Trixie wasn’t entirely sure what to think as Sunset led her, Sonata and Vice-Principal Luna out of the meeting room. She had half-expected the rest of the Rainbooms to freak out or have a breakdown, much as Sunset herself had when she first saw the trio again, but their reactions had been strangely… muted. It was more than a little disturbing.

“Okay, where to start?” Sunset mused. “The market is closest, but that place is going to be crowded as all hell. Are you okay with that? Hm, on second thought, we’d better make sure that Harkness is cool with me giving the three of you a tour.” She gestured for the trio to follow. “Come on, we’ll get permission from security, then I’ll show you all the sights.”

“Will the others be okay?” Trixie ventured awkwardly.

Sunset gave her a nod and what was clearly supposed to be a reassuring smile. “They’ll be alright. Losing the portal sucks, and having the three of you dragged into this world as well is kind of a kick in the gut, but we’ve been through worse. They just need a little time.”

Having been through worse hardly invalidated the stress they were under, but Trixie didn’t want to press any further. For now, she decided to just trust that Sunset knew her friends well enough to know their limits.

“I have to admit, Rivet City is much more impressive than I was expecting,” Luna noted. “Is this all thanks to Equestrian magic?”

“Oh yeah,” Sunset replied with a chuckle. “This old boat was a major rustbucket when we first came here. The maintenance crew had to put in a ridiculous amount of work just to keep the place from falling apart.”

Trixie felt her expression twist as the two settled into conversation. She couldn’t understand how they could be so casual about the state that the Rainbooms were in, especially considering how the girls had reacted to seeing Sonata. Even Sunset hadn’t reacted as forcibly as Twilight had.

Unreasonably annoyed, Trixie opened her mouth to say something, only to hesitate when she saw that Luna had unconsciously balled her hands into fists. Trixie felt a twinge of guilt as she realized that Luna was obviously just as worried, she was just just putting a brave face on things. It was just what you’d expect from a teacher. Still, an explanation for how the other Rainbooms had reacted would be nice.

“They probably didn’t all want to go nuts and look crazy and weak like Sunset did, duh,” Sonata whispered to her.

Trixie blushed as she realized that she had accidentally muttered what she was thinking under her breath, but that didn’t stop her from fixing the siren with an angry glare and hissing back, “Sunset isn’t crazy or weak!”

Sonata let out a faint snort. “Of course she’s crazy, she tried to kill me! They all did!”

“They wouldn’t have if you and you stupid siren sisters hadn’t started this mess in the first place!” Trixie retorted.

“Girls,” Luna cut in firmly. The two flinched as they realized that they had been overheard, and quailed under the disapproving glare that the Vice-Principal was giving them. Trixie felt another blush creeping up her cheeks when she saw that several passing residents had also stopped to stare. To her surprise, Sunset just sighed and carried on walking, paying the peanut gallery no mind.

“It’s not her fault, Trixie. Seriously, it isn’t. The only person I blame is Mandible.” Sunset glanced back at the two. “Don’t get me wrong, there’s going to be some very strong words for Adagio when everyone gets back-”

“That didn’t work out so well for you last time,” Sonata interrupted blithely. Her face paled as she realized her mistake a second too late.

Sunset broke out into a terrifyingly unsettling grin. “That was before we were forced to kill people on a regular basis.” She smirked and turned back to focus on where she was going. “Besides, I hate to admit it, but she’s not wrong about the others. I don’t blame them for wanting to spend some time alone. Having said that-” Sunset glanced back over her shoulder at Sonata, “-while you’re in this world, you’re my responsibility. Play nice, or I’ll knock your damned teeth out. Understand?”

“I-I understand!” Sonata spluttered.

Trixie saw Luna pursing her lips, evidently uncomfortable with Sunset threatening Sonata again, but she stayed quiet. Satisfied with Sonata’s answer, Sunset turned her attention back to the path ahead and carried on.

Despite everything, Trixie found herself feeling sorry for the siren. She was selfish, power-hungry, and dumber than Bulk Biceps even on her best day, but being threatened with violence and death because of a situation she had never intended to cause was just too much. Guilt gnawed at Trixie for some of the things she had said to Sonata, but she didn’t have the faintest clue how to go about apologizing, especially with Sunset within earshot and probably still mad.

Stewing in her emotions, Trixie put her head down and plodded along behind the others.

Luna wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep up her stoic and unfazed facade. She had known that the Rainbooms were going to react with anger to Sonata, but the sheer aggression the girls had displayed, even Fluttershy, had been terrifying to see. Not to mention how ruthless and vengeful Twilight had seemed.

The impact of Fluttershy’s transformation was more than Luna had expected, too. Sunset had warned her about it, but being told about something and witnessing it in person were two very different things.

Shaking her head to banish the mental image of Fluttershy as a bloodthirsty nightmare, Luna took a deep breath and struck up another casual conversation with Sunset, asking about how Rivet City managed to support itself when it came to things like food, clean water, fuel for its generators, and basic household necessities.

“Food is easy enough. Rivet City has a functional hydroponics lab, making this the only settlement in the Capital Wasteland that can grow its own fresh fruit and vegetables,” Sunset explained. “Hell, it’s the only place around here where anything green grows.”

“Wait a minute, you mean there’s no plant life in the wasteland?” Luna asked incredulously.

Sunset shrugged. “There’s a few species of mold, mushrooms, and lichen that can draw sustenance from the radiation in the soil and what little nutrients the rains bring, but that’s about it, and even those are hard to find and mostly inedible.”

That little bit of news hit Luna harder than it should have. She had heard that the wasteland was barren, but somehow she had assumed that the settlements would have maintained farms, greenhouses, or even just tiny little vegetable patches. A lack of fresh greens raised serious concerns about the local diet. “If they can’t grow vegetables, how do people in the other settlements stay healthy? Does Rivet City supply them all?” Luna asked.

“Rivet City does export some food, but traders occasionally bring in preserved stuff from more fertile areas outside the Capital Wasteland, and there’s a handful of people around who make dietary supplements, but the people who can’t afford any of that just… don’t,” Sunset replied with a sigh. “I’ve heard that scurvy is a serious problem in some of the further out settlements, although hopefully that’ll get alleviated a little now that Rivet City’s production has increased. As for fresh water, Rivet City has its own small purifier. Almost everything else is either scavenged from the wastes or made from scrap.”

“Scavenged?” Luna raised a curious eyebrow. “Surely everything usable has been found already over the last two hundred years?”

Sunset chuckled softly. “Yeah, that’s what I thought at first, but it turns out pretty much the opposite has happened. The wasteland is dangerous. Most ordinary people try to avoid venturing outside the settlements unless they absolutely have to. The only real exceptions to that are traders, mercenaries, and couriers, and even they stick to the quickest and safest routes. There’s a few scavengers around who make their living by selling the stuff they find off the beaten track, but the most dangerous places often haven’t been touched since the bombs fell. And that’s all before you get into raider stashes and stuff.”

Luna felt her heart sink as Sunset spoke. The more she learned about this world, the worse and worse it sounded. She tried to think of a more light-hearted subject she could talk about, one that was less likely to segue into an anecdote about how abysmal life was in this world, but nothing came to mind.

As Luna brooded over how she could protect the girls, the four finally found themselves at the main stairwell by the entrance. Just as she set foot on the stairs, the sounds of a scuffle breaking out behind caught her attention.

Two security officers staggered through the door after them, dragging a struggling man in a blood-spattered but clearly well-tailored suit. More blood poured from his nostrils.

“Cretins!” The man spat. “You don’t know who you’re fucking with!”

“And we don’t care.” Luna winced and stepped back in shock as one of the security officers drew a metal baton and cracked it across the back of the man’s skull, dropping him to his knees. The other officer opened the main door, letting in a blast of freezing air, then the two bundled their captive out, spoke quickly to the officers waiting outside, and quickly closed the door back up.

“What did he do?” Sunset asked.

The officer gripping a baton tucked it back into his belt and brushed a few flakes of snow from his armor. “Caught him trying to buy magic articles without getting permission from the Council. He was just going to get a warning, but the dumbass tried to argue with us and put up a fight when we ordered him out of the marketplace.”

“Dumbass,” Sunset agreed, apparently unconcerned by the near-random violence. “Anyway, I’ve actually been looking for a security officer. I want to know if it’s okay for me to take these three on a tour of the ship.” She jerked a thumb towards Luna and the girls.

Both officers did a double-take when they spotted the visitors. “Whoa, so the rumors about new Rainbooms are true?”

“I’m not a Rainboom, I’m a Dazzling!” Sonata snapped in indignation.

Confusion flashed across the officers’ faces, so Sunset added, “They’re not Rainbooms, but they are from the same world as us, so I’d appreciate it if you could help keep them out of trouble until they’ve got a grip on how things work around here.”

“Uh, sure, of course, but you might want to hold off on that tour for now,” one of the officers replied. “Rumors are flying around the ship like wildfire, and those damned Disciples of Harmony are already stirred up like a giant ant’s nest. The last thing we want is a bunch of them spotting you and going feral on us.”

“Disciples? Why are there a bunch of Disciples here?” Sunset asked.

The officer raised an eyebrow. “They’ve set up a new temple in the lower decks. Hadn’t you heard?”

There was a loud slap as Sunset’s hand hit her forehead. “Shit. Okay, new plan, I’m taking the three of you up to the security lounge and we’re staying there until Harkness comes to give us the full details.”

Luna glanced sidelong at her. “About this temple. Is it-” Her question was interrupted as the outside door opened and a wave of cold air made everyone shiver. She looked over as someone in a suit of deep blue Enclave power armor stepped inside, a bright yellow ‘101’ stenciled across their chest, then froze up in fear as a huge yellow-skinned humanoid creature lumbered in after. The thing had to half-crouch to fit through the door alone, and the few parts of it that weren’t covered in rough metal plates were massively muscled. Even Bulk Biceps would look like one of the mythical Breezies compared to the beast standing before Luna.

“Sunset! We just saw what happened to the Citadel, what the fuck happened?! Is everyone okay?!” The armored man asked anxiously.

“Everyone’s alright, Adam, don’t worry,” Sunset assured him. “Rainbow took an injury, but she’s the only one, and she’s going to be fine. The rest of us are just a bit shaken.”

“It is good to see you well,” the massive humanoid said in a surprisingly cultured voice. “I must confess, as formidable as you girls are, I feared the worst when I laid eyes upon the remains of the Citadel.”

Sunset smiled up at him. “Thanks, Fawkes. It’s good to see you.”

Luna had to fight the urge to step in front of the girls protectively as Fawkes turned to look down at them. Thankfully, Sunset spoke before Luna could embarrass herself. “Oh, yeah, it’s sort of a long story, but these three got dragged through from the same world as us Rainbooms. Fawkes, Adam, meet Vice-Principal Luna, Trixie Lulamoon, and Sonata Dusk. Ladies, these are Adam and Fawkes.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you all,” Fawkes said with a polite dip of his head. “Regrettably, proper introductions must be postponed for now, as we must bring our young charge to his family.” He stepped aside, and Luna felt a jolt as she spotted a young boy no older than ten lurking behind him, covered in snow and shivering. “This is Brian. We believe he has a relative here in Rivet City by the name of Miss Weatherly.”

For a moment, Luna was tempted to ask why a child had been made to travel in such terrible weather, but a glance at Sunset’s expression made her reconsider. “He’s from Canterbury Commons?” Sunset asked.

Adam shook his head. “No, Grayditch.” He sighed heavily. “It’s another long story. We’ll catch up soon, but first we’d better get him home. See you later.” Adam gave the visitors a nod, then made to step past them and head deeper into the ship.

“The Weatherly Hotel is upstairs,” Sunset said flatly. Adam paused in his tracks, prompting Sunset to sigh and turn to Fawkes. “It’s up these stairs here. There’s signposts, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding it.”

Luna watched, mildly confused, as the mismatched trio thanked Sunset and made their way up the stairs.

“Uh… who…?” Trixie began lamely.

“Fawkes is the most decent person in the wasteland, bar none,” Sunset replied in a tone that brooked no argument. “As for Adam, he’s a goof who could get lost in an empty room, but he’s a nice enough guy. “I guess that’s why Fluttershy’s dating him.”

“She what?!” Trixie exclaimed loudly

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Next Chapter: Chapter 158 - Apples and Ant... Boy Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 16 Minutes