“RARITY!”

Sunset and Applejack both lunged for Rarity as she collapsed to the floor, screaming in agony. Blood cascaded down her arm from the ragged holes the bullet had left as it punched straight through her left bicep.

“Get her back!” Sunset yelled, grabbing Rarity under the arms and trying to haul her out of sight behind the rubble. A loud clack snapped Sunset’s attention back to the raider as he prepared for another shot. Before he could draw a bead there was a multi-colored blur as something sped straight at him.

Sunset cried out, terrified that she was about to see Rainbow killed right in front of her eyes, but the athlete had learned from her encounter with Burke. Shouldering the gun out of the way, she slugged the raider as hard as she could with her good arm, knocking him clean off his feet and darting away before he or his masked companion could react.

There were whoops and yells from the remaining two raiders as they charged towards the girls, the filth-covered man waving his bat and the woman brandishing her knife menacingly. They both skidded to a halt as Applejack leveled her shotgun at them.

“You stay the heck away! Ah’m warning you!”

Sunset moved to drag Rarity further from danger while the raiders were distracted, when a purple aura surrounded the two and they found themselves floating back behind the rubble. As Twilight gently set them down Fluttershy was instantly at Rarity’s side, her nursing kit open and ready as she got to work.

“Are you alright?” Twilight gasped, her face ashen.

Sunset nodded, but before she could reply a loud blast tore through the air. Poking her head out, Sunset saw that Applejack had fired at the ground between the man and woman, sending them scattering for cover.

“AJ get down!” Rainbow tackled Applejack to the ground as a pair of gunshots rang out. Blondie had gotten back to his feet and rejoined the fight, his masked friend nowhere to be seen. Before he could line up any more shots his gun was gripped in Twilight’s magic and given a firm yank.

As Twilight tried to wrestle the gun out of Blondie’s hands, Sunset took the opportunity to glance back at the others. Fluttershy was still working feverishly on Rarity, who was moaning feebly and seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness. Ian was cowering at the back of the group, Pinkie standing protectively over him.

Satisfied that the raiders were occupied, at least for the moment, Sunset turned her attention back to the fight. Rainbow gritted her teeth as she helped Applejack to her feet, trying to favor her good leg. A dark blotch was slowly staining her pants around her injury.

We can’t keep this up.

Sunset shrugged off her pack, thinking quickly. They needed to finish this and get Rarity somewhere safe as soon as possible, which meant they needed to beat up or scare off these raiders, and fast. Luckily, Sunset had just the thing to help with that. She scowled as she pulled Burke’s pistol out of her pack, the stupid thing still had it’s silencer attached. Not exactly loud and intimidating, but it would have to do.

Just as Sunset ditched her pack and stepped out from behind the rubble Rainbow suddenly yelped and grabbed Applejack, yanking her back by the shoulders. Not a moment too soon, as a baseball bat missed the back of the farmer’s skull by a hair’s breadth, swatting her hat off and knocking her ponytail around wildly. The man and woman had taken the opportunity while the girls were distracted to close the distance. Not giving AJ or Rainbow a chance to recover the male raider barreled forward, dropping his shoulder and slamming into the two as the woman lunged at Sunset, jabbing with her knife.

Sunset twisted to the side and grabbed the raider’s wrist, barely managing to stop the blade before it buried itself in her guts. A sharp twist brought a gasp of pain from the raider and she dropped the knife. Sunset grinned as she lashed out with the gun, cracking the woman across the face with its butt. I guess those old self defence classes weren’t entirely useless.

A backhanded smack from the woman quickly wiped the smile off Sunset’s face. Another punch had pain exploding through her cheek, Burke’s gun slipping from her fingers as she staggered. Reacting on instinct, Sunset managed to bring her arm up in time to block the next blow, retaliating with a vicious uppercut that sent the raider reeling.

An animal snarl clawed it’s way out of Sunset’s throat as she hurled herself at the woman, all else forgotten in her desire to pummel this psychopath that was so bent on bringing harm to her and her friends. Fists flew as the two tore into each other, until finally the raider managed to snatch a handful of Sunset’s hair. The woman yanked hard, pulling Sunset off balance, them rammed a fist into her exposed side. Stumbling backwards, Sunset could do nothing to protect herself as the raider stepped forward, throwing her entire body into a brutal right hook that knocked the girl flat.

Sunset desperately rolled to her knees, trying to regain her footing before the raider pressed her advantage. As she shakily clambered to her feet, Sunset saw the woman scoop up her blade, a twisted sneer plastered across her face. Her mirth was short-lived as a fist-sized gemstone smacked into her skull, sending her sprawling. Out of the corner of her eye Sunset spotted Rarity still laying next to Flutters, teeth gritted in agony with her good arm held out in front of her.

Not wasting a moment, Sunset charged at the raider as she tried to rise, smashing her knee into the woman’s face with all the force she could muster. The raider dropped like a stone. There was a sickening crunch as her head hit the floor, but Sunset hardly even noticed.

Seeing that her opponent was beaten and with adrenaline still thundering through her veins, Sunset whirled about, ready to face down the man attacking Applejack and Rainbow Dash, only to see him laying unconscious on the floor. Applejack stood over him, fury in her face and the snapped remnants of his baseball bat clenched in each hand. Rainbow was still sat on the ground, massaging her shoulder with a grimace, but at least she seemed alright. Sunset gave her a quick nod before turning to the others.

Rarity had sagged back onto Fluttershy’s lap, quietly muttering something as the young nurse gently caressed her forehead. Ian was still cowering against the huge pile of rubble while Pinkie had moved closer to the battle, a heavy rock clasped tightly in her hands. Twilight’s face was screwed up in concentration, her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth as she continued wrestling with Blondie using her magic. Sunset’s eyes darted between each of them, a niggling feeling at the back of her mind telling her she’d forgotten something.

A sudden scrabbling sound dragged her attention to the top of the rubble. Sunset’s eyes widened as the masked raider clambered up onto the pile, brandishing a small revolver. She whipped her head around, searching desperately for some way to stop him. Almost immediately her eyes landed on Burke’s pistol, laying where it had fallen a few feet away. Sunset dove for it without hesitation, snatching it up and rolling back to her feet in one smooth motion. Time seemed to slow down as she span, bringing the pistol up and thumbing off the safety just as the raider straightened out his arm, his revolver pointed squarely at Fluttershy.

phut

The masked man grunted as the silenced round struck him in the gut. Swaying dangerously, the raider slowly turned to face Sunset, raising his gun defiantly. A red rage descended over Sunset as she fired again and again, emptying the magazine into him. The gun kicked with each shot, crimson splashes blossoming over the raider’s abdomen and chest as each bullet found it’s mark.

The last shot struck him in the forehead, boring a neat little hole through his hockey mask. The man fell like a puppet with it’s strings cut, crashing down off the rubble to land in a crumpled heap next to Pinkie.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Sunset just stared at the corpse. The anger that had filled her was gone, evaporated as if had never existed, replaced with a hollow shock that left her paralyzed. She couldn’t think, couldn’t even begin to comprehend what had just happened. It didn’t feel real, as if the events of mere seconds ago were some bizarre dream, as if she were a spectator in someone else’s life.

Sunset had no idea how long she was left standing like that, oblivious to everything that was happening around her. For all she knew it could have been seconds or it could have been hours. Her attention was focused solely on the broken body lying there, and the dark red pools slowly forming underneath it.

Eventually Sunset felt a hand on her shoulder, and dimly realized that someone was trying to talk to her. She blinked and slowly turned her head, tearing her gaze away from the grisly spectacle. Rainbow was standing next to her, concern written all over her face.

“Sunset, are… are you okay?”

Sunset’s senses suddenly snapped her back to reality, agony blazing from what felt like every part of her body. Worse than that was the feeling of horror and disgust that consumed her as she was hit by the full realization of what she had done. Sunset gasped and let out a strangled moan, slumping to her knees as everything came rushing back all at once, threatening to overwhelm her.

In a heartbeat Rainbow was next to her, pulling her into a tight, one-armed hug. Sunset clamped her arms around her friend, choking sobs escaping her as she held on as if her life depended on it. “It’s okay Sunset. It’s gonna be okay.”

“I didn’t… I didn’t want…”

“Hey, come on. It’s not your fault.” Rainbow’s voice was soothing, though it shook as she spoke.

“Ah… ah hate to say this, but we need to pull ourselves together and get out of here.” Applejack cut in suddenly.

Rainbow glared over her shoulder. “Not cool AJ, how can you just shrug this off?!”

“Ah ain’t, but Rarity’s injured and we don’t know how many more of those ruffians are lurking around out here!”
Sunset gasped and tried to look around wildly, but the motion sent waves of pain and nausea flowing through her. “The other raider! Where is he!?”

“He’s gone.” Twilight replied quietly. “He ran when you… uh… y’know.”

Sunset shivered and glanced over Rainbow’s shoulder to see Applejack kneeling next to Rarity, still slumped barely-conscious on Fluttershy’s lap. A blood-stained bandage was wrapped tightly around her arm.

“What do you reckon Fluttershy, are we okay to move her?” Applejack asked, caressing Rarity’s forehead gently.

Fluttershy didn’t answer. Her hands were clamped over her mouth and her eyes, irises as small as pinpricks, were locked on the crumpled corpse of the masked raider as silent tears streamed down her face. She flinched when Applejack reached up to give her a little shake.

“Listen Fluttershy, look at me.” Applejack gently but firmly tugged Fluttershy’s face around, tearing her gaze away from the corpse. “Ah know this is messed up, okay? Ah mean really messed up.” Applejack’s voice cracked as she spoke. Evidently she wasn’t as unfazed by everything as she was pretending, but at least she was trying. “But right now Rarity needs you. We all do.”

“Doctor mode remember? Like you told us back in the vault.” Twilight added. “Doctor mode now, freak-out later.”

“I think I’ll join you in that freak-out.” Pinkie muttered.

Fluttershy’s eyes flicked from Applejack to Twilight and back again. “Okay…” she whispered. The young nurse took a shuddering breath and roughly wiped her eyes. “Okay. Doctor mode.” Fluttershy quickly checked Rarity’s bandage then placed two fingers on her neck, checking her pulse. “I’ve managed to staunch the bleeding so her life isn’t in any immediate danger for now, but I think we should get her to a real doctor as soon as possible.”

Applejack nodded. “The clinic in Megaton. That’ll be our best bet.” A moment later she had Rarity hefted in a bridal carry, taking extra care not to jostle the fashionista’s arm too much. “All right y’all, let’s get to Megaton.”

“No.”

Everyone turned to stare at Sunset as she stood and nodded her thanks to Rainbow. She couldn’t afford to fall apart, not yet, not while everyone still depended on her. Sunset took a deep breath to steady herself before continuing. “I mean, not yet. We still have to get Ian back to Arefu first.”

The others blinked as they remembered their charge.

“Oh yeah, ah can’t believe ah forgot about him. Where is he?”

The boy in question was still exactly where they left him. He squeaked as each of the girls turned to look at him, his eyes wide with terror.

“Hey dude, uh… are you okay?” Rainbow asked.

“After what just happened I don’t think any of us are.” Sunset mumbled.

Ian’s eyes flicked from one girl to the next. “How… how did you do all of that? What kind of mutants are you?”

“Ah.” Sunset felt a shiver as she realized what he was talking about.

Twilight had evidently come to the same conclusion. “Oh, of course! You haven’t seen our magic before!”

“Your what?!”

“Oh for the love of…” Applejack huffed. “Look, we don’t have time to explain right now. Let’s just get you back to Arefu and the sheriff can explain everything to you then.”

“Oh, uh, alright.”

Sunset huffed as the boy quickly got to his feet. “Okay, let’s get out of here before the other two wake up.”

“Other two?” Pinkie asked.

Sunset raised an eyebrow and jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “Uh, yeah? The two we were just fighting?” She frowned as the others cringed, unable to meet her eye. A strange sinking feeling in her stomach joined the throbs and aches from the rest of her body. “What am I missing?”

Applejack shifted awkwardly. “Ah don’t know how to tell you this sugarcube, but ah’m pretty sure only one of them is going to be waking back up from that.”

The sinking feeling rapidly got worse as Sunset slowly turned to look at their erstwhile enemies. Surely Applejack hadn’t killed the man she was facing? Sunset was sure she had seen him breathing.

Yep, there he is. His chest is definitely still moving. But that means…

Sunset’s breath caught as she looked at the fallen woman. The raider’s face was a mess, her nose utterly smashed, but it was the jagged rock under her head that had grabbed Sunset’s attention, rivulets of blood carving trails through the dust.

Sunset felt her stomach drop. She probably would have fallen if Rainbow hadn’t grabbed her.

“Sunset! Sunset listen to me!” Sunset blinked as Rainbow stepped in front of her, an arm clamped on her shoulder. “This isn’t your fault, you hear me? This is not. Your. Fault. You totally just saved lives back there, don’t think about anything else okay? Just focus on that.”

Sunset just nodded. This was too much for her to deal with. She made to move, to lead the others back to Arefu, but she barely managed two steps before Sunset had to double over to puke.

Huh, twice in as many days? This wasteland sucks.

Another day, another chapter.

The girls have finally had their first real taste of the Wasteland, I hope I did it justice!

Next time we'll be exploring the ramifications of the girls' actions in this chapter, and what effect the fallout has on their friendship (pun absolutely intended).

Comments and criticisms are appreciated and, as always, thanks for reading.