The monotonous drone of the Vertibird's rotors was the only sound Sunset could hear clearly in the passenger compartment. She and the rest of the Rainbooms were packed in alongside Tara, Becky, Adam, Fawkes, a soldier, and a small family.

The number of people in the compartment meant that most of them were stuck standing up, holding onto small handles in the ceiling for stability. Of the Rainbooms, the only one who had been allowed to sit was Twilight because of her injury; Twilight had fallen asleep very soon after takeoff to the relief of her friends.

Fawkes and, to a lesser extent, the Rainbooms had been receiving a lot of curious looks from the non-combatant Enclave personnel aboard the Vertibird. In particular was a little boy who couldn't have been older than six that had become utterly infatuated with Pinkie Pie over the course of the flight.

Sunset, for her part, was mostly just trying to distract herself from the stench of sweat that pervaded the crew compartment.

"Hold on tight, we'll be coming in to land soon," the pilot called back to them.

Everyone who was standing up adjusted their grip and stance while those who were sat down checked their harnesses. Soon enough the Vertibird slowed to a hover; the landing itself was relatively smooth with only a slight bump when they actually landed, though it was enough to jolt Twilight awake.

Lieutenant Colonel Strong poked his head into the passenger compartment. "Alright, Rainbooms, this is your stop. The Citadel is directly to the East, beyond the ruins. You'll have to find a way over or around them." As Adam, Fawkes and the Rainbooms started disembarking, the Lieutenant Colonel called out, "Sunset Shimmer? I'd like a quick word before you go."

Sunset gestured for the others to get off first and shuffled through the Enclave personnel towards the pilot compartment. As she approached the Lieutenant Colonel, he stepped forward and she felt something solid press against her ribs. Glancing down, she realized that he had a laser pistol aimed directly at her heart.

"Don't move," Lieutenant Colonel Strong said quietly. "Just pretend everything's fine and we're having a pleasant little chat and you get to walk away from this alive."

Sunset swallowed reflexively. The position they were in blocked the pistol from her friends' sight, so there was little chance of help from there. Her first instinct was to ask what she had done to get on his bad side, but given everything that had happened to the Enclave and, more specifically, to his sister, there were just too many possibilities, so instead she asked, "What do you want?"

"I want the truth," Lieutenant Colonel Strong said flatly. "What exactly is your goal in the Capital Wasteland?"

"Me and my friends just want to go home," Sunset replied honestly.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that exactly what Project Exodus is supposed to be about?" he asked. "Why go back to the Brotherhood of Steel?"

Sunset arched an eyebrow at him. "Seriously? The Enclave attacked and kidnapped us, attacked a group of lightly armed scientists who were trying to make fresh water for the wasteland, tried to imprison us, attacked us again after we escaped and kidnapped half of our group, your scientists have stolen our magic and started messing around with it despite knowing how insanely dangerous it is and, as if that wasn't enough, we've just found out that your President was secretly plotting to murder most of humanity as part of some massive eugenics scheme? Why wouldn't we go back to the Brotherhood of Steel?"

That gave the Lieutenant Colonel pause. "Okay, those are fair points," he admitted. "What are you going to do now, though? I know that the Brotherhood is planning an assault on Project Purity, are you and your friends going to be a part of it?"

"I don't know." Sunset considered her words carefully. "I know Adam will join in after what happened to his father. As for me and my friends… the Brotherhood has promised to help us get home once they've retaken Project Purity. If having our magic on their side makes that easier for them then, well... I guess it all depends on how that peace treaty works out."

Lieutenant Colonel Strong narrowed his eyes at her, then finally removed the pistol and stuck it back in its holster. "I'll do what I can to have it pushed through." He glanced over her shoulder at the others, then leaned in close to whisper in her ear, "If anything happens to my little sister because of some shit that you or your friends pull, I swear, peace treaty or not, I will end you."

"I'd expect nothing less," Sunset shot back. Turning away, she gave one last nod to Becky and Tara, waved at the little boy who was staring up at her in awe, then navigated through the rest of the personnel and stomped down the Vertibird's ramp to rejoin her friends.

The moment Sunset was clear the ramp closed up and the Vertibird took off, gaining altitude quickly before its rotors tilted and it smoothly peeled away. Within moments it vanished from sight over the top of some ruins to the south.

"What did he want?” Rainbow asked when it was gone.

Sunset shrugged. "Eh, nothing special." Deciding that it wasn't worth riling up the others with his threats, she looked up at the devastated buildings towering over them. "Aren't these the same ruins we climbed over when we were heading to Vault 87 yesterday?"

"Was it only yesterday?" Rarity asked incredulously. "It feels like it has been a lot longer than that."

Pinkie pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. "That's probably because we only get a chapter every two weeks at the moment, so…"

The others just stared at her in blank confusion. After a few awkward moments Sunset shook her head and said, "Anyway… Twilight, are you okay?"

Twilight just nodded slowly from where she was propped up between Applejack and Rainbow.

"Don't worry, we'll be able to get her over there easily enough, so long as Rarity can help us out with her magic," Applejack said confidently. "Ah could probably carry her myself, but Ah don't want to risk nudging those crystals out of place or something."

"It's fine, darling." Rarity waved a hand and a ramp made of glittering gemstones appeared, curving around at a shallow angle until it reached a relatively stable-looking chunk of debris.

Fawkes stomped over to the ramp and crouched down to get a closer look. "A most impressive use of your abilities. It seems to me that the more I see of your magic, the more I realize just how versatile it can be."

"It's a funky trick, but do you think it'll be able to hold my weight with this thing on?" Adam slapped the chest of his stolen power armor for emphasis.

Sunset looked back at him as she started up the ramp. "If it can't, we'll just have Applejack toss you over the ruins and we'll meet you on the other side."

Adam chuckled softly. His laughter died away as he saw the look on Sunset's face. "You're kidding. She's kidding, right?" When no-one answered he started looking around at everyone wildly. "Hang on, are you being serious? Sunset? Sunset?!"

---

The final leg of the flight to Project Exodus was uneventful. The pilot took a slight detour to avoid a heavily mutated Behemoth, but they were lucky enough to avoid the attention of the roving bands of Super Mutants in the streets below.

Tara's thoughts were a jumbled mess. Handing the Geodes over had taken more willpower than she had anticipated and the shock of the magic leaving her body so suddenly had left her feeling exhausted. It was only the fact that there was a vast amount of magical waste still present at the Exodus building that gave her the strength to give up the power, at least for the moment.

Glancing over at her brother, Tara once again wondered what exactly he had said to Sunset before she left. Hopefully it was nothing too threatening. Tara was well aware that her brother believed her lies about Sunset being capable of mind control and she was beginning to suspect that that particular lie was going to come back to bite her in the ass at some point. Fortunately, the Lieutenant Colonel had his hands full for the moment.

Tara picked up from his hurried radio communications that Colonel Autumn had indeed been evacuated from Raven Rock by a squad of soldiers, but he was also still unconscious, leaving Andrew as the highest military authority in the Enclave.

Andrew was rising to the occasion magnificently. Despite spending most of his recent career in Raven Rock, he was effortlessly coordinating the evacuees; swiftly gathering information on how many personnel had survived the blast and directing them to the most appropriate rendezvous points while simultaneously getting word out to as many officials as he could about the potential necessity of a peace treaty. Colonel Autumn wouldn't be happy about the latter, but there was little he could do about it until he woke up.

"We're coming up on the RobCo facility," the pilot called out. “Where do you want us to land?"

Becky leaned forward as far as her harness would allow her. "Head for the main entrance. There should already be at least one Vertibird there, they'll guide you in."

"There should actually be a few there," Andrew cut in. Catching sight of Tara and Becky's questioning looks, he added, "I redirected some of the evacuees to the Exodus building, it's the most defensible place in the area that's still under Enclave control."

The pilot contacted someone on the ground via radio, then the Vertibird banked around and slowed to a hover before coming down for a soft landing. When the crew compartment opened the personnel made their way down in a quick but orderly manner. Several soldiers were standing by to receive them, directing everyone across the forecourt and into the building.

Tara slowed to look around as she stepped off the Vertibird's ramp. The area had been entirely cleared of abandoned vehicles and debris and squads of soldiers were busy setting up sandbags while others were erecting makeshift shelters to serve as firing points.

"How have the Super Mutants not attacked this place yet?" Becky muttered.

"No idea, we haven't seen any sign of them," one of the soldiers replied. "This way, doctors, follow the directions and they'll assign you to a temporary room until we can set up something more permanent."

Tara shook her head. "That won't be necessary. I'm Doctor Strong and I'm the lead scientist for Project Exodus."

The soldier hesitated, then snapped to attention as Andrew joined them. "Sir!"

"At ease." Andrew gave him a firm nod, then glanced up at the building. "Who's in charge here?"

"Major Carter is the ranking officer, sir, but there's a soldier from Squad Sigma who's nominally in command of Project Exodus itself until the… er, until Doctor Strong returns," the soldier replied. He paused and put a hand to his helmet, clearly communicating with someone via his armor's radio, then nodded and said, "The people downstairs are expecting you. The eyebot will escort you down."

"Eyebot?" Tara looked around to see one of the curious little robots floating towards them.

The eyebot was unlike any other that Tara had ever seen. It was more heavily armored for a start and its armor plates glittered like fool's gold in the late afternoon light.

Apparently realizing that it had been noticed, the eyebot gave a trill of happy-sounding little beeps and turned to head back into the building. Tara and Becky shared a confused look, shrugged, and set off after it. The eyebot kept playing a jaunty little tune of chirps and beeps as it escorted Andrew, Becky and Tara across the forecourt, through the building, and finally into the elevator where they descended to the basement.

As the elevator began its lengthy descent into the bowels of the Exodus building, Andrew asked the eyebot to stop its chatter for a minute and turned to face the women. "Right, before we get down there I need to know the truth about Sunset Shimmer and the rest of the Rainbooms."

"What do you mean?" Becky asked, a little too quickly.

Andrew folded his arms and gave her a flat look. "I already know you were bullshitting us about Sunset being a mind reader and being able to mind control people. She nearly shit herself when I pulled a gun on her earlier, if she-"

"You what?!" Becky and Tara yelled together.

"I had to check," Andrew replied unabashedly. "If she was really such a dangerous telepath she would have known what I was going to do, or at least made me put the gun away sooner. So, what else have you been bullshitting me about?"

Tara sighed and sagged against the back of the elevator. "Sunset can't control people's minds," she admitted. "She is a telepath, to an extent, but she has to be touching someone for it to work on them. Everything we told you about the others is true, at least as far we know."

"I'm not sure about Pinkie Pie," Becky put in. "The memories I picked up from Sunset's Geode suggest that she can only detonate refined sugar, but it looked like her magic that blew up Raven Rock's entrance. It must be something to do with that pickaxe she has. That thing is new."

Andrew frowned at her. "When you say Geode, do you mean their necklaces?"

"Yes. Their Geodes are the source of the Rainbooms' powers," Becky replied. "When I touched Sunset's Geode, thanks to our connection, it actually transferred some of her memories to me."

Andrew's frown deepened as he looked from Becky to Tara. "So you were already planning on busting them out when you took their Geodes back in the prison block?"

Tara shrugged. "I wasn't sure what I was going to do, I just wanted to keep the magic out of Colonel Autumn's hands. Finding out that President Eden was keeping Project Scouring going in secret forced my hand."

"For fuck's sake." Andrew sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just… explain everything to me. Everything that happened when you had the Rainbooms here, everything that happened after they left, and everything that happened at Raven Rock. Don't leave out any details."

"Maybe later," Tara replied with a pointed glance at the eyebot. It was only then that she noticed that the little robot's armor was still glittering.

Andrew clearly noticed it too. "That's Duraframe, isn't it? Is it supposed to do that?"

"Not as far as I know," Tara said quietly. Either the eyebot had some odd coating over its armor that she had never seen before, or Equestrian magic was at work once again. Somehow she knew exactly which of the two options was correct.

The rest of the descent was spent in an uncomfortable silence, though the eyebot spontaneously starting up another chirpy tune actually made Tara feel a little more relaxed, much to her own surprise.

When the elevator finally reached the bottom and the doors opened, Tara gasped at how much the underground hangar had changed. All of the abandoned pre-war equipment was exactly where it had been left, along with the ruined trash from the battle against the mutated Protectron, but the magical waste had taken on an entirely new form.

Instead of a huge puddle of slurry, the magic now formed a swirling tornado made up of thousands of tiny wisps, each one a different color. The mass reached from the floor right up to the rough circular opening in the ceiling. Around the base of the tornado someone had strung up a chain between a series of short metal poles to act as a simple cordon.

Four people were standing around the chain and all of them turned around as the eyebot let out a loud trill. Sienna and Vincent were there, both ponied up, along with a male scientist that Tara didn't recognize. On the other hand, the fourth person was a woman that Tara recognized instantly.

"Mom!" Tara felt a weight she hadn't known she carried lift from her shoulders as her mother hurried forward and pulled her and Andrew into a hug.

"Thank God you're both okay," their mother gasped, squeezing them tightly.

"We're fine, mom." Twilight pulled back to get a proper look at her. "What about you, are you alright? Where's dad?"

Her mother sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "He's upstairs making sure that the children being brought here are properly accommodated. You know what he's like." She shook her head and fixed the two of them with a serious look. "But enough about us, what the hell has been happening? Why was Raven Rock destroyed?"

"Good question," Sienna said flatly as she approached, with Vincent and the other man just behind her. "Personally, I'd like to know why we felt another crazy magical shockwave that turned our slushy crap into this massive light show," she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "then five minutes later we get a message saying that Raven Rock is gone and we're about to get a whole bunch of evacuees turning up."

"We can discuss that later," Andrew said curtly before turning to Vincent. "I'm assuming that you're the last member of Squad Sigma?"

Vincent saluted. "Yes, Sir. Michaels is here too, but he's still in a coma."

"Noted." Andrew glanced at the pair of orange wings sprouting from the soldiers' back. Vincent opened his mouth to say something, but the Lieutenant Colonel held up a hand to silence him and just said, "Never mind," before turning to the unknown scientist. "And you are…?"

"Doctor Whitley," the man replied instantly. "I was assigned to Project Exodus just before everything went to hell in a handbasket. And you've already met ED-E." The eyebot beeped happily.

Andrew looked around at everyone else in turn, eyeing them suspiciously. "You all seem strangely okay with this magic crap." When no-one replied he groaned and massaged his temples. "Why do I get the feeling that you're about to tell me something that's going to make me choose between my family and the Enclave?"

"Not necessarily, it depends on how we play this," Becky told him. "Having said that, we are going to need you to keep an open mind." She glanced at Sienna. "I'm guessing you've told the others everything?"

"Only Whitley and Mr. and Mrs. Strong," Sienna replied.

Andrew just huffed as he relented. "Alright, I'll give you a fair chance; start from the beginning."

---

Sunset sighed heavily as she stepped out of the Citadel's shower block wearing a simple grey Brotherhood of Steel uniform consisting of pants and a shirt while her own clothes were sent to be laundered.

Getting the gate guards to let her and her friends in had been difficult; largely due to Fawkes, partially due to Adam's stolen Enclave armor, too. Eventually they managed to convince the guards to let them in on the provision that Fawkes would be escorted by at least two soldiers at all times while within the Citadel.

Fawkes took their wariness in stride; according to him he was just glad that they were giving him a chance and that he now had friends willing to stand by his side and back him up.

Sentinel Lyons made a point of meeting the group when they were finally allowed in. When she saw the state that Twilight was in she ordered the Rainbooms to get her to the infirmary and to get themselves checked out while they were there, then dragged Adam and Fawkes off for an emergency debriefing with her father.

The medics in the infirmary were understandably concerned by Twilight's condition and immediately took her into surgery. Fluttershy went with them to try and help as much as she could, but the others were kept back as the medics insisted on treating their own injuries.

Pinkie and Rarity had nothing worse than a few scrapes and bruises, but Applejack had an ugly burn across her thigh, and Rainbow had a nasty bruise on the back of her hand where the Rad-Away needle had been, as well as an unpleasant case of radiation poisoning from her reckless charge out of Vault 87's front door. Sunset was now sporting a clean bandage around her upper right arm from a close encounter with shrapnel that she had almost forgotten about.

After the infirmary the girls had been granted the use of the Citadel's showers. It was the best moment for them in days, being able to wash away all of the blood, sweat, mud and grime that had been coating them since leaving Rivet City.

Now that she was clean, Sunset wasn't quite sure what to do; Twilight was almost certainly still in surgery, the others were still in the showers, and she had no idea where Adam and Fawkes would be. A sudden cramp from her stomach told her that finding food would be a pretty good idea.

"Miss Shimmer?" A voice called out, ruining that thought the instant she heard it.

Sunset bit back an exasperated groan and turned to see a Squire staring at her. She vaguely recognised him as the same one that was present the last time she had met Elder Lyons. "Can I help you?"

"Elder Lyons wants to speak to you as soon as possible," the Squire replied.

"Of course he does," Sunset sighed and pushed her damp hair back out of her face. "Okay, show me where to go."

The Squire led her quickly through the maze of corridors that formed the Citadel's interior. The Knights and scribes they encountered greeted her enthusiastically, offering their congratulations and thanks; news about what had happened at Raven Rock had spread like wildfire and morale among the Brotherhood of Steel had been greatly boosted by the fact that the Enclave had suffered such a devastating blow.

Soon enough Sunset found herself outside the same guarded door from her last meeting with the Elder. Unlike last time, the Squire knocked on the door himself and pushed it open without waiting for a response, stepping inside and holding it open for Sunset to follow. "Elder, I've brought Miss Shimmer, as you asked."

Elder Lyons looked up from the ‘C’ shaped table as Sunset entered the room. He and his daughter were the only ones in the room. "Excellent work, Squire Maxson." The Elder gestured to a chair placed just in front of him on the inner curve of the table. "Come, Miss Shimmer, take a seat."

Sunset walked over and sat in the offered chair as Squire Maxson took up position behind the two leaders he served.

"Good evening, Miss Shimmer. Are you and your friends alright?" Elder Lyons asked.

"I'm worried about Twilight, but the rest of us are okay enough," Sunset replied.

The Elder nodded. "I received word from the infirmary not long before you arrived to see me. The surgeons had a nasty shock when the crystals sealing Miss Sparkle's wounds disappeared, but they have managed to stabilize her and she is not in any immediate danger."

"Thank Celestia." Sunset sagged in the chair as relief flooded her.

Elder Lyons allowed her a few seconds of peace before he spoke up again. "I have already heard most of what happened in Vault 87 and afterwards from Adam and Fawkes, but I want to get your take on things. Specifically, I want to know anything you can tell me about the magical side of what happened."

"I, er…" Sunset pulled herself together and straightened up in her seat. "I'm not sure how much help I can be, most of the magic that's loose in this world is working differently from what I'm used to."

"Please, anything you can tell us, even the slightest detail, could help save lives," Sentinel Lyons put in.

Sunset hesitated. There was little enough she could say about the magic they encountered at Raven Rock that Adam and Fawkes wouldn't have already told them, save for her own perspective. The biggest issue that Sunset could think of would be the Super Mutant that had managed to acquire a Geode, but to truly warn the Brotherhood of Steel about the danger it possessed she would have to tell them about the Rainbooms' own Geodes.

In the end she decided that the Mutant was dangerous enough that she couldn't avoid warning them with a clean conscience. "There's something, but… if word of this gets out to the wrong people, it could make things a lot more dangerous in the wasteland, for us girls and for everyone else."

Elder Lyons hummed thoughtfully then turned to speak to the Squire. "Arthur, make sure you don't speak a word of what you hear here to anyone. Discretion can be as important a tool as anything else for a good leader."

"Yes, Elder," Squire Maxson replied.

"Good man." The Elder turned back to Sunset. "Very well, we shall ensure that whatever information you give us will be strictly controlled," he said with a nod for her to continue.

Reluctantly, Sunset explained about the Super Mutant and its Geode. She also remembered to tell them about the Mutant that had been enhanced by Pinkie's magic. The Elder and Sentinel exchanged a grim look at the prospect of an apparently near-indestructible Super Mutant, but they agreed that allowing word of the Geodes to spread unchecked across the wastes would potentially cause far worse problems.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about the magic that the Enclave had?" Sentinel Lyons asked.

Sunset frowned as she thought back. "I don't think so. Tara, Doctor Strong that is, gave back the Geodes that she borrowed, but apart from that I don't think I saw much more than Adam or Fawkes." She paused as she remembered something other than magic that she had heard. "Did Adam mention the possible peace treaty?"

Elder Lyons sighed and nodded. "He did."

His response didn't exactly encourage Sunset. "And…"

"And, I don't know what to make of it," the Elder replied. "If the Enclave truly desires peace then it would be a momentous occasion, a bright turning point in the history of the Wasteland, but… we don't know that it's true. Even if it is true, it will be difficult to convince all of our Knights and Paladins that we should agree to such a treaty; there's too much bad blood between our organizations."

He sighed and fiddled with his beard idly. "To make matters worse, we don't have the luxury of just sitting back and waiting for them to offer us a treaty. The longer the Enclave is in control of Project Purity, the greater the chance that they will be able to activate it and use it to secure the support of the local settlements. The fact that Frank Horrigan is potentially still alive is another problem. I remember what that monster was capable of. If he is truly back and enhanced by magic, then I fear that Liberty Prime may be the only thing on the planet capable of stopping him."

Sunset felt an awful sinking feeling in her gut at the Elder's words. "What are you going to do?"

"There's not much we can do," Sentinel Lyons replied. "I have offered to go to Project Purity personally, tonight, as part of a diplomatic envoy. We'll offer them a peace treaty in exchange for returning Project Purity to Brotherhood of Steel control." She shook her head slowly. "If they accept we can at least stall any further violence for a while, but if not…"

"If not, we have no option but to take Project Purity back by force," Elder Lyons finished. "If it does come to that, Adam and Fawkes have both agreed to fight alongside us, but what of yourself and your friends?" He held up a hand at the look on Sunset's face. "You do not have to fight if you do not wish to, none of us will judge you for it, but I cannot deny that your magic would be a great aid to us and, frankly, we need all the help we can get."

Sunset didn't reply at first. Despite what she had told Lieutenant Colonel Strong she wasn't interested in picking any more fights with the Enclave and she sure as Tartarus didn't feel comfortable answering for the others in that regard. "I… I'll talk to my friends. I can't promise anything, yet, though."

Elder Lyons nodded. "I understand." He glanced back over his shoulder, "Squire Maxson, please escort Miss Shimmer to the room we assigned for her." Turning back to Sunset he stood and held out a hand. "No matter what the future brings, you have my thanks, Miss Shimmer. I suggest you go and get some rest; the coming days could well be some of the darkest and most difficult the Brotherhood has seen for decades."

---

Colonel Autumn gritted his teeth as the medics worked to splint the mangled remains of his arms. Even with a borderline dangerous dose of the strongest painkillers available the agony was almost unbearable, but the Colonel flat-out refused to make any more noise than a grunt in front of his troops.

He had woken up in a makeshift clinic inside Project Purity a little over half an hour ago now and he was doing everything he could to take control of the situation. The medics had tried to warn Colonel Autumn that he needed to rest, that tests were needed to make sure no permanent damage had been done, but with the Enclave in such a precarious position now that Raven Rock was gone, he didn’t think he could afford to sit back and do nothing.

Admittedly, Lieutenant Colonel Strong had done a fine job of coordinating the evacuees. Unfortunately, his blatant attempts at pushing through a ceasefire with the Brotherhood of Steel, likely orchestrated by his sister and her lover, were not only premature but potentially dangerous.

The heavy footfalls of a power armored soldier slowly percolated through the Colonel's pain and drug-induced fugue. He looked around just in time to see a soldier stop next to his chair and snap a salute. "Sir! We've just received a message from the Brotherhood of Steel."

Colonel Autumn slowly arched an eyebrow. "A message? Who brought it?"

"A woman, sir," the soldier replied. "She says her name is Sarah Lyons and that she's the second-in-command of the Brotherhood of Steel. She had a few others with her as escort, but Lyons herself was unarmed."

"I see. And where are they now?" Colonel Autumn asked.

"They're waiting outside the first barrier for an answer, sir," the soldier told him.

Colonel Autumn nodded. "Good. What's the message?"

The soldier unfolded a sheet of paper and held it out for the Colonel to read. "They are offering a peace treaty. They will suspend any and all hostilities against the Enclave in return for handing control of Project Purity over to them by thirteen hundred hours tomorrow."

Colonel Autumn snorted as he read through the letter himself. There was plenty of flowery crap in there; assertions that they could make the wasteland a better place together, put aside past differences and such, but there was also a definite tone of 'or else' should the Enclave consider rejecting their terms.

After considering the letter for a few minutes, Colonel Autumn shook his head. "Tell the messenger we are rejecting their offer."

"Sir?"

"The Brotherhood of Steel has likely heard of the loss of Raven Rock already and therefore believe us to be in a state of immense disarray," Colonel Autumn explained. "While that may be partially true, it is also true that our hold on Project Purity has not weakened in the slightest. If anything, the influx of troops evacuated from Raven Rock has strengthened our position here. The Brotherhood must know this and they are attempting to take advantage of our confusion and intimidate us into complying with their demands."

The Colonel laughed humorlessly. "Think about it, soldier. If the Brotherhood of Steel truly believed that our forces had weakened, they wouldn't bother with this peace treaty, they'd attack, take control of Project Purity by force, and use that as a bargaining chip to force us to surrender. The fact that they're even trying this tactic proves that their leaders do not believe that they have the strength to shift us through military means."

"I see, sir." The soldier crumpled the letter up in his armored fist. "What should we do about the messenger?"

"Let her go," Colonel Autumn replied. "Their tactics may be slippery, but this Lyons woman must have some courage to come and face us unarmed."

The soldier nodded and tossed the crumpled letter on the floor. Colonel Autumn stared at it as the soldier walked away, wondering if he was making the right decision. Just as the soldier reached the door, Colonel Autumn called out, "Wait!"

---

The sound of running water almost felt hypnotic, the patter and heat of the shower doing what little it could to soothe Fluttershy as she scrubbed the muck from herself. When the water running off her was no longer black or crimson she turned the shower off and stepped out of the cubicle, grabbing a towel off the nearby rack as she went.

An hour had passed since Twilight had gone into surgery. She was still in there; the surgeons had stabilized her and were now working to repair her damaged back muscles, but Fluttershy had been sent away to get some rest. There was little more that such an inexperienced nurse could do to help anymore, especially when compared to the Brotherhood's own highly trained medical staff.

Fluttershy bit back her shame at being unable to help her friend in this time of need and focused on drying herself. When she was done she tossed the towel in a hamper and stepped over to the sinks, checking herself in one of the unbroken mirrors. She looked like a mess; her eyes were bloodshot and sunken with dark bags clearly standing out beneath them; her cheeks were hollow and her skin was pale and waxy.

If the animals at the shelter saw me now they'd probably be terrified.

Shaking her head, Fluttershy clothed herself in clean undergarments and the uniform that the Brotherhood had provided and left the shower block. Despite the number of Knights that had gathered in the Citadel for a potential assault on Project Purity, the corridors were surprisingly quiet. Most of the Knights were either on guard duty or were already asleep and the scribes were all busy at their posts, leaving only the occasional Squire hurrying about completing errands for their elders.

As she walked around a corner on the way to her assigned room, Fluttershy felt her heart skip a beat when she spotted Adam coming down the opposite way, clad in the same Brotherhood uniform. It actually suited him pretty well, he smiled wearily as he spotted her too. "Hey, Flutters. How's Twilight?"

"She's stable for now. There's still a risk of complications, but the medics are confident," Fluttershy replied, pushing her worries to the back of her mind. "Most of the damage was to her Rhomboid, Deltoid and Teres muscles, so hopefully the medics can save the mobility of her arms."

"Hopefully." Adam leaned back against the wall and patted the spot next to him. "And how are you doing?"

Fluttershy sighed and leaned against the wall too. "I'm… I don't know." She almost said that she wanted to go home, but saying that to Adam didn't seem particularly tactful. Instead, she went with a safer option. "I just hope the Enclave and the Brotherhood do end up signing a peace treaty."

"Yeah, me too," Adam agreed.

A somber silence fell between the two. Lost in her own thoughts, Fluttershy suddenly remembered something. "Oh, how is Fawkes doing?"

"He's pretty happy, actually," Adam replied in a tone of mild surprise. "He's been assigned to the same room as me for the night. I was just going to see if I could fetch an extra blanket or two while he's in the shower." He grinned and shook his head. "The Knights didn't want to let Fawkes anywhere near the showers at first, but Rarity threw the most epic tantrum I have ever seen until they agreed to let him in. Big guy looked like a kid at Christmas."

Fluttershy surprised herself by giggling. "It's probably the first shower he's had in a long time, if ever; it’s no wonder he's happy. I'm curious as to why you haven't had a shower."

"Wha- I have!" Adam spluttered.

A sly smile worked its way across Fluttershy's face. "Weird, I can still smell ice cream."

"Oh, wow, that again?" Adam huffed with mock indignation. "I'm never living that down am I?"

"Nope!" Fluttershy giggled at the memory from Vault 101. She and Adam had headed to the diner on their lunch break, but Adam hadn't noticed the 'out of order' sign on the dessert machine. Something was clearly very wrong with it as it ended up squirting ice cream all over the hapless boy. That alone wouldn't have been so bad, but instead of strawberry, the ice cream absolutely reeked of fish. It had taken several showers to finally remove the stench and Fluttershy had made a point of not letting him forget about it.

Adam let out a resigned sigh. "I guess I'd better go for another shower. Just in case."

"Don't be silly," Fluttershy nudged him with her shoulder. "You don't smell."

"Are you sure? You can't smell strawberry salmon on me?" Adam asked jokingly, nudging her back.

The two laughed at their silly little inside joke until Fluttershy suddenly became aware of three very important things. One; Adam was looking at her, two; their faces were inches apart, and three; the atmosphere between them was suddenly charged with something that both terrified and enticed her.

Fluttershy could feel her heart thumping in her chest, but her mind was strangely calm as Adam's head tilted slightly to the side. She closed her eyes as the two of them drifted slowly closer until their lips met. The kiss sent an electric charge racing up and down her spine.

After a single blissful moment, Adam leaned away slightly, breaking the kiss. Fluttershy dared to open her eyes. She barely caught one glance before he kissed her again and the two shifted so they were facing each other properly. Fluttershy wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her heart leapt as he placed a hand on her lower back and reached up with the other to gently cup her face. Fluttershy kissed him hungrily, her lips parting as he pulled her closer.

The sound of approaching footsteps suddenly broke whatever spell she was under and they both whipped their heads around just as Sunset appeared around the corner.

Sunset's eyes practically popped out of their sockets when she saw the two still intertwined and Fluttershy felt a blush like nothing she'd ever felt before exploding into existence across her face.

"Er, sorry," Sunset said awkwardly. "I… I was just coming to find everyone to, uh, tell them…"

"Has something happened?" Adam asked worriedly.

"Sentinel Lyons is back from Project Purity." Fluttershy felt a sudden twist of fear in her gut as Sunset spoke. "The Enclave rejected the peace treaty. The Brotherhood are launching their assault in the morning."

Next Chapter: Chapter 63 - Take it Back! Estimated time remaining: 31 Hours, 57 Minutes