Three palms met foreheads and one armoured gauntlet met a helmet as Twilight, Sunset, Applejack and Rarity facepalmed at Trixie's antics.

"Oh man," Sunset moaned, "it's confirmed - only a grave will change you, Trixie."

"Why would the Great and Powerful Trixie need to change? Or need a grave, for that matter?" Trixie scoffed.

"Never mind," the fiery-haired girl muttered. "So... don't tell me that you are in command of the warband?"

"Well technically we don't have a commander," Kurt Marshall interrupted, "or at least in this squad we don't."

"In this squad?"

"A group of former students of Canterlot High and Crystal Prep has managed to band together into something of a faction," Trixie explained, now without her usual pompousness. "We do have a leader that dictates our general direction, but our command structure is very loose. Kurt Marshall, having had experience as a police officer and a soldier, commands our squad as of now."

"I see."

"Trixie," Kurt spoke up again, "we need to fall back to our secondary position, I don't want to engage any more Hooffields if we can avoid it. They've come in unexpectedly high numbers and I have no wish to imagine why they'd field their "Grasshoppers" and the few CRAGADILE warbots that they have."

"The Hooffields attacked Marehoof," Twilight said, "and the whole city was in chaos when we escaped, with all gangs fighting each other. We thought they wouldn't care to pursue anyone, but I guess we either were just that unlucky that they searched for escapees or we were tracked somehow."

"Unlikely," Trixie shook her head, "our sources say that the Hooffields have no such tech, and they have only recently managed to hack several CRAGADILE warbots somehow. Then again, the CRAGADILE model did not have hard software defenses in first place. Anyway, let's do as Kurt says, and you'll fill us in on the run."

"Deal."

The group moved quickly, away from the ghost settlement and into a small forest nearby, one of the rare ones in the mostly arid Western Wastelands. Kurt Marshall and Rarity shared sniper overwatch duties, Applejack and Crimson Napalm kept their heavy weapons ready, Twilight, Sunset, Trenderhoof and Neon Lights kept their sectors covered with their laser and assault rifles, while Trixie holstered her Panzerwraith rocket launcher and held a 10mm SMG in both hands.

Fortunately, they did not meet any trouble except a nest of Cazadores that had not been present before (according to Trixie), but with the overwhelming firepower on their side, the nest proved to be no trouble, and they briefly held up to cut the poison sacs.

Forty minutes after leaving the ghost settlement, Kurt Marshall ushered the whole group in a small shed, which turned out to hide a cleverly masked entrance to a small civilian bunker. Said bunker did not serve its primary purpose of hiding civilians - as it was not used at all - but it proved to be a good hiding point, and the group of former CHS and CPA students that found themselves in the Western Wastelands repurposed it as one of their hideouts.

When the group settled inside and Trixie lit the lamps, Kurt Marshall addressed the girls:

"OK, tell us what happened in Marehoof, as concisely as possible."

Twilight filled everyone in on her misadventures during the Hooffields' attack, and Sunset, Applejack and Rarity told of their own, and then everyone spoke about their desperate fight against the Hooffields' reinforcements until their rescue.

"What did you do to piss Ivy Mortis off?" Trixie asked once the girls were finished. "Even the Great and Powerful Trixie has not managed to grab her personal attention... yet," she added with her trademark aplomb.

"I am not sure..." Twilight replied. "We had a small rest at Donkey Stopper, but the village was attacked by Cleaners, and we helped the locals in the defense. But the attackers were killed..."

"In the course of battle, one of them managed to knock me out," Sunset added. "Twilight and Rarity gave pursuit, but when they arrived, my kidnappers were killed by a long-distance fire from an anti-materiel rifle."

At the last words, Kurt and his other companions looked at each other.

"Was that you, Kurt?" Rarity asked, giving a glance at his sniper rifle.

"No," Kurt shook his head, "while my Interdiction sniper rifle may be powerful, since it's .408, it is still not enough to class as anti-materiel, or to drop someone from very big distances. And I wasn't even near Donkey Stopper within the timeframe you describe."

"Then who? You looked as if you had an idea who that sniper was."

"I do, but this is something I would not talk about much until I learn where your loyalties lie."

"Our loyalties?" Applejack spoke slowly, her tone indicating that she did not like the insinuation.

"Unfortunately, we have discovered that a number of former students of CHS or CPA have gone... well, bad. Some of them are just plain uninterested in anything but their welfare, and some have even turned so rotten that they joined raiders or slavers. I'm pretty sure Blueblood joined Trade Sixty-Six at some moment, Jet Set and Upper Crust are in cahoots with drug traders, and Ringo seems to have joined the Cleaners at some point. I'm sorry, but I'm not fully sure we can unconditionally trust you, since we have... enemies who want us dead."

"We are independent," Applejack replied, "but Twi is with the Brotherhood of Steel..."

As soon as the blonde girl said the word "Brotherhood", Kurt and his companions tensed.

"What's wrong? Have y'all had a bad run-in with the Brotherhood?"

"More than once," Trixie replied sourly. "The Brotherhood of Steel has repeatedly tried to deprive us of hi-tech technology like laser rifles or reconnaissance eyebots, and tries to seize our ammunition caches. And they have also destroyed the local broadcast station of the Canterlot Wastelands News, so we are practically left without one of our primary information sources - CWN's coverage here has dropped significantly."

"I have heard that the Brotherhood had destroyed CWN's transmitter, but that must have happened before I joined them," Twilight spoke up. "What can you tell me about it?"

"Well," Trenderhoof took over, "The CWN has been critical of the Brotherhood, because the latter was not typically friendly to wastelanders. As such, if a Brotherhood patrol is spotted by the CWN courier, they report the area as "dangerous", and I think that the Brotherhood wasn't amused by this. Plus, CWN had managed to take control over some of the Commissariat's transmitting stations, which gives them an advantage - NSC's stations cover a broad area and are less vulnerable to jammers, considering that NSC did not want to lose their communication capabilities in case something bad happened. Since the northern chapter of the Brotherhood was not willing to storm CWN's HQ and the local Knights were unable to wrestle the control of the station, Elder Sierra ordered his troops to wreck it."

"Is there no way to restore CWN's broadcasts?"

"It is useless unless the Brotherhood of Steel is forced to lay off. Plus, to do so, one needs to reprogram one of the surviving NSC's broadcast stations, and that's gonna be problematic without Commissar credentials. The Great and Powerful Trixie may be great and powerful, but she is no Commissar," Trixie pouted.

"I see. That's... unfortunate," Twilight scratched her chin. "Maybe I'll be able to do something about it."

"To do so is to go against the orders of Elder Sierra," Kurt shook his head, "unless you outrank him, it will be interpreted as a disobedience of orders and end up with you exiled or even executed - rumours say Elder Sierra is hard regarding the Brotherhood's regulations. HIgh Elder Gear is rumoured not to approve of CWN as well, since they, in his opinion, stole the tech that should have belonged to the Brotherhood."

"Doesn't the Brotherhood have their own hackers?" Sunset asked. "Given how advanced they are, they should have been easily able to get their own station?"

"They do, and it baffles us too," Crimson Napalm replied. "The only answer we have so far is that they apparently can't do it; this shouldn't be surprising, considering that in the overall food chain, the Commissariat placed itself higher. Their spooks monitored the whole army, navy and air force, so if NSC built a system of radio comms for themselves, they wouldn't want potential traitors within the military to use it."

"Well, I meant that maybe I could convince Elder Sierra to drop his stance," Twilight spoke up.

"If you can do it, more power to you," Trixie said in a bored tone, "but the Great and Powerful Trixie would not bet on you pulling this off."

"Oh ye of little faith," the alicorn-turned-human muttered sarcastically. "Anyway, is me being a part of the Brotherhood of Steel going to be a problem? I seek no hostilities with all of you."

"Well, that may earn you weird looks if this were to come out in the open, because the Brotherhood isn't exactly friendly, but we aren't going to blab around; besides, I would have never pegged you for a Brotherhood Knight if Applejack hadn't said that."

"Mah bad, Twi, sorry 'bout that," Applejack muttered, ashamed. "Ah know we aren't supposed ta speak of this, but Ah didn't think we needed ta hide this from the people we know..."

"Apology accepted, Applejack," Twilight replied.

"Well, I think we can trust you at this juncture," Kurt said. "If you're interested in staying at a safe place for a while, I see no reason to ban you from entering, unless someone else has objections?" he looked at Trixie, Trenderhoof, Neon Lights and Crimson Napalm. None of them objected.

"Very well, then prepare yourselves, we’ll move to another location in ten," he told Twilight and her friends. The latter nodded in assent.

Somewhere about an hour later, Kurt Marshall led them through a hidden path located underground, which, after going deeper under the surface, led them to an entrance to some sort of a massive bunker.

"This place was supposed to be a comms bunker for the military," Kurt Marshall explained, "but whoever might have been in here left it long ago, so we made it our main base. It's well defensible and the stocks of canned food and MREs can help us last for years, and there is a water purification system from Vault-Tec with spare water chips installed. The air circulation system is quite robust too. Frankly, whoever left this place was an idiot, but their idiocy is our gain, so we aren't really complaining."

"Nice place," Sunset commented.

"Thanks. Now, please remain slightly behind, since I need to input the access code, and, well, I don't think we can trust you with one yet."

"No problem."

Kurt went on to input the code, while Trenderhoof, Neon Lights, Crimson Napalm and Trixie positioned themselves between him and the girls, obscuring the former cop's figure from sight. It did not escape unnoticed from the girls that the group was facing them, and despite the friendly expressions on everyone's face (except Trixie's, who kept hers neutral).

A siren blared with several red lights going alight, and the blast door slowly unlocked and split into two sections, opening slowly. Kurt closed the console and said:

"Come on in, everyone! And hurry! The door will close automatically soon!"

No one required a second invitation, and soon everyone was inside the bunker. As the doors closed, Twilight looked around the bunker.

It was more spacious than the bunkers of the Brotherhood of Steel she had been to, but the lighting was worse - she could barely see the ceiling. Another door was located at the farther end, and she noticed the tripod-mounted turrets and several Mk. I Securitrons standing in front of them.

"Wow," Sunset commented, "that's some tough defensive line."

"Kurt?" a female shouted from the other side; the girls could not distinguish their features properly. "Whom did you bring here?"

"Girls, introduce yourselves," Kurt said.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Twilight shouted first.

"Sunset Shimmer!"

"Ah'm Applejack!"

"Rarity!"

"What the... wow, what a surprise!" the same voice shouted. "Come closer, everyone! Let me get a good look at you! Oh, and helmets off!"

Everyone who had helmets took them off. Several lamps turned on, casting their features alight; surprised by this turn, the girls shielded their eyes for a second before their eyes adjusted.

As they did, though, they finally managed to get a decent look at the people in front of them. Most of those were faces Twilight and Sunset vaguely recognized as the students of CHS or (in Sunset's case) Crystal Prep, plus some unfamiliar faces.

"Oh my goodness!" the same voice spoke, and a woman in her early forties, with cerise hair marred by some grey lines and pale cerise skin, stepped forward.

"Miss Cheerilee!" Sunset, Applejack and Rarity exclaimed happily.

"Miss Cheerilee?" Twilight repeated, a little dumbfounded. She recognized the teacher and part-time librarian, but had problems reconnecting the woman she remembered with a person in front of her, with graying hair and a visibly battered armour vest over green camouflage clothing.

"It certainly is nice to see you alive and well, girls," Cheerilee smiled. "Let's get you in, you must be hungry, and Kurt's squad could use some grub."

"The Great and Powerful Trixie certainly wouldn't," Trixie spoke up.

"Get your weapons stored in the lockers then, and wash yourselves a little bit, and then come to our mess hall. Trixie, show our guests the facilities, will you?"

"Of course," the bluish-haired girl said.

"How did you end up in this position, Trixie?" Sunset asked, as she left the restroom Trixie showed them. After storing their weapons and armour (which they were immensely relieved to do after all the combat they had), they went to freshen up before going to dinner.

"Well," Trixie began, her tone lacking the usual aplomb, "I tried my hand at becoming a pyrotechnician. If you recall, I always liked fireworks. That hobby, however, turned against me when it turned out the company I was working for was a front for some TODC intelligence cell - turns out they managed to smuggle some restricted ingredients and cheat the UFE army out of them, and everyone who was there was busted by the Commissariat, myself included. So basically I had two choices - be tried as an accomplice to treason and theft of strategic resources, which was basically a death sentence, or go serve on the front lines. Apparently, they reviewed my records at school and at work, and decided I would make a good demolitions specialist if I were to enlist... so I did."

"So you make stuff blow up?"

"Yes. You name it, the Great and Powerful Trixie blows it up to high heaven!" Trixie gave an arrogant smirk.

"And how did toting a missile launcher fit into that?"

"Well, at some point, the rocketeers got killed in Trixie's unit, so the Great and Powerful Trixie had to take up the task. Turned out she was quite good at it."

"I see."

"Still good at tootin' yer own horn, as Ah see, Trixie," Applejack came out, her Stetson back on since she was out of the power armour now.

"It's the truth, Applejack. But where are Twilight and Rarity? Trixie is hungry."

"Here," Twilight said, coming out of the bathroom with Rarity in tow.

"What happened to you, Rarity? You are usually the longest to pretty yourself up," Trixie commented in genuine surprise.

"Times have changed and I am dreadfully hungry; besides, I don't even have my makeup kit," Rarity replied in a pish-posh voice, signifying she did not appreciate Trixie's barb.

"Now that's the end of the world..." the former stage-up "magician" muttered as she led everyone into the mess hall.

As it turned out, the bunker had actual food preparation facilities, and instead of suffering through a round of MREs, Cheerilee prepared fried potatoes with sausages for everyone (Spike included; the dragon-turned-dog got a round of patting from the ex-teacher).

"Dig in!" she declared with a smile. No one hesitated in starting to gobble the freshly-cooked meal.

In the meantime, everyone shared their stories of their lives before and after the apocalypse. Trixie already shared hers, so the girls listened to Kurt, Trenderhoof, Neon Lights and Crimson Napalm.

Kurt was called up from reservists as the war turned for the worse, and served in the army, being one of the many "boots on the ground". He had fought on the frontlines against Centaurica, one of the TODC member countries, and on the Zebrican continent, which had no government to speak of and where the UFE and TODC fought over natural deposits and making alliances with local tribes. He was on leave when the Day of Burning arrived; having had the foresight to avoid densely populated or strategically important areas, he survived both the initial attack and the radioactive fallout, and survived on his own for several years before joining the group he was in now.

Trenderhoof also served in the army as a military reporter and journalist, and had seen the realities of war first-hand. As the war went on, his articles turned less glorifying and more critical of governmental actions or certain decisions of High Command, which did not earn him favours. He was deployed to counter the Eastern Gambit when the atomic bombs fell; he stuck to his unit who tried to make their way to Western Wastelands, but in the end, he remained the only survivor.

Neon Lights, unlike others, did not serve in the army, instead pursuing business interests right until the bombs fell; when that happened, he was in the original group of former students of CHS and CPA who organized themselves and took the bunker they were in now. As he admitted, he was not much of a fighter; his primary task was to check out for salvageable or useful equipment.

Crimson Napalm had it rough. He had participated in several anti-war demonstrations and food riots after the death of his father, and made it on the list of possible TODC sympathizers. After being arrested by the NSC, he was forcibly drafted into a penal battalion, where he fought simply to survive, and had to endure the harshest conditions, since penal units were considered expendable and were thrown into the grinder without mercy. Surprisingly, he managed to survive his sentence, and was "allowed" out of penal battalion into regular military, but before he finished his training, the apocalypse occurred. Since there were no new orders and the commanding officer shot himself, everyone took off in different directions, including Crimson. In the end, Crimson ended up taken prisoner by raiders, who forced him to do menial labours, until he was rescued and joined as a machine gunner.

The girls, in turn, shared their own stories, with Twilight sticking to her amnesia cover and Rarity neglecting to mention her Black Widow persona. Kurt and others were left amazed at the girls' adventures in the Wastelands, starting from the resistance of Appletown and ending with the demise of Adagio Dazzle.

Kurt was especially amazed that Twilight and the others managed to negotiate the conflict between Applejack and the Northern Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel, and later have them join the alliance against White Knives. When questioned, he said:

"Well, to put it bluntly, the local chapter of the Brotherhood is really obstructive, shall we say. If you have a piece of advanced technology, be wary - unless they happen not to mind you owning it, they will try to confiscate it as "too dangerous for a common wanderer to use", and resistance is usually met with lethal force. Not to mention that blowing up the CWN's broadcaster did them no favour. In fact, I'm surprised that the bosses of CWN actually allowed the Brotherhood to host a force in their HQ."

"Well, it's not that easy to get to the control station itself, as far as I know," Twilight replied. "And the militia has a numerical advantage; even in power armour, five or so soldiers will not be able to withstand an attack from dozens."

"Still, this is a risk; although, given that the CWN's assistance against the White Knives was of big value, maybe it made sense for the Brotherhood to make an alliance of convenience at first, and then, when they realized that being a nice guy beats being a jerk, to maintain good relations with everyone."

"Maybe. The Elder of that chapter, Aegis Mantle, seemed approachable at least. I don't know about Elder Sierra, though. I have not been able to talk to him yet, only to the second in command, Star Paladin Stahlmesser."

"Never heard of him," Kurt said. "What is he like?"

"I haven't talked long with him. He was polite to me, and that's all."

"Well, yes, this is not much to go by... Still, maybe he doesn't have a stick up his... butt..." Kurt hesitated, not wanting to swear too badly, "as big as Sierra's."

Suddenly, someone burst into the kitchen and shouted:

"Kurt, there you are! Boss Lady just called, she needs assistance!"

"Can we help?" Twilight asked as Kurt shot up from his seat.

"It's not necessary, but thanks for the offer! Just rest, I'll do fine!" he replied, making a beeline for the door. "Trixie, Trenderhoof, Neon, Crimson, follow me!"

"Yes, sir!" Trenderhoof replied as everyone scrambled out of the kitchen. The girls sat flabbergasted at the turn of events.

"Oh my," Cheerilee, who walked in from an adjacent room as Kurt and others left, "what a bummer. They didn't even have a chance to finish. Girls, mind if I join you?"

No one objected.

"Thank you," the ex-teacher responded, sitting down with her own share of fried potatoes and sausages and digging in. "Honestly, I was very happy that at least some of you have survived the apocalypse. It's not fair, but you were all kinda my favourite students..."

"Even me?" Sunset asked.

"Yes, once you got past your she-demon stage," Cheerilee smirked a little as Sunset groaned at her old nickname.

"You turn into a she-demon one time..."

"That said... I don't want to bring back any old pain, but where are Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?"

"Pinkie Pie dropped out of contact for some reason, I don't even know where she could have been on the Day of Burning. Fluttershy ran afoul of the NSC several times, and I wanted to check on her but the bombs got dropped earlier; the last I knew, she wanted to get to Appleloosa. Rainbow Dash was redeployed to counter the Eastern Gambit, last I heard from her, she was fighting near Stalliongrad."

"Stalliongrad? Oh my, that doesn't sound good. Stalliongrad became Tartarus on Earth when the TODC tried to take it; the UFE army was fighting tooth and nail for it," Cheerilee remembered.

"Why?" Twilight asked.

"You don't remember?"

The others quickly filled Cheerilee in on Twilight's "amnesia". The woman gasped as she heard it.

"So... you don't remember the pre-war time and the war itself and the apocalypse and the years after it until you found yourself somewhere near Baltimare?"

"Basically yes," Twilight replied, "I am trying to grasp what happened to me, but the only things I know is that I seem to have worked on the design of Vaults and invented microfusion power; but I can't even recall the science behind it without reading a book on it first."

"That sounds awfully selective... I heard rumours of research of memory suppression, but never of it applied so precisely so that you would forget the science... then again, science marched so quickly that I would not be surprised if they did it somehow. The only thing is that if they decided you knew too much, why bother with the memory suppression? Would've been simpler to have you shot. Dead men tell no tales, after all. My husband who worked in the Commissariat always said that this was the NSC's preferred method of dealing with someone who knew too much."

"Your husband was a Commissar?" Rarity asked, surprised.

"Yes, and what few bits he could tell me made my hair stand up even where no hair never grew. I really don't like recalling it."

"Understood."

"The war was disgusting enough without NSC adding to it... it's why I have grey hair even though I am not really old yet."

"What happened?" Applejack asked before anyone stopped her.

"Well, I had several sons; remember them, Applejack?"

"Yep, Big Mac was friends with all of them..."

"Well, all of them died in the war," Cheerilee spat out, "slaughtered for nothing but the ambitions of our rulers and resources that would run out anyway. First my youngest, then eldest, and then the middle. My last son should have been released from service, but the High Command and Commissariat blocked the procedure, and even my husband could not overturn it. And before his transport home arrived, the TODC made a bombing run on their base when some lazy slump on an AA station fell asleep and missed the radar returns."

"What?" Rarity gasped. "What kind of an incompetent buffoon would do that, especially on the frontlines?!"

"I don't know. Of course, the tribunal shot him for such negligence, but it was too late - the funeral had a closed coffin, because my son was blown to pieces," Cheerilee angrily swiped away her tears. "Oh, the government and commanders did give me a hefty compensation, and his CO was apologizing to me on his knees - not that I could blame him, he couldn't do anything - but I didn't want all of that, I only wanted my son back. And then the bombs fell and my husband didn't make it out of Canterlot... I have little idea on how I actually existed. I didn't want to kill myself, but I had no one and no purpose. I lived in one settlement, then other one, but I found at least some piece of mind only when I found myself here," she waved around the kitchen area, "with some of my former students."

"Oh dear," Rarity gasped, "I'm so sorry, Miss Cheerilee... If only I knew..."

"You couldn't, plus it's not like you did not have your own losses... and for stars' sake, call me Cheerilee, I’m no longer your teacher."

"OK, Cheerilee... it's going to be a little difficult to get used to it..."

"Not surprising, half of CHS’s students still call me Miss Cheerilee, despite my insistence."

The rest of the meal went on on a less depressing note. Not wanting to move anywhere, the girls chatted with Cheerilee on some more light-hearted subjects, like their old times at CHS, until Kurt Marshall and the others entered the kitchen.

"Girls," he addressed Twilight and the rest, "our leader wants to speak to you. I think you will be pleasantly surprised."

"OK then," Cheerilee stood up, "I won't hold you. I hope we will get time to talk later."

"The feeling's mutual, Miss Cheerilee," Sunset replied. "See you around!"

As everyone went out of the kitchen and Trixie, Trenderhoof, Neon and Crimson went inside to help Cheerilee clean up, Kurt led the girls through the bunker until they stood in front of a heavy armoured door. There was an intercom to its right; Kurt pushed the button and spoke:

"They are here."

"Come in," a voice replied, apparently female, but, due to distortion made by the intercom's apparently lousy speaker, badly mangled.

The door slid to the side, with hydraulics hissing, and the group went in. The door closed behind them with another hiss.

The room they were in was quite big, and better lit than the rest of the bunker. The room had an actual pre-war bed, several shelves of books, a big table, several small tables with computer monoblocks on them, a holotable, and one of the walls was occupied by a large map of the area around Canterlot - an area now commonly known as the Canterlot Wastelands. A rack of neatly stacked weapons stood in one corner, ranging from SMGs and assault rifles to some long and heavy-looking sniper rifles and laser rifles, with crates of ammunition for every kind of weapon.

A woman was standing with her back to them, clad in mil-spec urban combat armour, but the most noticeable feature was several slim rods going along her arms and legs from behind, all connected to something hanging on her back. Everyone recognized a powered exoskeleton, a precursor to the power armour that the Brotherhood of Steel utilized now, one of the very first developments in military technology to greatly benefit from the invention of microfusion energy. While exoskeletons existed before, the lack of a compact and powerful power source rendered them unusable for military purposes; with the creation of microfusion power packs, however, the UFE was able to quickly negate the issue with power and introduce so-called "exoskeleton armour" or just "exo-armour" shortly before the war, and then replace it with power armour.

Twilight, having read books of the Brotherhood on the subject, quickly recognized the model the woman used as the T-64 exo-armour, the last of the exoskeletons to be introduced before T-72d power armour began replacing it.

"I apologize for the rudeness," the woman spoke, turning around, revealing that she had an anti-materiel rifle in her arms without a magazine, and putting it into the rack. "Kurt, thank you for bringing them."

"No problem, boss," Kurt said, while girls looked carefully into the features of the apparent leader. Blue hair, grayish-blue skin, opal eyes...

Sunset gasped.

"Vice Principal Luna?"

Twilight gasped as well, recognizing the human world's counterpart to the Princess of the Night.

"Indeed," Vice Principal Luna smiled. "I'm glad to see you girls here, and Spike as well. Kurt, you may go, the girls and I have business to discuss."

"Of course, boss," Kurt nodded and left the room.

"Are you OK, Vice Principal Luna?" Applejack asked. "Kurt an' others took off when someone said you were in trouble..."

"I am alright, but unfortunately, all of my companions - there were three - were killed," Luna's eyes were somber. "We were attacked by Hooffields, they have considerably stepped up their game, and brought much bigger toys. I have managed to take down a CRAGADILE warbot with a lucky shot of an HEI/AP bullet into the reactor, but the gangsters put me in a pinch until Kurt and his squad managed to help me. Has anyone told you about our group?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Very well, I will fill you in. We have recently started calling ourselves "Nightmare Vindicators", and we oppose any faction that seeks to bring harm to common wastelanders that just want to salvage whatever is left of their lives. This includes Cleaners, Hooffields and McColts, and the Brotherhood of Steel is on the list too, not to mention Trade Sixty-Six and two-bit raider gangs. That said, I have to ask - do you have any loyalties to any of these groups?"

Luna's face has become rather stern. Everyone looked nervously at Twilight, which did not escape unnoticed.

"Twilight?" the former vice principal inquired.

"Well... I am a Knight of the Brotherhood of Steel," the alicorn-turned-human replied. "The others aren't, they are just helping me with my task."

"And what task may that be?"

"To find a way to gain access to the Future-Tec facility."

"This is a rather tall order. The Brotherhood of Steel has tried to get in there for years, with no success; I find it barely plausible that you and three outsiders would be given a task like that."

"Well, it's the truth."

"If it's the truth, then it's more of an ultimate target than an immediate one. And what are your short-term plans?"

"I need to gather additional data from Elder Sierra, who was away from the local's chapter main bunker, and determine the immediate course of action."

"I see. It appears that they have not given up, despite their repeated failures. I wish they would just give up..." Luna muttered under her nose, but Twilight caught it.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because the Brotherhood cares little about the plight of their fellow men," the older woman replied harshly. "The Brotherhood of Steel is comprised of professional soldiers with advanced weapons. While their numbers are not big, they were still capable of properly securing what remained from the country and establish some order. Instead, they isolated themselves, fretting over every piece of pre-apocalyptic technology they could find, especially weapons and armour. It's all tech, tech and tech. They have the technology, but have no desire to use it for anyone but themselves. They have raided several settlements for pieces of advanced technology, squashing any resistance and leaving behind nothing except smouldering wrecks.“

The girls kept silent as the voice of the former vice principal of Canterlot High School progressively became angrier and angrier.

“And now, gangs like Cleaners and Trade Sixty-Six keep your average wastelander in fear. The Brotherhood is staffed mostly by military personnel, who have a duty to protect people, but they blatantly ignore that duty, and do not want to fulfill it or at least provide a decent justification for their actions. Their inaction, if you ask me, is outright criminal, and thus, they’ve enabled other criminals to establish their reign of terror, the reign that no one in the Western Wastelands can effectively resist. If they are not willing to step in, someone else has to do it. I have heard - and I'm sure you have heard - about the Daring Duo and their exploits, but we can't rely on them appearing and fixing everything."

"I see," Twilight asked. "I joined the Brotherhood only recently, and I was inducted by another chapter, the Northern one. Its Elder was initially unapproachable, but we managed to sort out the differences. I was not aware of how the Western Chapter conducted itself."

"I presume Elder Aegis Mantle is in charge of the Northern Chapter?"

"Yes."

"While I am not particularly fond of him, he sounds like a better person than Sierra, according from what I have heard. But he does have delusions of grandeur; I presume that's why he gave out this task?"

"Not quite. We need to infiltrate Canterlot, but it's impossible to do without an advanced model of an armoured hazmat suit, of ABCWHS-600 model. And the information the Brotherhood has indicates that the Future-Tec complex is the only place to have a stock of such suits."

"Canterlot?" Luna asked, surprised, and then shook her head. "No way. Canterlot is still full of things best left buried and forgotten. If the Brotherhood gets their hands on them, their tyranny may expand tenfold. I'm sorry, but I am against this idea, and if Brotherhood pursues it, my Nightmare Vindicators will oppose them."

"But I need to get to Canterlot!" Twilight insisted.

"What can possibly require you to get to Canterlot that badly that you would take the risk of this insurmountable task of accessing the Future-Tec facility?"

"Because," Sunset Shimmer took over, "The Brotherhood of Steel, like the others, thinks that Twilight Sparkle has an amnesia that made her forget her role in recent technological revolution, and Elder Aegis believes that Twilight can regain her memory by investigating places that appear in her flashbacks, and become of a great assistance to Brotherhood. However..."

Sunset looked around, checking if no one except them was there, and continued:

"However, this is not the Twilight Sparkle who invented microfusion power and a myriad of other things. This is Princess Twilight Sparkle, from Equestria. You do remember the girl who defeated me when I turned into a she-demon and helped us defeat the sirens?"

Upon hearing this, Luna paled, and swayed in place for a second before grabbing onto a table to steady herself.

"By the stars..." she almost whispered, as her eyes met Twilight's violet ones.

For several seconds, nobody uttered a word.

"So..." Luna said, cradling a small glass full of whiskey, as everyone sat around the table, "you decided to check on your friend... and ended up in the middle of nowhere? And now you're looking for the way home?"

"Pretty much," Twilight replied soberly, and chugged her own glass. "Unfortunately, making a contact via the magic book is no longer an option, so I can only hope that something is left of the original portal and I can properly investigate it, although it may be problematic, since none of us have access to magic now."

"You don't? But I remember the girls gaining magical abilities after Camp Everfree..."

"Yes, but after we drifted apart and the apocalypse, we, well... lost those. We still have the trinkets, but they are inactive," Sunset interrupted.

"I suspect that once you drifted apart, the magic of friendship that powered them eventually expired," Twilight said. "That's my current working theory on why none of us have access to magic. And I'm afraid that we cannot regain it unless we manage to reunite all Elements of Harmony together - that means, humans who bear them and their own trinkets."

"So we need ta find Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash an' Pinkie Pie?" Applejack asked.

"And my own counterpart as well, if possible. Since she came into possession of the Element of Magic, as Sunset had indicated, she is as good as me, if not better, since I'm not the native Twilight of this world."

"I see," Luna spoke softly. Then, her face gained a resolute expression, and she looked directly into Twilight's eyes. "So your allegiance to the Brotherhood lies on the basis that they are the most likely ones to help you with your goal of returning to Equestria?"

"Since they are the most technologically advanced faction I know of and I need some hi-tech gimmicks, basically yes," the Princess responded.

"And we have all promised to help Twilight return to Equestria," Rarity spoke up, and downed her drink. "She has already been exposed to enough cruelty of the Wastelands; if a chance exists to help her return, we'll take it."

"Very well. Then I will do my best to help you as well. What I need to think, though, is how to avoid a clash of interests. I am sure that Elder Sierra will task you with destroying the group known as the Flameswords, but the truth is that Flameswords are our main supplier of advanced weapons, so destroying them runs against our interests."

"I had wanted to meet the Flameswords and listen to their side before making any decisions, without revealing my membership in the Brotherhood," Twilight said.

"Good call, although you'd better be careful so they don't kill you if they think you are a spy. Perhaps you can hammer out some game of cat and mouse between them and the Brotherhood. What about your relations with the Hooffields, McColts and Cleaners?"

"Well, Hooffields and McColts appear to be quite hostile, but Ivy Mortis wanted to see me, or at least her captain told me so in Marehoof, when he wanted to guide me there. Not sure she'll be friendly after Donkey Stopper, though."

"Hmmm... it is rather risky, but I think you should still talk with her, if only to soothe her ruffled feathers. I also think that if she directs you to help her against Hooffields or McColts, it would be advantageous in the long run - I hope that with them gone, the Cleaners may get overstretched and we'll breathe more freely."

"OK, thanks."

"One last thing you need is transport. We have scouted a small garage that has "Grasshopper" vehicles inside, newer models running on nuclear fuel. We can't fit them inside the bunker, so you're welcome to use one. The only caveat is that the security system is still up. If you help us, we'll gladly provide you with one."

"That sounds excellent," Twilight smiled. "Thank you, Princess Luna! Oh, sorry..."

"No problem, Twilight," Luna laughed Twilight's slip of the tongue off. "For now, go and rest, we have enough rooms available. We plan to get the vehicles tomorrow."

"OK, thank you!" the girls and Spike replied, and left the room. Luna chuckled:

"Damn, still can't believe that my pony counterpart is a princess. I wonder what she would say about me if she knew what I am now?"

Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

T-64 powered exo-armour

This model was the last of the line of exo-armour before the introduction of T-72d power armour, that covered both the whole body and the exoskeleton frame. This model of exo-armour combines urban assault armour with the exoskeleton frame on it, allowing for greater mobility and flexibility, as well as easier handling of heavy weapons.

With power armour completely replacing exoskeletons, T-64 models have mostly been converted into new power armour suits, but at times they still can be found in storages on military bases. Unlike power armour, T-64 does not require special training to use it, but putting it on and taking it off requires assistance. Also, one should take care of remaining level of energy, and recharge and replace the microfusion power block, if necessary. Also, one should take care against EMP blasts and avoid exposing the microfusion power block to enemy fire - lucky shots can destabilize it, resulting in an explosion that is almost always fatal for the user.

Armour stats:

DR: 29 (if 100% CND)
WG: 18 kg
VAL: 6000 caps (if 100% CND)

Effects:
+1 Strength
+1 Endurance
+10 Big Guns
Lifts penalties on using heavy weapons like LMGs or anti-materiel rifles

Author's Notes:

A small linking chapter to introduce Nightmare Vindicators, led by Luna, and some other familiar faces Next, the girls and Spike will continue moving on to Freemare.

I was unable to make a name for the groups that could sound like linked to Luna for me yet not be spoiler-y or too similar to existing factions, so I concocted up this name.

Nightmare Vindicators are the second to last more or less major player. The only one remaining will be introduced later, it's not their time yet.

Big thanks to Rameses XIII for beta-ing!

Thoughts, comments and criticisms are welcome in the comment box.

Stay tuned!