Bright, morning light shone down upon the town of Megaton, bathing the settlement in a warm, golden glow. Sunset hated it. She especially hated one particular shaft of sunshine that had found it’s way through a hole in the roof and came to rest squarely on her face. With a grunt she rolled over and tried to get back to sleep.

Dimly, Sunset realized she could hear the sound of voices. Cracking her eyes open, she saw Twilight Sparkle, Applejack and Fluttershy were sat together on the floor, chatting quietly. They all looked around as Sunset slowly sat up.

“Morning Sunset.” Applejack said, speaking quietly so as not to wake the others.

“Morning.” Sunset yawned, pulling her legs around to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Didn’t wake you up did we?”

Sunset slowly shook her head as she yawned again.

Fluttershy came over to inspect Sunset’s face, checking her bandage and the bruises that Burke had left. “How are you feeling this morning?” she asked, gently running her fingers over Sunset’s cheek and chin.

“A bit sore, but I’ll be fine.” Fluttershy nodded and toddled over to her pack, returning to perch next to Sunset with a bottle of water. Sunset accepted it gratefully, taking a swig then pressing the cold bottle against her cheek with a soft moan. “How long have you been awake?”

“Not long,” Twilight yawned. “Me and Applejack woke up about half an hour ago and Fluttershy got up a little while after that.” She rubbed her neck, looking awkwardly at Sunset. “Are you… y‘know… feeling alright after last night?”

Shuddering slightly, Sunset nodded. All of the girls had been awake when she and Flutters returned upstairs the night before, discussing everything that had happened. All of the girls had supported and reassured each other as they got everything out of their systems.

At some point during the discussion Flutters had started crying again, followed swiftly by Sunset. It wasn’t long before all of the girls were huddled together in one big, sobbing group hug. Once they had cried themselves out and returned to bed, they had all agreed on one thing. They needed to find Adam and James, then find a way off this awful world.

A light hiss sounded from Rainbow’s bed as she painfully hauled herself into a sitting position. Fluttershy was instantly up and checking Rainbow’s shoulder, a nasty bruise showing through the gaps in the sling.

“Easy Fluttershy.” Rainbow grumbled, wincing at her touch.

“Oh, sorry Rainbow.” Fluttershy said quietly, inspecting the bruise. “It’s not too badly swollen, I’d suggest keeping your arm in the sling for today to see how it heals.”

Rainbow nodded sleepily. “You’re the boss.”

“Ah guess now we’re just waiting on Pinkie and Rarity.” Applejack huffed.

“I’m awake.” Pinkie called drowsily, “Rarity’s just reaaally comfy.”

The girls’ heads whipped around at that. Pinkie had her arms wrapped tightly around Rarity. Sunset gaped as Pinkie nuzzled into the young fashionista’s chest, humming quietly in her half-asleep state. Either the conversation or the contact roused Rarity. She blinked slowly, glanced down at Pinkie, then closed her eyes again. Suddenly her eyes shot back open, her gaze locked on the pink menace currently buried in her cleavage, drooling onto her brassiere.

“Gaaaah!”

Rarity clapped both of her hands to Pinkie’s face and shoved her away as hard as she could. They struggled for a moment until Pinkie slipped off the bed and thumped to the floor with a squawk, sparking a round of giggles from the other girls.

“Talk about a rude awakening.” Twilight chuckled.

“Seriously, I was half expecting her to start motor-boating you!” Rainbow quipped, earning a slap upside the head from Applejack.

“I bet the readers would be into that.” Pinkie mumbled as she sat up, looking dazed.

Sunset raised an eyebrow at her. “Okay…?”

“Oh, you didn’t hit your head did you?” Fluttershy asked anxiously.

“Nope!” Pinkie cried, springing to her feet and pulling a cupcake out of her hair.

“Oh, that reminds me. Me and Applejack were just going through our food supplies before the rest of you woke up.” Twilight used her magic to levitate a small selection of food to everyone. “Here you go, breakfast.”

Sunset grabbed the sandwich that floated to her and dug in eagerly, too hungry to care how stale and dry it had gone. “How much of this do we have left?”

“Plenty, Pinkie packed enough to last us for a week. It may get a little stale, but we’ve already eaten everything that will perish too quickly. The problem is going to be clean water.” Twilight held up a bottle for emphasis, “Even if we’re careful, we only have enough to last for another day or so at most.”

Sunset sighed heavily. “So we either need to catch up with Adam and James somehow, or try and raise enough caps to pay Moriarty AND buy more supplies.” She looked around at the others, “Did any of you have any luck finding work yesterday?”

Rarity shook her head. “I’m afraid not darling. We hoped the Church of Atom would be able to point us in the right direction, but I’m afraid none of them had any ideas.”

“They offered to share some of their donations with us, but that just felt kinda wrong, y’know?” Rainbow added.

“That’s a shame, ah guess me and Pinkie were the only ones who got paid after all.” Applejack smirked and pulled a pouch out of her pocket, “Two hundred caps, right here.”

“Excellent!” Sunset grinned as the others all congratulated the two. “How did you manage that?”

“The water processing plant.” Pinkie replied, “Turns out they had a few leaks, so they paid us to help fix them.”

“So that means we only need, what, another hundred caps for the creep?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight nodded. “Plus however much the water costs.”

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about that.” Sunset shifted awkwardly on the bed. “This probably isn’t exactly ethical but… I’ve been thinking of using my magic on Moriarty, to find out where James went.”

“Instead of paying him?” Fluttershy asked.

Sunset just nodded.

“That, uh… that don’t feel right.” Applejack said quietly.

“It does seem a little, dishonest.” Rarity admitted, “What if we offer him a hundred caps first? After all he is a businessman, he may be willing to haggle.”

“Sounds good to me.” Sunset agreed.

Applejack stuffed the pouch of caps back into her pocket. “Alright, now that that’s settled, what’s the plan for today?”

Sunset thought for a moment. “We should probably go and speak to Moriarty first, after that we can see about getting the supplies we need. Once we‘re ready we‘ll head out after Adam and James.”

Most of the others nodded at that, but Rarity just grimaced. “That sounds all well and good, but first I think we need to visit the restroom and get ourselves clean.”

Now that was a good idea, Sunset thought. One thing the common house lacked was any sort of cleaning facility, in fact the only way the girls could wash or use the toilet was to go to the communal women’s washroom around the corner. She and the others quickly finished their meager breakfast and hurried to get dressed.

Clutching their packs, the girls made the short trip to the washroom. There were hardly any other residents around at the moment, just a couple of people enjoying a peaceful stroll in the crisp, morning air. Soft sunlight bathed the whole town, the rusted scrap metal glowing orange with tiny pricks of light reflecting off the few shiny surfaces remaining. Sunset had to admit, she was coming to enjoy the rugged charm of this little place.

The washroom was tiny, little more than a row of toilet cubicles with a couple of sinks and a bath tucked away in the corner. Luckily Rarity had thought to pack towels and toiletries when they left Vault 101, and all of the girls had plenty of spare underclothes. They took it in turns to use the bath, being careful to ration the hot water as Simms had advised them.

Clean, dry, and wrapped up in a bath towel, Sunset opened her pack to retrieve clean panties and a bra then stopped, her eyes widening as she saw what had been placed in there.

Mr Burke’s gun, with the silencer still attached, was nestled on top of her clothes and tool belt. A small box of bullets lay next to it.

Sunset panicked for a moment, wondering how the heck they got there.

“What’s up Sunshim?” Pinkie called from the bathtub.

When Sunset didn’t answer Rarity looked up from berating Rainbow about not shaving her legs. “Are you alright darling? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Sunset held the bag out to her. Looking inside Rarity winced as she spotted the gun, lurking there ominously. “Ah, yes. I’d forgotten about that.”

“What’s it doing in there?” Sunset asked shakily.

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “The sheriff gave it to you dear, don’t you remember?”

“He what?” Sunset had a vague recollection of Simms giving her something, but the details were fuzzy. Most of what had happened after the incident with Burke was just a blur of shock and painkillers.

“Y’know, after Fluttershy woke you back up?” Rainbow reminded her. “He said we should keep it, in case we need protection out in the Wastes.”

Sunset just stared blankly at them. “But… why me? I couldn’t use one of these, there’s no way! Why do I have to have it? Why did we even keep it?!”

“Cause we figured it could do less damage with us than with someone like Moriarty.” Applejack replied as she came out of a cubicle, “And we left it with you cause none of the rest of us felt comfortable with it ‘cept for Rainbow, and there‘s no way we‘d trust her not to mess with it.” AJ walked over and clasped a hand to Sunset’s shoulder, ignoring Rainbow’s glare. “Listen sugarcube, if you really don’t want it, we can stash it under a pillow or give it back to the sheriff or something. You don’t have to take it.”

Sunset looked back and forth between her pack and her friends. Finally she sighed heavily, “I’ll take it. It’s like you said, it’ll do less damage with us.” She went to reach in for her spare underwear, then stopped as another thought occurred to her. “It… it’s not going to go off or something in there, is it?”

Applejack smiled and shook her head. “Nah, the sheriff made sure the safety was on before he gave it to you.”

“Okay, good.” Sunset sighed again, this time with relief. She gingerly moved the gun aside and rummaged around for her underwear as the other went back to getting ready.

“Now then, where was I.” Rarity said quietly, “Ah yes, that was it!” She pulled a razor out of her pack and held it out to Rainbow.

“Oh come on! I’m wearing pants aren’t I!?”

Sunset couldn’t help but smile as the two returned to their bickering. Once they were all clean and dressed, the dressing on Sunset’s wound changed and Rainbow‘s sling readjusted, the girls quickly repacked their toiletries before making their way up to Moriarty’s saloon.

The saloon was surprisingly busy when they arrived. The patrons still looked around when the girls entered, but their reactions were far less negative than they had been the previous day. Several of them nodded or raised a glass to the girls as they passed. It seemed that saving the sheriff’s life had improved the girls standing among the residents. The zombie from before was scurrying around serving drinks, but even he spared the girls a quick smile when he saw them.

Looking around, Sunset was glad to see that the bloody remains of yesterday‘s incident had been cleaned away. She was less glad to spot Moriarty behind the bar, raising an eyebrow at her in a way that was far from reassuring. Nevertheless he smiled as the girls approached. “And here you are again. So have you come back to cause some more fucking mess for Gob to clean up?”

Sunset shook her head quickly. “We aren’t looking for any more trouble. We've actually brought some caps.”

“Oh really? Now we’re talking my language.” At the mere mention of caps his expression suddenly turned a lot friendlier. “Are you looking to get something to drink or have you brought the five hundred caps for your friends‘ whereabouts?”

“Wha- five hundred!?” Rarity spat. “You said it was three hundred yesterday!”

“I did yes, then you tried to swindle me with one of your cheap bracelets and refused my generous offer of work.” Moriarty shrugged, ignoring the enraged spluttering coming from Rarity. “You ought to be glad I’m only asking for five hundred, after you came back here and fucked up my bar yesterday.”

One of the patrons sat near spoke up at that. “Aw come on Moriarty that ain’t fair man.”

“Shut the fuck up Billy or you’re paying double for the rest of the week.”

Sunset glared at Moriarty, her temper starting to fray. “That monster was trying to destroy this whole town.”

“Which is why I’m being charitable and not charging you extra for shooting up the place.” Moriarty folded his arms and frowned at her. “Listen girlie, I ain't going to stand here and argue with you all fucking day. Do you have the caps or not?”

It took all of Sunset‘s willpower not to say something scathing. She’d had enough of Moriarty’s attitude and she wasn’t in the mood for haggling, now was the time for magic. The only problem was trying to do it without getting caught. Cringing inwardly, Sunset spoke in as sultry a voice as she could manage. “We don’t, but perhaps there is something else we could do for you?” She laid a hand over his, taking care to keep her eyes down. The moment her skin touched his a flood of images filled her mind.

Moriarty yanked his hand back, breaking the connection. “I ain’t into mutant sluts. You want the information you’re goin’ to have to pay for it.”

‘Oh thank Celestia’ Sunset thought, profoundly grateful he had turned her down, although one particular vision of him was going to haunt her for a while. She threw him a look of utter contempt. “You know what, I think we can find James on our own.”

Moriarty snorted. “Is that a fact? Suit yourself. Come back and find me when you finally start seeing sense. Oh, and next time? You’d better bring me plenty of fucking caps.” Without another word he turned and stalked off into a back room, slamming the door behind him. Once she was sure he couldn’t hear, Sunset turned to the others.

“What did you see?” Applejack asked.

Sunset frowned, thinking about what she had seen in Moriarty’s memories. “I saw James. He didn’t stay here long, he said he had important business to attend to. He said he was heading into the city, something about finding Galaxy News Radio. Adam‘s gone after him.”

“Great! How do we find it?” Rainbow asked.

Sunset blinked for a moment, then smacked a palm to her forehead as she realized their predicament. "I have no idea."

“Well at least it’s a start.” Applejack said with a shrug.

Rarity just flicked her hair and smiled. “Not to worry dears. Excuse me, Billy was it?” The patron who had spoken up for them looked around in surprise, “So sorry to bother you darling, but you wouldn’t happen to know where we could find Galaxy News Radio would you?”

Billy leaned back on his stool, rubbing at his eye patch as he thought. “It’s somewhere in the old downtown D.C ruins southeast of here. Not sure exactly where though, sorry.”

“Don’t be darling, you’ve been a great help.”

“You’re looking for Galaxy News?” Sunset turned to see the zombie, Gob she assumed after seeing Moriarty‘s memories, looking worriedly at the girls. His skin was decayed and flaking and his nose had rotted away entirely. A faint smell of decay and sweat rose from under his filthy clothes.

“Yeah, our friends went that way and we’re trying to catch up with them. Do you know where it is.” Sunset took great care to keep her expression neutral as she responded, she didn’t want to offend him accidentally.

“Yeah, I know where it is.” Gob’s voice was quiet and raspy, “I‘m, uh, not sure I should really tell you though.”

“Why not?”

“The D.C ruins are seriously dangerous.” he said softly, “I don’t think you girls can handle it.”

“All the more reason for us to get there as quickly as we can, our friends have gone that way and they’ll need our help.” Applejack put in. “Especially Adam, he‘s fresh out of the Vault.”

“The Vault boy who came in yesterday?” Gob asked. “He looked like he could handle himself, he had a couple of guns anyway.”

“Wait, really?” Sunset asked in surprise.

Gob just nodded. “Sure, he had a pistol and some sort of little rifle thing. Do you have any guns?”

Sunset shivered as she thought about the gun lurking in her pack at that very moment. “Nothing we can use, but don't worry, we can take care of ourselves.”

“Look, no offence but you girls are dressed like you belong up in Tenpenny Tower or down in a Vault, not scavving around the most dangerous parts of the Capital Wasteland.”

“Listen sugarcube, I know we may not look like much but I promise you, we’re a lot stronger than we look. We’ve been through plenty of rough spots before and come out on top.” Applejack said firmly.

Gob just shook his head, frowning. “You don’t get it. The D.C ruins are on a whole other level. You got super mutants, ferals-”

“Shit, I heard even Talon Company are trying to muscle their way in.” Billy interrupted.

Gob nodded sagely. “Going down there without any equipment is suicide.”

“That doesn’t sound very nice.” Fluttershy muttered.

“I’m just trying to keep you girls safe.” he said quietly, “You did this whole town a huge favor yesterday, and nearly got killed doing it. Hell, you’re some of the only people I’ve met that haven’t given me shit just because I’m a ghoul.”

“We wouldn’t dream of it darling!” Rarity said quickly.

“Nu-uh.” Pinkie added with a shake of her head.

Sunset looked pleadingly at him. “Please, we have to find our friends.”

Gob wavered for a moment. He shot Billy a glance, but got nothing more than a shrug in response. Finally he sighed and looked back up at Sunset. “Alright, fine. Prove you can handle it, and I’ll tell you how to get to Galaxy News.”

“Now that’s more like it!” Rainbow cried, “How can we prove it to you?”

Gob folded his arms and frowned, thinking.

Suddenly Billy spoke up, “Hey, I got an idea!” He turned and shouted to someone in the corner. “Hey, Lucy! You still need someone to take that letter?”

“Sure do!” A young woman made her way over to the group. Sunset recognized her as one of the residents they had passed once or twice. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and her clothes were clean and well looked after. “Hey you girls are the ones that saved the sheriff’s life yesterday right?”

“They sure are.” Billy answered, “They’re looking to get some experience out in the Wastes.”

Lucy’s face brightened at that, “Perfect! I need someone to drop a letter to my family in Arefu, think you’re up for it?”

Sunset hesitated. She hated the constant delays, but didn’t feel comfortable using her magic to invade Gob’s privacy either, he was only trying to look out for them after all. It took her a moment to realize all of the other girls were looking to her, waiting for a decision. She sighed in resignation.

“Alright, how far away is Arefu?” And why do I get the feeling I’m going to regret this?

Lucy grinned as she pulled a letter out of her pocket and handed it to Sunset. “Great! It‘s not that far away. Head Northwest from here until you find the Potomac, it’s on an old overpass. If you follow what’s left of the river you can’t miss it.”

Twilight stepped forward suddenly, fiddling with her Pip-Boy, “Do you think you could point it out on this map?”

“Sure thing.”

Sunset just stared at Twilight. “Wait, you have a map?”

“Well, yeah? All of our Pip-Boys have pre-war maps of the surrounding area programmed into them. The problem is they’re all over two hundred years old and not annotated in any way.” Twilight nodded her thanks to Lucy and fiddled with the Pip-Boy some more. “But we can add markers to them, I've already added ones for Vault 101 and Megaton to mine, and now I've got one for the rough location of Arefu too!”

Sunset shook her head in bemusement as her nerdy friend moved around and entered the location into everyone else‘s Pip-Boys too. “Alright, I suppose we’d better get going. The sooner we go the sooner we can get back.”

Lucy held a hand out to Sunset. “Thanks for doing this, just be careful. Evan might get a little suspicious what with your skin and all.”

“Evan?” Sunset asked as she shook her hand.

“He’s sort of the sheriff, or something. As long as you‘re friendly and tell him why you‘re there he shouldn’t give you any trouble.”

“I certainly hope so, I must admit I was expecting a little less hostility from the residents of the Wasteland.” Rarity huffed.

Lucy’s eyebrows shot up, “Really? Out here? Wow, I hope you don’t run into a raiders or you’re going to have a shock.”

“Or a slaver party.” Billy added.

“Or any super mutants.” Gob muttered.

“Don’t forget Talon Company.”

“Or the landmines.”

“Hell the critters are bad enough.”

“Not to mention the odd crazy robot wandering around.”

Sunset just blinked. Slavers? Raiders? Landmines?! Robots?!? This was starting to sound like a really bad idea.

Applejack placed a hand on Sunset‘s shoulder, cutting in quickly. “Don’t worry y‘all, we‘ll be extra careful. Come on sugarcube, let’s go deliver this letter.”

Lucy put a hand on Sunset’s arm as she turned to leave. “Hey, thanks again for doing this for me, it means a lot.” Sunset just smiled back as she was led out of the saloon.

“We know what you’re thinking sugarcube, and you can stop worrying.” Applejack said suddenly as she led the way to the main gate.

“Wha-? I-I’m not-” Sunset spluttered.

“Not worrying about how dangerous this could turn out and thinking we shouldn’t do it?” Rainbow interrupted with a grin.

Sunset sighed heavily. “It’s that obvious huh?”

Rarity shook her head. “It’s written all over your face darling.”

Twilight put a reassuring hand on Sunset‘s arm. “I know we nominated you as the group leader, but that doesn’t mean you have to take on all of the responsibility yourself.”

“Don’t worry Sunset, we’ve got this!” Pinkie cried.

“The more experience we get out there in the wastes the better.” Twilight said reasonably. “It’s the only way we’re going to be able to find James and Adam safely.”

Sunset understood what they were getting at, but she was still worried. “I agree with what you are saying, but this world is dangerous.” She shook her head sadly. “I just don’t want to see any more of my friends get hurt.”

Applejack smiled back at her. “We know what you mean, but look what we’ve been through so far.”

That’s exactly my point!” Sunset blurted out. “In just one day our lives have been at risk in a way we’ve never dealt with before.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “We’ve been through dangerous times before Sunset. I know it’s not the same as before.” she added as Sunset opened her mouth to retort. “But even with everything that’s happened since we got here we’re still alive, and we’re still together.”

Fluttershy nodded, her face set. “We’re willing to take the risk Sunset.”

Sunset looked around at her friends smiling at her. They all looked nervous, but they also looked determined. She sighed and smiled back at them. “Okay, let’s deliver this letter.”

“That’s the spirit!” Applejack clapped her on the back as the others whooped and cheered. “

“Alright.” Sunset took a deep breath, steeling herself for the journey ahead. “Let’s do this.” She took the lead, heading towards the main gate. When they arrived at the gate they shouted up to the guard in the crow‘s nest, asking him to let them out. Simms had mentioned yesterday that a pair of protective panels were closed over the gate every night and had to be opened before anyone could leave.

The guard pressed a switch and the girls heard the roar of a huge turbine engine kicking into life. They winced at the terrific grinding noise that told them the protective panels were being moved out of the way. As the roar of the engine died away he waved them through, Sunset leading the way out of the gates and once more into the wastes beyond.

Sunset led the group towards the burnt-out town they had passed through yesterday, aiming for the ruined buildings she could make out over the tops of the boulders. Going in as straight a line as they could, they found the way wasn’t as difficult to pass as it had seemed when they had came the other way the day before. There were plenty of dirt paths that wound through the rocks and down into the town, and they came out of the boulders right next to the red rocket sculpture they had found yesterday.

Rainbow suddenly pointed into the ruins. “Hey look! That thing’s still going around!” The same strange little robot they had spotted yesterday was still hovering around, apparently patrolling the ruins.

Applejack frowned at the little orb as it floated past. “What do you think it’s doing?”

“Ignoring us for the moment.” Sunset replied. As long as it left them alone, she was more than happy to ignore it and focus on the task at hand.

“Which way are we heading?” Rainbow asked as Sunset led the way through the streets and out the other side. A large ruined building loomed on their right, dwarfing the nearby houses. Not far off to their left a crumbling overpass towered over the landscape.

Sunset pointed. “I’m thinking we should go that way, under the overpass. That‘s Northwest, if we follow that way we should come to the Potomac.”

The girls turned off the road and left the ruins behind. As they neared the overpass Rainbow suddenly grabbed Sunset and pulled her into a crouch, motioning for the others to do the same.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Sunset whispered urgently. Rainbow just pointed up at the overpass. A makeshift shelter had been built on top. Sunset could just make out a couple of people moving about, carrying guns.

Applejack edged forward quietly. “You don’t think they’re friendly?”

Sunset shook her head slowly. “After what Lucy said about raiders and slavers it’s not worth the risk. Let’s keep quiet until we’re well past them.”

The others nodded in agreement, keeping low to the ground and being careful not to make any noise as they sneaked under. They could hear voices far above, but Sunset couldn’t quite make out what they were saying.

On the other side of the overpass the terrain was far more open. There were wide open spaces covered with yellowed grass and scrubby bushes. Blasted trees and damaged buildings dotted the rolling landscape, small hills and shallow craters breaking up the ground. It wasn’t until they were picking their way past a ruined barn that the girls encountered their first wasteland critter.

Sunset recognized it as a naked mole rat, but grown to the size of a collie dog. Fortunately the little creature understood and was happy to talk to Fluttershy, who was ecstatic to find an animal that didn’t attack on sight. It had never heard the name Arefu, but it did recognize their description of the settlement and pointed them in the right direction.

Following the mole rat’s directions, the girls climbed to the top of a small hill and looked out at the landscape sweeping away in front of them. Not too far off, nestled it’s own little valley, the Potomac river glistened in the sunlight. Another overpass sloped up and stopped halfway over the river, the other half of it lay ruined in the Potomac itself. A building made of scrap sat at the bottom of the ramp, while a few more sat atop the overpass.

“You reckon that’s Arefu?” Applejack asked, tilting her hat back to see better.

Sunset grinned as a gentle breeze tugged at her hair. “It certainly looks like it.”

A sudden shout snapped her attention back to her surroundings. A metal fence jutted out of the ground a short way down the hill, the remains of an old baseball field. What looked disturbingly like a body was dangling from the top, suspended by chains. Two men nearby had spotted the girls and were charging up the hill. Both were carrying baseball bats and hurling threats at the group.

“They don’t look friendly.” Pinkie said slowly.

Rainbow shifted awkwardly, tugging at her sling. “I know I’m awesome, but I’m not sure I’m up for a fight with my shoulder like this.”

“What are we going to do?” Fluttershy asked nervously.

Sunset eyed the men as they belted up the hill, whooping and calling out vile threats. They were spattered with muck and what looked like dried blood. “It doesn’t look like they have any guns. Rarity, do you think you can knock them down with a gemstone when they get close?”

Rarity raised an eyebrow at her. “Of course I can dear… but aren't we hiding our magic?”

“Not from random thugs trying to kill us... or whatever it is those guys want to do.”

Rarity glanced disdainfully down at the men. “I see your point.” As they neared the girls she thrust her arm out towards them. A huge gemstone appeared out of thin air and smacked into the men, knocking their bats out of their hands and sending them both tumbling back down the hill.

“Nice work.” Applejack said appreciatively.

“Oh it was nothing dear.” Rarity smirked.

Sunset stalked down after them, the others close on her heels. The two men were lying in a heap at the bottom of the hill, groaning and swearing feebly. One of them rolled onto his knees and looked up as the girls approached. His blonde hair was filthy and blood streamed from his crooked nose. “What the fuck was that?”

Sunset folded her arms and glared down at him as Applejack and Rainbow took up positions over his friend. “Why did you attack us?”

Blondie spat blood over Sunset’s shoes, glaring defiantly up at her. “Fuck you, you mutant slut.”

Rarity grimaced. “I must say the language in this world is utterly appalling.”

Applejack placed a foot on the other man’s back, forcing him to the ground as he tried to get up. “You reckon these are some of those raiders that Lucy told us about?”

“Probably.” Sunset replied, not taking her eyes from the face of the blonde one. “We’re going to let you get up, and you’re going to leave this place. Get out of our sight and don’t come back.”

The raider hauled himself to his feet, staggering slightly. Applejack stepped back so he could help his friend to his feet. Throwing the girls one last look of loathing, the two limped away as quickly as they could. Once they were out of sight Sunset heaved a sigh of relief.

Rainbow smirked and nudged her. “Told you we could handle the wastes.”

“That was a little easier than I expected it to be.” Sunset admitted. “We’re lucky they didn’t have guns though. We should be more cautious when we’re walking around out here.” Sunset adjusted her pack and pointed ahead. “Come on, let’s get to Arefu before anything else happens.”

The girls set off again, crossing the dusty old baseball pitch and off towards the settlement. It didn’t take long for them to reach the building at the base of the overpass. Up close the girls could see it was built out of rusty old corrugated iron. It looked solid enough but for some reason the doors had been boarded up.

Next to the building a paddock had been marked out with wooden fencing. Several large, brown cows were lying dead inside. Something bothered Sunset about their bodies, but she couldn’t work out what was wrong. On closer inspection she realized with a start that they were all mutants. Each of the bodies had two fully grown heads.

Leaving the poor creatures behind, the girls headed onto the overpass. An old freeway sign still hung above the road. Heavy weathering had left most of the writing illegible except for the remains of one word, ‘AREFU’. Burnt-out cars and piles of rubble littered one side of the road but the other side had been kept mostly clear. Wooden planks had been laid across large cracks in the road. Crossing these carefully the girls could see the river far below, the green-tinged water glistening in the sunlight.

The rest of the settlement came slowly into view as the ramp leveled off. Several sturdy buildings had been built out of scrap. A couple of sandbag walls had been erected in front of the settlement, but Sunset couldn’t see anyone around. The whole place looked deserted.

As they got closer a man’s head suddenly popped up from behind the sandbags. He was wearing a battered old cap and had a set of flight goggles pulled down over his eyes. The man ducked down quickly then popped back up again, this time lobbing something small towards the girls. It fell far short of them and clattered noisily across the road. As it bounced closer Sunset realized what it was. “Get down!” she yelled, throwing herself to the ground just as the grenade exploded.

Another week, another chapter.

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