Rolling terrain stretched out ahead of the Rainbooms. Numerous uneven mounds showed where rocky outcrops were buried beneath the snow, forcing the girls to take a winding path or, with the aid of Rarity’s magic, climb carefully over.

Sunset kept her head on a swivel, alert for any threats that might appear, but the hilly nature of the terrain meant that Fluttershy’s enhanced senses were far more useful than her own. Glancing around at the others to make sure that they weren’t paying attention to her, Sunset sidled up to Flutters and asked in an undertone, “So, what was really up with the informant back at the HQ?”

“She’s another one of us,” Fluttershy whispered back. Sunset barely managed to keep the surprise off her face as she added, “Given which one of us she’s the counterpart of, and the fact that she needs rest, I figured it was best not to mention it yet.”

“Good thinking,” Sunset said, resisting the urge to look back at Rainbow. Pushing that little revelation to the back of her mind for now, she turned her attention back to the surrounding terrain.

As the group crested another rise, they spotted a familiar ruined settlement off to the right, north of their route. A quick check of the map confirmed that it was Minefield. The girls unanimously agreed to give the well-named town a wide berth, just in case. Soon, the ground started to rise consistently, the rolling terrain giving way to the steeper slopes of a snow-covered hill.

A line of rusted pylons crossed the girls’ path across the hill. At the base of one of the pylons, in a shallow dip hidden by snow, the group stumbled across an old electricity substation. There weren’t any obvious threats lurking nearby, so the girls were about to simply keep walking when Pinkie suddenly exclaimed loudly, “Hey, check out that guy!”

Everyone spun around and looked where she was pointing, on edge despite the lack of panic in her voice, only to see a weathered old skeleton, dusted with snow, slumped in a chair beneath a nearby pylon. A flimsy-looking rifle was loosely clasped in its hands, and a faintly glowing bottle of Nuka-Cola Quantum could just about be seen poking out of the snow by its feet.

“Oh, poor fellow,” Rainbow said quietly. “You don’t think he…?”

Pinkie shook her head as she stepped over to the body. “Nope, there’s no bullet holes in his head, so that isn’t what killed him. Besides-” she gently tugged the rifle out of its hands and held it up, “-this is just a BB gun. Doable, but not easy, and he probably would have dropped the gun after.”

Something twisted in Sunset’s stomach as she saw Pinkie casually looting the old corpse, but the feeling was strangely muted. Once she was done, Pinkie arranged the skeleton to sit, in her words, a bit more comfortably, before the group moved on once again. Shortly afterwards, the girls found themselves climbing up yet another slope, this one topped by the remains of an ancient monorail track, complete with a broken-down monorail hanging off it. Sunset stopped and looked up at it curiously.

“You want me to go up and take a look?” Rainbow asked.

Sunset crossed her arms as she considered. “It’ll be a good vantage point, and there might even be some pre-war stuff left up there, but I don’t know how stable it is up there.” She hummed thoughtfully, then glanced at Rainbow. “You and Fluttershy go up there together. If it feels unstable, get away from it as quickly as you can. The rest of us will get out of the way in case it does come down.”

“Roger.” Rainbow ponied up and soared up towards the monorail with Fluttershy close on her tail. Meanwhile, the rest of the girls suited actions to words and walked further along the path of the old track, taking care to stay uphill from where the monorail would impact if it fell. It wasn’t long before the two returned empty-handed. “There’s nothing useful up there, just more skeletons and a rusty old bike.”

“The good news is that we’re not far from the Police HQ, and the route ahead looks mostly safe,” Fluttershy added. “There is a robobrain that looks like it came from Vault 112 rolling around about half a mile to the south. I have no idea how it got here, but it isn’t close enough to be a problem.” She frowned and gave the others a nervous look. “Getting into the Police HQ probably isn’t going to be easy though.”

Sunset took a slow, deep breath in through her nose to prepare herself for the worst. “How bad is it?”

“It’s pretty bad,” Rainbow admitted without any of her usual bravado. “Come on, you should be able to see it from the other side of the hill.” She led the group through the snow to the other side of the hill and pointed at a collection of wrecked wooden and concrete buildings. “It’s in the middle of that complex there.”

There were at least a dozen or so buildings where Rainbow had pointed, and Sunset didn’t like the idea of having to trawl through each of them while potentially battling a bunch of Super Mutants. “Do you have any idea which building is the one we’re looking for?”

This time it was Fluttershy who answered, “I’m not absolutely certain, but looking through my scope I could only see one building that actually looks fortified. “There are a few Mutants patrolling the streets around it, and there’s at least a couple lurking in some of the other buildings, but they’re mostly concentrated around the one.”

“How many did you see altogether?” Applejack asked.

“At least twenty, most of them gathered around the fortified building,” Fluttershy replied grimly.

Being outnumbered wasn’t fun, but it wasn’t an insurmountable number as long as the girls didn’t let themselves get surrounded, and provided that there weren’t huge numbers of them waiting to pour out of the buildings at the first sign of trouble. On the plus side, the girls had experience in dealing with larger mobs of Super Mutants.

“We’ll go in quietly at first,” Sunset said firmly. “Fluttershy, you find vantage points in the buildings and cover us. Rainbow, keep her safe. The rest of us will sneak in and take out the Super Mutants as quietly as possible. We’ll see how far stealth can take us, then let loose when the jig is up. Sound good?”

The others agreed and they all quickly set off again. Unfortunately, the group had to stop using magic to clear the snow in their way in case the Super Mutants spotted it, which slowed them down considerably.

Trudging through the snow with barely any cover was a nerve-wracking experience, each of the girls half-expecting to hear a Super Mutant roar and bullets to start flying, but through some stroke of luck they managed to reach the wooden buildings on the outskirts of the complex. Fluttershy listened carefully for any nearby Mutants, then directed the others down a safe street before flying up to the rooftops with Rainbow. Sunset checked that everyone had their weapons ready before leading them into the complex.

It was easy to see that the area was being used by someone. The Super Mutants clearly hadn’t bothered clearing the snow away, but their sheer bulk meant that the patrols had turned it into a slushy mud-splattered mess, much better for an infiltrating squad than pristine drifts. Even so, the girls stuck to cover, with Twilight using her magic to wipe out their footprints as they went.

All too soon, the Rainbooms heard the sound of approaching Super Mutants, prompting them to take cover in the skeletal shell of a wooden building. Two Mutants lumbered past only moments later, chatting casually and not paying the slightest bit of attention to their surroundings despite presumably being sentries. As they walked past the door to the building the Rainbooms were in there was a pair of muted thunks as two crystalline spikes embedded themselves in the Mutants’ skulls. The two jerked and fell, but Twilight’s magic caught them before they could hit the floor and carried them silently into the building. After unceremoniously stuffing the bodies into the remains of a bathroom, the girls continued on cautiously, making sure that the few droplets of blood they’d caused were mixed in with the slush.

So far so good.

“Stop for a moment.” Fluttershy’s voice crackled softly through Sunset’s Pip-Boy radio. The girls froze, anxiously waiting for whatever it was that she had spotted. Blood suddenly splattered across an upper window in one of the concrete buildings ahead, then Rainbow appeared and waved down at them. “You’re clear,” Fluttershy assured them.

A handful of similar moments occurred as the girls pressed forward. Sunset had to wonder whether the snow was lulling the Super Mutants into a false sense of security, or the thug in charge was just sloppy about discipline. Whichever it was, she was grateful for it, as the group managed to make it to the fortified building entirely unmolested.

Fortified was the right word for it. The building was one of the biggest in the area, and a wide perimeter around it was marked out with makeshift metal and wooden barricades, chain link fences, and sharpened steel girders, all wrapped around with lengths of barbed wire.

Sunset and the other Rainbooms lurked inside a nearby ruin, trying to figure out the best way to get in. There was a single opening in the perimeter, clearly the way the Super Mutants got in and out, but blindly waltzing in through there was almost certainly a good way to get shot. All of the girls except Pinkie flinched as Rainbow and Fluttershy suddenly dropped next to them from a floor above.

“How bad does it look from above?” Sunset asked calmly, pretending that she wasn’t fazed at all.

“It’s pretty bad,” Fluttershy replied. “There’s still at least twenty Mutants within the perimeter. A few have wings, there’s a bunch of them with armor, and I think one of them has a flamer.”

“Sounds rough,” Applejack muttered. “Alright, how are we goin’ to kill these assholes?”

Sunset looked out at the ramshackle perimeter wall. It probably wasn’t going to be long before the Mutants started to wonder where their patrols were, if they weren’t already, so the girls were going to have to make their move soon. After spotting what she was looking for, Sunset turned to Rarity. “Hey, how big can you make your constructs?”

The question seemed to take Rarity by surprise. “Er, I’m not certain, in all honesty. Why?”

“Do you think you could punch holes big enough for us to run through in those four places?” Sunset asked, pointing at four weak points in the perimeter.

Rarity risked a quick peek through a window to get a better look. “Yes, I think so, darling.”

“You want us to rush through the holes and surprise them?” Applejack said with an approving nod.

“Not quite,” Sunset replied. “Rarity will breach the wall and let the crystals disappear, then we’ll use the holes as cover to take pot-shots at any Mutants we can see.”

The others looked at her in a mix of surprise and disbelief. “You can’t be serious?” Rainbow hissed. “Super Mutants may be dumb, but they won’t be thrown off that easily. As soon as they regroup we’ll have lost momentum and the element of surprise.”

Sunset nodded calmly. “You’re right. We’ll probably only have a few seconds before they gather their wits and rush us. That’s when we move to the second part of the plan.” With their interest piqued, Sunset quickly outlined her idea. It was potentially risky but, if it worked, it would make things a lot easier for them to deal with. “What do you think, are you in?” Sunset asked when she was done.

“I’m cool with it,” Rainbow replied instantly, with the others all agreeing a heartbeat later.

“Alright.” Sunset readied her plasma rifle and glanced at Rarity. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Rarity nodded and closed her eyes. She rolled her shoulders and took several slow, deep breaths, then snapped her eyes open as rose to her feet, throwing her arms up as she did so. Four thick crystalline spikes materialized out of thin air above her head, earning an alarmed yell from a Super Mutant as one finally spotted them, then with a thrust of her arms she sent them hurtling forward. The crystals slammed into the areas Sunset had pointed out with near pinpoint precision before vanishing, leaving behind gaping holes in the makeshift walls and chain-link fences. The moment the crystals had faded from sight, Sunset, Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy ran to one each.

Sunset braced herself against a twisted metal sheet and raised her plasma rifle as she looked inside. There were several tents made of thick green canvas dotted around, as well as the usual bags of severed body parts and mutilated corpses that typified Super Mutant camps. The Mutants themselves already had their weapons raised, but were staring at the damaged walls in dumb shock, not having expected such an attack.

The closest mutant paid dearly for that oversight as Sunset blew its face off with a plasma bolt. Barely a second later there was a bright pink flash and a loud boom, accompanied by the high-pitched whine of Applejack’s minigun and the distinctive bark of Fluttershy’s sniper rifle. Sunset managed to pick off another two Mutants, their metal armor turning to slag beneath her plasma, before the rest of them got their heads together and started properly fighting back.

As the amount of firepower coming from the Mutants steadily got more intense, and more of them charged out of the building to reinforce their fellows, Sunset ducked back behind the metal sheet and keyed her radio, “It’s time, fall back!”

The four smoothly disengaged and sprinted back to the building they had been lurking in. As expected, most of the Super Mutants tried to pursue them through the new holes in the perimeter wall. Just as the first few made it through, a multicolored blur flashed in front of them and every single one fell, their hamstrings severed. The ones behind tripped over their own fallen allies, causing an angry pile-up as even more tried to push their way through.

“Now, Twilight!” Sunset shouted into her radio.

Right on cue, purple magic gripped the ends of the perimeter wall. With a strained groan, Twilight forced the two ends together, scooping up every piece of scrap and detritus that made up the walls and pressing it all together with a cacophony of sound. The Super Mutants gathered around the crystal-ripped breaches barely had time to realize that they were in danger before they were caught up in the mass. Once it was all packed together, the purple magic lifted the mess into the air and started to compress.

There were a few muted screams of terror and agony, but they soon stopped as the huge amount of metal, wood, and mutated flesh was compaceted into a massive ball. Gore poured from it in a foul deluge as the magic finally released its grip and dropped the ball to the ground.

Only a handful of Super Mutants were still standing, staring in shock at what had once been the whole side of their perimeter wall and most of their troops.

Rainbow was the first to take advantage of the situation. The Super Mutant with a flamer, having held back from the mad rush and survived, flinched and looked around as something struck the fuel tank on its back. A second later the tank erupted in a ball of blue fire that utterly consumed its hapless carrier. The blast snapped the other Mutants out of their stupor, but being caught on the back foot without any cover made them easy pickings for the Rainbooms. The battle was over in seconds.

With the last of the Super Mutants down, Sunset waited for Fluttershy to confirm that there weren’t any survivors before standing up and lowering her weapon.”Nice work, Twilight. That saved us a lot of trouble,” Sunset called back over her shoulder. She turned to see Twilight slumped against the window she had been lurking behind, gasping for breath as if she had just ran a marathon. “You okay, Twi?”

Twilight just held up a shaky thumbs-up.

“There aren’t any captives out here,” Fluttershy said simply as she walked over. “If the Mutants have anyone, they’ll be inside.”

“I figured as much, but it’s worth checking.” Sunset glanced back at Twilight, who straightened up and nodded to show that she was good to go. “Do we have a way in?” Sunset asked through the radio.

There was a brief crackle of static before Rainbow replied, “Side door on the left of the building. It’s locked, so either one of the Mutants locked it on their way out…”

“Or one inside locked it after them,” Sunset finished. “We’ll go in that way. Everyone form up at the door.” She was tempted to investigate the old tents around the area, as they looked too well put together for Super Mutant handiwork, but now wasn’t the time. Moments later, the girls were all gathered outside a sturdy-looking, if heavily battered, wooden door. “There’s definitely no more Super Mutants outside?”

Rainbow disappeared in a blur and reappeared a second later. “Not unless you count the dead ones.”

“Only if those fuckers can resurrect themselves or something,” Sunset replied grimly.

“If they do, we’ll just have to rip ‘em into small enough bits that they can’t get back up,” Applejack growled. “Come on, let’s get this done.” Before anyone could respond she strode up to the door and kicked it wide open, her minigun instantly out and ready. “Get out here and die, assholes!”

Applejack’s voice echoed down a quiet, empty corridor.

Dusty lights in the ceiling illuminated an utterly filthy floor coated with muck and slush tracked in from outside. A handful of smashed-open doorways led off from the corridor but, aside from a single radroach chewing on something indescribable at the far end, there didn’t appear to be anything alive in there.

“Huh, I guess we killed them all already.” Rainbow sounded almost disappointed by the idea.

“No, there’s at least two people and one Super Mutant in the room to the left. I can hear their heartbeats,” Fluttershy warned.

Right after she said it something inside let out a deep-throated roar and barreled out of the nearest left-hand doorway. A grotesquely over-muscled Super Mutant brandished a pair of enormous sledgehammers at the Rainbooms, only to be greeted by a hail of magic and gunfire. Somehow, incredibly, the Mutant managed to weather the storm, blood and flesh being stripped away as it tried to push forward. Thankfully, the Mutant managed only a few paces before dropping to one knee, then pitching face-first into the ground.

“Damn, some of these assholes are tough,” Rainbow noted.

“Not tough enough,” Applejack spat.

“Careful, girls, there might still be more in there somewhere,” Sunset reminded them. She waved Rarity up to the front with her and took the lead into the building. She crept up to the nearest door, the one the Super Mutant had barged out of, and risked a glance inside.

Through some stroke of luck, the room beyond was clearly the station’s jail. The walls were lined with stereotypical cells, with gates made of rusty metal bars, and a desk with an ancient terminal showed where the custody officer would have sat back in the old days.

“I think they’re in the first cell on the left,” Fluttershy put in.

“Is someone there?” A tremulous voice called out.

Sunset advanced into the room, keeping her rifle ready just in case. Just as Fluttershy had said, there were two people in the very first cell she came across. The first was a young black woman wearing a set of dirty red overalls, while the other, laying semi-conscious on the cell’s cot, was a strikingly familiar woman wearing a bloodstained Regulator overcoat.

The first woman’s eyes went wide when she spotted the girls. “Wha- aren’t you the Rainbooms?!”

“In the flesh,” Sunset replied as Twilight stepped forward and used her magic to unlock the cell door. “Who are you? Were you captured with Ashleigh?”

The woman didn’t answer at first as she stared in mute shock at the newly opened cell door. She only returned to her senses when Fluttershy swept past her to check on Ashleigh, prompting Sunset to ask the question again.

“Oh, uh, no. My name’s Red. The Super Mutants snatched me and Shorty from-” Red gasped and swore loudly. “Shorty! They took him down to the basement not long before you got here! Please, you have to help him!”

Sunset immediately looked back at Rainbow, who straightened up on reflex. “Take Pinkie and Twilight with you and find him. The rest of us will stay here and protect these two.”

“I’ll go too,” Fluttershy cut in. “Ashleigh’s life isn’t in immediate danger, and it’ll be quicker if I help look.”

Sunset gave her a nod of approval, and the four rushed off to seek the basement. She turned to ask Rarity to check the rest of the cells so she could guard the door, only to see that both her and Applejack were already hovering over Ashleigh while Red watched awkwardly from the sidelines. Sunset knew full well just how weird it could be meeting your counterpart for the first time, so she decided to just check the cells herself.

Most of the cells were entirely bare. Even the ever-present gore bags that characterized Super Mutant camps and outposts were nowhere to be seen. The cells were far from spotless, or even remotely clean, but it was clear that the Super Mutants were committed to using these cells for their original purpose.

At the end of the room, past the rest of the cells, Sunset found what must have been an old holding cell for keeping lots of suspects ready for processing. As she inspected the cell, she did a double-take whens he spotted something bizarre in the corner.

It was a Super Mutant, but like none that Sunset had ever seen before. Wearing nothing at all save for a tattered pair of pants, the Mutant was sitting cross-legged in the corner with its eyes closed and its open hands palm-up on its knees, looking for all the world as if it was meditating. As if sensing Sunset’s presence, the Mutant slowly opened its eyes. He smiled when he saw her. “Hello. I apologize for not noticing you sooner, I was deep in meditation, hoping to commune with the newly spreading Life. I am Leo, what is your name?”

Apologies for the lateness of the chapter, realised that I was writing myself into a plot hole and had to rewrite the damned thing