Tara and Becky hurried through the corridors of the Exodus building, heading to the appropriated testing rooms.

“What do you think has gone wrong?” Becky asked.

Tara shook her head, “I don’t know, but if it’s something to do with the Rainbooms’ necklaces, then…”

Becky didn’t need her to finish. They were having a hard enough time trying to get the girls to trust them as it was, despite the revelation of who they represented. If anything happened to the necklaces, this attempt at diplomacy was going to blow up in their faces.

Hurrying around a corner the two spotted the door to the testing rooms open ahead of them to the left while the door to secure storage room was open on their right. The sound of Doctor Turner’s increasingly panicked voice coming from the storage room let the scientists know where he was.

“Doctor Turner?!” Tara practically yelled as she darted into the room with Becky hot on her heels.

Inside the room the lockboxes containing the Rainbooms’ necklaces were all lined up on a table. Two members of Squad Sigma that had been assigned to their protection were standing at either side of the table watching Doctor Turner as he paced around and talked agitatedly to himself. All three of the occupants looked over as Tara and Becky entered the room.

“Ah, you’re here,” Doctor Turner said evenly.

“Sienna sent us, what’s wrong? Has something happened with the necklaces?” Tara asked urgently.

Doctor Turner stared blankly at her for a second, then blinked as he realised what she was talking about, “Ah, no. No, the necklaces are fine, they’re all safe in their boxes. There’s been a bit of a development on the energy they emit, but that’s not the reason I’ve called you here.”

The two women both let out sighs of relief. “If it’s not those, then what could be so urgent?” Tara asked.

Doctor Turner frowned and resumed pacing, not looking at either of them, “James.”

“What about him?” Becky asked. “Did the President refuse to let him speak to the Rainbooms?”

Doctor Turner stopped again and grimaced, “He’s dead.”

“What?!” Becky and Tara cried in unison.

Doctor Turner nodded gravely, “He activated a failsafe on the purifier; one that killed him, two soldiers, and almost killed Colonel Autumn. He sacrificed himself to keep the Enclave from being able to use Project Purity.”

The two women stared at him in stunned silence. “We’re screwed. We’re fucking screwed,” Becky grumbled.

“Hmmm, maybe not yet,” Doctor Turner said slowly. “From what we’ve heard over the radio, the girls are somewhat reasonable. Surely if we explain that James’ death had nothing to do with us then th-”

“No, they were very clear on that. They speak to James, or we get nothing,” Becky replied firmly. “It’s been hard enough getting anything at all out of them, and Applejack in particular seems to be getting more and more annoyed the more we press for information.” She glared at the doctor, “I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly comfortable pissing off a girl who could literally tear me in half!”

One of the Sigma soldiers glanced over at her, “If you’re worried about the Rainbooms getting aggressive, you should take one or two of us in with you, to keep them in line.”

“No,” Becky said emphatically. “The moment we bring a soldier in with us is the moment what little trust we’ve managed to earn is lost.”

“Trust we’re going to lose anyway when they find out James is dead,” Doctor Turner pointed out. He sighed heavily and shook his head, “There’s got to be something we can do to make them… er… Doctor Strong? What are you doing?”

Coming to a decision, Tara had stepped over to one of the lockboxes and was fiddling with the combination. A second later the lockbox opened, and she dumped the pink necklace inside onto the table, before moving on to the next box, “I’m giving the necklaces back to the Rainbooms.”

“What?! B-but you can’t!” Doctor Turner spluttered.

“I have to!” Tara retorted, tipping the contents of the next box onto the table too, this one a red and orange necklace with a sun symbol on it. “This is the only chance we have of earning their trust! I’m giving them their necklaces back and I’ll let them know they can leave if they choose to. Hopefully, they’ll see that we’re being sincere and choose to stay, or at least share some infor-”

“That won’t be possible,” one of the soldiers suddenly cut in.

Tara looked at him warily, “What do you mean?”

“We have orders,” the soldier replied, “the Rainbooms are to be kept contained here at all costs.”

Tara was taken aback for a moment, but soon rallied herself, “Well, as the scientist in charge of this Project, I’m giving you new orders. The Rainbooms are to-”

“Our orders came from the President himself,” the soldier told her bluntly.

Shock paralysed Tara for a moment, “The… the President? But… why? Imprisoning the Rainbooms was never one of Project Exodus’ goals!”

“I suppose it makes sense,” Doctor Turner supplied. “The Rainbooms are dangerous, they proved that at Project Purity. If we can hold them here, then at least we know they aren’t out in the wasteland, doing God knows how much damage. I must admit, I’m a little concerned about how they’ll react,” he glanced sidelong at the soldier as he spoke, “but I’m sure Squad Sigma will be able to handle them. We’ll just have to… break it to them gently?”

Tara looked from Doctor Turner to the soldier, then lowered her head sadly, “This is wrong.”

“I don’t like it myself, to be honest,” Doctor Turner admitted. “Unfortunately, it’s out of our hands. Come on, let’s get these necklaces locked away again, and then we can-”

“No,” Tara said firmly, unlocking the next box and dumping out a blue necklace.

Doctor Turner winced and moved to stop her, “You really shouldn’t be touching those, they’re dan-”

“I said no, doctor!” Tara insisted, shrugging him off as she moved down the table and reached for the next box. “The necklaces go back where they belong. And I’m going to speak to the President, myself. We have new information, something that… that changes…”

Doctor Turner watched Tara curiously as she trailed off. After a few seconds of waiting for her to continue, he spoke up, “Doctor Strong? Are you alright?”

Tara didn’t answer. The instant her hand had touched the next box she’d felt something, a tingle and a pulse that she couldn’t accurately describe. “Can you hear that?” she half-whispered.

“Hear what?” Doctor Turner asked.

“Something inside. It’s calling to me,” Tara mumbled.

Not quite realising what she was doing, Tara slowly unlocked the box and opened the lid. Inside, a purple necklace with a curious star-like symbol glittered up at her, more beautiful and entrancing than anything she’d ever seen before. Voices could be heard, saying inconsequential things, but none of that mattered to Tara. All that mattered was the necklace. It was calling to her, it belonged to her. It was a part of her that she had never realised was missing. Just as she reached in to claim the necklace, strong hands grabbed her shoulders, while something ripped the box from her hand and slammed the lid shut. Tara blinked and gasped as she snapped out of her trance.

“Bloody hell, woman, what the hell was that about?!” Doctor Turner growled in her ear.

Tara shook her head, looking up at the soldier who’d snatched the box from her, “I… I don’t know. The necklace it… it hypnotized me somehow…”

“Hypno… what do you mean, hypnotised?” Doctor Turner asked incredulously.

“I don’t know, I… wait…” Tara frowned as a strange thought occurred to her. “Who’s necklace is that one?” she asked, already sure of the answer.

“Twilight Sparkle’s,” Doctor Turner replied, confirming her suspicion. “Why?”

“She’s me; another version of me, from an alternate reality,” Tara explained. “That’s why we share the same DNA.” She shuddered as she looked at the box containing Twilight’s necklace, “I guess that means we somehow share a connection to that thing.”

“A connection?” Doctor Turner mused. Suddenly he gasped, “Doctor Shoichet!”

Tara’s head snapped around at that. Becky stood next to the table, a focussed look on her face as she reached out to the necklace in front of her. Cold fear gripped Tara as she realised which Rainboom it belonged to. “Becky, no!”

Her yell came too late.

As Becky’s hand grasped the necklace there was a flash of light and a shockwave rocked the room. Becky’s eyes glowed a searing white as the necklace blazed with power, sending pulses of energy rippling through the air. Tara and the others could only watch in shock and terror as Becky’s hair lengthened and changed colour to match Sunset’s, a pair of twitching, amber, animal ears sprouting from the top of her head. There was a final flash of light, then a blast of power that shook the entire building, knocking the scientists to the floor and causing dust to rain from the ceiling.

Groaning from the sudden impact, Tara rolled over and looked over to where Becky had been standing. Her girlfriend lay unconscious on the floor, wisps of steam rising from her body.

“Sunny!”

---

Sunset hissed in pain as the doctor slowly removed the last of her stitches.

“And… there… we… go.” Sienna dropped the last piece of stitching into a trash can next to the bed and leaned in to check her work, “Good. Now we just let the auto-doc finish up.”

Sunset winced, biting her lip as two of the auto-doc’s robotic arms extended. The first sprayed some form of protective film over the little holes left by the stitching. It was a pleasant enough feeling, but it was the second arm that bothered Sunset. Or rather, it was the large needle at the end of said arm that bothered her. She shivered and looked away as the tip moved closer to her belly. There was a sharp pain followed by a sense of burning as the needle pierced her skin, followed by a pleasant, tingling, cooling sensation.

“Are you sure she can’t have any painkillers, Doctor?” Fluttershy asked.

“It’s better not to, if the patient can bear it,” Sienna replied. “It makes it much easier to tell if they’re having a reaction to the biogel. Besides, it’s all finished now.”

Sunset let out a breath and looked down at her wound. She had an angry red line running up her belly, with tiny red pin-pricks showing where the stitches had been, but it looked a lot better than it had a few days ago, “Phew, thanks, Doc.”

Sienna smiled softly, “Don’t mention it. Your wound should be fully healed in a day or so. I wouldn’t try running a marathon or contorting yourself into odd positions in that time, but aside from that, feel free to move around however you normally would.”

Sunset nodded and sat up, pulling her top back down. The pain had already faded almost entirely, “Thanks, this stuff’s pretty cool.”

“It’s a combination of advanced biogel and a layer of cyanoacrylate glue, designed for sealing and healing surgical incisions and internal injuries,” Sienna replied. “The only stuff the Enclave have that’s better is experimental.”

“It sure is impressive,” Applejack put in.

“It’s fascinating!” Twilight exclaimed, “They had a stock of something similar in Rivet City, but this seems even more advanced again. How exactly does it all work?”

Sunset sighed and looked around idly as Twilight, Fluttershy, and Sienna started talking medicine. They were back in the room the girls had woken up in, with Sunset perched on the bed that Fluttershy had previously occupied. The rest of the Rainbooms had taken the opportunity to change out of their jumpsuits and back into their own clothes. The clothes were a little damaged and scruffy in places, much to Rarity’s chagrin, but they were clean and dry enough.

“I have a question,” Sunset said suddenly, garnering quizzical looks from the others. “Why did you change our clothes?”

“Your clothes got drenched when you were loaded onto the Vertibird that brought you here,” Sienna deadpanned. “If you’re wondering why we dressed you differently to the others, it’s because we ran out of jumpsuits and had to give you a set of Officer’s underclothes instead.” She paused and raised an eyebrow, “It was either that or Tara’s Nuka-Girl rocketsuit, and you probably wouldn’t want that given what she gets up to in it.”

Sunset blushed furiously at the thought of what, and who, Tara did while wearing whatever a Nuka-Girl suit was. Looking away uncomfortably, her embarrassment certainly wasn’t helped by the matching scarlet glow she spotted on Twilight’s face. “A-anyway, maybe we should-”

Her head snapped around as she felt a sudden surge of power. Equestrian magic, from a source she knew intimately.

“You okay there, Sunset?” Applejack asked.

Sunset clenched her fists and stood up. “They’re messing with a Geode. My Geode,” she replied angrily, turning a baleful look on Sienna, “Our necklaces, where are you keeping them?”

Sienna opened and closed her mouth a few times in shock, “They… I… I don’t think I can-” She was interrupted by a deep rumble that shook the walls. Sunset just gave her a pointed look. Quickly rethinking whatever she had been going to say, Sienna hurried to the door, “T-this way.”

“Ah thought Doctor Strong promised that no-one was going do mess with our necklaces?” Applejack asked darkly as the girls followed the doctor out into the corridors.

Sienna flinched and glanced back at her warily, “Before you all woke up, Doctor Turner pestered Tara into letting him see if the radiation had any passive effect on living beings. Tara agreed, but only as long as he didn’t actually do anything to your necklaces. All he was permitted to do was place them next to a living specimen and observe. That’s all, I swear.”

“That wasn’t passive magic!” Sunset spat. “So either you’re lying, or something’s just gone wrong.”

“Why do you think I’m not trying to talk you out of coming along?” Sienna shot back.

Applejack loudly cracked her knuckles. “Maybe ‘cause you know there’s nothing you can do to stop us?” she growled. Sienna blanched and picked up the pace.

The Rainbooms followed along as the doctor led them quickly through the facility. They took a somewhat longer route than previously, going down several staircases and heading past several large office spaces and workshops. As they were descending what Sienna assured them was the last stairwell, the group heard hurried footsteps coming up towards them. Scant moments later a man sped around a corner and nearly ran headlong into Sienna.

“Whoa! Sorry!” The man clutched at his sides as he gasped for air. “I… shit… I was just come… coming to find you!”

“We felt some kind of blast, is anyone hurt?” Sienna asked urgently.

The man frowned at her, mouthed ‘we?’, then did a double-take as he spotted the Rainbooms gathered behind her. Sunset scowled as she recognised him as Doctor Turner, the man that had met them outside Rivet City

“Doctor, is anyone hurt?” Sienna pressed.

Snapped back to reality, Doctor Turner shook his head, “Doctor Shoichet… she grabbed the… the necklace and…”

“Where is she?!” Sienna demanded.

Turner shrank back from her, “S-secure Storage.”

Sienna swore and shoved past him, darting down the stairs as quickly as she could, the Rainbooms hot on her heels. Turner cursed loudly as he got left behind, but nevertheless he turned back around and did his best to keep up.

A few more flights down the group came to the bottommost corridor of the facility and broke into a run. As doors flew past on either side, Sunset silently thanked Sienna for fixing her stitches. Turning one last corner, she was just in time to see the doctor disappear into a room on the right. She reached the door herself moments later.

Sunset vaguely noticed a table and a pair of armored soldiers inside the room, but her attention was immediately drawn to the woman sitting on the floor, amber pony-ears poking out from flowing red and yellow hair. Doctor Strong was kneeling next to her, gently stroking her hair and tearfully whispering something to her. Gasps from behind told Sunset that the others could see what was happening, too.

Sienna hurried over and knelt next to the two, “Shit, what the hell happened to you?!”

Doctor Strong shook her head, choking back a sob, “I… I don’t know. The moment she touched Sunset’s necklace there… there was this light and she…”

“She ponied up,” Sunset finished.

The three doctors all looked up at her. Sunset made to step forward, but a hand clamped onto her shoulder and held her back.

“Hold up, Sunshim,” Rainbow warned, jerking her chin at the soldiers. Sunset gulped as she realised both of them had their guns trained on her.

Following her gaze, Doctor Strong narrowed her eyes at them, “Lower your weapons.” The soldiers just ignored her. “The Rainbooms are the only people here who might have a fucking clue about what just happened to Becky, so lower your god-damned weapons!” she snarled.

Sunset relaxed slightly as the soldiers complied. Taking a slow breath to try and control the mixture of fear and anger she felt, she stepped over and crouched next to Doctor Shoichet, looking into her eyes. “You were doing something with my necklace.” she stated evenly.

Doctor Strong shook her head, “We weren’t. I was gett-”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Sunset growled.

Doctor Shoichet just looked back at Sunset. They stayed there silently for several long seconds before finally she spoke, “Tara was going to give the Geodes back to you.” Sunset barely managed to keep her expression neutral as she called the necklaces by their proper name. “When I saw my… your… Geode, it called to me. It felt like it was… I don’t know…”

“Meant for you?” Sunset prompted. Doctor Shoichet nodded slowly. “When you touched it, what did you see?”

“See?” Doctor Strong asked. “Wait, you mean sh-”

Sunset held up a hand to silence her. “What did you see?”

Tears welled up in the Doctor Shoichet’s eyes, “I saw...” She gulped nervously and tried again, “I saw… everything.”

Sunset somehow knew exactly what she meant. They shared a connection now, one she honestly didn’t know how to describe. The doctor sniffed and raised a hand, holding out Sunset’s Geode, “This belongs to you.”

Sunset took it gently and slipped the chain over her head, smiling despite herself as she felt a comforting warmth emanating from it, “Thank you, Doctor.”

“Call me Becky,” she replied thickly. “The rest of your Geodes are in those boxes on the table.”
Sunset glanced up at the table, then looked back down at Becky, “We’ll be leaving now.”

Becky just nodded in response.

“We can’t allow that,” one of the soldiers cut in.

Everyone in the room tensed at the soldier’s words. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow asked warily.

“We’re under orders,” the soldier replied. “You’re to be permitted supervised access to the basement levels, at Doctor Strong’s discretion, but you are not permitted to enter the upper levels or to leave the facility under any circumstances.” He hefted his rifle meaningfully, “Attempts to disobey will be dealt with, severely.”

“You can’t just keep us here!” Rarity cried.

“We can, and we will,” the soldier said simply.

Doctor Strong wilted under the appalled looks the Rainbooms gave her. Even Sienna and Becky were looking at her as if they couldn’t believe what they were hearing. “We received our new orders from the President just before everything happened with the necklaces, it’s why I was going to give them back to you, as a gesture of faith.” She lowered her head in shame, “I’m sorry.”

There was a brief, miserable silence.

“So, we really are prisoners then,” Applejack muttered.

Sunset gritted her teeth as impotent fury rose up within her. She wracked her brain, trying to come up with a way of distracting the soldiers so she could grab the rest of the Geodes, but she couldn’t come up with anything that wouldn’t get one of her friends killed. Escape would have to wait. She flinched as she felt someone suddenly grab her wrist.

Becky’s head was drooping, as if she were weary, but the look she gave Sunset from half-lidded eyes was earnest and calculating, “Wallflower.”

Sunset could only stare in amazement. “I… what?”

“Wallflower Blush, who is she?” Becky pressed, squeezing Sunset’s wrist as she did so.

“Aw, shoot! Please tell me she didn’t get brought here too and we didn’t notice!” Applejack exclaimed worriedly.

Sunset shook her head, utterly baffled, “No, she was at a gardening event when we arrived in Vault 101, there’s no way she ended up here.”

“You mean she’s a friend of yours?” Sienna asked incredulously.

“Yeah,” Sunset admitted, her mind whirling. She was positive that Becky was trying to tell her something, there had to be a reason she was asking about Wallflower specifically, after, but Sunset couldn’t figure out what it was for the life of her.

“Your friend? But how is that possible?! How could Becky have known that?” Doctor Strong asked incredulously.

Ignoring her girlfriend, Becky subtly squeezed Sunset’s wrist again, “Wallflower and… who was that other one? That girl by the lockers?”

“Girl by the-” Sunset gasped as she realised what Becky was getting at. Aware that the soldiers, not to mention everyone else, were watching her carefully, Sunset snatched her hand out of Becky’s grip and scrambled for a convincing lie to cover herself, “I… you… how did you know about her?! It was one time, and I didn’t know she was a virgin!”

The sounds of shock and confusion coming from pretty much everyone in the room made Sunset instantly regret whatever foul coincidence that made that her first thought, but at least the blush that illuminated her cheeks helped sell it. To an extent.

“Uh… what the heck is going on?” Rainbow asked.

“Nevermind!” Sunset said quickly, rubbing her neck awkwardly. She let out a sigh and stood up, turning to face the others, “Come on, girls. Let’s get back to our room. There’s no point in arguing.”

“Wait!” Tara cried desperately, “What about Becky? How did she know your friend’s name? Is she going to be okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” Sunset called out, not bothering to look back. “She just got a taste of what it’s like to be me. The magic should wear off soon enough, and then she’ll be back to normal.”

Tara sighed with relief, “I… are you sure?” Sunset nodded. “Um… I’ll just get Becky up to the first aid room for now, then… and then I’ll come up to you and we’ll… we’ll try and sort this mess out, okay?”

Sunset paused for a moment then shrugged, “Whatever. Just bring the rest of our necklaces with you.”

“Of course,” Doctor Strong replied quietly. “Doctor Turner, would you mind escorting the Rainbooms back upstairs for me?”

Turner looked around at each of the girls warily, as if he was half-expecting them to lash out in anger. Finally, he gestured to the door and spoke in a calm and measured voice, “Very well. Right this way, please.”

The rest of the Rainbooms looked to Sunset, each of their expression varying between scared, confused, and defiant, but she just nodded and indicated that they should leave. Sunset felt a surge of gratitude as they obeyed, the fact that they did so without questioning it spoke volumes about how much they trusted her. She hoped she could live up to their expectations.

Just as Sunset reached the door, she surreptitiously glanced back at Becky and gave her the ghost of a wink. The young woman nodded subtly and winked back. Stepping through the doorway, Sunset sighed and tried to stop her heart from pounding as she thought about what Becky had been getting at.

Wallflower Blush and the Memory Stone. Me and my friends here destroyed the Memory Stone, but it wouldn’t have been possible without a little bit of subterfuge and a lot of help from Trixie Lulamoon, the person I least expected help from.

Someone I thought was an enemy turning out to be an ally. That was some pretty quick thinking there, Becky. I just hope I’m doing the right thing by trusting you.

---

Becky’s thoughts were a chaotic mess as Tara and Sienna took her to the first aid room; both from what she’d seen and what she was considering doing because of it.

Sienna stepped into the room first and held the door open for the other two, locking it behind them once they were in. “Can you get on the bed for me, please?” she asked.

“As long as Tara’s joining in,” Becky said coyly, giving her girlfriend a quick wink and getting a strained smile in return.

“You’re still a colossal pervert, so unfortunately your personality hasn’t been affected,” Sienna said flatly as she fetched some tools from a set of drawers. “Now hold still and keep quiet while I check you over.” She gave Tara a stern look, “That goes for you, too. I don’t want you stressing both her and yourself out with two hundred questions, so shush until I say otherwise.” Tara nodded sadly and wrapped her arms around herself. Becky desperately wanted to comfort her, but right now she had to let their medic do her job.

As Sienna got to work, poking, prodding, and shining lights in various places; including the new set of ears, Becky tried to relax and get a handle on her emotions. Tara hovered around anxiously, constantly checking over Sienna’s shoulder and reading every notation she made on her clipboard.

Eventually Sienna sighed and stepped back, removing her stethoscope from her ears and hanging it around her neck, “As far as I can tell, you’re fine. I’ll have to do some more detailed blood tests and maybe a scan or ten, but apart from your hair and your new ears, I don’t think anything else has changed. How are you feeling?”

Becky took a moment to think before answering. “Physically, I actually feel pretty good,” she replied honestly. “I’m a little sore in places, and my brain feels like it’s been electrocuted, but other than that, I’m fine.” She gave a wan smile, “I was lucky. That could’ve gone a lot worse.”

“I’ll say,” Sienna huffed. “What were you even thinking? Why did you grab that thing without any form of protection?”

Becky chuckled awkwardly, “Yeah, that was kinda dumb. In my defence, I was hypnotized, so…?”

Sienna arched a disbelieving eyebrow, but Tara quickly stepped in, “It’s true. The same thing happened to me the moment I touched the box that had Twilight’s necklace in.”

That got a thoughtful frown out of Sienna, “Do you think this has anything to do with the fact that your genetics match theirs?”

“Probably,” Becky replied. “Do you remember what Twilight said about the Geodes being tied to each of the Rainbooms’ unique magical signatures? I suppose we must share those signatures too, since we’re just different versions of the same people, after all.”

“Geodes… you said that earlier, too. Do you mean the necklaces?” Tara asked.
Becky nodded, “That’s what the Rainbooms call them.”

“Before that, can we just take a couple of steps back for a moment?” Sienna cut in, “What the hell do you mean by different versions of the same people?”

Becky and Tara both glanced at her curiously. Tara was the first to catch on, “Ooooh, of course. You weren’t there for that part.”

Between the two of them, they swiftly told Sienna what they had learned about the alternate realities the Rainbooms had come from and how they were alternate versions of each other.
When they were finished, Sienna sank slowly into a chair, her expression a picture of stunned amazement, “So you’re saying there’re three different versions of Tara?”

Becky nodded, “And two of me.”

Sienna blinked dumbly, then narrowed her eyes, “So, when they called me Sugarcoat…?”

Becky couldn’t restrain an amused snort, “That’s the name of the version of you from their world. I recognized her straight away. She’s got grey skin and white hair, but you have the same pigtails, and even the same glasses.”

Tara and Sienna shared a shocked look, then turned back to Becky. “How could you possibly know that?” Tara asked. “And how did you know about their friend, Wallflower?”

Becky’s mood immediately turned solemn. “Sunset’s Geode. When I picked it up it… it showed me things.”

The other two blinked in surprise. “It showed you things? How?” Tara asked breathlessly.

“It’s magic,” Becky replied quietly, but clearly. “Not advanced technology, not weird mutations, not even illusions or trickery of some kind. Its real, tangible, honest-to-God magic.”

Sienna still looked sceptical, but Tara pressed ahead, “What did it show you?”

“I…” Becky started to reply, then hesitated. What she had seen through the Geode, what she had felt, they weren’t really hers to disclose. Heaving a great sigh, she decided she had to tell the truth, if not the details. If she went through with the plan that was still half-formed in her head, then maybe this would at least help soften the blow for the others, “It showed me Sunset’s memories.”

“You saw her memories?!” Tara and Sienna exclaimed in unison.

Becky nodded slowly. She could still see them clearly. A series of images flashing before her eyes in rapid succession. Memories of a life that was so far removed and alien to her own, and yet, at the same time, so similar in some aspects that Becky was still reeling from the implications of half of them. “I didn’t see everything,” she clarified. “It just showed the times where she was feeling particularly sad, or happy, or stressed, or… angry.”

Tara gaped at her, “But that… how is… you… she…” she shook her head and stopped trying to articulate her thoughts, “this is insane.”

Becky huffed a laugh, “Yeah, no shit.” She briefly considered mentioning some of the crazier memories the Geode had shown her; like of Sunset’s life before she left her home world, but quickly decided against it. “Anyway, you should go and speak to the Rainbooms, you did say you’d take their Geodes up to them, and you probably shouldn’t piss them off any more than we already have.”

“They seemed strangely calm about everything actually,” Sienna supplied, giving Becky a look that sent a chill down her spine. “Especially Sunset Shimmer.”

Becky chuckled nervously, “Still, we probably shouldn’t push our luck too much.”

“The Rainbooms will wait a little longer,” Tara said firmly, reaching out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind Becky’s ear. “Right now I’m more concerned about you.”

Becky struggled not to tear up, touched by the gesture, but at the same time wanting both of the women to leave her alone and give her time to think. Please, Tara. The less you know about what I’m thinking right now, the safer you’ll be.

“You say you saw Sunset’s most emotional memories, the best and worst times of her life?” Sienna asked suddenly.

Becky nodded warily, “I… I guess, so. It’s still a little blurry but-”

“Is that why you’re planning on helping them escape?” Sienna asked flatly, driving a knife of pure terror through Becky’s heart.

Tara forced a laugh, “This is no time to be joking around, Sienna.”

Sienna didn’t take her eyes off Becky as she replied, “I’m not joking.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Tara said sharply. “There’s no way Becky would do something like that. Right, Becky?” The confidence she was feeling visibly wavered as she saw the look on Becky’s face. “You wouldn’t, right?”

Becky just looked up at Sienna wearily. She had hoped she could get away without getting anyone else involved, but the cat was out of the bag now. “How did you know?”

Sienna shrugged, ignoring Tara’s startled gasp, “It was pretty obvious, really. I’m not a meathead like the soldiers, and unlike Tara, I wasn’t distracted by worry and confusion. I saw you squeezing Sunset’s wrist while muttering that crap about Wallflower, whoever the hell she is, and I saw you nod and wink at her when she left the room. It doesn’t take a genius to put it together.”

Becky laughed humorlessly, “You’re perceptive, as always.”

“Don’t forget, I used to be a first responder working with the FEV researchers,” Sienna replied. “Staying calm and paying attention while a patient is undergoing spontaneous mutation is part of my job.”

Tara looked from Sienna to Becky in shock, “Wait, you mean, you really do want to help them escape? But… but why?”

Becky lowered her head, focusing on her lap, “It’s the right thing to do.”

The silence that followed was deafening. Becky couldn’t bear to look up, she didn’t want to see the look of betrayal on her lovers face.

Finally, after several long seconds of the most torturous silence Becky had ever endured, Tara spoke in a quiet voice, “You… you can’t be serious. The President has ordered us to keep the Rainbooms in our custody. If you help them escape that… that’s treason.”

“I know,” Becky said softly. “I don’t want you to get involved, if you have to report this then I’ll understa-”

“No!” Tara cut in anxiously. “You’ve obviously been affected by Sunset’s memories or… or the Geode has done something to you.”

“It made me realize just how much is wrong with our world!” Becky snapped. “The Rainbooms’ worlds are so different to this one it isn’t even funny! They’re not perfect, not by a long shot, but they make our world look like a degenerate hell-hole, and that’s before the bombs fell!”

“If that’s the case, then there’s all the more reason we’ll need the Rainbooms help,” Tara responded earnestly. “Think about it, if we can successful recreate a portal between our realities then the Enclave will finally be able to leave this wasteland and start to rebuild.”

Becky looked up at Tara defiantly, “The Enclave are the last remnants of the government that helped create this shit-hole of a wasteland. There’s no way in hell I’m helping to inflict them on someone else’s world.”

“I’m in,” Sienna said unexpectedly.

“You… wait, what?!” Tara cried.

Sienna threw down her clipboard and sighed, “I said, I’m in. The higher-ups are mostly evil selfish bastards who don’t give a damn about anything other than power, I’ve known that for years.”

“How can you say that?!” Tara replied in a scandalised voice.

Sienna gave her a serious look, “Easy. Project Scouring.”

That was enough to give Tara pause. “I… okay, I know that particular Project wasn’t exactly our finest moment, but it was an act of desperation.”

“Don’t spout the bullshit they fed us in elementary classes to me, Tara,” Sienna shot back. “I know you’re smarter than that. You say it was an act of desperation? That project was active for over thirty years. And we didn’t create it from scratch, the Scouring strain was modified from an older strain of FEV, one we spent decades developing.”

Tara stepped back, surprised at the vitriol from her usual deadpan friend, “But… it was a last resort.”

“You mean like the nukes were supposed to be?” Becky asked sarcastically.

“That was different,” Tara replied stubbornly. “Besides, Project Scouring was shut down months ago. The President himself made the announcement.”

“Only after half of the Senate and almost eighty percent of our scientists demanded it. Even Colonel Autumn was against that project,” Sienna retorted. “The fact that such a plan even existed should be enough to clue you in on what kind of people our superiors are. If the Scouring strain ever got loose, thousands would die. Children would die. Even babies would die horrible and painful deaths. Only a monster with no regard for human life, whatsoever, would even consider using such a weapon.”

“The… the President worked on that project personally,” Tara said in a small voice.

“That’s exactly my point!” Sienna snarled.

Becky couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Not about the Enclave’s dark secrets; she’d long suspected that certain parts of the their history had been edited and polished, but the sheer hatred Sienna held for her own home was astounding.

Tara, for her part, turned away from both of them, wrapping her arms around herself again and facing the wall, clearly wrestling with her own thoughts.

Becky bit her lip and glanced up at Sienna, “I… I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” Sienna replied darkly. “When I was a medic on those projects I saw and did things that I can’t even bring myself to face. Even telling you about some of them is enough to warrant a death sentence for disclosing classified information. The only reason I even agreed to join Project Exodus is because I hoped I would finally get a chance to escape from all of this bullshit, but if what you’re saying about the Rainbooms home is true then… I…”

“You know we’ll probably be executed for this, don’t you?” Becky asked softly.

Sienna clenched her fists and looked at the ground, “The Rainbooms come from a peaceful world. Just looking at their clothes is enough to tell that; flashy, decorative, colourful, not practical in the slightest. Not for a world like ours. There’s enough dirty blood on my hands. If saving a peaceful world from the Enclave’s bullshit can make up for it in any way, I’m willing to bet my life on it.”

Becky just nodded. Words weren’t enough to express what she was feeling. She felt a fleeting sense of just how absurd this was, that she was potentially about to sacrifice her life on account of something that could easily have just been a radiation-induced hallucination of some sort. Deep down, though, she knew. The things she’d seen, the emotions she’d felt, they were real.

“What about you, Tara?” Sienna’s voice dragged Becky out of her reverie, “are you going to report this?”

“Don’t, Sienna,” Becky admonished softly. This was why she hadn’t wanted either of the others involved. Tara practically hero-worshipped the President. Making her choose between him or her girlfriend, it was sadistic on a whole other level. “Look, Sparkles, I-”

“Telepathy,” Tara replied.

Becky and Sienna shared a confused glance. “Um, what?”

Tara turned around, unwrapping her arms and placing her hands on her hips, “Sunset Shimmer is a telepath. We know that, the President knows that, pretty much everyone who’s attached to Project Exodus knows that.” She sighed and shook her head, “I suppose it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say she can mind control people too.”

Becky gave her a startled look, “Wait, do you me-”

“I know how and why the old Poseidon Rig was destroyed,” Tara interrupted. “I also happen to know something about the President that neither of you do. No-one does, except for the Senators and a few senior officers.” She gave Sienna a cold look, “You’re not the only one with doubts, and you’re not the only one who’s worked on unpleasant assignments. I worked on Experiment FH-1, before they learned that sticking a computer chip in his brain wasn’t going to be enough to revive him.” She cringed and shuddered at the memory, “The experiments we did on those test subjects were horrifying.”

Sienna tilted her head curiously, “I’ve never heard of FH-1-”

“It’s classified.”

“-but does this mean you aren’t going to report us?”

Tara rolled her eyes, “No. I’m not going to report you. I am going to tear a new asshole out of both of you when this is all over, but I won’t report you. Instead, I’m going to help you two morons do this without any of us getting executed.”

“Mind control,” Becky said flatly.

“Yes. Once the Rainbooms are gone, all we have to do is report that we can’t remember anything except her voice in our heads telling us what to do,” Tara replied. “It won’t be difficult to fabricate some sort of evidence between the three of us.” She paused and folded her arms, frowning slightly, “Either that, or I suppose we could always go with them. I doubt the Brotherhood of Steel would turn away three gifted scientists, but I’d prefer to remain here with Project Exodus if at all possible.”

“Tara, are you sure about this?” Becky asked. “This is serious stuff. We’re talking treason here, remember?”

Tara hesitated for a moment. Visibly steeling herself, she nodded, “I don’t like it, but it’s not as if we’re destroying the Enclave. Besides…” She walked back over to Becky and cupped her face in her hands, “I trust you. Whether or not this is the right thing… I’m not really sure, but imprisoning the Rainbooms here is definitely not right. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you get yourself executed. Not if I can do anything about it. So, what’s your plan?”

Next Chapter: Chapter 41 - The Best Laid Plans Estimated time remaining: 37 Hours, 38 Minutes