Waiting impatiently in the admin office, the Rainbooms plus Tara and Sienna, listened intently for any sign of what might be happening outside. Indistinct voices could just about be heard around the corner, then the whole group cowered and held their breath as a soldier went thundering past. Their relief at not being discovered was short-lived as everyone wondered why only a single soldier had left his post.

The tension was palpable as another muffled conversation started up around the corner. Tara, in particular, started to get increasingly agitated as the seconds ticked by, wringing her hands and repeatedly glancing at the door nervously. Sunset was starting to worry that she might have to hold the scientist back when they finally heard the soft footfalls of Becky returning.

Sticking her head around the door, Becky let out a soft sigh of relief as she spotted the girls, “We might be in luck.”

“Are the soldiers gone?” Tara hissed anxiously.

“One soldier stayed behind, but I… I think we can trust him,” Becky replied.

“Are you sure about that?” Applejack asked.

“I think so,” Becky nodded, then looked over at Tara, “It’s Vincent.”

Tara’s eyes widened in surprise, “Vincent? He’s part of Squad Sigma?!”

“Apparently.” Becky pulled the door open wide and gestured for the girls to follow, “Come on, we don’t have long.”

“Are you sure we can trust this soldier?” Sunset asked as the group followed Becky out into the corridor.

“Be ready, just in case I’m wrong, but I think we’ll be okay,” Becky whispered, just loudly enough for the girls to hear, before smirking slightly. “You’ll probably recognize him as Flash.”

“Flash? You mean Flash Sent…ry…” Sunset trailed off lamely as they rounded the next corner and spotted the soldier in question waiting for them, helmet still tucked under his arm. His hair was black instead of blue and he was clearly a few years older than the one she knew, but there was no doubt that the man standing before them was this world’s version of Flash Sentry.

Vincent’s face fell when he saw the group approaching, “Aaand Tara and Sienna are both in on this too, because of course they are.” He sighed and shook his head. “Y’know, I was kinda hoping you were just high, or something.”

“Er, sorry,” Becky said sheepishly. “Are you still going to let us through?”

Vincent just gave her a calculating look, then sighed and jammed his helmet back on, “Fuck it, come on; let’s get all of you out of here.” An intense feeling of relief swept over the group as he turned and opened the double doors behind. “In here, quick. Michaels will probably be back up soon.”

The Rainbooms couldn’t help but gasp as they stepped through the door into the cargo area. The room was massive, easily twice the size of the marketplace hangar in Rivet City. Various portable generators, mobile cranes, and other less identifiable articles of heavy machinery were scattered around the warehouse, but all of them were dwarfed by two huge vehicles that sat on either side of the warehouse. They were rocket-shaped with a set of flat wings halfway along the fuselage and a set of stabilisers at the rear, like some bizarre fusion of a fighter plane and a space rocket.

“Those are Delta IX rockets,” Becky explained, seeing the awed looks on the Rainbooms’ faces. “They were originally civilian spacecraft, until the military started converting them into intercontinental missiles.” She pointed ahead towards the far end of the room, where a pair of elevators were located, “Those personnel elevators are the ones that we want.”

The group dutifully followed the scientist through the warehouse. As they walked, Tara sidled up to Vincent, a sheepish look on her face, “I… um… I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but… why are you helping us?”

He gave a dry laugh, “Because, I’m a moron, apparently.”

“It’s not surprising if you think about it. After all, there’s technically four women in this room that he’s romantically interested in,” Sienna said flatly.

Everyone glanced at her curiously. “What do you mean?” Tara asked, “I thought the only one he’d dated was Becky?”

Becky shrugged, “Don’t forget, he also had a crush on… oohhhh, okay, I get it.” She grinned evilly at Vincent, “In that case, technically it’s five.”

“I’m helping,” Vincent cut in as Sienna raised an eyebrow, “because it’s either that, or turn you in and probably get you killed. Besides, I’m assuming you have a plan for getting past the guys upstairs.”

Tara chuckled awkwardly, “Well, uh…”

“I don’t want to know what it is,” Vincent said bluntly.

Sunset opened her mouth to tell him they plan was essentially just to wing it, but was distracted by an odd clunking sound coming from behind one of the rockets.

“What’s that noise?” Twilight asked warily as the clanking sound started getting closer.

Vincent chuckled quietly, “Don’t worry, it’s just the protectron. It wandered up here earlier babbling about doing an inventory check or something. We figured it wouldn’t do any harm to let it patrol this section. Extra security, y’know?”

The Rainbooms watched curiously as an odd-looking robot stomped into view. It was vaguely humanoid in shape, with a bulbous body supported on stiff but sturdy legs, it’s arms were thick and ended in grasping claws with a small muzzle poking out of its palms, and a glass dome on top of the robot seemed to serve as a face. The protectron paused as it spotted the group, then resumed walking towards them and spoke in a tinny voice, “Warning. This is a... restricted... area.”

“Crap,” Tara muttered, “I’m going to have to delete it’s memory, so it can’t give us away later.”

Rarity grimaced at the patina of dust and corrosion all over the robot, “What is that thing?”

“A protectron,” Sienna answered. “It was stationed here before the war as a precaution against Chinese spies and saboteurs.”

“Warning. Unauthorized personnel... detected. Please provide... identification,” the robot said haltingly as it stomped closer, holding its arms out towards the Rainbooms.

“Is it supposed to sound like that?” Applejack asked.

Tara sighed, “Yeah. These pre-war models are pretty basic. This particular unit has been patrolling the facility for over two hundred years without any maintenance so…”

“It’s definitely sounding worse than the last time I spoke to it though,” Sienna put in. “I wonder if Doctor Turner managed to damage it somehow?”

“I... repeat. This is... a... restricted... area,” the robot continued. “Unauthorized... personnel... must provide... identification.”

“It’s okay, er, Protectron. They’re with us,” Becky told it.

The protectron halted, it’s little claws spinning around its wrists as it seemed to process the scientist’s words. The robot suddenly started shuddering, causing something inside its casing to start rattling wildly, then it stopped with a loud bang and the glass glowed a deep, dark purple. When it spoke again its voice was far smoother and more human-sounding, “Unauthorized personnel must provide identification immediately, or security measures will be activated.”

“That’s weird,” Tara said quietly. Sunset backed away slowly, suspicion blooming at the sight of the odd glow. Seeing this, Tara held a hand out reassuringly, “It’s okay, I can fix this. Protectron? Command protocol delta- aah!?”

Tara yelped and skipped back a step as a laser lashed out from the glass dome and struck the floor in front of her feet, prompting cries of fear and alarm from everyone. Becky was instantly at Tara’s side, glaring at the robot “What the fuck was that about?!”

The protectron just stared back impassively, “This unit will not allow itself to be shut down until identification is provided. Failure to provide correct identification will resu-”

“Shut it!” Vincent snapped, pulling up his rifle and firing a bolt of green plasma directly at the protectron’s glass dome. Just before the plasma struck, the shimmering purple outline of dozens of tiny connected hexagons materialised mere inches from the robot’s chassis, forming an energy shield that stopped the bolt before fading from view.

Becky’s jaw dropped open, “What the fuck was that?!”

“Equestrian magic,” Sunset replied in surprise.

The protectron shifted slightly and raised its arms again, pointing them directly at Vincent, “Security protocols engaged.” Petal-like crystalline structures suddenly sprouted and grew from it’s claws, glowing with an intensity that increased by the second.

“Everybody move!” Sunset yelled just before twin beams of coruscating energy lanced through the air just as everyone threw themselves aside. The beams tore through machinery and equipment like a hot knife through butter until they finally slammed into the far wall.

“Holy shit!” Sienna gasped as she stumbled backwards.

“Get away from that thing!” Becky barked, grabbing Tara and belting away from it. The others were already reacting by scattering and running for cover as the protectron charged up and fired again, narrowly missing Vincent. Ducking behind some barrels with Rarity, Sunset yelped as another pair of magical beams lashed out, carving one of the Delta IX’s in half. Risking a quick glance, she gasped at what she saw.

Vincent was still diving and dodging as he traded fire with the robot to keep it focused on himself, but all of his shots were being blocked by the protectron’s magical shield. Each time the shield appeared and blocked the shots Vincent fired before vanishing without a trace.

“He can’t keep that up forever,” Sunset hissed. “We’ve got to help.”

Rarity nodded and threw an arm out, launching a crystal spike at the robot. Sparks flew as the shield intercepted it. Unlike with the plasma bolts, the shield remained in place for a few seconds afterwards, its surface rippling and distorting. “Did you see that? It’s weak against my magic!” Rarity cried.

The robot noticed too. Sunset’s heart leapt into her mouth as it turned to face them, its arms glowing ominously. “Look out!”

Sunset shoved Rarity aside and rolled away just as the robot fired. The crackling energy tore the barrels they’d been hiding behind into glowing fragments of dust and missed them by inches. The sheer concussive force of the attack knocked both girls clean off their feet.

Groaning with pain, Sunset hauled herself to her knees. Glancing around to check on Rarity, her mouth went dry when she spotted the protectron charging up again. One arm pointed at Rarity, the other at herself. Sunset tried to get her feet underneath her; making one desperate attempt at saving Rarity, though she knew she’d never make it in time.

Time seemed to slow as the glow from the weapons intensified. As Sunset scrambled to her feet she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Even in her terrified state, her mind registered confusion at the sight of the luminescent little glass bottle arcing towards the robot.

Blinding pink light filled the room as a colossal blast tore through the air.

Coughing and spluttering, Sunset peered through the cloud of dust that the explosion had kicked up. The robot was still standing. It’s entire frame was shrouded by the magical shield, but instead of fading the shield was sparking and flickering intermittently.

Realising Pinkie’s magic must have overloaded that of the robot, Sunset shot to her feet and cupped her hands to yell. She needn’t have bothered. Seeing that the protectron was vulnerable, Vincent instantly unleashed a hail of plasma fire. Struggling under the punishing storm, the shield thinned, flickered once more, then finally dissolved in a shower of sparks.

The first shot to get through the shield blew the protectron’s casing open. The second shattered the glass dome atop it. The robot tottered for a moment, then fell backwards to land with a metallic clang. Sunset breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the robot fall.

“Is everyone alright?” Vincent called out.

A chorus of weak agreements rang out as everyone slowly came out from where they had been hiding. A quick check revealed that most of the group had picked up a few new bruises and scrapes, but no-one had suffered any real harm. Satisfied that her friends were uninjured, Sunset joined Vincent at the fallen protectron.

“What the fuck was that?” he asked, nudging it gently with his boot.

“Equestrian magic,” Sunset replied. She turned an accusing glare on Tara, “I thought you said you hadn’t done any experiments on our Geodes?”

Tara shook her head quickly, “We didn’t, I swear!”

“It must have been Turner,” Becky groaned. “Something must have happened when he was observi-”

“None of that matters right now,” Vincent cut in. “All of you need to get in an elevator and get the hell out of here. Now!”

“Do you think the soldiers upstairs will have heard all of this?” Sunset asked as Rainbow sped off to call an elevator.

Vincent shook his head, “Even if they didn’t, you can bet that Michaels did. You probably only have sec- oh, shit!”

Both Vincent and Sunset leapt back from the protectron as a dark purple ball of pure magic slowly floated up out of it’s remains.

“What the fuck is that?!” Vincent cried.

“Dark magic!” Sunset answered, recognising it instantly.

“All of you, cease what you’re doing, immediately!” another voice boomed out suddenly. Sunset whipped around at the shout. The second soldier, Michaels, was standing with his gun pointed at the group. He’d evidently returned at some point during all of the commotion. “All of you, get down on the ground! And you, Rainbow, get away from that elevator!”

Vincent stepped back, not taking his eyes off the magic, “Michaels, this isn’t what it-”

“Can it, rookie! Right now you’re under suspicion of assisting the Rainbooms in an escape attempt!” Michaels snapped. He dipped his head slightly, apparently activating his armour’s radio, “Sigma Leader, this is Sigma Four. We’ve got a situat-”

Suddenly, before anyone could react, the ball of magic rocketed forwards and slammed into Michaels. The impact punched him off his feet even as the magic spread and soaked into his armour, suffusing it with an ominous dark glow.

“Oh, no,” Becky whispered.

“That can’t be good,” Vincent growled, raising his rifle.

Sunset grimaced as she watched waves of magic rippling across the surface of the armour. She knew what had to be done, the trick was going to be getting it done safely. “Vincent, you and the doctors get in cover. We’ll handle this!”

“Are you sure?” he called over.

“We’ve got this, now go!” Sunset snapped.

Michaels groaned and painfully hauled himself back up, shaking his head slowly. “You alien freaks, what have you done to me?!”

“Twilight, grab his gun! Quickly!” Sunset cried.

A purple aura surrounded the weapon, snatching it from the soldier’s grip. Michaels cried out and flung an arm out towards it and several crystalline spider-like limbs burst from his gauntlets and grabbed the gun, yanking it back out of Twilight’s magic.

There was a flash of colour and the severed tips of the limbs fell to the floor. Rainbow smirked as she skidded to a halt past him, clutching the rifle in one arm and a knife in the other, “Too slow, dude.”

Michaels snarled, made to turn after her, then lurched and almost fell as his legs were suddenly encased in glittering crystal. More spider-limbs sprouted from his armour, but each of them was seized in Twilight’s magic. A second later he was blinded as a cupcake splattered across his helmet’s eyes.

“Now, eat this!” Applejack yelled, hurling herself at him from the side. Michaels tried to defend himself, but Twilight used her magic to tie his arms up in his own spider-limbs. Applejack grunted with exertion as she unleashed her full might in a single titanic punch. The strike connected with a sound like a thunderclap, launching the soldier across the room to slam into the last remaining Delta IX rocket.

Sunset felt a pang of guilt as she watched Michaels disappear into the wreckage, radioactive fluids pouring out of ruptured fuel cells, but she didn’t have the luxury of being concerned with killing, “Quick, get over here!” She took a deep breath as her friends hurried over, clasping hands and delving deeply into the magic they all shared. The warmth flowing through Sunset as they ponied up was both a comfort and a relief.

No matter where we are or what happens, we can always rely on each other.

Power surged through the girls as and lifted them into the air as they faced the wreckage of the rocket. Sunset couldn’t help a small feeling of relief as she saw that Michaels was still moving, slipping on the radioactive goop as he tried to get back to his feet, “Alright, girls, it’s time to show these people how we deal with trouble on our world!”

“Right!” the rest of the Rainbooms cried in response.

“Pinkie, do you want to do the honours?” Sunset asked.

Pinkie grinned widely, her hair puffing up to its usual extent, “Light him up, ladies!”

Beams of coloured light shot out of each of the girls’ Geodes and converged in front of them, forming a ray of shimmering power that arced down and crashed into the corrupted soldier. Michaels roared with pain and fury as the dark power festering within his armour was burned away by the magic of friendship.

Their victory was short-lived.

The magic flowing from the Geodes slowed to a trickle, but the power that had already been fired didn’t disappear. Instead it somehow intensified, the radioactive liquid pooled in the wrecked rocket taking on a golden glow as the magic coalesced into a swirling vortex.

Moments later, the vortex erupted in a hurricane of magical force.

---

Knight-Sergeant Metzger yawned as she stretched, her armour creaking even more than her joints. The Suitland Federal Center had been a bust. Ideally, she’d have liked to go on to the next target straight away, but travelling through super mutant territory at night was practically suicide, so they’d set up camp in a bombed-out old building.

“Any ideas on where we’re hitting first, tomorrow?” Hill asked, stifling a yawn himself.

Metzger folded her arms as she pondered, “I think we should hit the old air base first. It’s further away, but if it does turn out to be empty, we'll be able to hit the RobCo facility on the way back. Saves us a bit of a journey.”

Hill nodded, “Cool. Do you think the Rainb- whoa!”

The two soldiers almost jumped out of their skin as they heard a terrific roar and the ruins were suddenly bathed in shining light. Spinning around, they gasped as they spotted a colossal pillar of light blazing into the sky, burning so brightly that it effectively turned the night into day. The commotion roused the rest of her squad, who scrambled to their feet and gazed stupidly up at it.

The column appeared to originate only a few kilometres or so away, towering over the surrounding ruins before disappearing into the clouds above. Hundreds of streamers of differently-coloured light split off from the column as it rose. Most of these streamers soared away into the distance, but no small quantity drifted closer to the earth before zipping through the ruins. Metzger herself narrowly dodged one, a bright red bolt that fizzed madly as it shot past her.

“What the shit?!” Hill shouted, ducking as a pale blue one careened past his face.

“Don’t let them hit you!” Metzger snapped. She had absolutely no idea what would happen if one did make contact, but she’d much prefer to play it safe and not find out.

Eventually, after several minutes of avoiding or hiding from the bizarre little things, the pillar slowly thinned out, fading to a trickle before dissipating entirely. Cautiously, the soldiers straightened up and looked in the direction the pillar had come from.

“Uh… Spitfire? What was that?” Hill asked slowly.

Metzger stared out into the ruins. There was no doubt in her mind as to what caused it, “It’s got to be the Rainbooms.”

“You sure?” Misty asked.

“That light originated from where the RobCo facility is supposed to be, I’m sure of it,” Metzger replied. “Besides, I can’t think of anything else in this world that’s weird enough to be able to cause that kind of crazy shit.”

“Good point,” Hill conceded. “So, what are we going to do?”

Metzger snorted, “You have to ask? Get your asses in gear, Wonderbolts, we’re moving out!”

---

Not far away, in the middle of a debris-strewn street, a pair of young women were sprawled on the floor.

“Ow,” Tabitha huffed. She and her little sister, Claire, had been silently traversing the ruins when the pillar had erupted from the ground. Enthralled by the incredible sight, Tabitha hadn’t been paying close enough attention when a purple streamer had split off from the mass and struck her straight in the face. “Claire? Are you alright?”

“I… I think so?” came the reply. “What happened?”

“No idea, darling,” Tabitha muttered. Grateful that her sister was unharmed, she rolled onto her hands and knees, then froze as she felt something odd on top of her head. Reaching up, she bit back a cry of shock as she felt a pair of animal-like ears poking out of her hair. Almost as shockingly, the loose strands of hair that were now dangling in front of her face had clearly turned a vibrant and luscious indigo with hints of mulberry.

A shocked gasp brought Tabitha’s head snapping around. Claire was staring in horror at her own hair, now a pale mulberry and rose and long enough to reach halfway down her back. A pair of white animal ears poked out of the top of her head. As Claire sucked in a breath Tabitha lunged at her, clamping a hand over her mouth.

“Don’t scream,” Tabitha hissed. “I know this is scary, but that light will have woken up every super mutant within fifty miles of here. So, whatever you do, don’t scream. Okay?” Claire’s eyes were wide with fear, but she nodded nonetheless. Glad that her sister had calmed down enough not to get them both killed, Tabitha removed her hand. “There. Now, how do you feel?”

Claire frowned, breathing heavily, “I feel… pretty good. Great, actually.”

“Me too,” Tabitha admitted. It wasn’t a lie. Whatever it was that had hit her left Tabby feeling stronger and more energetic than she could ever remember feeling before. Still, she wasn’t willing to trust it just based on that. “Come on, we need to get back to Rivet City as quickly as possible.”

Claire tilted her head quizzically, “But, what about the Rainbooms?”

“I’ll come back out for them,” Tabitha assured her, “right now, though, I think we should get a doctor to take a look at us. Immediately.”

“We can’t just abandon the mission!” Claire hissed back. “Besides, whatever this is, it must have been caused by the Rainbooms!”

Tabitha arched an eyebrow at her, “Oh? How so?”

Claire just gave her a flat look, “Three-Dog mentioned that they can do this thing where they grow ears like this in one of his broadcasts,” she flicked one of her new ears for emphasis, “and we know that they’re supposed to have weird hair colours. What else could it be?”

Tabitha mulled it over quickly. Personally, she was inclined to abort the mission and get Claire to a doctor as soon as humanly possible, but, if the Rainbooms really were the cause of this, then they’d be the best people to speak to about fixing it. Sighing heavily, she hefted her railway rifle and got to her feet. “Okay, sweetie, I’ll trust you. Grab your SMG and let’s get moving. Quietly, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure thing, sis!”

---

“Shit! Shit, shit, fucking shit!” Blades kicked at a stone in frustration. He and his crew had managed to track the Rainbooms into the depths of the old ruins, and then that pillar of light had appeared and blown everything to shit. Four of his team had been hit by the bizarre little lights that shot out of it and ended up mutating. Their hair had grown and turned a whole mess of funny colours, and they’d even grown freaky ears on top of their heads; again, in a range of colours. Two of them had even grown wings.

To make matters worse, a few of the little lights had slipped into some of their equipment, bonding with it somehow. After seeing what they did to the people they hit, no-one was being stupid enough to touch the damned things.

“What are we going to do, man?” Crawler asked.

“Shit,” Blades spat again. He looked around at the others and stuck his hands on his hips, “We’ll get out of here, regroup back up by the old bank a few blocks north.”

“That’s not good enough,” Lightning shot, glaring at him. “I say we leave the guys who got hit and carry on without them.”

“Are you nuts?” Blades asked incredulously. “Every fucking super mutant between here and Tenpenny Tower is going to be hauling ass to find out what the fuck that light was. Add in those power armored fuckers and you’ve got a full-on suicide mission down there.”

Lightning strode up to him, getting right in his face, “I came here to take down the Rainbooms. I am not turning back empty-handed just because you’ve turned soft.”

Blades snorted, “Yeah? Then you’ve got a fucking death wish.”

Lightning just smirked at him, “That’s what all the pussies like you say.” She stepped back and looked around at the others, “What about the rest of you? Any of you have the balls to come with me?” One or two of the men looked up at her, but none of them offered to come with. “Fine,” she snapped, turning and walking away, “looks like I’ll have to bring those bitches down myself.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 43 - Magical Mayhem Estimated time remaining: 36 Hours, 57 Minutes