"Hey, can you hold this for me a second?" Sunset handed Pinkie her new pistol as they walked.

"Sure thing!" Pinkie double-checked the safety just in case as Sunset started cleaning the blood from her knife. "What happened with Moriarty?"

Sunset sighed. "Nothing much. He figured out that I read his mind when we were first here and tried to threaten me into paying him a thousand caps for the info on James."

"And… that's why you stabbed him?" Pinkie asked slowly.

"Come on, seriously?" Sunset sheathed the knife and gave her an annoyed look. "I wouldn't have stabbed him just for that. I did it because the asshole pulled a gun on me. That gun."

Pinkie shrugged and handed the gun back. "Had to check. It is Moriarty."

Sunset chuckled. "Fair enough. I'd better warn the others, just in case the maggot tries to get revenge somehow." She tucked the gun into her pack and put Moriarty to the back of her mind. "Okay, so, who's Moira?"

"She runs a general store just around the corner called Craterside Supply. Apparently, she also likes performing weird experiments on the side." Pinkie explained. "The Sheriff says that Moira's a bit cuckoo, but that she's also really good with machinery, and she keeps track of all sorts of old technology. If anyone in Megaton can tell us where we might find an SDT, it's her."

"Let's hope so. In the meantime…" Sunset cast a suspicious glance at Pinkie. "What exactly did you do to the atom bomb?"

"We disarmed it," Pinkie replied simply. Seeing that Sunset wasn't satisfied with that answer, she grinned awkwardly and skipped ahead to the next corner. "Oh, look, we're already here!"

Sunset scowled, but let it go for the time being. Following Pinkie around the corner, Sunset spotted their destination. It was far from inconspicuous. The nose of a rusted old airliner had been secured on top of a ramshackle building to serve as its second storey. Metal letters spelling out 'SUPPLY' had been stuck on top of that, and the words 'The Craterside Supply' had been painted on several separate sections of the building in white paint.

Adam was already waiting on the walkway out front, along with the rest of the Rainbooms.

"Hey, did you find anything useful?" Rainbow called out.

"Nothing we can use," Sunset replied. "You?"

"Only that we should speak to the woman who runs this place," Applejack said, jerking a thumb towards Craterside Supply. "We were just waitin' for you to show up before we went in. Now that you're here, let's find out what Moira knows."

"Groovy!" Adam was the first one to the door. He held it open like a gentleman as the girls filed in after him.

Inside, Craterside Supply looked like a cross between a convenience store and a workshop. Shelves full of all kinds of random items lined one wall, from boxes of ammunition and medical equipment to garden gnomes and teddy bears, with a short counter in front of it all, while the wall opposite was covered with tools and mechanical parts of every description. A rough-looking man in leather armor was leaning against a workbench, and a woman wearing patched and stained overalls was fiddling with a tiny piece of clockwork on the counter. Both looked up as the group entered.

"Oh, hey, you're the Rainbooms! And you're that stray from the Vault!" The woman abandoned her trinket and straightened up, her features alive with outright curiosity. "I'm Moira Brown. I run Craterside Supply, but what I really do is mostly tinkering and research. What can I do for you? Does the Temple need more appliances, or are you here for something more decorative?"

Sunset smiled, relieved that Moira at least wasn't immediately jumping down her throat about something. "Actually, we're looking for a specific piece of equipment. Very rare stuff. We were told that you might be able to help us?"

"I sure hope so!" Moira replied brightly. "I've got all kinds of rare and unusual stuff here. I've even got a bunch of those magic crystal thingies that have been popping up lately, but I had to stop experimenting with them after they made my waffle iron angry. And racist. Well, more racist." Her face fell momentarily, but she quickly perked up and leaned forward to rest her elbows on the counter. "Anyway! What are you looking for?"

Sunset glanced at Twilight, who nodded and pulled a folded photo out of her pocket. She unfolded it and handed it to Moira. "We call it an SDT, short for Signal Detector Thingy," Twilight explained. "We know of two so far, but one was destroyed. We were hoping that you might know of somewhere we might find one?"

Moira stared intently at the photo, humming loudly as she thought, but after a few seconds she shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I've never seen anything like it. It doesn't resemble any technology I've ever seen before. Is it pre-war?" Twilight nodded. "Any idea what company made it?"

"Not a clue," Sunset replied. "The Enclave knows something about it, but it's apparently highly classified, so I think it must have been some kind of government project."

"Huh, neat." Moira planted her hands on her hips. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can help you. I'd suggest looking at old ruins owned by companies that had ties to the government, like RobCo or the National Guard compound, but I'd guess that most of them have been pretty well picked over by scavengers already."

Sunset sighed. "I guess we should at least give them a check over. Thanks anyway."

"Hey," Adam called out suddenly. He pointed at something on the wall. "Where'd you get the Vault suit?"

Following his finger, Sunset blinked in surprise at the sight of a modified Vault 101 jumpsuit hanging on the wall behind the counter. Several thick leather plates had been added for additional protection, along with a heavy pauldron on the left shoulder, but its provenance was unmistakable.

Moira cocked her head as she looked up at the suit. "I'm pretty sure I remember a girl coming into town with it about ten, twelve years ago. She didn't know a thing about the wastes, and I knew she'd get herself hurt without some sort of protection. So, I offered to armor her Vault suit." Moira sighed sadly. "Never saw her again. Probably died out there, poor thing.

"Aww, that sucks," Pinkie said quietly.

"Yeah. In a way, she actually gave me the idea for a book I've been thinking about writing. I've just never had the time to get around to it." Moira suddenly gasped and clapped her hands together. "Hey, I've got a great idea!" She spun around and looked wildly from Sunset to Adam and back. "Why don't you help me research the book?"

Sunset just stared at her blankly. She opened her mouth to remind Moira that they had their own business to attend to, but Twilight got there first. "What kind of book?"

Moira grinned. "Well, it's a dangerous place out there in the wastes, right? People could really use a compilation of good advice. Like a Wasteland Survival Guide! For that, I need an assistant, or eight, to test my theories. I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt because of a mistake. Nobody's ever happy when that happens." A wistful look entered her eye. "No… then they just yell a lot. At me. With mean, mean words."

Sunset felt a sudden flicker of apprehension. Moira's tinkering hobby suddenly seemed to have a bit of a 'mad scientist' vibe to it, and Sunset couldn't help but wonder exactly what sort of accidents Moira had caused that got people hurt. The fact that the victims had been well enough to yell at her afterwards was only a cold comfort.

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Adam said, apparently blissfully unconcerned by Moira's past.

"Seriously?" Sunset asked flatly.

"Are you kidding? It's a fantastic idea!" Twilight gushed. "A well-written and thoroughly researched guide for surviving out here in the wastes would be invaluable! A book like that would have made our lives a lot easier out here!"

Sunset sighed and rolled her eyes. This argument had been lost the moment Twilight heard the word 'book'. "Fine. Adam, you can help research the book, but the rest of us really need to search the Capital Wasteland for another SDT."

"Actually, that's the best part!" Moira cut in. "Parts of the book will require my assistants to go out into the wastes to verify my theories. So you can help me with the book and search for your SDT all at the same time!"

Something told Sunset that getting this survival guide written was going to be a lot harder than Moira was implying, but she set it aside. Difficult jobs were par for the course in this wretched reality. "Alright, I'm in. What do you need us to do?"

Next Chapter: Chapter 109 - Wasteland Survival Guide: Food and Medicine Estimated time remaining: 20 Hours, 9 Minutes