An explosion rocked the streets of Goodneighbor nearby and I stumbled, absently noting the 'Party Level' gauge in the heads up display across my vision, ticking up from 7.9 to 8.1 in one flicker. Only a distant part of me cared at the moment, but I couldn't help noting with morbid fascination that the advanced artificial intelligence running the M.O.M. hub across the street seemed to consider the chaos that had broken out to be more enthusiastic partying.

My concern that the violence spreading throughout the party town spelled the end of my attempt to unlock the Ministry hub seemed completely unwarranted. I almost wished I could talk to the ponies that programmed that mysterious maneframe, those Ministry of Morale coders had some really strange ideas... Apparently explosions = better party in their mind...

A curiosity for later, right now all I cared about was finding my daughter safe and sound. The electricity arcing from my hooves left a jagged, zig-zagging trail behind me, following my torturous course dodging the frantic ponies filling the streets, fighting or running, in the way... Pouring everything I had into more speed, I arrived at the shimmering green shell completely covering the ruined gingerbread house and yard of the Friendly Foal's Orphanage.

Fear drove me forward well enough, stopping was a different matter in my condition though... My eyes swam and I stumbled over my own hooves trying to skid to a halt, slamming into the crackling, angular field of force protecting the home of the orphaned foals within. I wiped the fresh blood joining the old dribbling from my muzzle at the impact, plastering myself against the green barrier on my hindlegs, my forelegs spread against it as I peered in desperately.

Jade was there, inside the safety of the shield being maintained by her green sister Ivy beside her. Looking carefully, I saw Jade's healing magic surrounding her prone form, Ivy's wing and flank were still bleeding profusely, staining her Alicorn Angel Green costume Glitter had made for her crimson. She leaned against a broken candy cane post on the porch, a pool of blood spreading below her from her angry wounds, but somehow she held perfectly still and silent, her eyes clenched shut in concentration.

A battered and bloody Sticky Wicket swung his head my way at the impact and my drumming hooves, a rusty sawed off shotgun nearly too big for the earth pony colt to grip in his mouth drooping when he recognized me. A forest of small, scared faces peered out of the windows and doors of the orphanage and several of the kids were anxiously surrounding Jade and Ivy, a worried pink filly holding her long green foreleg and stroking it as tears dribbled from her frightened purple eyes.

Something bad happened... and I didn't see Glitter anywhere...

Wicket muttered something over his shoulder to Jade, lost in the rising noise of destruction all around us forcing me to scream into the shield.

"JADE!! WHERE IS SHE!? WHAT HAPPENED!?!"

My princess glanced my way with a terrified shadow in her pinprick blue eyes, continuing to close the wounds on her... unconscious? sister... Was she passed out? How was she making the shield then? If she was awake she completely ignored what had to be agonizing wounds and my screams as Jade shouted back, her voice shaky and cracking with fear.

"T-Taken! There was an attack! I... My sister is hurt... I must heal her! She is protecting the children!" The doctor alicorn wrapped Ivy's wounds in a flurry of magic, clearly torn between the needs of both her sister and a couple dozen foals, versus the peril of just one filly.

The Followers of the Apocalypse taught triage in cases like this, prioritizing the needs of others in an emergency, making impossible choices by following the rules. I struggled against the stream of memories and chaotic thoughts swirling under Jade's cloudy mane, from her thoughts they were all she was clinging to, keeping her from ignoring the needs of the many in favor of Glitter, my... her... our daughter, it had to be an unbearable struggle for her.

Thankfully, I wasn't a Follower, I had the luxury of throwing away the world if that's what it took to protect her, and that's what I'd do. "WHERE!?"

Wicket stumbled up to the glowing barrier separating us, one eye puffed close in a sickly purple bruise and dried blood running down his muzzle. The surly colt lacked all of his normal bad attitude, his one open brown eye shimmering wetly and downcast in shame. "Kings... w-was bobbin fer apples an they... t-they took 'er... their casino... I tried! I... I'm s-sorry Mr. Fast... ya gotta save her!"

That was enough, my burning gaze spun and locked on the King's Gambit casino down the street, a few quick mental clicks of my pip-buck brought up her locator tag, the arrow on my compass pointing right at the imposing, castle styled, stone structure. Mentally bucking myself for agreeing to allow her to play with her friends without her robot babysitter AssaultJack in favor of Ivy's care, I glared at my goal. The fog filling the streets obscured the raging battle going on, shadowy pony shapes charging in and out of sight, bright pink and green beams lancing out and lighting up the mist, turning the distance between me and that arrow into a hellscape.

Floating my weapons up, I stamped my hoof and moved to charge into the crowd, a flash of crimson light beside me drew my eye to a pile of drifting ash that had been a raider attacking my blind side, and I was suddenly tackled by a streaking orange blur that pinned me in place, Val's voice bellowing in my face shakily. "BOSS NO! Ya can't go chargin' right in!"

"Glitter!! They took her!!! They have her!!! I'M GOING TO KILL THEM!!!" I bucked and struggled under her, trying to squirm my way loose and continue on my way to Glitter unsuccessfully.

The griffon's dark claws shot out and slapped me across the muzzle, spattering drops of blood on the street in front of my turned face as she screeched in my ear. "WE'LL GET HER BACK!! Runnin' right at em is only gonna get ya killed though! Them Kings been plannin' this awhile boss! All hell's breakin' loose an they're ready for it!"

With a supreme effort of will, I relaxed and stared around us frantically, trying to pay attention to the rest of the world as it fell apart around us. I spotted a company of Minutemares through the fog, trying to lead a cluster of non combatants through the chaos to safety. Across the street Jade's Followers already looked busy in her clinic, a brave young green buck wearing the medical box bags of the group was dragging an injured city guard towards the doors.

The bulky silhouettes of power armor stomped around near the Four Stars Station at the edge of town, the glow of a pair of landed Vertibucks and the spotlights of the helmet spotlights of the Brotherhood of Friendship pushing back the fog. Several dark, red accented suits of former Enclave armor flitted around the beachhead the Brotherhood had established, spreading out into the town with military discipline.

Eyeing things through the tactics of the Brotherhood, I could see several other groups consolidating their hold on key areas, pools of relative calm while the fighting raged in the streets between them. Shamrock's pink barded city guards streaming from the Wingding Circus casino, the Kings centered on their fortress looking casino across the street...

The unaffilated visitors to Goodneighbor were a swirling mass of confusion, raiders swarming through the streets, the Minutemares trying to help at my warning request, green robed members of the broken Church of Balefire firing their radiation producing M.E.W.s wildly, innocent wastelanders caught in the middle...

Alicorns... lots and lots of alicorns, blazing, multicolored balls and beams of light marking their shields and spells soaring around randomly, the confusion in them even more evident to me, paying attention to the sea of voices in my head;

Fighting back the rage and impulse to fling myself directly at the fortress casino and ignore everything else, I took in a deep, slow breath and clenched my eyes shut, trying to think rationally and quickly, very quickly... I'd never seen a battle like this, it was too fast and chaotic, this wasn't fighting raiders or some gang, it was war...

Even as a foal, I couldn't avoid hearing all about the escalating war with the zebras growing up. The Ministry of Image popularized books and movies featuring war heroes, noble battles against evil zebra enemies, epic battles that dwarfed this madness. Dad's favorite movie was 'The Battle of Shattered Hoof' for Celestia's sake... I had seen it a hundred times easily. Hiding in Stable 111 for 200 years wasn't enough to spare me from it, I ended up fighting in a war despite the hopes of my parents when we escaped underground...

Wars needed Generals, I knew that, there had to be a method to the madness, organized chaos, just reacting to what was going on wasn't enough, there had to be a plan. Somepony had to give the orders, take this confusion and give others something to rally around. I hated the role, but somepony had to do something... every Princess needed her Knight... I opened my eyes and glanced at Jade, still worriedly healing the practically comatose Ivy. She wouldn't like this... but there were more important things to worry about now.

I stood shakily with Val's help now that she was convinced I wasn't going to run off, furrowing my brow and trying to shout with the Shroud's commanding mental voice that boomed out, completely overriding the swirl of confused voices. The fighting seemed to hitch as one group of combatants simply stopped simultaneously, the silence in my head matching all those glowing round shields freezing in place.

I winced at the telepathic voice of Umbra answering in a stunned whisper, I was going to have some questions to answer later... For now I had no choice, being able to communicate with all of them at once took the confused group of mares from Trinity Tower and put them on par with the Brotherhood and their radios, giving us an advantage to work with. We needed other advantages in a hurry, a rally point to converge on and work from was first.

The combined voices of the Trinity Tower alicorns smoothed out, I was grateful at the feelings of concern and anger focused on Glitter being taken. Dozens of images of my beautiful daughter flashed in my mind, memories of the mares I was connected to, all associated with positive feelings that threatened to overwhelm me.

Glitter peeking from a door in Trinity Tower and waving happily, prancing around a forest of long legs, staring up with a shimmering set of puppy eyes, sharing a Fancy Buck snack cake with frosting coating her muzzle, holding up a familiar Alicorn Angel costume and beaming, hugging one huge leg far below, always happy and kind, treating the odd mares like anypony else.

The little filly had befriended so many of them that they listened, flocking to the glowing green shell over the building. A rush of protective, maternal feelings pouring into my brain making me wipe away tears forcefully as I tried to take control of the situation, I was going to get her back...

A flurry of voices answered as several quick arrivals landed nearby, puzzling over me standing still on the walk outside the orphanage, Val regularly blasting any threat that got too close while I tried to sort through the flood of information. Thankfully they started making accommodations for me, slowing down as requested and using more words instead of images and feelings to fill in the blanks.

Peri's normally sedate voice held a note of fury I hadn't heard before, the strange blue mare glided along invisibly high above, acting as my spy and showing me a broader picture of what was happening below. Of course me doing this was no surprise to her, so she adapted quicker at least, and her position as a real alicorn Minutemare put me in touch with the group I had called here too.

Magnolia's panicked voice rang out last, she was with Shamrock and the city guard, giving another connection to work with. Her fearful concern for Glitter only made me more anxious to get to her immediately, hopefully establishing some kind of order would be enough, I had to go...

A sudden thump shook me on my hooves and brought me back to reality, shaking my blurry vision clear and staring up at the rich purple coat of Umbra, staring at me incredulously. A nearby trio of green alicorns including the kind Lime I had briefly met at the tower, sat together on the pavement and closed their eyes, a brilliant, angular green shield bloomed all around us, totally encompassing the already large one Ivy was generating that faded away while I watched.

I distractedly worried about getting out of here now, relieved to see the three mares producing it had such control they could make small openings leading out to the streets or skies above.

Umbra waved a large hoof in front of my face, sputtering in a shocked voice as she peered at me closely. "Fast... how are you doing that?! S-Something is wrong... your illness... the behavior of my sisters around you..." She unfortunately took a deep breath, leaning down to my eye level and shaking her head with a shiver, I affected her the same as any other alicorn lately, but like Jade and Ivy, Umbra had excellent self control, goggling at me in shock. "That smell... y-you smell like..."

"I don't have time for this Umbra!! Ask me all the questions you want when I have my daughter back, right now I need your help!!"

Umbra's ears flattened against the commanding mental shout and she stammered senselessly, staring at my throbbing sides closely with her mouth agape. This was going to be bad later... Thankfully the street shook with a rolling tremor, signaling the giant Swan slamming to the ground just outside the shield and looking in for me curiously, absently swinging one huge hindleg back and bucking a trio of raiders across the street. "Fast!? I am here!"

Zed fell in beside me from the shadows as Val and I raced to the nearest exit to the shield and I thought frantically, organizing what we had as quickly as I could in my mind.

Umbra silenced the rising tide of normal unity, settling it back out to something I could work with and asking an interesting question, narrowing her golden eyes and staring at me in barely restrained agitation.

I made it to the flickering exit to the shield as it stretched and expanded to encompass Jade's Helpinghoof clinic across the street, stumbling at the rumbling shake in the asphalt as one big hoof slammed down in front of me. Craning my neck up to take in Swan nearly crackling with power, my ears flattened at the booming voice she growled with matching her words tolling in my head. "They will NOT hurt Niece!"

If we weren't in such a chaotic and dangerous situation, I'd take time to marvel at the magnificent mare looming over me. Sassy finished her costume... seeing an attractive purple filly as big as the cottage of an orphanage behind me dressed up in the sexy outfit was a little distracting.

A relatively short pink skirt fluttered around her massive flanks with the magical power flowing off her in a torrent, her long pink mane and tail rippling like a torch as motes of purple magic drifted up and lanced out in arcane arrows that annihilated whatever target she absently flicked her eyes towards. The bedsheet sized white sailor blouse stretched at each panting breath of her chest, one gigantic wing flapped out and swept a swath of the street at her hooves clear of a gaggle of raider's engaged in a lunatic charge against the titantic mare.

Jade's frightened voice rang out and I caught flashes of the conflict still raging in her head, images of a weak Ivy awake and trying to console her young charges, more injured pouring in to her clinic and the orphanage... a small voice repeating an odd mantra, "Triage, Do no harm, Triage, Do no harm, Triage... Do NO harm..."

All of it was being pushed aside by the overwhelming memory of a tiny Glitter puffing her chest out proudly and glaring up at a darker looking Umbra towering over her, her sweet voice echoing from the memory 'Y-Your just jealous, my mom has a mark an' you don't!', 'my mom', 'my Mom', 'MOM'...

I could feel her rejection bubbling up and hated denying her, while what I said was true and logical, I was concerned at the pulse of fury in her thoughts pushing against her pacifist principles, plus I really just didn't want her to see this.... The dark Shroud in my head was fully awake and straining against the soft voices barely holding it back, "Be Strong!", "Be Unwavering!", "Be Kind..." weren't enough to stop it when I was perfectly willing to let it off the chain.

I clenched my eyes against her cry, waving up to Swan frantically, trying to get out of here before she caught up. A flash of text flickered in my vision as Swan scooped me up in one big hoof, floating Zed to her back and nodding smartly as several more of her sisters fluttered up into formation around her as she glared at the imposing fortress of the Kings, her blazing purple shield springing to life around us.

Mission Updated: Down With the King

Objectives---
---Weaken the King's influence in Goodneighbor
---Reduce the King's wealth
---Reduce the King's weapons trade

Optional Objectives---
---Eliminate the Kings
---Eliminate Bullet Bishop

I agreed with the bizarre mission system completely, killing them wasn't optional anymore... They were all dead...

Swan lifted me to her scowling face to give a supportive nuzzle, one sharp inhale sucked my mane up her nostrils again, but she only calmed slightly, thankfully much more focused on the task at hoof. "Let's go get Niece Glitter back, now..."

I couldn't quite stifle a surprised 'eep!' as she stuffed me down the top of her tight blouse, wondering if her absent snootful of me wasn't getting to her after all. I was relieved at my position when she rocketed up into the air though, held tight to her warm breast despite the G-forces, feeling the powerful, rapid thump of her heart under the silky fur I was pressed against.

Though I noticed Zed didn't get the same treatment, the strong, agile zebra most likely had no problems hanging on her mane as Val and the flock of her sisters struggled to keep up. He didn't look nearly as battered as I did from our fight in the Combat Zone, she stuffed me in here because of the blood staining me all over and my unsteady wobbling on my hooves, probably so I wouldn't go flying... that had to be why right?

Taking advantage of my safe position and straining against the force of her rapid ascent, I chugged one of my few healing potions, praying to every goddess I knew to help me do this. Some of the aching bruises and cuts I received from Rowdy in the ring faded slowly, a little prodding and pulling away the soaked strip of bandages from my chest revealed the cut across the bulging tumor on my ribs wasn't healing though...

Something wet squirmed under my hoof through the long incision seeping foul smelling gunk at my touch... The skin there felt loose and ...deflated under my hooves, but I didn't feel the probing touch on the flaps of rubbery hide themselves at all. I stifled the wave of nausea, tugging the saturated, shredded bandages from my coat and tossing them into the slipstream. I focused on the view of the night sky, Luna's glowing full moon seeming closer and closer, shining down on the sad, brutal wasteland below. Please Goddess Luna... let her be safe... help me...

Soaring high above Goodneighbor, we looped around the glowing pillar of the M.O.M. hub and I checked the gauge in my vision absently, peeking out from the wide pink lapels of Swan's plunging neckline as she lined up on the castle like structure of the King's Gambit and the army defending its imposing front doors.

Swan adjusted her course to be in line with the street leading to the fortress, eldritch arrows surrounding her horn shooting down ahead of her as she dove directly at it and I held my hat against the hurricane of wind in my face. Several magical explosions detonated where the streaks of her magic struck, causing the reading in my HUD to flicker again.

The Kings had apparently planned this coup for some time, barricades and turrets festooned their imposing castle casino, the gang members all wore their heaviest advanced magical energy weapon battle saddles, blazing lines of death lanced out from their fortified position and turned ponies to ash in the streets.

Despite their plots and preparations, nopony could plan for a giant alicorn streaking from the sky like a meteor on a collision course, screaming a furious, booming battle cry that flattened my ears and rattled my bones. The noise reverberated through me pressed against the huge chest that swelled in an inhale, squeezing me against her heaving breast tightly. I clutched her collar like grim death, keeping my muzzle out in the rushing air and only panicking a moment when one hindleg found the gap between her poker chip sized buttons and poked free, scrambling frantically in the open air blasting by.

The beach towel sized flaps of her pink neckerchief in front of me fluttered up and obscured my view of terrified ponies below firing beams of M.E.W.s, impacting the glowing shield surrounding us, sputtering and trying to shove away the silken fabric as she slammed directly into the front of the building. I tugged it aside just in time to see her purple shield make contact with the sturdy stone walls, utterly destroying them as she plowed through the insignificant barrier.

We crashed through the walls and she landed on all four hooves forcefully, a rumbling shockwave shaking the building as dust billowed through the cavernous entryway, able to fit even the giant Swan coughing in front of the tall golden statue of Gladmane in the lobby, looking positively tiny next to Swan spreading her wings and flapping a gale of wind to clear the dust.

Dozens of multicolored beams of M.E.W. fire started converging on the big target, heavy machinegun turrets on the ceiling added to the cacophony, hammering armor piercing rounds against Swan's flickering shield, holding against the concentrated barrage for the moment as she stomped and bucked anything close enough with a roar.

She got me in... that's all I needed... Val swooped through the gaping hole she left in the wall behind her, several more of her sisters right behind the angry griffon and joining in. Their much smaller, agile forms and less powerful but precise magic fought back as several armor piercing rounds finally made it through Swan's shield, piercing her massive flank in a trickle of blood.

I strained and pulled against my soft perch, dragging myself out of Swan's tight blouse and crashing the the floor below, lurching back to my hooves under the roof of alicorn tummy above my head. Drawing my weapons in a sudden surge of magic sparking from my horn, I was glad of the shield and the huge alicorn over me giving me a second to get things under control, pulling Best Served carefully back to my mouth from where it had lurched away in my unsteady telekinesis, struggling to keep the Terrible Shotgun and Vengeance near my head.

I pranced out from between her forelegs, waving for attention anxiously as more weapon fire hammered away at her weakening shield keeping me in place as Val and Zed joined the battle outside, a string of explosions from Val's grenade machinegun going off like fireworks and obliterating several card tables on the floor enemies had upended and sheltered behind.

"But Niece Glitter! Ungh! I do not care, these puny ponies are going to pay!" Swan winced at the thump and whoosh! of several missiles impacting her shield with a roar, dimming it significantly as she lashed out with her magic in return.

"Yes... yes they are... Y-You're better used outside though Swan! Thank you!! I don't want you hurt, y-you have to be ok to see her when I get her back right!? Show her your costume! Let me out and get out of here! Help Jade!!" I shouted up to the rampaging mare over me, dodging a swinging hoof and breathing a sigh of relief as a small hole opened in her flickering shield nearby, her muzzle swinging down to me with a grumble.

"Fine! Go get niece Glitter! I will do as asked, but you may not get hurt either! Bring her back to us, then you have questions to answer Fast! And then we play when this is all over!" That filly had a one track mind... maybe two.. she did look to be enjoying herself destroying everything in her way, her simple thoughts filled with feelings of power and confidence as she indulged in one of her favorite things and idly thought of the other. Tempting as using her willingness to destroy to just bulldoze our way through any opposition was, Swan wasn't subtle... Glitter was somewhere in this building, we couldn't risk bringing it down on her head trying to reach her...

Gulping nervously as she stumbled back under an assault of plasma grenades exploding bright green at her side, I nodded and dove for the exit she made for me. Great, not only Umbra but now Swan as well was figuring things out... I was glad I stashed our belongings near the entrance to the M.O.M. hub, we were going to have to leave in a hurry...

I brought up my lightning walking spell with a surge of electricity flickering all around me, my magic flaring out of control for a moment before I sprinted for the golden statue nearby. I barely took cover behind it when a wall of wind filled the casino, knocking several Kings off their hooves as Swan flapped her mighty wings in miniature tornadoes and dodged back out of the hole she created in the building, the sounds of more shuddering stomps and blasts of magic drifting in from outside where she continued her assault.

From my bit of cover, I swapped Vengeance for the Last Minute, charging the gauss rifle to full power and scanning the wide open room through the scope. Pulling up S.A.T.S. let me flick through every available target nearby, marking where they were in the moment of frozen time, selecting a spread of shots to every turret caught spinning madly in the ceilings between the wealth of targets.

I used up most of the spell charge to do it, but when I accepted the sequence the rapid, flat crack of the Last Minute sounded out, thankfully the long weapon spun in my magic guided by the targeting spell instead of my unsteady control. Several of the automated turrets exploded in a shower of sparks and scrap and I abandoned my bit of cover when the few remaining decided I was a more tempting target.

Val swooped by overhead, raining a stream of red M.E.W. fire down on the Kings between me and the nearest stairs up to the second level. Glitter's mark on my compass pointed to the center of the building, since she wasn't sitting right in the middle of the warzone with us, that meant she was either above or below. Given the towering, castle themed casino shaking around us, she was probably up...

Even if the elevators here worked, trapping myself in a tiny steel box with only one exit wasn't a good idea... No matter how much I wanted to go straight to the top of the building, the stairs were the only option and I rocketed up the set Val had cleared for me, slashing out with Best Served in my mouth at anypony in my way, taking limbs like I was a collector and stumbling my high speed way up the steps as several lucky shots scorched my dark trenchcoat and hide underneath.

Up here on the mezzanie overlooking the casino floor below, I could see all the Kings sheltering at makeshift barricades built behind the railing, firing down on the flurry of enemies below. A crazed yellow earth pony lined up his missile launcher battle saddle on a wing of alicorns flying by, cackling madly at the thump and whoosh! of more missiles streaking across the room.

I skidded to a halt behind the lunatic, a skinny blue unicorn beside him in his bit of cover gaped and dropped the missiles he was floating up to reload his partner with, pointing a hoof just before Vengeance fired with a booming crash, the .45 round tore through the shaking limb and the head behind it before he could shout a warning. The explosives minded earth pony didn't even turn until he clicked empty, sneering over to his dead partner and looking up to the dark tunnel of the Terrible Shotgun before it blasted his head to ruins.

A frenetic shout behind me was suddenly cut off, I turned to see Zed leaping up and spinning in midair, his hindleg slamming into another robed member of the Church of Balefire pouring out of the rooms up here. Glad the deadly zebra had my back, I turned back to the dead King and wrapped his battle saddle in my surging magic, wrenching the missile launcher free with one strong tug that surprised me at its force.

Reloading the cumbersome weapon was harder, requiring more finesse than my wildly fluctuating magic was willing to provide at the moment. Fuck it! I didn't have time to try for fine control, if my magic wanted to fling things around so forcefully, I may as well use it... I snatched up two dozen of the missiles from the ammo boxes nearby, trying to aim them at the biggest clusters of red on E.F.S. and sending them on their way with as much force as I could muster.

The gauge in my vision flickered again at the string of explosions filling the room with smoke, that worked better than expected... My magic alone was strong enough to fling them out faster than the propellant that had gone unused, resulting in an impressive bit of destruction I couldn't really take time to appreciate.

A familiar voice sang out in my head and I did as ordered, barely dodging under a stream of bolts from a huge multi-barreled M.E.W. wielded by a screaming cream colored unicorn mare, her beehive styled blue and pink mane lit in crazily dancing shadows while she poured death down on my slowly melting bit of cover.

A flash of purple just behind the Kings mare wasn't enough warning to stop the angry purple alicorn that appeared at her back, the big filly reared up and brought her hooves down with all her weight, smashing the unicorn mare to the tiled floor with an audible crack. My savior shook her orange and green striped mane, wiping blood from her face and resettling her ancient postal hat as she looked my direction.

Starling, the mare working at the Red Rocket saved me, panting with several angry burns on her side as she tugged the big M.E.W. loose and buckled it to her own back hastily, strapping it on over her well fitting mail-pony coat.

Shakily nodding my thanks to Starling, I caught a pair of Kings taking aim at a wounded green flapping by, thinking my warning in a panic realizing I didn't know her name and hoping just my thoughts were enough.

Amazingly she dodged just in time to avoid the unseen attack so I must have ...thought at her... right. I felt a rush of relief as I swung the Terrible Shotgun at her attackers, hammering several slugs into them center mass and sending one flying over the railing. Using unity like this... in combat, coordinating with so many others so efficiently, I really had to wonder what it was like when the Goddess was still around doing this with all of them at once...

I fed the electricity at my hooves more magic and shot forward, nearly smashing into the wall before rocketing off at a 90 degree angle towards more Kings, flashing Best Served out in my wake and following the rusting signs leading to the stairs. I blurred past a menagerie of enemies and allies, shouting for Val so she could keep track of me, trying to dig my hooves in and skid to a halt at the curving stairs leading up to the third floor and the horde of Kings guarding them.

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to stop before smashing through their barricade, when the magic at my hooves and horn ...pulsed... the field of electric tinged blue surging around me in a spreading sphere that contracted back and seemed to suffuse every part of me. I struggled to fire the Terrible Shotgun from the flank, grateful to see Val and Zed charging down the hall towards me before another weird pulse rocked me, the swelling bubble of magic shrinking back in on me before exploding outward again.

Whatever that was, it actually felt... good? A surging tingle spreading through every aching muscle, lighting my nerves on fire and making my head swim. Several of Val's 25mm grenades washed the cluster of Kings in fire, one orange buck with a disheveled purple pompador had dove clear just in time however. Clearing his head and ignoring the griffon his comrades were frantically trying to aim at, his Novasurge rifles came to bear on me instead and... nothing?

I had just a moment to puzzle over not being blasted to ash for shaking here in the open, then I felt that mounting tingle again, surging up from the depths of my horn and exploding outward. The huge sphere of blue nearly filled the large intersection of hallways leading to the marble stairs, crackling over everything it touched.

The advanced magical energy weapons favored by our attackers sparked and fizzled at the arcane power washing over everything, making the lights overhead flicker. Oddly several unicorns in the group simultaneously lost their magical grip on their weapons with a shared whimper, the multiple colors of telekinesis were washed out by the blue and... absorbed...

I noticed the other survivors of Val's assault screaming in frustration, triggering their weapons to kill the griffon tearing them apart to nothing but dead clicking and sparks, a hefty multi-gem magical energy shotgun exploded in one burly King's mouth just as the strange pulse contracted and concentrated on me again, leaving me groaning against the wave of power sizzling through me.

Zed had closed the distance and dove in, a flurry of flying hooves ripping the guards to shreds. I heard Val squawk in annoyance and glanced up to see her own red M.E.W. sparking at her side, whoops... guess I fried that one too... She didn't seem that phased at least, reaching a dark claw under her armored coat and drawing out the Shishkebab, igniting it in a sheath of flames with a wicked grin.

Val always said she wanted a sword like my knife, now I got to see what she'd do with one... The glowing white starmetal blade sliced neatly through anything in her path and she cackled gleefully, weaving a flickering dance of fire through the suddenly unarmed crowd as I got my magic under control again. The sudden surge ended up being helpful... mostly... but I couldn't afford to lose control now.

Moondancer's potion was apparently reaching its climax and the weird side effects had intensified again. A blaring alarm in my ear matched the flashing red warning in my vision and I glanced over the stern, all caps alert in annoyance.

Shaking it off and pushing my way to the stairs, I flicked through a few menus and disabled the warnings. I didn't care anymore. I just needed enough of the health status system to last long enough to reach Glitter, I didn't need its' diagnosis or opinion, just to administer drugs and potions to the flickering cartoon unicorn... pegasus.... unicorn... earth pony... unicorn... alicorn... even the pip-buck couldn't decide, though each image had Xs for eyes and its tongue stuck out in silent warning.

Val landed beside me and lopped the head cleanly off the last survivor struggling to get away, waving her flaming sword around and grinning broadly. "Oh my Gawd! This thing is awesome!! Thanks boss! Er... n-not the best time I know... neat trick! Ya could'a not fried my gun too though!"

"S-Sorry Val... didn't mean to... c'mon... hafta get to Glitter..." I huffed and swayed my way up one step and looked at the rest stretching above with a whine... "Be Strong!"

Zed bounded his way over and trotted up the steps lightly, looking back and shrugging to Val, who snatched me up by my coat and tossed me to her back, letting me recover while she flapped her crimson wings around me and flew up the stairs, closer to my daughter...

More Kings... more death... rivers of blood flowed in our wake as we pressed forward, scorched and bleeding from dozens of wounds received in return. It all blurred together in a haze of red tinted horror, the dark rage of the Shroud in my head doing as much as the kinder voices of the Ministry Mares were to keep me going, "Be Unwavering!". We sheltered in a hallway on the fourth floor, leading to the heavily fortified stairwell going up to the castle casino's tallest spire, Glitter's mark was just ahead, she had to be there...

The three of us panted and drank our remaining healing potions, our burns and bruises slowly restored as I glanced around the doorframe and thought desperately. Two dozen Kings... easily... including turrets, sandbagged firing positions, a pair of vicious looking Gunner griffons perched above the tall room leading to the gilded staircase, and a scarred, muscular brown Minotaur in jagged metal armor, standing immovable on the small landing overlooking the room.

That one swept a huge magical plasma caster back and forth clenched in one big fist, the wicked spiked end crackling with green energy arcing between the trio of prongs at the tip of the long weapon. The other held a belt fed minigun attached to his back that covered his other side, the rippling wall of muscle wielding two heavy weapons like it was nothing.

"Hey boss... do that thing again, fry their guns..." Val panted over to me, leaning against the wall and wiping sweat from her feathery brow.

I thumped to the floor with the cool stone wall at my back, holding a hoof to my pounding heart and shivering, come on... hold together... "I c-can't, no control over that Val... j-just happens..."

She groaned in disappointment and kicked her paws at the black and white tiled floor. I really wished I could do that weird pulse thing on demand as she asked. It had happened twice more on our way up from the second floor, the rising tide of magic blooming out from my horn and condensing down rapidly, sending waves of mounting power surging through me, making me worriedly think of an arcano-flux reactor reaching critical mass...

The impatient break let me collect my thoughts and listen in to what was going on outside the shuddering casino anyway, though knowing Swan was still at work didn't take telepathy... Umbra had recovered and was leading her sisters like a force of nature, a commanding war princess whose mental presence I had to respect.

Working together with the Peri and the Minutemares, a weak but aware Ivy with the Followers, and Magnolia in Shamrock's casino, the allied force was taking control slowly, pushing back the hordes of raiders and mercenaries that had descended on Goodneighbor outside. Thanks to their efforts, the innocent were largely removed from the battle now, sheltering where it was safe, receiving medical care, or escaping the city altogether. Having the Minutemares ready and waiting had paid off in reducing the collateral damage, even if I hadn't expected this level of carnage when I wrote Preston.

Such a united front of normally disparate, anarchic forces attacking had the hoof prints of the Institute all over it. It was the only explanation I could come up with for why so many random wasteland raiders and gangs all decided to attack Goodneighbor at once, a hidden force of synth spies could bring them together and coordinate them...

That didn't explain the Brotherhood of Friendship though, what little information Jade's sisters outside had on that front wasn't enough to go on. There had been some tense confrontations, plenty of former Enclave members like Lt. Dawn back in Bunker Hill who distrusted or outright hated the alicorns. Thankfully there wasn't any ...lasting violence, the Brotherhood was laying waste to raiders and in a pitched battle with the heavily armed Gunners, who were nearly a match for them in terms of firepower, but otherwise had only attacked what attacked them.

They were assisting the Minutemares and Followers where they could, but they hadn't come here with a mission of mercy in mind to begin with... they came armed for bear and at the worst possible time, I didn't believe in coincidences like that... They were being kept busy and delayed for now, but from the images I saw from dozens of eyes outside, I had a good idea they were here for the Ministry Hub.

That put an unfortunate wrinkle in things, but at the moment I didn't care that much about the hub, only glancing at the reading in my vision displaying that the 'Party Level' had nearly reached the threshold required to open it. The bigger problem was the horde of enemies in our way, a clump of red on E.F.S. just beyond the wall between us.

Gasping sharply, I clutched my jackhammering chest, willing my limbs to stop spasming long enough to jab myself with another Med-X, if I survived this I might need a bit of rehab... The pain lessened at least and my heart slowed, unfortunately some of that must have been transmitted to the web of unity now strongly surrounding Goodneighbor as Jade's remaining sisters who had been in Trinity Tower started filling the skies.

Jade's voice was a soothing ray of light in all this darkness creeping in at the edges of my vision, despite the rising note of panic as she took advantage of unity to assess my condition. Sharing this connection with the mare I loved almost made it worth having my brain forcibly rewired. I could do with a tad more privacy, but touching her mind put her here beside me despite the distance between us.

Images and thoughts of the throngs of injured being cared for trickled in with her shout, woven together with disjointed scenes of that grey, rainy, muddy land I had seen from her before, blood, loneliness, fear... All paled before an iron core of determination, she was not going to be dissuaded or let anypony stand in her way, her Followers could handle whatever else happened as far as she was concerned, she was coming.

Her frantic reply wasn't too difficult to shut out, my vision doubled and I swooned as that mounting pressure in my horn surged, I could feel the impending pulse rising up in a roiling storm of arcane energy. I slapped myself forcefully and fought for control, focusing on Val and Zed's whispered conversation they seemed to think I was paying attention to.

"They have the advantage, a dozen is probably the most I can handle before falling... or perhaps the minotaur, unless one gets lucky, one can always get lucky..." Zed's stern grey eyes scanned the opposition and gave his unvarnished opinion with a grim chuckle, hearing the tone in his voice that said he actually would go down taking out those dozen was heartwarming though.

"That's Jager and Shrike, I can take em... gonna be a lil busy though boss..." Val peeked around the corner again and sent her violet eyes to the stairwell stretching two stories above, appraising how much room she had to work with and wincing at her sparking M.E.W.

That tingling, swelling spark of magic was making my head swim, rising and falling with each gasping breath as I shivered and swayed in place, grabbing Val's armored shoulder and forcing my eyes to stop spinning to grunt at her. "T-Throw me..."

"WHAT!? Are you outta yer ever lovin' mind boss!?! What're ya talkin ab..." Val screeched, lowering the volume to a whisper in a hurry but clutching my shoulder in her claw forcefully, already determined I wasn't going anywhere.

"It's... nnn.... h-happening again... throw me, I c-can't move in time... please..." I tried to make her understand through gritted teeth, rocking on my haunches and trying to hold back the impending storm of magic.

"Wha? T-That thing? But..." Her violet eyes lit up for a moment at getting what she had asked for, but returned to a scowl realizing what I was asking and shaking her head forcefully, her plumage shaking around her as her tail lashed angrily. "No! Ya ain't no grenade to go tossin' around boss! I w-won't do it!"

Sucking in a sharp inhalation as the next pulse surged towards imminent release, I lolled my head towards Zed and tried to focus on his interested grey stare. "Zed... please... now! THROW ME!"

The zebra stallion spared a second to glance at the crowd of enemies stopping us and back to me nodding weakly, giving a curt nod in return and leaping to his hindlegs before Val could react. "As you wish, be careful..."

She squawked angrily as I was torn from her grip, Zed's forehooves twisted in the lapels of my coat and he spun like a top on his hindlegs, coming dangerously close to getting a face full of vomit before releasing me to sail through the air and into the stairwell. I had an instant to look down on the fortified cluster of enemies, the ceiling mounted turrets quickest to react to a sparking pony tossed above their heads before I moaned and let go of my thin control.

The spherical field of sparking blue magic exploded out of my horn, swelling to fill the room traced with bolts of M.E.W. fire all around me and pushing beyond the walls this time. Both turrets stopped their chattering fire after just a few rounds and drooped, while I was treated to the bizarre sight of the magical lines of energy that had been shot in a web around me all ... bending... in the field of blue magic, warped from their perfectly straight courses and arrowing directly at me spasming in the air.

The huge field of power condensed back in on me in a rush, every bit of arcane energy it had washed over was greedily sucked up and poured into every cell of my body with a crack like thunder. Dozens of magical energy weapons fizzled and sparked, turrets and weapons exploded in the mouths or battle saddles of the gaping guards, even the single blast of plasma from the minotaur's weapon shrank and faded as it was absorbed with all the rest, a surge of power filled me up and I watched the destructive, rare M.E.W. cannon spark and sizzle uselessly.

Val and Zed were just behind me but too slow to reach my landing zone. I crashed to the stone stairs in the midst of a gaggle of very surprised and suddenly unarmed guards, barely pushing myself back up before a vice like grip clamped down on my throat and lifted me up, snorts of rancid minotaur breath puffing my mane back. The muscular beast tossed the plasma caster aside and switched to his ballistic minigun, raining bullets into the room in a mad spray that took no account of his allies.

"Oh yeah! Bonus is all mine! I'm snappin' his neck right here boys!" The armored minotaur chuckled in a deep baritone and sneered in my face, unconcerned at the zebra diving into the midst of his comrades and pounding them in a furious melee, or the fiery griffon soaring overhead. Val was dodging the two Gunner griffons adroitly over their screeches of "Traitor!", raining grenades down with each pass and slashing away with her Shishkebab, but too occupied with her former compatriots to save me this time.

That disturbing bloodlust swelled up again and before I knew it I had snapped out at the burly minotaur like a miniature hellhound, he was so surprised at a pony trying to bite, he didn't pull away fast enough. Probably unconcerned at the threat, while ponies may rarely do so out of desperation and could do damage that way in a pinch, our flat teeth made for crunching apples or munching grass weren't much of a threat to tough minotaur hide. Usually...

I swore I felt those four weird, sharp little... fangs... actually grow longer for an instant, sinking deeply into the minotaur's neck and ripping away a chunk of flesh in an arterial spray. He howled in shocked pain, flinging the vicious, crazy, snapping pony away from himself with the long arm clutching my neck.

I slammed against the stone wall behind him on the landing, the still swollen and pulsing lump on the left side of my back sent waves of pain at the treatment, though the cut, deflated one on the right didn't hurt nearly as bad. His free hand-thing... clamped to his neck against the blood soaking his grey furred shoulders and the long tri-barrel of his minigun swung my way in fury, but I was loose now and suddenly was brimming with magical power, giving a lopsided, evil grin up at him as my horn crackled with electricity.

All my hard won control of the lightning spell was gone, my back cracked against the wall again as I was thrown from the blast and my vision blurred, resolving in time to see a tall, smoking corpse crash down the stairs, an unlucky three or four Kings jittering on the floor, too close to the blast zone to escape unscathed.

My HUD in my vision was clearer than anything else I tried to focus on, flashing with the blinking gauge in the corner. That was the next to last requirement, the lights flickered and dimmed appreciably, the M.O.M. Hub was ready to open... It had to be drawing more power from the town in preparation for the culmination of the Grand Opening Gala program.

The only thing left was '----Stage 'Ribbon Cutting Ceremony', the realization ran through my head in a rush while I shook off the effects of that blast. Still not that concerned with opening it versus saving Glitter, but a lot of work had gone into reaching this point and the last step was relatively easy. The ribbon at one entrance to Shamrock's casino had to be cut with the oversized golden ceremonial scissors, by a noble guest...

I had planned on Jade doing this step, if a princess wasn't good enough for the hub maneframe, nopony would be. Feeling the steady beat of her thoughts approaching from outside, I knew she wasn't going to make any detours though. Nobility meant a lot of ponies though... the Goddesses were the pretty much the only Princesses around when I was growing up, but there were plenty noble nieces and nephews that the program was written around, ponies like Princes Blueblood or Vanity for example, a relative of royalty should work just as well...

Magnolia's voice answered immediately, again I actually found myself liking this whole unity business. It was annoying and uncomfortable with so many strange voices at once, but with the mares I knew, cared about and loved, it was nice.

Feeling the singing alicorn's presence with me let me draw on her strength, her determination and loyalty flowing through our connection helped me clear my head and stand up. Consoling myself that I had done all I could for Shamrock towards opening the hub, I really noticed the forest of red dashes on E.F.S. and the battle raging below and above, as the droning ringing in my ears quieted.

Val spun and dove in the cramped quarters, taking a lot of damage from the griffons like her who didn't rely exclusively on any one weapon type like the Kings, but dishing it out in return. Her Shishkebab sliced cleanly through a hindleg of one of her less agile pursurers while I watched, igniting the dingy yellow tail in a fluff of fire and her pistol crashed as a follow up.

Zed was being pummeled due to sheer numbers down on the ground, unable to dodge everything from the horde of Kings that were falling back on sheathed knives, straight razors, their hooves or even their useless M.E.W.s swung around as clubs. Despite the crush of opponents, Zed was far more skilled than any of them, whittling down their numbers one resounding hoof strike at a time.

The stairs leading up from the landing I slumped on were clear... Glitter was right up there...

Lightning bloomed around my hooves again and I charged up, shouting over my shoulder and trying to push away guilt for leaving my friends. "Val! Zed! I'm going to get her!!"

Whatever their shouted replies were, I flattened my ears to my head against it and ran on, furrowing my brow and trying not to stumble my way up. I was almost there, her mark on my compass was just ahead, I was going to save her... after that Moondancer's potion could kill me or do whatever it was going to do, but I had to save her first...

"DADDY!!!"

I froze in the ornate doorway just off the narrow stairwell, no more guards stood in my path, just the opulent, square tower of an office, a crazed cobalt stallion floating a gleaming, .45 pistol in his dingy purple magic, and the struggling little white filly in his grip. The pale neckerchief of her tiny Alicorn Angel costume wrapped around his hoof, holding her outside of the huge open window that took up the wall beyond the heavy desk Bishop sheltered behind.

My pounding heart stopped entirely seeing her small hooves scrambling in the open air whipping through her silver mane, the foggy, chaotic streets of Goodneighbor far below. It managed to lurch back to life seeing the big tears trembling from her frightened pink eyes, a look of complete trust fighting the fear at her position. Angry purple bruises showed under her smudged white outfit, her false horn taped to her head was gone and one of her fake wings was torn, leaking fluffs of stuffing that fluttered to the hard, cold ground six stories below her struggling hooves.

Bullet Bishop sneered, stretching out to dangle her out further precariously and shaking the bedraggled, greasy strands of his dark mane out of his twitching eyes. "There you are! Wanted you to see this before I kill you! Drop 'em!"

His angular automatic pistol waggled towards the Terrible Shotgun and Vengeance bobbing unsteadily in my magic, I focused on lowering both firearms as slowly and carefully as I could manage, returning them to my bags and mumbling around the hilt of Best Served in my mouth, swaying against the roiling buildup of the impending pulse of magic. I had to do something fast, when it happened he'd think it was an attack and would drop Glitter...

"L-Let her go... I'll give you your stupid money back, just don't hurt her..." I panted across the room to the crazed stallion holding my daughter's life in his hooves, trying to come up with some miraculous plan to turn this around and coming up empty.

I had exhausted everything I had getting here... My body felt like it was about to give up entirely, my limbs trembled and twitched, fever baked my brains clean of any clever ideas. Glitter's terrified face doubled, then trebled briefly before resolving back to one scared filly wailing back to me. "Daddy no!! G-Get him! He's bad! Don't give him what he wants, buck him!"

"Shut up brat!" Bishop's free hoof shot out and slapped her muzzle, a surging dark roar in my head "Be Dark..." filled me with the last reserves of my strength and I tensed, stopping short when Bishop's pistol spun on me and he leaned even further out the window, swinging Glitter around and sending droplets of her precious blood out in a fan from her bleeding muzzle, driving all thought from my head except her well being. "Be Kind..."

"Please Bishop... you win, whatever you want... don't hurt her... "Be Kind...", if you hurt her again... you die... slow... "Be Dark...", just end this, please... she's just a filly..."

The struggle in my head was getting more difficult by the second, of all the weird mental voices up there, Fluttershy's spirit and the Shroud were almost diametrically opposed forces. My voice kept fluctuating from pleading to threatening, frightened to furious, made harder by each wave of arcane force building up in my horn. When this pulse came, it was going to be a monster... without even the benefit of disabling Bishop's weapon.

"Win?! No you've ruined all that you runty little shit! You and those big freaks made sure of that! I'll have to escape, use the smuggling tunnels and pull out of Goodneighbor for awhile thanks to you! This is all the victory I'm going to get tonight, but it was worth waiting for! Scream you little bitch! Beg! Beg your runty old man to save you before you die! I want him to hear it!" Bishop shook Glitter in his hoof violently, trying to terrify her into voicing her terror just to torture me.

The little earth pony filly screwed her face up and sniffled up blood, snot and tears, hocking it all right in Bishop's face. She struggled at the end of his hoof like a tiny prize fighter, swinging her hooves and snorting. "No! Y-You're in big trouble! I-I'm not s-scared! My dad is gonna kill you an catch me! r-right daddy?"

Her pinprick pink eyes were drawn to the hard street below her dangling hooves and she gulped, furrowing her brow and staring at me with her chest puffed out bravely. "Yes... I'll always catch you sweetie, just hang on..."

Bishop scowled and wiped the mess from his face in fury, shaking Glitter by her ripping neckerchief and slapping her muzzle repeatedly. Every impact sent a spike of dark rage to join the swirling magic ready to explode outward any moment. Bishop screeched in fury at her clenched eyes and refusal to cry out, my pride swelled at her bravery and indomitable will, providing an unexpected barrier to Bishop's planned torment.

Most importantly she was buying time, it wasn't doing me any good, but somepony had made use of it thankfully...

Magnolia's anxious mental yell gave me a small thread of hope and I prayed to all the Goddesses, Celestia, Luna ...Jade's mother if she was out there... Please..

Bishop's silver pistol inched towards her flailing silently, his voice shaking with hate. "Oh you'll scream alright!! Watch close Shrouded Shrimp! Say goodbye to your brat!" Bishop ranted and drew his hoof back... the pistol clicking menacingly and a chilly, howling wind outside the windows blew her bloody white skirts around her. Bishop tensed in anticipation of flinging her out into the void wearing a wicked grin.

The chaotic noise drifting up from the streets of Goodneighbor was suddenly dwarfed by explosions and static filled oompa music blasting out of every working loudspeaker in the town. Multicolored light poured in through the tall windows, each Spell in a Box array I had repaired this week finally triggered and opening after more than 200 years, filling the moonlit sky with fireworks as I tried to disregard the fanfare in my ear and flash of text.

Mission Updated!: Strike Up the Band

Objectives----

---Trigger the Grand Opening Gala

----Stage 'Ribbon Cutting Ceremony'
----Meet minimum party level (8.9)
---Gain access to Ministry of Morale hub
---Take control of hub maneframe

The unexpected cacophony and rattling explosions of fireworks from the large array right on the roof outside distracted Bishop, the evil gang leader spun his head to the open window Glitter dangled out of in surprise, his mouth hanging agape and the silver pistol in his magic drooping in shock.

I triggered S.A.T.S. to have a moment of frozen time, studying the mere ten feet separating us and every obstacle in my path. Even in the cool nirvana of timelessness, that building pulse was surging in my horn, this was the only chance I had as insane as it was... The dark Shroud in my head demanded killing Bishop on the way to save Glitter, the soothing souls of the Ministry Mares were on my side in only caring about her though.

I released S.A.T.S., struggling to contain the imminent explosion of magic just a minute longer, then spread my arcing hooves and tensed, rocketing forward as Bishop's pinprick eyes started turning back.

Even without a dose of Dash, adrenaline slowed time to a crawl and I could take in everything. My forelegs stretched and touched the middle of the grey carpet of Bishop's office with a crackle of electricity at the impact, Glitter's hopeful eyes widened and she swung her hooves frantically, loosening Bishop's grip.

My hindlegs came forward to join the front, folding my body and tensing my flanks like a spring, a flare of lightning magic joining that of my forehooves as the rear made contact and pushed with everything I had. Bishop's eyes narrowed with dawning fear and hate, his pistol swinging up sharply and firing wildly.

A stretched out, flying leap brought me up to the cluttered surface of Bishop's mahogany desk. Electricity raced across the surface and focused as all four hooves came together again, Bishop's leg swung sharply as his pistol's rounds chewed his desk to pieces stitching its way up, finding my armored chest and hammering the padded trenchcoat with two .45 rounds that dug through the ballistic fiber and lodged in my breast like getting hit by a locomotive, a third punctured the side of my neck as Glitter started to come loose and arc out into freefall.

Using up my last bit of control, I flexed every quivering, bulging muscle on top of the desk, weird, squirming new ones twitched and spasmed at my back and I felt those disgusting lumps ...move... straining against my coat in misshapen bulges. A final blast of lightning magic shot me forward over Bishop's head and out the window, past the Diamond City 'Noble's' triumphant shout.

My hooves wrapped around Glitter and we fell, the ground rushing up as I flailed uselessly in the open air, my hooves searching for purchase that I knew wasn't there. Glitter's little legs wrapped around my neck and I tumbled with her, my mind racing... Beyond getting to her without Bishop shooting her, I still hadn't figured out what to do after that. T-Teleport... I'd teleport her away... that was it...

The throbbing pulse of magic couldn't be held back anymore, with a noise between a screaming roar and a groan, the sphere of my sparkling magic bloomed like a new, blue moon plummeting to Goodneighbor from the heavens. I could just make out the bright glow bathing the street rushing up to meet us as it swelled out, and out, and out..

I barely noticed a rumbling explosion back the way we came, engulfing the tower of the King's Gambit in orange flames that an equally orange and singed griffon dove directly through, her red wings pushed her faster and faster into a powerdive as shrapnel and tinkling glass fell behind her and she screamed. Val would give everything she had, but she couldn't change the laws of physics, she couldn't catch us in time...

Every light in the King's Gambit dimmed to a weak flicker as we streaked by, the exploding wave of magic hungrily draining any source of energy it came into contact with while we plummeted together. No teleporting... I wouldn't even try it on an inanimate object like this, let alone my daughter...

Telekinesis! I'd float her away from me, up to Val's desperate dive above us... Even if I smashed like a pancake on the asphalt below, the bubble of magic would pop and she should only fall a few feet. Granted it would be right beside the puddle that was her father, but she'd survive...

I tried to tug her away from her grip on my neck as we spun lazily towards the ground. The blazing new moon above Goodneighbor finally stopped expanding and draining power, trembling as every blast of M.E.W. fire from ponies below at the strange phenomenon above the streets was sucked up in a swirling maelstrom of eldritch power.

She buried her muzzle against my chest and burrowed in tighter, warm tears soaking my pounding chest as she shook her head and screamed against the rushing wind. She wouldn't let go... wouldn't let me save her! (HELP!!! SAVE GLITTER!!!) I screamed mentally, trying to think of something with our last remaining seconds of slowed down time, plenty enough to spot the glowing spheres of alicorn shields nearby. Several arrowed directly at us, while I watched a couple who got too close suddenly faded to pale pastels instead of bright primaries, even that powerful defensive magic was sucked up into the crackling sphere around me.

A rising tide of horrified voices from Jade's sisters made it clear they couldn't make it...

Then the giant bubble of magic around us contracted and condensed almost instantly, the magic so intense and bright as it suffused me that it lit Goodneighbor in artificial daylight, blinding me and anypony unfortunate enough to be staring right at it. A crack of thunder rolled across the town, ringing in my ears and shattering nearby windows.

I struggled and kicked, trying to swim through the air, slow us down, at least turn so the foal huddled against me was shielded from the impending impact. If I wasn't blind, deaf and about to die, I'd marvel at how good I felt for the first time in a week. I lurched and bucked as we fell, the desire to live, to save my daughter somehow, overwhelming the logic and cold numbers that told me we were both dead. Nothing I could do would save her... at least we'd die together...

NO! I howled in negation and spasmed in the air, screaming to the heavens for something, anything that would... SLAP!.... THUNK! OW!

Tiny Alicorn Angels flitted around my aching head and I looked around at the field of white that was the only other thing I could see, my head smacked into something hard and... SLAP!.... THUNK! Ow!! Some wet, slimy ...thing on my right side flexed and SLAP!.... THUNK! Ow!! I lurched in the air, slowing slightly when I smashed into that hard... SLAP!.... THUNK! Ow!! solid... wall? again... and again headfirst, my hooves blindly dragging against the hard, smooth surface for purchase.

The tiny Angel Blue ...Jade..., Angel White ...Glitter..., Angel Green ...Ivy..., Angel Purple ...Magnolia..., Angel Yellow ...Periwinkle..., and a larger little Angel Pink ...Swan..., flitted around my head SLAP!.... THUNK! Ow!! in rapid little circles before my eyes SLAP!.... THUNK! Ow!!

As my vision started to fade from pure white to indistinct grey blobs that SLAP!.... THUNK! Ow!! weren't what I expected from the SLAP!.... THUNK! Ow!! afterlife... woooo... p-pretty little Angels were all my battered skull could SLAP!.... THUNK! Ow!! focus on until a screaming cry slammed directly into my brain.

Jade's desperate shout boomed out in her goddess voice, in my head and out loud. I felt the bundle of warmth in my hooves twitch in response as that SLAP!.... THUNK! Ooof... dark, slimy thing smacked against my face again and I thumped weakly into the big grey blob I kept slamming into. Suddenly we were both surrounded by a lot of warm blue, our terrifying downward momentum slowing to a gentle halt by the shuddering alicorn holding us both tightly.

The cracked and cool asphalt that met my flushed cheek didn't do so at terminal velocity... We settled softly to the ground with the warm, familiar feel and pale blue color of Jade's magic washing over us. I was sprawled out on my left side, panting and gratefully savoring the feel of warm blue feathers surrounding us, slowly releasing my deathgrip on the squirming filly in my hooves while healing magic poured into me from the sweet smelling wall of blue still curled around us.

Rolling an eye to watch a pale blob tackle the big blue one with a cry, my ears twitched up at the indistinct, murmuring mumbles of familiar voices around me that rose in a gasp when the warm canopy of Jade had been pushed back by Glitter's excited yell. I felt several thumps surrounding me as more blobs landed nearby, purple, green, blue, green, purple, purple, orange... orange dove at blue and white in a flurry of noise working on being comprehensible voices, before pouncing close enough to fill my slowly clearing vision and shaking me roughly.

Everything grew dark somehow and a rolling tremor shook the ground, filling the rest of my blurry vision behind the red and orange with a loooot of purple and pink. Other than the slowly resolving sounds of Jade, Glitter and Val, I couldn't make out what I had to guess was quite a few alicorns huddled around where I was sprawled in the street.

Oddly enough, even in my head there was quiet... I could make out what they said there, but there was only an eerie silence. Just the wordless swell of emotion assured me they were there, but what started as relief and warm caring, turned to shock and a deepening rush of those feelings of friendship starting to change into something more that worried me...

"Fast.... a-are you alright? W-What is that?... Is that..." Swan's rumbling voice finally sounded out, giving me something loud and close to focus on as I shook my head and tried to sit up, some slimy weight at my side scraped across the ground and I winced at the rough texture and strange sensation... sensation? I felt... what?

My eyes finally properly focused, actually focused better than ever... was Goodneighbor always this bright? I could see a lot more detail everywhere I looked, gloomy alleyways were lit with a strange penetrating light, I could read the menu inside the smoking shell of the Gilded Fork a block away for Celestia's sake...

Blinking up in confusion, I got a good look at the crowd of concerned friends and family staring down at me in slack jawed wonder. Jade soaked in blood and frazzled, her anxious blue eyes darting around her. Glitter sniveling into her chest, bruised and traumatized, but safe and sound... Val, her violet eyes bugging out of her head before narrowing and glancing around the crowd, spreading a red wing protectively, trying to hide me from view... Zed galloping from the smoking ruins of the King's Gambit, his grey eyes meeting mine even at this distance, nodding significantly towards the glowing spire of the M.O.M. hub behind us, a huge pink torch in the night, lighting the ruins of Trotson with the wildly waving spotlights pinning it and a burst of fireworks.

And the alicorns... Jade's sisters, Peri giving a beaming and unsurprised smile, Starling and half a dozen others I didn't know, burnt and bleeding but ignoring their wounds entirely, staring down at me in complete shock slowly turning to wonder. Swan's huge head was directly overhead, leaning over the circle of her smaller sisters. She was slightly smaller after her rampage, her costume still fit though and her pink neckerchief and skirt stained with splashes of blood fluttered in the breeze. The giant mare's blue-violet eyes grew round and even bigger on her face as she looked over the twitching new appendage with dawning comprehension...

With my suddenly sharp vision, I could see tiny hearts sparkling in all of their slowly lidded eyes as they seemed to take a tentative step closer as one, pressing all around me while a rising murmur was whispering in my head.

Looking down at my side sharply and trying to shut out the sudden surge of emotions and thoughts growing louder out of the silence, I looked carefully and took in the dripping mass of... feathers? F-Feathers... wet, slimy feathers that looked disgusting, but even mom's or Jade's wings looked sort of like that when they were totally saturated.

Peering closely, I could make out each needle like feather covered in spiky little clumps that were drying and fluffing into proper feathers while I watched... A wing... I had a wing... a wing that just saved me, erupting from the long gash Rowdy had given me in the ring and poking out of my coat through the new flaps.

A wing that just did all that in a very, veeeeery public manner... My red eyes darted back up to the huddle of alicorns pressing closer, that sleepy, lovestruck look spreading among them driven by something stronger than just me smelling funny... though I doubted that was helping... The growing chorus echoing in my head matched the low purr rising among the ones right here.

Swan's was a deep rumble as she fluttered her eyelashes and leaned down, shoving her smaller sisters and Val rudely aside to nuzzle at the new and... wow... very tender wing, that decided to not so helpfully twitch straight out at attention for some reason, making an even better display for the massive filly snuffling at it with her muzzle.

"You are... m-male... one of us..." She cooed and took another shaking step forward, her sisters grumbling in distracted annoyance at being pushed out of her way and trying to press back in, while Jade started turning red and pranced on her hooves with Glitter anxiously.

No... no, no, no! I scrambled to my hooves, feeling a surge of strength and vitality that turned my frantic attempt to stumble up into a leap and canter. I felt really good! Which was probably a good thing...

"Umm... hehehe... Sooooo... some party huh? T-Thanks for all your help ladies! There's Glitter! Safe and sound! All thanks to you! S-See her? O-Over there... Er... still important things to do... City in trouble? Lot's of bad guys? We'll juuuust... g-go see Mayor Shamrock..." I cautiously backpedaled, trying to awkwardly stuff my uncooperative wing down and hide it with a shaky, nervous smile.

Swan's hoof slammed to the ground just behind me, sending fresh cracks through the asphalt and me stumbling back against the barrier. She suddenly flopped to her belly on the street, totally ignoring the tapering violence in the town around us. Her other foreleg stomped down beside me and curled inward, tossing her sisters fluttering back as she wiggled forward, breathing deeply and sending a long pink tongue out to lick up my front completely, wiping away quite a bit of drying blood and slimy gunk from my wing.

"Not going anywhere... you stay... play... NOW...." Swan dragged herself closer, wiggling her giant rump in the air behind her and flicking her long pink tail around, swatting at the other alicorns that had fluttered up to see past her long limbs and press closer like very big flies.

Taking in another long, sharp inhale, I shuddered as the whites of her eyes filled with bands of pink spreading out in a rush. I read about that in one of Corona's spell books I had bought called 'Magical Mishaps', trying to find something to help when my 'smell' changed a few days ago... It listed that effect in a detailed account, a symptom of powerful love potions... Oh no... Her rumbling voice was dripping with honey and seduction, but very, very clear this wasn't really a request...

Shit... Oh this was bad... this was sooooo bad... Jade clutched Glitter in her legs and hovered above anxiously with Val beside her, the griffon eyeing the situation with none of her usual mirth at my predicament. What was worse was the rising tide of unity chanting a disturbing mantra, nearly every alicorn in the Commonwealth had converged on Goodneighbor, every single one tapped in to the same experiences and knowledge, they all saw... all knew...

Swan wriggled forward again, now positively smothering me, her long pink mane curling around my hooves as she nuzzled and licked. Her nostrils flared as the big muzzle pushed me against her wall of a foreleg, forcing me to flop back on my rump and try to push away with my hindlegs. Several strokes of that powerful tongue had cleaned all the slime from my... wing... my actual wing that was starting to fluff up in soft black feathers, jutting out at a stiff, painful angle under the attention...

The disjointed thought that ran through my head was, 'Oh... so thaaaaat's what 'Wingboner Magazine' means...'. I never got the name of one of dad's 'private' magazines with pictures of pretty pegasi... I found one tucked in one of his more dry tomes in his office as a foal, resulting in a sputtering, blushing, delayed 'talk' and pleading not to tell mom. I didn't know it was an actual ...thing... pegasi had to worry about...

A very big pair of soft lips was planting a series of kisses all over, starting at my fizzling horn and working her way down, too far down! Made worse by the soft moans of impatient annoyance drifting in from the growing flock surrounding us beyond the cage of Swan's long legs and huge head blotting out the sky. Ok! Time to go! Looking around frantically for an escape, I gulped and did the only thing I could think of to get out of here.

Reaching out with both trembling forelegs, I grabbed Swan's muzzle before it could work its way any lower, shoving it back up with a surprisingly strong flex of suddenly supple, non-spasming muscles that still strained to push all that alicorn head up. She seemed a little unsure at getting contact in return and I pressed my narrow advantage, taking a deep breath and diving forward, returning a long, deep kiss that had her draw her head back in delighted surprise.

A gap of freedom opened up between her sweaty brow and her legs trapping me, she sighed and gave a happy whinny, a blush warming my hooves pressed into her cheeks that reverberated with her happy noises. She whined and pulled back a little more to look down at me when I broke it off with a gasp, her ears drooping lazily along with her lidded eyes.

"Er... S-Sorry ladies! Gotta go!" I squeaked and poured magic into my hooves, grateful that it had finally decided to settle out and start working smoothly again.

A short spurt of speed took me to Swan's curled forelegs keeping me to herself and I jumped for all I was worth, amazed at how high I managed to make it, the single wing on my right flapping reflexively to propel me in a weaving, lurching, pathetic attempt at flight. Thankfully Val was on the ball, swooping past Swan's head and all the other alicorns just catching up, her dark claws gripped my hoof and yanked me through the air after her.

My uncontrollable wing kept beating counter productively, throwing off her streaking course towards the Ministry of Morale hub until she dropped me to the street with a huff. "I'd run boss! Let's go!!"

Jade and Glitter were already flapping ahead, both turning worried glances back to me and the sudden rumble of a lot of alicorn stomping to her hooves behind us, the sky filled with the beating of a dozen more normal sized wings giving chase. Yes.. running, I could do running, that sounded like an excellent idea!

The circus themed casino ahead and the tower above it were lit up brighter than ever, fireworks continued to burst in the air all around it and a magical lightshow filled the foggy night with bright colors and beams of light. The fighting had died down and order was slowly being restored, a large group of power armored Brotherhood were tromping their way to the M.O.M. hub but were stopped by Shamrock's guards at the entrance.

Blasting past the tense stand off, I dashed through the casino floor after Jade with Val sticking right at my side. Zed was galloping along behind us, winded from all the fighting but still agile enough to leap atop the games and rides looping around in here, taking the shortest route possible to the service tunnels we were heading for.

There was a lot of repair work waiting in here and a crush of hurt, frightened ponies taking shelter within made pushing our way through difficult, any desire to help down here was overridden by my own problems at the moment though.

A swelling note of frustration and desire was driving anything approaching rational thought right out of the field of telepathy I was tapped into, it was now just a wordless, urgent tide of 'I want' roaring their disappointment and giving a merry chase. Oh Luna protect me... they were enjoying it! Racing to see who caught me first! Giggling among themselves lustily in my head as they all sped towards the hub.

I started humming the song I got to catch out of Magnolia's concert as we ran, trying reeeeally hard to block out the run of their thoughts and feelings as they took a turn toward the downright lewd and scary. They'd calm down... right? I'd just make myself scarce and let things cool down... Luckily several quick turns down the hidden tunnels brought us to the sealed, fortified entrance to the Hub.

The steel doors were lit up brightly and thrummed with active power, the advanced terminal with the glowing red eye flicked around with a whir of servos at our rushed approach. I hurriedly dug out the lanyard ID Shamrock had the computer produce for me as Head Technician of the casino, holding it up and waving it in front of the terminal frantically.

A wide, red scanning laser shot out from the tiny camera, focusing on the plastic ID with a poor picture of myself before giving a series of beeps and chatters. The heavy steel doors gave a resounding 'CLUNK!' of rusted locks and swung open, a brightly lit elevator waiting beyond the heap of dusty pony skeletons piled against the doors.

The five of us grabbed our stashed belongings behind the boxes cluttering the hall behind us and dashed in gratefully, the doors slamming shut behind us and powered down with a few quick commands from this side of the terminal. I didn't want anypony following us, especially not Jade's temporarily (I hoped...) crazed sisters, but not the Brotherhood or even Shamrock yet... Until I knew what we were sitting on, this place was back on lockdown and staying out of everypony's hooves.

The pale pink walled elevator hummed behind us, a polka version of 'Dance of the Parasprites' playing as softly as an accordion got from the perfectly preserved speakers. The glowing pink buttons beside the door were lit up from floors 5 to 20, far above where Shamrock or anypony from Goodneighbor had ever breached except for the lowest two. Though a few floors shy of the top of the tower by the information I had about the building.

Hitting the button for floor 7 caused the doors to ding and slide shut smoothly and we rose up into the sealed Ministry Hub, the first visitors in 200 years.

We were in. We were together. We were safe.

For now anyway...

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

Weapon Handling---------
------Either your horn’s gotten tough enough to handle the kick or you’ve broken in that battle saddle. Of course access to alicorn strength doesn't hurt either... Weapon strength requirements are two less for you!

Quest Perk Added!---------------------

Institute Alicorn-----

---Congratulations! Miraculously you've survived the process and Moondancer's version of the Impelled Metamorphosis Potion was successful! All negative effects from Institute I.M.P. perks are removed while the positives remain.

Your body has been permanently enhanced through Arcane Science! You gain +1 to Strength, Perception, Endurance and Charisma, +20% to your Poison, Fire and Radiation Resistances and +3 to your damage threshold, +20 to health and magic points, and are at least 20% cooler in general. You also gain the effects of the TAG! perk(s) for the purposes of gaining the 'Flight' and/or 'Magic' skill(s) only. A nice payoff for a week of misery and near death...

There are other side effects as well, some of which differ from alicorns created by the Goddess. Radiation continues to build in your system (though in a totally unfair turn, you remain short...), conferring increasing bonuses the higher your count. Your radiation count steadily decreases on its own over time or with sleep however, equivalent to the 'Rad Absorbtion' and 'Irradiated Beauty' perks. You are also susceptible to alicorn unity and less able to guard your thoughts or resist psionic attacks.

Finally, if known then your condition may affect your reputation standing in unforeseen ways. So long as this is kept quiet, you should be fine, but if a faction becomes aware of your new status it may radically change its opinion of you...

(Note: 'Institute Alicorn' is incompatible with all zebra alchemy perks like 'Bone Strengthening Brew' and 'Zebra-Augmented Pony', as well as all cybernetic implants including 'Adamantium Bone Lacing' and 'Cyberpony'.)

Reputation Change!-----------------------------

Trinity Tower - "Wanted"-------
----Not quite 'Wanted' like the Gunners holding a bounty over your head, or being 'Wanted' by the guards of Diamond City for your arrest. More like you are wanted period... Thankfully they don't want you dead at least, you retain all positive associations and friendships with the mares of Trinity Tower on an individual level, as a group though, they are looking for you now...

Goodneighbor - Idolized------
-----You helped throw the biggest party Goodneighbor's ever seen and brought together the mares of Trinity Tower, the Minutemares, the Followers and even the Brotherhood of Friendship inadvertently to its defense. Depending on what you decide to do about the Ministry of Morale Hub now lying open before you, the Mayor and others might feel differently... but to the ponies of Goodneighbor you're a hero worthy of the Shrouded Stallion! The climactic lightshow at the end is going to be a local legend for years...

Kings - Grim Reaper-Pony----
-----The Kings are essentially no more, all because they touched your daughter... To the remaining members of the formerly powerful gang, you are death incarnate. They still hold territory out in the wasteland to be avoided and hold connections to Diamond City, but with Bishop gone they're a significantly reduced threat. Beyond vilified in their eyes, survivors may attack, or may run for the hills when they see you coming.