“Adam!” There was an ear-piercing screech as Pinkie finally registered who she’d spoken to, then a pink blur as she launched herself at him. The hapless man was nearly pitched into the water by the ensuing collision, teetering on the brink for several seconds while simultaneously enduring a rib-cracking hug.

Applejack lunged forward and grabbed the two, pulling them away from the edge. “Simmer down, there, Pinkie. Let’s try not to kill the guy the second we finally find him.”

Pinkie chuckled nervously and let him go, “Sorry, Adam.”

Adam smiled and shook his head. “It’s cool, Pinks. I’m glad to see you too. Last I heard, you were all locked up by the Enclave. Did Metzger and her squad get you out?”

“Something like that,” Applejack replied. “Have you been through Vault 87 yet?”

“Nah, not yet.” Adam jerked his head over to a group of children who were huddled around one of the picnic tables. “The Mayor wouldn’t let me enter unless I rescued a few of the kids from slavers, so I had to go and do that first.” He looked around quickly, apparently oblivious to the amazed stares the girls were giving him, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder at an empty picnic table. “Should we, er, sit and down and catch up?”

“Are you sure we won’t be too heavy?” Sunset asked, eyeing the floating wooden island warily and pointedly ignoring Rarity’s indignant scowl.

Adam glanced at her, then quickly looked back at the wooden island. “Er, yeah. Yeah, it’s fine. Those wooden pallets aren’t really floating, they’re actually built on these huge pillars of rock that poke up from under the water.

“Stalagmites. They probably formed before the caves got submerged.” The others stared in surprise at Pinkie’s sudden input. “What? My sister likes rocks.”

Now it was Adam’s turn to look surprised. “You have a sister?”

Applejack sighed heavily. “Alright, y’all, let’s sit down before we start jabbering. It looks like we’ve all got some explaining to do.” The others quickly agreed to this and crowded around the picnic table, grabbing a few empty seats from one of the other islands so that they could all sit.

While pulling a selection of food and other supplies out of her pack, after Pinkie suggested that they may as well have a meal while they talked, Sunset privately wondered just how awkward the following conversation was going to be. After all, despite living in the same Vault for a month, not to mention the close working relationship they had with his father, most of the Rainbooms had barely exchanged more than an occasional greeting with Adam.

Pinkie, Fluttershy and Applejack were the exceptions. Fluttershy had worked alongside Adam in the clinic for the duration of her stay, and Applejack had apparently spoken to him whenever he had wandered down to the maintenance level to secretly practice with his BB gun. Pinkie, naturally, had simply gone out of her way to make friends with him purely for the sake of it.

“You know, uh, I think this is the first time most of us have actually spoken to each other properly,” Adam said once they’d finished preparing their food, evidently thinking along the same lines.

“Heh, yeah, sorry about that,” Rainbow replied sheepishly. “It’s not like we meant to ignore you, we just had other things to focus on, y’know? We weren’t really expecting to be in this world for that long.”

Twilight’s shoulders slumped at that. “I’m sorry, girls.”

“Don’t go taking that the wrong way,” Applejack cut in firmly. “We know you were doing everything you could to get us back home, and you should know darn well by now that none of that business is anyone’s fault, so shrug off that guilt already, y’hear?”

Twilight smiled at her. “You’re right, sorry. I think I’m just frazzled after everything that’s happened.”

“You and me both, darling,” Rarity agreed, her brows knotting as she picked up a somewhat stale sandwich.

Adam looked around at the lot of them curiously. “So… everything that Three Dog and the Brotherhood have been saying about you and your, uh, magic… it’s true?” The Rainbooms all nodded. “And all of that about you being from another world, too?”

Applejack nodded again. “It’s true. Do you remember when Generator Four blew just before we joined the Vault?”

Adam looked up at the ceiling as he thought back. “Uh… sure. It was about a week before you girls turned up from North Block.” He shook his head and took a swig from a Nuka-Cola. “At first I thought that was why you girls came into the main Vault, that the generator had overloaded and knocked the power grid out in your section.” He huffed a laugh. “I guess I was wrong.”

“Actually, that generator is a big part of how we got here,” Sunset told him. “James was secretly using it to experiment with some weird tech that he found in the wastes. We’re not exactly sure how or why but, somehow, it was able to make a connection with a portal on our world that sucked us in and dumped us in the Vault.”

“A portal? What kind of portal?” Adam asked.

Sunset smiled wryly. “Maybe we should start this from the beginning.”

And so, the Rainbooms told Adam everything. First they spoke about Equestria and Sunset leaving through the mirror, the incident at the Fall Formal and Sunset’s demon transformation, then the adventures they went through together after, right up to the activation of the Geode Diviner. They explained the truth of how they’d actually arrived in Vault 101, and what they had been working on until the fateful day when James left them.

Adam was particularly interested in what had happened in the Vault after he had gone chasing after his father. He was glad that Officer Kendall had survived his run-in with the radroaches, he was already sadly aware of Jonas’ and the Holdens’ demise, and he shared the girls’ concern over the fate of Officer Gomez. The revelation that the Overseer had intended to have the Rainbooms procreate with the rest of the Vault was met with stunned horror.

“I’m sorry,” Adam said in a hushed voice, “I never imagined he would try and do something like that. I was just so focussed on chasing after Dad that…” His voice died as his thoughts turned to his father.

Fluttershy, sat next to him, placed a reassuring hand atop his own. “It’s okay, we don’t blame you for any of this.”

“What exactly happened that day?” Sunset asked. “All we heard was that James had left the Vault and you went after him.”

Adam sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly before answering. “That’s pretty much it. Amata woke me up and told that he… that he’d left. She told me about Jonas too, and that the Overseer was sending the security teams to bring me in for questioning, and that I should leave the Vault. When I heard that I pretty much just grabbed everything I could and got the hell out of there.”

He sighed again and folded his arms, slumping over and resting his arms on the table. “Officer Kendall tried to grab me outside my room, but a bunch of radroaches attacked and I managed to escape while he was dealing with them. Then Butch came running up, saying that his mom was in trouble, so I went and saved her from another bunch of radroaches. That’s where I got this jacket from.” He paused and brushed off the dust from the sleeve of said jacket. “After that I just kept moving. Chief Hannon tried to stop me, but I ended up beating the tar out of him. Then I ran into the Overseer.” The girls shrank back, surprised at the cold fury that suddenly seemed to radiate from the young man. “Him and Mack had Amata in a chair. Mack was beating the crap out of her, trying to find out where I was.”

“That’s awful!” Rarity gasped.

Applejack glowered at the table. “How could he do that to his own daughter? His own flesh and blood?” She hunched over and lowered her hat, glaring at nothing in particular. “If Ah ever see him again, Ah swear, Ah’m gonna knock his teeth so far down his throat he’s gonna be biting his own ass.”

“Not if I get to him first,” Sunset cut in. “What happened next, Adam?”

Adam shrugged. “I couldn’t leave her like that, so I jumped in and smacked seven shades of shit out of Mack.”

“Nice.” Rainbow reached a fist out over the table.

Adam smirked and bumped it with his own before continuing. “Anyway, Amata ran while we were fighting. The Overseer tried to get me to give myself up, but I had to go after Dad. Turns out there’s a secret passageway right to the Vault entrance through the Overseer’s office. I went down there, opened up the Vault, said goodbye to Amata, and left.”

The group fell silent for several moments as they digested what they’d heard. “Damn,” Rainbow muttered under her breath.

“Ah guess we’re just lucky that Mack and Hannon had been dealt with before we started kicking up a fuss,” Applejack supplied, getting eager nods from the others in agreement. “Where did you go after you left? We heard you did some sort of errand for Moriarty in Megaton?”

Adam grimaced as he remembered. “Yeah. That ass-hat had me go and collect a debt from a junkie living on a ranch just outside Megaton. Poor girl, wish I could have helped her out more.” He shook his head sadly. “Maybe when the Enclave have been dealt with. Anyway, as I was saying…” The Rainbooms listened with rapt attention as Adam told them of his adventures after leaving the Vault.

It turned out that, after getting the information he sought from Moriarty, Adam had indeed gone charging off to Galaxy News, taking the route through the old Metro tunnels as the girls suspected. When he started relaying his encounter with the Brotherhood of Steel outside Galaxy News, however, Rainbow remembered a particular detail that she wanted clarified. “Hey, did you really take on that Behemoth one-on-one?”

Adam smiled and rubbed his stubble self-consciously. “Well, I mean, not really. Sarah and the others were shooting at it, but the brute just wouldn’t go down. That’s when I spotted that one of the dead soldiers was carrying a Fatman.”

“Carrying a what?” Applejack asked, sure she’d misheard.

“A Fatman,” Adam repeated. “It’s like a really big grenade launcher, except it launches mini-nukes instead of grenades.”

“Mini-nukes?!” Sunset and Rainbow spluttered in unison, Sunset nearly choking on her water in the process.

“That. Is. So. Awesome!” Rainbow added in an awestruck voice. “Tell me you still have that thing!”

Adam shook his head. “Sorry, but the Brotherhood soldiers wanted it back after I was done with it. Besides, it was way too unwieldy to go carrying around all over the place. I just grabbed it, blew the damn Behemoth’s head off with it, then gave it back to the Brotherhood.”

“I’m amazed it didn’t blow you up in the process,” Twilight blurted out.

Adam gave a noncommittal shrug in response. “Eh, it probably would have if the mutant had been close enough.”

“Ah’m guessing you spoke to Three Dog after that?” Applejack asked. She frowned as she remembered something. “That’s a point, didn’t he get you to fix his radio signal or something?”

Grimacing at the memory, Adam told of how he had been asked to find a replacement relay dish for Three Dog after his original one had been destroyed. He spoke of a deadly journey across the most war-torn sections of the D.C. ruins to get to the Museum of Technology, running battles with the super mutants as he searched inside, then a desperate flight to the Washington Monument once he had retrieved it.

Once that was done, Three Dog informed him that James had headed for Rivet City to find Doctor Li, and Adam had set off at once. The girls listened intently when he mentioned the raiders and ghouls he encountered in the Metro tunnels, but silently agreed not to tell him about the trouble that his actions caused them on their own trek through them. The last thing he needed was any more guilt or regret.

Next Adam spoke of meeting Doctor Li in Rivet City, from there heading to Project Purity and finding evidence that James had gone looking for Vault 112, in search of technology that could potentially get the purifier working at full capacity. Making his own way to Vault 112, Adam had, at last, found his father. From there the two of them had returned to Rivet City with all haste, recruited Doctor Li and her team, barely missing the Rainbooms in the process, and gone on to re-occupy Project Purity.

Applejack whistled appreciatively when he finished. “Hoo-whee! That’s a tale and a half. That Vault 112 must be one heck of a long way away, though. How far away from the Capital Wasteland is it?”

Curiously, Adam averted his eyes at Applejack’s question, focussing on the food in front of him. “It’s, uh… it’s not actually outside the wasteland,” he said quietly. “In fact that Vault is probably closer to the Citadel than this place is.”

The Rainbooms all shared a confused look. “How can that be possible?” Twilight asked. “Vault 112 wasn’t marked on the map Scribe Rothchild showed us.”

“Not to mention it took you about two whole weeks to get there and back,” Applejack added. “If it was that close, how come it took you so long to get there?”

The group was surprised by Fluttershy suddenly bursting into a fit of giggles. “Oh, Adam,” she said between giggles, “You got lost again, didn’t you?”

Rainbow snorted with laughter. “Come on, Shy, there’s no way he managed to get lost out there for two whole weeks!” Adam blushed and rubbed at his stubble again, and pointedly avoiding the others’ gazes. “No way. You did get lost?!” Rainbow shot incredulously.

“How the heck did you manage that?” Applejack asked as Rainbow curled up laughing. “You have a map on your darn Pip-Boy, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,” Adam huffed. “I’m just… not great at reading it.”

“He even got lost in Vault 101 once or twice,” Fluttershy piped up slyly, still giggling.

“Aw, come on, Flutters, you didn’t have to tell them that,” Adam muttered as the others gaped at him. “Besides, it wasn’t really my fault this time. I got chased by a freaking bear for miles. By the time I lost the stupid thing, I didn’t have a clue where I was or which way I had to go. Then I ended up running into this massive raider encampment, and I had to run from them, then there were those damned super mutants I kept finding.” He sighed heavily. “I found Vault 112 pretty much by accident, and then that ended up being a whole bunch of crazy thanks to the mad scientist that lived there. I tell you, this wasteland is insane.”

“Tell me about it,” Sunset agreed.

Adam laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, I guess you’d know that by now.”

The group fell silent for a while, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Eventually, once they’d all eaten and rearranged their packs, Sunset asked what was on everyone’s mind, “So, what do we do now? Shall we try searching Vault 87?”

Adam shook his head. “I was going to rest here for the night then try it in the morning. Apparently, the Vault is full of super mutants. I don’t fancy tackling that without plenty of preparation and a good night’s rest.”

Rainbow groaned loudly. “Not more super mutants. I’m getting sick of those things.”

“Especially now that they have magic,” Sunset added sourly.

Adam frowned at that. “Yeah, I heard something about that on the radio. Was that big wave of lights really caused by you?” Sunset opened her mouth to reply, but Adam suddenly gasped and dove under the table. “That reminds me! I’ve got something for you!” The girls stared in amazement as he pulled out a shiny blue-tinged gas tank, smaller than usual, and connected via a flexible pipe to a makeshift sword made out of the same blue-tinged metal.

Rainbow stared at it, awestruck. “Is that…?”

Adam shrugged. “I found it at Project Purity. I figured it must be one of yours, so I brought it with me in case I found you again. It didn’t look like this when I found it though. While I was on my way here it got hit by one of those of those little balls of, uh, magic, and it sorta mutated, somehow.” He held it out to Rainbow. “The ball was blue, so… I guess this must be yours?”

“My shishkebab!” Grinning from ear to ear, Rainbow quickly accepted her prized weapon, strapping the gas tank to her lower back and holding the sword out in front of her. “Whoa, this feels kinda… weird,” she said quietly.

“What kinda weird?” Pinkie asked. “Like, a good weird, or a bad weird?”

“I don’t know.” Rainbow stared at the blade reverently. “It doesn’t feel bad. It actually kinda feels like… like my Geode or something.” She took a step away from the table and held the blade out over the water. Shimmering, sky-blue fluid ran down the blade as she gripped the hilt. She clicked the lighter and, with a loud whoosh, the blade ignited, incandescent blue flames bursting into life and banishing all darkness from the cave.

“Whoa…”

Rainbow grinned at the awed sounds the rest of the group made. “Okay, now this is going to be awesome!”

“How long do you think it will take to gather the materials you require?” Vice-Principal Luna asked as she escorted Starswirl and Princess Twilight to the front door of CHS.

“It shouldn’t take long,” Twilight replied. “I’ll send messages to Canterlot and the Crystal Empire as soon as I get back. While I wait for a response from them I’ll dig through the various items and artefacts I’ve picked up over the years, maybe there’ll be something we can use.”

Starswirl nodded. “I’d suggest that you request aid from Stygian and the other Pillars as well. In the meantime, I’ll remain here and learn what I can of this Geode Diviner’s inner workings.”

“Thanks, Starswirl. If you need to contact me for any reason, just use the journal I gave you.” Twilight pushed open the school’s front door, then stopped dead in her tracks, her heart suddenly thundering in her chest.

A woman was standing just outside the door, looking like she was about to enter. Twilight recognised her instantly, and the woman clearly noticed.

Luna blinked in surprise, then raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you a visitor? If so, I’d appreciate it if you could- hey!”

The woman turned and ran off at top speed. Twilight tried to run after her, calling out for her to wait, but the woman was just too fast. She sped past the broken base of the statue portal and darted across the road as a bus made its approach.

As she reached the other side of the road the woman turned and looked directly at Twilight. Her lip slowly pulled up into an evil smirk, then the bus drove past and obscured her from sight. When the bus had passed, there was no sign of her. Twilight looked wildly up and down the street, looking for any clue as to where she might be fleeing, but there was nothing. The woman was gone.

“Wha… what was that about?” Luna asked as she caught up.

“Has that woman been around here before?” Twilight demanded.

Luna blinked in surprise at the authority in Twilight’s voice. “Not that I’ve noticed, I’ll have to check with my sister. Why? Who is she?”

Twilight just turned and stared at the spot where the woman had stood before she disappeared. She knew who her enemy was now, and this was not someone she’d be able to defeat on her own. She needed help, and there was nopony better placed to provide it than the woman’s pony counterpart. “Tempest…”

Tara took a slow, deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. The distress call had been answered promptly, a Vertibird arriving within an hour of it being activated and dropping off a full squad of Enclave soldiers. Once contact had been re-established with Raven Rock, and the perimeter of the Exodus building secured once more, another Vertibird had been sent out in order to ferry Tara, Becky, and Doctor Turner back to the Enclave’s main base of operations.

The second they arrived at Raven Rock, Tara and Doctor Turner had been summoned to the Senate Chamber for an immediate audience with the President. With little else to do, Becky had offered to check up on Doctors Evans and Pickering, and wait for her girlfriend down in the labs.

Now, standing outside the Senate Chamber, Tara could barely contain her fear. If the President had any idea of the truth behind the Rainbooms’ escape, then she and her fellow conspirators were as good as dead. The fact that the soldiers standing guard outside kept sneaking glances at her pony ears and purple hair certainly didn’t help matters.

“Enter,” a voice called from within the Chamber.

Trying to stop her hands from shaking, Tara pushed open the door and stepped inside, Doctor Turner right on her heels. No-one else was in the chamber whatsoever, save for the modified Eyebot that served as the President’s intermediary when dealing with official matters.

Tara couldn’t decide whether that was a good sign or not.

“My, my,” President Eden said as the two approached his eyebot. “I see you were not exaggerating the mutagenic qualities of the Rainbooms’ magic. Are you well?”

Tara nodded stiffly. “Er, I think so, Mister President.”

“Good! It’s a pleasure to see you again,” the President said brightly. “I will admit I was deeply concerned for your safety after contact was lost with the Exodus facility.”

“We’re glad to be back, Mister President,” Turner replied. “I assume you’ve heard the reports?”

The eyebot bobbed once, “I have indeed, doctor. However, I would like to hear everything directly from yourselves, if that’s quite alright?”

Between the two of them, Tara and Doctor Turner reported everything that had happened or been discussed since the Rainbooms had arrived at Project Exodus, excepting, of course, the fact that Tara and the others had helped the girls escape. The President listened patiently. He occasionally asked for clarification on a certain point, but on the whole he remained silent until the two had finished talking.

“Hmmm, it seems we greatly underestimated the Rainbooms and their abilities,” he said finally. “Has there been any change in Sigma Four’s condition?”

Tara shook her head. “As of this morning, he’s still in a coma.”

“I see. And what of the rest of you? Are these new physical changes of yours permanent?” the President asked.

“We’re not sure,” Tara replied, flicking her hair around to allow him a closer look. “Doctor Shoichet believes that we’ll return to normal once the magic has completely left our bodies, it’s just taking a long time because we were so close to the epicentre of the Rainbooms’ magical attack, and were inundated with vast quantities of raw magic.”

President Eden chuckled softly. “Forgive me. It is quite an odd experience hearing a hardcore atheist such as yourself speaking of matters such as magic with a straight face, doctor.” He cleared his throat before continuing, “What of Doctor Shoichet? Is it true that she has gained access to Sunset Shimmer’s memories?”

Tara shrugged noncommittally, “Well, sort of. Ever since she touched the Geode she’s been able to recall Sunset Shimmer’s memories, but she doesn’t have much control over what or when she can remember at the moment. We’ll look into a more effective method for retrieving the memories once Project Exodus is back on its feet.”

“Good.” The eyebot moved a few inches closer to Tara. “You say that you have large quantities of raw magic left over from the Rainbooms’ final magical attack, is that correct?”

“Yes, Mister President.” Tara grimaced at the realisation of where he was going with this. “If I may be blunt though, Mister President, attempting to move or experiment on it would be a terrible idea, at least until we can figure out a way to do so safely. It’s far, far, too dangerous.”

“Well, that is unfortunate.” The President sighed heavily. “Very well, thank you for your report, Doctor Strong. I’ll make arrangements for replacement security and the Senate has arranged to transfer more resources to Project Exodus. They should arrive at the Exodus facility within the week, God willing. You may leave, now.”

Tara sighed with relief, though she tried to keep it from showing too much on her face. “Thank you, Mister President.”

Doctor Turner and the President watched as the scientist turned and left the room, with a little more haste than was strictly necessary. “Do you believe her, Doctor Turner?” the President asked as soon as the door was closed.

Turner nodded. “I do. I know she may seem a little off, right now, but after everything that’s happened I honestly don’t blame her.” He shivered involuntarily, “Especially considering that haunted armour that’s been slithering around. Thankfully the soldiers you provided managed to chase it off towards Rivet City.”

The eyebot turned to face the doctor fully. “So, did you manage to procure what I asked for?”

Doctor Turner nodded. Not long after the first Vertibird had arrived he had made sure to secretly contact the President directly using its radio, making sure that the other Exodus personnel didn’t overhear him. Glancing at the door once more, he reached into his lab coat’s inside pocket and produced a large jar, full to the brim with brightly glowing magic.

“I must warn you, Mister President, Doctor Strong is right to be cautious,” he said quickly. “All it took was a truly miniscule amount of magic to cause absolute carnage in the Exodus facility. If the magic in this jar manages to get loose somehow, it could devastate this entire fortress.”

The eyebot hovered forwards until it was a mere foot away from Doctor Turner. When he spoke, the President’s voice was hushed, but firm, “I understand your concerns, Doctor, but I’m afraid we have little choice. The loss of Squad Sigma was a great blow to our military strength at a time when we can ill-afford such setbacks.”

Doctor Turner frowned, not quite following. “Surely, sir, we could simply train more soldiers to replace them?”

“We don’t have the time or the resources right now,” the President replied. “James’ son has been spotted entering the Lamplight Caverns. We believe he is attempting to retrieve a G.E.C.K. from Vault 87.”

“A G.E.C.K.?” Doctor Turner repeated eagerly. “My word, I wonder if that could be the last piece needed to get Project Purity working?”

“I believe so,” President Eden agreed. “I have dispatched Colonel Autumn to the Vault to apprehend the boy, and the Rainbooms too, if they dare to try and follow him. However, this still leaves us with a dearth of military might. I expect you to make up the shortfall.”

“Me?! But how?!” Doctor Turner asked incredulously.

The President chuckled darkly. “With that magic. As of this moment I am transferring you from Project Exodus to Experiment FH-1.”

“Experiment…” Doctor Turner’s heart leapt as he realised what the President was asking. “You mean…?”

The eyebot moved even closer, until it was barely an inch from Turner’s face. “We’ve tried everything we can to wake that thing up ever since we dragged its remains out of the wreckage of the Poseidon Oil Rig. That magic might be the key to getting it back in the field. I realise that exposing it to something as volatile as this magic will be dangerous, especially when combined with the FEV already in its system, but we are out of options. We need military power, and we need it now. I don’t care what it takes, Doctor Turner, but wake up Frank Horrigan.”

As a thank you for reaching 300 likes, have a chapter early!

Next time on Fallout Girls, discover who he has a crush on!