Doctor Turner stood paralyzed by fear as crimson eyes bored into his own.

"WHERE AM I?" Horrigan repeated in a thunderous voice.

"R-raven Rock," Doctor Turner squeaked.

"HUH, D.C." Horrigan nodded and turned his attention to his armor, inspecting the poisonous looking mist still flowing out of its joints. "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OIL RIG?"

Doctor Turner winced and pressed his hands over his ears. "Sorry, but can you turn the volume down or something? Your voice is deafening."

He shivered as Horrigan looked back at him, then back to his armor. The flow of mist slowed until all that remained was a faint glow from the joints. "Better?" Horrigan asked.

"Much." Doctor Turner lowered his hands and sagged with relief. "To answer your question; the Poseidon Oil Rig was destroyed around thirty years ago."

Horrigan grunted. "That's unfortunate. Ugh, it feels like I'm whispering." He rubbed his helmet idly, then clambered to his feet in a display of speed and dexterity that belied his size and mismatched nature, startling the doctor once again. "So, who's in charge here?"

"P-president Eden," Doctor Turner replied shakily, rubbing his chest to try and soothe the pounding of his heart. "Well, I say that, but Colonel Autumn is in charge of the military, so I-I guess you'll be answering to him."

"President Eden, Colonel Autumn; got it. So, what's with the lights?" Horrigan gestured vaguely around the room.

Suddenly remembering the tremor and the ghostly laughter, Doctor Turner smiled nervously. "That's actually a very good question. One second." He glanced up at Horrigan one last time, then turned away and stepped over to the intercom. "Er, Mister President? Are you available?" Dead silence was his only response. He jabbed the button a couple more times, then tried calling other people on different channels. After several attempts he finally gave up. "Bugger. Looks like the intercom is down."

"Where's the Colonel?" Horrigan asked.

Doctor Turner shook his head. "Honestly? I have no idea. There was some sort of minor earthquake just before you woke up, which I assume is why the main power is offline."

Horrigan snorted. "In that case, I'll go find out for myself."

"I-I'll come, too!" Doctor Turner hurried after Horrigan as he stomped towards the lab's door. The moment the door started to open the sounds of emergency sirens, terrified screaming, and animalistic roars ripped through the air.

Doctor Turner cautiously poked his head out into the corridor. The lights were dim out there, too; the emergency lights barely illuminating the large thoroughfare. He felt a rush of panic as he realized that the power outage must have caused containment failures in some of the nearby research labs. With an audible sigh, Horrigan just lumbered out into the corridor, apparently unconcerned with whatever was going on.

As Doctor Turner stepped out after him another shrill scream echoed down the corridor, which was abruptly cut off with a grisly crunch. Seconds later, Doctor Turner watched in horror as a mutated monstrosity emerged from the shadows. More massive even than Horrigan, the beast resembled a quadrupedal bat with slavering jaws and yard long fangs that dripped with blood and saliva. Letting out a piercing shriek, the Scorchbeast launched itself directly at them.

Horrigan met it head-on. At the last second before impact he threw his arms out and caught it by the jaws, stopping it dead in its tracks. With a savage wrench, he yanked the Scorchbeast's head down to the ground, then slammed a fist through its skull, pulverising it’s brain through mashed bone and flesh.

Revulsion and terror rooted Doctor Turner to the spot as Horrigan straightened back up and looked back over his shoulder. He looked like something that had crawled out of a madman's nightmare; eyes burning crimson and the joints of his armor glowing acidic green, with blood and brain matter dripping from his clenched fist.

Horrigan chuckled darkly and flicked gore from his hand. "Come on. You can fill me in on what I've missed while I was out."

Memories of another world flashed through Becky's mind as she watched Tara laugh demonically. Of all the things that could have resulted from the Equestrian magic loose in this world, seeing the love of her life mutate into Midnight Sparkle was definitely the worst possible outcome.

Tara's laughter slowly died away, leaving the wailing of the emergency alarms as the only sound, and mere seconds later even they stopped abruptly. Tense silence remained in their wake.

"So this is what magic feels like." Tara grinned evilly. "I have to say, I like it."

"Um, Tara…?" Becky ventured quietly. She tensed as Tara looked down at her. "Wh-what are you doing?"

Tara's smirk was anything but reassuring. "Power, Sunny. Eden has betrayed us, the Enclave, and humanity itself; he must be deposed. On top of that, Colonel Autumn must be forced to either submit or die. To accomplish this we need power." She held up a hand and a pale green aura of power flickered around it. "I'm the one with the power now."

Becky slowly got to her feet, not daring to take her eyes off Tara for an instant. "What happens when you've dealt with Eden and Autumn?" she asked evenly.

"Then Congress can choose another President, obviously." Tara gave Becky a mildly confused look, then chuckled as realization hit. "Seriously? I'm not going to try and take the Enclave for myself, you twit. You know I'm not interested in leadership."

"You weren't interested in power either until a minute ago," Becky retorted before she could stop herself.

Thankfully, Tara just smiled ruefully. "Don't worry, I don't have any intention of stealing this magic from the Rainbooms. Once it has served its purpose, I'll gladly return it to them."

Becky considered her next words carefully; Tara was certainly behaving more rationally than Midnight had, at least so far, but she didn't want to push it. "What exactly are you planning, if you don't mind my asking?"

Tara sighed and floated down towards her, gently setting her feet on the floor and raised a hand to caress Becky's cheek. "I swear, once I've dealt with Eden and Autumn, I'll use this power to free the Rainbooms, and return their Geodes. We may have to abandon the Enclave after this, but that's a price I'm willing to pay." Her expression suddenly clouded over and she lowered her voice, "That treacherous bastard Turner had better hope I don't find him, though."

"Turner?" Becky asked in surprise. "What the hell has he done this time?"

"I can sense huge amounts of magic dotted around the base," Tara replied. "There's no way the other scientists managed to gather that much already, not unless Turner showed them how he created more." She let out a dark laugh at the look of shock on Becky's face. "Don't worry, there's nothing in this base I can't handle."

As if in demonstration, Tara thrust a hand out towards the door and a beam of searing light roared outwards, vaporising the door instantly. "Come, we have a President to depose."

Fumbling in the dark, it took Adam longer than he cared to admit to find the button that opened the door to his cell. He was glad that the alarms had stopped, though. Speaking to President Eden the moment he woke up in captivity was hardly pleasant, but having the intercom and lights cut out the second he grabbed his effects from a locker was unnerving at best. Something was clearly going wrong. Hopefully it was either nothing to do with the Rainbooms or, if it was, it was all a part of some crazy plan they'd concocted.

Once the door was open, Adam cautiously stuck his head out into the corridor. Emergency lighting provided weak illumination, barely enough to see by. A man in some sort of military uniform was patrolling the corridor.

"Hey!" The man yelped and whipped around at Adam's shout. "You mind pointing me in the direction of the President's office?"

The man stared at him in shock, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. "You… what are… what the hell are you doing out of your cell?!"

Adam stepped into the corridor fully and shrugged. "Beats me. The President let me out of the restraints and told me he wanted to speak in person; he was just telling me how to get there when the power went out. Didn't he inform you, Mister…?"

"It's Lieutenant Williams," the officer insisted. "You say the President wanted to speak with you in person?"

"Yeah. Is there any way you can confirm it with him?" Adam asked.

Lieutenant Williams shook his head. "No, whatever knocked the power out is interfering with our communications, too." He eyed Adam warily. "Did you do something to cause all of this?"

Adam just gave him a flat look. "How in the living hell could I have caused a power blackout from inside a cell?"

The dumb look on Lieutenant Williams' face was easily the funniest thing Adam had seen in weeks, not counting the stuff that Pinkie came out with. "Uh…"

"Lieutenant?" Both Adam and Williams turned as a power-armored soldier came around a corner. "Oh, you've found him. I managed to get through to the President on my suit's comms, he wants me to escort the boy from Vault 101 to his office."

"I, uh, really?" Lieutenant Williams glanced back at Adam, then looked back at the soldier and drew himself up. "Is there any word on when the main power will be back online?"

The soldier shook his head. "No idea. The comms are still fucked, I could barely hear the President over all the static. Apparently there have been containment failures and all sorts of weird shit going on all over the base."

Lieutenant Williams made to say something, but Adam stepped around him to interject, "What about the Rainbooms? Are they alright?"

"They're fine. Their restraints failed when the power went out, but they're being cooperative so we stuck them all in one cell so one of us could keep an eye on them while the rest of the squads go and suppress whatever has gotten loose in the science labs."

"Can you take me to them?" Adam asked. "The President will want to speak to them, too."

The soldier nodded. "Sure, come with me."

Ignoring Lieutenant Williams' blustering attempts at refusal, the soldier led Adam through corridors until they came to another cell guarded by a single soldier.

"Major, I've brought him," Adam's escort called out. "He wants to take the Rainbooms with him."

The Major cocked his head curiously. "Do you really think that's wise, Corporal Peters?"

Peters shrugged. "If it helps keep them sweet, then why not? I don't fancy getting punched through a wall or getting crushed inside my own armor if they lose their patience, uh, Sir."

"Yeah, me neither." The Major sighed heavily. "Fuck it, all of this magic bullshit is above my pay grade. If the President wants to speak to them, then he can fucking have them." He jabbed the button to open their cell and stuck his head inside. "You can come on out, the President wants to speak to you."

"The President, huh? Well, ain't we lucky." Adam couldn't help but smirk at Applejack's unamused drawl. A moment later she emerged from the cell with Twilight and Rarity in tow. Each of them had their Pip-Boy lights on; reminding Adam that he could have used his own one earlier and not spent ten minutes messing around in pitch blackness. "Hey, Adam. Am Ah glad to see you again. You doing okay?"

"I'm fine," Adam replied. "Where are the others?"

"It's just us, darling," Rarity told him.

"The other four weren't brought in; Colonel Autumn didn't want to risk any more casualties," the Major explained.

Rarity scoffed derisively. "Colonel Autumn would have avoided a lot more if he and the rest of you Enclave brutes had just left us alone."

"I can shove you back in that cell if you want," the Major growled.

"No, you can't," Twilight replied in a low, flat tone, "because we're the only ones who can save you from the nightmare you've unleashed."

Everyone looked at Twilight in concern. She was staring at the ground and flexing her hands, her expression inscrutable.

"Uh, are you okay, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

Twilight just snorted softly. After a moment of awkward silence the Major shook his head and turned away, gesturing for the others to follow. "Come on, I'm getting you to the President before something else goes wrong."

"That's probably a good idea." Adam glanced worriedly at Twilight before following. "After that, you can release us and we'll get on with our lives."

The Major didn't reply, instead choosing to lead the group through the dimly lit corridors in silence with Corporal Peters bringing up the rear.

"So, how are you three holding up?" Adam asked as he ambled along.

Rarity sighed and flicked her hair. "Not too bad, all things considered. This is the second time the Enclave has captured us, after all. How about you, darling? You seem to be taking this remarkably well?"

Adam opened his mouth to reply when a sudden surge of emotions clogged his throat. Clamping down on the sudden, inexplicable, urge to cry, Adam shrugged and looked up at the ceiling. "Well, y'know, I've seen a fair amount of crazy stuff since I left the Vault. At this point I figure I may as well just roll with it." He took a deep breath in through his nose to calm himself and jerked his chin at the Major. "Hey, buckethead, how far is it to the President's office?"

"Not far," came the irritated reply.

Once they were out of the cramped cell block, they were led through an empty mess hall and up several flights of stairs to a small room with a solid metal door that a flickering electronic sign marked as the entrance to the 'Tech and Cryo Labs'. Just as the Major was about to open the door he hesitated.

"What's up, Major?" Corporal Peters asked.

The Major looked back over his shoulder. "If there's been containment failures all over the base, it might be a better idea to go through the Bio-Labs instead."

Corporal Peters cocked his head to the side curiously before saying, "Oh, right; this is where they've been keeping Deathclaws. The rest of our squad came through this way though, so the monsters must have been neutralised by now."

"Uh, what's a Deathclaw?" Adam asked warily. The Major's response was drowned out by something heavy slamming into the door from the other side, followed by a rumbling animalistic growl. "On second thought, I'm probably much happier not knowing."

Something crashed into the door again and the whole group took a fearful step back. "We're going around!" the Major snapped. "Get moving. Go, go!"

Before anyone could obey his command, the door was smashed open and something huge forced its way through, using its momentum to charge like a colossal bull into the middle of the group. Everyone dove out of the way, save for the Major who barely had time to shout before he was lifted up on the creature's horns. The poor man was carried across the room until the two slammed into the wall with an impact that shook dust from the ceiling. The creature backed up and shook its head violently to fling the mangled remains of the Major aside, then stood up on two legs and turned to snarl at the others.

The beast was something out of a nightmare; standing twice the height of a man, with a pair of great curving horns sprouting from its head, a mass of sharp fangs spilling from its maw, and long muscular arms tipped with vicious claws.

"Deathclaw!" Corporal Peters screamed, raising his laser rifle and firing wildly at it. The Deathclaw roared in pain and fury and lunged at the Corporal with a speed that belied its size. Adam watched in horror as the monster bowled the soldier over and started tearing into his armor. The screaming snapped him back to his senses and he yelled to the girls, "Come on! Run while it's distracted!"

Applejack and Rarity ran through the ruined door, with Twilight hot on their heels. Adam let the three of them go first then darted in after. The group found themselves in a high-tech laboratory of sorts with alcoves in every corner and empty cryogenic stasis tubes dotting the room. Corpses littered the floor and another deathclaw was hunched over on the other side of the lab messily devouring the remains of a scientist.

The deathclaw looked up at the sound of the four running and snarled.

"This way!" Applejack cried. The others followed her as she bolted towards another door. Adam risked a glance over his shoulder, then swore loudly when he saw that the deathclaw had abandoned its meal in order to chase them down, gaining on them with every step.

Adam turned his attention back to where he was going just in time to see Twilight stumble. He grabbed her as he passed, half-dragging her onwards and desperately praying that she wouldn't fall. "Come on, come on!"

Applejack and Rarity were already through the door, then Adam slapped the button to close it as he crossed the threshold. Twilight let out an agonized scream and fell just as the door slid closed and the deathclaw smacked into it. Adam skidded to a stop and turned to help Twilight, then gasped and cried out to the others, "Guys, Twilight's hurt!"

The deathclaw had managed to get its arm through before the door closed, and was now trying to tear it back open. Twilight lay face-down in front of it where she had fallen, her clothes torn and soaked with blood.

Applejack rushed back to help Adam pull her away, narrowly avoiding the deathclaw's flailing arm. Together they managed to get her to her feet and pull her arms over their shoulders.

"Come on, Twi, you're gonna be okay," Applejack said, though the quiver in her voice didn't help her sound convincing.

Twilight let out a pained moan. "She… she's here."

Before anyone could reply, Rarity shrieked in terror and there came a terrible wrenching sound from the door as the deathclaw managed to tear its way through. Adam was about to duck out from under Twilight's arm, ready to face down the monster with his fists if it would buy the girls a little more time, when a searing bolt of pale green energy lashed out from behind and vaporized the deathclaw's head.

Hardly daring to breathe, Adam slowly turned to look at their saviour.

"Midnight…" Twilight mumbled.

The woman was easily the most terrifying thing Adam had ever seen. Floating a foot off the ground, she was clad in what looked like a torn black lab-coat and had dark purple hair that whipped about in a non-existent wind. Great wings stretched from her back and a glowing horn extended from her forehead.

A scientist stepped around her, eyes widening as she spotted the group. "What the- what are you doing here?"

"Becky?!" Applejack barked in surprise. She glanced up at the floating woman. "What's goi- aw, fuck it, Ah don't care, you've gotta help Twilight! She's hurt, bad!"

"What happened?" Becky ran over to see what was wrong, then winced when she saw Twilight's back. "Tara, little help?"

Midnight-Tara waved a hand and Twilight's shirt was torn to shreds by a purple aura leaving behind only her bra, dangling by the shoulder straps where the backstrap had been severed by the deathclaw's swipe. The purple aura flashed again, clearing the blood away from Twilight's back and revealing four ragged claw-marks. Adam caught a brief, nauseating glimpse of bone before more blood poured from the wounds and covered it.

"Shit! We need to get her to surgery!" Becky snapped.

"There's no time." Tara thrust a hand out and Twilight screamed as black crystals formed across her wound. "That should keep her going long enough to get her out of here." She floated past, staring down the corridor. "Becky, get them to the war room, I'll join you in a moment. There's something I have to deal with."

Becky opened her mouth to say something, then closed it and frowned, looking at the floor. Adam wondered what was going on for a moment, but then he felt it too. The floor was vibrating; a rhythmic pulse coursing through it as if something tremendously heavy was stomping closer.

"This way, we're almost there!" The group looked up as another scientist appeared from around a corner. He took one look at them and his hand flew to his chest, fear written across his face. "Ah, bollocks."

A moment later the source of the vibrations became clear as a huge armored soldier stomped around the corner. Well over twelve feet tall, his armor's joints glowed acid-green and his eyes blazed like hellfire. He let out a low chuckle when he spotted the group. "More muties." He slapped a fist into a palm and his armor's joints started leaking a foul green mist. When he spoke again, his voice rocked the air like a thunderclap. "TIME TO DIE."

Have a chapter a little early!