“Ah knew those freaks couldn’ keep hold of you! Ah knew it, Ah just knew it!” The girl shouted gleefully.

“Apple Bloom?!” Applejack exclaimed in horrified surprise.

Whatever her sister’s doppelgänger said in response was drowned out by the sound of a bunch of Regulators piling out of other rooms and thundering down the stairs to see what was going on. One of them, a tall heavy-set man with a ruggedly handsome face hidden in the shadows of his broad-rimmed hat, shouldered through the group. He stopped and narrowed his eyes when he saw Applejack. Sunset reached for her plasma rifle just as his hand twitched towards his belt.

“Keep that gun in its holster, Mac,” an authoritative voice rang out. Sunset looked up to see a heavily tanned woman striding down the stairs ahead, her open trench coat billowing with every step. “You won’t be needin’ yours either, Miss Shimmer. You’ll only get trouble here if you cause it.”

Mac’s frown deepened, but his hand moved away from his belt. “That ain’t Ashleigh,” he growled, his deep voice leaving no doubt as to who he really was.

The girl hugging Applejack looked around curiously. “Are you on Jet or somethin’, Mac? Of course it’s Ashleigh, y’ fuckin’ fool!”

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack grabbed the girl by her shoulders and thrust her out to arm’s length so she could glare at her properly. “Ah don’t care what mess you’re in, if Ah hear you cussin’ like that again Ah’m washin’ your darn mouth out with lye, you hear?!”

Rarity reached out and tenderly touched Applejack’s shoulder. “It’s not her, darling.”

An awkward silence fell, broken only by confused murmurs as the other Regulators tried to figure out what exactly they were watching. Finally, the authoritative woman coughed loudly. “Alright, people, quit starin’ and get back to work. I’ll get to the bottom of this.” As the peanut gallery slowly broke up and got back to whatever they were doing before, the woman called out to the girls, “Rainbooms, come on up here so we can talk in private. Michelle, Big Mac, you too.” She glared around to make sure that her subordinates were doing as told, then turned and strode back up the stairs.

The girl, Michelle, reluctantly detached from Applejack and slunk back over to Big Mac, looking back over her shoulder as he ushered her up the stairs. Applejack herself watched this world’s version of her siblings go with a solemn expression. Sunset wanted to say something positive about finding them safe and well, but Michelle’s words about Ashleigh being kept by ‘freaks’ carried too much weight. At a loss, Sunset just gave her a reassuring pat on the back and said quietly, “We’ll find her, as soon as we’re done here.”

Applejack just gave a curt nod and walked stiffly towards the stairs. The rest of the Rainbooms shared determined looks, already resolved to complete their new mission, then followed after her.

“What if they punish her for what happened with Moriarty?” Pinkie asked in a whisper.

“They can try,” Rainbow growled.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Sunset added in an undertone. Looking around as she walked, she could see that the place was surprisingly spartan given that it was the headquarters of this particular faction, especially considering how many people it was housing. Sunset couldn’t help but wonder if the Regulators had been just as badly mauled as the Enclave and the Brotherhood.

Once they were upstairs, the woman held a door open for the siblings and the Rainbooms. Inside was a small room containing little more than a desk, a filing cabinet, and a rickety cot along one wall. Someone was bundled up on the cot, snoring loudly.

As soon as everyone was inside, the woman closed the door and swept around to sit at the desk. “Well, this just got a little more complicated than I was expectin’. Anyways, let me introduce myself properly. I’m Sonora Cruz, head of the Regulators here in the Capital Wasteland. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you girls.” She glanced at Rainbow, an odd expression on her face, then turned to Applejack and tilted her hat back. “You must be Applejack, the one that Lucas Simms recommended to us.”

“Wait, you mean she really ain’t Ashleigh?” Michelle blurted out.

“Uh, not exactly,” Sunset replied awkwardly. “It’s complicated.”

“From what I’ve heard, the Rainbooms come from some sort of different version of reality, full of different versions of the same people in our world,” Cruz explained, much to Sunset’s surprise. “Kinda like reflections, but livin’ different lives in different places. You girls are all actually high school students back where you came from, aren’t you?”

Sunset raised a curious eyebrow. “We are. How did you know about that? I thought only the general details were widely known so far?”

“You’re not the only people in contact with the Railroad,” Cruz replied simply.

“So… there’s more than one Ashleigh, and this one ain’t from around here?” Michelle frowned and asked anxiously. “But what about our Ash? Does that mean she’s still out there with those… those freaks?”

Cruz gave her a sympathetic look. It was clearly answer enough, as both Michelle and Mac’s faces fell. “I’m sorry, but I figured you two deserved an explanation.”

Mac nodded slowly. “Right. Thanks, Chief. C’mon, ’Chelle, let’s get back to work.”

“Hold on a second, what happened to Ashleigh?!” Applejack demanded. “What freaks are y’all talkin’ about?!”

“Super Mutants,” Cruz replied grimly. “They ambushed and captured her when she was meetin’ an informant. The informant was wounded, but thankfully she managed to drag herself back here and let us know what happened.” Cruz nodded to the person sleeping on the nearby cot.

That little reveal piqued Fluttershy’s professional interest, as her hand immediately strayed to her nursing kit. “How serious were their injuries?”

“Pretty bad, but we’ve got a doc here on loan from the Republic of Dave who fixed her up,” Cruz assured her. “If you’ve got some medical know-how, then by all means check her over. We had to sedate her to make sure that she stopped tryin’ to get up and move around.”

As Fluttershy stepped over to the cot, Applejack cut in, “Where did the Mutants take Ashleigh? Vault 87?”

Cruz shook her head. “Not likely. Not yet at least. There’s rumors of a bunch of Super Mutants holed up in the old Germantown Police HQ, not far from where Ash was taken, so we suspect that she was taken there.”

“Holy shit!” Fluttershy exclaimed suddenly. She blushed faintly as everyone turned to her in shock, but shook her head quickly. “S-sorry. I just, um, haven’t seen these kind of cybernetics before. Anyway, you were saying about Ashleigh?”

It was clearly an outright lie, but Cruz either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “Right. As I was sayin’, I’d lead a team to rescue Ash myself if I could, but I don’t have the manpower to do it without leavin’ a whole bunch of other nasties free to do as they please. Hell, the only reason there’s so many of us Regulators gathered here right now is because we’ve had all sorts of creeps crawlin’ out of the woodwork around this end of the wasteland.”

“That settles it, Ah’ll go and get her myself,” Applejack cut in.

“Not alone you won’t,” Sunset added, getting emphatic nods from the others. She half-expected Cruz to say something about Applejack’s punishment, or penance, or something along those lines, but instead the Regulator just grinned widely.

“I thought you might say that.” Cruz got up and opened her filing cabinet. “I’ve got an old map here that’ll show you where the old police station is. Just be careful, that place is a god-damned fortress.”

Elder Lyons fought back the urge to groan and drop her head into her hands. Today was not going well.

She had been utterly stunned when she received the news that Sonata Dusk had somehow managed to wander over to the Mall, one of the most dangerous areas in the whole Capital Wasteland, and ended up captured by Super Mutants. Barely half an hour later, a garbled radio message had come through from the Washington Monument outpost, saying that both it and the nearby settlement of Underworld were being swarmed by an impossibly large horde of feral ghouls, reportedly well over a thousand strong and growing. Sarah could hardly fathom how there were that many ferals lurking in the ruins, but nevertheless she had contacted President Shoichet, and the two had agreed to send the last of their spare troops to the Mall as reinforcements.

Unfortunately, fate apparently wasn’t done tormenting the Elder just yet, as quite possibly the last person she wanted to see had just walked through the door.

“What do you mean, you don’t have anyone available?” Luna asked in a worryingly calm tone that was utterly at odds with the murderous glare she was wearing.

“I’ve just sent the last of my troops into the ruins to help an outpost and a settlement that are both under attack from a freak horde of feral ghouls,” Sarah replied, trying not to let her weariness show. “The only combat personnel I have left in Rivet City are a single Knight-Sergeant and three Initiates, one of whom is standing right behind me.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Peters, who was standing guard alongside Squire Maxson. “Everyone else is spread out around the wastes, either saving lives or trying to drum up some new recruits. I swear, I would help if I could, but I have no-one left to offer. Have you asked the Enclave?”

Luna balled her fists and averted her gaze. “I asked Ambassador Prince and Chief Harkness, they both said nearly the same thing,” she admitted begrudgingly. She took a deep breath, as if gathering her resolve, but Sarah cut her off before she could voice the thought.

“I can’t let you go yourself, either. Sunset is already going to pitch a fit when she finds out that Sonata has been kidnapped. If something happens to you as well there is going to be hell to pay.” Sarah looked down at the inventory reports spread out on the desk in front of her and ran some numbers in her head. “If you want to try and hire some mercenaries to look for Sonata, I should be able to scrape together some funds to pay for them, more if the Enclave or Rivet City Council pitch in, but finding anyone crazy enough to track a Super Mutant Behemoth in this weather is, well…”

“Almost impossible. Most psychos with that kind of stupidity are either already out there helping us, or out there wanting to kill us,” Initiate Peters put in bluntly. “Hell, the main reason people are desperate to get aboard this boat is to avoid shit like that.”

Sarah made a mental note to have a private word with Peters about watching her language as she looked back up at Luna. “I hate to say it, but she’s right. All we can do right now is wait and hope that either one of our teams gets back here soon, or by some miracle some other group decides to help us out.”

It was clear from Luna’s expression that she wanted to argue, but she couldn’t think of any reasonable way of doing so. After a few seconds, she finally sighed and looked away. “Fine. Sorry for wasting your time,” she added bitterly before leaving.

As soon as Luna was gone, Sarah leaned back in her chair and sighed heavily. Being a leader sucked sometimes.

Ever since she had become the Elder, Sarah felt like she couldn’t get through a single day without something going tits-up. Her father had warned her that being in charge could feel like that at times, but the fact that things were going downhill for the Brotherhood was indisputable. Sarah just hoped that they could get some reinforcements soon. In an ideal world, Cross’ diplomatic mission to the Outcasts would be fruitful, but she wasn’t about to hold her breath.

Another loud knock on the door echoed through the Elder’s room. Sarah resisted the urge to groan, settling for rolling her eyes and sitting up straight before calling out to the Initiate standing guard outside, “Enter.”

The Initiate opened the door and snapped a quick salute. “Elder, the two potential candidates you wanted to meet are here.”

‘That was quicker than I expected’, Sarah thought. She took a deep breath to steady herself. This meeting could finally be a turning point in the Brotherhood’s fortunes. “Send them in, then close the door,” she said in an authoritative tone. The Initiate nodded and stood aside to let two people in.

Both men were wearing thick brahmin-leather coats over non-descript patchwork clothes; the sort of thing that would allow them to blend in in any wasteland settlement. The first had shaggy brown hair and a fairly weak chin, while the other thick black hair and dark shadowy stubble. They waited for the door to close before speaking.

“Elder Lyons, thank you for agreeing to meet with us,” the first man said. “Tabitha sent us to see if rails are made of steel.”

Sarah gave a curt nod at his use of the little code-phrase that Miss Germaine had come up with. “I’ve been expecting you. I understand that you’re with the Railroad?”

“I am. My name’s Cutler,” the first man replied. He gestured to his companion. “This is a friend of mine that we helped to escape from the Commonwealth.”

The second man took this as his cue to step forward, and Sarah felt a faint jolt as she realized that the man was in fact one of the rumored synths the Railroad had spoken of. “It’s an honor to meet you, Elder. My former masters designated me as M7-97, but these days I’ve been going by the name of Danse.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 166 - Germantown Police HQ Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 28 Minutes