The brazier burned as brightly as ever. Sunset almost felt like she could lose herself, staring into the blazing multi-colored flames.

"Lady Shimmer?" Sunset turned as Primrose called out to her. "Tina and Darla are both currently asleep. Would you like to see them anyway?"

"No, let them sleep," Sunset replied. "As long as they're doing well, that's all that matters. Are the others alright, as well?"

Primrose nodded. "They are all eating well, and are slowly getting stronger. They should start gaining weight soon. I suspect that Joaquin, at least, will stay with the Temple, but as to the others, I cannot say."

"That's fine, as long as they're healthy." Sunset turned her attention back to the brazier. She had expected Primrose to head off and attend to some other part of the Temple, but the handmaiden just stood there, rubbing her arm awkwardly. "If you need something, just ask."

"I don't- I mean, it's not…" Primrose huffed and shook her head. "Forgive me, Lady Shimmer. I'm just…" She paused and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly through her nose. "I wished to speak about… Chris."

Sunset closed her eyes. "I was wondering when you were going to say something about that," she said evenly. "It won't be happening again, don't worry."

A shadow passed over Primrose's face. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Of course not," Sunset insisted. She sighed and glanced around to make sure that no-one was listening. The other Disciples were all too busy with their work, and the few Megaton residents inside were keeping a respectful distance. "It looks like that kind of thing is turning into a coping mechanism for me. Doing with Disciples again is out of the question, though. There's no way any of you would realistically refuse, and that's not fair."

Primrose gave her a curious look. "But… you have every right to take a concubine from your followers. Everyone here is devoted to you-"

"Which is exactly the problem," Sunset cut in. "None of you can properly consent when any one of you would say yes just to make me happy, whether you're in the mood, or even into women, or not. Even if we put some sort of system in place where I tell everyone that it's fine to say no, none of you would say it." She shook her head. "No. The only ethical choice is finding my kicks elsewhere."

"I understand," Primrose murmured.

Sunset glanced at her in surprise. Primrose was staring at the floor, her expression wistful. A sudden suspicion bloomed in Sunset's mind, but before she could even begin to come up with a way of addressing it, someone opened the Temple doors.

"Sunset? Perfect!" Rainbow stepped up between the pair and threw her arms around their shoulders. "Feeling any better?"

"Much," Sunset replied. "How did the mission go?"

Rainbow shrugged. "Meh, not too bad. Moira's napping on her desk, but there's a butt-load of ammo in the store for us, and the guard says that she's going to speak to the merchants in Rivet City about giving us an extra discount."

"Cool. So… I guess we wait until she wakes up before the next mission?" Sunset asked.

"Nah, we snuck a peek at her file," Rainbow replied. "She wants us to go to a robot factory and install some widget into the mainframe, then do something with a control system or something. I don't know, Twilight has the details."

Sunset smirked and raised an eyebrow. "So we're finally going somewhere that might actually have an SDT? Should I grab the others?"

"Nah, it's fine. We've got this," Rainbow replied. "You stay here until you're in top form. We'll talk about whatever the heck happened last night later."

"R-right." Sunset watched glumly as Rainbow turned and walked away, waving back just before she stepped out of the doors.

Obviously seeing that her charge wasn't happy, Primrose cleared her throat. "Would you like to speak to Joshua? He has been having trouble organising visitors to the inner Temple."

Sunset just sighed. "Sure, I'll see what I can do to help."

---

Rainbow stretched as she walked out of Megaton's gates. Adam, Twilight and Pinkie were all waiting for her just down the slope.

"How are they?" Adam asked.

"I only saw Sunset," Rainbow replied. "She's not happy about getting left behind, but I think it's for the best this time around."

"Probably," Adam agreed. "Okay, which way do we go?"

Rainbow pointed southwest. "That way. It shouldn't be too far, but keep your eyes open anyway. Let's get moving." She loosened Flashburn in its sheath as she led the way up a nearby rocky slope.

Buoyed by the ease of their recent trip to Rivet City and back, Rainbow confidently strode up the hill towards the remnants of an old overpass. The bitterly cold breeze made her shiver, and she was just deciding whether it was worth lighting up Flashburn for warmth when Pinkie suddenly yelled, "Get down!"

The Party Cannon fired with a high-pitched thoom and a bright pink explosion blew apart the top of a nearby boulder, making everyone flinch and duck away from the stones it dislodged.

"What the hell, Pinkie?!" Rainbow hissed. She was about to launch into a tirade when the half-shattered corpse of a van-sized scorpion slid off the boulder with a loud thump. "Oh, shit. Well spotted."

"That's a radscorpion!" Adam stepped over to the corpse and cautiously prodded it with an armored foot. "What the shit? Was that thing invisible? When the fuck did we get invisible giant radscorpions?!"

Rainbow turned to stare at him. "Uh… didn't we tell you about those?" He just shook his head slowly. "Whoops, sorry. Anyway, thanks, Pinkie. I'll be more careful."

A little shaken by the near miss, the group continued on more cautiously, Rainbow wisely choosing not to risk drawing attention by igniting Flashburn.

The other side of the hill was just as rough and boulder-strewn as the first. Worse, the group came across occasional small cliffs that they were forced to either climb down or circumvent in order to proceed. Stopping at the top of yet another short cliff, Rainbow swore and ducked as a bullet spanked off her breastplate. "Shit! Where did that come from?!"

"Down there!" Adam replied sharply, punctuating his words with a short burst from his plasma rifle.

Squinting, Rainbow saw three raiders taking cover behind boulders further down the hill. One of them was taking potshots at the group with a hunting rifle. Even as she watched, one of Adam's shots blew his head into several gory chunks.

"That's one down!" Rainbow ripped Flashburn from its scabbard, but before she could pony up and launch herself at the remaining pair, one of the raiders stepped out from behind the boulder and raised a missile launcher. "Motherfu-"

"Everybody move!" Rainbow and Adam both looked back at Twilight's shout, then yelped and dove aside as a colossal boulder crashed down the hill under the influence of her magic. It soared off the cliff and landed with a phenomenal crash before carving a path down the hillside, leaving naught but devastation in its wake.

Rainbow stared in stunned amazement as the echoes of the boulder's passage faded away. There was no sign whatsoever of the raiders' remains. She glanced back at Twilight, who just shrugged at her. "We needed them gone. Now they're gone."

"Right…" Rainbow tried to think of something to say in response to such callousness, but thought better of it. "We should probably get out of here before anything comes to investigate that noise."

Once they found a way around the cliff, the group decided that they may as well follow the trail of carnage left by the boulder. It took them several minutes to find the wayward boulder itself, sitting incongruously at the edge of a woodland formed from the burnt-out husks of ancient trees.

Seeing the remains of the woodland was somehow worse than the city ruins, as far as Rainbow was concerned. Imagining all of the little critters that had almost certainly been incinerated by the nuclear bombs put even more of a downer on her mood. True, some creatures did survive, in the form of a flock of bedraggled crows, but being silently watched by the scruffy birds was more than a little bit creepy.

"Hold up a second," Pinkie whispered. "Listen."

The others immediately did as she asked. Rainbow could just about make out a faint crunching sound, along with an odd mechanical grinding that almost sounded like tank treads. She gestured to the others, using Enclave hand signals to convey that they should advance warily. Creeping forward, moving from tree to tree, the group stopped when they spotted the source of the sound.

A bizarre robot was trundling around in the woods. It had a cylindrical body, almost like an oversized soda can, with rough treads for locomotion, but the weirdest part was the glass dome it had for a head, containing what looked like a brain floating in a bluish fluid. The number 112 was stenciled on its body in faded yellow paint. Given that the weird construct hadn't spotted them, the group waited until it had trundled away before they moved on.

"Why the hell are we seeing so much crazy shit today?" Rainbow asked.

"We usually have Fluttershy using her advanced senses to help us avoid all of the crap," Adam replied. "I guess this is what happens when we don't bring her along."

Rainbow heaved a sigh and took the lead once again. When the group finally made their way out of the woodland they found themselves at the foot of a rocky slope, topped with another dilapidated overpass.

When they reached the top, they spotted the tower hotel they had seen before in the distance. Directly between them and the hotel was a large concrete building.

"That must be the factory," Rainbow said.

"I'd assume so, going by the massive RobCo sign on the side of the building," Twilight noted dryly.

Rainbow just scowled sidelong at her and set off without another word. Thankfully, nothing random jumped out to attack the group as they approached the building. There were several delivery bays in the wall closest to them, but the shutters for each of them were down and securely locked.

"I can open them, if you want?" Twilight offered.

Rainbow shook her head. "Too noisy. We really should try and avoid drawing any more attention to ourselves. Let's see if we can sneak in through the front door.

Creeping around the building, the group found an accessible entrance on the far side. Rainbow gently pushed the door open, cursing silently as it creaked, then felt her heart leap into her throat at the sight inside.

A bunch of Protectron robots were standing on plinths around the foyer, all of them staring at the door. It took Rainbow longer than she cared to admit to notice that they were all inactive.

"That's creepy," Pinkie muttered.

"Just a bit," Adam agreed. He gestured to the various doors leading off from the foyer. "Which way?"

Rainbow hummed and looked around at the various options, only for a faint scratching from behind one door to grab her attention. Everyone tensed up, only to relax as a curious mole rat to step into the room.

"Hey there, little one," Adam said softly. He shouldered his plasma rifle and got down on one knee, extending a hand towards the mole rat. "It's okay, we're not going to hurt you. We're just passing through."

"Uh, Adam? You do realize that you're not Fluttershy, right?" Twilight warned him.

"It's fine, Fluttershy has been teaching me how to engage with animals," Adam replied. "Also, the Enclave discovered that magical crystals can be melted down and used to plate other materials, just like you would with silver or gold, and they still keep their magical properties." The others watched in astonishment as the mole rat slowly waddled over to him, then nuzzled his armored glove. "Fluttershy let me use some crystals bearing her magic to plate the gloves and vambraces of my power armor. It looks like it's enough to let the wasteland critters know that we're friendly."

Pinkie smiled and shook her head. "Well, I guess that makes things a little easier.”

"It's fascinating!" Twilight gushed. "It's incredible seeing just how many applications these crystals have, even for people who don't have magic of their own!"

Rainbow cleared her throat loudly. "Yeah, it's pretty neat, but don't forget we have a job to do."

The quick reminder was enough to get everyone back on track. Picking a door, the group set about exploring the depths of the facility, unexpectedly finding themselves escorted by the mole rat.

Given how much they had dealt with on the way to the factory, the search itself was pretty anticlimactic, at least in Rainbow's opinion. The only things the group encountered were dozens of mole rats, and an obscene number of radroaches around the place. Rainbow had expected at least a few hostile robots in the robot factory, but every Protectron they encountered was either inactive or damaged beyond repair.

Naturally, the robot factory hadn't escaped unscathed by the wild magic of the wasteland. At least two mole rats had apparently been touched by magic, going by how they were cheerfully burrowing through steel and concrete as if it were wet soil.

One Protectron had been affected by magic, too. The faded red goop around its joints suggested perhaps Sunset's magic. Disturbingly, the Protectron had apparently found a quiet restroom and, from what Twilight and Adam could gather, shot itself in the head.

On a more positive note, the group found a whole bunch of useful supplies, including ammunition, first aid kits, a spare Stealth Boy, and a Big Book of Science that Twilight practically drooled over.

After well over an hour searching, the group finally found the mainframe in a room upstairs.

Twilight grinned and cracked her knuckles. "Okay. Time for me to get to work." She pulled the processor widget she had gotten from Moira out of her pack and quickly got to installing it. With that done, she glanced back at the others. "Okay, Moira's notes said something about harnessing old technology while we're here. Should I see if I can reprogram the Protectrons?"

"Go for it," Rainbow replied. "Just make sure they don't shoot us."

"Or the mole rats," Adam added.

Twilight nodded and started typing away. The others waited patiently at first, but as the minutes dragged on, they started to get restless.

"How long is this going to take, exactly?" Rainbow asked.

"I have no idea," Twilight replied. "The system is only giving me three options for the Protectrons' behaviour; kill all vermin such as the mole rats, kill every person inside and around the building, or blow each other to bits. I'd pick that last one, but we or the mole rats might get caught in the crossfire." She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "I've managed to put them all on standby for now, but I'm trying to write a new program that will just have the Protectrons patrol the area, only shooting anyone who shoots them first. It's going to take a while."

With their question answered, the other three settled themselves in for a long wait. Adam stepped out of his armor and left it in a corner to save its fusion core. They passed the time by chatting, playing with a deck of cards that Pinkie produced, eating their rations, cleaning out the nearest restroom to make it usable, and petting the odd mole rat that came sniffing around. Rainbow lit up Flashburn to provide plenty of heat. The cold was bitter, even indoors.

Finally, after well over an hour, Twilight sighed and stretched. "It's done. Now we just have to hope that there aren't any bugs."

"I'm sure it's fine," Adam told her, eagerly getting back into his armor. "Come on, let's get back to Megaton."

"No arguments here," Rainbow said brightly. Gathering up their things, the group made their way back down to the entrance. Several Protectrons were clanking around by this point, but they did little more than greet the group and continue their patrols, blithely ignoring the mildly confused mole rats.

Outside, a small surprise was waiting to greet them. It was snowing.

"It's beautiful," Pinkie said quietly, holding a hand out to catch a falling snowflake. "Huh, it's not radioactive, either."

Rainbow bit her lip and looked around. The gentle snowfall was indeed beautiful, the pure white snowflakes standing out perfectly against the dirt backdrop of the wasteland, but the snow was getting heavier with every passing second, and it brought new dangers with it.

Crossing the wastes was soon going to get a lot more difficult.

---

Moonlit snowfall on Megaton was a hauntingly beautiful sight. Even as cold as it was, Rarity couldn't help but admire the view as she strolled through the town's alleys and walkways. Still, it was cold, which was the whole reason she was out in the first place.

The Sheriff, the Disciples, and the Children of Atom were taking it upon themselves to distribute blankets and warm food to the common building, as well as checking in on the town's most vulnerable residents to make sure that they were prepared for an early winter this year.

Naturally, Rarity refused to sit around in the warm Temple while others worked, and she had offered to help with distribution. Sunset and Applejack were organising the offerings they had been brought, setting aside anything that could be given back to the community, while Pinkie, Twilight and Rainbow focused on warming themselves up after their foray into the wastes. Fluttershy had been leery of letting Rarity take to the streets on her own, but had relented on the proviso that she be allowed to keep an ear out for any trouble.

Much to Rarity's relief, and Fluttershy's as well, she was sure, the rounds had been entirely uneventful. Rarity had checked on a lovely old couple who were a touch too enthusiastic about the Enclave, a much younger couple with a newborn baby, and the old gentleman who looked after Megaton's water purifier. All of them were healthy, happy, and well prepared for the sudden onset of winter.

All that was left to do was to return to the Temple. Humming softly to herself, Rarity ambled through Megaton, enjoying a brief moment of peace by herself, right up until something slammed into her skull.

The impact sent Rarity sprawling. Her vision swam and her limbs flopped uselessly as her brain tried to reorient itself. Slowly, dimly, she became aware that she was being dragged through the snow. Next, she noticed that she had a rag stuffed into her mouth and her arms tied behind her back.

Whoever was dragging her came to a stop just as Rarity regained enough of her faculties to try and struggle.

"Don't even try it," a harsh voice growled in her ear.

Rarity tried to turn her head to see her attacker, but the alleyway he had dragged her into was far too dark. Whoever it was, they hunched over her like a lover about to deliver a tender kiss. Rarity tried to scoff through her gag and flexed her hands, trying to summon up a gemstone to relieve the vile brute of his legs, but the magic wouldn't come.

"Missing something?" The voice hissed, amusement evident in their tone. "Yeah, I know about your fucking necklaces. That little tidbit is gonna make me rich, but first…" Terror filled Rarity as her assailant shifted and started loosening her pants. "I've been paid to give you girls a message, and I'm going to make sure that you get it. You think you can come to this town-"

The soft crunching of snow grabbed the attacker's attention, but before he could do more than draw breath a shadowy form tackled him off Rarity with a feral snarl. The two scuffled on the ground for barely a second or two, then the man let out an agonized yell, groaning and gasping with pain as Rarity's rescuer stood upright.

A Pip-Boy light blazed into life, revealing Fluttershy in her full vampire form. Underlit, standing in front of dark scrap metal with snow swirling all around her, the young woman looked like a figure out of nightmarish legend.

Snarling once more at the attacker, Fluttershy knelt down and pulled the rag out of Rarity's mouth. "Are you alright?" Rarity just nodded. She didn't trust herself not to throw up if she tried to speak just yet. "Good. The others won't be lo-" A loud wham rang through the air, and the metal beneath their feet suddenly shuddered and groaned as if something heavy had landed on their level. "Did she just jump up here from the Temple?!" Fluttershy spluttered.

Looking up, a wave of relief brought tears to Rarity's eyes as Applejack careened around the corner. "Where is she?!"

"She's here," Fluttershy began, only to flinch and hiss with irritation as Applejack charged over and slid to her knees beside Rarity, spraying snow everywhere.

Rarity barely had time to process what was happening before Applejack snatched her into a rib-cracking hug. "Ah got you, you're okay. Fluttershy, what hap- she's bleedin'! Why the merry fuckin' shit-biscuit aren't you fixin' her up?!"

"Get out of the way and I will," Fluttershy hissed.

Ignoring the two as they bickered and swore, Rarity just rested her head against Applejack's chest. The farm girl hadn't even bothered to put armor on before charging out into possible danger, but Rarity was thankful for it. Between the impossibly powerful arms holding her tight, and the rhythmic heartbeat pounding right next to her ear, Rarity felt safe enough to let a few tears slip. Even the sting of antiseptic and a stimpak couldn't drag her out of her newfound safe space.

When Fluttershy was done, she snipped the bonds holding Rarity's wrists. Rarity hissed and wriggled her hands, trying to get some feeling back into them, only to yelp as she found herself getting swept up into a princess carry. "Ah know, Ah'll put you down later, but for now that's a nasty cut you've got on your head."

"It's quite alright, darling," Rarity replied, though she couldn't tell if the strange light-headedness she was feeling was from the medicine or blunt force trauma. Probably both. Glancing around, she flinched at the sight of her attacker lying face-down in the snow, still whimpering and clutching his back. "Who is it?" She whispered.

"Jericho," Fluttershy replied.

Rarity's breath hitched. "The man who attacked Sunset!"

"Wait, he did what?!" Applejack turned a murderous glare on the prone man. "Hold Rarity for me. Ah'm gonna have some words with this guy."

"You don't have to," Fluttershy told her. "We're about to get some answers." She raised her voice and called out, "We're over here."

As if on cue, Sunset and Sheriff Simms came walking around the corner. Simms took one look at the scene and grimaced. "What the hell is going on here? What's all this ruckus?"

"Jericho attacked Rarity," Applejack replied darkly. "Apparently, he attacked Sunset, too. Ah was just about to start pulling bits off of him until he started givin' some answers as to why."

"Don't you dare." Simms stepped over, waving the nearby Disciples and Children away, and knelt next to Jericho. "What did you do to him?"

Fluttershy flexed her claws and looked away. "I severed his spine. It was the easiest way to stop him without killing him."

Simms shook his head. "Jesus Christ. Someone help me get him to Doc Church. I'll question him in the morning."

"I've got a better idea." Sunset stepped forward and crouched next to the two. She placed a hand on the back of Jericho's head, and her eyes lit up with the telltale glow of her magic. When she stood again, her expression was grim. "Moriarty. He hired Jericho to attack me and Rarity."

"That motherfucker!" Applejack spat.

"Hold on a second!" Simms cut in quickly. "You using your magic is one thing, but I'm gonna need more than just your word to go on if I'm going to get to the bottom of this. Like I said, help me get him to the doc, and I'll question him in the morning."

Sunset nodded. "Fair enough, but if he doesn't talk, I'm going to deal with Moriarty myself." She glanced at Rarity. "You go back to the Temple and rest. I'll be back soon. Applejack, Fluttershy, look after her."

Applejack just nodded and turned away, crunching through the snow as she headed towards the Temple. Rarity could hear people asking what had happened, but Applejack brushed them off with little more than a grunt and a glare.

When they reached the Temple, the sudden warmth made goosebumps rise all over Rarity's body. The trio stood in front of the brazier for a few minutes to warm up, deflecting any questions the Disciples asked, before making their way upstairs when they were sufficiently heated up.

By the time she was back in her room, Rarity was already nodding off. The combination of spent adrenaline, a head injury, warmth, and medication, all combined to make her thoroughly exhausted. Fluttershy pulled her bedsheets back, and Applejack carefully placed her on the bed.

"There you go, you get some rest. We'll put your Geode in the drawer, here," Applejack said quietly. "Ah'm gonna go for a walk, just to clear my head, but Ah'll be back soon."

"M'kay." As Rarity faded into sleep, she felt something soft brush against her forehead.

---

Moriarty was annoyed. That was hardly unusual lately, now that the Rainbooms were back and messing up the powerbase he had been carefully crafting. Moriarty had been the real power in Megaton for years, maintaining his place through the power of booze, ownership of the town's only whore, and the careful collection of all kinds of information.

That was the real reason behind Moriarty's success. Alcohol and sex kept him rich, but trading information, and controlling the flow of it where necessary, gave him influence. Together, money and influence made him untouchable, even by holier than thou idealists like Simms.

The Rainbooms threw all of that out of whack. The Children of Atom were bad enough; reasonable people, though not particularly interested in beer or poon, but the Disciples were another matter entirely. They were growing in numbers and influence so quickly it was upsetting the balance of Megaton, and slowly lowering the number of customers Moriarty saw daily.

Worse, the Rainbooms themselves had managed to damage Moriarty's custom even further with their ridiculous allegations that he urinated in his beer still, and through spreading the rumor that he had tried to swindle them when they first arrived in town. It didn't matter that the rumors were true, what mattered was the fact that people were actually starting to give a shit.

With his profits dwindling and his influence starting to slip, Moriarty had decided that he needed to act. Admittedly, trying to shoot the Rainbooms' leader in front of everyone had been a mistake, but Moriarty learned from his mistakes.

Challenging the girls directly was out of the question. They were too powerful and too influential. There were, however, less direct methods for Moriarty to teach them a lesson in humility. Not everyone in Megaton was under their spell.

Unfortunately, Jericho had managed to fuck up almost right from the get-go.

Moriarty still found it hard to believe that a hardened ex-raider could get his ass handed to him by a drunken young girl who should have been exhausted from a trek across the wastes. After that debacle, Jericho had refused to touch the girls, even with the promise of his tab being wiped clear.

Still, Moriarty hadn't given up. Instead, he had reached out through his contacts and called in a favor with a bounty hunter he once knew. Lightning had jumped at the chance to clear her debt and take on the Rainbooms all in one go. Moriarty had needed to take a couple of small risks to distract Simms, but he felt that it would be worth it when Talon Company came in and dealt with the Rainbooms for him.

Discovering that even Lightning had run off with her tail between her legs drove Moriarty up the wall. In the end, he had few other options than to go back to Jericho.

The price had been high. A clear tab, free beer and discounts on the town bicycle, and the knowledge that the Rainbooms' power came from their necklaces. Moriarty was almost certain that Jericho would sell that information about the necklaces at the first opportunity, or even try to steal one himself, but it was worth it. If Jericho didn't deliver the goods this time, Moriarty would make sure that a certain unpleasant incident between him and the bitch at the Brass Lantern went public.

Someone hammering on the back door dragged Moriarty out of his reverie. He sighed and locked his terminal, then heaved himself out of his chair. "Fuck off back to sleep, Gob," Moriarty spat as the ghoul crept out from under the bar's counter. "I'll deal with this wanker."

Moriarty patted his new pistol as he walked to the back door. He didn't have any deliveries tonight, either legitimate or illicit, so it was most likely Jericho, but one couldn't be too careful. "You'd better have some good news for me, you sack of shi-"

The second Moriarty opened the door a fist crashed into his stomach, driving the breath out of him, then another smacked him in the face, knocking him senseless.

He awoke in a cold, dark room. Moriarty spluttered and gasped, and he realized that someone had splashed water in his face. Pain tore through his shoulders and wrists. Looking up, he saw that his hands were chained to the ceiling, stringing him up like a side of Brahmin. "What the fuck?"

"That's my line."

Moriarty flinched and looked around to see Applejack standing in the corner of the room, illuminated by a shaft of moonlight spearing through a crack in the ceiling. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He spat.

"You've been a bad boy, Moriarty," Applejack said evenly, taking her hat off and placing it on a dusty old desk. "Ah'm here to make sure you pay for your actions.

The theatrics scared Moriarty more than he was willing to admit. "You're making a fucking huge mistake here, missy," he growled, trying to sound more intimidating than he felt. "Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?"

Applejack snorted. "Ah don't think you know who you're dealin' with. You'd better wise up, quick. Or don't, Ah don't really care either way. Like Ah said, Ah'm just here for the bill. Oh, and by the way, Ah wouldn't try screamin' or nothin' if Ah were you, or else…" She held out a chunk of metal at around crotch height. Moriarty recognised it as the head of a sledgehammer. He almost wet himself when she squeezed, squashing the solid metal as if it was a sponge. "Do Ah make myself clear?"

"What do you want?" Moriarty asked fearfully.

"Ah told you, y' moron, Ah'm here to make you pay for what you tried to do to Sunset and Rarity," Applejack replied.

Moriarty felt cold sweat dripping down his back. "I don't know what you're talking ab-"

"Sunset read Jericho's mind," Applejack cut in. "Right after Fluttershy sliced through his spine."

Terror flooded through Moriarty as Applejack rolled her shoulders. "I-i'm sorry! I'll give you whatever you want! You want money? I've got plenty! I can make you rich! Hell, you want booze? Men? Women? I can get you anything you want!"

"You think you can buy me off?" Applejack growled. "Ah don't know if you've heard, but Honesty is kinda my thing."

"Honesty?!" Moriarty exclaimed. "What the fuck is honest about this?! You've kidnapped me, chained me in some shack in the ass end of Megaton, threatened me, and you think you're fucking honest?!"

"Almost as honest as you, apparently." Applejack pulled her necklace off and placed it on the desk next to her hat. "You're right. There ain't much that's honest about this, but let me be real honest with you about somethin'." She stomped over and grabbed the front of Moriarty's shirt. "You ain't leavin' this room alive."

Moriarty didn't even have time to yell before her fist slammed into his stomach.

Next Chapter: Chapter 117 - Wasteland Survival Guide: Knowledge Estimated time remaining: 17 Hours, 30 Minutes