Twilight turned around, seeing Lyra moving carefully and wincing once in a while. Apparently, she was the one who just talked.

Wiping the tears and the mucus quickly and dropping the now-useless magic journal, she hurried to the former NSC agent.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

"As OK as I can be after getting zapped by magical electricity, I guess," Lyra slightly rose up but opted for setting her back against the wall inside her. "My everything hurts."

"That was a nerve flaring spell, designed to inflict pain on others."

"Well that spell fucking worked, 'cause I'm still feeling it now. Where's that bitch?"

"Dead," Twilight said, anger and satisfaction mixed in her voice. "Turned out her shield did not prevent anyone from coming up close, putting a gun against her body and firing it."

"Good."

"Urgh..." Bon Bon moaned. "Curses. I feel like I am back in torture resistance courses back in DOI..."

"Are you wounded?" Lyra asked.

"I see no visible damage," Twilight said.

"Let me check the medical data on her Pip-Boy," the mint-skinned girl scuttled closer to her friend and tapped several buttons on Bon Bon's Pip-Boy. "No, nothing serious."

A sound of something rumbling filled the room as Applejack climbed out of the debris she found herself in after the last shock she received from Adagio. She lost her Stetson hat, and there was dried blood on her face. She held her head, wincing in pain and staggering slightly as she rose. Twilight guessed that the farmer had suffered some blunt force trauma to the head.

"Ohhhhhh... well that's a rodeo Ah don't wanna take a part in again," the girl in power armour spoke. "Where's the siren bitch?"

"I killed her," Twilight said.

"Jolly good... where's mah goldurn hat, damn it?"

"Somewhere near you, I think. Want me to help?"

"No, Ah'm good, just... a little... shaken," Applejack lowered herself to her knees and began digging around. "Goldurn it, if Ah lost mah head, Ah'll stomp on that bitch's skull..."

"Urgh, Applejack, don't you think we had enough crass language for today?" Rarity slowly rose, using the wall for support. Her face was covered by dust, scratches and dried blood, plus another small red trickle was running down her right cheek, and she favoured her right leg.

"No, Ah don't."

"Everyone OK?" Sunset said, rising unsteadily on her legs.

"No," Twilight said. "When I shot Adagio, she did not die immediately, and there were zombies charging... I panicked and shot Adagio again, in the forehead, and when that happened, the zombies screamed, their eyes burst and... leaked out... I think that they were too closely tied for her... I think... Sugarcoat's dead," tear trickles ran down her dust-covered face.

"I'll check her out," Lyra said. Coming up to Sugarcoat, she turned the latter onto her back, not too ceremoniously. Sugarcoat's glasses were broken, but for some miracle did not crack, so no glass shards were stuck in her eyes. A large gash was present on her forehead, and half of her face was covered by blood. A bruise was also forming in the place where Applejack hit her when she nearly turned on them, and it was not small by any means.

Lyra pressed her fingers against the girl's carotid artery and waited. Then she moved them slightly.

"There is a pulse," she declared after a couple of seconds and took the broken glasses off the girl's face. Rarity approached them both and held a small portable mirror near Sugarcoat's nose.

"She's breathing as well," she declared, wiping the breath from her mirror and looking into it. "Oh, I look positively dreadful..."

"Uuuuurrrrgh... Ahhhhh..." Sugarcoat moaned, slightly opening her eyes. "Oh... can't see shit... where the hell are my glasses?"

"They're broken," Lyra said. "How're you feeling?"

"Like I have been skullfucked by an industrial-class drill. Repeatedly. I think I have a fucking great-grandmother of fucking headaches now, and - ARGH! - and I can't move my head without it going up by several orders of magnitude."

"Wait here and don't move. We'll bring stretches for you and bring you to the medical ward."

"Thanks."

"Bon Bon, keep an eye on her, you're a better medic than I am. Girls, can someone help me get the stretches here?"

"I'll help," Twilight said. Anything to distract my mind.

"Follow me, then."

The medical ward located in Commissariat's building turned out to be in relatively good condition. The first aid kits were fully stocked with all necessary medicines, the equipment was relatively untouched, and there even was a mini-surgery.

"For cases if someone needed to be quickly operated on, but in secret," Lyra explained. "We brought the needed medics and allowed them to work their magic."

"Commissariat received that much funding?"

"Our funding could bankrupt a megacorp, or at least that is what I believe. I have no idea what financial resources NSC had. They were vast, that I know, and given that I regularly saw advanced technology, security systems and so on virtually everywhere, not to mention top of the line equipment for our operatives, on par with that of Directorate of Intelligence, I had come to that conclusion."

"Could the government spend that much?"

"No corp ever came close to becoming richer than the government of UFE. I suspect they could get away with it. Taxes did rise pretty high, though. And all TODC assets that were found were seized by Commissariat."

"Like front companies?"

"Yep. Aha, here's a stretcher," Lyra hefted up two aluminium poles with some synthetic material between them. "Pick one end, I'll pick another one."

Twilight did as asked.

"I have heard of cases when some people stored their savings within a bank, and when NSC learned that said bank was a front for TODC intelligence agency, all assets were seized and people got nothing back," she probed carefully, remembering Braeburn's plight.

"Yeah," the mint-green girl replied, "shit happened."

"Isn't that kinda unfair? I mean, what would people live on?"

"I see where you're coming from, Twilight, and I can't say I was pleased by this either," Lyra spoke with a tone of "please understand me". "It is stupid to expect of people to be able to tell a TODC front apart from genuine UFE bank, but Commissariat viewed storing money in such fronts as treason - which it was to some extent, by the way, because the money would be used to fund insurgent groups seeking to overthrow the government... OK, we're here!"

They unwrapped the stretcher and carefully positioned Sugarcoat on it. The ex-Shadowbolt moaned and groaned as her head moved around, still in pain. Twilight noticed that Applejack had her Stetson back on her head; it was banged up and covered in dust, but undamaged.

When in the medical ward, they put her onto a bed. Lyra quickly found some tablets and told Sugarcoat to drink them, putting a straw in a bottle of purified water.

"This is a heavy duty painkiller," she explained. "Probably overkill, but since you literally can't move without having a mother of headaches, this should do the trick."

The pig-tailed girl drank the tablets, and Lyra gave her an injection of sedatives to let the girl recuperate from pain. Meanwhile, Lyra and Bon Bon treated others, re-bandaging hastily closed wounds, injecting medicines (RegenStim most oftenly) and restocking on medical supplies.

"That was a doozy of an adventure," Applejack said, sitting down on the floor. "Never thought we'd see Adagio again."

"Agreed," Rarity said. "And I would never even suspect she had something to do with this "zombie" crisis."

"Are ya two alright?" the farmer addressed Twilight and Sunset, who sat down on collapsible chairs, their expressions grim.

"We will be... I hope," Sunset said. "Adagio was none too gentle with us."

"What did that bitch do?"

"Insulted us, threatened us, beat us a little, zapped us with lightning bolts of dark magic, performed an extremely painful ritual on us that allowed her to get stronger magically, threatened and tried to kill Spike and simply made our life miserable. Oh, and she molested Twilight when performing the magic extraction ritual."

The revelation prompted some extremely unpleasant insults to be thrown at the now dead siren, pertaining either to her heritage or to her ancestors' fidelity. Applejack's swears were the foulest ones, but even Rarity threw her usual mouth filter out of the window and bemoaned that Adagio could not be used as a living cushion pin.

"Ouch," Twilight muttered, "that's very vindictive of you, Rarity."

"I think it's well justified."

A murmur of content ran around everyone present.

"What happened to you?" Sunset asked Applejack and Rarity (Sugarcaot was still unconscious).

"We were searching for ya, thought you were still inside that building when a horde of zombies attacked. We barely managed to fight one off, and as soon as we did, there was another one coming. We all ran away, 'cause there was no way to hold out - we hoped to find you two as soon as we shook them off. Sugarcoat led us to a police station - that's where Ah found that big gal," Applejack patted the minigun near her. "We tried to defend ourselves, but the horde eventually overwhlmed the defenses an' we ran again. That's when we ran into Spike, an' another group of them zombies. He quickly told us what was goin' on, and we decided to try and save you."

"But before that, we had to play a cat-and-mouse game with the zombies," Rarity took over. "We had to go into the sewers to avoid being detected, because killing even one zombie resulted in a swarm running after us."

"Ew," Sunset said.

"Ew indeed, we were lucky that we did not need to swim in anything that was there. We managed to find the building where you were held. Applejack and Sugarcoat agreed to provide a distraction while I scouted this building; that's when I ran into Lyra and Bon Bon. We had a small... scuffle, since neither side was expecting another one to be there. But when I explained the situation to them, they volunteered to help, despite the risk of mind control."

"Hey, one time was bad enough," Bon Bon said, "and I hated the idea of that bitch getting control of me or anyone else again."

"Ditto on that," Lyra said.

"I'm curious," Twilight asked, "what were you two doing here in first place?"

"Big Macintosh asked us to investigate the rumours of the zombie attacks," the beige-skinned girl said. "They made it to CWN, and one of Appletown's caravans also returned with the same info when they returned from Brightlight. That made him worried, and since we were the most competent fighters here, we were the most obvious choice."

"Couldn't he ask Brotherhood of Steel for a stealthed eyebot?" Sunset asked.

"He did not want to risk their good will."

"Makes sense," Applejack said. "Ah know we're doin' better now when it comes to them, but Ah wouldn't trust them blindly. Aegis would want something in return, Ah'm sure of that."

"So we came here. We suspected that someone found a Hypnotron and decided to mess around with it, but the only possible place to find it or its traces would be the local Commissariat HQ - that is where we are now."

"What is a Hypnotron?" Twilight asked.

"A device designed for pacification of rioting crowds - at least, it was initially designed like that, and it was not called Hypnotron back then," Lyra took over. "Commissariat wanted a way to control riots without a risk of civilian deaths or using lethal force, so as to avoid giving ammunition to those who wanted NSC disbanded, TODC agents included. Basically, this device emitted some waves that, when affecting a brain, make it reduce stress levels of a body and make a human more pacified and less aggressive. And it worked, so Hypnotrons, despite their cost, were slowly but surely added into the arsenal of NSC riot control squads. But there was an unintended side effect, which was discovered by some Commissar who had a lot of brain mass. Turned out that if waves were set to specific length and frequencies, it was possible to deprive the subject of their free will and make them follow commands. This was like a goldmine for Commissariat."

"They considered actually taking advantage of that option? Seriously?!" Twilight hissed.

"They not only considered, they actually used it. But it turned out it was not foolproof. One could instead trigger a frenzy and the target would attack everyone in sight, or if the target resisted for some time, this could cause fatal brain hemorrhage. But NSC did commission a better version of Hypnotron after that. There were rumours that the improved version was actually built."

"Disgusting," Twilight said.

"Given what we have just been through, I am not going to disagree with you. So when we heard the rumours, we thought that someone might have found this advanced Hypnotron and decided to fool around with it, and learned its true capabilities."

"That actually gives me an idea," Sunset said. "You see, we can't just run around and say that dark magic was to blame for this mess. Your information on this advanced Hypnotron would be a good cover story, since everyone who experienced Adagio's hypnosis is dead now. The only exception is Sugarcoat, and I don't foresee her disagreeing with this. As for the device itself, we can claim it was destroyed beyond repair."

"I agree," Bon Bon said, "that's actually a good one. Lyra, Twilight, your opinions?"

"Works for me," Twilight said.

"I don't see anything wrong with it either," Lyra said. "The exact workings of this supposed advanced Hypnotron aren't known even to me, so I could theoretically even corraborate your tale, provided that people won't want to shoot me for my Commissariat past."

"Then it is settled," Sunset clapped her hands together. "I think that we should move out soon, and before that, I want to see if there is any useful loot. But until Sugarcoat comes around, it's too dangerous to leave her alone. I think that someone should stay and guard her, and others will go.

"I'm with you," Twilight volunteered.

"I will cover you with my sniper rifle," Rarity said. "Just tell me where you are going."

"I think that we'll start with the bodies inside the building, and then with the bodies lying in the street."

"Ah'm with ya as well," Applejack said, but as she tried to stood up, she moved very sluggishly. "Whoa, what the hay?"

"Your microfusion power pack is almost depleted," Bon Bon said, checking the readings on the Pip-Boy secured on the T-72d armour suit. "Power exoskeleton is almost shut down, and you're having trouble moving around because of that."

"Whelp. That's not what I needed."

"I will see if there is a spare somewhere," Lyra said. "In the meantime, stay here and protect everyone."

"Drat. Be careful out there, will ya?" the blonde called out to her friends.

"We will, Applejack," Twilight promised.

As the Equestrians went out, Rarity followed them. There were not many bodies, and all they brought was some 10mm, .32, .308 and 5.56mm ammo, as well as some caps and rather shoddy weapons that were deemed not worth the time needed to get them.

As Twilight and Sunset went out in the open, Rarity took position on the first floor, covering the whole area with her MSR-90 sniper rifle. While the area was calm and deserted, the ex-fashionista did not want to risk their friends' lives, and took care to look at them once in a while.

The girls watched by her methodically searched the bodies for some time in silence, until Sunset spoke:

"Twilight, I noticed that Adagio's corpse did not have the magic journal on her. Did you or someone else take it?"

A stab of pain ran through Twilight's heart as she was unwittingly reminded of the predicament she was now in.

"Yes, it is here," she took the journal out. "But... well, it's basically useless."

"What?!" Sunset gasped.

"I tried writing in it, to see if a message would pass, but... well, I have tried several pens, and they didn't work... I tried every page, both empty and not empty, and all other surfaces possible, but nothing worked..." Twilight continued, as tears began forming in her eyes. "In the end, a small bolt just zapped the pen out of my hand..."

"Oh no..." the fiery-haired girl breathed out, crushed by the news.

No! she thought. Our only plan, our only hope we had for returning Twilight to Equestria is lost!

"Did you tell the others?" Sunset asked.

"No, not yet."

"They need to know. Come on, let's go back. We can loot the rest later."

As they went inside, they waited for Rarity to join them. The indigo-haired girl carried a worried expression.

"Is something wrong, darlings?"

"Yes," Sunset said without preamble. "We will tell you, but we need to get Applejack first and find a room where we can talk in private."

"OK then."

The trio went further inside, just in time to see Lyra plug in a new microfusion power pack into Applejack's armour.

"And done," she said.

"Thanks. Ah can move freely again, at least."

"Take care not to use too much energy," the mint-skinned girl said. "This power pack is only at fifty-five percent."

"Ah'll try."

"Applejack," Sunset called, "can you come with us? We need to talk in private."

"Sure," the blonde said, and went out of the room after the others. The girls went up a floor where they entered a room resembling a working office, but of a maller than usual size. When everyone went in, Sunset started:

"I am afraid I have bad news, everyone. Adagio was using my magic journal, that we were looking for, as a conduit of magic. She fused the sirens' gems that we had shattered during the Battle of the Bands with the magic it contained, and the journal has been corrupted because of it. Whatever dark magic she used only strengthened the corruption. Girls..." the fiery-haired girl swallowed the unpleasant lump in her throat, and continued:

"The journal is useless, girls. We cannot establish contact with Equestria."

As soon as she said it, Rarity gasped and covered her mouth, Applejack cursed, and Twilight, who was fighting her emotions all the time, burst again into bitter tears, covering her face.

Sunset quickly enveloped her Equestrian compatriot into a hug, letting Twilight cry into her shoulder. Rarity hugged Twilight from the back and the right, while Applejack carefully hugged the Equestrian from the back and the left.

They stood like that for several minutes while the lavender-skinned girl cried her eyes out, trying to convey their support to their friend via a hug, while fighting emotional turmoils inside themselves.

Rarity felt anger and bitter disappointment. Having talked with Twilight on her feelings on what the world was now, the ex-fashionista was determined to help her friend return to Equestria. Not only that; she would help her friend preserve whatever innocence she still had. Of course, she held no illusions that contacting Equestria would automatically complete their quest, but she assumed that the ponies in Twilight's world would know a lot more about dimensional magic, and maybe help them to do something on that. Now, they would be unable to bring in the expertise of the Princess' compatriots, and Twilight would see even more horrors that the post-apocalyptic human world could offer, and fight more and more until her soul was eroded to the point of bitter cynicism.

Rarity solely wished that Adagio had died on the Day of Burning.

Applejack also wanted to pound the now-dead siren into a pulp, immensely furious at the mere thought of what Adagio had done to her friends. Not only she tortured Twilight and Sunset, she threw a wave after wave of zombified innocent people (not all of them were innocent, of course, but still) at them, with the intent of capturing their group and using them for nefarious purposes. The farmer was sure that the siren would not have stopped at Trottingham; she would attack Appletown too.

Memories of Appletown brought another feeling to the forefront: guilt. Some part of Applejack felt that she should have acted sooner, and joined Twilight and Sunset on their quest immediately, instead of asking them to help. Of course, she understood that this feeling was not fully rational - their chances of surviving would have been even lower, probably, without the help of Rarity, Lyra and Bon Bon, not to mention the lack of power armour, and one should not forget White Knives - but the thought that she failed her friends could not be stemmed that easily.

Sunset, while putting on the brave face, also hurt inside. The journal was hers in first place, and to see it defiled and rendered inoperable... well, she was not certain there was something she would not do to the body of the orange-haired siren right now. She still remembered what she did to the corpses of the White Knives who had attacked Appletown, and sorely felt a desire to find an axe and hack Adagio's body to pieces. Or find a petrol-fueled chainsaw and use it on the siren's body.

She also felt extremely sad for Twilight. Both of them had high hopes for the journal, and now, their only link to Equestria was lost. While Sunset was more adapted to the human world than Twilight and honestly felt more comfortable in human body, she still missed her homeland, or certain parts of it, at least. And certain ponies as well. She vividly remembered the face of one particular pony she has not seen in ages...

"Girls..." Twilight sobbed, turning to her friends. "Rarity... Applejack... Sunset... I... thank you so much for the risks you have taken for me. You literally risked everything to help me... I couldn't have asked for better friends than you in this world... I'm... sorry that I've wasted your time..."

"Sugarcube," Applejack interrupted her, "we promised to help, and we did. You did not waste our time. While it is bad that our quest... did not finish as we thought... we still gotta stick together. And you can be certain that Ah'll be by your side. Because you are mah friend."

"Indeed, darling," Rarity said. "I went through many things since I joined you: battles, open combat, wounds, desperate running and fights for our lives that were more like walking on a razor's edge. As a Black Widow, I would have never done that, because I fought for no one but myself. But I would do all of that again if it is to help you. Because you are my friend."

"Twilight," Sunset spoke up. "When we were abck in Vault Village and you were still unaccustomed to the Canterlot Wastelands, I pledged to help you, while knowing that the odds of us succeeding were astronomically low, and that our plan was... well, a long shot. Despite that, I decided to help you, instead of convincing you to adapt to the life in this world and stay here until you die. Because I knew this would make you very unhappy. Because I knew you would sorely miss Equestria and your friends back there. I promised to get you back there, and although I cannot deliver on it right now, I will not abandon you. Because you are my friend."

"Girls..." Twilight looked at their faces, and then jumped, trying to hug everyone and bursting into tears again. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you so much for agreeing to stay with me!"

"That's what friends do, sugarcube," Applejack said.

"Besides," Spike spoke up from Twilight's rucksack, "we wouldn't have pulled this off without everyone here. If we're together, we'll kick the odds where the sun never shines!"

"That's the spirit!" Sunset said approvingly.

"But still," Twilight said, "what are we supposed to do now?"

"Right now," the fiery-haired girl said, "I think we simply need to go back to Appletown. We need some rest, since this ordeal was extremely taxing on us. Then we will plan what to do next. Because honestly, I can't even think properly on anything global like this situation."

"Neither can I," Twilight said.

"Applejack, Rarity, objections?"

"You're the experts, so if you say we do that, we do that," Applejack said.

"None whatsoever," Rarity shook her head.

"We still haven't looked into Vault-Tec's local HQ for Elder Aegis," Twilight said. "Maybe we'll investigate it while on the way back to Brightlight?"

"I think we can do that," Sunset agreed.

"If you say so," Rarity replied.

"If honestly, Ah don't really think we need further detours, but... well, Aegis is one fella Ah don't wanna be an enemy of," Applejack said. "Let's do it."

"Then it's settled," Twilight said. "Let's go and wait for Sugarcoat to wake up. Maybe she'll agree to come as well. And there are still bodies to search."

Luna help me, this actually sounds normal to me now, she thought. What have I become?

The girls made themselves busy by collecting ammunition, medicines, grenades and caps from all dead zombies they could find. There were a lot of bodies, and not all of them were in good condition, especially when it came to Applejack's minigun - the long bursts of 5mm bullets almost tore the zombies' bodies apart. They made sure to pick only the loot they needed; they did not bother with armour and weapons, since the items of that type that were carried by zombies were inferior to their own.

Twilight and Sunset also recovered all their things, which made them feel somewhat elated. They both agreed they would have been sorry to see their hard-earned things being lost.

All in all, it took them one hour to get the job done. When they returned, they saw Sugarcoat wide awake, another set of glasses on her face.

"Oh, Sugarcoat, you're OK!" Twilight exclaimed.

"That statement is a big fucking lie, but if by that you meant me being still alive, I'll bite," Sugarcoat replied. Everyone shook their heads at the former Crystal Prepper's antics.

"We brought some loot," Sunset said, dropping what valuables she found, the other girls doing the same.

"Oh, so I am included as well? Great. I am low on ammo."

Everyone spent twenty minutes dividing the loot in equal shares and taking what was deemed necessary. When they were ready, the girls re-settled the rucksacks, and Twilight asked Lyra and Bon Bon:

"Where are you going to go now?"

"We planned to go back to Appletown," Bon Bon replied. "What about you?"

"We thought of doing the same. On the way, though, we planned to check out the local headquarters of Vault-Tec."

"Mind if we tag along then? Safety in numbers, plus Lyra's credentials of an officer of NSC would help unlock some hidden data."

"I certainly wouldn't. What about you, girls?" Twilight asked the others, who gave the same answer.

"Then come on."

As the girls were on the way out of the Commissariat's building, they passed the dead body of Adagio Dazzle on the way out. Disregarding the usual ethical norms of treating dead bodies, everyone except Twilight and Rarity participated in mutilating the corpse. Sunset even went as far as to unload a whole magazine into it, and Applejack stomped so hard on the dead siren's head that it cracked and broke apart, resulting in a gruesome mess of skull splinters, blood and brain matter being stuck to the power armour's foot.

"Excellent," Lyra remarked cold-bloodedly. "Now no one will recognize the corpse."

The girls decided to take the same way back that they used while going to Stable Hearts Limited before the forced detour courtesy of Adagio Dazzle. The area was a lot calmer now, although everyone still remained slightly jumpy, half-expecting another wave of white-eyed humans and super mutants to rush them out of nowhere or Adagio to come after them again.

Fortunately, their fears were misplaced. Apparently, the siren managed to convert many victims into her service, and now that each and every of them died when Adagio was killed, the area was more clear and at least temporarily safer now. The girls certainly did not mind, and this improved their mood.

However, when they arrived at Horseshoe Highway, their spirits were dumped.

The settlement was a sight of destruction and massacre. Homes were burnt, some of them to the ground, some still had carcasses sticking. Bodies of men, women and even teenagers were lying around, with injuries of varying gruesomeness, from bullet holes to torn limbs and spilt organs. Twilight and Rarity puked when they saw several bodies simply torn in two.

The Equestrians were also distraught to find Cap Collector dead. His pistol was still in his hand, with its bolt stuck in the back position. Apparently, he was fighting to the last ammo. A throat torn apart by bullets left no doubts as to his cause of death.

Lyra and Bon Bon quickly and efficiently searched the houses, as well as underground passages that existed below Horseshoe Highway. When they returned, their faces were stony masks.

"We have searched everywhere," Lyra said morosely. "No survivors. Everyone is dead or was converted by Dazzle and died when she did."

Sugarcoat was looking at the scene of destruction, mouth agape at the carnage and destruction in front of her. She was slowly walking around, taking in the gruesome surroundings. Finally, she let her R91 fall, and fell to her knees, sobbing.

"No," her voice cracked. "No, no, no! This isn't fair! This isn't fucking fair! Why did all of them have to die? Why was I the only one to survive?!" she punched the ground, ignoring the pain in her knuckles and fingers. "Why? They deserved none of this!"

"They didn't," Twilight lowered herself to her knees in front of Sugarcoat, "but the person responsible for it is dead now, and you helped us defeat her. If it makes you feel better, consider your part as vengeance on their behalf."

"Vengeance won't bring them back, Twilight. I wanted to defend Horseshoe Highway... but now it is destroyed. I hardly think anyone who ran will even want to return here. All the brave souls who resisted are dead, and those fucking cowards who ran, few of them being an exception to my "cowards" remark, lived, when it should have been vice versa," the pig-tailed girl growled. "They will just stay in Brightlight and enjoy the meager scraps Round Risk and his ilk will throw at them from their table."

"If we hadn't stopped Adagio, they would have died as well."

"You're right, damn it. I just... so fucking hate it that Horseshoe Highway is basically dead right now," Sugarcoat had tears running down again. Twilight quickly hugged the former Shadowbolt.

Initially surprised, Sugarcoat went tense at the physical contact. Then, slowly and unsuredly, she hugged Twilight back.

"Th-thanks," she sobbed. "S-sorry for the moment of weakness."

"I probably would have been a basket case if I were you," Twilight said. "You're taking this better than I am."

"I would like to call bullshit... but I can't right now."

Both girls stood up.

"I... let me say my goodbyes to this place. Alone," Sugarcoat asked. "Then we will move on."

"If you say so," Twilight said. The former Shadowbolt stepped away slowly. Twilight discreetly waved Rarity to herself and whispered:

"Cloak and watch after her, will you? I'm afraid she might do something reckless."

"Say no more," Rarity switched her Stealth-Boy on and disappeared. Others stood in place, except Sunset, who went to Cap Collector's stand and searched through its contents.

Both Twilight and Applejack gave her a disapproving glance.

"What?" she said. "I am sorry that he died as well. But I'd rather have his things in our hands than in ahnds of someone else who might not be benevolent."

"Sounds kinda cynical ta me, Sunset," Applejack said, "but Ah can't argue with your logic. Let me help."

"Er... Lyra, Bon Bon, what are shovels for?" Twilight asked the two other girls who indeed carried shovels.

"We thought that we should bury those vilagers who died here," Bon Bon said. "We'd be grateful if you helped."

"Are you planning to make a grave for everyone?" Twilight guessed.

"No, it will be a simple mass grave."

"OK, I'll help, give me one."

Mass grave, the words sounded alien in Twilight's mind. I don't think I ever had to see one in Equestria, much less dig...

The group did not notice as the night settled in while they were digging the mass grave for the unfortunate souls that died because of Adagio's machinations.

The work took a lot of effort. When the grave was dug, the girls split into pairs (Sugarcoat joined Twilight and Sunset) and dragged all the bodies, dumping them into the grave. Twilight felt miffed that the bodies were dropped without ceremony, but was forced to admit they did not need to stay here longer than necessary.

When the earth finally covered the whole grave, Lyra and Bon Bon collected several R91 assault rifles that looked the shoddiest (seven in total) and, after taking out the magazines, stuck them into the ground, barrel-first.

"Tradition," the beige-skinned girl explained, "for when soldiers were buried in the field."

After that, at Lyra's insistence, the girls formed a line and switched fire selectors of their assault weapons into "single" mode. When the former mint-skinned Commissar gave a command, they all fired in the air over the grave.

Sunset attached a piece of paper to one of R91's stuck in the ground, which read:

When they finished, it was 12:43 a.m. Lyra declared that there was no sense in them wandering around in the dark. Tired and exhausted, everyone agreed to catch as much nap as possible. It was decided that two persons would stand guard, while others slept, and the sentries would change every three hours.

Sugarcoat was excused from night guard duty die to her head still slightly aching despite the advanced painkillers she had taken, so the first shift was given to Lyra and Bon Bon, the second one to Rarity and Applejack, and the third one to Twilight and Sunset. No one expressed disapproval, and everyone except former NSC and DOI agents went to sleep.

Twilight was too exhausted to even have a proper nightmare about what happened. She dreamt of some incomprehensible images that would please Discord, and distorted voices screaming something in an unfamiliar language while she either swam or fell down in some sort of space with no gravity. The images changed from Chaos-corrupted Ponyville-like image to red Tartarus-like landscapes, and the voices sounded like Nightmare Moon, Discord, Tirek and Starlight Glimmer combined. She could not discern one from another.

Unpleasant as the dream was, Twilight still felt displeased when she was shaken awake by Rarity and told that it was her and Sunset's shift now. Both Equestrians suited up and left the house, walking around the house and not far from it. Spike stayed at the entrance, ready to bark as soon as something approached the house the others were in.

Horseshoe Highway, of which only a dead husk remained, looked even worse at night. While the moon in the sky still made the destruction pretty visible, the blood stains and the absence of bodies which were dumped into the mass grave created an atmosphere of tension and ambient horror. Sunset could not help but compare the scene to a computer game of horror genre; shivering, she held her assault rifle tighter, eyes darting from one side to another.

In contrast, Twilight walked apathetically, checking for threats like an automaton. Her body's movements were slow and deliberate, and she was not jumpy by any means. Her mind was partially occupied by patrol duties, and partially by the situation she found herself now.

"Twilight, you look like you haven't seen enough sleep," Sunset said. "Let's head back; you'll go and sleep some more and I will finish my shift."

"I'm fine."

"I call horseshit. You don't see it, but you are moving and acting like an automaton. You are exhausted..."

"I'm fine!" Twilight snapped, interrupting her fiery-haired compatriot. "I don't need sleep. We will finish our shift and head back, OK?"

"Not with you acting like this," Sunset went in front of the lavender-skinned girl. "Everyone sees that you are most definitely not fine! We did not say anything because we did not know what to say..."

"There is nothing to say, Sunset!" Twilight raised her voice. "We failed, plain and simple! The magic journal has been corrupted by Adagio, there is no way to contact Equestria, I am doomed to stay here forever, end of story! Can we focus on patrol now?"

"No," the voice of the former student of Princess Celestia was hard as steel. "You are being obstinate and self-destructive right now. This can't go on."

"Self-destructive? Me?" the equine-turned-human Princess almost choked. "What in fucking Tartarus gives you that bunch of hooey?"

"The fact that you're behaving like this right now does."

"Well what in Equestria do you expect me to do?" Twilight was almost shouting. "Sit in one place and bawl my eyes out until my tear ducts wear out? Go axe-crazy on a murderous rampage? Or shoot myself? I can't afford that!"

"I expected you not to throw out the white flag."

This statement made Twilight explode:

"I am cut out from Equestria FOREVER, Sunset!!! I am knowledgeable, but if you expected that I am so much of a bookworm that I can recall all Starswirl's writings on portals and alternate dimensions and travelling between them and what-the-fuck-not, well newsflash, you're wrong! I needed that journal to contact Princess Celestia or anyone of my friends and have them look at anything that pertains to this field of knowledge so I could at least understand how in the name of demons I actually got here if the portal was destroyed by a nuclear bomb and why I appeared in the place I appeared and some other things! Even if the portal miraculously survived, didn't it occur to you that Canterlot is irradiated to Tartarus and back and there is something else one hundred percent fatal in there?! And without the knowledge, I cannot hope to restore the portal! Face it, Sunset, I have no way to return to Equestria now! Don't you get it?!"

"I do," Sunset replied, but that was not enough to calm the raging lavender-skinned girl as she continued:

"I'm having trouble believing that, with you acting so cool and collected. You don't even care, do you?"

The fiery-haired girl took a step back, shocked by the words that she just heard. The alicorn-turned-human breathed heavily, standing in front of her, eyes filled with rage.

Then, Sunset twitched.

SLAP!

Faster than it could have been expected, she slapped her friend across the cheek with her right hand. Twilight tumbled to the ground from the force of impact, ears slightly ringing, and looked up.

Sunset stood above her, breathing as heavily as she did a moment ago, hand still raised and eyes swelling in tears.

"How dare you?!" her voice cracked, also rising. "How could you think that I do not care about that?! Do you think that seeing you saddened and in pain does not make me feel the same? When I saw what Adagio did to you, I... I... words can't describe what horrible pain I felt! I prayed to Celestia that she would stop tormenting you, because I knew the ritual would bring you even worse agony than what I felt!"

"But you have lived in this world for years!" Twilight was unwilling to cede. "You can do it more easily! Nothing links you to Equestria!"

"What... you... Twilight, you're a Celestia-fucking IDIOT!!!" Suddenly, Sunset's angry teal eyes almost filled her entire field of vision, and the lavender-skinned girl got actually scared. "I have lived here for a long time, but that doesn't mean I never missed Equestria! Fuck, when I was stuck in a fucking Vault 75, I so longed to see the Summer Sun Celebration, or Hearth's Warming, or Nightmare Night, or anything else, because back there, we did not celebrate that, and there was no holiday atmosphere in years, not even for a fucking single day! There were times when I wanted to return, even if for some time, to see other ponies, to breathe the clean air of Equestria... to... to..."

To Twilight's shock, Sunset collapsed to the ground.

"I wa-wanted to see P-p-p-princess Celestia ag-g-g-gain... to s-s-s-say that I... to say that I, that I... miss her..." Sunset covered her face. "How could you say that, Twilight... how could you say I didn't care..."

The fiery-haired girl burst into tears.

Twilight sorely wished for someone to whack her head with a sledgehammer as a hot-as-molten-lava feeling of shame flooded her.

Twilight Sparkle, you are the dumbest, most foalish, boneheaded and retarted Princess in existence. Congratulations on setting the anti-record, dumbass! she thought, as more tears arrived.

They sat in silence for some time, until the lavender-skinned girl muttered:

"I'm sorry, Sunset... I didn't want... I didn't mean to... I am a bad friend!" she declared, getting up and running away, back to home.

Someone caught her by the hand and forcefully turned her around, wrapping arms around her.

"Twilight," Sunset almost whispered, "I understand you. I lost Equestria as well..."

They stood in place, as Twilight's sobs ripped the silence around them...

Fortunately, no one who could bear hostilities towards the Equestrians was nearby, which allowed them to finish their night shift without problems. When they returned, everyone was already up, and both Twilight and Sunset caught a quick hour of sleep before everyone moved out of the house and left Horseshoe Highway for the headquarters of Vault-Tec in Trottingham.

Everyone kept their eyes open for any potential threats. However, for some reason, they came across virtually no one, unlike when Twilight, Sunset, Applejack and Rarity were going together with Cap Collector.

The only threat they have encountered were small packs of feral ghouls that were seemingly more spread out now than before, and land mines left by some "well-intentioned" people who did not think of inexperienced Wastelanders coming across them. Feral ghouls were very quickly dispatched by the group, and mines were spotted by Sunset, Lyra, Bon Bon and Rarity and properly disarmed. Bon Bon actually took some time to educate others on disarming mines, for which others were very grateful.

When Twilight voiced her surprise at the lack of more threatening enemies, Lyra promptly told her not to tempt fate, and Sunset thought out loud that Adagio must have converted the majority of local threats into her mini-army. Others seemed to agree with her, since it was a rather plausible theory, but did not dwell too much on it, and went on.

A couple of hours later, Sunset decided to turn on the radio on her Pip-Boy on a whim. When she set it to the wavelength of Canterlot Wastelands News, they heard the final notes of "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire" playing as the song was coming to a close.

"Oh Tartarus damn it," she said, "that was one of my favourites..."

She went quiet, though, as a female voice, disguised by voice distorter, rang out:

"Greetings, Wasteland wanderers! It is I, your DJ Mysterious Stranger, here to bring you the latest batch of news! Alas, this batch has good news as well as bad news. And I will start with bad news. It is with deep regret that I have to inform you that the settlement known as Horseshoe Highway, located in the southern area of ruins of Trottingham, is indeed destroyed. Our scouts just confirmed that, reporting that many buildings have been burnt to the ground, with ruins standing everywhere and only a few houses escaping the destruction. Blood stains cover almost the whole village, and spent shells are lying around both inside the building and outside on the streets. The tunnels under the village have the same gory scene. It isn't pretty, according to the scouts. There is also a mass grave, with some assault rifles sticking from the ground. Apparently, some kind-hearted soul decided to give the victims, and maybe the attackers as well, a proper burial. Heavens bless them! Because they would drop dead if they saw the scenery in the south-western area of Trottingham. Yeah, that's what our next piece of news is about. Folks, the area near the local Commissariat building is a flipping abattoir! There are bodies upon bodies lying everywhere: normal people, super mutants, ghouls both feral and non-feral, the scouts report that Metro Survivalists actually came out as well. What is interesting, all of the bodies have either rolled-up eyes, or their eyeballs were burst. I... I have no idea what in the wide world this could be. This is abnormal. On a better note, though, zombie attacks seem to have stopped. Brightlight folks do not report any further incursions, and some of them say that at one moment, zombies just screamed and their eyes burst. Well... fingers crossed! That was a piece of good news. And there is one other thing: our favourite Daring Duo, along with some of their friends, was spotted last time going into the south-western area of Trottingham. Good news is that none of the bodies we have found yet belong to them, so again, fingers crossed! If someone can survive that, it's them, and I seriously hope they will make it, because heavens know the Wastelands have not seen that many truly daring souls lately. Well, that's the news for this hour! And now, some music! This time, let's have a repeat of "I Don't Want To Set the World on Fire!", the six-times winner of our favourite love song contest!"

"Oh, leave it on, leave it on!" Lyra asked. The girls enjoyed a piece of pre-apocalypse romantic music while it played, but then Bon Bon insisted that the radio be turned off.

"I know it's kinda boring, but announcing our presence to everyone is a bad idea even if there has been a dramatic drop in the number of threats," she said, and others reluctantly agreed with her.

Somewhere about forty minutes later, they were standing in front of the local Vault-Tec headquarters.

"Heh," Susnet remarked. "Looks a lot different from what I remembered."

The building, like the others, was damaged, although it apparently was less damaged by the atomic blast that leveled the city than by any looters that tried to get themselves anything they thought would benefit them. Applejack was surprised by the HQ's condidtion, but Lyra explained that this building stood rather far from the ground zero, so the only major damage it would suffer would be broken windows and short-circuits because of electromagnetic pulse.

"Even then," she said, "Vault-Tec would have at least their core parts insulated against EMP, and some of their stuff was running on their own energy supply. I am not hoping that this building has more than emergency power, but supposedly this should be enough to power some terminals."

"An' defense systems?"

"Them too, although who knows..."

"What exactly are we searching for?" Bon Bon interrupted.

"Elder Aegis did not specify anything," Twilight said. "We are looking for whatever might interest the Brotherhood of Steel. That includes data on weapons or any other advanced pre-apocalyptic technology."

"So, basically, everything?"

"Pretty much. My primary thought, though, is that we need to check through whatever terminals may have survived."

"I suggest we skip the first floors and get straight to the top floors, then," Sunset said. "I have been here enough times to know that the juiciest parts are where the top dogs resided. And they were on the top."

Everyone gave her flat looks.

"I am not in the right set of mind for good puns. Bleeping sue me," she snarked in response.

"Take positions to the side of the doors," Bon Bon instructed. "Applejack, you and Lyra breach the doors and prepare to blast anything that shoots at us, or take cover if it's something too heavy. We follow you. There might be looters or automated defenses."

"Gotcha," the blonde girl said, positioning herself. Once everyone was ready, she kicked the front door hard, making it fly off the hinges, and preparing her minigun. Lyra had her laser rifle cocked, but no one fired at them.

Everyone went inside the hall. It was large enough to have four sentry bots stationed within, with elegant marble still present somewhere on the floor and remains of once luxurious carpets thrown around. Multiple desks with terminals were present, a security outpost overlooked the entrance (but it was empty, and scorch marks of a grenade explosion along with scrap remains of a Protectron showed why) and there were six elevators.

Much to everyone's surprise, one of them actually worked. It was an elevator which, according to the battered plaque near it, went straight to the top floor.

"So..." Sunset said, unsure. "Anyone wants a ride? Or we go on foot?"

"How many floors are here, again?" Applejack asked.

"Twenty-five."

"Oh fuck no, Ah ain't gonna walk on foot an' waste mah whole ammo supply," the farmer said. "Ah vote for elevator."

"Applejack raises a good point," Rarity said. "We might not make it if we run into automated defenses all the time. Provided they are here, of course."

"Vault-Tec was deep enough in government's pocket to have a permission for their own automated defense system," Bon Bon said. "Especially since some of their offices were attacked by TODC terrorists. The top floor would definitely be heavily defended. The elevator actually is a bypass for that. What troubles me is that this elevator also has a mechanism for authentication. I'm worried that we may trigger a fatal trap while on the way or on the other side."

"Vault-Tec, while a megacorp, still wouldn't be out of Commissariat's control," Lyra replied. "I can easily grant us access to the top floor."

"How?"

Lyra picked a small plastic card that had National Security Commissariat insignia. When she slid it through the slot, the device beeped and glowed green.

"Easy-peasy," she said, smirking. "Perks of being a Commissar. Although, I don't think we should all pile in. Me, Bon Bon and Applejack will go first, the rest follow us separately. We'll send the elevator down."

"OK then," Sunset agreed, albeit reluctantly. Lyra, Bon Bon and Applejack went inside, and the doors closed behind them. Some clanking sounds were heard from the inside, and then the elevator moved. Twilight, Sunset and Rarity stood in place for seven minutes until the elevator arrived back to the ground floor. Going inside, they pressed the button with a number "25" on it - the only numbered button except "1".

As they approached the top floor of the building, they heard the rattle of Applejack's minigun, Lyra's laser rifle blasts and Bon Bon carbine's shots ring closer. Everyone frowned, and prepared their weapons: Twilight held her laser rifle, Sunset opted to use R91 assault rifle, and Rarity picked her marksman carbine.

When the door opened, they quickly dashed to the closest cover. Raising their heads, they saw Applejack, Lyra and Bon Bon blast away the security robots with Vault-Tec logo on them, that were quite hostile. As the girls arrived, though, the first group has managed to put down all the robots. Applejack pulled the lever, releasing the spent box, and Lyra explained:

"Seems that the robots were in autonomous security mode, not slaved to any control station. Under existing protocols, that meant everyone not wearing a special Vault-Tec badge is legitimate target. Stupid system."

They moved through the floor, disposing of the annoying robots as they encountered them. Fortunately, they did not encounter any heavily armoured robots on the floor, and were able to move largely unimpeded.

The situation changed when they approached the large metallic double door with a complex locking mechanism. Lyra explained that a corporate mainframe was located behind it, which would allow them to unlock all the terminals with a special master control code that could be possessed either by a corporate executive or an operative of the Commissariat with sufficient authority.

"Since when do you possess sufficient authority to pull that off?" Sunset asked, surprised.

"At one time, I had had to work with Vault-Tec in order to vet the candidates for a Vault..."

Twilight immediately glanced at Rarity, eyes widening in fear. Lyra doesn't know about Rarity's vendetta against Vault-Tec! An image of Rarity raising her carbine and shooting Lyra in the back of the head immediately flashed in her mind.

However, when she turned around, she saw nothing out of the ordinary on the ex-fashionista's aristocratically pale face. The expression she had was of rapt attention as she listened to the former NSC agent. Catching Twilight's look, she turned around, eyebrows raised.

What? she mouthed.

The lavender-skinned girl shook her head. Nothing, she conveyed.

"...and when the job was complete, I was allowed to retain my Vault-Tec superuser credentials," Lyra continued. "They are actually on the magneto-optic disk where I have my Commissariat override codes, and they are auto-executable, so once we get to the mainframe, it should be fine. Problem is, I don't know what may be located behind the door. Given that security is in autonomous mode, it will be hostile to us. Get ready."

Everyone took position in cover, except Applejack who had her minigun ready, barrels rotating. The mint-skinned girl unlocked the door with her Commissariat override card, and the heavy locking mechanism cranked for ten seconds before the door slid apart, revealing several strange one-wheeled robots behind it with some sort of TV sticking out of their front with a strict policeman face sticking out of it.

"Intruders detected! Fire!" one of them declared while everyone rained fire on the robots. Despite their seeming brittleness, these robots were more sturdy than Protectrons, and one of them managed to attack Applejack with a stream of lasers before falling to the onslaught.

"Motherfucker!" the blonde girl exclaimed, seeing the front of her armour slightly melted down from the barrage. "That varmint spoiled mah armour!"

"Are you hurt?" Twilight asked.

"Nah, Ah'm fine, but that fuckin' clanker did a number, that's for certain. Lyra, what in tarnation are these scrap heaps?"

"Securitrons," Bon Bon replied instead of Lyra. "Developed by RobCo, the closest thing to a military-grade robot civilian agencies were allowed to have. The police, the private security companies and the megacorps used them. Heck, an upgraded version was even used by the military, as well as Directorate of Intelligence and Commissariat."

"Yes," Lyra said, "Securitrons Mk. II were used in defensive operations, I remember that. Aside from gatling lasers, Mk. II version has rocket launchers and reinforced titan-carbon-polyalloy armour designed to resist energy weapons. These are Securitrons Mk. I we are dealing with here, thank the heavens. Maintain caution, though, gatling lasers are bad enough, and they might have powerful tasers for close quarters."

"Yay," Sunset said sarcastically. "I forgot how these robots used to wheel around and bark in that nasty metallic voice, "Move along!" or something else. Now I remembered. Shit."

"At least you can shoot them silly now, darling," Rarity said. "I also recall seeing those, and I positively hated them. Really wanted to just punch their stupid TV screens."

"Ha!" the fiery-haired girl laughed. "Now you're on my wavelength, Rarity."

"Vandals," Twilight shook her head.

"You have not yet realized the schadenfreude of wanton destruction, Twilight," Rarity chuckled and winked.

"I'd rather not."

The girls moved on, hiding behind every possible cover and eliminating any Securitron they encountered. They never encountered more than one or two at a time, which led to the robots being taken out ridiculously easy - aside from several hits each of them had gotten from gatling lasers. Twilight had to apply a burn salve when several beams glanced her face, which did not improve her mood and led her to recall the look she had when she tried to warn her past self not to worry of impending doom - much to Sunset's amusement.

They quickly got to the maneframe. Lyra quickly inserted her magneto-optic disk with override codes and executed the commands that brought down the whole firewall system. After that, she typed something else.

"I have allowed full access to the database from any terminal on this floor and reset all passwords," she said. "Now we can pull any information we want. Let's find ourselves some terminals."

Entering the closest office and disposing of two Securitrons, the girls found themselves in a spacious room with many separate cabins with their own EMP-insulated terminals. Not all of them were in working order, though, so each girl chose one.

Sunset tried to search for information on Vault 75, curious as to what was the purpose behind it. She has not forgotten what she knew about them at the moment, and so far, she did not find what she knew reassuring.

Vault 49 was overfilled with people who were criminals. They formed gangs and fought each other with easily accessible weapons. The survivors bailed out to form White Knives, one of the most dangerous threats they have encountered.

Vault 85 was a ground for inhumane experiments with Forced Evolutionary Virus. Had Sweetie Belle been put there, she would have suffered a fate worse than death, of that Sunset was sure. But why? What was there to gain by filling the Vault with others only to butcher them all?

Vault 94, from which Rarity came, was apparently a military-ran Vault. Each and every person was supposed to have been trained in combat. And, given Rarity's proficiency in infiltration and sniping, it was effective.

But none of that was in Vault 75. The million-bits question was: why? The only conclusions that Sunset could reach were either someone's extreme incompetence... or a far greater plan behind the Vaults.

The Societal Preservation Project.

Unfortunately, a lot of information was unavailable for viewing. The fiery-haired girl guessed that either even the top dogs of Trottingham division of Vault-Tec were not in the know, or data was corrupted. Still, she found several things she decided to look through.

The first one was an official record on Vault 75:

VAULT 75

Construction began: 11.06.2092
Construction finished: 27.11.2093
Budget: $105,000,000
Vault model: VTS-2200

Staff:
Overseer: 1
Security Personnel: 1 Head of Security (Captain), 1 Deputy Head of Security (Vice-Captain), 10 squad leaders (Lieutenants), 100 security officers (Sergeants). TOTAL: 112
Maintenance Personnel: 1 Head of Engineering, 1 Deputy Head of Engineering, 25 engineers. TOTAL: 27
Medical Personnel: 1 Head of Medical, 1 Deputy Head of Medical, 10 doctors, 15 nurses. TOTAL: 27

Planned number of accepted inhabitants: 834

Participant of Societal Preservation Project: YES
Project details: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.

G.E.C.K. supply: 1 (to be used only in case described in the letter to Overseer).

Number of admiitted persons: 834
Vault is at full capacity. Admittance process aborted.

Commissariat Vetting Officer: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.
Commissariat Vetting Officer's Vetting Result: All persons from the list have been vetted, and approved for being granted admittance into Vault 75. Vetting Officer: [REDACTED]

While it was somewhat naive to believe that the details of Societal Preservation Project would be found here, the mere notice that Vault 75 was a part of the atrocity that a Dr. Sharp Nerve had cooked up made Sunset's insides boil. It also added some other questions, which she decided to shelve for later.

Another interesting part was a record of an inter-department chat between two workers via e-mail:

Fence Bender wrote to Sail Wind:
Man, what is that deal with a freaking G.E.C.K. issued to Vault 75 and told not to use it? Aren't G.E.C.K.s for control Vaults only? These things are freaking expensive, the old hags at Accounting keep throwing hissy fits whenever they hear about a new one being commissioned! I know Future-Tec is one of our own branches, but [EXPLETIVE], man, this [EXPLETIVE] costs almost as much as half of a Vault! What the [EXPLETIVE] are they thinking?!

Sail Wind wrote to Fence Bender:
Shut the [EXPLETIVE] up, man. Orders straight from Canterlot, that's why. You want that Commissariat guy or the top boss to read your [EXPLETIVE] e-mail? Be my guest, but you'll be [EXPLETIVE] very quickly. Did you forget that Fleur Dis Lee mouthed off at someone from NSC and she has been missing for some time? I tell you, man, that's no [EXPLETIVE] coincidence. [EXPLETIVE] chill out.

"Fleur Dis Lee got messed up? Should have expected that. But... control Vaults? Interesting," Sunset said. Unfortunately, she was unable to find more information on what kept her interest.

Twilight was looking through whatever data could potentially be of interest to the Brotherhood of Steel. Little, if any information could be pulled on the topic, but one file caught her attention. It had the following info:

Memo #33279
To: Canterlot HQ
From: Trottingham HQ

Stalliongrad, Baltimare and Trottingham divisions of Future-Tec have corraborated on one of their latest ideas, which they call Project Swab - although I keep insisting that they change the name, but they seem to be intent on making jokes like that - and which may be a very worthy investment.

Project Swab is a derivative of Project Recolonizer, which has successfully resulted in creation of G.E.C.K.; unlike it, however, this project aims to combat the radiation that would undoubtedly cover the land, should TODC ever try to unleash their nuclear arsenal upon us. The core idea of the project is to accelerate the nuclear decay by stimulating the process; for instance, dangerous radioactive isotopes like cesium-137 or stroncium-90 should undergo acceleration of their beta decay process, which should render them into safer isotopes, which should, in return, negate their danger.

The exact mechanism of said acceleration is, quite frankly, beyond me. As far as I understood, it is somehow based on Twilight Sparkle's job on microfusion energy, and the device designed for this creates some sort of localized "temporal displacement" field (it is not the term the scientists use, and they insist it is the wrong one, but it is the best amateur description I can give), which would make an effect of time passing quicker on a scale of elemental particles in some area. A side effect of said acceleration, however, is increased radioactivity in the area where the acceleration takes place.

Frankly, it sounds a lot like science fiction, but I took care to see the scientists, especially Doctor Hooves, in person. The team has managed to assemble a small prototype, and they tested it near the Trottingham-6 nuclear station, where a leak had happened in 2063. They tested their prototype in an area ten kilometers away from it, and when their prototype finished working, the soldiers walking with dosimeters lost their jaws: the area affected by the test was fully clear of radiation! I covertly re-checked the area two days later and one week later - there was no spoof. The prototype ACTUALLY WORKED!

Given that Twilight Sparkle's theories on microfusion energy were also initially thought of as science fiction and now we have power armour and energy weapons, I believe Project Swab is a worthwhile investment. I have attached their schematics and theoretical papers to the memo and encrypted them by my own key.

Just convince Doctor Hooves to change the project's name. Seriously.

Signed,
Audro Stamp,
Head of Vault-Tec office in Trottingham

Attached: 9 files

This will be of value to Elder Aegis, Twilight thought, copying the memo and its attachments onto her magneto-optic disk. She hid the data storage device inside her own Pip-Boy, hoping it would be safer in there thanks to the hardened frame of the device.

Rarity, however, was trembling. She ahd tried to infiltrate the building before, but without Lyra's Commissariat override codes, she could not see the data she so desperately wanted to see.

Now, she had all the secrets at her fingertips!

Well... not all. But I can still get something!

She opened the record on Vault 94.

VAULT 94

Construction began: 21.02.2093
Construction finished: 07.01.2094
Budget: $485,230,000
Vault model: VTS-2400

Staff:
Overseer: 1
Security Personnel: NONE, SEE MILITARY PERSONNEL BELOW.
Military Personnel:1 UFE Army Colonel, 1 UFE Army Lieutenant-Colonel, 3 UFE Army Majors, 6 UFE Army Captains, 12 UFE Army Lieutenants, 48 UFE Army Sergeants, 240 UFE Army Privates. TOTAL: 301
Maintenance Personnel: 1 Head of Engineering, 1 Deputy Head of Engineering, 25 engineers. TOTAL: 27
Medical Personnel: 1 Head of Medical, 1 Deputy Head of Medical, 20 doctors, 35 nurses. TOTAL: 57

Planned number of accepted inhabitants: 595

Participant of Societal Preservation Project: YES
Project details: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.

G.E.C.K. supply: 0

Number of admiitted persons: 530
Omega-level threat protocols enacted. Vault sealed. Admittance process aborted.

Commissariat Vetting Officer: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.
Commissariat Vetting Officer's Vetting Result: All persons from the list have been vetted, and approved for being granted admittance into Vault 94. Vetting Officer: [REDACTED]

N.B. The following persons are on Commissariat's watchlist: Dodge Ball, Slap Foot, Augur Eagle, Rarity Belle. Cause: family relation to politically unreliable persons.

There are currently no sufficient reasons to deny entry to any of them; however, constant overwatch is advised. Vetting Officer [REDACTED].

"So they put me on the watchlist... Commissariat ruffians," Rarity muttered under her nose. Pulling the files on Vault 85, she saw:

VAULT 85

Construction began: 19.06.2092
Construction finished: 20.11.2093
Budget: $427,658,000
Vault model: VTS-2500

Staff:
Overseer: 1
Security Personnel: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.
Scientific Personnel: 1 Head of Science, 1 Deputy Head of Science, 20 scientists, 40 laboratorians. TOTAL: 62
Maintenance Personnel: 1 Head of Engineering, 1 Deputy Head of Engineering, 25 engineers. TOTAL: 27
Medical Personnel: 1 Head of Medical, 1 Deputy Head of Medical, 10 doctors, 15 nurses. TOTAL: 27

Planned number of accepted inhabitants: 500

Participant of Societal Preservation Project: YES
Project details: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.

G.E.C.K. supply: 1

Number of admiitted persons: 500
Omega-level threat protocols enacted. Vault sealed. Admittance process aborted.

Commissariat Vetting Officer: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.
Commissariat Vetting Officer's Vetting Result: All persons from the list have been vetted, and approved for being granted admittance into Vault 85. Vetting Officer: [REDACTED]

N.B. The persons on the list are on Commissariat watchlist as potential TODC sympathizers. Maintain caution. Vetting Officer [REDACTED].

Rarity decided to dig in a little deeper. Out of the files pertaining to Vault 85, she maanged to find a record of admittance lists, and changes log.

Her eyes went wide as she looked through it.

Her hands shaking, she took out a Pip-Boy with a symbol of shield coloured in three stripes of magenta, pink and pale violet, with an image of a dark violet star and a symbol of musical note imposed upon it. It had a cord with small earphones plugged into a special socket. Turning it around, Rarity looked at a small picture.

Aquamarine and harlequin eyes of herself and Sweetie Belle looked back at her. The smiles depicted on the picture were genuine, if a bit tarnished by the worry they had felt in those years. Rarity took this selfie photo of herself and Sweetie in Stalliongrad, shortly before their parents were killed in a car bombing organized by TODC agents. They just managed to get themselves their favourite ice cream, and Sweetie offered to make an impromptu selfie. Rarity agreed, although it was hot and ice cream could melt at any moment...

The ex-fashionista plugged the ear buds into her ears and turned on the Pip-Boy she was holding. When the operating system loaded, she mechanically opened an audio file she had heard numerous times.

"I can't believe it!" the girl's voice was full of indignation. "Some asshole invalidated my papers, and the soldiers in power armour would not let me into the Vault! The bombs exploded, and everyone ran inside. Or tried to... when the soldiers went inside the Vault, someone turned on the Hypnotrons, or sonic emitters, I dunno, but none were able to enter - the crippling headache would not let us! And by then it was too late. The door closed. Of course, everyone ran to the console, begging to let them in, but it was all for naught. At least the shock wave did not get us in the cave..."

Click. The recording has ended. As if she were a robot, Rarity turned another one.

"It is useless to try and get to those fuckers in Vault 85. They are not responding. They won't open the Vault. Guess we're on our own. Damn it! Rarity would tan my hide for the language, but she isn't here. I gotta find somewhere to munch back in town. The radiation is there, but some Rad-X helps. The people would bulldoze anyone for food right now..."

Click. Rarity turned on the next recording.

"Tartarus damn it! We tried to get some remaining food when radioactive rain started falling! We doubled back into the cave, me and some other people, but few made it... very few. I myself caught five hundred rads, if my Pip-Boy doesn't lie. Fuck! I guess it's not gonna be good for me now. I wonder if Rarity got kicked out like me..."

Click. This time, when the recording began, the voice of Sweetie Belle was weaker and weaker:

"Damn it... I think I got radiation sickness now. My head hurts like Tartarus, my forehead is hot, I think I'm running a fever... can't think straight... puked several times... even when there was no food. My own stomach wants out... yeah, definitely radiation sickness... Goodness... can't think... hurts to talk... some other guys there gave me Rad-X. Rad-X... yeah, Rad-X will help... RadAway would do better... but can't go out... the world is dead out there... I'm gonna die if I step out. No, stay here, Sweetie... stay... sleep... can't sleep... head's splitting..."

Click.

"No, no, noooooo! Radioactive dust got blown inside the cave! My Pip-Boy's clicking like... like... a clicking bird... a clicker! Dunno if such bird exists... oooh, my head! Pip-Boy shows radiation climbing... I already got seven hundred fifty rads... no, wait... eight hundred, actually..." puking sounds rang out, and Sweetie continued, "my fucking stomach, all my organs just want out of my body! Rad-X is useless. I can't... protect myself... it's not enough. Tried to ring these assholes in the Vault again... silence. Earlier at least they said something... and now the suckers don't even wanna talk. Fuck 'em all! Oh, what's that..." Another pause. "Well great, I just shat. Diarrhea now kicked in. Fuck. Rarity must be sitting in comfort... Damn it, Rarity! Why? Why did you leave me here? Why did you not take me with you there!" another sound of puking. "I hate you, Rarity!"

Click. Rarity turned on the last recording. The clicking of a Pip-Boy's radiation detector was especially incessant in that one.

"Almost close to one thousand rads... gonna die now... stopped with Rad-X. Won't do any good... just wanna die now. I'm the last one left... everyone dead... I'm dead as well... almost... almost there... tried to listen to my logs... just made my mood worse... assholes in the Vault still silent. Fuck. Fuck this world, fuck this war, fuck Vault-Tec, fuck everyone and everything. Except... except... can't think... can't... fucking... think..." Silence reigned for several seconds, until Sweetie spoke again, "Urgh... stupid rad-clicker... shut up. Please. Eh... it won't... fuck... what was it I wanted to say..." Again, silence, twice as long this time. "Oh, right... Rarity... Sis... Dunno if you will hear this... but I... I..."

Then, Sweetie's voice was replaced by the sounds of pre-dying hoarseness, until a final exhale of breath signified the inevitable fate of being exposed to a fatal dose of radiation.

Click. Rarity turned off the recording and wiped out the unasked-for tears that formed in her eyes. She downloaded the admittance records, and tucked Sweetie Belle's Pip-Boy away.

"Hey, everyone ready?" she heard Twilight shout. "We have finished!"

"I'm ready, darlings!" the indigo-haired girl replied, faking a cheerful response. Falling behind the group, she allowed a frown to adorn her face for several seconds.

Black Widow had a new target now.

With this thought, she followed her friends through the ruins of Trottingham, until they arrived at the gates of Brightlight and Sunset said:

"Well, don't know about you, but I really wanna hit that cot in the motel with my proverbial name on it. Girls?"

A chorus of "hoorays" and "yays" sounded in response. Everyone allowed themselves to breathe in relief.

They made it back to Brightlight.

They were still alive.

Author's Notes:

After the overwhelmingly positive response I got for Chapters 28-30, my muse, while a bit subdued by real life and a change in pace, still went forward. I did my best to make a good "immediate aftermath" chapter. Please leave a comment regarding... well, anything that this chapter deals with. I have a feeling that it is still imperfect, but I cannot figure out how to make it better, so if anyone gives me valuable advice, it would be awesome. But if you think that everything's OK as it is and say so, then... double awesome!

But seriously, say the truth as you see it.

Another thing is in regards to this blog, regarding the songs and the story. The overwhelming majority chose an option of me posting a "song number" separately, and that is what I am going to do now. In fact, soon after this chapter is published, keep an eye on my blog. You might see something there

I predict that there will be two more chapters until the arc is finished. Might be more (unlikely, though), but not less.

The part about Sweetie's final messages was inspired by a conversation I had with one of my readers, Chayn. He had offered a wickedly good idea regarding Sweetie that, unfortunately, contradicted the plot I had developed, but it inspired to me to create another gut-punching (although maybe not as good) moment for Rarity. Chayn, if you're reading this, thanks a lot, you deserve the credit for it! Have a virtual cookie.

Next chapter may come out in 10-30 days. Stay tuned!