If there was one thing that Twilight Sparkle was proud of, it was her intellect. Her agile mind and intense curiosity had always been her greatest assets, equaled by few, beaten by none.

They had also lead her to her greatest failure.

Midnight Sparkle.

Even the mere thought of the monstrosity she had become was enough to send a shiver down Twilight’s spine.

But it was through that failure that Twilight had encountered what had swiftly become one of the most important parts of her life. Her friends.

While they admired and respected her intelligence it wasn’t what made her important to them. It was Twilight that they valued, and she in turn valued them more than anything save for her family. They had taught her the magic of friendship, and that sometimes, just sometimes, there were occasions where she should listen to her heart and not her head.

So when Sunset Shimmer had made a difficult request of her, back in the Megaton clinic, Twilight had listened. Despite every iota of her vast intellect screaming at her to refuse, that it would only end badly, both she and Fluttershy had accepted Sunset’s request. After all Sunset’s own intelligence was not inconsiderable, she had far more experience both with friendship and, thanks to her chequered past, physical confrontation.

Now, looking down at Sunset’s battered form, Twilight realized that not listening to her intellect had led her to another colossal failure.

She just hoped her friend wouldn’t have to pay the ultimate price for this mistake.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Sunset!”

Twilight was snapped back to her senses by the sound of Applejack’s reproach.

“Come on now, ah’m sure it’s mighty unpleasant, but you’re just being dramatic. There’s no way you’re dying, right girls?” Applejack looked unsurely from Twilight to Fluttershy, “Uh…. Right?”

“Unless we can get her to a competent surgeon in time then…” Twilight trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

The girls stood in horrified silence as the awful truth sank in.

Rarity was the first to stir, turning and shrieking at the others, “Well don’t just stand there! Rainbow, grab Sunset and get her to Rivet City this instant!”

“Right!”

Twilight grabbed Rainbow’s arm before she could dart off, “No! Wait! It’s too dangerous!”

“How can it be too dangerous!?” Rainbow shot back, “You said it yourself, Sunset’s going to die if we don’t hurry!”

“You won’t make it on your own.”

The girls turned at the sound of Maddy’s voice.

“Oh yeah? What do you know?” Rainbow spat.

Maddy snorted at her, “Your little asshole of a friend managed to get the attention of almost every goddamned feral down here. If you try to get through that mess on your own, you’re fucked. Especially the far camp, that was fucking swamped.” She shook her head and glanced over at Fluttershy, “Besides, I switched the turrets back on in the cavern ahead. You’ll have to switch them off at the terminal if you want to get past.”

“Turrets?” Rarity asked worriedly.

“If there’s a terminal, I can deactivate them,” Twilight said quickly, “Thanks, Maddy!”

Maddy just huffed and looked away, though a small blush colored her cheeks, “Yeah, well, you helped me, now I helped you. We’re even. Just try not to get killed down there.”

“Yeah yeah, thanks for the info squirt, now come on and let’s go already!” Rainbow cried.

Applejack nodded at that, “Alright, in that case ah’ll carry Sunset until we’re past the turrets, then we’ll see how bad the ghoul situation is. Sound good?”

The others agreed quickly. Suiting actions to words, Applejack knelt down and hefted Sunset easily in a princess carry, eliciting a pained hiss despite how careful she tried to be.

“Sorry about that sugarcube.”

“It’s fine,” Sunset replied. She sighed heavily as Fluttershy, “I’m sorry girls, this is-”

“Don’t you start worrying about us now, you just rest and save your strength,” Applejack said firmly as she let Fluttershy pin the blood pack to her shirt, to keep it elevated as they moved.

As soon as that was done the girls set off, leaving Maddy behind. Rainbow took the lead as the group entered another maintenance corridor, rushing ahead recklessly while the rest of the girls stayed behind Applejack, who herself was moving as quickly as she could without dislodging the blood pack.

Hurrying through a series of corridors, Twilight couldn’t repress a shiver as they came across a pair of dead raiders. Both of their throats had been slashed.

“This is insane,” Rarity muttered.

“This whole world is crazy,” Sunset hissed as Applejack stepped carefully over the corpses.

“Hey, hurry it up!” Rainbow called from up ahead.

As the girls emerged from the corridor into a small office space, Twilight’s attention was immediately drawn to the bulky computer terminal sat next to a door. She assumed it was the one Maddy had mentioned, that controlled a set of turrets. Before she got a chance to take a closer look, however, Rainbow yanked the door open and rushed out onto a metal walkway, overlooking a rocky cavern.

Twilight’s heart leapt into her mouth as she realized what was about to happen.

“RAINBOW LOOK OUT!” Pinkie screamed.

“Huh, WHOA!”

There was a clatter of gunfire and a blur as Rainbow dove aside, barely avoiding the streams of bullets that tore apart the walkway where she had been standing a split-second before.

The rest of the girls scurried for cover as Twilight darted to the terminal, Rainbow’s terrified yells barely audible over the roar of the turrets. After a few seconds of rapidly typing commands the turrets deactivated, leaving a ringing silence in their wake.

The girls peeked warily out of their hiding places, then Fluttershy scrambled frantically for the door.

“Rainbow!?”

“I’m okay!”

Twilight stuck her head around the door to see Rainbow flapping slowly up towards them, a sheepish look on her face. She barely had time to land before Fluttershy flung her arms around her neck.

“Whoa, take it easy Flutters,” Rainbow said quietly, though she smiled as she said it, “I’m okay.”

“But you very nearly weren’t,” Applejack growled as she stepped out from behind a cabinet, still clutching Sunset, “What the heck were you thinking?”

Rainbow glowered as she extricated herself from Fluttershy, “I was trying to hurry. Y’know, so we can get Sunset to a doctor as soon as possible?”

“Fat lot of good it did, you nearly got yourself killed!”

“Girls! We don’t have time for this!” Rarity interjected before it devolved into an argument. A pained moan from Sunset served to punctuate her statement.

Applejack looked down at her worriedly, “Er, right. Let’s get moving.”

Rainbow nodded vigorously, “Good idea, just be careful out here on the walkway. It’s… uh… not safe.”

Following her out onto the walkway, the girls saw exactly what she meant. It was well built, if a little patchwork, winding down and around until it reached the floor of the cavern. The problem was that it had also clearly been the site of a terrible battle. The bodies of dead raiders were sprawled haphazardly across it and it had been shredded in several places by recent heavy gunfire.

Deciding against navigating such a treacherous route, Rarity conjured a glittering series of gemstones to use as stepping stones to the ground. Rainbow, Fluttershy and Twilight took to the air, flying alongside the others as they descended.

Once they reached the bottom the Rainbooms hurried onward, making their way into a rocky tunnel that dripped with condensation, with several inches of stagnant water covering the floor. A metal walkway rose slightly above the murk, but it was coated with slime and filth, forcing the girls to tread carefully.

“There’s one thing I don’t get,” Pinkie said suddenly, “Isn’t Sunset’s contusion basically just a bruise, but on the inside?”

Twilight nodded, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings in case a feral ghoul or something worse was lurking in the shadows, “It’s a little more complicated than that, but essentially yes.”

“But isn’t a bruise just bleeding on the inside anyway? How come it’s gotten so bad all of a sudden?”

“It’s not that simple. A kidney contusion is a very serious condition that can deteriorate rapidly without the proper precautions.”

“Hold up, you never told us that!” Rainbow cried suddenly.

Twilight snapped her mouth shut. She risked a glance at Sunset, only to see her face-palming in Applejack’s arms.

Applejack herself was glaring angrily at Twilight and Fluttershy, “If it’s so serious then why the heck didn’t we just stay put in Megaton until it was healed!?”

“What possible reason could you have for not telling us?” Rarity asked.

Twilight shared an awkward look with Fluttershy, “Um… well… you see…”

“I asked them not to tell you.”

The girls all stared in shock at Sunset’s admission.

“I know it was a stupid thing to do, but I didn’t see any other choice.”

“No other choice?!” Rarity asked incredulously.

Sunset sighed heavily, “We’ve been in this world over a month already and we still have no idea of how to get home. James is our only shot at getting back, the longer we take finding him the more chance there is that something terrible will happen and we’ll be stuck here.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Uh, hello? James used to live out here in the wasteland! He knows how to survive out here.”

“To be fair, he has spent the last twenty years living peacefully in a vault,” Pinkie added reasonably.

“That’s still no reason to go risking yourself like that!” Applejack said sternly, “Ah know you want to get home, we all do. But why are you being so desperate about it?”

Sunset bit her lip and looked away, eyes brimming with tears, “You girls have families waiting for you. I just… I couldn’t…”

Twilight’s heart clenched as she watched Sunset start sobbing quietly, “We told her not to worry about it, but… well… you know how she gets,” The others nodded sagely at that, “Besides, James is a brilliant doctor so we figured that if we could keep an eye on her injury until we found him, then he could fix her up.”

“And that’s why you agreed to keep it quiet,” Rarity muttered, on the verge of tears herself, “Damn it, Sunset. Of all the stubborn, stupid, selfless little stunts you could have pulled…”

Applejack sighed as she looked down at her charge, “Alright now, settle down sugarcube. Ah may not agree with what you did but ah get why you did it. So come on now, stop worrying and just focus on saving your strength, alright?”

The Rainbooms fell into silence after that, traversing the walkway with as much haste as they could safely muster.

Fortunately the tunnel came to an end after only a few twists and turns, the walkway itself leading up to a heavy, reinforced utility door.

“Finally!” Rainbow huffed, roughly smacking the button. The door slid noisily into the ground, revealing a concrete maintenance tunnel with a small barricade of sandbags and breeze blocks a few feet in. Each of the girls tensed as the Geiger counters on their Pip-Boys immediately started ticking.

Five feral ghouls were clustered around the barricade, their heads snapping around at the sound of the door opening. One of them glowed brightly with a vivid yellow-green hue. The moment they spotted the girls they snarled and hurled themselves at the group.

“Oh no you don’t!” Rarity spat, thrusting an arm forward and conjuring a huge gemstone that shot forward and slammed into the charging beasts, knocking them flat.

A moment later Rainbow was among them, her blades licking out to open their throats with puffs of arterial spray. The glowing one was the last to feel the bite of Dash’s knife as it tried to rise, tainted yellow blood spilling from the gash on its neck.

“Yeah, that just happened,” Rainbow said smugly, flicking the blood off her knives, “Come on, let’s keep moving.”

Twilight shook her head, watching the ghouls with mounting horror, “Uh… Rainbow?”

“What? Oh.”

The ghouls were still moving, albeit feebly. The glowing one, however, was already clambering back to its feet, the wound in its neck bleeding far less than such a deep cut should.

“What the he-”

With a crackling buzz the glowing one’s skin suddenly flared, giving off a pulse of yellow light that made the girls’ Geiger counters spike like crazy. Worse, it seemed to reinvigorate the other ghouls, their bleeding slowing and their movements becoming more energetic as they struggled to rise.

“Aw crap,” Rainbow skipped away as the glowing one charged at her, slashing madly as she tried to fend off its furious assault.

“Twilight, take Sunset for me!” Applejack snapped as the remaining ghouls clambered to their feet.

“No. I’ve got this,” Pinkie said suddenly as she strode forward, reaching up to grab one of her curls and give it a sharp tug.

With a little ching a revolver sprang into the air from the depths of her locks. The first ghoul was almost to its feet when Pinkie caught the gun, pressing it to the beast’s head and pulling the trigger. Quick as a flash Pinkie spun and did the same to the next one, before diving forward into a commando roll. As she rolled to her feet she brought her gun around, blasting the last two ordinary ghouls in the head in one smooth motion.

Twilight could only gape as the ghouls all crumpled to the floor.

A moment later Rainbow managed to find an opening against the glowing one, jamming her knives one after the other into it’s skull then booting it in the gut, ripping the blades free as it fell backwards.

“Let’s see you get back up from that!” Rainbow spat, then turned to raise an eyebrow at the rest of the fallen ghouls, “Whoa. Nice work, Pinkie.”

Pinkie shrugged, her hair deflating slightly, “Let’s just get out of here.”

The others shared a worried look before doing as she suggested, Rainbow once again taking the lead. Everything else aside, Twilight was particularly happy that their radiation counters slowly went quiet the further they got from the ghouls.

Applejack fell into step alongside Pinkie as the group moved swiftly through the tunnel and into another maintenance corridor, “Hey sugarcube, you okay?”

Pinkie just sighed and shook her head slightly, “I don’t… I don’t like all this killing.”

“Me neither, Pinkie. Me neither,” Applejack replied softly, “If, uh, if you don’t mind me asking, where did you get the gun?”

“From the raider Sunset shot,” Pinkie said flatly, then shot her an apologetic look, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, Pinkie,” Sunset slurred.

“I’ve only got one bullet left for it anyway, you mind if I borrow yours?”

“If you’re alright with it then you certainly should darling. Sunset certainly isn’t in any position to… oh my… ” Rarity trailed off as she emerged from the corridor into a large storage room. Stepping out behind her, Twilight quickly saw why.

Bodies were strewn everywhere. It was clear from the layout of the corpses that several raiders had attempted a doomed last stand against a mob of feral ghouls. A couple of living ones still crouched amongst the carnage, messily gorging on raider remains. There was a sudden blur of motion, then their corpses joined those of their brethren on the metal floor.

“So much easier without one of those glowy things around,” Rainbow muttered, wiping her blades with a rag torn from a dead ghoul.

“Um, one moment please,” Fluttershy called as the group made to move off. With practiced ease she quickly swapped Sunset’s drained blood pack for a fresh one, then gave her a stimpak for good measure.

“How many more of those packs do we have?” Rarity asked.

Fluttershy grimaced, eyeing Sunset with concern, “No more of her type.”

Applejack nodded grimly, “Then we need to move fast. It’s near enough a straight shoot south from here, let’s just try not to get bogged down by any more big groups of ghouls.”

Proceeding once again, the group hurried through a series of maintenance corridors, metro tunnels and raider encampments of various sizes. They moved as quickly as they could, aided in that endeavor by the fact that the only living things they encountered were feral ghouls, and then only in small groups that were easily dispatched by Pinkie, Rarity and Rainbow. Thankfully they didn’t run into any more glowing ones.

The only point at which the group slowed down was as they passed through the Metro Central Station. A large mob of ferals lurked up on the mezzanine, forcing the girls to creep along underneath while Rainbow near-silently dispatched the few stragglers on the bottom floor.

Unfortunately, while their pace allowed the Rainbooms to cover a considerable distance in a fairly short space of time, it was not without its drawbacks.

Neither Twilight nor Fluttershy had the stamina to maintain such a drawn out jog for any real distance, even with the extra energy provided by their ponied-up forms. The spikes in adrenaline they got every time they ran across a ghoul were of dubious aid, lending them a short-term boost but leaving them even more drained afterwards.

Eventually the two were forcing themselves onward through sheer force of will, the others helping them up when they stumbled.

Still, despite everything, none of the girls were willing to stop and take even a short rest. Both knew better than anyone just how little time they had to get Sunset to real medical aid.

Given their determination Twilight was more than a little surprised when, as the group emerged from a metro tunnel, the rest of the girls skidded to a stop in front of her.

Just before she hunched over, gasping for breath, Twilight had a brief glimpse of another metro station, fairly packed with ruined subway cars, huge mounds of rubble and the remains of a raider camp beneath a crumbling mezzanine.

This must be Museum Station. We’re almost there.

“Oh shit!”

Snapped from her brief respite by Rainbow’s foul mouth, Twilight looked up to see what was wrong.

Her blood ran cold at what she saw.

Feral ghouls. Dozens of them. All looking directly at the girls. Dotted among the masses Twilight could make out the luminous forms of at least three glowing ones.

“Guess Maddy was right about the ghouls…” Pinkie muttered.

With a collective snarl that reverberated throughout the station, the horde threw itself at the girls.

“Everyone up on that train! Now!” Applejack yelled, jerking her head at the nearest subway car. She gave a grateful nod as Twilight scooped Sunset up in her magic before taking flight herself.

Rarity paused just long enough to send a pair of huge gems smashing into the ghouls, knocking several of down and tripping the ones behind, before scrambling on top of the train with the others.

As soon as they were up Pinkie and Applejack started firing indiscriminately into the oncoming horde. Rarity swiftly added her magic to the fusillade, launching heavy gemstones at the nearest ferals.

Several ghouls fell, but not all of them stayed down, especially those in the proximity of the glowing ones. A few even managed to make it to the train, claws scrabbling for purchase before they were either shot or battered by a gemstone.

Twilight gently set Sunset down, Fluttershy instantly there to tend to her, then turned back to see what she could contribute to the battle, placing herself between the ghouls and the nurse. She was loathe to use her magic to actually attack a living creature, even ones as foul as feral ghouls or super mutants, but they were out of options and nearly out of time.

Swallowing her reluctance, Twilight hefted a chunk of masonry in her magic and threw it in the general direction of one of the glowing ones. She tried not to wince at the sickening crunch that followed.

Searching for another suitable projectile, Twilight’s heart sank as she spotted even more ghouls, a handful of them glowing ominously, charging in from different tunnels. Some even threw themselves off the mezzanine in their frenzied desire to maul the girls.

Twilight’s thoughts were suddenly knocked off kilter by an explosion that tore a hole in the middle of the horde. Blinking furiously, she watched Rainbow reach into her pack and produce another grenade, rip out the pin and lob it down into the ghouls.

Oh, right. I forgot she had those.

Snapping back to her senses, Twilight hurriedly grabbed a heavy piece of debris and flung it, smashing an advancing ghoul in the face. Gritting her teeth, she settled herself into a rhythm, grasping whatever she could in her magic and slamming it into the nearest monster.

More and more of the ghouls were reaching the train, forcing Rainbow to abandon her grenade barrage in favor of hacking away at those that tried to clamber up. Applejack helped as much as she could in that regard, kicking and stomping on anything that got close enough and shooting anything that didn’t. Unable to see the floor through the press, Twilight panicked and resorted to tossing the ghouls themselves, grabbing one at a time and hurling them at the walls and other train cars with bone-shattering force. Rarity had switched tactics too, instead of simply hurling chunky gemstones she was manifesting large, flat, sharp-edged ones, spinning them in circles and mowing down the ghouls like a scythe through wheat.

Dangerous as their predicament was it only became more so when the guns ran out of ammunition. Applejack cast her empty rifle aside and settled for using her fists, punching the ghouls with such force that they exploded in a welter of gore. Pinkie snatched up the discarded rifle and used it to bludgeon anything that got in range.

“If anyone’s got any ideas on how to get out of this, now’s the time for it!” Applejack shouted, launching a glowing one across the room with a solid shove.

Twilight tried to glance around, her mind racing as she tried to come up with a solution. The flow of ghoul reinforcements into the station had become a trickle, but the train they were stood on was still an island in a sea of rotten flesh. She did have one idea, but it would be a tremendous risk.

“Twilight!”

Twilight flinched and spun around, dropping the ghoul she was levitating.

Sunset was barely conscious, her eyes rolling. She was dripping with sweat and her breathing was quick and shallow. Twilight gasped and dropped next to her, hand flying to Sunset’s neck to check her pulse. It was faint, but extremely rapid. That was not a good sign.

“Look out!” Twilight glanced around just in time to see Applejack pulverize a ghoul that had managed to haul itself onto the train behind her, “What’s wrong? Is Sunset okay?”

“She’s going into shock!” Fluttershy cried.

Applejack bared her teeth and booted away another ghoul that was dragging itself up, “How long do we have?”

“Um… I don’t…”

“Not long enough,” Twilight replied. Deciding it was now or never, she called out, “Rarity! Get ready to make a bridge to the exit tunnel for us! Everyone else, keep those things off me for a minute, and get ready to run!”

“What are you going to do?” Fluttershy asked.

“Something stupid,” Twilight fervently hoped the station’s ceiling was more stable than it looked as her gaze settled on a nearby subway car. Reaching out her arms, the train was surrounded by a purple aura as she gripped it in her magic. Twilight was already exhausted, and the subway car was easily one of the heaviest things she had ever levitated, but desperation gave her strength. Giving herself over to her magic entirely, there was a rumble of dislodged rubble as the car slowly rose into the air. The metal flexed in her grip as she dragged it painstakingly closer.

As soon as it was positioned correctly, Twilight dropped it.

The subway car crashed to the floor barely two feet from the Rainbooms’ own, flattening most of the remaining ghouls with a resounding boom that shook the whole station.

Twilight herself collapsed from exhaustion a moment later, Rainbow barely catching her before she toppled off the train. Her heart pounding, Twilight could only watch in horror as the cracks in the already-damaged roof started to grow, chunks of concrete slipping loose and smashing apart on the ground below.

“Now, Rarity!” Pinkie screamed.

Smacking away a surviving ghoul, Rarity thrust out her arms and conjured a glittering walkway that stretched and curved from the train towards the tunnel the girls needed to follow.

The girls all belted for it, Rainbow scooping up Twilight as Applejack grabbed Sunset.

Larger parts of the ceiling started dropping as the group fled, crushing everything unlucky enough to end up underneath. Twilight closed her eyes, unable to watch the devastation she had unleashed. She kept her eyes closed as the crashing and rumbling slowly faded away behind them, replaced with the sound of ragged breathing and hurried footsteps.

The Rainbooms kept running through what Twilight guessed was the tunnels. Every now and again she heard a minor scuffle as they came across a lone ghoul or two, but thankfully they didn’t run into any more groups of them.

Her mind whirling with everything that had happened, Twilight was just managing to get her breathing under control when the silence was broken.

“Ana… stasia… Crossing… this is it!” Rarity panted.

Twilight opened her eyes at that. They were in another station, one in considerably better condition that the last couple they had been through and thankfully free of any ghouls.

Relief shot through her as she realized this was where the exit to Rivet City was. Said relief was soured slightly as she looked around at her friends.

Blood was dripping down Rarity’s arm, a sure sign that she’d reopened her wound. Pinkie was struggling to support Fluttershy as she ran, both of them glassy-eyed and weary. Applejack's chest was heaving and even Rainbow was flagging, their incredible stamina drained by the desperate battle and flight.

“Rainbow, put me down. I can walk,” Twilight said as the others started making their way up the escalators.

“You sure?” Rainbow asked.

“I’m sure.”

Rainbow just nodded and set her down. Twilight stumbled a little, but she waved off Rainbow’s hand and forced herself into a jog up the stairs. Sparing a quick glance around as she reached the top she spotted the remains of another raider camp, with several of the former occupants laying in pools of blood.

I never thought I’d be glad to see dead bodies, what in Tartarus is wrong with me?

“Come on… the exit’s around here!” Applejack called as she led the way into the exit corridor, “We're almost there!”

The girls put their all into it, running as fast as they could manage.

Just as they rounded the corner a voice rang, bringing them all to a halt.

“Hold it right there!”

Three men were standing in front of the exit, daylight streaming in past them. They were each dressed in some sort of customized combat armor, painted entirely black save for a stylized white eagle claw over their left breast. Each of them was also carrying an assault rifle, which they kept pointed squarely at the Rainbooms.

“I thought I heard something,” the one in the middle said slowly, “What the fuck do we have here?”

“We don’t want any trouble,” Applejack said quickly, “We just want to get to Rivet City. Our friend is hurt, badly.”

The man who’d spoken grinned maliciously, “Yeah, looks like she’s fucked. Still, what’s one less mutant in the world, eh?”

As the other two chuckled at their leader’s sick comment something ugly reared it’s head in Twilight’s mind, something she had only felt once before.

She didn’t know who these people were, or what they wanted.

All she knew was that they were in her way.

“Move. Now. Or else.”

The leader raised an eyebrow, his smile vanishing, “Oh? Looks like we got a mouthy one here. Why don’t we show this bitch what we do with mutant freaks who-”

Twilight didn’t give him a chance to finish. With a swift grasping motion she gripped the three men in her magic and slammed them into the wall. With another motion she grabbed their guns and pulled them out of their grasp, casually tossing them behind her.

The men slumped to the floor in a daze. The leader shook his head to clear it and reached for his sidearm, but Twilight gripped his arm before he could draw it. The poor fool screamed as she rolled her hand, snapping his elbow with a sharp twist.

“You fucking freak!” he spat, his face drawn with agony, “You just fucked with the wrong-”

The leader choked as Twilight’s magic wrapped around his throat, squeezing tightly.

“Twilight?”

Twilight snapped to her senses with a jolt. Releasing the magic, she turned to the others, a terrible sense of shame and guilt welling up inside her, “I… I don’t… I didn’t mean to…”

“It doesn’t matter, lets go!” Applejack huffed, charging off without even glancing at the fallen men.

The rest of the girls hurried after her, shoving their way through the gate, up the last set of steps and finally out into clean, fresh air and blinding sunlight.

“Whoa,” Rainbow said quietly once her eyes had adjusted.

Twilight couldn’t blame her. The path ended a short distance ahead, dropping down into ocean waters. Beyond that there rose a colossal aircraft carrier, towering over the girls and stretching out to an incredible length. Even the fact that it’s bow seemed to have snapped off at some point couldn’t detract from the imposing majesty of the huge war engine.

They had found Rivet City at last.

Not slowing their pace, the girls kept charging forward, towards a squat metal structure that, according to Sentinel Lyons, functioned as a boarding platform for the ship.

Twilight and Rainbow both took to the air, flying up to the top. Twilight turned back and reached out to grab Sunset in her magic. Before she could do so Applejack’s Geode flashed, the ground cracking beneath her feet as she jumped, landing on top of the platform with a grunt.

Right… super strength.

Turning back to the city, Twilight wondered just how exactly they were supposed to get there. She could see several men on the ship leveling weapons in their direction, but there didn’t seem to be any way of crossing the water.

Just as she was considering flying Sunset over a nearby intercom crackled to life.

“Don’t shoot yet just- Who are you? What’s your business with Rivet City?”

“We’re the Rainbooms!” Rainbow called out, “Our friend is dying, we need a doctor! Quick!”

“The Rainbooms? You mean Three-Dog was… Shit! Extend the bridge! Someone go get Doctors Li, Preston and Kaplinski and have them meet me in the clinic, we’ve got an emergency patient coming in! Hold on, we’re extending the bridge now!”

Twilight let out a sigh of relief as a metal bridge extended from the ship and swiveled around towards the boarding platform.

Applejack sighed and started forward, looking down at Sunset, “You hear that sugarcube, you’re going to be alright, just hold on a little longer. Uh… Sunset?” She frowned and tilted her head down to Sunset’s, “Girls, she ain’t breathing!”

Next Chapter: Chapter 24 - Lurking Evils Estimated time remaining: 42 Hours, 46 Minutes