Sunset groaned as she stirred feebly. That last magical blast had swatted her out of the air and left her sprawling on the floor. Cracking her eyes open she spotted her friends, all still ponied up, in a similar predicament; moaning and shaking their heads as they came to.

“Are y’all okay?” Applejack called out.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Sunset replied, pushing herself into a sitting position as the rest of the Rainbooms gave similar responses. She blinked in surprise as she swept her gaze over the aftermath of their magical barrage.

The Delta IX rocket had been completely vaporized, save for a large puddle of glowing white sludge that split into a kaleidoscope of colours around its edge. A man, Sunset guessed it must have been Michaels, was laying flat on his back in the middle of the puddle. His armor was missing, somehow, and she could just make out a pair of crimson pony ears protruding from a mop of violet hair on his head. Whether or not he was still alive, however, was something she couldn’t figure out from where she was sitting.

Looking around bemusedly, Sunset noticed that the ground around the puddle had been altered too; all of the dust, rust, and grime had been scoured away, leaving behind nothing but gleaming steel.

“Whoa, look at that,” Rainbow said suddenly.

Sunset looked over, then followed her friends’ gaze up to the ceiling. Her mouth dropped open at what she saw. A colossal hole had been bored through the ceiling directly above where the rocket had been. The internal surface of the hole was glowing softly with a kaleidoscope of colors.

Rainbow flew slowly over and looked up, careful not to touch the puddle, “It looks like it goes all the way to the surface!”

“Did we do that?” Fluttershy asked, awestruck.

“I-I think so?” Sunset replied.

“Awesome!” Rainbow cried.

Applejack huffed and gestured to Michaels, “What about that guy, he alive?”

Fluttershy got up and flew over slowly, “He’s breathing, I think he’s just unconscious.”

A sudden hydraulic hiss from behind snagged the girls’ attention. Sunset glanced over her shoulder just in time to see Vincent stagger backwards out of his unsealed power armor wearing simple grey and amber underclothes. Pale amber wings stretched out of his back, a match to the pony ears poking out of his bright blue hair. “I… what the… what?” He peeked over his shoulder and turned on the spot as he nervously tried to get a good look at his new appendages.

A moment later, the three doctors that had accompanied the Rainbooms stepped out from behind various pieces of machinery they’d been using as cover. Each of them had ponied up too; Becky was once again bearing amber ears and red-and-yellow hair, Tara now had a pair of purple wings with matching ears and hair that was the spitting image of Twilight’s, and Sienna was sporting the white and blue pigtails of her Crystal Prep counterpart, complete with a pair of greyish blue pony ears.

“Oh, dear,” Rarity sighed, “it’s Doctor Li all over again.”

“Uh, guys? I think I have wings,” Vincent asked worriedly, getting more and more frantic by the second, “why do I have wings?!”

“Vincent, calm down!” Becky said firmly, hurrying over and clasping his shoulders to stop him spinning. “It’s okay, Vince, just look at me. I know this is freaky, but I need you to take a deep breath and try to calm down.”

Vincent did as he was told, locking eyes with her and sucking in deep breaths in time with hers until he managed to get himself under control, “Okay. I’m good. Thanks, Becky.”

“Don’t mention it,” Becky replied, letting him go and taking a step back before turning to her compatriots. “What about you two, are you alright?”

“Peachy,” Sienna deadpanned.

“I… I think I’m fine,” Tara replied, trying not to flinch every time one of her new body parts twitched. “Um, could someone please explain what just happened?”

Sunset stood and dusted herself off, “Honestly? I’m not sure. Usually when we use our magic like that it just destroys or purifies whatever evil magic we throw it at.” She turned and looked up at the hole in the ceiling, “I’ve never seen it do something on that kind of scale before. I guess some of the excess power must have entered each of you somehow.”

“Is it going to harm us in any way?” Vincent asked. Sunset shook her head. She opened her mouth to elaborate, but Vincent cut her off, “Good. In that case, all of you need to get out of here, right now.”

Becky nodded, “Vincent’s right. If that blast really did go all the way up to the surface, then you can bet your ass that the rest of the squad up there will come down here any second to figure out what’s going on.”

Sunset swore under her breath, “So much for sneaking out quietly.”

“I say we smash our way out! We can take those guys!” Rainbow cried.

“Ah ain’t so sure about that, sugarcube,” Applejack responded, rubbing her belly absently. “The last time we went up against soldiers, we got our butts handed to us.”

“I fear we may not have much choice in the matter,” Rarity said reasonably. “At least we have an idea of what to expect this time, we won’t be caught off-guard by them again.”

Vincent cleared his throat, getting everyone’s attention, “Whatever you’re going to do, you’d better decide fast. Clock’s ticking.”

Twilight nodded, “You’re right. Come on, girls, we have to try.” She reached out with a hand and used her magic to pluck Michaels out of the magic goop, placing him gently on the floor away from the puddle before turning to address the doctors, “What about you three, are you coming with us?”

One of Becky’s new ears flicked subconsciously, “We’re staying. It’s a risk, but we believe we may be able to do some good while we’re still a part of the Enclave. Go on, we’ll put the lower facility on lockdown the moment you’re gone, in case any super mutants come looking.”

“Alright then, good luck,” Sunset replied, giving her a respectful nod before hurrying over to the elevator with the others. “And thank you!” she called out over her shoulder as she ran.

Rainbow got there first, jabbing the button repeatedly. The grinding noise the elevator doors made as they opened felt appallingly loud in the near-silent warehouse. Crowding into the elevator, Pinkie pressing the only button available, the Rainbooms had one last glimpse of Becky and the others before the doors ground shut and the cab jolted into motion.

No one spoke at first. Each of the Rainbooms was too busy either trying to process the sheer insanity that they’d dealt with over the last couple of days, or worrying about the horrifically dangerous battle that was surely awaiting them the moment they reached the surface. After a couple of minutes, however, the group started getting restless.

“Just how deep underground are we?” Applejack asked, her patience already wearing thin.

Rainbow shrugged, “That tunnel we blew open was pretty long. Why do you think I stuck with the elevator instead of just flying up?”

“Good point.”

Fluttershy shuffled her feet nervously, “Do… do you think we’re really going to have to fight those soldiers?”

“I hope not,” Sunset replied.

“We’ll figure something out,” Twilight said bracingly. “In fact, as long as they don’t have any more of those grenades they used back at Project Purity, I should be strong enough to keep them immobile long enough for the rest of you to get away. All I’ll need then is for Rainbow Dash to help me escape using her super speed.”

Rainbow grinned at her, “You can count on me!”

Sunset raised an eyebrow as she thought it through, “Huh, that’s actually not a bad plan. Are you sure you’ll be able to hold them still for long enough?”

“If not, Ah’ll just have to punch them while she holds them steady,” Applejack said, smacking a fist into her palm for good measure.

“Hopefully it doesn’t come to that,” Rarity replied fervently.

The whole group jumped a mile as the elevator jerked to a sudden stop and the doors scraped open. Peeking out, the girls saw that the building on the surface was much the same as the facility underground; featureless corridors made out of dull concrete. Unfortunately, unlike the underground section, the lights upstairs were all turned off, presumably to fool the local super mutants into believing that the place was still abandoned.

Torn between the need for stealth and the need for light, Sunset switched on her Pip-Boy lamp. A sprained ankle wouldn’t help anyone. Swallowing her fear, she gave the others a quick nod before sneaking out into the corridor. As the girls crept silently through the building they came across odd markings, multicolored streaks and gouges that were almost certainly caused by rogue magic.

Eventually, after taking a circuitous route through the building to avoid the more ruinous sections, the group stumbled across the facility’s entrance foyer. The main doors had been smashed off their hinges, leaving nothing between the girls and whatever was lurking outside. Sunset quickly turned off her light. Taking a silent breath, she gestured for Twilight and Rarity to follow her and scurried over to scout out the entrance doors.

The forecourt was surprisingly well-lit, both by the moon and by more of the odd multi-coloured splatters that glowed in the night. High walls outlined the court’s perimeter, with a small security building next to a gateway, the boom gate long gone, that led out into the surrounding ruins. A gravel-strewn road, dotted with abandoned cars, stretched from the security building around to the facility entrance and beyond before it curved around to disappear around the side of the facility. Huge bombed-out office buildings towered over the forecourt on all sides.

A large tilt-rotor aircraft, the Vertibird Becky had mentioned, was parked at the far end of the forecourt, next to the security building. Five men were gathered around it. One was laying flat on his back next to an open suit of oddly shimmering power armour. The other three soldiers were still in their armour, though from the way they were checking themselves over it was clear that something wasn’t right. Sunset assumed the fifth man was a pilot. He had bright white ears and wings, with glorious pink hair cascading down over his simple grey combat fatigues.

The implications of the man’s pony form were not lost on the girls, but they didn’t have time to worry about it right now.

“What do we do?” Rarity asked.

“We can’t sneak past, it’s too bright,” Pinkie answered. “Maybe we can find another way out or around?”

Sunset chewed her lip as she considered her options. Before she could come to a decision there was a sudden fizzing sound from behind, and a split-second later a tiny comet of sparkling yellow magic zipped between the girls and out into the forecourt, careering past the soldiers before disappearing into the ruins ahead.

The three soldiers snapped their weapons up, instantly on guard. One of them spotted the girls, shouting out to his fellows before any of them could react. They quickly trained their guns on the group, one of them hefting something that looked disturbingly like a flamethrower, but, thankfully, didn’t open fire.

“Awww, nuts,” Pinkie muttered under her breath.

“Now what?” Rarity hissed.

Sunset swore silently. She’d hoped they could get away without the soldiers noticing, but there was still a chance they could get away without a fight. “Follow my lead.” Straightening up and throwing her shoulders back, Sunset marched out towards the soldiers as confidently as she could. She didn’t dare look back, but the sound of footsteps told her that the others were following.

“That’s far enough!” the flamethrower-wielding soldier called out when they got to within a few metres. “You girls are not supposed to be out here!”

Sunset stopped and folded her arms, glaring at him with all of the false arrogance she could muster, “We’re leaving. Don’t try to stop us.”

“By orders of the President I cannot allow that,” the soldier retorted. “As Sigma Leader I am ordering you to return to lower facility at once.”

“That’s not happening,” Sunset said flatly. “I’m guessing you saw that blast, so you know what we’re capable of.”

The Sigma Leader just stared back at her, his helmet masking his expression. “Diaz? Are comms up and running yet?” he called out suddenly.

“Not yet, Sir!” came an answering shout from inside the Vertibird.

“What about the outer perimeter feed?” The Leader asked next.

“Still down,” one of the other soldiers replied.

The pilot shifted on his feet, looking worriedly from the Rainbooms to the gateway and back again, “Sir, with the feed out we have no way of knowing how far out the super mutants are. They could be on us any second.”

“I’m aware of that!” Sigma Leader snapped. “Grab Wilkins, get him in the security office and lock the door. As for you, girls, we are not letting you leave this complex, not under any circumstances. Now, get back in that building. I won’t ask you again.”

“You might not have much of a choice about that,” Pinkie said giving a small, worried chuckle.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” the Sigma Leader asked darkly.

In response, Pinkie simply pointed at the gateway. A truly bizarre creature was lumbering towards them. Completely naked, it looked vaguely like a quadrupedal humanoid, though in place of legs it was shuffling forward on several misshapen arms, its limbless torso lurching from side to side as it moved. Three large tentacles protruded from the creature’s mouth, looking disturbingly like oversized tongues. Upon spotting the group, the monster reared back on it’s limbs and let loose a horrific gurgling cry.

“Centaur!” one of the soldiers yelled, spinning on his heel and snapping off a shot in one crisp movement. The shot blew the creature’s head off, but the damage was already done. Before the echoes of the centaur’s cry had faded, there was a chorus of answering roars and guttural yells from the surrounding ruins.

“Shit, Diaz! Get that bird in the air, now!” Sigma Leader shouted, glancing over his shoulder. “Squad, we hold here until the bird is gone, then-”

His orders were drowned out by an echoing bellow from above. Moments later a super mutant crashed onto the roof of the security office. Huge, fleshy wings fanned out from the mutant’s back, whipping up a cloud of dust as the beast raised a sledgehammer and roared in challenge. To the soldiers’ credit, they didn’t hesitate for a second before shooting the mutant down, green plasma and crackling blue flames ripping it apart in barely a second.

“Quick, get down!” Sunset called out. She ducked behind the nearest car as more mutants charged into view through the gateway. Each of them bore some sort of weapon; from hammers and nail-studded boards of wood to bolt-action rifles and fully automatic machine guns.

“Get back in the facility!” the Sigma Leader snarled, bullets ricocheting off his armour as he turned his flamethrower on the approaching mutants. Instead of the expected gout of flame, the weapon coughed great wads of blue fire that incinerated everything they touched, whether stone or metal or mutant flesh.

There was a mechanical whine as the Vertibird’s rotors slowly started to spin. Leaning out from behind another car, Twilight used her magic to grab the winged pilot and the unconscious soldier and toss them unceremoniously in the Vertibird’s open crew compartment. The whine grew to a roar as the rotors picked up speed and the craft slowly rose into the air.

“I couldn’t just leave them,” Twilight said in response to Sunset’s querulous look. The two yelped and ducked instinctively as bullets tore into the cars they were using as cover.

The forecourt was rapidly turning into a charnel house. Despite the heroic efforts of the three remaining soldiers, they were barely managing to keep the super mutants out of the forecourt. Some were clambering over the walls in an effort to reach the humans, and a rare few even tried to fly in, much as the first one had, but fortunately they had little more success. Rarity was quick to add her own power to the barrage, hurling razor-edged gemstones that clove skulls and opened abdomens, but the Rainbooms’ chances of successfully escaping were swiftly dwindling. It was only the fact that the mutants were concentrating their meager firepower on the armored soldiers that was keeping the girls alive, a situation that wouldn’t last for long.

“We’ve got to do something!” Sunset yelled, flinching as a bullet tore right through the car, inches from her shoulder.

Pinkie looked up at the Vertibird. It was several meters in the air now; just a little higher and it would have cleared the tallest ruined buildings and would be able to leave safely. “Do you think we should have gotten on that thing too?”

As if in answer to her query, a rocket soared out of somewhere in the ruins and slammed into one of the rotors. The explosion sent the Vertibird spinning uncontrollably. With smoke pouring from the damaged wing, the girls could only watch in horror as the craft whirled away out of sight down a nearby street. A colossal explosion tore through the air mere seconds later.

The Sigma Leader swore loudly, “Fall back! Into the facility, now!”

The soldiers obeyed without question, backing towards the facility while keeping up a punishing rate of fire on the super mutants. Sunset was considering giving up the escape and joining them when another super mutant stomped through the gateway. This one was bigger and bulkier than the others, with a boxy laser rifle clasped in one meaty fist.

The mutant shrugged off plasma blasts as if they were mere pinpricks and raised his weapon. The rifle’s barrel glowed orange for a second, then three separate beams lanced out, easily punching clean holes straight through one of the soldiers. The man dropped his weapon and tottered for a moment, before falling to the floor with a crash.

“Shit, take that bastard down!” the Sigma Leader shouted. The large mutant shrank back from the torrent of magical flames that came his way, staggered, and finally fell.

There was a sudden roar from above as a trio of flying mutants used the momentary distraction to dive down and mob the other remaining soldier. Caught by surprise, the unfortunate warrior struggled to fight them off as they tried to wrestle him to the ground. With even more mutants taking the opportunity to charge through the gateway, there was little the others could do to help.

Sunset snarled and slapped her hand against the car in terrified frustration. I need a gun. If we just keep sitting here like this we’re all going to die, but the only magic we can use right now is Rarity’s. We can’t even use Pinkie’s without risking blowing up all of these cars.

Wait…

“Applejack! Can you toss a car into that gateway?” Sunset shouted.

Applejack risked a look over the top of her car, then ducked back down and nodded, “Sure thing!”

“Do it! Then, Pinkie, you light it up!” Sunset barked. “Rarity! Shield us!”

Heedless of the bullets flying around her, Applejack straightened up and lashed out with a foot, slamming her heel into the side of the car with all of her might. The car rolled and flipped across the forecourt, flattening a pair of mutants before crashing to a halt right in the middle of the gate. Sunset had just enough time for a glimpse of a glowing Nuka-Cola bottle smashing against it before a huge crystal shield manifested around them all.

The explosion that followed shook the ground with its fury. Rarity grunted with effort as shattered debris and torn metal crashed against her shield, each impact creating a spider web of cracks. After the echoes of the blast had died down she relaxed and lowered her arms, allowing the gemstones to fade away.

“Whoa,” Rainbow said under her breath. The explosion had knocked down large portions of the wall and security building, and had also killed every super mutant still standing in the forecourt. Groans and curses showed that the Sigma Leader and his last soldier had survived, though both had been knocked clean off their feet.

“Now’s our chance! Go, go!” Sunset shouted. As one the Rainbooms leapt out of cover and scrambled for the smouldering remains of the gateway, the Sigma Leader shouted a reprimand, but the girls ignored him, focusing only on getting through the ruined gateway.

Another of the winged super mutants flapped overhead, aiming a rifle at Applejack. Before it could shoot there was a blur of color and the mutant fell, its wings brutally slashed. There was another blur as Rainbow swooped down and slashed the mutant’s throat before it could try to stand.

Pounding across uneven ground, the girls reached the gateway just in time to almost collide with another group of super mutants. Carnage erupted instantly: The Rainbooms didn’t give their foes time to react, gemstones scything through the air as Rainbow darted from mutant to mutant, slashing at eyes and throats. Purple magic snatched weapons from hands, allowing Applejack to unleash her strength on disarmed opponents. The rest of the girls just tried to stay out of the way.

Dodging past one super mutant, Sunset skidded to a halt as another one lumbered into her path. The shark-toothed monstrosity raised an axe high above its head, then suddenly staggered and cried out in pain. A heartbeat later there was a clatter of gunfire and the mutant collapsed to the ground. Bullet holes traced a line up its spine and a sharp metal spike protruded from its shoulder. Wondering where the help had come from, Sunset looked up at the building looming in front just in time to see something huge leap out of a broken window.

The ground shook as the Brotherhood Knight landed, squashing a super mutant beneath armored boots. Four more Knights landed right after, and as one the squad raised their weapons. “Wonderbolts! Take them out!”

A strong arm grabbed Sunset and pulled her down to the ground as the Knights opened fire. There was a series of rhythmic cracks and barks of agony as precise laser shots swiftly downed the remaining super mutants.

Within seconds the fight was over, and a tense silence fell.

Glancing to her side, Sunset realised it was Pinkie who had dragged her down. “Heh, sorry,” the party girl said apologetically, “Can’t be too careful, right?”

“Are you girls alright?” the first Knight asked.

Sunset just nodded and pushed herself up onto her knees to look back at the others. Fluttershy and Twilight were both cowering behind Rarity. Applejack was staring at the Brotherhood soldiers in surprise, gore drenching her arms and spattered liberally all over the rest of her. Rainbow, on the other hand, bent to wipe off her knives on a dead super mutant before straightening up and grinning at the Knight, “I think we’re fine. Nice save, Knight-Sergeant.”

“Don’t take another step!” a sharp voice called out, prompting the Knights to raise their rifles again and the Rainbooms to spin around on the spot. The Sigma Leader and his last squad-mate were both standing a few meters away, their weapons poised and ready. “The Rainbooms are staying with us. You filthy scavengers are going to crawl back under whatever… rock… um… oh.”

The leader trailed off as a purple glow enveloped both the muzzle of his flamethrower and the barrel of his subordinate’s plasma rifle, twisting and warping the metal in a shower of sparks until they were utterly useless. “You’re going to leave us alone,” Twilight said darkly, levelling a furious glare at them. She raised a hand, using her magic to grip the joints on their armour, “Or you can keep pushing your luck.”

“Leave them,” the Knight-Sergeant commanded, “we should get out of here before any more mutants turn up.”

“Hmph,” Twilight turned away and flicked her wrist, buckling portions of the Enclave armour and forcing the soldiers to their knees before letting them go. “I suppose you’re right. Let’s get-”

A sudden tremor in the ground distracted her from what she was going to say. The Rainbooms looked around warily as they felt another tremor, then another. “What is that?” Rainbow asked.

“It almost feels like… footsteps,” Fluttershy replied.

“That’s some mighty big footsteps,” Applejack said, unable to keep a note of worry out of her voice.

The Knight-Sergeant glanced around at the group, then gestured into the building she’d came from with her gun, “Come on, let’s get out of here before whatever’s causing that gets here.”

Pinkie looked up at something down the street, pure terror flitting across her face, “Too late.”

Sunset followed Pinkie’s gaze, and instantly wished she hadn’t. A titanic super mutant stepped around a corner a few blocks down the street. It was easily thirty feet tall, with huge, bony, chimney-like growths growing out of its back, each of them belching foul smoke into the air. The monster’s skin was translucent, pulsing with an angry red glow. The mutant paused as it spotted the girls, then pointed and let out a horrific roar that shook the very earth.

“Fucking run!” the Knight-Sergeant yelled.

The others were already moving, not needing any prompting to get away from the colossal nightmare as fast as they possibly could. The whole group piled into the building through the nearest entrance. They kept running, one of the Knights leading the way, not stopping even as they heard the creature’s thunderous footfalls coming ever closer.

Sunset looked back in terror as she heard screams from behind, followed by another earth-shaking roar. With a horrible sinking feeling she realized that the Enclave soldiers had been left behind, their damaged armor making them sitting ducks before the advancing monster. Sunset knew that the sound of rending metal and tortured screams that followed would haunt her for the rest of her life, even as the monster’s enraged bellowing slowly faded away with every step she took.

Hello again!

Had a little trouble with this chapter, and eventually ended up re-writing it three times until I got it to this point.

Comments and criticisms are appreciated and, as always, thanks for reading!