"My, my... you throw quite the party Fast..." The ghoul mayor of Goodneighbor, Shamrock, paced the demolished Princess Luna Suite and took in all the destruction, stopping at the corpse one of the mutant alicorns that had attacked us.

All of us sat in the floor watching him, my head hung in shame at being the reason the well preserved room had suffered so much damage. It was a miracle this building had survived 200 years in such good condition, it only took one night of us to put an end to that...

"I'm really sorry Shamrock. I didn't think the Church of Balefire would come right out and attack us in your town. I'll er... fix the room, I promise..." I muttered an apology to the ghoul inspecting the mutated corpse with interest.

He looked up from his examination with a twinkle in his milky eye and shook his head. "What, the room? No worries at all, we'll just have to move you to the Celestia Suite hmm? It's partly a failure on our part too Fast, I've heard of that church of loons before and haven't paid them much attention. We never expected to be attacked by... alicorns? Whatever these things are. Not fine looking fillies like you ladies! I assume your guests are some of our neighbors from Trinity Tower? Wonderful to meet you!"

Ivy and her sisters straightened under the attention and sweeping bow from the ghoul, the green alicorn answering tentatively. "Er... y-yes we are, charmed to meet you as well Mayor Shamrock. We apologize for bringing this chaos to your town... Our wayward sisters have gone too far, this was not our doing but we are responsible for them."

Shamrock arched an eyebrow and walked in front of the three of them, pausing at Peri and glancing pointedly at her Minutemare hat and rifle. "Nonsense! I understand you helped repel these Church nuts, fought against your... own? Forgive my curiosity but these things are something I've never run into before, are they related to you gals?"

He had moved on to poking at one of the long horned varieties' shredded head, looking up to Jade's angry snort and whinny at the question. "Definitely not! These are creations of the Institute, not of our mother, warped and twisted things made from innocent ponies!"

Raising a wing up meekly for attention, Ivy calmed Jade's annoyance and continued in an apologetic tone. "Some of our kind have broken away from us... agreed to assist the Institute in exchange for certain favors. These creatures are not our doing, but we do bear some responsibility for our sister's actions. I am sorry, those of us still in Trinity Tower had no desire to make ourselves enemies of your town, I understand if you wish us to leave."

"Leave!? Of course not! I want more of you to come! I've tried sending envoys to you mares but they've all been turned away, that guard of yours traumatized a few of them let me tell you!" The mayor beamed a crooked smile up to the trio and laughed, I could only imagine the shape whoever he had sent was in after trying to get past Swan...

Ivy looked confused, giving Shamrock a pointed stare I could only imagine was her listening to his thoughts. Could she hear ghoul thoughts? They were ponies... After a moment she continued warily, "Why? Most don't want anything to do with us..."

Putting on an air of a kindly grandfather the ghoul chortled, "Because! Everypony should be invited to a good party! Seriously though, you fillies live in an old Ministry hub, a subject of great interest to me being partially in charge of another one. Plus you're interesting, I'm not sure what all we could offer that you ladies would want, but having friends is always good right? Being on good terms with such strong neighbors is good for us, we could open up trade and er... tourism... don't know if you gals have much in the way of caps, but there's plenty of ways to spend them here! No offense but that tower of yours seems a tad boring..."

"It is..." Peri muttered darkly to herself, getting a pained hiss from Ivy and a raspy laugh from Shamrock.

"I see one of you likes what we have on tap here anyway! I've often wondered why I never saw any of you in town with you so close, there's something for everypony in Goodneighbor! Don't you worry about a thing my dear, I think I have a better understanding of your settlement and... political problems. I don't hold you accountable for what some splinter group decided to do, though I'm afraid I'm going to have to issue sterner orders against any of you alicorn beauties identifying themselves as members of this Church of Balefire. Now then! Let's get you moved out of this wreck and into proper accomodations, let the repair crew start cleaning up and getting rid of the... trash..." Shamrock stopped by the door and stared down at the hulking mutant corpse there distastefully, gesturing us to follow.

It took a few minutes to dig our belongings out of the detritus of the suite and accompany the ghoul, his promises of increased security washing over me. I was too tired to be that concerned and Glitter was already asleep on Jade's back, looking over the bulky robed corpse at the door I thought tomorrow was bound to be a busy day.

Ivy followed either my gaze or my thoughts, coming up beside me to join in looking at the mutated body. "Umbra will have to be told..."

A rime of frost covered the ground and glistened in the rising sun off the rusting carriages and chariots in the streets of Trotson, the clear morning air chilly and puffing out of my muzzle in little clouds with each breath. The explosions and cracks of gunfire put a damper on the beautiful scenery zipping by as I clung to Jade's neck though.

The griffon pursuing us was maddeningly difficult to hit and I fumed, trying to reload the Terrible Shotgun with Jade's big blue wings beating against me. I had no idea how Val managed aerial combat so well, growing up flying must really give you a different world view. Every time I lined up a shot against our airborne attacker, they juked or dived away in some new direction, as a thoroughly ground bound pony I was having trouble keeping up.

None of this was made easier by Jade's own aerial acrobatics, my stomach lurched and fought with the light breakfast I had before we left on this trip, the spinning dive she went into adding to my troubles. As I hung on desperately she looped around a cracked monorail track winding its way through the city several stories up, banking sharply rightside up when my hindlegs started coming free from her back and scrambling in midair.

Once the world stopped spinning I could make out the tawny, yellow-brown griffon coming right at us, trying to pull up and away with powerful flaps of her wings. In a purple flash Magnolia appeared directly above her and drove her down, right into my line of fire. Alright, if I couldn't take time to aim I'd just have to fire from the flank, the shotgun floating above Jade's head started barking, several rounds slamming into the griffon's side as she passed.

"Urk... g-good job Jade! Got her that time!" I groaned watching the griffon careening away, wounded but not out of the fight. I really missed Val at the moment and had second thoughts about leaving her behind with Glitter and Zed.

The Gunners behaved themselves in Goodneighbor, but word was obviously out after we appeared in public there, with a group of Trinity Tower alicorns no less. They had been waiting with a good idea where we were likely to go, setting an ambush down the most direct root to the tower. Val warned me of their likely trap and been furious at being told to stay, but with the Church of Balefire in Goodneighbor and willing to come out to attack us, I wanted the tough griffon near Glitter. Hopefully she was helping Zed track down the church while we were gone, I tried to soothe her by telling her she was unlikely to be allowed in the tower again anyway, but she was pretty grumpy when we left.

Shots sparked against the curved shield Jade was maintaining beneath us, more Gunners running to keep up with our progress or firing from the windows of the ruined towers around us. Jade spun in the air and continued flying towards Trinity Tower, the tall spire of the mostly intact building sparkling in the sun.

"I am sorry for the rough ride Fast! Please hang on tightly, we will be there soon!" She called over her shoulder as we dove under a precariously leaning billboard, gaining height once past it to join Ivy flapping along above, coordinating her sisters telepathically.

I kept hearing the crack of a rifle below us, but couldn't see the source of the sound. Peri playing with her sniper rifle then... being able to calmly fly along invisibly and blast the ponies Ivy picked out sure was useful. I caught more purple flashes in the shattered windows around us too, Magnolia teleporting behind the shooters perched there, as I watched she bucked one out the window and teleported off again.

Watching how the trio of alicorns worked together and used their abilities to such devastating effects, I gave a shudder thinking about what they must have been like when directed by the goddess. Jade was a pacifist so I had no appreciation for just how powerful they were in combat, I was learning now though. If their mother had not been so proud, not done as Peri complained and let them use normal pony weaponry and armor... they would have been a nightmare...

The scary thought of an army of well armed alicorns acting as extensions of a single intelligence was blown away by the griffon resuming her chase, veering in from a side street to return to our tail. I turned to start taking pot shots at the pursuer and saw the barricades in the street blur by, we were over Trotson Common, which meant...

I snapped my eyes to the front to spot a ring of huge purple motes of magic glowing brightly above the lake in the park, each resolving into eldritch arrows bigger than a pony, pointing the way we came. We swept past the impressive display of magic just as the griffon crossed the border of Swan's territory, scrambling frantically at the sight of the spell waiting for her. Even her skilled flying wasn't enough to save her, three magical arrows shot forward and impaled her against the upper stories of a burnt out Pony Joe's storefront. More lanced out into the street, obliterating any of the ground based Gunners trying to follow.

Jade landed at the fountain in front of Trinity Tower and sat to allow me to slide off her back, panting lightly as she checked me over for injuries. Satisfied we had run the gauntlet without significant damage, she nodded up to her sisters flying up to the upper floors of the tower apologetically.

"Here we are, I must speak with Umbra with the others as we discussed Fast. I... I am sorry to make you wait here, are you sure you will be alright until she agrees to let you up?" Clearly the story of how we fared without our resident doctor after last leaving this place made her reluctant to leave, I didn't see any reason to worry at the moment though.

"Go ahead, it's alright. I reeeeally doubt I'm in any kind of danger sitting here Jade." I gave a pointed look to the wisps of purple magic fading away above the park, Swan was a very good guard...

A supercharged alicorn guardian still didn't seem to entirely assuage her worry, but she gave a determined little nod and hovered off the ground. "Very well, I will see you up there shortly then. Perhaps you could go thank Swan for us, her assistance was impressive."

I waved her off and looked out at the park warily, she was right, I should thank Swan... The Gunners had given up their pursuit and retreated in the face of the overwhelming force she answered with. Plus I did want to help and befriend all of Jade's sisters, this one was odd remaining by herself out here away from even her own sisters. She was the mare to ask about teleportation too, something my limited use of had proven valuable, I did need to learn to control it.

None of those very good reasons made approaching her lair any easier...

Come on hooves... move forward... I was being silly, I hadn't even seen this mare yet! I forced myself across the street berating myself mentally, I wasn't scared of Jade when she got all... super sized, no reason to be worried about this one... Of course I knew and trusted Jade, and she didn't leave such frightening evidence of destruction in her wake...

"H-Hello!? Hi Swan... just me, Fast... I'm a guest remember?" I stood at the smaller side entrance to the park facing the tower, my pip-buck gently clicking away. As long as I stayed away from that shed on the southern side with all the yellow barrels spilling into the lake, I should be ok radiation wise.

No answer... Working up my nerve for a minute, I gulped and took a step forward into the park itself, putting one hoof in front of the other down the cracked sidewalk winding through the ruined park. I passed a melted swingset slowly being covered by sickly looking ivy and turned north around the lake, heading for the boathouse and away from the click-click on my geiger counter.

"Swan?! Can you hear me? I uh... w-wanted to say thank you! For the help... I don't mean to bother you! Just trying to be friendly!"

"FRIENDLY?" The rumbling reply from the direction of the lake sent a shiver down my tail, well she heard me anyway...

E.F.S. lit up with a green mark pointing towards the water as I stepped off the walk, trotting cautiously to the shore and calling out to the murky cloud of fog that hung over the water. "Yeah! Friendly! You're one of Jade's sisters, her family... I r-really like Jade so I want to be friends with you too! The way you took out those Gunners was really awesome, Ivy and the others are right, you're a great guard!"

Waves lapped at the shore as the green mark in my vision moved slightly, out in the distance I spotted a long purple horn trailing through the water out of the fog. Watching that horn coming my way like a shark fin sticking out of the water was making me nervous, it kept rising out of the surface of the lake and pushed a good sized wake ahead of it.

The head that followed that horn made a sweat spring up on my coat, a dripping, pale pink mane trailed it in the water and those big blue-violet eyes were the size of carriage wheels... Then her neck came up, and up... and up... her chest breached the surface and pushed a bow wave ahead of it that started lapping at my hooves. Finally she reached the shore, her long legs climbing up in the muck and pushing her even higher up, leaving me craning my neck to follow her head, her hooves that stomped up on the shore each bigger around than me.

I stared up flabbergasted at the magnificent mare dripping above me, given her talent for violence I expected her to look dangerous, scarred and muscular, with an eyepatch maybe... Instead the giant filly was as pretty as Jade, the water glistening off her huge body defining every curve alluringly. I gaped and stammered senselessly as she snorted and shook herself off, soaking me in freezing lake water.

Shed of all that water dripping off me now, her pale pink mane poofed out in long locks curling at the ends, framing her face and trailing into the water at her tail I could spot swishing past her legs. That massive head lowered down to me gawking, a muzzle the size of an armchair poking and sniffing in long puffs. Her big eyes crossed looking me over and blinked slowly.

"GUEST.... YOU ARE SISTER JADE'S..." I held my hat to keep it from blowing off at the booming statement, my ears flattening against the noise.

"Wow! Loud! L-Little loud... Er... yeah! Her special somepony... I'm Jade's special somepony, she's mine. N-Nice to meet you! You're... um... r-really pretty! a-and big... definitely big..."

Her large head lifted back to my relief, raising an eyebrow and looking back at herself curiously. Swan fluffed her wings to shed a little more water and tromped up on shore beside me, sitting down with a thump that shook me on my hooves and staring at me quizzically. "PRETTY? NOPONY SAYS PRETTY... MORE SCREAMING AND RUNNING... WHY YOU SAY PRETTY?"

"Umm... because you are? I think so anyway... T-Thanks for toning it down, that's a little better, er... more a whisper though if you can please! I wouldn't scream or run just because you're... tall... o-ok maybe I'm fighting the urge, you are kinda intimidating, sorry... But I've seen Jade sorta like this... n-not as much, but it's not a shock. You must absorb a lot of radiation down here to be like this!"

I walked a slow circuit around the seated mare, my eyes hanging on a rump taller than me before her long tail flicked out at me softly, leaving me sputtering on a lot of pink hair. I stumbled and untangled myself from the wall of pink curls and walked back in front of her, noting with interest her coat was fairly light.

"I like being down here, feel strong, protect sisters. You're a funny pony, not scared, like sister Jade, think I'm pretty, strange..." Well she lowered the volume down to what must be a whisper for her, still a clear conversational tone to me.

I kept shouting up at those radar dish ears pointing my way, holding my ground unsteadily when she flopped to the ground with a tremor and set her chin down on her hooves in front of me. "I hear that a lot! Is it that strange? So you like protecting the others huh? Doesn't it get lonely out here though?"

One big hoof reached up and tapped the side of her head as she gave a reserved smile. "Hear them in here, it's not lonely, I have visitors sometimes. Never normal ponies though, it's strange talking to one, using words... don't hear you in my head. You're even smaller than normal ponies too..."

Ok I could do without that huge hoof prodding at me and hovering over my head, demonstrating where most ponies would come up to. "Yes, I'm short... thanks for that... So do you like it? H-Having normal pony company I mean, I'm not bothering you am I?"

She looked to give it some thought, scratching her mane and knocking dead branches from nearby trees down before answering slowly. "Not bother, different... Sister shared very pleasant memories of you, interesting to see you myself. Cute... tempting to play with you as she does, you like our kind yes? Umbra says not to though... maybe ask her..."

"Play with? W-What kind of memories has she been sharing!?" I yelped as she wiggled her way forward and that giant muzzle started nuzzling at me, puffs of sweet smelling breath blowing my mane back.

Swan gave a lidded look and I saw a pink glow light up her pale lavender cheeks, with a little whinny she crossed her forelegs and raised her head. My view was suddenly tinted bright purple by a field of her magic as I was lifted up to eye level and she gave a experimental lick, reminding me forcefully of Jade doing the same in her condition. One side of me was completely slathered, leaving my mane sticking straight up. I sputtered and scrambled uselessly in the air as she smacked her lips thoughtfully.

"Hmm... yes, have to ask. Sister Jade shares many memories, lots of you and things you do together. Saw them with the others, many are interested now, Evergreen never shared. Umbra doesn't like it though, lots of arguing... I don't like arguing, stay here and try not to hear. Arguing right now, don't hear it as much mouth-talking with you though, nice. Convince Umbra and you come back, we play, would like that." The massive filly hummed to herself, having worked out what she wanted to my blushing horror, Jade had been sharing everything!?

"W-Whoa! No, no, no! I only p-play like that with Jade! I think you're gorgeous r-really, but I love her! Er... T-Thanks anyway!"

I really didn't like that perplexed look she gave me, this was mortifying... Peri's insistent attempts were bad enough, at least Ivy and Magnolia kept her in line. One thing Jade had impressed on me about alicorns absorbing this much radiation, they wanted to do what they wanted to do, got less reasonable and more fixated on whatever their desires were. If this filly took it in her head that she wanted the same thing from me, there'd be little to stop her if she absolutely insisted.

Even worse was her offhoofed mention of many of the others being curious about the same thing now, I had to go talk to these mares upstairs knowing they had all seen... how much? Oh Luna take me now... I had noticed the alicorns here so far seemed to have little to no concept of propriety, or modesty, or monogamy... I guessed since they used to be one big hive mind and share everything, they were foreign ideas that had to be learned like Jade had.

"I... I hear you're good at t-teleporting!" I shouted out, trying to derail this whole bizarre, embarrassing line of conversation.

She did straighten up and stop fluttering her eyelashes, a proud smile springing up on her features filling my field of view. "YES! Sorry... yes, I like teleporting, can send very far away, do it for Umbra sometimes."

"T-That's really neat! I uh... can kinda do it, n-not very well though, just little stuff. Oh, and myself once by accident. Any tips you can tell me? I could use the help from somepony who's an expert!"

With a cute tilt to her head, I was floated back to the ground to my relief and she nodded happily. If this was her other job besides simply guarding, she must enjoy the opportunity to show off. In a teacherly tone she said simply, "Make you shaped hole, it's easy."

"Er...." She had to squint to puzzle out my blank look, scrunching her muzzle and scratching her mane in thought.

Struck by a bit of inspiration her horn lit up and a nearby crumpled trash can was lifted up and out over the still water of the lake beside us. Pointing a wing out at it hovering over the surface she continued slowly. "Top of water is the world, want to go from one side to the other, have to go slooooow...."

The dented hunk of metal bobbed across the pond to demonstrate, taking its time reaching the other shore and drooping as if tired as she kept going. "Teleport faster, you go under water, mmm.... under world? Go through... to go through you make you shaped hole in surface."

Her magic lit a round spot on the water beneath the floating junk and another at the opposite shore, with a flick of her horn the trash can dove under the water in the glowing circle under it and popped back up in the other across the pond, before falling abandoned in the mud.

"See? Make you shaped hole, go through, easy. Just have to know what's on other side of hole, have to see, or been there before. Very dangerous to make hole and not know where it goes, could end up stuck in wall or something!" Her rumbling chortle of laughter didn't comfort me at the thought of winding up half in a piece of the landscape, though her explanation had been clearer than anything I had read in my magic books so far on the subject.

"I see you are getting along well, pleased to come meet you myself Swan, thank you for your assistance earlier." Jade's voice drifted down as she glided her way into the park, hovering near her face with a smile.

Swan gave her huge wings a mighty flap, sending me grabbing for my hat again as she lifted off the ground, fluttering in front of Jade and extending a hoof. "Sister Jade, was just talking to your Fast, it was nice, I see why you like. He can come back, I can teach more teleporting and play with him. Have to go back to guarding now, those chasing you not giving up. See you soon I hope!"

Jade landed beside me and watched her soar off, her wingtips stretching from one side of the narrow streets of the Trotson ruins to the other. Once out of sight she turned to me sweetly, her smile faltering when she took in my red-faced pout. "She seemed pleased, I am glad you took time to befriend her Fast. W-What... what is wrong?"

"We need to talk about just what all you've been sharing with your sisters..."

"Everything!?! L-Like... everything, everything?!" I cringed and hid under my hooves in the corner of the elevator as it made its slow way up, praying to the goddesses I just misheard what the concerned blue alicorn with me had sheepishly admitted.

Her hooves tapped together in front of her face nervously as she whimpered. "N-Not everything... I... I am sorry Fast... I told you there was a form of limited unity here, being around my sisters it is natural to share. I... did keep certain things from them, but... those memories were what they were most interested in. The reason why Evergreen disobeyed and broke away, they are curious about you and... r-relationships... Y-You did say you wished to help..."

I pulled my hat down with my flattened ears and felt myself turning red, glancing at the numbers ticking away on the elevator's cracked display towards the waiting alicorns upstairs. "I did... I do! Just... how much?! They saw the memories? Like... like a m-memory orb?"

Her reticent nod made me wince, so most if not all of the mares up there had ridden Jade's memories, saw, heard, and... felt what she had... I wanted to dig through the tiled floor, fall down the shaft to the basement, then keep digging... Her soft voice whispering in my ear while I curled up in a ball was a slight balm to my injured modesty. "I truly am sorry Fast! I-I did not think, did not ask... Though I did not share everything, I was pressured to show some... They were supposed to remain limited to just a few here too, unfortunately they seem to have been shared surreptitiously much to Umbra's displeasure. They needed to know what being with a normal pony was like though. A-Are you mad at me?"

I unclenched one eye to look up at her worried expression and shook my head. "I can't be mad at you. I'm just really, reeeeeally embarrassed... They didn't learn what being with normal ponies was like, they learned what being with me is like, specifically... It's... It's like I just fooled around with a few dozen mares and didn't get to enjoy it... er! N-Not enjoy! But like I don't remember I mean!"

Hastily trying to dig myself out there just rewarded me with a smirk and an arched eyebrow. "You have no reason to be embarrassed, it was entirely my doing and I believe necessary. It helped them understand, raised many questions and much debate. We will simply have to make new memories that are private to make it up to you hmm?"

She had learned to use that sultry voice to great effect, getting me to grudgingly come slinking out of the corner when the elevator dinged and the doors opened. On taking a peek out at all the alicorns watching the doors however, I grabbed the sides and grunted against her gentle pushing. A sea of eyes waited out there, all staring very intently at me, a few with some looks that made me cringe.

Pushed free of the doorway with a pop, I tried to hide at Jade's side as she rushed me through the room. A forest of green, purple and blue faces followed along until we made it to the office Umbra occupied with a relieved side. "C-Can we just never, ever tell Val about any of this please? I'll never hear the end of it if she finds out..."

"Er... y-yes of course Fast. But... Ivy, Magnolia and Peri have shared the memories by now... As I said, a bit of a blackmarket appears to have sprung up concerning them..." Oh fantastic, if Peri knew then Val would soon enough, the griffon liked playing around with the odd mare...

The dark purple Umbra coughed in annoyance and gestured to Ivy sitting beside a ratty pillow, waving me forward to take a seat as her horn lit up brightly. She had the good graces to blush and look away slightly at least, shuffling uncomfortably as her head lowered, our horns close to touching as I took my offered seat. "I apologize Fast, this may be a bit disorienting but our leader wants to review certain things with you... via our unity..."

"Wha?"

The dark emptiness I found myself in was definitely disorienting... Ivy hadn't lied about that. It was quite like being in a memory orb, just a somehow blank one. I assumed my unconscious body had fallen on the provided cushion as soon as the tip of her horn had touched mine. I was starting to get a little panicked at the vast blackness all around me when her green form appeared next to me and spoke soothingly.

"Don't be upset, I'm in here with you. Actually all of us are, since you are not one of us this is a bit of... patched together unity, not the real thing. I am sharing what I get from you with the others, and they are able to speak through me to you. Now there are certain memories and thoughts of yours Umbra wants to discuss..."

"NO! Certain things are off limits! We are not reliving..." I yelped out to the blackness and Ivy, alicorns might feel natural sharing everything but I most assuredly didn't.

Ivy chuckled and touched a shoulder with her wing, or it felt like it anyway, we were in my head so I guessed there wasn't any kind of touching involved here. Either way it cut me short as she shook her head, "No not that, it's alright. Umbra wants to know about the mutants, the Institute and what Evergreen has done."

"Oh... right... Ok, well first I guess is there's three kinds of mutant alicorns, one kind is kinda..." I jumped in surprise as the form of one of the hulking, heavily muscled mutants appeared in front of me at the thought of what one looked like. Oh... in my head, no wonder they wanted to go through all this, telepathy did make things a lot easier.

A representation of all three kinds of Institute alicorns now stood out in the dark, big muscled, big winged and long horned. The image of Ivy looked over each and seemed stumped for a moment, thinking to herself before awkwardly trying to find the right words to reply. "This is difficult to explain Fast, but... in here I get your thoughts and memories, you are speaking because that is what you are used to, but when you talk you think and remember, I get all of that. It is a form of... hmm, mental shorthoof? Just answer normally, I will understand what you mean. Umbra wants to know why there are three. Why are they all so different? Isn't the goal to create true alicorns like ourselves?"

"Well... that's debatable. As for the three kinds, I think they're the three types of ponies... earth, pegasi and unicorn. See, the traits of each type are out of balance with the other two, so super strong is earth, big winged are pegasi, and long horned are unicorns. I wasn't sure until I saw the third kind, but I think it's because the Institute is trying to make the I.M.P. work right, er... the way it was intended to, make balanced alicorns with all three traits. They're experimenting on ponies, trying to get it right and work out the kinks."

There was a pause as Ivy looked to be listening to a lot of voices for a few minutes, finally nodding and replying. "Jade wishes to know why the pegasus type seems the most successful if you know, you think of them as less warped than the others."

"I'm not sure, but I think it's because of radiation... The Grand Pegasus Enclave stayed up above the clouds most of the last 200 years right? Pegasi are probably the least contaminated and mutated by generations of radiation. That's why they're messing around with their Church of Balefire, to experiment on those most affected by radiation damage."

More waiting, the Ivy in my head looked overwhelmed, if she was hearing all her sisters like I was hearing her, I was glad I couldn't engage in real unity. It must be a lot to take in. "Umbra asks, can they do what they promised Evergreen? Make males? Or make ponies like you compatible with us?"

"Umm... I think so... I think it's possible anyway. The one in charge of that part of the Institute, Moondancer, she helped come up with the version of the I.M.P. that made you. The one that made the goddess I mean, it might have been one big accident that ended up succeeding with you guys, your mother falling in, the bombs dropping, all the radiation and contaminants... But if anyone can make that potion work... it's probably her, she wants to make it work too... for herself anyway."

When I named her, an image of Moondancer appeared in front of us. The synth version I had actually spoken with, leaving me to glower at the cream colored mare from my memories as the rest of the alicorns took in what I said. This time the answer came quicker, Ivy glanced at the Moondancer memory and asked their question. "For herself? Not for us?"

I sighed and drooped mentally, "I don't know that, I'm guessing. I know she wants to use it herself, or she did, she was really wrapped up in the idea before the world ended. Now... if I had to bet, I'd say she's using the ponies she's experimenting on and your sisters to get what she wanted. She might share, she might not."

Ivy looked over the memory Moondancer, I guessed picking up all my thoughts concerning the Institute Biosciences head judging by her question. "You empathize with her... think you understand her motivations?"

"Sorta... I think... based on what I know about her... I think she's the type of mare that sees her work as a kind of puzzle to solve. She did want to use the I.M.P. herself, but she's probably determined to make it work just because she can. I understand getting obsessed with a problem as a repair-pony, what she'll do with it when she solves it is probably less important to her than fixing it."

Ivy nodded and smiled, "Thank you Fast, now Umbra also wished for me to... review your memories concerning Jade. Er... v-verify certain things, make sure you are not lying or tricking our sister into caring for you, that you really do care for her... I am sorry, w-would that be alright?"

"Boundries! W-We're not going over certain things! Right!?" I cringed at the thought of having my memories and thoughts poured over as Virescent had done, at least Ivy in my head didn't feel like such an intrusive violation.

The green alicorn shook her head violently, "No! No of course not, we just want your side of her story. We may completely avoid anything you want to be private, p-personally I have no desire to experience certain memories from your side, we are mares after all."

"Phew... A-Alright, other than that I don't have anything to hide. Umm, where do you want to start?"

"The beginning of course Fast." Ivy tittered at her joke.

Feeling came back and I blinked up at the real Ivy, pulling her horn away from mine. A dull headache made me groan as I stood back up, even Ivy looked tired from the effort involved in all that telepathy. Jade stood nearby to support me as I wobbled on my hooves a moment, that wasn't nearly as bad as having my thoughts ripped out of my head like Virescent had done, but didn't do much to improve my feelings on mind reading.

Umbra stood looming over me and grumbled impatiently as I shook off the worst of the effects, giving a bored dismissal when I was paying attention. "That is enough for today, you don't seem to be lying and have given me much to consider. You may leave with these three and return after I have thought."

"No."

One of her yellow eyes twitched and got distinctly dragonish, glaring down at my reply. "What do you mean no?! This is our home, you will leave if I order it!"

"Not until I say a couple things, with my mouth, directly to you. I don't like that you kicked Ivy, Magnolia and Peri out, it's not fair."

"They are compromised, they have spent too much time exposed to you and the outside. I... I need to think..." That commanding facade started cracking as she repeated her go to position, I was in no mood to let her this time after a few hours of having my head examined though.

"You don't adapt to new things very well Umbra, apparently it's way too late to worry about me corrupting your sisters. Or is the spreading of some pretty p-private memories no big deal compared to spending some time in pony towns? Jade shared those with you and now they're all over right? I didn't have anything to do with that, the others are doing it on their own, even though you don't like it. The damage is done and I think you owe me, kicking them out isn't fair!"

I was surprised the dark mare gave ground when I stomped forward, I didn't like pushing her like this, but this really bothered me. The effect didn't last of course, even drawing myself up to scowl at her I wasn't that intimidating compared to the large alicorn leader, she stomped her hooves and glared back with a snort. "Fine! They may... come and go as they please... But do not think to order me around little pony! I will accept your point as an apology for allowing those memories to spread, nothing more."

Ivy blinked in surprise, cocking her head at me and cautiously back to Umbra. "Thank you Fast, I appreciate your concern for us. However I speak for Magnolia and Peri when I say... I-I think we would like to continue leaving the tower and helping Fast and Jade if we are free to do as we like. Though we are glad to be welcome back home."

Umbra seethed and snorted, sending me skittering back at the angry display before she turned with a huff, lowering her head and pointing a shaking wing to the door out. "DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! JUST TAKE THAT MEDDLESOME RUNT OUT!"

"I'm sorry Umbra, I don't mean to make you mad. You're a good leader, you care about everypony here, I can tell that. You can't hide and try to take your time while things change around you though."

She didn't turn back, leaving me to shuffle out quietly. The leader of Trinity Tower was proud, I didn't want to make things harder for her or hurt her feelings, but I could tell I had. I could sort of understand, she was trying to be strong for her sisters, they didn't have to lead, she did. They could afford to be curious and more open to the unknown, for the mare in charge it was just a minefield of potential dangers.

The trio coming back with us took a few minutes to go socialize with the others before leaving, joining Jade and I at one of the gaping windows and launching out into the air. I caught a flick of pink tail disappearing back into Swan's boathouse as we sailed out over the park, giving me a shudder but also making me optimistic about our path back to Goodneighbor... Any Gunners still out there couldn't be in any shape to be much of a problem.

All the frost had melted with the sun by now, leaving a chilly trip with none of the view of before now that I could enjoy it. I spotted a few splashes of bright color on a few of the buildings, on a quick check each was high above the thin Rainbow Trail below us as it crossed our path. Val was right, there was an aerial course of some kind, as we came in for a landing in Goodneighbor I picked out blue, yellow and purple bricks on a few buildings close to where the trail led in to town.

Finding the others turned out to be surprisingly easy, Jade touched down in front of her new clinic building, eager to get to work, when Zed actually came up at a dead run. His wild-eyed prancing was as out of character as him being the first to appear, given his skill at doing the opposite. "There you are! Thank goodness you have brought Miss Ivy back! Your daughter is very clever Fast, she has helped me a great deal!"

That manic gleam in his grey eyes was starting to worry me, despite his praise for Glitter and... whatever she did? "Er... that's great Zed... How'd she do that exactly?"

Making out the filly in question squealing across the street at the head of a small herd of foals from the orphanage let me brace for the inevitable tackle that was coming, meaning I wasn't completely bowled over this time at least. She seemed quite pleased with herself as the crowd of dirty fillies and colts surrounded us, Val flapping along calmly behind them near AssaultJack.

If it weren't for my pip-buck suddenly informing me; "Item Removed", I doubt I would have realized anything had happened, as it was I barely caught a slate grey colt trying to slink away from the rest of the group casually. I scrambled to catch the little earth pony with my magic and barely hung on, yanking him back when he tried to bolt off.

Jade was so delighted at all the foals she blinked up in confusion at the colt in the threadbare scarf hovering in front of me, my hoof held out to him expectantly. "Fast what are you doing!? Let go of him right this... w-what does 'Item Removed' mean?" She crossed her eyes and shook her head at the text that had apparently just shown up in her vision too.

Before I could look for another foal trying to slip away, Glitter let go of me and gave an angry whinny. "Hey! This is my mom and dad guys! No swiping stuff! S-Sorry umm mom, they was just teaching me..."

"Swiping?" Jade's puzzled look was wiped away a moment later, a filly younger than Glitter winced and floated a purple healing potion and a packet of rad-away back to the alicorn doctor. Her sputtering indignation just got worse when the colt I held grumbled and dug in his pockets, returning a couple spell talismans, a spark battery, a fancy buck snack cake and a hoof full of caps. "STEALING!? That is very wrong!"

Now that I had what was taken back, I let the kid go, somewhat admiring his ability to stand up to Jade's goddess voice. Most of the other foals wilted at the mare looming over them, the unicorn filly pick-pocket actually quivering her lip, the colt just gave a sarcastic answer back though. "Easy lady! Jeez... didn't know you were Glitter's folks, sorry. Stealin' cain't be that wrong if it keeps us fed though, not all of us got it so soft ya know."

That took the wind out of Jade's wings for a moment, leaving her unable to come up with a response as Zed joined in on the colt's side. "Forgive them, this is how they survive, I have done such things in my youth as well. Their skills are what has helped me though, and your daughter's ability to befriend most everyone she meets somehow... This light-hoofed little herd is one way the mayor of this place knows so much about what goes on in his town, they are very knowledgeable. Including about suspicious strangers, like the Church of Balefire..."

"Be that as it may, stealing is wrong. Had you asked I would have given what you took freely little one. Now you have been caught doing wrong and must be punished." Whether Zed spoke on their behalf or not, Jade's moral compass unerringly swung back to her biggest complaint and she lectured the frightened looking pink filly.

I was starting to find it amusing the zebra was explaining shades of grey while she was the one sticking to black and white. His next attempt to go back to what he gained from their larcenous skills preemptively cut off, she held a hoof up and looked thoroughly intimidating, pacing in front of the anxious group of foals before continuing.

"You will work off the things you tried to take, then you may have them. I have a great many chores here before I can open my clinic, I could certainly use the help. I will also be happy to pay your little friends if they will help as well? That will give me an opportunity to see to all of your health while you work!"

Jade brightened up and beamed at all of them, waving to the wrecked Helpinghoof clinic behind her invitingly. The sheer number of preservative laden sweets we kept around for Glitter floating out of her medical box packs, had the gaggle of kids drooling and approaching hesitantly, a few looking over to the surly colt that stole from me.

"We got jobs already lady! Oy! Lots of other marks roamin' around you mugs! Filchers don't suck up to big bossy mares just cause they got caught. You guys know what doctors do right? They give shots!" The dark blue maned colt was apparently the leader of this pack of thieves, squawking in annoyance at all the younger ponies following the alicorn doctor, a few paused at 'shots' though.

I looked to Glitter trying to help corral the others with Jade, turning back to the snotty colt and blocking him from the others. I wished I had to lean down a little more to scowl face to face with him, but mom's stare looked like it worked on him pretty well. "Filchers? What have you been teaching my daughter?..."

"How to pick pockets daddy! It's neat, Sticky Wicket's really good at it!" My filly's happy, shouted answer made the brat wince, he tried to hide it well though.

He pushed back against my twitching red eye and answered defiantly in that odd version of the Trottingham accent. "Taught her a valauble skill I did! Ought'a be thankin' me mister!"

"Is that so? Well, unlike the princess there I can see how you might have to. Stealing doesn't make me nearly as mad as teaching her how to steal... I'll let you off the hook, but play nice. Let your pint sized gang work for the Princess today, let her make sure they're healthy even if that means shots, you're in charge right?"

I had to give it to the colt, he was gutsy and shrewd. He looked over to Jade watching hopefully for the remaining foals that were waiting on him, trying to put on a smug tone as he answered in a conspiratorial whisper. "Lemme have that flame talisman an' spark battery, then I'll play nice for yer goofy mare right? C'mon mate, wouldn't wanna disappoint wouldja?"

Glancing back and patting the thief's back with a very insincere smile I saw mirrored on his face, we both waved to Jade prancing in place and trying to entice the rest into joining in. I gritted my teeth and hissed quietly to the smarmy colt, "Fine. Behave... Why you want this stuff anyway?"

"Nunya business..." he grimaced back and snatched the offered parts behind our backs, instantly breaking away to put on a big show of giving up and telling the other foals to do what she said. One of the youngest fillies snickered as she passed, sing-songing out a teasing answer for me. "Wicket wants ta fix da boil thingy in the orphanage!"

"Boil thingy? Boiler? Fix you say? Again, if you had asked I would have given them to you, show me where this boiler is and I'll fix it for you. It's getting cold and if it's not working right it needs to be, why doesn't Shamrock fix it?"

Wicket snorted and grumbled over his shoulder angrily as he left on his own, his herd already being put to work and prodded by Jade's glowing horn. "Filchers don't need no help, not yours, not Shamrock's. M-Maybe a doctor's sometimes... fer the lil' ones... whatever."

Well he was friendly... The rest of his crew all looked to be taking to Jade and her sister's care at least, warming up to the alicorns and the beginning of a lot of cleaning. Glitter was standing on her hindlegs to stretch one of Jade's big wings out, pointing excitedly past her blushing embarrassment to prove she really did have them from what I could hear.

Val stood with me watching all the activity, filling me in on the basics of their day while I did the same for her. She brushed aside my complaints at letting Glitter learn from the pack of thieves, assuring me it was indeed a useful skill. Her chuckling answer of being able to plant things on, as well as take things off victims as being worthwhile to know didn't explain much to me though.

With the others settling into their work, Zed finally managed to wrangle Ivy to himself and drag her out of the crumbling building, eager to start psychically interrogating his leads with her. Val gave me a questioning look and I waved her on, she had gotten immediately bored when I told her I was thinking of continuing my work on the MoM hub computer for awhile.

I watched the three of them head off for the Four Stars station before spending some time with Glitter and Jade, excusing myself after giving the clinic a quick once over for what would need my skills. I'd have to see about raiding some of the casino's spare parts or find somewhere to buy them, but with a miniature army helping out at least that took care of a good deal of the work.

I didn't care for the Princess Celestia Suite as much as the Luna Suite. Not that I'd blaspheme and think one of the Goddesses was better than the other! Please Celestia... no offense... It wasn't like I could really complain about such a swanky room either, especially not compared with an orphanage with an apparently busted boiler. One that a certain brat wouldn't let me fix, that was slowly digging in my brain like an itch I couldn't scratch... annoyingly... maddeningly....

Pushing away from the glowing terminal, I huffed and stared at the sky-blue ceiling, choosing to dwell on the decor instead. It was a nice set of rooms, a mirror of the Luna Suite we had to vacate in every way. A bright yellow sun was on the light blue carpet instead of a moon, the walls were mostly a faded white along with the bigger furnishings, little bits of pale pastel colored accents were scattered about tastefully, reminding me of Celestia's flowing mane. I just liked the darker colors of the night princess' rooms better, Jade reminded me of her colors, so I preferred them.

I wasn't making much headway, distracted from really picking apart the weakness I found in the highly advanced computer by that boiler down there... From what I could tell I'd have to do some physical fixes around town to exploit the opening anyway. So for once I was raring to go when Val barged in, hoping to startle me out of my skin while I was supposed to be engrossed in my work like I normally was.

"HEY BOSS!! WAKE UP!" She screeched, throwing the door open and pushing past the burly earth pony in the pink barding at the door, Shamrock's increased security.

"What? Find something?! Where they at? Let's go!"

She looked annoyingly disappointed at my flurry of excited questions, tossing her beak up and pouting. "Yer no fun... Yeah, we found somethin' You wouldn't believe how easy it is to be all detective-y when you gots a mind reader! Really, Nick oughta hire himself one of them green ones, hell I gotta get Ivy down there to go gamblin' with me!"

"Val..."

"We'd never lose!! We could break the bank! Think of all the caps boss!" She laughed a little too maniacally and shook me in her claws, grinning a very predatory grin with avarice gleaming in her eyes.

"Don't use Jade's sisters to cheat at gambling Val... Focus, Zed and Ivy, Church, where?!"

Frighteningly, she didn't look dissuaded at all... "Bah! We'll see boss. Fer now, not totally sure where, but Ivy said she could lead us the right way from what she picked up. Said she had enough to go on anyhoo, ya really not gonna be all whiny bout leaving yer boring computer stuff?"

"Not whiny today Val, if I can't shoot that bratty little buck down there I can at least shoot something else and pretend it's him. Going out for awhile sounds good, maybe we'll finally make a little progress with Ivy's help."

The griffon perked right up at potential violence and led the way out to the streets of Goodneighbor. I paused to peek in on Jade, Glitter and the others, they had done a lot already, a growing pile of junk was piled outside, many of the foals looked a good deal cleaner even doing the dirty work and a few sported pink bandages on their fetlocks, shots had definitely come in at some point.

Most of all they all looked happy with what they were doing, I hated to interrupt Jade's Followers related work, with how elusive the Church of Balefire had become it might all be a wild goose chase. Nodding to myself I slipped away before we got spotted, heading towards the crumbling Four Stars station at the edge of town.

Val stopped at the stairs down to the Third Rail and subway lines under the ancient station, pointing back towards the Helpinghoof Clinic. "Not gonna go get Blue boss?"

"We're just... scouting, right? We'll go take a look and see if Ivy's right, if she is we'll come back and decide how to deal with it. They're busy right now, no reason to bother them."

She shrugged in return and led the way down, past a gruff, ghoulish zebra bouncer and into the Third Rail, a bar built in the lower station. The crowd was pretty rough looking, nursing drinks at makeshift seating all over the platform, served by a Mr. Handy behind the bar taking orders in that odd Trottingham accent the colt used.

We spotted Ivy's head easily above the crowd, weaving our way towards her revealed Zed beside her, anxiously pacing in front of a metal door leading to the subway tunnels. The zebra looked like he was barely holding himself back, while Ivy smiled at our approach and prodded him for his attention.

"Hi guys, Val said you had some luck?"

"Finally! We can go at last!" Zed snorted and pushed open the door, letting in a cool and musty breeze from the dark tunnels beyond.

Ivy followed when he bolted off, turning back to answer a little more informatively. "Yes, asking some loud, obvious questions of the patrons here brought up some thoughts I was able to glean from them. They were all surface thoughts, I couldn't pinpoint who it was quickly enough unfortunately. Even if I had I would have needed to forcefully take more information, which would reveal too much. I did get enough to follow the path they thought of at the time though."

She waved out to the inky tunnels as I turned on my pip-buck light, trotting along behind Zed and telling him which way to turn first. Well... this would be the best way to sneak into Goodneighbor and get up to no good. Wandering down the damp artificial caverns beneath Trotson definitely didn't seem worth interrupting Jade for now, we'd just take a look and come back, no problem...

Whatever thoughts Ivy had picked up in the bar, they led us on a winding path down the warren of tunnels. We ran into more Miretanks in the most waterlogged passages, but the further west we went the drier they got on average, leaving us with packs of zombie ponies that hid down here in the dark.

Flickering lights and echoing hoofsteps from ahead let me and Zed sneak forward carefully, peeking around the next bend in the line to spot a trio of green robed figures climbing down from the next station on the line. The bundle balanced on one of their backs made me gasp and draw my silenced pistol, an unconscious orange mare with a auburn mane.

The ropes binding her limp hooves would be enough to dash forward on their own, but the blue barding and pip-buck they were tied over set my eyes burning. At first I only saw the last yellow number across the back, a 1 that sent me running, when they all reacted to the soft 'pfft' of 10mm rounds punching through the one in the rear, I saw the other number made 81, not 111... still, that was Stable barding alright.

They had a bare instant to fumble for their roughly made magical energy weapons before Zed pounced on the two remaining. A flipping kick from one striped hindleg came down like a hatchet on the first in line, dropping the lead pony to the tracks heavily. As soon as his hooves touched the ground, Zed shot a foreleg behind his back, striking the one carrying the captive pony in the throat with a sickening crunch.

He glared at me in annoyance as I skidded to a halt beside the Stable pony, tapping rapidly at her pip-buck partially hidden under the ropes binding her. The health system showed a few injuries, including a concussion, but she was alive. Of course she was, test subjects... Zed huffed angrily and pointed at the fallen cultists, "We could have followed them, what if they will be missed now? You saw a Stable dweller and lost all sense!"

That stung a little, mainly since it was true... For just a second I saw 111 across her back and just ran. I flinched under Zed's stare while I cut the ropes loose, looking around at the station when Val and Ivy flapped over. The moldy and torn subway map barely hanging to one wall filled me with relief when I took it in though.

"It's ok, I think I know where they were going. Ok... c-change of plan, she needs a doctor and ours is back in Goodneighbor. Val, take Ivy back with her, go tell Jade what's going on and meet us back at this station in an hour. Zed and I will go ahead and take a look at this Cathedral if I'm right."

Val really didn't like splitting up, but couldn't really argue that she wasn't all that subtle, Zed and I could be sneaky though. Her attempts at debate were stopped by the impatient zebra, stamping his hooves to break in. "What do you mean if you're right?! Where is this place!?"

I pointed out the old map and repeated what Kellogg had told me when I had asked where the Church of Balefire's lair was. "Where would a mare like Moondancer consider a Cathedral? The next stop on the line, that's where."

The others stared and read over the sign I illuminated in my magic, Zed's eyes widened appreciably on reading the next stop. I imagined thinking back as I had on the Institute division head's cottage of books.

"Trotson Public Library."

New Perk Added!----------------------------------------

Tunnel Trotter-------------------
-- A lifetime of crawling around cramped Stable passages and ducts makes moving in tight quarters easy for you! You gain 25% sneaking speed when wearing light or no armor.