."

"Don't forget the mercenaries of Crimson Hands," Twilight spoke up. "They have already tried to assassinate me and Sunset twice, and have participated in the last attack on Appletown. As far as I can tell, they have higher-quality armour and weapons, a good number of them military-grade."

"Which certainly does not play in our favour, too," the mint-skinned girl replied again. "I am afraid that we are no longer able to fight them on fair ground. We will have to do covert strikes."

"Covert strikes?" Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Ya mean backstabbing at night or something like that?"

"Well, I thought of assassinations, night strikes, sabotage and so on."

The farm girl frowned, clearly not amused at the idea.

"The idea has merit," Rarity spoke for the first time, earning a glare from Applejack for agreeing with Lyra and promptly ignoring it. "Provided we could find more silenced sniper rifles somewhere, I would suggest sniping them from afar. But silencers are pretty rare, and, to be honest, I cannot recall having seen an MSR-90 sniper rifle aside from mine."

"Oh, that's MSR-90?" Bon Bon paid closer attention to Rarity's sniper rifle. "Damn, I'm officially jealous. And you outfited it with silencer? Cool!"

"Why thank you, Bon Bon," Rarity gave her signature "I am flattered" smile and gesture, "and while I would not want to make you more jealous, but I also have a Stealth-Boy device."

"It's great," Lyra said. "So, Rarity can perform covert attacks even in broad daylight, provided that Stealth-Boy is fully charged. Bon Bon, Twilight and Sunset have Buffalo SMGs with silencers, which could also help. I would have preferred to obtain night vision goggles if we want to attack the enemy at night, but finding them is quite problematic."

"Is there a chance Brotherhood of Steel can loan some military equipment if we promise something in return?" Sunset spoke up. "We can, say, borrow their stuff, kill a dozen of bandits or so, then return it."

"Good idea in theory," Big Macintosh said, "but why can't we ask them for assistance, too?"

"Me and Twilight had a short chat before this conversation started, and there's one thing we need to ask Applejack first."

"What is it, Sunset?" the farm girl turned to the fiery-haired Equestrian.

"You mentioned you had scouted the prison that White Knives use as their base. How hard, by your estimates, would it be to assault it, if we presume that there is no other way inside or that we cannot find it?"

"That might be a bloodbath, Sunset. There are four good sniper points at least, and the prison is built so that whoever would assault it would have a lotta trouble taking it."

"Applejack is right," Lyra spoke up, "that prison is like a fortress. If I remember correctly, it was built to house some of the more... undesirable society elements. Curve Blade was actually an inmate there; before they moved him to Vault 49 for whatever reason, he was a head of one nasty drug cartel that smuggled stuff from certain TODC countries, like Bovinia or Griffonada. These countries had plants from which one could derive highly addictive drugs, and TODC intelligence sometime used the addicts as disposable saboteurs. He was given a lifetime imprisonment shortly before the introduction of Commissariat. I recall that NSC really wanted to outright execute him, but they did not allow to act retroactively then."

"My thought is that we may require assistance from Brotherhood," Sunset spoke up again, "and that Elder Aegis won't miss a chance to smash the White Knives once and for all, but his forces can't be spent walking around. I think we can deal with weaker targets by ourselves or with limited assistance, and keep their forces reserved for assaulting the main base."

"Do y'all think he will agree to that?" Applejack looked at everyone, doubt clearly visible on her face.

"It would be logical of him to let us handle the more or less easy work so he would retain the more important resources," Twilight spoke up. "Given that we have built some rapport, I think we may capitalize on it and enter a mutual pact. I recall he has a stealth eyebot; if he could do some reconnaissance and share the data with us, it would be mutually beneficial. Plus, isn't there an agreement that he would buy apples from you, Applejack?"

"Yep."

"Then it would also make sense for him to give at least some help to you."

"Hmmm, ya think we should ask him?"

"Wouldn't hurt, I think."

"It always pays to have power armoured troopers on your side," Bon Bon said. "Remember the military base of 9th Mechanized Infantry battalion?"

"Oh, don't remind me," Twilight shuddered at the memories of that ill-fated assault.

"Well yeah, Curve Blade might not have sentry bots and like, but he surely has the numbers to make up for it. Quantity over quality, as they say."

"So all in favour of trying to cooperate with Brotherhood of Steel?" Twilight asked, and hearing the majority of others agree, continued, "then what should we do first? Ask them for assistance or perform the covert strikes?"

"We cannot do a strike until we know where to do it," Lyra pointed out. "So we should ask Elder Aegis first. Who will do that?"

"Ah will, Ah think," Applejack replied.

"I'll join," Sunset spoke up.

"Me too," Twilihgt added her voice.

"When?"

"Hmmm, maybe tomorrow? Ah think beer we drank at HQ will wear off by then."

"Whoa whoa," Bon Bon interrupted, "are you saying that you were travelling here while drunk?!"

"Well..." Sunset scratched the back of her neck, abashed. "We kinda had this big squad on our side..."

The bicolour-haired girl facepalmed and muttered, "Well, at least you were escorted... But you want my advice? Never, ever go travelling while drunk on something! This really screws with your thinking and aiming in critical situations."

"Duly noted. Now, can we take our leave?"

"Suit yourselves. We will discuss the defense plans with Big Macintosh."

When the quartet of girls was on their way to Applejack's house, they were enthusiastically greeted by Apple Bloom, who was quite glad to see her sister and her friends unharmed.

"Aplpejack! Twilight! Sunset!" she gave each girl a hug as she cried out their names, and then her eyes fell on Rarity. She gasped:

"Ohmigosh! Rarity? That you? You're alive?!"

"Unless ghosts somehow manage to be solid and warm to the touch now, I am pretty sure I am alive," the indigo-haired girl gave a warm smile to the red-haired girl, and suddenly got herself wrapped in a crushing hug.

"Oh, Ah'm soooooo glad to see you alive and well, Rarity! Ah missed havin' you around during war... but where's one of mah BFFs and fellow Crusader?"

"You... you mean Sweetie Belle?" Rarity stumbled on her words, the question clearly not expected to her.

"Well last Ah knew you weren't Scootaloo's sister, so yeah, Ah mean Sweetie Belle... Rarity? What's wrong?" Apple Bloom asked, puzzled by the painful expression on former fashionista's face. "Is something wrong? You aren't wounded, are you?"

"No, no, my dear, I am unharmed, but... Sweetie Belle... she is no longer with us," Rarity breathed out the last words in one go, fighting with her storm of emotions and trying to keep the tears inside.

"What?!" Apple Bloom gasped, her gamboge eyes wide in disbelief. "Sweetie Belle... she died?"

Rarity nodded, not trusting herself to speak further as a lump constricted her throat. However, said lump disappeared with a gasp she emitted when the olive-skinned girl enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug. Applejack jerked forward and opened her mouth as if she wanted to pry her younger sister away from the indigo-haired girl with a littany of curses, but stopped almost immediately. Sunset, whose attention was focused on Apple Bloom and Rarity and who did not have the country girl in her field of vision, did not notice that; however, Twilight caught the movement with her eyes, and frowned.

If Applejack confronts Rarity over this, it won't help the atmosphere in our group at all.

"Oh mah gosh, Rarity, Ah'm so sorry!" Apple Bloom shouted, her eyes filling with tears. "Ah didn't know!"

"You couldn't know that, Apple Bloom," Rarity hugged the youngest Apple sister back, her eyes moist as well now. "There is nothing to be sorry for."

"How did this happen? You sent her to the Vault, didn't you? Wasn't she supposed to be safe?"

"Sweetie didn't make it to the Vault, Apple Bloom. She... didn't have enough time to get there before the bombs fell," the last part was said with some hesitation, as Rarity was clearly uncomfortable with telling the whole truth. Applejack scowled at her, and then said:

"Ah'll... Ah'll make us somethin' ta eat."

"Want me to help?" Twilight asked.

"No thank ya Twi, Ah'll manage."

She must have caught on me intending to speak with her about this attitude, the equine Princess mused. I'll let her off the hook for now, but this still needs to be addressed.

"Ah so wanted to see her an' Scootaloo again... Ah hoped she would come out of the Vault... An' now Ah'll never see her again!" Apple Bloom was crying into Rarity's frontal armour plate now, staining the cloth on it with tears. At hearing this, both Equestrians looked at each other, both having dark looks and communicating the same thought silently.

Apple Bloom would not have seen Sweetie Belle come out of Vault 85 even if she had made it there. Unless you count the form of a hulky, ogrish, greenskin monstrosity commonly known as "super mutant".

The dinner was a bit lively, as Big Macintosh returned shortly before Applejack was finished with her cooking. He greeted Rarity warmly, carefully hugging her, and she hugged him back.

Noticing that Apple Bloom's eyes were red and poofy, he sternly inquired as to the reasons thereof, but quickly relented when he heard the news about Sweetie Belle's death.

"Ah goldurn it to Tartarus," a curse slipped from his tongue. "She didn't deserve such bad luck, in mah opinion."

As he said it, Applejack shouted that dinner was ready. When they left, Twilight, Sunset and Rarity exchanged dark looks and followed them.

While everyone ate, Big Macintosh described how he and Hotlock planned to defend Appletown.

"Admittedly, we heavily count on Brotherhood of Steel being amenable to our request, although we can scout by ourselves, if necessary. Once we see which abandoned villages are used as outposts and know how many of them raiders are there, those who can operate stealthily will strike at the villages. Lyra and Bon Bon insist that everyone works as a single team; Rarity, if you're up to it, that means you'll work with both of them."

"Fine by me," Rarity replied.

"Majority of Hotlock's militia will remain here, so that we have better chances of holding Appletown. Hotlock insists - and Ah agree - that daytime raids need to be done only if absolutely necessary. Also, we'll be training civilians in using weapons. Luckily, many folks realized that if they stay aside, they'll die, so we might rebuild our numbers - but it will take time."

"What about Curve Blade's main base?" Twilight asked.

"We attack it if we're sure that Brotherhood of Steel agrees to help, so Twilight, we really hope that you'll convince Elder Aegis to help us. If they disagree, we may try an all-or-nothing type of attack, but Ah'm not keen on the idea."

"Neither am I, to be honest," Sunset spoke up. "This will be a bloodbath for sure, and we need to preserve at least some part of Appletown's militia, because who knows what will happen next?"

"When should we ask Elder Aegis for help?" Twilight asked again.

"The sooner, the better, Hotlock says."

"Well, I think that tomorrow morning, I can do it."

"Ah'll join," Applejack spoke up.

"Count me in... although if anyone gropes me again, then I'm outta there," Sunset replied, saying the last part under her breath.

"Can I join you too, darling?" Rarity asked Twilight. "Given that Crimson Hands are quite insistent on claiming the reward for your heads, I think that spotting them before they spot you would be quite beneficial."

"Well..." the lavender-skinned girl thought for a second, and then answered, "can't argue with that logic. Especially considering that last time we were shot at by a sniper."

"Then it's an absolute must even," the ex-fashionista said. "Our Overseer always told us that during the war, UFE army's methods of eliminating enemy snipers were either a counter-sniper or an artillery barrage. And we don't have mortars lying around, do we?"

"Artillery barrage?" Applejack asked, confused. "Isn't that overkill?"

"No, Applejack," Sunset spoke up, "if one wanted to avoid casualties that a sniper would undoubtedly inflict, it's either artillery barrage, or air support, or a tank. Or drones and warbots, if you had those; but a sniper could take those out too, especially with proper equipment. And while it's overkill, it also diverts some important assets for a task that might not even succeed - a good sniper will never let themselves get caught under such an attack, after all - and that means spent (if not outright wasted) fuel and ammunition, which is never good. So if, theoretically, Rarity takes out the enemy sniper or snipers first, or at least boggles them down in sniper duel, it's better to ahve her with us... at least, that's what I believe to be a logical conclusion."

"Well, Ah can't say anythin' against that..."

"Then in the morning, we go to the bunker?" Twilight asked.

Everyone who volunteered nodded.

"Good. Tomorrow at 8 a.m., everyone."

Spike could not sleep.

Being a dog meant that he had enhanced senses, namely smell, hearing and vision. That alone could bring problems for him when unaccustomed to the canine body, but eventually he learned to deal with the senses, after his trips to the human world.

(He really disliked being colorblind, though. While he learned eventually to "guess" colours based on their monochrome representations, this was still extremely annoying to him. When in Equestria, he was most definitely not colorblind.)

This time, however, it was not the enhanced senses that gave him trouble; it was this annoying, nagging feeling that something, somewhere is not right. Problem is, he could not really determine what could possibly be wrong now.

He looked around. Twilight was lying on her left side, deep within her dreams' embrace. Judging by her facial expression, she was not having a nightmare at the moment. Neither, it seemed, was Sunset having one; while her face that was directed towards the ceiling was a bit scowling, she was laying calmly and was not thrashing around.

A figure of another person, as well as her smell were missing, however.

So that's what was wrong, Spike realized.

At Applejack's insistence, Rarity was to share a room with Twilight and Sunset for that night, and a folding bed was brought there. Rarity pouted for a bit, but declined when the Equestrians volunteered to exchange their beds.

"No thank you, darlings," she said, "I am quite capable of sleeping in more... rough conditions, given what has become of the Wastelands. Do not worry too much about me."

And yet she is gone now, Spike scowled as he remembered the words. And now I am supposed not to worry?

While human Rarity was not the pony he was crushing on (and he had learned previously that zoophilia was considered taboo in the human world, so he decided against going for infatuated look), he still cared about her on some other level, neither romantic nor generically friendly. And thus, he decided that he should see where the fashionista went.

He could relatively easily track her scent, having smelled her military-issue boots once. Since said boots were not present, it was suffice to say that she was outside somewhere.

Sniffing carefully, Spike began tracking the human counterpart of his crush. As he descended downstairs, he realized that the scent went beyond the door, which Applejack and Big Macintosh were kept locked for the night.

Which means that Rarity must have picked the lock. Think, Spike, think!

On an impulse, he gently pushed the door... and it did not open.

OK then, how am I supposed to proceed right now?

"Spike?"

"Ahhh!"

"Shhh, it's me, Applejack!" the blonde farmer was standing in front of him, speaking in a quiet voice.

"Sorry, AJ," the dragon-turned-dog replied abashedly.

"What're you doin' here up late?"

"Well, I..." Spiek was at a loss. He did not want to tell Applejack of how Rarity was missing, knowing of the festering antagonism between them, but he really did not have a plan of getting out of the situation...

"Ya need to go outside for... well... bathroom?"

...and Applejack just unwittingly provided him with one.

"Well yeah, I kinda really need to..."

"OK then," Applejack took out a key that was hanging on her neck, and inserted it into the keyhole. Turning it, she unlocked the door and opened it.

"Come on, fella, Ah'll wait for ya here."

"Thanks, Applejack!" Spike was already outside, tracking Rarity's boots' scent with new vigor.

I surely hope she doesn't see Rarity missing!

About five or six minutes later, he managed to trace his target to the...

...graveyard? That's where they buried those Apples that died not long ago...

After a small bite on his tongue (ouch, hurts, means I'm not dreaming), he approached Rarity, who was currently sitting on her knees. As he came closer, he was able to discern the sounds of sniffing.

Sniffing?

Forgetting about stealth, he ran up closer to the indigo-haired girl (who had her back to him and failed to notice his approach) until the only thing separating them was one not-so-fresh grave. He could clearly hear Rarity crying now, as silently as she could. Between her sniffs, she inserted various words.

Looking more carefully, Spike realized that Rarity was in front of Braeburn's grave right now.

He was puzzled. Why Rarity would be here? And crying, no less? She hated Braeburn, didn't she?

"Oh, Braeburn," he heard her speak quietly but loudly enough for him to discern the words, "why? Why did you agree to this? I know you didn't want Sweetie Belle dead... but... but you still killed her!"

Just how hard was it for her to realize that she will never see her little sister again? Spike wondered.

"I knew you as a decent person... I know you regretted it... but... I can't find it in my heart to forgive you! Just... can't!" with the last word said, Rarity burst into tears again. Unable to deal with it anymore, Spike decided to at least try and offer a semblance of comfort, so he spoke quietly:

"Rarity?"

"Who goes there?" quick as a lightning, Rarity whipped out her silenced pistol and turned around sharply as if turned by an axis.

"It's me, Spike," the dragon-turned-dog replied, frightened by her sudden change in posture. "Just... don't shoot me, please, will you?" he spoke, showing himself. The former fashionista immediately relaxed and put away her weapon.

"Oh, Spike, that's you. Are you... alone?"

"Yeah. Rarity, pardon my bluntness, but why aren't you in bed?" Spike asked, coming closer to the girl and sitting beside her.

"I couldn't sleep. Seeing Applejack once again... it awoke old memories."

"Memories?" Following Rarity's gaze, he saw her looking at Braeburn's grave once again.

"More like memories mixed with emotions, but you get the point, I believe."

"I do. Are they... connected with Braeburn?"

"Very closely. I remembered the night when my vengeance cost Apple family one of their own..."

*FLASHBACK*

Rarity was quietly creeping through Appletown, hidden by the darkness of night and the optical cloaking field produced by her Stealth-Boy.

It took her some time, but she finally managed to track down one of Vault-Tec employees.

She was feeling slightly uncomfortable, since she actually knew the person in question: Braeburn, Applejack's cousin.

A part of her did not want to kill him... after all, a good number of Vault-Tec employees were pawns in reality. And while one does not ignore pawns in the game of chess, they never were real masterminds. Now those she definitely was not going to ignore.

She was shocked to discover that one highly-positioned person from National Security Commissariat actually was in the know and allowed this to happen. Needless to say that she did not give a second thought whether to dispose of him or not.

Especially since she discovered that he was secretly being a patron for her charity, thus allowing the horrible experiments on Vault dwellers to continue and flourish.

Unforgivable, she snarled internally.

All of a sudden, luck seemed to smile upon her, as she noticed Braeburn entering what she presumed to be his house. Checking whether her Stealth-Boy was still on, she sprinted towards it.

When she reached her destination, Braeburn has already locked the door, but she was not going to enter the house immediately. It would not be good stealth-wise, given that her (potential?) target was still wide-awake, and if she got caught, she would be surrounded by a mob of angry town folks who might not mind inflicting some payback on her for her previous... vengeance cases.

She needed to wait.

And if there was one thing she knew fairly well, it was patience. So she chose a spot near the house where she could hide with Stealth-Boy turned off, and wait until it was her time...

Deep in the night, when all Appletowners aside from those who patrolled the outskirts were safely asleep, Rarity emerged from her hiding spot.

The moonlight that brightened the streets somewhat was not helpful to her efforts to stay hidden, but careful observation revealed that it was relatively safe to proceed without wasting more of Stealth-Boy's remaining energy. Taking out a lockpick, the fashionista-turned-assassin made a quick work of the lock, and stepped inside.

The only source of light inside was the moon, or rather whatever light reflected from its surface that managed to find its way through the window.

Braeburn was asleep; the perfect target. Rarity checked whether her silenced pistol was loaded. It was.

However, the tendrils of doubt made their way to her mind again. No matter how much she hated Vault-Tec and everything and everyone connected with this corporation, she knew that Braeburn had a relatively low position there, and may not have been involved in the atrocities. Of course, she believed in guilt by association, which was the sole cause of several deaths by her hand, but what little she knew of Braeburn made him a decent guy.

She considered whether she should just interrogate him, but she never spoke to anyone when in Black Widow disguise, and there was a chance that he may recognize her. She was not ready to blow her cover.

Instead, the indigo-haired girl opted to search through his belongings, looking for any signs of him remaining good - or turning corrupt.

There was little of interest - some pre-apocalypse books, well-preserved and otherwise, a 10mm pistol (most likely his own) and spare ammo for it, various trinkets and bottle caps.

Finally, she found a small book that she recognized as a personal diary. Some part of her felt revolted that she picked it up with the intent to read it, but many of her morals had suffered during the time she spent outside of the Vault. Hard as she tried, it was simply impossible to preserve the morals in their original form in the increasingly amoral Canterlot Wastelands.

Wishing she had night vision goggles, she left for another room, ducked and turned on a small flashlight she carried around, keeping it very close to the diary.

As she read further and further, her face was twisting into a furious-beyond-belief expression (which no one could see, since she still was wearing the mask), and her eyes narrowed.

It was him, one thought

When she finished reading, she snapped the diary shut, and proceeded to stuff it into her backpack.

It was him.

Whipping out her silenced pistol, she moved back to the room Braeburn was in, intending to unload the whole magazine into him.

However, her initial plan got botched, as Braeburn for some reason was wide awake right now, and naturally, seeing a person in black with a weapon in his house was certainly not on the agenda.

"Hey, who're... OOF!"

Not giving him a chance to raise alarm or go for his weapon, Rarity lunged forward and delivered a strong kick to his solar plexus, making him wheeze for air and double in pain. Holstering her pistol, she gave Braeburn a hard slap on each of his ears, shocking him and causing loss of consciousness.

He slumped against his bed, utterly helpless and at her mercy.

The red mist of anger and grief clouded her mind, guiding her body as if she were merely a bystander, looking from inside as it moved on its own (sort of).

She took her pistol out of the holster again, and aimed at Braeburn's head.

Phut. Phut.

Two .22 bullets two the head ended the life of a former Vault-Tec employee...

...who killed my sister!

For a moment, Rarity just stood there, hand still holding the pistol, as if she expected Braeburn to rise again.

He did not.

"What in tarnation?!"

The voice cracked down the silence like a thunder across the sky, both literally and figuratively. Rarity was dumbstruck; the voice was hauntingly familiar.

The drawl, the countryism, the general manner of speech and its unrefinedness - everything screamed...

Applejack!

Belatedly, Rarity realized that when she picked the lock, she forgot to ensure that the door was properly closed. And now she was busted.

Her mind panicked. She could not afford witnesses... but she also simply could not simply kill one of her now-revealed-to-be-alive friends. However, if she knew anything about Applejack, she knew that the farm girl would not allow her to escape that easily.

In a moment of panic, she turned around and took a shot to Applejack's leg.

"ARGH!"

The bullet hit its mark, and the blonde collapsed to the floor. Seizing the opportunity, Rarity quickly opened the window and dived out of it. As soon as she got out, she turned on her Stealth-Boy, and the optical camouflage field enveloped her form. She immediately ran perpendicular to the cone of fire that could be made from the window.

She heard pistol shots, joined later by heavy staccato of LMG rounds, but it was too late for them.

She ran, and ran, and ran.

She could not remember clearly how she got to her hideout, or what was around her while she was on the way.

All she could see were Braeburn's lifeless body and Applejack's angry eyes.

I've killed her cousin... She must not know... she will NEVER forgive me for that.

Rarity cried, for she knew that she had found one of her closest friends... and lost her at the same moment.

*END OF FLASHBACK*

Spike was conflicted. On the one hand, he could genuinely understand Applejack's reasons for being angry with Rarity; on the other hand, his dragon insticts kept telling him that should anyone threaten "his" girls, he should tear them apart, and buck the fact that he was a dog, and not of a combat breed to boot.

He was certain that if the roles were reversed, Applejack might have done the same thing. And what it could cost others was uncertain - the farm girl was not one for precise strikes; she was more of a hard-hitting brawler.

"Listen, Rarity," he finally spoke, making the indigo-haired girl look at him, tears still present in her eyes, "I am certain that you have made a mistake, blinded by anger that you always carried since learning of Sweetie Belle's death and flared on that night when you learned of Braeburn's... actions. And I, honestly, do not approve of that. But the fact that you're here, expressing your regret, means that the Rarity we know and love is still there. We only need to see it to fully accept you back. Applejack may take more time for that, though."

"Thank you, Spike," Rarity hugged the dragon-turned-dog against her chest, "your words are like a healing balm on my blackened soul. I dare not hope for the best, but if I am utterly rejected... I honestly don't think I'd get over it."

Spike was unable to formulate a proper answer for some time, enjoying the hug. Although it was less comfortable than before, since he felt a hard armour plate.

"Well, that's what firends are for, right?" he finally responded. "To set you back on the right path?"

The ex-fashionista emitted a melodious laugh.

"Truer words were never spoken."

On the next day, four girls plus Spike (who was let out of rucksack for this case) left for the main base of Brotherhood of Steel in Northern Canterlot Wastelands. Fortunately, they made their way without meeting any Crimson Hands mercenaries, and the only trouble they encountered was a lone yao guai whom Rarity quickly killed with three precise shots to the head before he even managed to approach the girls close enough for assault rifles to be effective.

Applejack muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "show-off", but Rarity did not notice (or pretended not to), and they went on.

When they arrived at the "entrance point", Twilight used her old set of access codes. Brotherhood Paladins were very surprised to see them, but once Elder Aegis gave the "all clear" via radio, they let the girls in.

Of course, they had to store their weapons and undergo a search once again, but this time no one attempted to feel them up... well... beyond the acceptable limits of frisking.

Rarity found the inner design of the bunker "extremely utilitarian" and "lacking aesthetics"; the latter comment earned her a glare from Paladins, and she tried to wiggle herself out of the faux pas by saying that she meant only a small "pretty-up" of the walls which would not interfere with the bunker's functionality. The glares stopped after that, someone sighed and muttered "civvies", and one of the Paladins said:

"Well, Miss, it's up for the command to decide. Thing is, we aren't going mad with grey walls yet, so nobody really cares."

"Oh. Well thank you."

"No prob."

When everyone entered Elder Aegis' office, he greeted them politely and asked what business they had with him. Twilight explained their plans and laid out her request for help in reconnaissance and final assault.

The leader of the Brotherhood Chapter thought for several minutes, before replying:

"Your request is... not unreasonable. White Knives are proving to be a nuisance to the Brotherhood of Steel as well. The stealth-bot we have can be quite helpful in this regard. If we work out the details, i can certainly help you in the matters of reconnaissance. And maybe I will convince the Knights to share a couple of night-vision goggles for some time, but we'll naturally want them back."

"Of course," Twilight replied.

"As for the assistance in final assault, that might be trickier. While we are indeed enemies with White Knives, some people are still uncertain about allying with you, so I can't promise the full support. Also, my men won't really be amenable to the idea of being used as bullet sponges, which you undoubtedly thought of."

"We hoped to get additional intel on the prison with your help and then think of an attack plan that improves survivability of both Appletowners and Brotherhood soldiers," Sunset remarked.

"I appreciate your forethought. Then, once we are able to get additional intel, we will need to think of a plan. It also depends on which soldiers will agree to come. Senior Paladin Sentry will most likely agree to participate, and so will Senior Paladin Ion Titanium. Miss Sparkle and Miss Shimmer are passably familiar with him. Helmet Steadfast is now in charge of defending the HQ of Canterlot Wastelands News, but if there is no risk of attack from outside parties, he might come too. Head Knight Frost might also join with some of the Knights. Senior Paladin Luminal Heat will obey me if ordered to. I am not certain of others."

"That will be how many people, in best and worst cases?"

"At least ten Paladins and ten Knights, and in the best case, twenty-five Paladins and thirty-five Knights."

"That's one big fighting force," Applejack whistled.

"Indeed."

"I have an idea of sorts," Rarity spoke up for the first time.

"I am all ears, Miss..."

"Rarity, sir."

"Miss Rarity?"

"I have heard rumours going in twin towers that a certain assassin, called "Black Widow", has assassinated the second-in-command of the White Knives via a secret passage. I have... purchased the information on its location from an information trader, and think that it might be worth scouting."

Twilight had to give Rarity credit; not a single muscle quivered on her face as she lied to Elder Aegis' face. Applejack's eyes narrowed, but the Equestrian princess sent her a warning look, and the blonde girl relented.

"Well, supposedly, we can do that. You believe that it may help a group of infiltrators to strike where they least expect it?"

"I have thought that this group may try taking out Curve Blade first, but the lines of thoughts are similar, yes."

"I will have my Knights scout this place. Can you give the location?"

"Certainly," Rarity transmitted the information on her Pip-Boy.

"Much obliged, Miss Rarity. That will be of use to both parties. In return, here is the map of villages that we know to be occupied by White Knives or those allied with them," Elder Aegis sent the coordinates to the Pip-Boys carried by girls. "That is all I can do at the moment. The stealth-bots will do more reconnaissance, and I will send one with extra intel as soon as I am able to. Deal?"

"Deal," Applejack said, and shook hands with Elder Aegis.

"Then let our alliance, even if it is of convenience, prove strong. May the Steel be with you."

Later, deep in the night...

Grab Limb felt quite content in his position as the lieutenant of the White Knives. His "promotion" was quite... recent, since the latest attack of Appletown's militia cost them a lot in terms of people, including his own superior.

He was not complaining, though. He was definitely better off now.

First, his share of caps was much higher now. Second, he could enjoy some privileges that were unavailable to him earlier, like a comfortable bed or purified water instead of irradiated water. Third, he could have more Jet to himself now.

And now, as the night was falling down, he decided he could enjoy one dose before passing out for the night, since Appletowners never conducted night operations.

Injecting the drug and feeling the euphoria, he did not know that there were other people aside from Appletowners who could be hostile to White Knives.

Who could and would come after them at night...

Three figures in dark clothes and masks were observing the village from a nearby hill.

"Unbe-fucking-lievable," one of them snarled quietly. "They do not even have patrols outside, and yet there are fires burning in the barrels. Are they for real?"

"They're bandits, Bon Bon," another one replied. "What did you expect? Military discipline?"

"For a gang that terrorizes this whole area, they woefully lack caution, Lyra. You think it's not just asking for a bullet?"

"They are not used to attacks at night, because Applejack never did that. So they are relaxed. This gives us an opportunity to thin their numbers and inflict massive casualties."

"Then what's the plan?" a third person asked, silenced sniper rifle in her hands.

"Observe the main street and keep radio contact. If any of them Knives moves out somewhere, tell us over the radio."

"Will do."

"I have to say, it was quite generous of Elder Aegis to give us personal radios, even if for a while."

"That it was, Lyra. Now let's move."

As Rarity lay down, covering Lyra and Bon Bon with her sniper rifle, the latter two sprinted to the village, ducking a bit so as to be less distinguishable. None of the White Knives showed up on the streets, and two girls quietly entered the house, silenced Buffalo SMGs at the ready.

However, firing proved unnecessary, as four bandits were lying on the floor, clearly passed out, half a dozen empty bottles of whiskey lying around. A putrid stench of sweat and alcohol permeated the air, making Lyra wrinkle her nose in distaste. Looking at Bon Bon, and seeing that the latter was also looking at her, she made a movement with her hand across her neck. The bicolour-haired girl nodded, getting the message.

Putting SMGs away, they took out their UFE army knives and chose their targets. Lyra picked the closest bandit and approached him from his head's side, while Bon Bon moved further away. Covering the bandit's mouth, she quickly made a cut across the throat.

Slink.

The blade cut across carotid arteries and the trachea, releasing a torrent of blood and preventing any further breathing. The man did not even jerk, and after some waiting, Lyra was convinced that he would never rise again.

Meanwhile, Bon Bon almost sat on another bandit, holding her knife in a reverse grip above his throat. She covered his mouth and immediately brought the knife down, cutting his windpipe. The man woke up from the shock, but was unable to scream or resist anyhow. Snarling, Bon Bon wrestled the knife out and stabbed the man in the eye. He twitched once and lay still, the pool of blood spreading.

Without any words, the ex-DOI agent and the former NSC operative moved to the remaining bandits, and slit their throats without any preambula.

Another bandit, attracted by something, stumbled into the room, also quite drunk.

"Hey," he slurred, "who are..?"

Fwooosh!

He was unable to finish his sentence, as Bon Bon's knife flew through the air and hit him straight into the right eye. Easily cutting through the flesh, its tip tore into the bandit's brain, instantly killing him.

The body fell with a thud. Bon Bon muttered a swear word under her mouth, and proceeded to get her knife back. Tearing it out, she wiped the blood and other... fluids... on the corpse.

Taking the Buffalo SMGs again, both girls sweeped the house, but found no one. Lyra spoke to her radio:

"Dagger-2 to Dagger-3, first house clear, five hostiles down, no scratches. How copy, over?"

"Dagger-3 to Dagger-2, solid copy, acknowledged. No hostiles on street, you're clear to proceed to the next target, over."

"Dagger-3, acknowledged. Dagger-2 out."

"Come on," Lyra told her dubiously-former-BFF, "next house."

"On your six," Bon Bon replied.

The pair turned on their Stealth-Boys and left the house, careful not to produce any noise. Moving to their next one, they noticed that one of the windows was open wide, and they decided to ignore the front door. On checking for hostiles, Lyra helped Bon Bon get inside, then followed her.

At that moment, two bandits moved to the room, clearly not as inebriated as the previous now-dead bandits. Two girls stood rigid, not daring to breathe, covered by the optical cloaking field, praying that the enemies would not notice the distortions of air which were a dead giveaway. Fortunately, they did not, and went out of the house.

Relieved, both girls turned off their Stealth-Boys. As quietly as possible, Bon Bon spoke into her radio:

"Dagger-1 to Dagger-3, two bandits just left the house, what're they up to? Over."

Rarity was somewhat worried as she noticed two gangsters come out of the house that Lyra and Bon Bon were supposed to infiltrate next.

Oh I do hope they were not noticed. This plan is quite dangerous due to the enormous numerical superiority they have on us.

Thus, when she heard the quiet whisper in her earphone, she was relieved, and responded immediately:

"Dagger-1, they're standing near the doors as sentries, or it appears so, at least."

"Snipe them, Dagger-3, we don't want them getting suspicious. Over."

"Understood, Dagger-1. Dagger-3 out," with these words, Rarity adjusted the magnification and focus on her optical sight, and carefully aimed at one of the bandits. She did not have night-vision goggles or a thermal visor, but, fortunately for her, the fiers in barrels were still burning and the full moon in the sky was also giving enough light. The non-windy weather was a bonus.

Taking her elevated position and gravitational force into account, she pulled the trigger.

Thud!

Her MSR-90 sniper rifle spat out a bullet, which immediately shattered the bandit's head like a watermelon. Before the other one was able to actually turn, his head was in crosshairs.

Thud!

The bullet went straight into his eye, and he slumped down.

"Daggers one and two, this is Dagger-3. Targets down."

"Thanks a bunch, Rarity. Maintain vigilance. Dagger-1 out," Bon Bon replied.

"Callsigns!" Lyra hissed. "Use the fucking callsigns, not names!"

"Sorry!" the beige-skinned girl whispered back. "Help me get those two inside, will you?"

"What for? The blood will be a dead giveaway anyway."

"What're you... Oh, wait, I see," Bon Bon saw the corpse with a shattered skull out of the window. "Damn. He should have eaten more calcium."

"What the heck?" a new male voice sounded, slightly slurred, and a man walked into the room, unsteady on his feet. "Who's whispering in here?"

The only answer he got was the phiut-phiut-phiut-phiut-phiut-phiut-phiut-phiut-phiut of silenced Buffalo SMGs. He was dead before his body fell into the girl's hands, who carefully put him down.

As they proceeded further into the house, they saw several more persons awake; all of the bandits were eliminated in cold blood and without mercy. In total, ten more bandits (including two sentries sniped by Rarity) were dead now.

"Daggers one and two, be advised, five hostiles on the street, moving in your general direction," Rarity's voice echoed in their ears. Both girls ducked immediately and took position near windows, carefully peeking out. The fashionista-turned-assassin's information turned out to be true, to their frustration.

"Dagger-3, prepare to attack on my mark," Lyra whispered.

"Acknowledged," was the reply.

Former DOI agent and former NSC operative took positions behind and below the windows. Waiting for three seconds, Lyra spoke:

"Mark!"

Rarity pulled the trigger, sending the .308 lead sort-of-cone slug flying and into the neck of the closest White Knives' bandit, which shattered the larynx and made him choke to death in less than a minute.

Before he died, though, Lyra and Bon Bon managed to surprise the other bandits with streams of their own bullets, opening fire. The fashionista could not hear the silenced shots, but she could clearly see through optical sight that the bandits were unable to defend themselves. Very soon, they were dropped.

The trouble did not end there, however. The last bandit accidentally pulled the trigger on his weapon as he was collapsing on the ground, and the loud sounds of fire has alerted everyone else. One by one and by groups of two and three, the bandits were coming out.

Rarity pulled the trigger again, not bothering to line up a headshot and going for the center of mass. The bullet went below her intended point and hit the target to the groin instead.

Even from her position, the screams and swearing of a downed bandit could be clearly heard. The girl allowed herself a small dark chuckle.

Groin shots are super effective.

The enemies, however, were not willing to play the role of targets in a shooting gallery and tried to get to cover. Some of them shot blindly in her direction, making her flinch - she was out of her comfort zone, as she was used to picking positions and acting in a way that would not leave her enemies even one-in-a-million chance to return fire. While none of the bullets hit her, she crawled a bit to the side and looked down onto the battlefield again.

Lyra and Bon Bon managed to drop two of the bandits while they were scampering for cover; there were five enemies left, and all of them were in positions that made sniping difficult.

"Dagger-3 to others, bad visibility of hostiles on my end, must change position," she spoke on the radio.

"Do it quick, we don't want to stir even more hornet's nests!"

Hitting the button on her Stealth-Boy, Rarity stood up and sprinted in the direction where the enemies were hiding, intending to give them a nasty surprise.

Slinging her sniper rifle behind her back, she pulled out her silenced pistol, leaning against the wall and taking several moments to breathe. When her breathing steadied, she aimed at the head of the closest bandit, still under optical camo cloak.

Thud.

A .22 caliber bullet hit him, turning his brains into a mush of torn nerve endings and blood, and he fell. Quickly aiming at another bandit (Rarity noticed with displeasure that her next target was a woman), the assassin pulled the trigger again, hitting her target. Unlike the previous one, the dead female slumped forward, which was not left unnoticed.

"Hey, what the..." one of the bandits started as he turned to the corpse, but he forgot to hide back, and that cost him dearly - Lyra and Bon Bon seized the chance and pumped him full of 9mm rounds.

One of the bandits fired blindly back, but hit nothing, as Rarity hid behind the wall again. He tried to run back, but underestimated the ability of girls who served in special governmental branches to shoot, and ended up dead.

"OK, OK, stop!" the last bandit shouted. "I surrender, please!" He dropped the weapon and raised his hands, standing up in plain view. "Please don't shoot, I surrender!"

Rarity leaned out again and put two bullets into his back in rapid succession, one of them hitting the aorta and another one shattering one of his spinal disks. Turning off her cloak, she left cover and gave an extra bullet for each bandit to the head. Coming up to the last one, she muttered:

"Your offer of surrender is denied, raider scum."

Thud.

"Wow," Bon Bon commented, dropping her optical camouflage. "That's cold."

"Do you feel that he deserved the chance to survive?" Rarity countered with her own question.

"That would depend on what he had done and why. Alas, we can't find that out now."

"I'm not sure that this is largely relevant right now," Lyra said, appearing near Bon Bon. "What is relevant is that this person is - pardon me, was willing to attack innocents just because his boss, Curve Blade, may he rot in Tartarus forever, wants to drive Appletowners out of their places, and wants to collect "fees for passage" from caravans. He is already stifling the economy of Appletown, and if he is not removed, this place may not survive. We must remove this threat, and we must cull their mumbers, which means that everyone under the banner of White Knives is a fair target."

"Agreed," Rarity said. "Now what, two more villages to go?"

"Yes. Let's go."

The trio hit the "on" buttons on their Stealth-Boys, literally disappearing into the night...

"I am bored," Sunset groaned quietly.

"Shush, you," Twilight hissed at her, "or you want them to hear us?"

Two equines-turned-humans, Spike, Big Macintosh, Hotlock and twelve more people from Appletown and CWN's militias were hiding in the night near one of the villages occupied by White Knives. When the girls returned with the news of Elder Aegis agreeing to cooperate, an idea of a small volunteer force hitting the villages at night was proposed. Surprisingly, it was well-supported by everyone who wanted to fight for Appletown, so they had t spend some time picking the candidates.

Since Twilight let Lyra borrow her silenced Buffalo SMG and Sunset did not have the mindset for stealth operations, they both joined the task force. Twilight was feeling slightly apprehensive about attacking first, but the nature of their enemy made it nigh impossible to argue against the idea.

She was worried that she was becoming desensitized to the loss of life, and admitted that to Sunset. The fiery-haired girl disagreed with her on that point, though.

"Desensitized is if you lose regard of any life, friend's or enemy's," she said. "Since you fight to protect the innocents and preserve their lives, I can't call you "desensitized" at all, especially since it's White Knives we're dealing with."

Despite her friend's assurances, Twilight still had a worm of doubt in her mind, and was fighting it all the way to the occupied village. However, with tension rising, the strain of her nerves allowed to squish that worm.

Need to focus. And wait for signal.

Brotherhood of Steel allowed them to use some of their personal radio commlinks, which improved their possibilities of coordination. The plan was to attack as soon as Lyra, Bon Bon and Rarity (whom were aptly named the "Dagger squad" by Applejack; no one objected) moved on from the first village and infiltrated the second one. Once the Dagger squad signaled that they were attacking the other village, their "Hammer squad" was supposed to start their own attack.

Since the two villages were very close to each other, the noise coming from one of them could attract the attention from another, and tying both of them in a chaos of battle would prevent reinforcements coming at the least opportune moment.

Now, Hammer squad was waiting for the signal from Dagger squad. In the meantime, they were supposed to sit quietly and avoid detection. And Sunset Shimmer found that boring as Tartarus, hence the complaining and the subsequent "shut up" from Twilight.

"I don't," Sunset replied, "but this is seriously straining my nerves. Remember how we were waiting back in Vault Village?"

"Don't remind me," Twilight grunted.

"Everyone!" their talk was interrupted by Big Macintosh, who had the radio set and was listening to it, "a signal from Dagger squad! Time to attack! Go, go, go!"

"Finally!" Sunset breathed out, and rose. Twilight followed her and Big Macintosh, clutching her AP-79.

The whole squad was running towards the village, guns at the ready. The streets were empty, and they made it unnoticed to two closest houses, splitting into two squads. Big Macintosh, Twilight and Sunset, along with five more militiamen chose a larger house.

"On the count of three," the eldest Apple spoke. "One... two... THREE!"

BAM! With a mighty kick, he kicked the door open, and immediately started firing his LMG at something. Twilight and Sunset followed him, noticing several bandits standing in the open, clearly taken by surprise. Two White Knives were dead already, one was crying from pain and clutching his stomach.

Twilight aimed at one of the bandits on the left, while Sunset chose her targets on the right side.

Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

Their fire incapacitated all of the remaining bandits in the room, and other militiamen rushed into the house, splitting into groups of two and three and going further into the house. Big Macintosh and the girls went into what appeared to be a living room.

The bandits were not as surprised as those caught near exit were, but they were drunk (and some of them were high on some clearly addictive substances) and were still scrambling for their weapons. The girls immediately fired on any target that stood in the open, while Big macintosh made quick work of those who tried to hide behind sofas or uprooted tables - while the thought was sound, cloth and wood could not withstand the impact of 7.62mm bullets.

Twilight's ears were ringing from the fire in closed quarters despite her mouth being open, but she could still hear shooting coming from other parts of the house. Several seconds passed, and the noise ceased.

Big Macintosh set his radio to the Hammer squad frequency and spoke:

"Hammer-1-1 to others, report!"

"Hammer-1-1, this is Hammer-2-1, we cleared the house, how is it going on your side?"

"Hammer-1-1, this is Hammer-1-4, we killed the bandits."

"Hammer-1-6 here, we're fine."

"Gather near the exit, now we've got their attention!"

"Now the real fun begins," Sunset spoke quietly to Twilight.

"I seriously hope you're not being serious," the equine Princess grumbled, and mentally facepalmed at her own words.

Red Bullet woke up from a very pleasant dream involving two hot blonde twins doing... things to him. Wonderfully pleasant things.

His dream might have been influenced by Jet and some hallucinogenic drug mixed with it, though. Still, it was still extremely hot, and of course, being ripped from the realm of such dreams by gunfire was not good at all.

He paused, and then sat up sharply, startled.

...gunfire?

All wisps of sleep disappeared from him and he scrambled around for his guns and armour. Other White Knives were waking up, too.

"Whassamatter?" one of them slurred, whiskey doing his speaking for him.

"We're under attack, you fucking idiot!" Red Bullet snarled, giving the speaker a hard kick to his back, eliciting an "Ouch!" and a string of filthy expletives, which were promptly ignored. "Get up and get your guns!"

"Whelp, now we've gotten their attention!" one of the militiamen spoke gleefully, releasing a string of bullets in the bandits' direction.

"I would have preferred the opposite," Twilight grumbled, but no one heard her over the noise of gunfire.

I sure understand the appeal of infiltration tactics now.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da! Big Macintosh's LMG was spitting out bullets at a fast rate, its owner determined not to let the bandits get a good angle of fire. Sticking out of cover, Twilight managed to get one of White Knives into her collimator sight, and pulled the trigger.

A short ba-ta-ta later, her target fell onto earth, motionless.

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"Aaaand I'm out!" Sunset ducked back behind cover, swapping the magazine of her R91. "How many kills have you scored? I have six!"

"Five," Twilight replied.

"Seven, and mind comparing the count later?" Big Macintosh replied before firing another string of bullets. Both girls rose from behind their cover and fired at any bandit stupid enough to have a part of their body sticking out.

Some of their bullets penetrated the wooden walls that served as cover for the White Knives, causing one death and two injuries. Sunset also hit one of the raiders to the throat before return fire forced her to duck.

Twilight spent the last of her ammunition, resulting in another raider casualty, and ducked to swap a magazine.

So far, their situation was far from perfect, but it was not favouring their enemies either. White Knives, not used to the attacks at night by anything except a stray beast or two, could not believe for a moment that someone was actually attacking them, chalking the sounds up to some drunk shooting some people indulged into.

When Red Bullet, the local lieutenant, realized what was going on, he proved to be no slouch, however. Under his profanity-ridden command, the raiders organized (or at least tried to) some sort of defense, but by that time Appletown militia has already cleared half of the houses and were entrenched in well-defensible positions. Plus, a good number of raiders forgot to put on their armour in haste, making themselves easier pickings.

Twilight had actually taken out a female bandit who had nothing but bra on her upper body. To add insult to injury, 5.56mm bullets tore through the raider's mammary glands, turning them into a very unattractive mess of gore. The equine Princess was barely able to avoid retching at the sight.

Still, the bandits were dead set on surviving, and were not intent on giving Appletowners any quarters, not that the latters asked for it or were willing to offer some.

A fierce positional firefight took place, with Appletowners covering the street in a crossfire and taking care to prevent any attempts at hitting them in the back, and bandits laying down suppressive fire to halt their advance.

However, bandits were soon struck in the back.

"Hammer-1-1, this is Dagger-3," Rarity's voice sounded in their headsets. "We've come to return the favour."

The bandits were caught completely unprepared, and Lyra, Bon Bon and Rarity killed almost half of the bandits under cover of Stealth-Boys, while Hammer squad killed anyone distracted or trying to escape.

The battle turned into a massacre, with the bandits getting slaughtered by the crossfire. Red Bullet and a handful of raiders tried to escape while firing wildly with LMGs and trophy laser rifles, but the machine-gunners were sniped by Rarity from afar, and the local lieutenant caught several bullets from Sunset, one piercing the artery in his hip and another hitting his groin. The ear-piercing wail he emitted was so loud that several Appletowners worried that it could actually be heard back at the prison.

Another bullet to the head silenced his screams forever.

A minute and a half later, Rarity, Lyra and Bon Bon appeared and approached the Appletowners.

"How'd it go?" Big Macintosh asked them.

"Perfect, they were running around the village with their pants down, sometimes literally," Lyra spoke; as she said the last words, Rarity presumably made a face (no one could tell because of the mask).

"None escaped?"

"Well, some wanted to run and help you, but Rarity got them all. And we finished off those who were too slow."

"Medic!" someone screamed.

"Oh dear," Bon Bon was startled, "excuse me, I need to help! Hold on, medic is coming!" she shouted, running in the direction.

"Wounded?" Lyra asked.

"We only just finished, Ah didn't even have a chance to sound off," the eldest Apple explained, abashed.

As it turned out, three Appletowners received light wounds and one had a serious enough wound that could threaten his left arm. Bon Bon used the meds from AMFAK-10 to keep his arm in working order and recommended to stay away from action.

"Well, no KIAs yet. Excellent job so far," Lyra commented.

"Please don't jinx us," Sunset replied, "I don't want some flying spaghetti monster to get a drop on us."

"There are flying spaghetti monsters in this world?!" Twilight almost shrieked.

And frowned as Big Macintosh, Lyra, Sunset, Bon Bon and Rarity giggled or outright laughed in response to her sentence.

"What's so funny?!" she demanded to know.

"Twilight, darling," Rarity replied, "there is no such thing as a flying spaghetti monster. Sunset was merely... being somewhat sarcastic."

"Was not. With what the Wastelands throw at us, I fully expect a flying spaghetti monster to appear out of somewhere," the fiery-haired girl snarked.

"But if they don't exist, how can one appear?" Twilight pointed out the obvious (to her) logical fallacy.

"They don't exist yet. People also thought that there was no such thing as a giant radscorpion or a yao guai when we settled in Vault Village, despite what merchants told us. So I am kinda more open to the unbelievable now. Including flying spaghetti monsters."

"That's... icky."

"Can we please stop the discussion about some imaginary creatures of Tartarus and focus on the task at hand?" Bon Bon interrupted the discussion. "We still need to clear up one more village, as we planned to."

"You won't need to do that," a new voice appeared out of nowhere, and an eyebot decloaked close to them, the face of Elder Aegis visible on the screen. "Two squads of Brotherhood volunteers have already cleared them and wiped all bandits out. Unless you are looking for more fights, I think you can call it a night."

"Sounds good to me," Sunset muttered.

"But y'all will send more coordinates on the villages occupied by raiders?" Big Macintosh asked.

"Certainly, Mr Macintosh. I will do so tomorrow at noon, via this stealthed eyebot. Please pass my regards to Miss Applejack. May the Steel be with you. Aegis out."

The screen went off, and the eyebot flew away, cloaking itself.

"Ah'll never get used to them iron football balls," the eldest Apple grumbled. "Lyra, Bon Bon, Rarity, Ah hate asking you this, but if it's possible, can you scout the other villages we wanted to hit? Ah know Aegis is kinda on our side, but Ah want to be sure."

"I think me and Bon Bon can split and quickly check them out," Lyra replied. "We won't need sniper support on this one."

"Are you sure?" Rarity asked. "I am not an owl by any means, but I can hold myself together at night."

"No, I think it'd be better for you to be well-rested," Bon Bon said. "We can't have you too tired for the final battle. And it may come sooner than we think."

"Oh, alright then."

"OK then, everyone else, bak to Appletown!" Big Macintosh ordered.

Several days passed in a similar fashion, with Appletowners and Vinyl's miliitiamen attacking known White Knives' holdouts at night, inflicting serious casualties. Sometimes the attacks were quiet assassinations and sabotage, done by Lyra, Bon Bon and Rarity, sometimes it was a bold attack in the open, sometimes a mixture of both. The combination of stealth and open assault produced massive casualties for the bandits in the shortest amount of time.

On several occasions, volunteers from Brotherhood of Steel also attacked the raiders, smashing any resistance. As Twilight learned, Flash Sentry's unit was the most active, although a couple of other Senior Paladins sympathizing with them also helped.

The retaliation attacks by White Knives, their allies or Crimson Hands mercenaries did not have the desired effect. While the enemy did inflict some casualties, the recommendations by Lyra and Hotlock resulted in improved defensive capabilities, and the kill-to-death ratio always stayed firmly in Appletown's favour.

Curve Blade tried attacking the HQ of Canterlot Wastelands News once, but Helmet Steadfast and his heavily-armed Paladins quickly made mincemeat of White Knives with the support of HQ's guardians, proving that this was a bad idea, too.

The tactics of night assaults have been successful. In nine days, Appletown lost nineteen of their defenders and CWN's militiamen, but Curve Blade's force, which had recently upped to three hundred raiders, was now reduced to a mere one hundred. Forty Crimson Hands mercenaries were also a nuisance, but, as people suspected, there was little to no trust between the sides, which they saw as a bonus. For several other days, eyebot surveillance showed that the White Knives no longer were trying to establish the outposts, instead focusing on defending their main base. This raised the morale, and Applejack, Big Macintosh, Twilight, Lyra, Bon Bon and Elder Aegis were now working on the plans of a final battle.

By that time, Appletown's militia was bolstered by newly-trained people, which offset their losses (at least in numbers). To Applejack's dismay, Apple Bloom also volunteered to learn how to use firearms. One day, she noticed Rarity teaching Apple Bloom the intricate parts of marksmanship, and began stomping to them, fury etched on her face, when Twilight intercepted her.

"Stop, Applejack," she said quietly (both not to attract attention and to make ensure her friend would not cause a scene), but firmly.

"Stop? Why in tarnation should Ah stop?!" Applejack kept her voice low, but very laced with displeasure.

"First tell me, what is it that has you angry? Apple Bloom learning how to use firearms? Or Rarity teaching her?"

"Er... Both!" the farmer hesitated for a bit before giving her answer, and that told Twilight all she needed to know.

"Applejack. You and I both know that Wastelands are dangerous enough, and Appletown is currently under a great threat. Plus, Apple Bloom is an adult, she can decide to learn weapons by herself now. There is no logical reason for you to deny her that, and honestly, I am convinced that you simply don't want Rarity near Apple Bloom."

"Well... Fine, ya caught me, Ah was never that good at lyin' anyway!" Applejack spat out, glaring at her equine-turned-human friend. "Ah don't wanna see Rarity near mah lil' sis teaching her how ta kill. Actually, Ah'd rather not see her 'round Apple Bloom at all. Happy now?"

Twilight almost dropped her jaw at the vitriolic tones coming from Applejack, but stopped herself in time and frowned in return instead.

"Because of Braeburn." She decided that it was useless to phrase the sentence as a question.

"Eeyup."

"Only around Apple Bloom or around anyone from your family?"

"Preferably anyone from the Apple family, but Ah know it would be stupid of me, so Ah'll settle for Apple Bloom and Big Mac."

"You believe that she might murder them, too?"

"Ah don't remember her stopping before killin' Braeburn, Twi. What if she finds that someone else from Apple family is "guilty" of her sister's death?" Applejack made quotation marks fingers when she said "guilty". "Ah really doubt she'll stop and think."

"Have you tried to ask her what she would do?"

"Ya think she'll tell me the truth?"

"You'll call her out if she lies, right?"

"Maybe. But Ah'm not sure. Remember Aegis an' how she told him 'bout the bypass to the prison? And Curve Blade's second-in-command having been killed by Black Widow? Ah saw her face; if Ah didn't know better, Ah swear Ah would buy into her story. Ah think she might actually fool me, Twi. But that's not the most worrying part. What if she just... snaps? Ya know, like when she learned 'bout Sweetie Belle dyin'? What if she snaps at the next guilty one and attacks an' that happens to be one of mah family?"

"You don't want to have a conflict of loyalties?" Twilight hazarded a guess.

"Yep, sort of. Ah don't wanna fight her... but Ah will if she does so again, Twilight, and Ah will fight lethally. Frankly, Ah'm still not trusting her."

"Well... I wouldn't expect you to forgive her so quickly. But has Apple Bloom done something that may paint her as guiulty of Sweetie Belle's death? Or Big Macintosh?"

"Of course they hasn't, but will that stop her if she decides otherwise?"

"Well, then we will see why she beieves so. And if she attacks, we will fight back."

"We?"

"You think I would let my friend kill a relative of my other friend just like that?"

"Oh... OK then. Thank ya kindly, Twi," Applejack suddenly hugged her otherworldly friend.

"You're welcome," Twilight returned the hug.

"Hey, big sis!" Apple Bloom ran up to them, face lit in excitement. "Rarity taught me how ta shoot at big distances! It's so cool!"

"Is it?" Applejack did her best to maintain a "glad" face.

"Indeed, darling," Rarity approached them. "Apple Bloom actually has a talent. In the end, I had her shoot twenty-five 5.56mm rounds with a varmint rifle, and she made twenty of twenty-five hits."

"Really?" Applejack was genuinely happy now.

"Really! Ah never thought shootin' was so complex! But Rarity taught me some tricks on breathin' and concentratin', an' Ah worked better an' better! Ah think Ah had the best result!"

"Wowzers! Rarity, how did ya manage that?"

"Well, I am quite knowledgeable when it comes to precision," Rarity flipped her hair, "and I know a couple of tricks that can help with that. Maybe soon you will have another sniper."

"Soup's on!" Big Macintosh called them.

"Come on, sis! Ah'm hungry!" Apple Bloom pulled her elder sister to their house, Twilight and Rarity following them...

After dinner, Big Macintosh and Hotlock have organized a meeting regarding their next action. In attendance were Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Lyra, Bon Bon, Rarity, several members of Apple family and Elder Aegis (via his eyebot). Twilight was pleasantly surprised when she saw Flash Sentry come into the building they used as their HQ of sorts.

"Sorry I am late," he said. "Just got told by Elder Aegis to reinforce your positions with my men and come here. Sir," he addressed the eyebot, saluting, "Senior Paladin Sentry reporting as ordered!"

"At ease, Sentry," Aegis replied. "Now that we are here, this... conference, shall we say... will begin now. Ladies and gentlemen, our strikes have been more successful than I had hoped to achieve. The latest surveillance shows that Curve Blade has no more than eighty men remaining under his command, and thirty or so Crimson Hands mercenaries. He withdrew all his forces back to his fortress."

A small round of applause burst out, primarily from Appletowners who were feeling glad that they were able to inflict such massive casualties upon the group that had nearly the whole area around them cowering in fear.

"Unfortunately," the Brotherhood Elder continued, "he seems no longer willing to get out of his fortress, except for small raiding parties that are still capable of threatening caravans. Just this noon, Sentry's troups found a ransacked caravan, the merchant and his bodyguards killed, almost all goods stolen and brahmin carved for meat."

"It's true," Flash spoke, "and by the looks of it, they have been dead for two hours at least when we found them."

"But how can they still threaten caravans?" Twilight asked.

"Because it doesn't take that much to attack a caravan," Hotlock replied. "A group of five to eight persons can take on a caravan and, depending on luck and their opposition, have a chance of winning ranging from fifty to eighty percent. Remember, they don't play fair, and rely on numerical advantage as much as on weapons and armour. Also, very few merchants can afford well-trained and well-equipped mercenaries for protection; the best ones are considered to be Crimson Hands, and we know they are currently in contract to White Knives. Curve Blade, even in his weakened state, can still send out small parties and raid the caravans, because we cannot cover that big of an area, and a caravan's path is not really predictable."

"It's true, unfortunately," Lyra spoke up, not minding the cold looks that some people were giving her. "If Commissariat's mass surveillance network was still active, we could regain control of stealthed eyebots that survived the Day of Burning and spread them out; then we would know, at least, what happens where, and react accordingly. But the network appears to be offline for some reason, and to reactivate it, one would need to get to the NSC Master Vault beneath Canterlot, which is impossible right now, since Canterlot is irradiated as hell, so you cannot venture in there without advanced environmentally-sealed power armour or armoured hazmat suit. Plus, there is also some shit in the city that kills as surely as ten sieverts dose in one day, and we still don't know what is it. Another way would be searching for surviving stealthed eyebots and rewriting their code to form a separate network; with my Commissariat codes, this is feasible. But stealthed eyebots are not something that just lies around."

"Long story short," Big Macintosh said, "Appletown is still threatened economically. So, as far as I get it, we still need to wipe out all of the bandits. Speaking of which, Elder Aegis? Are there Brotherhood soldiers ready to assist?"

"Yes. All in all, we can provide twenty-two volunteering Paladins," Aegis replied.

Everyone gasped.

"I honestly never thought that many would come," Sunset spoke up.

"Neither did I," Flash said, "but White Knives have been a nuisance for us, too. They covet our energy weapons, and have managed to steal some from our brothers, so we have a score to settle with them as well. That said, you should be careful. Energy weapons are most likely used by Curve Blade's elite raiders, and those guys are career criminals with high kill counts. I bet they have better armour than normal gangsters, too."

"With all new people pouring in, Ah think we can put up seventy people now," Applejack spoke. "True, most of them are novices, but several have already proved to be capable of takin' care for themselves."

"Ninety-two people already," Sunset said. "If you count me, Twilight, Rarity, Lyra and Bon Bon, that's ninety-seven against one hundred and ten in worst case. Still not good odds, but we've seen worse."

"Fifteen militiamen from our group will join, while others will guard the town," Hotlock said. "Also, boss said they gave out a call via CWN, and people are coming from various parts to help. They said that twenty-two people already came to our HQ, and they will send the people towards us.

"That's one hundred and thirty four on our side," Twilight calculated. Some people whistled.

"OK," Aegis put the conversation back on track, "now let us think of the battle plan..."

Somebody please please pleeeeeeease shut that bastard up before I shoot him in sheer outrage, Slip Swipe was thinking while having to endure the assault that Curve Blade was mounting on his ears with admittedly impressive lung capacity. Why the fuck did I agree to be negotiator, again?

"Your men not only failed to do any significant damage to Appletown militia," the leader of White Knives was shouting, "they could not even assassinate that Daring fucking Duo! They keep running around with Appletowners and some bitches from former higher-ups and shoot my men! Fuck, they seem to have allied with fucking Brotherhood of Steel of all people!"

Well if you are stupid enough to mess with them, then maybe you should be put out so that your genes of stupidity would not pass down?! "You have to know, Curve Blade," Slip Swipe was doing is best not to let frustration slip into his voice, "that the resources that were granted for this task are... limited, both in quantity and quality, and that Daring Duo has proven to be more... crafty than we had estimated. Clearly, they are not your usual run-of-the-mills goody two shoes like Regulators."

"Don't tell me they are some super soldiers," Curve Blade spat out.

"They aren't, and they do not possess any significant military training. However, as I have said, they are crafty, and they bite a lot harder than one would expect. They also possess an indecent amount of luck which they use to their advantage."

"And Appletown?"

"We did do some damage. However, it appears that your aggressive stance is finally bringing players interested in your demise together."

"Are you saying this is my fault now?!" the bandit had red face now.

Maybe you will do me a favour and die now from cerebral apoplexy? "Fault is subjective. You pushed people, and they pushed back. Frankly, I am surprised Appletown had not formed an alliance before, but given Applejack's undiplomatic tendencies, that was not unanticipated in retrospect. I would expect them and CWN allying if push came to shove, but certainly not Brotherhood of Steel. Our informant has stated repeatedly that Applejack thinks lowly of Brotherhood and is antagonistic towards them."

"Not so lowly now, it appears. Did she spread her legs or something?"

Oh for Tartarus' sake!!! If you continue with such attitude, I will tell the boss to abandon you, and fuck the money and the consequences! Slimy bastard! Slip Swipe raged inside, wishing that someone would re-hire Crimson Hands to kill Curve Blade.

"No, she didn't. As far as I understand, Daring Duo helped her solve a conflict between her and Aegis, and now they are on speaking terms," he replied, frustration showing.

"I need more people. And not these mooks that seem to be barely above my men, I want real professionals," Curve Blade snarled.

"Real professionals cost real caps. And we have only one of them available, unless you count a small unit of slightly more experienced troups."

"Your price?"

"One thousand caps for all of them."

"Deal," Curve Blade put forward a small sack of caps. Slip Swipe took it and pocketed it.

"Much obliged. Oh, and one more thing," he paused before living, "my informant told me that a joint force of Brotherhood of Steel, Appletowners and CWN militia will attack this place tomorrow. He could not tell me the hour, unfortunately. Thought you should know," the last sentence was laced with a tone that clearly showed that the representative of Crimson Hands thought otherwise.

The door closed behind him.

And then it suffered a brunt of a heavy object being thrown at it.

Temper, temper, Slip Swipe shook his head, leaving the prison complex that served as the main base of White Knives. His troops met him with nods, and their group moved away.

Suddenly, an earphone buzzed, informing him that someone was trying to use the radio to contact him.

"Yes?" he said, putting a hand to his ear.

"This is Tooth."

"Go ahead."

"The attack will happen on dawn. They did not specify the hour, but my estimate would be from three to five a.m."

"Thanks. How many people will participate?"

"They say it will be more than one hundred and twenty. One hundred and thirty-four, to be exact. They're waiting for some people to pull in as of now."

"What of Daring Duo?"

"They will participate, too."

"What is the battle plan?"

Silence fell, and then, the voice on the other end became less confident.

"They... didn't tell us."

"What do you mean?"

"At the insistence of that bitch from NSC, only the highest-ranking commanders, so to speak, will discuss this. That means only Applejack, Big Macintosh, Hotlock, someone named Sentry and Elder Aegis via remote commlink are allowed."

"No one else?" Slip Swipe was genuinely surprised.

"No, not even their friends."

"Strange."

"Wait... someone's coming, I'll call back!"

"Tooth? Come in, Tooth."

Silence.

Slip Swipe turned off the connection and switched to another frequency.

"Swipe to HQ. Tooth has been compromised and is of no longer use to us."

Meanwhile...

Lyra Heartstrings approached Twilight and Sunset as they left the "conference room".

"Twilight, Sunset, we need to talk."

"About what?" Sunset replied.

"Not here. Let's find a more secluded place first."

"OK then..."

When they were on their way to exit, Lyra saw Bon Bon. Catching her look, she motioned the beige-skinned girl to follow them, and received a nod of compliance.

When on the street, Lyra led them into a narrow and unused alley between two stony houses, and said bluntly:

"We have a traitor in our midst. And before you ask, no, this isn't about the stuff with Bon Bon and me. It's about Appletown."

"Why do you think that?" Twilight asked.

"We know that Crimson Hands were hired to eliminate you two. They had attempted to do so twice already. Problem is, they knew perfectly well where you would go and where to ambush you. How come they knew?"

"A stealthed eyebot?" the equine Princess ventured a guess.

"Could be, assuming they have a competent hacker, but as I said, it's not a commodity lying around, and a lot of them are damaged. Repairing them is much harder than you think, by the way - they were made with intent to prevent any tampering, and crude screwing-up could make an eyebot detonate."

Everyone present winced at the idea.

"Besides, if a stealthed eyebot were here, I would be able to find out, since my Pip-Boy has programs for eyebot detection. The only one I saw, however, is the one used by Brotherhood of Steel, so this is not an option. Therefore, we have a traitor."

"But who?" Sunset asked. "Appletown is quite populated for a settlement in Wastelands, and finding him won't be easy."

"Since Appletowners do not leave the city in general, according to Applejack and Big Macintosh, except for when they counter-raided the White Knives, this means that the spy has a radio to pass the information along; coming and going would look too suspicious. After the second attack on you, I took time and jury-rigged a close-distance radio frequency scanner, and managed to catch a signal and locate its source."

"Then we should tell Appejack, right?"

"Not so fast, Twilight. The traitor is one of the Apple family. The guy with abnormally long teeth and a cap."

"His name is Hayseed, as far as I know," Sunset spoke up. "Oh bummer, Applejack will blow her top."

"I insisted that only selected few people remain in the conference room. This is, as far as I understand, not normal for Appletowners, and I believe that the traitor will try and tell our enemies of this. We must confront him."

"When?"

"This buiding," Lyra poked her finger at the wall behind Equestrians, "is where he lives. I expect that he will begin his transmission soon. That said," she opened her rucksack and took out two 10mm submachine guns, giving each to the girls, "arm yourselves. Here are the spare magazines," she gave the ammo, "and I recommend you be careful - I have no idea what Hayseed would do, if pushed. Me and Bon Bon have our Buffalos."

"I will record his talk for some time," Bon Bon said, showing her Pip-Boy, "and then we confront him."

"OK then," Sunset Shimmer said, "time to take out the traitor trash."

"My scanner picked a burst of radio waves! He must be talking now! Come on!" Lyra ushered them into Hayseed's house. As quietly as they could, they creeped deeper into the house, struggling to hear anything. Bon Bon suddenly raised her hand in a universal "stop" gesture, then showed at one of the rooms with an open door. The girls went there; pretty soon, they heard someone (presumably Hayseed) talking beyond the other closed door. Bon Bon set her Pip-Boy to record the voice.

"The attack will happen on dawn. They did not specify the hour, but my estimate would be from three to five a.m."

"That's definitely Hayseed," Bon Bon whispered, and everyone clutched their weapons tighter. Sunset, in particular, looked as if she wanted to empty the whole magazine into the traitor, but stood rigid and listened as hard as she could.

Silence hung in the air for some moment, and then Hayseed spoke again.

"They say it will be more than one hundred and twenty. One hundred and thirty-four, to be exact. They're waiting for some people to pull in as of now."

More silence.

"They will participate, too."

Silence again.

"They... didn't tell us."

"What wouldn't I give for a proper surveillance network right now..." Lyra muttered.

"Quiet!" Bon Bon hissed.

"At the insistence of that bitch from NSC, only the highest-ranking commanders, so to speak, will discuss this. That means only Applejack, Big Macintosh, Hotlock, someone named Sentry and Elder Aegis via remote commlink are allowed."

"I'll show you who's the bitch here..." the mint-skinned girl was positively angry now.

"Quiet!"

"No, not even their friends," the traitor went on.

"Girls," Lyra turned to Twilight and Sunset, "confront him, we've heard enough!"

"OK," both girls moved forward. Sunset moved the handle and opened the door.

"Wait... someone's coming, I'll call back!" they heard Hayseed speak. As the Equestrians entered, they saw a man with grayish-gold skin with headphones on his head, which he quickly took off - but not quickly enough, and despite his rather comic attempts to hide it, a portable radio station was present.

"A-ha-hah... hello, ladies," he laughed, as if he was embarrassed. "Can I help?"

"To whom you were speaking via radio?" Sunset asked him.

"Radio? Which radio?"

"Oh don't play coy with us, this isn't funny!" Twilight snapped at him. "We can plainly see it standing behind your legs! Now, Applejack has never told me that she uses radios of any kind, which means she doesn't know about this particular portable station."

"I found it not long ago, and wanted to surprise her," Hayseed tried to lie, but he was so unconvincing that one did not need to be an Element of Honesty to catch him on it.

"Bullshit," Sunset snarled, and whipped out her SMG, aiming at his torso. Twilight copied her actions. "If you wanted to, you would have done it sooner. Now, to whom you were speaking?"

"Hey, you can't do that!" the traitor tried to bluff.

"Can't we?" Twilight glared at him. "You have betrayed Appletown. You think Applejack or Big Macintosh will like that? Or that we would do it without obtaining proof beforehand? We have Pip-Boys, you know. Everything is recorded." The last part was a lie; the Pip-Boys that Twilight and Sunset had were not equipped with built-in or jury-rigged microphones, but Hayseed did not know that, and judging by the sweat on his forehead, the Princess' bluff succeeded. "So here's a deal. You admit to everyone what you did, and tell us why, and you will live. If you go for that pistol in your holster, well..."

"...you will have more holes in you than it is necessary to breathe," Sunset finished threateningly.

"Fine! Fine, I surrender! Here, have my pistol!" Hayseed threw his pistol on the floor, and Sunset picked it. Both girls stood by his side, SMGs aimed at him; Sunset also took care to take his radio unit.

"Now to the conference room," Twilight said authoritatively. Bowing his head, Hayseed complied.

When they came out of the room, Lyra and Bon Bon stood by his side, in order to prevent any attempts to escape. The Equestrians stayed slightly behind.

The road to the "conference room" was uneventful; whoever was on the street did not pay much attention to them, and since Twilight and Sunset took care to hide their SMGs, no one called them out on looking like they were guarding a prisoner.

Finally, they arrived at the intended destination. Going up to the door, Lyra pushed the door open, and they pushed Hayseed inside before coming in. All chatter in the room stopped immediately, and everyone looked at the newcomers.

"Lyra? Bon Bon? Twilight? Sunset? Hayseed? What're y'all doin' here? Lyra, didn't ya say that the less people knew, the better?"

"I did, Applejack," the former agent of National Security Commissariat replied. "And I have to apologize, since I'm afraid I... deceived you all somewhat."

"Care to explain?" the farm girl frowned.

"Do you remember that Twilight and Sunset were under attack by Crimson Hands twice and barely got out both times? The mercs somehow knew almost exactly when and where to ambush them, and I wondered as to the reasons thereof. It is because we have a spy!" with the last words, Lyra kicked Hayseed's left leg straight to the back of the knee, making him drop on his fours from surprise.

"What in fuckin' tarnation are ya talkin' about?!" Applejack shouted. Big Macintosh frowned, and everyone else had their interest drawn to the scene.

"We found a portable radio station in his room," Sunset held out the object in question. "And we heard him talking to someone else, and he behaved like he did not want to be found while doing so. Bon Bon, you have the recording, right?"

"Right," hitting the buttons on her Pip-Boy, the ex-DOI agent played the voice of Hayseed talking to an unknown person, and then desperately trying to get out of the sticky situation he found himself in when Twilight and Sunset confronted him.

"But- couldn't it have been someone else?" Big Macintosh asked, shocked at the insinuations.

"Unlikely," Lyra said. "My Pip-Boy has a small radio frequency scanner, and it picked up a faint transmission once, coming from Appletown to somewhere, and I had heard enough about it to assume that you don't use radio communications. That happened when Twilight and Sunset were away to talk with CWN's boss and then were ambushed by Crimson Hands, right?"

"Right," Twilight confirmed it. "I also recall that a large attack on Appletown happened, and then you showed up with Star Paladin Rampart."

"Well, when I settled here, I once caught a transmission again, and it happened relatively shortly after one of our strategic meetings, which I found suspicious. I had managed to trace it close to Hayseed's house, but not precisely to it. Then, I picked up one again, and this time, it was definitely his house, and again it was after one of our strategic meetings. So I decided to spring a trap. I insisted that very few people remain, meaning Hayseed wouldn't be with you, and roped Twilight and Sunset to help. Bon Bon was suspicious, too, so when I confided in her, albeit... reluctantly, at first, she agreed to obtain proof - turned out she had a hidden microphone in her Pip-Boy. And the rest is history."

"Goldurn it to Tartarus, Hayseed! Applejack shouted, clearly upset. "Why in the name of all that's holy would ya do it?"

"I... I didn't want to, Applejack, but they made me!"

"Who?!"

"Cr... Crimson Hands! They captured my nephew when he left for some business one day; we thought he just died, but he was with them! One day, when I was alone in the field, this guy walked to me, gave the radio and said, "Either you tell us regularly what is going on in Appletown, or we'll kill your nephew." And so I did!"

"And you were dumb enough to believe it?" Lyra shouted at him. "Most likely they just offed him and told you a fancy lie and you bought it, hook, line and sinker!"

"They didn't lie, that's the gyst! That day, the guy who ordered me to tell them everything showed him my nephew! He was tied and gagged, but still alive! And they let me see him sometimes, even talk to him!"

"Why didn't ya tell me?" Applejack asked.

"Because that guy threatened to kill us both if he found out... and he said he would find out, because someone else here works for Crimson Hands..."

BANG!

A loud revolver shot reverberated through the room, and Hayseed's head came apart like an overripe pumpkin. Everyone jerked from surprise, and as Twilight turned around, she saw a man charging at her. She managed to whip out her SMG while turning, but before she fired, she received a hard punch to the stomach and dropped her weapon. Swiftly, the man turned her around and grabbed her, using her as a shield and putting his revolver against her temple.

"TWILIGHT!" Sunset and Applejack screamed in fear; the former went for her own SMG.

"Everyone drop your weapons or this girl will lose something important," the assailant said menacingly. With no room to maneuver, everyone complied.

"You bastard," Flash growled, furious beyond belief.

"So you're that other varmint who would order to kill Hayseed's nephew?" Applejack growled.

"I don't really think I need to do it. With Hayseed, or, as we called him, "Agent Tooth", compromised, there is no sense in his nephew living anymore... unless to be sold as a slave. And we don't do trades with slavers."

"Why Ah shoulda..." the farm girl made a step forward, and the assailant immediately pressed the revolver harder against Twilight's head.

"Stop," he growled, halting her advance, and began backtracking to the building's exit.

"Let her go!" Sunset shouted at him.

"Nuh-uh," the mercenary taunted, "there's no way I would do that. I simply cannot abandon my prize - one half of the Daring Duo, can I?"

"Can and will," the fiery-haired girl growled, which only served to make him laugh.

"Oh really? Make me, bitch. If anyone of you comes too close, the hammer goes off, and BOOM go the girl's brains. Well yeah, I might die if I do that, but that won't resurrect her, would it? And I know you're too soft-hearted to let her die, especially that blue-haired jock in a casket and you bacon-haired pseudo-action girl."

"Oh come the fuck ON!" Sunset shouted to the ceiling. "It's fiery hair, not bacon hair! Who the fuck was the smart guy to coin this term?"

"Dunno, never cared," the man shrugged his shoulders, continuing his retreat. "But this is getting boring. So far all I saw is trash talk."

"So what're you going to do to me?" Twilight asked, unable to reign in her curiousity despite a part of her saying that she did not need to know.

"Well there is a reward for your head, and your head is what I will give to Curve Blade. We have a contract, after all."

"Death by beheading. Well, fuck."

"Wow, how uncouth; did your momma never teach you not to swear?"

"She isn't in this world and you're not my dad, so fuck you."

The man used the handle of his revolver to give her a hit on the head, resulting in an "Ouch!"

"Keep quiet, girl. I have enough on my plate without your bullshit. You," he addressed Applejack, "open the door, and no tricks."

"OK," the blonde replied nervously, looking at him and Twilight. The bandit positioned himself so as to avoid any possible attacks, and once Applejack opened the door, he ordered her to go back to the group, and she complied.

"Now, all of you stand there. If I see anyone coming out of the house, she gets a bullet," he spoke, and again began retreating. Both him and Twilight slowly made their way outside.

Bi-DANNNNNNNGGGG!

A bullet hit the Crimson Hand's wrist joint; the force of impact forced the weapon away from Twilight's temple, and he dropped it.

Ba-puff!

A clap-like sound rang off, and the spy was crying in pain, his left knee shot.

Ba-puff!

Another bullet hit his right knee; this time, he was unable to stand and fell, releasing Twilight.

Immediately, the lavender-skinned girl went for the revolver that the mercanary had dropped, and aimed it at his head, face distorted in a furious expression.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Click. Click. Click.

Twilight continued pulling the trigger, although no more bullets came out, breathing heavily. Her recent fear for her life mixed with anger at being taken hostage and used as a shield and adrenaline was running through her, and she began shaking.

"Twilight!" she heard a shout, and a bipedal form of Sunset Shimmer wrapped her in a big hug. "Are you OK?"

"I am unhurt, Sunset."

"Well, I am glad to hear this," Flash Sentry came up to them. "I swear, Sunset, you ran as if you were on Jet mixed with Buffout. I was, like, a second behind you."

"Wearing that iron crate must be making you slow, Flash," Sunset smirked.

"Har har har. Very funny."

"You OK, Twilight?" Apple Bloom came up to her, followed by Rarity.

"I'm OK, Apple Bloom. Wait... you were the one shooting?"

"Well, me an' Rarity. She hit the wrist, 'cause Ah wasn't sure Ah would hit them; instead, Ah went for the knees."

"But how did ya two know where to go?" Applejack, who was outside with others now, asked with surprise in her voice.

"It was dumb luck," Rarity said, "we heard a shot coming from inside, so I told Apple Bloom to hide and cloaked. When I noticed that ruffian coming out, I rushed back and explained everything. We hid behind crates so that he wouldn't notice anything; when I fired, Apple Bloom popped up and put two bullets really fast in him."

"Really?"

"Yeah... sorry, Applejack... Ah really didn't wanna do that, but Twilight was in danger... Ah couldn't just stand still!"

"Ah'm not angry, mah little sis. That said; Twilight, did ya really have to crack his skull like that?"

"Sorry," Twilight replied sheepishly. "I just felt so angry..."

"Understandable," Bon Bon interrupted, "but this changes little. We must proceed with our plans. They would expect an attack now, but they don't know the exact hour, and that gives us an advantage. Stock up on your ammo and do some weapon maintenance while you can, and check your medical supples. And go to sleep early. We will wake everyone when necessary."

The following morning...

Rarity, Bon Bon and Lyra were creeping through the tunnel that led to the prison complex that Curve Blade used for his headquarters. Their Stealth-Boys were still on, just in case - the sun was about to rise, and the visibility was more or less fine anyway; they were more reliant on "guards" being drowsy and on the verge of sleep than on the notion of the leader of White Knives being careless.

Stealthed eyebot used by Brotherhood of Steel really came through. While the bandits tended to keep their weapons close, Curve Blade did not trust his men with explosives or less frequent weapons like laser rifles, and kept them in one small building that had been used for storage purposes. Several carefully placed DP-25 detonation packs could make the whole place light up in flames.

Which is why the girls had one each. Brotherhood Knights that had scouted the area and remianed behind to make sure that no one would attack the Dagger team in the back have provided them with these items, with "compliments of Elder Aegis". Apparently, the leader of the local chapter was feeling quite generous with them, which was found as a surprise. When Rarity commented on it, mentioning the stories she had heard from Twilight and others, one of the Knights looked around and said:

"Well... don't go blabbing about it, but when your friends messed up the whole robot security of that military base, we found a lot of various loot, including detpacks. Heck, there are still some good things lying around; we just can't get them all because we need to use the nuclear fuel for our truck sparingly. And even in power armour, you can't carry too much. So yeah, Elder Aegis can afford to be somewhat generous, especially since we're allies now, of convenience at least."

Having made their way, they checked with their Pip-Boy IFF systems if anyone was nearby, but they found no one. Carefully peeking from the exit (which was located behind one prison block and cleverly disguised as asphalt), they made sure no one would see the manhole cover slip, and made their way out, closing the manhole behind them. The group made its way to the marked building that was used for storage.

There were two guards beside the doors, clearly bored out of their minds but not as sleepy as the girls would have wanted them to. Noting that creeping with a knife behind them was nigh impossible (they might detect light distortion made by Stealth-Boys at close distance) and shooting them was the last resort, they needed to bypass the problem somehow.

The fortune smiled on them, though - on the other side of the building, there was an open window, wide enough for any of the girls to get in.

"Idiots," Bon Bon muttered quietly; her voice was heard by others via radio. "Why not just unlock the damn door and hang an "Everyone's invited!" neon sign? Give me the detpacks. Lyra, help me up there."

Getting the explosives, the ex-DOI agent stepped on Lyra's shoulder (who crouched down a bit and winced at feeling her friend's weight) and quickly got herself through the window. There was one bandit inside, who was supposed to be the quartermaster, apparently; but the empty bottles of whiskey, him lying on the table and a putrid smell of alcohol signified that the man was clearly unfit for the role. Bon Bon gave him a bullet from her silenced Buffalo SMG out of sheer frustration and proceeded to stick the detpacks in proper positions.

Meanwhile, Rarity and Lyra noticed another bandit approaching the window; clearly, the "smart guy" wanted to nick something from the storage. Both girls stepped closer to the fence, so as he would have lesser chances of noticing them, but he clearly wasn't interested in looking around, instead glancing behind. Rarity took out some object that resembled collapsible combination pliers; however, when she flicked it open, it turned out to be a balisong knife. As the man prepared to get himself inside, she crept up to him, covered his mouth and stabbed the knife straight into the larynx.

"You have a present for me?" Bon Bon joked, "appearing" in the window.

"Shut it," Rarity wiped her balisong against the bandit's clothes.

"Grumpy, grumpy-pants. Give him to me," Bon Bon hoisted the body and got it inside, then jumped out.

"OK, let's get outta here," she said. The girls hid back in the tunnel; when they were safely away, they turned off their Stealth-Boys to spare the batteries. Lyra took out a detonator, flicking off the safety switches.

"Wakey wakey, bastards," she said, pressing the red button.

BOOM!!! Even underground, the volume and the force of explosion could be felt, and sand fell on their heads.

"Ugh," Rarity complained, shaking her head and trying to shake off the sand, "now I'll have to get this earth out of my hair. How annoying."

"For a moment I thought the tunnel would collapse," Bon Bon replied, "and you're worried about your hair? Yep, now I am one hundred percent certain that you're Rarity."

Everyone chuckled a bit, even Rarity herself, although she did not lose the chance to retort about being a "fabulous-looking vigilante".

"After all, isn't there a certain charm in how fabulousity trumps their ruffianism?"

"It's bullets that trump ruffianism, Rarity, not fabulousity," Lyra said.

"Still, it doesn't hurt to look good while hunting bandits. Now, we wait for some moments, then return and see if we can covertly pick out some more people without getting the whole base on our metaphorical tails?"

"Precisely."

Meanwhile...

The main force was "camping out" in a small valley surrounded by hills that were very good for hiding the armed people. Brotherhood's truck had to have been used twice, since it could not transport one hundred people at once even if the whole space were to be cramped. Curve Blade's unwillingness to establish outposts allowed them to use the truck relatively freely - while they still could not use it to drive very close to the enemy base, the walking distance was shortened by more than half.

Now, everyone was resting, watching the area for ambushes or trying to catch some last shut-eye before the operation would start. Twilight Sparkle, however, did not want to try and catch some extra sleep; instead, she was checking out her weapons and ammunition.

Her AP-79 assault rifle was freshly maintained, and Rarity helped her yesterday to re-adjust the collimator sight for more precise fire, and seven spare clips. She also had her 10mm SMG on her for close combat emergency purposes, with three clips. Three fragmentation grenades and one flashbang were also present. The .44 magnum revolver was hidden behind her back as a last resort weapon.

Flash took her aside at one moment, and also gave her a laser pistol.

"But I already have one," she said.

"I know, but this pistol is special. I modified it myself when preparing for this assault, and I think you should have it, just in case. And I have three spare batteries for it. Sorry, but our base had no sweets or flowers to accompany," Flash chuckled half-abashedly, and Twilight smiled wryly.

"So now the men are giving us girls weapons as gifts?" she spoke with a non-serious tone. "Oh what has the world come to?"

Both of them laughed, trying not to remind themselves of the dark irony behind that last joke.

"But seriously," she continued, "what modifications does this pistol have?"

"I have tinkered with the power system and replaced the focusing lense array with a higher-quality pre-apocalypse one, plus did some things to avoid overheating, which was common enough with improperly made modifications. Your pistol won't explode in your hands, as it had happened sometimes. This pistol - I called it "Burning Flash" - deals almost twice the damage a normal laser pistol would do. The only drawback is that, unfortunately, that this power comes at the cost of battery capacity; I was unable to get it to fire more than twenty shots with normal batteries."

"I see you also drew your favourite shield and lightning bolt symbol?" Twilight remarked.

"Yeah, I did."

"Thank you, Flash," Twilight put the pistol away and hugged him - well, as much as one could hug someone dressed in power armour - which lead to a small blush and a careful return hug. The blue-haired Paladin went back to his men, while Twilight returned to her friends.

"Still not kissed?" Sunset Shimmer smirked at her compatriot.

"Suuunseeeeet," Twilight drawled her voice, exasperation and displeasure palpable. "Not now. Say, are you sure you want that laser rifle?"

Sunset did indeed pick a laser rifle for this event, which was now hanging behind her back. She had her Buffalo SMG in her hands (Twilight's was given to Rarity), with silencer in place (although she decided that she would most likely detach it later) and a collimator sight in place on Pontrottini rails. Sunset also had her combat shotgun secured behind, for close quarters.

"Yep, been wanting to test that bad boy in a while," the fiery-haired girl moved the bolt on her SMG, sending the bullet into the chamber, and secured the SMG on her hip, proceeding to take the laser rifle into her hands.

"I see that Flashy boy gave you a gift?" Applejack came up to both of them, noticing the newest weapon of Twilight's.

"Applejack!" the equine Princess shouted, blushing heavily.

"Relax, Twi, Ah'm just teasing."

"OK, Miss Applejack," Senior Paladin Ion Titanium said, coming up with a suit of T-72d power armour that was carried by him and three more Paladins and setting it upright, "time to check out this iron maiden."

At the words "iron maiden", other Paladins guffawed.

"Ya know that that was a torture device, don't ya?" Applejack said, unamused.

"Oh shoot, wanted to prank you a bit. It was common to treat FNGs in Mechanized Infantry to this joke. Whenever someone entered power armour for the first time, they told him or her that they were entering the iron maiden, and the FNG thought that other guys meant the suit. So when the suit clamped shut, the officer sends the override command to shut down the suit, someone would shout "You're dead!" in the FNG's face and other guys in power armour would carry the unlucky FNG to the military hospital's morgue. And then they would tell him he died from enetring the iron maiden, while explaining what that really meant."

"Was there a way to avoid this joke?" Twilight asked.

"Well, if the FNG knew what an iron maiden was, he would call others out on this bullshit, but avoiding the ritual needed more than that. You had to tell the others that you were "stepping into the tank" and ask to "close the door". Then the officer would personally close the armour suit and proudly declare the FNG a tankman. Then there would be no joke, since a tankman "remains alive", so to speak."

"Heh," Applejack chuckled as the power armour suit, which was now adorning her personal mark of three apples instead of Brotherhood's sigil, was open. "So... is it ready?"

"Yes."

"Well, Ah'm steppin' into the tank!" the farm girl declared loudly and proudly, stepping inside the suit and aligning her body with it. "Close the door, please!"

"Yes ma'am!" Ion Titanium closed all the segments behind Applejack, turning the wheel lock to the end. "Congratulations, you are officially a tankman now! Or tank girl, if you prefer. We didn't do gender distinction back then."

"OK, where's mah LMG?"

"Here," Big Macintosh, who was silent for the whole affair, gave the weapon to his sister.

"Much obliged. Hey, it's easier to handle now, Ah can actually fire it one-handed!" Applejack tried holding the LMG in one hand, and it remained relatively steady. "What's the Pip-Boy for, though?"

"Since you have no helmet and we can't spare one, all information regarding armour status will be displayed there instead," Ion Titanium replied.

"Oh. Thank ya."

BOOM! A big explosion sounded in the distance.

"That's our signal! Go, go, go!" Hotlock shouted, and immediately, the people began running towards the White Knives' main base.

"What was that?" Curve Blade shouted when he heard the explosion.

"An explosion of something," a silky voice sounded nearby, and a man in milspec assault armour with the insignia of a red palm re-settled his AR-22 assault rifle in his hands. "What do you have out there that can detonate like that?"

"The only thing I can think of is that storage house... FUCK! Someone must have managed to breach our security and get there! But how?"

"I am afraid I have no idea, aside from the saboteurs using the same way of infiltration that the Black Widow had used when she killed your second-in-command."

"Saboteurs? Are you kidding me, Shock Gauntlet? We are under attack! Lieutenant! Order our people to get to the area where our storage house was and kill whoever attacked us!"

"Yes, sir!" the third man ran out.

Several minutes have passed until Shock Gauntlet's radio went off.

"Yes?"

"Sir, no one's attacking us there, but... Oh shit!"

BOOM! another explosion sounded off in the distance.

"What's going on?"

"Sir, they came from other side! Brotherhood Paladins with missile launchers destroyed the towers and the whole force of Appletowners and who knows whom else is on the move! They caught us unaware!"

"Respond to attack. Gauntlet out."

"What's happening, Gauntlet?" Curve Blade shouted.

"A clusterfuck. Your people got duped and now you have no sniper support, the towers got taken out by missile launchers. Which means they can approach our position without any big problems. If you'll excuse me, I need to find a position for marksman fire."

"Attack!" Helmet Steadfast ordered, and Brotherhood Paladins rushed ahead, trying to get to the closest cover.

"Let's go, let's go!" Big Macintosh ordered.

Their plan so far has worked as intended. The distraction provided by Rarity, Lyra and Bon Bon drew a good number of enemy forces to the explosion site, making them believe that the attack was coming from that side. After that, the Paladins with missile launchers (which were also scavenged from the military base) fired simultaneously at the sniper towers. The towers, being made from wood, could not withstand the explosion and collapsed, killing the snipers. This allowed the allied force to advance to prison without opposition for some time.

When the defenders opened fire on the attackers from the windows, the bulk of the allied forces already managed to clear three one-storey buildings and dig themselves within. Thus, when the previously distracted bandits and mercenaries returned, they were greeted by a deadly torrent of bullets, laser beams and even some plasma bolts. Twenty bandits and seven mercenaries died in short order.

However, the battle quickly turned into positional quagmire, as the surviving defenders dug themselves in another one-storey building, and those sitting in main prison building did not allow anyone to cross the open area. The LMG and laser fire from bandits made even Brotherhood Paladins hesitate to come out in the open.

The snipers that were on Appletown's side did their best to eliminate their oppositon. Hunter Rose and some other people used the chaos of battle to their advantage, picking off enemies in the windows wherever they could, but hitting the targets was quite difficult when under fire. One of stray bullets pierced Hunter's hat, making him drop down and cuss profusedly.

"Oh fuck you, Curve Blade!" he swore, as if the lead bandit personally shot his hat off. "This was my favourite hat! Where am I going to find another one?"

With these words, he aimed at yet another bandit and fired. This time, the bullet hit its target. Losing her balance, the female raider fell out of the window, which would destroy any chances of her surviving.

Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Big Macintosh, Flash and six more people were majorly busy with bandits that occupied the one-storey buildings surrounding the prison block, having to deal with fire from both sides. Three of their squad already died, and two were waiting for painkillers to kick in so as to continue the fight. Twilight and Big Macintosh were busy trying to deal with bandits in the buildings, while Sunset, Flash, Applejack and those with LMGs and laser rifles tried to pick out the bandits in main building.

The Appletowners desperately needed a game changer, and that's where Rarity, Lyra and Bon Bon, along with a cadre of Brotherhood Knights, had to come in.

The hidden manhole opened again, letting the girls and the nine Knights chosen for the "dagger in the back" attack out. The "Dagger squad" cloaked immediately and went for the one-storey houses, while the Knights quietly moved to the building's back door. Not bothering with picking the lock, they set a breeech charge and detonated it, letting themselves inside.

The windows in the houses largely did not have any windows, which left the backs of bandits exposed. The girls utilized it to their advantage, shooting the bandits in the backs with suppressed SMGs and killing four of them (plus two mercenaries) before someone actually thought of firing back. When they did, Lyra and Bon Bon simply tossed several grenades inside, which resulted in a carnage. Since the building did not have any internal walls, everyone inside was pierced by shrapnel; of eight persons still living, only one survived long enough to necessitate two final shots to the head.

The count of their enemies was brought down to sixty-seven persons remaining. However, the allied force was also taking casualties: fifteen Appletowners, seven CWN militiamen and three Paladins were killed by enemy fire. Twelve more people were put out of the fight by heavy wounds.

The odds tipped into the favour of the allied force, though. With the bandits that were in the single-storey building that gave Twilight and others so much trouble eliminated, the defending bandits found themselves under heavier fire than before.

Seeing the situation, Shock Gauntlet ordered to back off from the windows and set defensive positions inside. Built with the intent to withstand enemy force assaults if necessary, the prison boasted an architecture that favoured the defenders heavily, along with ceiling turrets re-purposed by White Knives to attack anyone whom the security system did not recognize as an ally.

When the security system was installed, the turret cameras also had facial recognition software put within. If the system had not been deactivated for some reason on the Day of Burning, Curve Blade and his posse would have eaten bullets if they so much as entered there. Instead, their hacker managed to reprogram the turrets to recognize any of the White Knives (and, when necessary, Crimson Hands) as allies. They did not have the system on constantly, as it required a lot of power, but for emergency cases, it was brought online.

As the main bulk allied force stormed the prison, they realized this first hand, as they were met by a storm of bullets from turrets and bandits. One of Brotherhood Paladins fired a missile launcher into the enemy midst, killing or severely wounding eight people, but not before five Appletowners, one militiaman and one unlucky Paladin ate too many bullets to actually live.

Twilight and her friends, however, did not take that route. Realizing that a frontal assault would see heavy fighting and greater casualties, she, Sunset, Applejack, Rarity, Lyra, Bon Bon, Big Macintosh and Flash Sentry went to the back door. According to the plan, their strike team was to bypass the defenders' main force and eliminate Curve Blade, with hopes that the loss of their leader would serve as an imperative to surrender. No one was really keen on actually letting them live; when the talks were going on, the majority agreed that they would simply round the bandits and mercenaries up and execute them.

The group of Knights that had entered previously was the scouting element; once they secured the position close to the back door, they were supposed to keep it until the end of the battle, to grant the others safe passage and exit through said door. When they entered, they saw three Knights dead, and other six keeping positions (one of them wounded).

"Ceiling turret," the Knight Sergeant explained. "Be careful when you move, the White Knives have apparently gotten them active, and this prison has a lot of them, for riot suppression."

"More like riot extermination," Twilight commented, looking at the now-harmless turret. Methinks that it's 7.62, she thought while looking at the barrels.

"That was a prison for foulest guys; clsoer to the end of the Last War, escaping from such prisons was considered a capital offence," Sunset replied. "So if they tried to riot, the administration would simply turn on the turrets and kill them. No use in wasting money on more trials."

"Cold, but pragmatic," the Knight Sergeant said. "We will hold this position to keep you safe."

"Much appreciated, Knight Sergeant," Flash told him. "May the Steel be with you."

"May the Steel be with you, sir."

The group made their way deeper into the building. Applejack and Flash went in first, due to having power armour; unlike others, they could withstand hits by ceiling turrets if the worst came to pass. The blonde girl found out that power armour allowed her to handle the LMG as if it were an assault rifle, achieving precision she usually did not have with such heavy weapon. She also could reload much faster now, not dealing with the excessive weight. And she could carry a lot more boxes, too. This made her very happy.

One White Knife was unlucky enough to be in front of her when she went around a corner once. She backhanded him with her left hand so far that he flew to the opposite side of the wall and hit his head against it. A sickening crunch sound signified that he broke his neck fatally because of that. Rarity made a grimace at the brutish way Applejack dealt with him.

A downside to their plan was clearly evident. Having been here only as Black Widow quite long ago, Rarity could not recall the layout in precise details, as she had not seen much of it. While the information she "had bought from an info trader" was useful for the ground floor and first floor, she did not really know the second floor, since she had not investigated it in full before killing the second-in-command of White Knives, and the third floor, where Curve Blade was supposed to be in, was completely unknown.

They encountered turret after turret, sometimes also encountering small groups of bandits. Once, in desperation, White Knives rounded up their prisoners and forced them to fight the attackers at gunpoint. Some people tried to turn the weapons on the bandits instead but were quickly gunned down, while others tried to fire.

The tactics worked to some extent, depending on persons. Lyra and Bon Bon were mercilessly picking apart any target in front of them, bandit or prisoner; Flash, Rarity and Sunset were attempting to disable rather than kill (that usually resulted in bandits killing the incapacitated, though), and Twilight, Applejack and Big Macintosh could not bear themselves to attack innocents. Still, they were unable to avoid collateral either: Twilight killed one prisoner by accident, and Applejack's fire caught three of them, killing one (hitting carotid artery) and wounding two, who were in turn shot by White Knives.

When they cleared that section, Twilight was visibly shaken, tears running from her eyes. Sunset was trying to calm her down, giving her a hug.

"Shhh, Twilight, it will be fine."

"How can it, Sunset? I killed them, but they weren't bandits, they were just forced to do that, I shouldn't have killed them..."

"You couldn't have avoided that," Lyra bluntly pointed out, which earned her a "Not helping" glare from everyone.

"Goldurn it , Lyra, you just reminded me of Sugarcoat," Aplpejack spoke.

"Sugarwhat now?"

"Sugarcoat. Remember that girl from Crystal Prep? Wears glasses, has pigtails, blunter than me and almost monotone voice?"

"Oh, her. Now I remember. I see where you're coming from, and I take offense at that."

"Deal with it, Ah'm not gonna apologize."

"Let's move on already," Flash ordered, "we..."

"EEE-YAAAAAAARRGHH!!!"

Twilight could not tell how she managed to turn around and shoot that quickly; it was as if her body was possessed by something that forced her to sharply turn around, raise her assault rifle and put all remaining ammo she had in her magazine (six) into a junkie who had a wicked-looking machete in his hand with saw-like blade. He made a couple of steps forward and fell by inertion, his blade almost hitting the equine Princess.

As they proceeded further, they made it to the third floor. However, once they managed to get rid of the turrets, they ran into a snag: low ammunition.

As they made a recount, it turned out that Applejack had only one box with fifty or so ammo remaining, Flash had only one spare microfusion cell left, Big Macintosh had only one spare clip and Lyra and Bon Bon almost ran out of ammunition for their Buffalo SMGs. Unfortunately, they saw nothing resembling an armoury on the way, and they already took care to look for any spare ammo they could find.

Surprisingly, only Twilight, Sunset and Rarity had something to spare in terms of ammunition.

"Assault team, come in. What's your status?" Flash contacted the other team.

"Our bloody status, sir?!" one of Paladins replied. "The goddamn defenses cut down thirty-three on our side! A little more and we will have to pull back because we're not only losing people, we're losing ammo too! I already sent away a couple of dozen folks who ran out of ammo! Kill that bastard already, will you?"

"We'll see what we can do. Sentry out. Blast!" he swore. "The main assault team lost thirty-three people and twenty at least ran out of ammo. If we don't finish Curve Blade off, it's gonna be bad. His organization most likely wouldn't recover, but he'll escape to Tartarus knows where!"

"We did not come this far to fail like this!" Sunset said. "We must take this bastard out!"

"I am afraid that most of us can't be of much help," Lyra said. "The only thing we can do now is give our remaining ammo to Twilight, Sunset and Rarity and hope that they will accomplish the task. On the way down, we will see if there's any extra bullets we missed."

"That means 9mm ammo, 10mm ammo, microfusion cells, shotgun shells, and 5.56mm ammo," Twilight said. "And energy batteries, if there are any."

"No," Flash said, "I already gave you all my spares, and if we're to go down, I must retain one for worst case."

"Isn't there another way?" Twilight asked, not liking the idea.

"I am afraid that even if we ask the truck driver to bring us more ammo, it will take too much of a time. We will have to retreat first. And that cannot be allowed."

"Don't worry, darling," Rarity said, "We'll manage."

"Be careful, girls," Applejack said, genuinely worried. "That... that means you too, Rarity."

"Why..." Rarity was taken by surprise, but quickly recovered. "Thanks, Applejack, that means a lot."

"Good luck," Lyra said, before their group went away.

"Well... let's go, I guess," Twilight said. Rarity looked on her Stealth-Boy and hissed.

"It's almost depleted. I'll see if I can spare the energy somehow," she said.

As they entered the third floor, they immediately had to duck for cover as Crimson Hands mercenaries and some White Knives (eight of them in total) rained fire on their positions from catwalks. This floor had some sort of machinery standing everywhere, apparently for prison labour, which allowed them to hide from enemy fire.

"So, the little band of heroes decided to storm my lair?" a mocking voice came from above. "Men, weapons down. I want to talk to them."

"Really, Curve Blade? Talking trash instead of just shooting them?"

"Shut it, Shock Gauntlet. I want to look in the eyes of these people who gave me so much trouble."

"If you say so. Men, don't shoot unless they shoot first."

"Hey, you! Show yourselves, I want to look in your face!" Curve Blade shouted.

"Should we do it?" Twilight asked.

"I rather wouldn't, but we need to wind down a bit," Rarity said. "It's clear he wants to gloat. We'll let him, and then we'll kill him and all the others."

"Fine!" Twilight shouted. "If you want to talk so badly, you'll have it!"

The equine Princess carefully peeked out to see whether others were aiming, and seeing that no one did, she stood. After some hesitation, Sunset and Rarity did the same.

Curve Blade was a man in early forties, with balding head. He was wearing casual clothes, underneath which a military armour vest could be seen. A carbine was slung behind his back, and his holster held a .44 magnum revolver.

Shock Gauntlet was younger at least by a decade, but it was clear that the man was an experienced fighter. His armour was covering almost his body, making it clear that this was an advanced type of milspec assault armour. An assault rifle of unfamiliar design with holographic sight and joint magazines was in his hands, and while he was not aiming at girls, it was obvious he would not hesitate to use it if he decides to. It also looked heavier, and its barrel was bigger, making it obvious that this assault rifle was of bigger caliber. His quick-draw holster had some big pistol (also of pretty high caliber, apparently) inside it.

When the girls saw him, they thought, in essence, one thing:

Well, fuck. Taking this bastard out will be a bitch.

"So, that's it? That's the assault team sent to kill me? I am disappointed. Did so very few survive?"

"No," Sunset said. "They're busy grinding your mooks down there into sacks of bone and meat."

"And you thought to get up here and kill me while my men are busy? Smart. I give you two points for that, out of one-hundred."

"Your grading scale is impressive. Did you trip yourself on Mentats to invent it?"

"Smart-mouthed, too, aren't you? You should be smacked like a bitch for that. And I didn't use Mentats, by the way."

"Shame. Maybe you would have done a smart thing for once and offed yourself."

"Now why would I when there're so many things to enjoy? Tell me, is Appletown so desperate that they seriously decided to come to my place and try to kill me? The fact that there are three of you tells me that your plan went wrong or was stupid in first place."

"Your turrets were an annoyance. And I guess that the control terminal is here somewhere, right?"

"Bingo, give this girl a cookie! It's in my office, actually."

"Thanks for the invaluable info."

"It won't be of use to you. You are horribly outmatched, and your main force is unlikely to help you, if they aren't here now. So kindly put down all your weapons, and I will let you leave."

"Even if we are to assume that we would be dumb enough to believe you," Twilight spoke up for the first time, "I am certain that he," she pointed at Shock Gauntlet, "will not. After all, there is a reward for our heads, and I bet he immediately recognized us. Didn't you, Shock Gauntlet? Did you recognize me and one of my friends?" she pointed to Sunset. "The Daring Duo?"

"I did," Shock Gauntlet replied. "And I give you credit for your logic."

"Thanks. So, Curve Blade, I am sorry, but the only way this is gonna end is with violence, because I am certainly not willing to die or let my friends be killed, and asking you for surrender is pointless."

"What, you don't wanna try diplomacy? You did help to unite CWN militia and Brotherhood of Steel with Appletown, after all. Maybe you can negotiate a ceasefire for us and I won't kill you then?"

The audacity of his request nearly made Twilight choke with rage. She felt as if molten lava flooded her insides, burning everything within and then wanting to burn more, to explode and take the leader of White Knives away with it. How DARES he?!

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" she shouted, then, lowering her voice, she continued, "Are you really on Mentats withdrawal, as Sunset had thought? You and your people pillaged this whole area, sold prisoners to slavery, killed who knows how many people and now, when we have projected strength and willingness to fight back and hit you where it hurts, you want ceasefire now? "Mercy," you mean? When you showed none yourself? Your audacity is astounding. No, Curve Blade. You have committed so many atrocities that no one who is sane will believe your pleas for peace or ceasefire or whatever. And given the chance, you will do so again. No. I refuse to let you continue this. I abhor killing, but you? Killing you would be applaudable. And we will do that. Shock Gauntlet, if you value your life and lives of your men, leave. While I am not amused that Crimson Hands had tried to kill me twice, I know that was because Curve Blade hired you."

"Applaudable of you to make this gesture to me and my people, Twilight Sparkle," Shock Gauntlet replied, "but alas, I am under contract, and cannot break it."

"Shame," Twilight replied.

"So be it," Curve Blade snarled as the girls ducked back behind machinery. Going backwards so as to avoid any potential accidents, he shouted:

"Kill them! Kill them all!"

Firestorm erupted; bullets were hitting the metal everywhere, making ding and dang sounds. White Knives and Crimson Hands were laying down massive suppressive fire, preventing any possibility of return attacks.

They didn't account for Rarity, though. Using her Stealth-Boy, she was able to get into another cover and fire her Buffalo SMG. She took out one bandit, and then managed to switch her attention to one of the mercenaries and fire at him, too. This time she was less precise, and most of her bullets hit the armour on the Crimson Hand's torso, which was not really efficient, but two bullets hit his unprotected neck; one shattered his trachea and one tore through carotid artery, guaranteeing death.

Bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada!

Rarity was forced to duck back as Shock Gauntlet turned his assault rifle towards her. His rifle was louder than others, and the girls realized that he actually had not fired once.

He was biding his time to see whether someone was brave enough to get out, and then wanted to pump them full of bullets.

"Credit where it's due," Rarity shouted as she dropped her cloak, "Shock Gauntlet knows his business! I was cloaked and he nearly got me!"

"He is tougher, that's for sure," Twilight said. Looking at her IFF, she risked blind firing a short burst of fire, and was rewarded with a cry of pain; however, the mark on her IFF remained, which meant she only wounded her enemy and not killed him. "And if we continue relying on luck, we'll run out of bullets pretty soon."

Bz-dat! Bz-dat! Bz-dat! Sunset also tried blind-firing her laser rifle. A scream of pain followed, but then that same assault rifle of Shock Gauntlet's fired several times.

"Ouch!" Sunset shouted, shaking her now-bleeding forearm. "I got one of them bandits, but that bastard with this loud rifle got me!"

"Hold still!" Twilight ordered, taking out her first aid kit and taking off the piece of armour off Sunset's arm. Bandaging the wound, she gave Sunset an injection of RegenStim, noticing that the armour plate that they had salvaged from the military base was pierced through. Armour-piercing rounds or higher caliber rifle? she wondered.

"There you go. Do you need Med-X?"

"I'll manage!" Sunset spoke through clenched teeth, picking up her laser rifle and firing again. Twilight joined her, and they managed to wound one of their enemies. While the raiders and the mercenaries were distracted, Rarity cloaked again and changed position, then finished their target off. Once again, however, Shock Gauntlet proved himself to be a capable opponent, and fired back again. This time, the indigo-haired fashionista was not as lucky, and the bullet pierced her shoulder in a place unprotected by her scout-sniper infiltrator armour.

"AWW!" she screamed, barely holding on to her SMG. "This hurts! This hurts so bad!"

"Rarity!" Twilight screamed. She tried to edge closer to her another wounded friend. "Hold on, I'll..."

However, Curve Blade himself decided to participate in the "fun" and stepped forward once again, firing his assault rifle and forcing the equine Princess back to cover. Sunset tried to blind-fire him again, but Shock Gauntlet threw something towards them, and one moment later, their IFF systems got scrambled.

"Cheater, cheater!" she heard him laugh. Pissed beyond measure, she fired at the sound of his voice, and was rewarded with an "Ouch!" and more bullets in return.

Suddenly, she noticed a large, hulky form charging through the entrance they came through. As it turned out, this was a Brotherhood Paladin...

...with a rocket launcher on his shoulder.

"Surprise!" the fiery-haired girl heard the familiar voice of Flash Sentry. The enemies turned their weapons on the new target, and even mamaged to score a few hits, but the ex-rocker pressed the trigger almost simultaneously with his speech."

"Shit, down! all of them heard Shock Gauntlet shout. Risking her head, Twilight saw the elite mercenary jumping down with Curve Blade, barely evading the rocket.

KA-BOOM! The explosion rattled the catwalks, completely destroying some part of it; the shock tore the screws loose in some places, and two bandits who did not die from the explosion lost their balance momentarily, which turned fatal for them as Flash quickly whipped out his laser pistol with the last battery inside and fried their heads.

"Rarity! How bad is it?" Twilight approached her pale-skinned friend, who slid down and slumped against the machinery, face contorted in pain and hand pressed against the wound.

"Straight to the... joint... ruffians!" Rarity hissed. Twilight and Flash looked at the wound; it looked bad. The bullet did indeed hit her in the joint, which meant that she needed AMFAK-10. Fortunately, Flash had one, so he quickly took care of it and stopped the bleeding, injecting an advanced tissue regenerating medicine.

"She must be taken away from here," he told Twilight and Sunset. "After taking such a wound, she must stay away from fights for two days at least. Where are the rest of the bandits? I saw two jump down, but didn't see them moving..."

"There they are!" Sunset shouted, firing several laser beams, but she missed. Still, everyone saw Curve Blade and Shock Gauntlet stumble into one door on the same level as them. From a glimpse, neither of them looked that good; they were hurt, and Curve Blade was apparently bleeding.

"Flash!" the fiery-haired girl shouted. "Take Rarity out of here! We'll finish them off!"

With these words, she rushed after their remaining enemies.

"Sunset, wait!" Twilight shouted, but the unicorn-turned-human paid no heed.

"What. An. Idiot!" the lavender-skinned girl shouted in frustration and ran after her friend. "She'll get herself killed! Flash, take care of Rarity, I'll see that she doesn't get pumped with lead!"

"Er, maybe we should wait..." Flash began, but both girls have disappeared already. "...for reinforcements. Oh well," he sighed and picked Rarity bridal-style. "Let's get you out of here, Rarity."

"Much appreciated, Flash," Rarity spoke weakly, still feeling pain despite having been given a small dose of Med-X. "Oh I do hope they will be alright..."

"Twilight and Sunset are made of tougher stuff than they look," he spoke, trying to convince himself as much as Rarity. "And Tartarus hath no fury like woman scorned. Curve Blade is a dead man walking..."

Twilight and Sunset were indeed scorned, both by the fact that Rarity was wounded and by the escape attempt of both Curve Blade and Shock Gauntlet. Their enemy proved to be surprisingly fast; while the girls ran as quick as they could and they were not wounded, they had trouble catching up to both men. Twilight suspected that they were on drugs or just had abnormal pain tolerance.

Once or twice in a while they managed to see enough of their enemies to fire a shot, but they were either unable to hit their targets or they fought back, messing with the girls' aim.

The chase brought them into the depths of the industrial area where the prisoners were forced to work. Now that the prison was no longer used for free (if unwilling) labour, the machinery stood still, and some of the catwalks were in danger of falling off. With annoyance, Sunset noticed that certain machines did not have any protective measures against trauma, as evident by blood stains and skeletal remains of some limbs.

Ugh. They didn't care about safety at all, did they? Then again, the prison was for those who committed serious crimes. Probably they thought no one would miss the occasional prisoner or two.

Carefully advancing through the area, the girls kept an open eye for any ambushes or traps. Several times they passed through narrow corridors where using assault rifle was uncomfortable, so Twilight took her SMG and Sunset decided to use her combat shotgun.

"This looks like an overcomplicated escape route," Twilight said.

"Quiet," Sunset hissed at her.

Apparently, the enemy duo decided to stop while they were ahead, because soon, the girls caught up to the men.

Without any hesitation, they opened fire. Curve Blade and Shock Gauntlet dodged their attack, however, and fired back, forcing the girls to jump to different sides. As Twilight was in the air, she pressed the trigger by accident, and her SMG went off wildly.

Two of her bullets hit the control panel used to control the metal section that was designed to cut two halves of the giant room they were in apart. The panel sparked, destroyed by the lead cones, and the heavy "door" fell down.

Shock Gauntlet, who was standing right under it, ducked desperately to his right to avoid being crushed and got separated from Curve Blade. However, when the girls had dodged the bullets, they also found themselves on different sides. Thus, Twilight got stuck with Shock Gauntlet, and Sunset had to deal with Curve Blade all on her own.

"Twilight!" Sunset shouted. "You OK?"

"I'm fine!" Twilight's voice was muffled a bit, but intelligible. As soon as Sunset breathed out in relief, she had to duck and rush into cover again.

"She won't be fine for long, bitch," Curve Blade spoke up. "She is stuck with Shock Gauntlet, one of the best mercenaries Crimson Hands have at their disposal! She has as much of a survival chance as a meat slice in a river full of piranhas!"

A sinking feeling told the fiery-haired girl that the leader of White Knives was right. She had to get to her friend right this instant!

"And if you so want to see her die, you'll have to get through me!"

"Happy to oblige!" Sunset fired her shotgun as soon as she saw Curve Blade, missing him by mere centimetres. The bandit fired back blindly, forcing the girl into cover.

"You won't beat me!" he boasted.

Challenge accepted!

"The game is over for you, young lady," Shock Gauntlet was speaking from his cover. "Give up, and I promise you will die quickly and without pain."

"No," Twilight replied, desperately thinking of a way to reunite with Sunset or bring reinforcements. Unfortunately, they did not have enough radios, and Twilight did not have one on her person. Neither did Sunset. The only one who could call for reinforcements was Flash, and he was not with them. In any event, the reinforcements would most likely arrive too late. And escape was impossible - the area was too open, and Shock Gauntlet would shoot her dead if she tried to do that. The only thing she could do now was to circumvent him somehow and pull a fightimg retreat through the area in hopes that another door leads to the area where Sunset was fighting Curve Blade now.

"You persist. Admirable. But pointless. I am way out of your league, girl."

I am not going to give you satisfaction of confirming that. Twilight scooted closer to the edge of cover, evaluating her chances of making it.

"And you know that the chances of both of you surviving the encounter are nil. I am wearing an assault armour which is tough to withstand your meager 10mm SMG, and my assault rifle is of 7.62mm caliber, which can punch through your standard issue armour quite well, as your flame-haired friend has learnt."

Twilight carefully moved, trying not to make a noise, and crept as quickly as possible to another machine.

"Why aren't you speaking?"

Twilight saw the door on the far end of the room. It stood ajar and led somewhere deep into industrial area of the prison. She was really counting on her luck there. There was another machine in her way, and her IFF was still scrambled, so she could not reliably know where her enemy was. However, with him speaking, she could tell that he was on the right end of the room, clearly expecting an attack from there, and since he was apparently straining his throat to speak louder, she knew he could not see her through his cover.

She moved again, positioning herself against the side of the machine. Indeed, he was there, and he was looking in another direction.

Excellent.

However, as she tried to creep away, he turned his head around and saw her. For a moment, both stood stock still.

Then Twilight dashed for the door, spraying 10mm bullets chaotically in his direction. The mercenary dropped on the floor out of instinct, but quickly recovered.

Bada-bada-bada-bada-bada! The 7.62mm bullets raced after her, but they all missed their target.

He got up and started running. As he turned around the corner, he saw the girl running... and turning her SMG against him again.

A short burst, and several bullets that did not miss wedged themselves into his armour, making him slightly stumble. Twilight turned around the corner, making him chase after her again.

BANG!

Sunset spent her last shotgun shell in the magazine and dislodged the disk used for containing ammunition.

Curve Blade tried to hit her with the butt of his AP-79, but she dodged his attack and dashed towards the closest machine that could serve as cover. Since it was not so high, she managed to vault over it just in time - the bandit's bullets pierced the air where she had been a moment prior.

She inserted another disk-shaped magazine into her shotgun and moved the bolt. Sticking out, she fired, but missed - Curve Blade dodged with a roll. Unsatisfied, she fired blindly again and was rewarded with a scream of pain. Apparently, some of her metal balls did hit the target.

"Bitch!" he swore, and fired at the machine in turn. Unlike others, it was not as durable, and two bullets pierced the metal it was made from on both sides, hitting Sunset from behind. Fortunately, her armour held, but she was not tempted to stress-test it, and ducked lower, crawling to the other end. When she looked out, Curve Blade was not there anymore.

He hid back behind that machine that is parallel to mine.

She ran behind the other machine in her row that could hide her better and looked sturdier.

Maybe I can outflank him?

She began moving carefully to the end of the row.

"Gotcha, bitch!"

Sunset could not understand later how she managed to duck, twist herself, fall on the ground and fire at Curve Blade at the same time. Unfortunately, this time the metal balls went wide and practically didn't hit him.

Curve Blade fired at her.

Bam!

"Argh!" Sunset screamed, pressing the trigger instinctively.

BANG! Her shotgun went off. This time, her shot hit the bandit's torso and his right hip, making him howl and hide himself. Sunset noticed how he threw away the magazine.

So that's why he didn't shoot more. He had literally one bullet. Yay me.

Stumbling behind the machine to put some distance between her and Curve Blade, Sunset quickly gave herself a RegenStim injection and quickly (but somewhat sloppily) bandaged the wound. Picking up her shotgun through pain, she fired blindly again.

"Missed!" Curve Blade taunted her from somewhere to the right. Sticking out, Sunset dropped on one knee and the bullets went above her. She, however, missed too - the lead raider hid himself in time.

Then, a grenade flew in her direction.

"Shit!" she was unable to stop from cursing and quickly repositioned herself.

BOOM! the grenade went off, nearly deafening her. She saw Curve Blade running to another door and charged after him, firing wildly. The door led into a section of corridors, where both of them were taking turns firing at each other.

Unfortunately, the ammo ended soon, and when she tried to reload the shotgun, she could not find another disk.

I burnt through the shells that quickly?! she thought before being forced back into cover by return fire. She threw the shotgun and whipped out the Buffalo SMG, charging after the bandit again.

Soon, Curve Blade ran out of ammo, too, and was forced to rely on his .44 magnum. He managed to hit Sunset once, but Sunset in return put four 9mm bullets into his left leg and right arm, messing with his aim. To act further, Curve Blade took a double dose of Med-X to cope with the pain, while Sunset gave herself another RegenStim injection and a dose of Med-X.

They stumbled into a room that was bigger in height than width, ladders and catwalks going to different directions. Sunset could not see where Curve Blade was, and proceeded to move carefully, her Buffalo SMG at the ready.

Several minutes lasted in creepy silence. Every nerve of Sunset's was strained from the pain and the effort she was giving to locate the hated bandit that was threatening Appletown...

...suddenly, she found herself face to face with Curve Blade as she turned around one corner. Without any words, the humans aimed at each other's heads and pulled the triggers.

Click.

Click.

Silence.

"Oh COME ON!!!" both of them answered in perfect sync, exasperated at the sheer stupidity of the situation.

Curve Blade went for his knife. Realizing that she wouldn't be able to get her laser rifle in time, Sunset took out her own and moved to block the attack.

Clink! The blades met each other.

Sunset began withdrawing carefully, trying to avoid getting slashed or stabbed, while Curve Blade was advancing on her.

She almost stumbled when she got to the stairs and began rising...

Twilight Sparkle has officially run out of luck.

Escaping Shock Gauntlet proved to be more difficult than she thought. And fighting him was almost impossible. She tried to do so at first, but he was quickly able to negate all her advantages and force her to run from him again. She could clearly see now that he was quite competent, and a deadly opponent if he put his mind to it.

Twilight expended all her SMG ammo, and so picked her AP-79 again in order to try and stall him, but that proved hardly possible. She managed to score several hits on him, but they all were in armoured locations, and so her attacks only made him stumble and lose his aim. He did not stop to fix himself when her bullets did manage to pierce his armour plate once.

She did her best to navigate her way through unfamiliar territory and to Sunset (hopefully), but even that proved to be difficult. Shock Gauntlet was determined to prevent her from getting closer to her firend, and tried to force her to change directions or even intercept her way, if possible.

One time he managed to chase her into a room which was a dead end, and was taking shots at her whenever he could. In order to get out of that place, Twilight had to force him out with a grenade (her last one, by the way), and then fire at him at almost point blank range, charging. Only by this desperate attempt was she able to shock him (as well as score some hits before he dodged away) and escape the trap, but it cost her her last assault rifle ammo.

When she found herself in a really high room with some windows to the right of her, and could not hear Shock Gauntlet coming, she allowed herself a small moment of rest, and then began moving towards the ladder on the far end of the room, hoping to - finally - find Sunset.

Bada-bada-badam!

"AAAAARRRRRGHHHH!!!" Twilight screamed in pain as three bullets pierced her shin and her hip, making it impossible for her to stand. As she turned on her back, she noticed Shock Gauntlet standing on the catwalks in the air running parallel to her intended direction, inserting a new magazine.

The lavender-skinned girl quickly took out the "Burning Flash" and fired twice at him.

Ba-bzdat! Ba-bzdat! This pistol was louder, and its beam was somewhat wider, and it hit the mercenary right to the right shoulder.

"ARGH!"

Surprised, Shock Gauntlet dropped his assault rifle, which was not above the catwalk, and it fell to the ground below him. He immediately vaulted over the rails, hanging himself for a moment, and then jumped down, picking his weapon and getting behind cover. This was complicated somewhat by Twilight raining down laser fire upon him, but she managed to hit him only three times - the pain and exhaustion were taking their toll.

"I am impressed. You actually hurt me," the mercenary spoke. "Curve Blade was wrong to underestimate you."

Twilight stabbed herself with a Med-X syringe and stood up, although not without difficulty.

"This only delays the inevitable, however," he continued, sticking out to fire at Twilight.

Click. The gun did not fire.

Ba-bzdat! Ba-bzdat! Ba-bzdat! Twilight did not hesitate to return fire, hitting the mercenary again.

"Argh! Damn it..."

Suddenly, a silver line (or so it appeared to Twilight) whisked through the air, and Twilight screamed in pain, dropping her laser pistol as a ballistic knife got stuck in an unprotected area on her right hand. Shock Gauntlet charged her immediately, hitting her in solar plexus, and then to the face. The girl flew back, and would have knocked herself out if not for the military helmet she had on her head.

Twilight tried to get out her .44 magnum as Shock Gauntlet took out his high-caliber pistol. They fired at the same time: he hit her in another leg, and she got him in the stomach area.

The pain that the equine Princess was feeling after the shot was unbearable. The bullet tore through her leg, taking chunks of flesh with it, and splinters of titano-ceramic-carbon polyalloy that was not designed for high caliber ammunition got stuck in the wound. Twilight's throat was hoarse from screaming; she could not get enough air in her lungs to scream, and when she failed to get enough of it, she merely whimpered pathetically, tears running out from her eyes. Her body completely failed her.

"I was mistaken," Shock Gauntlet's voice sounded as if it came from another planet. "You're more than just another goody-two-shoes. Slip Swipe was correct. I guess that if both of you were to go against me, Daring Duo, I would have been in trouble."

Despite the pain she was feeling right now, Twilight still was trying to raise her revolver.

"I have to applaud you, Twilight Sparkle. You are basically dying right now. Yet you never gave up. Never plead for mercy. Even now, you are spitting in the face of death as it comes towards you."

With the last of her strength, Twilight pulled the trigger.

BANG!

"I am sorry, but you missed. A shame that we had to met like that. In other time, I would gladly share a drink with you."

The numbness spread through her body, catching more and more of it. Unwilling to give up, but unable to anymore, Twilight lost consciousness, and her hand dropped, still holding the revolver.

The finger twitched as her brain barely managed to pass the signal through neurons.

BANG!

"Oops," Shock Gauntlet commented. "A bit more to the right, and she would have got me. What a spirit!"

Despite his massive irritation at getting shot by her, he could not hide the notes of admiration in his voice.

Sunset was not very lucky either.

She was never good in melee weapons combat, and Curve Blade, true to his name, was slashing his heavy military knife here and there, making the pony-turned-human dodge, retreat or block his attacks, and all of it costed her energy, of which she did not have much.

He already managed to give her several slashing hits, but they all went against her armour; fortunately, the plates were resistant to slashing strikes, but could potentially be stabbed through, and Sunset did her best to avoid spear-like stab strikes that the bandit was dishing out.

She was determined to give as good as she got though. Aside from knives, they were using fists and legs, and she broke his nose once with a lucky hit and gave him a slash wound. Still, Curve Blade, thanks to Med-X abuse, was unwilling to back down. If this went on, he would win, Sunset was sure of that.

They found themselves in some sort of control room, and the fiery-haired girl realized it was a trap - the only way out was through a window, several meters down. This would most likely be fatal for her, and Curve Blade was blocking the exit now, which meant she had to overpower him somehow and retreat or kill him.

They punched and kicked each other at a regular pace, making stab or slash attacks with their knives. Sunset was trying to make Curve Blade move away, but he stood still as a rock, not moving an inch.

At one moment, Sunset did a sabre-like slashing attack on him, and he dropped down, managing to hit Sunset to the back of her knees and make her tumble. Before she was able to respond, his knife pinned her left hand to the floor, and her own knife was wrestled away. She screamed in pain, fighting it.

"Well, bitch?" the ugly mug of the leader of the White Knives was almost in her face now. "Who is the winner now? I warned you that you wouldn't be able to beat me, and now..."

His words were interrupted by an ungodly, hoarse scream of agony. Sunset felt her insides going frozen with fear and dread.

No... Twilight...

"Oh, it appears that your friend has met her grisly fate, or is about to, anyway," Curve Blade chuckled, twisting the proverbial knife further. "And now, once I end you, your Daring Duo," he pronounced their moniker with a mocking voice, "will cease to exist. Shame that I wouldn't see if you two are as hot in bed now, although..."

He leaned closer to Sunset, who was fighting not to vomit. While it could have made for an effective projectile, she lacked the strength to launch it properly. Lowering his voice, Curve Blade almost whispered:

"...who cares if you're cold when in my bed?"

The ice that was piercing Sunset's insides disappeared almost instantly, replaced by boiling, hot fury, and it exploded as she hit the despicable bandit to the right temple. In his arrogance, Curve Blade did not think to secure her right hand, and dearly paid for it as she made him tumble off her. She took his knife and pulled it out with a mighty grunt and scream of pain. Blood flowed down her hand, but she paid no heed to it. As she rose to her feet, so did Curve Blade, but before he was able to react anyhow, she slashed him across the eyes.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!" he screamed as his eyes leaked out, mixed with blood. He stumbled to the side and back, and that made him look even more disgusting and contemptible than usual, and Sunset attacked again.

She stabbed his shoulder joints, first the left one, then the right one, making him howl and take several steps back. Drunk on his pathetic attempts at self-defense, his helplessness and his defeat, Sunset lunged at him once again, driving the knife into his guts.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

"You'll never put a woman in your bed again!" she screamed, and drove the knife between his legs.

And then she did it again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

"You will never hurt any man, woman, or child again!

She pushed him away from her, and he hit the window, which cracked under the impact. He stood still, blood gushing, totally defeated now, in stark contrast to the self-conceited bandit he were just a moment ago.

"You have committed so many evils that the deepest depths of Tartarus won't be enough for you! But I will still send you there RIGHT NOW!!!"

She kicked him. The already fragile glass was unable to withstand the force of Sunset's kick, and Curve Blade fell down. A sickening crunch made its way to her ears, and she understood, somehow, that he was most assuredly dead.

She spent several minutes bandaging her bleeding hand, and had to inject herself with the last dose of RegenStim. The coming down from adrenaline hit her hard. She was shaking badly, and dropped Curve Blade's knife, and slid down one of the walls. For several she-did-not-know-how-long-moments, she rested, because her body just could not hold it anymore.

Suddenly, she jerked as if struck by electricity.

Twilight!

Forgetting her tiredness, she stood up and unholstered her laser rifle, running as fast as she could. Exiting the room, she took a turn to the left and went to the catwalks with a ladder.

She saw a familiar form of Shock Gauntlet living the room. She fired at him several times, but missed.

Amazingly, he did not fire back. He did not even turn around - he simply disappeared into the door instead.

She looked down.

Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, the Bearer of the Element of Magic, her friend, was lyind without motion.

"TWILIGHT!"

Forgetting everything, Sunset ran down the ladder, almost losing her balance several times. Passing down the body of Curve Blade with his neck twisted at unnatural angle and skull cracked and brain matter splattered on the ground, she came up to her friend, dropped her laser rifle and fell to her knees, pulling her friend's body onto her knees.

"Twilight? Twilight! Wake up! Say something!"

Her compatriot remained unresponsive, giving no signs of life. Sunset felt tears blanketing her eyes, starting their way down her nose and cheeks. Desperate and gripped by ice-cold fear from knowing that she had no medical supplies left, she cradled her friend's body and went on, her voice breaking:

"Twilight! Wake up! Don't die! Please don't die..."

Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Diamond Skeleton: Your limbs gain 20% health bonus, making it harder to cripple them.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Fight to Your Friends: If separated from your allies and they are under attack by superior enemy, you deal +10% damage and +10% Damage Resistance until either you manage to get your allies into your line of sight or your allies defeat their enemies by themselves.

Reputation increased: Appletown

Your assistance in defeating the enemies of this faction has forged the strong bonds of friendship between you and the community. You can rely on them for help and gain a hefty discount at local shops.

Reputation increased: Brotherhood of Steel (Northern Chapter)

The good history of your relationship with this faction has proven that you can be considered trustworthy. In the future, you may build even stronger bonds.

Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

AR-22 advanced assault rifle

This version of assault rifle was developed in response to the deployement of battle-hardened TODC heavy infantry units in Bovinia and near Griffonstone. Unlike standard-issue R91 model, this rifle has 7.62mm caliber, which makes this rifle a better choice for piercing enemy armour. Combined with specialized ammunition, it becomes a very dangerous weapon. This weapon is more rare than R91 or even AP-79 (and thus, more expensive), and maintaining it is harder due to the rifle's more complex inner workings. Also, while this weapon is relatively reliable, it is recommended not to expose it to water, mud or sand if possible.

Weapon stats:

DMG: 57 (if 100% CND)
WG: 4 kg
VAL: 790 caps (if 100% CND)

Ammo type: 7.62mm rounds
Ammo capacity: 30

Author's Notes:

Whoaaaaaaaaa...

Finally. I did it. Thirty-one thousand plus something words. Blast.

Pheeewwwww. My brain is empty.

So yeah. Finally, Curve Blade kicked the bucket. And Shock Gauntlet is here to stay, yes. This pal is one tough nut, and he won't die that easily. I can promise that you will see him again.

Next chapter, as I had said in my blogs, will deal with the aftermath. And then... to Trottingham! Yay

Thoughts, comments, criticism? Write them below

We'll see how soon I'll write the next chapter; hopefully, it will take the usual 10-20 days, although, given that there's other story that demands my attention, I don't know whether I'll be able to. But I'll do my best!

Stay tuned!