Rainbow Dash double checked her equipment as she stepped out into the Citadel's courtyard. Her combat armor was fitted securely and comfortably, Flashburn was scabbarded at her waist with its gas tank secured on her lower back, and her combat knives were secured on her other hip.

The sky was nice and clear; not great weather for sneaking into places, but it was better than flying in a thunderstorm.

As she made her way to the center of the courtyard, Rainbow spotted Applejack, Rarity and Sunset standing near the unarmed training ring. "Hey! Are you guys leaving too?" She called out.

"Soon," Applejack replied as Rainbow approached. "We're just waiting on our escort, then we'll be heading over to Rivet City. Are you heading for Project Exodus now?"

"Yep." Rainbow put her hands on her hips and looked up at the sky. "I figure the quicker I go, the quicker I get back." She glanced sidelong at Sunset. "How's Fluttershy doing now? I heard that you sorta fixed her, or something."

Sunset brushed her wet hair out of her face. It looked like she'd only just gotten out of the shower. "She's still all… vampirey, but yeah; she's talking now, instead of trying to eat people." She fixed Rainbow with a serious look. "Be careful, okay? I don't think I can take any more bad news."

Rainbow nodded. "Don't worry, I'm not looking for a fight today. I think Fluttershy has done enough of that for all of us." She tapped her Geode and enjoyed the rush of magic as she ponied up. "Alright, I'm off. You guys have fun in Rivet City!"

With a quick wave, Rainbow launched herself into the air and banked around to fly due south. It didn't take long for her to find the bridge that the Wonderbolts had taken them across on their way to the Citadel for the first time then, from there, it was a simple matter to follow the route that they had taken on their escape from Project Exodus. Rainbow was careful to fly high enough that she wasn't likely to get spotted, only dropping to ground level to get her bearings when she wasn't sure which way to go.

Several bands of Super Mutants were roving around, but they were easy enough for Rainbow to avoid or, when she spotted winged Mutants, hide from until they had passed.

The only moment when Rainbow genuinely felt afraid was when she was following the route down a ruined street. As she swooped down to get a better idea of where she was, she felt a rhythmic thumping the moment her feet touched the concrete. Rainbow immediately sprinted into the nearest building, out of sight. Not a moment too soon as a magically mutated Behemoth lumbered into view around the corner, walking on all fours in the manner of a gorilla.

Unlike the last Behemoth that Rainbow had seen, this one's skin had become entirely coated in scales, with large clusters of amber crystals growing out of its joints. At first, the Behemoth wandered aimlessly down the street, but the moment it reached the building that Rainbow was lurking in, it paused and sniffed loudly.

Rainbow ducked out of sight just as it looked down at the building. She could hear the beast coming closer and, unwilling to get into a fight with such a massive creature, she used her super speed to sprint around the inside of the building and up a set of stairs she used to launch herself into the sky via a hole in the roof. The Behemoth, so intent on sniffing the doorway she'd entered through, never saw her as she flew over its head and continued on her journey.

After another hour of careful flying, Rainbow finally spotted the Project Exodus building. Unfortunately, it was a lot better fortified than it had been the last time she was there. She counted three Vertibirds parked around the building with dozens of power armored soldiers, and several eyebots patrolling or standing guard at various points. There were even a couple of soldiers on the roof of the building keeping watch, forcing Rainbow to lurk behind some ruins out of sight.

Given how secure the place was, Rainbow quickly decided that getting into the subterranean facility using the elevator wasn't going to happen. Fortunately, there was an alternative. Carefully watching the soldiers from cover, Rainbow waited for a moment when one of the upper windows was unobserved and seized her chance to zip inside at top speed. She waited for a minute or so and listened for any sign that the alarm had been raised. When she was certain that she hadn't been spotted, she cautiously made her way towards the center of the building.

The Exodus building was surprisingly busy, but luckily most of the people wandering around were neither soldiers nor were they particularly alert. Sneaking past them wasn't troublesome. All the while, Rainbow kept moving towards the middle of the building, and the immense vertical hole that their magic had carved through it. When she finally reached the pit, Rainbow couldn't help but let out an awestruck gasp at what she saw.

Thousands upon thousands of magical wisps swirled around like a whirlwind; a kaleidoscope of color that shimmered and flowed unceasingly up and down through the perfectly circular holes in the building's floors. The wisps all moved at different paces and in different directions, never once straying out of the invisible boundaries of the tornado. On occasion a flurry of them would surge together like a wave in the air, at other times some would coalesce into half-formed shapes before dissipating once again.

Just as impressive as the light show, was the sound. Each wisp sang as it moved, a soft but clear note like the ringing of a crystal glass. When the wisps bumped into each other, they chimed like tiny ethereal bells. Altogether it created a symphony of haunting beauty, a melody that tugged at the heart as it enraptured the mind.

Rainbow had no idea how long she stood and stared at it, utterly mesmerized. It wasn't until she heard the distinctive sound of power-armored footsteps that she realized that she had been standing around like a gormless fool. She looked around desperately for cover, but thankfully the footsteps slowly receded, as of whoever was coming had turned down a different corridor.

With a sigh of relief, Rainbow turned back to the magic tornado. She clapped her hands to her cheeks a few times to clear her head and cautiously moved closer. Stepping over the thin chain the Enclave had strung up to cordon off the tornado, Rainbow got as close as she could to the swirling wisps without actually touching them and peered down into the hole.

The hole was easily the length of a tennis court in diameter. It burrowed through the floors of the building and the rock below in a perfect cylinder shape.

Rainbow frowned, unsure of whether the magic was safe to touch, then shrugged and extended her hand into it anyway. Her skin started tingling the moment it crossed the tornado's invisible boundary. Most of the wisps avoided her arm, altering their path at the last second to avoid it, but dozens of blue ones that somehow reminded Rainbow of her own magic clustered around her hand, enshrouding it in a sparkling glove of pure energy. When Rainbow pulled her hand back the wisps peeled away from her rather than leave the mass, bobbing around for a moment before zipping off and continuing on their merry way.

"Okay, seems safe enough," Rainbow whispered to herself. Taking a deep breath, she took one last step forward and dropped into the hole.

It was an experience unlike anything else Rainbow had ever felt. It was as if she were floating down through the eye of her own personal storm, albeit one constructed from the fever dreams of a mad artist. Most of the wisps simply moved out of her way, but the blue ones seemed to seek her out and clung to every part of her body. Dozens at first, then hundreds, then finally thousands of them coated her in a flickering mass of magical power.

As Rainbow dropped further towards the bottom, she slowly realized that the tornado seemed to be getting denser. Millions of tiny lights filled the air, and yet somehow she could still see perfectly through them. Still, if the magic was becoming denser, Rainbow figured that it might pose a certain problem.

The tornado certainly hadn't been around the last time Rainbow was at Project Exodus, meaning that it was relatively new. If it was relatively new, then the Enclave probably had someone monitoring it at the bottom. Whoever was monitoring it would have noticed it getting denser and would therefore be paying more attention, which would make it that much more difficult for Rainbow to get out at the bottom without getting spotted.

Thinking fast, Rainbow tilted her wings and turned her floating into a wide circling descent, picking up the pace as she did so. The wisps reacted, swirling around and out of her way until the whole tornado was spinning faster and more chaotically than ever.

Rainbow kept it up until she finally saw the floor of the subterranean hangar down below. Two people were standing near the bottom of the tornado looking up. Hoping that the mass of magic would mask her, Rainbow used her super speed to burst out of the tornado and dart behind a stack of metal crates behind the two figures.

Peeking out from behind the crates, Rainbow was relieved to see that the two people were still looking up at the magical maelstrom, blissfully unaware of her presence. She recognized one of them as Doctor Strong, but she had no idea who the second person was. She ducked back behind the crates and was about to head off in search of Doctor Shoichet when something caught her eye. "Whoa…"

Rainbow's armor had changed; altered by her trip through the magical tornado. Where before it had been made of some dull grey material that resembled steel, now it seemed to be composed of a deep blue gemstone; sapphire, if her time around Rarity had taught her anything, lined with pale metal that gleamed in the light. A matching vambrace covered her right forearm, with greaves covering her shins. Even her Pip-Boy had been converted into the same sapphire with pale metal lining, and instead of green, the script running across the screen was now a bright baby blue.

As she inspected her newly modified armor Rainbow noticed that Flashburn had changed, too. The pipe that connected the blade to the gas tank was gone, and a quick check revealed that the gas tank itself had disappeared entirely. The handle of the shishkebab now resembled the hilt and crossguard of a true sword, and the leather sheath that Rarity had made for it was now covered in ornate silver filigree. Drawing the blade, Rainbow saw that Flashburn had indeed mutated into a real backsword, with a single-edged blue steel blade. It may have lacked the fuel for flame, but somehow she knew that it would ignite if only she wished it to.

Rainbow was so absorbed in checking out how her equipment had changed that she didn't notice someone standing and staring at her until the woman cleared her throat, making her practically jump out of her skin.

"Are you done admiring yourself, or should I come back later?" Sienna asked with a raised eyebrow.

Rainbow chuckled awkwardly and sheathed Flashburn. "Uh, hey, Doctor Bohn. I didn't see you there."

"Which is surprising considering you almost ran into me," Sienna deadpanned. "What are you doing here?"

"There's a few things going on back at the Citadel, we could kinda use your help," Rainbow replied.

Sienna sighed heavily. "Of course you do. You're lucky that Horrigan's on patrol at the moment." She stepped around the crates and called out to the others, "Tara, Pat, could you come over here?"

"What are you doing?!" Rainbow hissed.

"Relax, Patricia is trustworthy," Sienna replied. "She's Tara's mom."

"Wait, her mom?" Rainbow waited impatiently as the two women made their way over from the magical tornado. Both did a double take as they stepped around the crates and spotted her.

"Rainbow Dash?! What the hell are you doing here?!" Tara cried.

Tara's mother, Patricia, looked Rainbow over curiously. "So you're one of the Rainbooms? I'd heard the stories, but I've got to admit, I don't think I really believed them until now."

"Yeah, I'm awesome," Rainbow said distractedly before turning to Tara. "Look, I know this is kinda out of the blue, but we need your help."

"What's wrong?" Tara asked.

Rainbow ticked off the list on her fingers. "First of all, Twilight's injuries are pretty bad, she can't even walk without making them worse. Second, Fluttershy had been infected by FEV and mutated into some sort of vampire thing-"

"What?!" the other women cried in shock.

"Third," Rainbow continued, "the Brotherhood of Steel wants to know if the Enclave are a little more open to a peace treaty after what happened at Project Purity. And fourth, if there's not going to be a peace treaty, then they want as much information on the Enclave as they can get."

The three Enclave women just stared at her in blank shock. Finally, Sienna broke the silence, "Is it just me, or has the whole world just decided to go full-on batshit crazy?"

"It's not just you." Tara sighed and shook her head. "Come with me. We'll fetch Becky and see what we can sort out."

---

Sunset watched Rainbow fly away with more than a little trepidation. Seeing her look, Applejack clapped a hand to her shoulder. "Don't you worry, she'll be fine."

"If you say so," Sunset muttered.

"Trust me. Rainbow may be reckless, but she ain't looking for a fight," Applejack said firmly. "The only reason she's going back there is to find something that can help Flutters and Twilight, and you know as well as anyone that Rainbow never leaves her friends hanging."

Sunset sighed, but she gave a small smile. "I guess you're right."

"Darn right, Ah am." Applejack slung her pack over her shoulder and tipped her hat back. "Come on, looks like our escort is here." She nodded to three Knights that were approaching from across the courtyard.

"Excellent," Rarity said as she picked up her pack and straightened out her armor.

The Knights stopped and saluted when they reached the girls. "Ladies, we're here to escort you to Rivet City. Are you ready to go?"

"We're ready," Sunset replied, patting her armor to reassure herself that it was still there. None of the Rainbooms were willing to leave the Citadel without armor, but Sunset was particularly attached to hers, after it had saved her life during the assault on Project Purity.

The girls quickly fell into step behind the Knights as they led the way out of the Citadel's main gate. The weather was perfect; bright and clear without a cloud in the sky, but not too warm either. Even so, Sunset couldn't help the uneasy feeling in her gut as the group made their way to Project Purity, following the same route they had taken in the battle to reclaim it.

Remnants of the battle surrounded the group from the moment they set foot on the big bridge across the river. The Brotherhood of Steel had been working hard to clear the worst of the mess, but their priority had been moving the bodies of the dead and acquiring any equipment that still worked, leaving behind piles of scorched stone and twisted metal. The bloodstains remained too, silent markers of suffering and death.

Sunset found her feet dragging as the group turned onto the street where they had been ambushed. In her mind, she knew that the constant Brotherhood patrols made this path one of the safest areas in the wasteland. Unfortunately, her heart was convinced otherwise and her memories certainly weren't helping to change that state of affairs. Passing by the building they had taken cover in was the worst part. Sunset could almost hear the cries and gunfire, she could smell the stench of hot metal and charred flesh in her memory.

"Easy there, sugarcube." Sunset looked around as Applejack spoke. The farm girl nodded to the corner of the street ahead. "You're okay, just keep walking 'til we're out of this street and you'll be fine. You've got this."

Sunset nodded and focused her gaze on the building at the end of the street. Her heart was pounding in her chest, but she concentrated on her breathing as best she could and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Soon enough, though it felt like an hour to Sunset, the group turned the corner and were out of sight of the awful place.

"There you go, darling. The hard part is out of the way," Rarity said softly.

"Yeah," Sunset replied wearily.

"Don't worry, we're not far from Project Purity," one of the Knights told them. "From there, it's just a short walk to Rivet City."

The rest of the walk to Project Purity passed without incident. When they arrived at the memorial building, the girls were impressed to see several Knights standing guard while dozens of Scribes hurried around, moving heavy steel drums and taking inventory. Some of the personnel paused to greet the group as they passed, calling out encouragement to the girls and their escort, but most of them were either too busy or just not interested.

Sunset looked up at the memorial building as she followed the others. Much of the damage and debris from the assault had been cleared away, and in the bright sunshine Project Purity looked far cleaner and less oppressive than the last time they had been there. Still, the very sight of it brought back unpleasant memories for each of the girls; after all, everything had only truly gone wrong for them after they had met James there.

As the girls followed their escort onto the great metal walkway that ran around Project Purity they finally got their first view of the great pipes sticking out of the side of the building. Clear water was blasting out of them at a ferocious rate into the Tidal Basin.

"Well, would you look at that?" Applejack said softly. "That's sure going to help a bunch of people around the wasteland."

Sunset couldn't deny that, but she couldn't help but think about what it had cost. She tried to shrug off the dark thoughts rising within her and focus on the good things happening right before them.

"We've got a job to do first," Rarity said. "The sooner we get to Rivet City and help them with whatever magical issue they're dealing with, the sooner we can get their help with distributing this water to the people that need it most."

Once they were off the walkway and on the last stretch of road leading to Rivet City, all of the girls, even Sunset, felt their spirits rising a little. The city may have been cramped and dilapidated, but it was the last place that any of them had felt truly safe. As they made their way up the hill and Rivet City came into view, however, the girls stopped and stared in stunned disbelief at the scene that greeted them.

"What the...?" Sunset muttered.

Rivet City had changed beyond recognition. Irregular patches of the exterior had somehow been restored to what must have been their original state. The burnished steel gleamed in the sunlight while crystal formations sprouted from random sections of the hull. Even more bizarrely were the closely packed trees and thick vegetation that covered the entirety of the far side of the ship, apparently growing directly from the metal itself. Chunks of loose metal floated sedately above the city, surrounded by a purple glow, while the trees and command tower were giving off flashes of multicolored lightning at random intervals.

"You can see why they want your help," one of the Knights said flatly.

"Yeah, no kidding," Applejack muttered.

With the initial shock at Rivet City's transformation over, the girls noticed a small crowd of people gathered around the base of the metal structure that held the boarding platform. A squad of Brotherhood Knights was handing out bottles of water from a pack Brahmin to those around them.

"You've started distributing the water already?" Sunset asked her escorts.

The Knights nodded. "We've been giving the water out freely from here since it's close to Project Purity. We give a certain quantity to Rivet City as well, but we can't really do much more on our own. We need help from the Rivet City Council if we want to get shipments to the rest of the settlements of the Capital Wasteland."

Thankfully, the crowd largely ignored the girls as they passed by and entered the metal structure, climbing the ramps until they reached the boarding platform. A few people were up there already, apparently waiting for the bridge to extend. One of the men leaning against the railings perked up as he spotted the group. "Hey, you're the Rainbooms!"

"The Rainbooms?" The woman next to him raised an eyebrow curiously. "I'd heard you were working with the Enclave, what are you doing with the Brotherhood of Steel?"

"The Enclave kidnapped us," Applejack replied grumpily. "The Brotherhood helped us escape."

"I wonder if you'd say that if the Knights weren't here," the woman muttered.

"Put a sock in it," one of the Knights retorted as he stepped over to the intercom. "This is Knight Green of the Brotherhood of Steel here with Applejack, Rarity and Sunset Shimmer of the Rainbooms."

A reply crackled over the intercom a few seconds later. "Seriously?! Alright, we'll extend the bridge. Knights and Rainbooms can come over, but that's it. Anyone else tries to come across and they'll get shot."

The annoyed grumbling of the waiting people was drowned out by the metallic grinding noise the bridge made as it shifted into motion. Sunset watched with interest as it swung around towards them, feeling a sudden surge of relief that she wasn't at death's door this time.

When the bridge was in place, the Knights gestured for the girls to cross first. Several members of Rivet City's security team met them on the other side. One of them stepped forward and nodded in greeting. "It's good to see you. Knights, you're welcome to rest in the security team's lounge if you wish. Girls, the Council wants to see you immediately, refreshments will be provided in the Council room; if you'll follow me, please."

---

"Whoa." Metzger stared up at the crystalline mountain in awe. She and the rest of her squad were on a secret mission to investigate what had happened to Raven Rock, with a new friend of theirs acting as a guide. "Nice work, Fawkes."

"You are most welcome," Fawkes replied with a nod.

Hill stepped forward and tapped his finger against a five-foot ruby growing out of the ground. It let out a soft chiming sound when he touched it. "Damn… I know the briefing told us about this, but I sure as hell didn't believe it until now."

"Yeah, me neither," Metzger muttered. She glanced over at Fawkes, who was frowning curiously at a large sheet of tourmaline near his feet. "What's up, Fawkes? Something bothering you?"

Fawkes turned and slowly cast his gaze around at the many crystal formations jutting out of the ground around the mountain's base. "It is spreading."

"The gemstones?" Misty asked. Fawkes just nodded. "That's weird."

"I get the feeling we're going to have to get used to weird shit happening wherever the Rainbooms go." Metzger readied her laser rifle and gestured at a cave mouth at the base of the mountain. "Come on, let's take a look inside."

The squad moved forward as one. Every time they stepped on a gemstone it rang or chimed loudly but, surprisingly, none of them so much as cracked under the weight of the Wonderbolts' power armor. The entrance to the cave mouth was square and clean-cut, leading Metzger to believe that it used to be the original entrance to Raven Rock.

"Alright, Hill, take point with me. Fawkes, I want you in the middle," Metzger said firmly. "Keep your weapons ready and your heads on a swivel. We have no idea whether or not anything survived the blast, and there's always the chance that some critter’s wandered in here since."

Inside, the tunnel was dim, but not quite dark. Every surface was made of crystal with hundreds of different colors and shades blending together seamlessly; each of them let out a faint glow that provided just enough illumination to see by. The squad followed the tunnel as it twisted and turned, burrowing ever further into the mountain. Several more tunnels split off from the one they were in but, in the interest of not getting lost, the group stayed on the straightest path.

"This is not right," Fawkes said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Metzger whispered back. Something about the tunnels made her want to be as quiet as possible.

Fawkes frowned as he glanced down one of the side tunnels. "I did not trespass far into this facility before the detonation of magic, but I remember the path we took well enough, and the layout of these tunnels has changed."

Metzger was about to reply when a series of loud chimes echoed down the tunnel. She gestured for the squad to halt and the ringing of their footsteps quickly faded, but the chiming from ahead grew steadily louder. The Wonderbolts tensed and raised their weapons, ready to defend themselves, but the chiming started to slowly fade away.

"This is above our fucking pay grade," Hill muttered.

"Can it." Metzger huffed, though she privately agreed with him. "It doesn't look like we're going to be able to get much useful information, not without someone who actually gets how this magic shit works. Let's just get the samples that Rothchild wants and get the hell out of here."

"Perhaps, I may be of assistance?" Everyone whipped around at the strange voice, but they couldn't see anyone else in the vicinity. "If you would be so kind as to avoid shooting me, I'm up here." The Wonderbolts all looked up, only to see a fist-sized blue crystalline spider ensconced in a little hole in the shimmering ceiling. It waved with one of its front legs when it saw that they had spotted it.

Metzger lowered her rifle and stared at it blankly. "What the hell?"

"It's a sparkly talking spider, of course it is." Hill shook his head. "Okay, this is officially the weirdest thing I've ever seen. There's no fucking way things can get weirder than this."

The little spider chuckled. "I suppose it certainly is unusual. My name is Eden."

"Eden," Metzger said flatly. "As in, 'President of the Enclave' Eden?"

"Former President," Eden replied in a surprisingly cheerful tone. "I was deposed shortly before Colonel Autumn initiated the base's self-destruct."

"And just when I think we've hit peak weird, we find something even fucking crazier," Hill put in.

Metzger eyed the little spider suspiciously. "How can you possibly expect us to believe that you used to be the President of the Enclave? For all we know you're some ordinary little bug that got mutated when this place blew." She shook her head as she realized that she was arguing about trust with a spider. "What the hell am I doing? Come on guys, let's get out of here."

"Wait!" Eden scuttled down the wall as the group turned to leave. "You make a fair point, but I can prove who I am!" He stopped and raised his forelegs as Metzger paused to look down at him. "I've already mentioned Colonel Autumn... oh, wait, maybe you don't know who he is-"

"He was the asshole at Project Purity who refused our peace treaty," Metzger shot.

"The Colonel escaped from here successfully?" Eden folded his forelegs and scratched his head with another. "How surprising. Anyway, if my knowledge of the Colonel isn't enough to convince you, how about Project Exodus, hm? I know the Brotherhood of Steel is aware of that.

“Or, I could mention the old Poseidon Oil Rig, maybe our Navarro outpost?" He skittered past the group and headed towards the entrance. "Look, just take me with you and I'll tell you everything I know, but we should probably talk as we walk. We don't want any of the other residents of this place to find us."

"What do you mean, 'other residents'?" Misty asked.

"The magic didn't just change me," Eden replied. "Our deathclaw specimens, suits of power armor, the few people that didn't escape in time, even the dead were affected by the magic."

Metzger couldn't help but cast a worried glance over her shoulder. "What did it do to the dead?"

"Nothing good." Eden paused to wave them onward with a leg. "I speak from experience when I say that most of them aren't friendly." His body clinked like glass as he shuddered. "But even the dead are nothing compared to what's lurking down in the lowest sub-basement."

Still trying to decide whether or not she believed him about the dead or, rather, just hoping that he was lying, Metzger asked, "And what have you got down in the basement? A living sex dungeon?"

Eden paused in his tracks again and walked right up to Metzger's feet. He rose on to his back two pairs of legs to look up at her face. "This is no joking matter, Knight. There is something down there that even I didn't know about, until I found it last night. A secret pet project of Senator Vess, or Lily as she prefers to be called, one that your leader needs to hear about. Now are you going to accept my help or not?"

Metzger glared down at the little spider. She briefly considered stomping on it, but managed to restrain herself. Whether or not the thing was actually Eden was up for debate, but it did have knowledge of the Enclave's inner workings and, as weird as it was, that made it potentially a valuable asset. "Fine. Fawkes, do you mind carrying him so we can move a bit faster? We'll grab the samples for Rothchild from the crystals outside and get back to the Citadel before any more weird shit turns up."

As the group made their way back out of Raven Rock, none of them noticed the creature following them through the crystal walls, nor the abomination that watched them through its eyes.

Next Chapter: Chapter 72 - Rivet City Revisited Estimated time remaining: 29 Hours, 53 Minutes