Sunset was reluctantly impressed. The whole top floor of the temple had been set aside for the Rainbooms, with a separate room for each of them and a shared bathroom right at the back. It was easy to tell who's room was whose, as each door had been crudely painted with each girl's Cutie Mark.

"How did you know about our Cutie Marks?" Sunset asked. "The symbols on the doors," she elaborated in response to Joshua's confused look.

"Ah." Joshua nodded in understanding. "That was actually Primrose's doing." He gestured to the priestess that had spoken to them earlier, the only other Disciple to have joined the Rainbooms upstairs. "She saw them in her dreams, and we felt sure that they had some meaning to your Graces."

Sunset looked at her in surprise. "You saw it in your dreams? Does that mean you have magic?"

Primrose blushed at the sudden attention. "A little, I think, your Grace. I was chosen by one of the wisps when they soared across the wastes. Ever since I've had… visions, of a sort."

"Huh. That's pretty cool," Sunset admitted.

"Incidentally, your Grace, Primrose has been assigned to be your personal handmaiden while you are here," Joshua added.

Sunset's head whipped around. "Whoa, hold up a second! Staying here is one thing, but I'm not accepting servants or slaves! I'm drawing the line there!"

"Slave?" Joshua tilted his head in confusion. "I assure you, your Grace, Primrose is no slave. She has been looking forward to this duty ever since we asked it of her."

"It's true, your Grace," Primrose said earnestly.

Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose and resisted the urge to snap at someone. "Fine, but the moment you start offering to feed me or help me wash I'm putting my foot down."

"Splendid." Joshua nodded and turned to the others, giving them an apologetic bow. "Forgive me, I wish I could say that we have handmaidens ready for all of you, but Primrose is the only Disciple with both the drive, diligence and, frankly, the competence to perform such a role."

"Not at all, darling," Rarity replied, looking quietly relieved that she didn't have to deal with her own personal zealot. "So, er, these are our rooms?"

"Yes, your Grace." Joshua swept an arm out to encompass the corridor. "Now that you are here, no-one is allowed in these rooms without your permission. The bathroom is for your Graces' use only."

Sunset made a mental note to check on the hot water situation at some point, having no desire to deal with cold showers, and made her way to her room near the end of the row. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to chill for a bit, then I'll head into town and see if I can find any leads on weird tech."

Joshua asked what she meant by weird tech, but Sunset curtly asked Twilight to explain what they were after. Hopefully, the Disciples would be able to point the girls in the direction of another potential SDT device, but Sunset doubted that they would be that lucky. Opening the door marked with her Cutie Mark, Sunset stepped inside and took a moment to inspect her new digs.

The room was surprisingly spacious. A single bed was tucked in one corner, with a small set of drawers next to it. A battered wardrobe sat on the opposite wall alongside a skeletal frame for holding armor. A rough outline of Sunset's Cutie Mark had been sewn into her blanket, and tiny red wisps of magic danced merrily in the corners of the room.

"Huh, not bad," Sunset admitted quietly.

"We were going to put in windows, but we thought it would get too cold in the winter months," Primrose explained. Sunset turned around slowly, wondering why the hell the woman had followed her, only to remember that the Disciple was also her new handmaiden. "Would you prefer that we put windows in, your Gra-"

"Sunset. Just call me Sunset. If you really need to be formal, then just call me Miss Shimmer or Knight-Captain," Sunset insisted. "Anything but 'your Grace', okay?"

Primrose bowed slightly. "Of course, your Gra- er… Miss Shimmer?"

"Better. And no, I'm fine without windows, thanks." Sunset dumped her pack and plasma rifle next to the bed and stepped over to the armor frame. "If you're staying in here, close the door, please."

Primrose dutifully closed the door. She hesitated as Sunset started stripping her armor off. "Um, should I help you with that?"

"Nah, I've got it," Sunset replied. "What you can do for me is tell me anything you know about any magic that's in Megaton; how much there is, where it's coming from, where it's going, and what people are doing with it."

"Oh, of course." As Sunset removed her armor and arranged it on the frame, Primrose detailed everything she knew about Megaton's magic stores. Unlike Rivet City, Megaton hadn't put a ban on magical trade, but so far not much of it had passed through the hands of the residents. Aside from the Temple of Harmony and the Church of Atom, the only person in town who had anything more than a tiny crystal or two was a woman named Moira. Even Moriarty hadn't been able to get his grubby hands on anything significant, though, apparently, that was not for lack of trying.

Sunset grumbled under her breath. Of course Moriarty would want magic. She sighed and put it to the back of her mind. As long as he didn't get hold of anything powerful, it shouldn't turn into an issue. She made another mental note to ask Simms to keep an eye on Moriarty and, satisfied that her armor was properly stored, finally went and sat on the bed. "Oof, that's better. Is there any way of locking these doors, or…?"

Primrose nodded. "There should be a key in the top drawer next to the bed." Sunset quickly checked, and was surprised to see a little brass key with a ruby sparkling in the handle. "We're fairly certain that it's infused with your magic, your Gra- Miss. Just tap the lock on the door and it locks itself, then tap it again to unlock it. We made one for each of you." She frowned pensively. "At least, we hope they'll work. For some reason, Joshua and I are the only people who can get them to work at the moment."

"Neat." Sunset tucked the key in her pocket. She was about to ask what other magical accoutrements and quirks were lurking around the temple when someone knocked the door. Primrose answered, speaking in hushed tones to whoever was there, then thanked them and closed the door again. "Who was it?"

"One of our newest initiates, delivering a message from Moriarty," Primrose replied, distaste evident in her expression. "He wishes for you to meet with him. Should I tell him to come here himself, or should we just give him a flat refusal?"

Sunset sighed and got back to her feet, trying not to lament the fact that she couldn't even get two minutes to herself. "No, it's fine. I'll go and see what that slimeball wants."

---

Fluttershy wasn't sure how she felt about the temple. It would be handy to have a stable place to stay outside of the Citadel or Rivet City, and having people being nice to them was a huge improvement over suspicion and hostility. Unfortunately, having the Disciples fawning over her every movement was too much for Fluttershy, and that was before considering the ethical minefield that came with simply staying there.

Having enhanced senses certainly wasn't helping matters. Fluttershy was getting used to hearing things she shouldn't, or didn't want to, from classified discussions and private conversations, to toilet visits and intimate encounters. The Citadel and the Adams Air Force Base were pretty much the same in that regard. The Temple, however, had something that made the constant flow of background noise a lot harder to ignore.

Prayers.

Fluttershy had no issues with prayer in and of itself. It wasn't something she believed in, but she had nothing against those who did. The problem was when those prayers were directed to her. Even as she walked back through the temple with Twilight, Pinkie and Applejack, Fluttershy could hear people in other rooms offering up prayers and adulation for the Rainbooms, both as a group and individually. Some of them were directed to her specifically.

Being the object of worship for a group of people was embarrassing, but that wasn't what Fluttershy was finding troubling.

"You Grace, my daughter is sick. I beg you, please, find it in your heart to help her."

It was a private request. A whispered plea from a desperate young woman to her new goddess, one who was listening far more directly than the Disciple would have ever imagined.

Fluttershy was torn. She didn't mean to listen, didn't want to hear, but she couldn't help herself. The woman's child was deathly ill, and she couldn't afford to take the girl to see Doc Church. Fluttershy was certain that the doctor would treat the girl either way, allowing the woman to pay him back a little at a time, but she didn't seem to know that. Fluttershy's heart went out to the poor woman, but the truth of her situation niggled at her mind.

Convincing Doc Church to see the daughter would be easy. Fluttershy even considered simply paying the doctor herself, using the caps she got from the Brotherhood of Steel, but interfering would set a dangerous precedent.

If the woman found out what Fluttershy had done, it would lend weight to the idea that the girls were goddesses, something that needed to be avoided. Even simply asking the doctor to keep her interference anonymous wouldn't help. In fact, it would probably make things worse, given that the woman's prayer would be answered seemingly by divine providence.

With her head going in circles, Fluttershy decided to turn her attention to another, equally pressing, and equally private, matter.

Adam was sitting at one of the tables, sipping a glass of water and chatting with a Disciple while he waited patiently for the girls to return. His empty armor was tucked away in the corner of the welcome room. Adam immediately perked up as the girls entered the room, and Fluttershy fought back a giggle as an image popped into her mind of a puppy happily greeting its owner. The Disciple made to scramble to his feet, but Applejack held up a hand to stop him. "Settle down, big guy, we're just heading outside for a bit. Is the crowd still out there?"

"N-no, your Grace," the Disciple replied. "Joshua and Sheriff Simms dispersed them for now."

"That's a relief," Pinkie sighed. "Don't get me wrong, I love an audience, but that was just awkward."

"Yeah, you're telling me," Applejack grumbled.

Adam stood up and stretched. "So, what's happening now?"

"Looks like we're stayin' here for a while," Applejack replied, much to the Disciple's delight. She tilted her hat back and looked around wistfully. "At least these guys ain't hurtin' nobody, like the Acolytes were."

"That's always a bonus," Adam said with a wry smile. "What's the plan for now, then?"

"Sunset is resting," Twilight replied as she picked a speck of dirt off her glasses. "Rarity and Rainbow are staying here to see if the Disciples can give us any leads to old or unusual technology, and the rest of us are going to ask around in town."

Adam half-raised a hand. "Actually, speaking of technology, Pinkie, you have experience with explosives, right?"

The others all looked at him warily, concerned about the sudden direction the conversation was taking. Pinkie nodded slowly. "Yeah, I had the Enclave and Brotherhood teach me some stuff in case I run out of Nuka-Cola. Why?"

Adam grinned. "I was thinking we could do something about the live atomic bomb sitting in the middle of the crater. Fancy giving me a hand?"

"Ooo, good idea!" Pinkie said brightly. "I'm in!"

"Me too," Applejack added. "Ah wouldn't mind gettin' a proper look at that thing."

Twilight sighed and shook her head. "I suppose I'd better come along, too. You'll need someone with half a brain to make sure you don't blow yourselves up."

"If we wanted only half a brain I'd have asked Rainbow Dash," Adam said with a smirk.

"Don't let her hear you say that," Applejack chuckled. "Right, let's go take a look at that bomb."

"Actually, I'd like to have a word with Adam before you go," Fluttershy cut in quickly. "Um, if that's alright."

Applejack gave her a quick sidelong glance, then put her hands on Twilight and Pinkie's backs and nudged them towards the exit. "Sure thing, sugarcube. We'll see you down by the bomb."

That's not a sentence I could ever have imagined being said so casually, Fluttershy thought.

The Disciple looked from Fluttershy to Adam and back, seemed to realize that the following talk was intended to be private, and stepped over to an innocuous section of the scrap metal wall. He glanced at the door sheepishly, then, to Fluttershy's great surprise, pressed some hidden switch and the section of wall swung silently inwards, revealing a narrow staircase. "I should not leave the welcome room unattended, now that we will be opening up the temple to all, but if you wish to speak privately, then this passage will take you up to one of the upper walkways. The power armor will be safe here until you return."

"Wow. Um, thank you," Fluttershy said sincerely.

"How many of these secret passages are there?" Adam asked as he stepped inside.

"Enough," the Disciple replied vaguely. "Only those of the Temple are supposed to know of these, so I humbly ask that you speak of them to no-one."

Fluttershy nodded. "We'll keep them secret. Go on, Adam."

The two of them hurried up the stairs. Fluttershy heard a faint click as the door closed behind them, but she suspected that it would have been silent to an ordinary human. The staircase twisted and turned until, finally, it came to another secret door.

Adam pressed a button on the wall, and the door opened inwards. A small antechamber was on the other side, with two doors leading off from it, one of them locked with a heavy deadbolt. A priestess was sitting at a small round table, playing solitaire with a battered old deck of cards.

"How did the opening go?" The priestess asked without looking up. "Have we gotten any more new members?"

"Uh, kinda?" Adam said.

"Kinda? What do you mean?" The priestess looked up, then choked and scrambled to her feet the moment she spotted who she was talking to. "Y-your Grace?! I, well, we, uh-"

"Um, we were told that there was a place we could talk privately up here?" Fluttershy said quietly, cutting off the woman's dithering.

The Disciple nodded jerkily. "S-sure. Um, there's the meditation room through- oh, wait, Mickey's in there. One moment, your Grace, I'll ask him to leave."

"Please don't," Fluttershy cut in quickly. "I don't want to disturb anyone." She pointed at the bolted door. "What's through there?"

"That's one of the exterior walkways, your Grace," the priestess replied. "We keep that door locked whenever we have vulnerable members getting settled in.

"That'll do," Fluttershy said. Adam obediently hauled the deadbolt across and opened the door, stepping aside for Fluttershy to exit first. "You can lock the door after us," Fluttershy told the priestess. "We'll get back in through the main door."

Stepping through, Fluttershy found herself on a narrow walkway overlooking one of the paths down into the crater. She leaned against the railings, resting on her arms and looking down as people went about their daily lives below.

Adam joined her a moment later. "So… what do you want to talk about?"

Fluttershy swallowed hard. She had been so sure that she needed to get this confession off her chest but, now that it came down to it, she wanted nothing more than to simply shut up and run away. Steeling herself, she said in a monotone voice, "FEV. You know I'm infected."

"Of course," Adam replied. "We talked about it before."

"Yeah." Fluttershy cringed, trying hard to spit out what she had to say, but terrified that what she was about to admit would drive a permanent wedge between the two of them. Unable to force herself to say it directly, and cursing herself for her cowardice, Fluttershy approached the subject as obliquely as she could. "Well, one of the things FEV does is constantly repair the cells infected with it, including damage done to the DNA in each cell."

Adam nodded. "Yeah, it's part of the reason why Super Mutants are so damned tough. It's also why they're near enough immortal."

"Not just Super Mutants, the same applies to all FEV mutants." Fluttershy breathed in slowly through her nose and closed her eyes, bracing for one last push. "FEV repairs DNA damage in every cell it infects, even if the cell isn't actually damaged, like human haploid cells."

"Haploid… that's the ones with only one set of chromosomes, isn't it? Adam hummed thoughtfully. "But the only haploid cells humans have are- oh." Fluttershy flinched as he made the connection. "Sex cells. They only have one set of chromosomes, so they can connect with other sex cells, but the FEV reads the lack of chromosomes as damage and repairs it, causing infertility. I read about it in Vault 87." Adam sighed heavily. "And I'm guessing you're telling me this because Equestrian magic hasn't stopped that from happening."

Fluttershy shook her head, keeping her eyes closed. "No. I haven't, um, I haven't had a… cycle, since I first transformed. I tested myself after the peace treaty was signed, and… and that confirmed it. I'm sterile."

Fluttershy waited, eyes jammed shut, wondering what Adam was going to say, or whether he would even say anything. She flinched when she felt him place a hand on her back. "I… to be perfectly honest, I have no idea what to say here. At the risk of asking a stupid question; are you okay?"

"I don't know," Fluttershy admitted. "I've never really seriously thought about having kids before. I'd have liked the choice, at least, but I guess I don't get that anymore." She sighed and opened her eyes, looking down at the ramp below. "I just thought you should know, in case you do want kids someday. I don't want you to waste your time on someone who can't give you what you want."

Adam huffed a laugh. "I'd hardly call time spent with you time wasted, but I get what you're trying to say." He stepped closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I'm not particularly bothered by it. I'm honestly more worried about how you are feeling about it. As far as I'm concerned, if we ever get to that point, and we decide we do want some brats of our own, there's more than one way of going about it."

"This isn't something you can be blasé about," Fluttershy countered. "You should take some time to think it through."

"Think it through?" Adam leaned forward enough that he could look Fluttershy in the eye. "You do remember that I grew up in Vault 101, right? You saw the posters, the Overseer was seriously pushy about people having kids. He pressured everyone constantly to reproduce from the moment they hit adulthood. I had no choice but to think about whether I wanted children every single day. My opinion on this isn't flippant or spur of the moment, I promise you."

Fluttershy smiled and leaned into him, letting him pull her into a hug. She knew that their relationship was more than a little odd, in so many ways, but he was there, and that was all that mattered to her. Just as Fluttershy was about to finally give into the urge to wrap her arms around him, maybe letting a few relieved tears slip in the process, she heard someone approaching on the walkway. "Someone's coming."

Adam caught her tone and let her go, his hands drifting to his jacket pockets where he undoubtedly had some weapon stashed, while Fluttershy let her hand casually rest on the hilt of Vampire's Edge. After what had happened with Burke the last time she was in Megaton, she wasn't about to let herself get caught off-guard.

Unhurried footsteps came closer, until finally a man came around the corner. He appeared to be a typical Megaton resident clad in a simple t-shirt and pants. Fluttershy noted that he wasn't carrying any obvious weapons, but she didn't dare to relax just yet. His scent let her know that he was nervous, but whether that was because he thought he was talking to a goddess, because he was plotting something nefarious, or because he was simply the anxious type, was impossible to tell.

The man stopped when he saw the two. He glanced briefly at Adam, offering him a nod in greeting, then turned to Fluttershy. "Hi, Miss, uh, I mean, your worshipfulness. Uh, is that the right phrase?"

"Just call me Fluttershy," Fluttershy said quickly. "Um, can I help you with something?"

"Uh, yeah." The man nodded nervously. "Sorry to bother you, but I heard that you can talk to animals. Is that true?" Fluttershy nodded. "Well, you see, my Brahmin has been unwell for the last week and I was kinda hoping that you could maybe see if you can find out what's wrong with her?"

Fluttershy almost laughed. "I'm not much of a vet, but I'll see what I can do."

"You will?" The man's countenance brightened instantly. "Thank you, Miss, old Ness has been with me for over a decade, now, I hate to see her sick like this."

Adam raised an eyebrow, confusion written all over his face. "Do you want me to come with, or…?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "It's fine, you have a bomb to deal with." She tapped her chin as a thought occurred to her. "Actually, it would probably help if I brought Applejack with me. She has a lot more experience with cattle than I do."

"I'll send her along," Adam promised.

"Have her meet us by the clinic, I keep Ness just next door," the man said brightly.

Fluttershy reached up and pecked Adam on the cheek. "I'll see you soon. Good luck with the bomb." She turned to the man and nodded. "Lead on." Fluttershy felt a weight lift off her shoulders as she followed after him. She and Adam would need to revisit that conversation at a later date, but, for now, she was glad that he hadn't just ran off screaming in the other direction.

A moment later, Fluttershy realized that she had come to a conclusion to her other problem as well. It was a good thing they were going to be next door to the clinic, it appeared she had a sick little girl to talk to the doctor about.

---

Moriarty's hadn't changed, at least as far as the exterior went. It didn't even have any shiny patches where rogue magic might have touched it. As she walked up to the door Sunset absently patted her combat knife and Nova pistol, both safely secured on her hips. She had left her plasma rifle and armor up at the Temple, but she wasn't foolish enough to go wandering around town without some kind of protection again.

Inside, the bar was just as dank and dingy as Sunset remembered it. Just as crowded, too. Gob, Moriarty's ghoul slave, was hurrying around cleaning tables and removing empty beer bottles. Almost instinctively, Sunset glanced over at the corner Burke had once sat in, what felt like a lifetime ago. A pair of wastelanders were sitting at the table, drinking and chatting merrily.

Shoving dark memories to the back of her mind, Sunset looked for Moriarty. As expected, he was standing behind the counter, serving beers to locals. He hadn't spotted her yet. Her target spotted, Sunset strode towards him, a wave of silence spreading in her wake as people realized that she was there.

Moriarty noticed the hush falling over his tavern. He looked up just as Sunset reached the bar, then threw his arms wide and gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Well, look who it is! One of the almighty Goddesses herself, come to grace this humble saloon with her presence."

"What do you want, Moriarty?" Sunset asked bluntly, in no mood for his games.

"Straight to the point, is it? Alright then, missy." Moriarty fixed her with a glare. "You owe me a sackful of caps for the information you took from me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sunset lied smoothly.

Moriarty scowled and lowered his voice. "Don't play dumb with me, girlie. You refused my generous offer in return for information on where your Vault friends ran off to, but mysteriously found out exactly where they were headed anyway, and then I hear over the radio that you can read minds. It doesn't take a fake deity to put two and two together."

Aware that every eye in the bar was on them, Sunset gave Moriarty a look of utter contempt. "In case you hadn't noticed, you don't have a monopoly on information around here. Plenty of other people knew where James and Adam were headed, and none of them were anywhere near as selfish and greedy as you."

"Nice try, lass, but I know for a fact that I was the only one who knew where James was going." Moriarty gave her a nasty grin. "Normally, I'd take offense to such thievery, and such blatant dishonesty, but I'm a generous man, so here's what I'll do. You bring me a thousand caps, for the invasion of privacy, you see, and I'll pretend this whole miserable incident ever occurred."

"You aren't getting a single cap out of me," Sunset said sharply.

Moriarty planted his hands on the counter and leaned towards her. "I'm giving you fair warning. Pay up, or goddess or not you'll discover that I am not someone you can fuck with."

Sunset matched his glare, stepping forward and leaning on the counter until they were almost nose to nose. "If you think I'm even remotely afraid of you, you've been sampling too much of your own stock." She pulled away and smirked as she said loudly, "Tell me, do you sample the beer before or after you've pissed in the still?"

Several of the patrons spat out mouthfuls of whatever they were drinking as angry murmurs filled the room. Moriarty's glare turned murderous. "You're making a dangerous enemy, Shimmer."

Sunset snorted. "The only thing dangerous about you is the swill you're serving. We're done here. If you ever have a legitimate reason to speak to me, leave a message at the Temple and I'll consider letting you know when you can drag yourself up there for an audience. Until then, stay the hell away from me and my friends, or I'll tear your business apart, piece by shit-stained piece."

Just as Sunset turned away, she saw Moriarty snarl and reach into his pocket out of the corner of her eye. Someone shouted a warning, but Sunset had already whipped around and grabbed his wrist, forcing the gun up towards the ceiling a split-second before it fired.

People dove for cover as the bullet ricocheted off the ceiling. Sunset ignored it and punched Moriarty in the face with her free hand. As he reeled she yanked the gun out of his hand and tossed it aside, then slammed his wrist against the counter. Quick as a flash, she ripped her knife out and drove it through the back of his hand. Moriarty screamed and tried to pull his hand away, but the knife kept him pinned to the counter, drawing another scream out of him as bone scraped and tendons snapped.

"That was dumb." Sunset picked up Moriarty's fallen gun and gave him a quick look over, just to make sure he didn't have any other weapons on him, then quickly glanced around to make sure the stray bullet hadn't hit anyone. Satisfied that the situation was under control, Sunset flicked the gun's safety on and leaned down to speak to Moriarty. "I hope you've learned your lesson, because if you ever try and pull that shit again, you're getting face-fucked by bladed objects. Are we clear?"

"Fuck you!" Moriarty snarled, tears streaming down his face.

"What the fizzedy-uck is going on here?" Pinkie asked, somehow popping up from behind the counter next to Moriarty.

Sunset smiled. "Nothing much, just a quick lesson in manners."

Pinkie raised an eyebrow as she stared at the blade poking out of Moriarty's hand, then shrugged. "Okie dokie lokie! Anyway, Adam sent me to find you. Sheriff Simms is giving him a house as thanks for helping to disarm the atom bomb, and then he told us that if we want to know about any weird technology, we should probably speak to a lady called Moira. We're going to see her now. Wanna come?"

"Sure thing," Sunset replied, trying to mentally gloss over the fact that the idiots had been messing around with an atomic bomb. She waved the gun in Moriarty's face. "I'm keeping this."

Pinkie hopped over the counter and skipped over to the door. Sunset made to follow her, then stopped and turned back around as she remembered something. "Whoops, almost forgot." Moriarty howled again as she yanked the knife out of his hand.

Next Chapter: Chapter 108 - The Wasteland Survival Guide Estimated time remaining: 20 Hours, 15 Minutes