Rainbow tried her best to look inconspicuous as Sienna, Tara, and Patricia led her through the corridors of the Exodus building. It wasn't easy; what with her wings, bright coloration and extremely sparkly new armor, but she tried nevertheless. Luckily for her, no-one else seemed to be present in that particular section of the building's basement.

"We're here." Tara halted the group next to a nondescript door and knocked softly on it. "Sunny? Are you alone in there?" She called out.

"One second!" Rainbow heard shuffling sounds from inside, then after a few seconds Becky called, "Come in!"

Tara pushed the door open and froze with one foot across the threshold. Sienna and Patricia weren't in the right position to see but Rainbow, standing right behind Tara, had a perfectly clear view over her shoulder.

Becky was standing, ponied up, with one foot planted on a chair in the middle of the room. Her outfit consisted solely of a pair of high-heeled leather boots, a leather belt draped across her hips, a leather jacket thrown open at the front just to make sure that absolutely nothing was left to the imagination, and a riding crop that slapped intimidatingly against her palm.

The scene only lasted for a split second; Becky's eyes practically popped out of her head when she realized that Tara wasn't alone, then she bolted towards a back door just as Tara pulled the door she was holding shut, but that was plenty of time for the image to sear itself into Rainbow's mind.

"What's the matter, Tara?" Patricia asked.

"Nothing!" Tara replied quickly. "Becky had just gotten out of the shower and wasn't expecting company!" She pushed the door slightly open again, poked her head inside to have a quick look around, then opened it all the way and stepped inside, gesturing for the others to enter.

The room was small and simple; with a double bed in the corner, a pair of desks against one wall and a wardrobe against the other. The door that Becky had disappeared through was evidently the bathroom.

As Sienna stepped past Rainbow she patted the Rainboom on the shoulder and whispered, "Don't worry. Whatever you saw, it could always be worse. Trust me."

Rainbow didn't answer. She was desperately trying not to think about how Becky, and by extension Sunset, looked incredible naked, and was also pondering whether or not it was worth asking Sunset if she shaved her pubic hair just like her counterpart did.

Huh, that's two people I've seen who shave their bush. Is that a thing in this world? Should I do mine? Nah, I would never trust myself with a razor down there. I could ask Rarity to- wait, no, nononononono! Bad brain!

"Yoohoo, Earth to Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow snapped back to reality at the sound of Sienna's voice. "There you are. What the hell was Becky doing to make you space out like that?"

"N-no, it's not that!" Rainbow said quickly. "I, uh, was just thinking about Twilight and Sunset and… stuff."

"Don't worry, we'll do what we can to help." Tara glanced at the bathroom door. "Why don't you all sit down while I just check on Becky?"

As Tara followed Becky into the bathroom Sienna took the chair and Patricia sat on the edge of the bed. Rainbow, not trusting either of those options, opted to lean against the wall instead.

"How did you get the new kit?" Sienna asked.

Rainbow looked down at her armor. "The Brotherhood of Steel gave me some combat armor, but that freaky magic tornado thing back there is what did this." She gestured to the glittering breastplate for emphasis.

"That's weird." Sienna shrugged. "I guess it's just one more thing to add to the list of bizarre shit that magic does."

"Um, excuse me?" Patricia raised her hand like a student in class. "I have a few questions."

"What do you wanna know?" Rainbow asked warily.

Patricia leaned forward and fixed her with a focused look. "What is your home like? How different is it from this world?"

Rainbow stared at her in surprise. "Uh, it's about as different as it can possibly get. Seriously, our home and this crappy world have almost nothing in common."

"Really?" Pat arched an eyebrow. "And what makes it so different?"

"There hasn't been a nuclear war for a start," Rainbow shot. "It's not perfect, but from what I've seen we've got more people living in one city than there are in the whole Capital Wasteland, and there's no raiders or Super Mutants or stinking Enclave going around killing people for no damn reason."

Patricia scowled and opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Tara and Becky coming back out of the bathroom. Becky had replaced her kinky outfit with a simple gray bathrobe and slippers. "Okay, what the fuck is going on, Rainbow?" She asked. "Tara says that Twilight can't walk and Fluttershy has been mutated by FEV?!"

Rainbow nodded. "Sunset managed to stop Fluttershy from going crazy and trying to bite people, but we were hoping that you might have some way of curing the FEV and undoing her mutation."

The bleak expressions on everyone else's face was answer enough for Rainbow.

"There's no cure for FEV, at least, none that I know of," Tara said quietly.

"Come on, there's gotta be something that you can do!" Rainbow cried.

Tara shook her head. "I'm sorry, but it's not something that the Enclave has ever researched."

Rainbow sagged against the wall. "Right. I guess it was a long shot." She sighed and wiped a hand across her eyes. "Can you give us whatever information you have on FEV anyway? Twilight might be able to come up with something."

"Of course, Rainbow," Becky replied. "Speaking of Twilight, what happened? I know her injuries were severe, but I thought the Brotherhood of Steel would be able to fix her up without too much trouble?"

"They've done what they can, but she can't walk without opening her wounds back up." Rainbow pulled a folded square of paper out of her pocket. "Here, the medics asked me to show you this. It's a list of what they did to try and fix her."

Sienna stood and held out a hand. "Let me see that." Rainbow handed the sheet over, and Sienna's eyes widened as she read through the list. "Wow, her injuries were nastier than I expected. This is why I kept pushing for better containment of the Deathclaw specimens." She started pacing, humming every now and again in thought. "The auto-doc they used is an older model but still serviceable, and the procedure they used is definitely correct; their surgeon knows what he's doing, but why would they use that kind of biogel? The Enclave hasn't used that type in almost a century, it's obsolete!"

"The Brotherhood don't have access to our R&D, remember?" Tara put in.

"Good point." Sienna folded the sheet of paper and slipped it into a pocket. "I'll see if I can find a holotape with a software update for their auto-doc. The hardware hasn't changed much since the war, so it should take easily enough. While I'm at it I'll see how much biogel and how many stimpaks I can spare." She huffed and shook her head. "It won't be perfect, but it'll at least help her recover in six weeks instead of six months."

"I'll see if I can dig up our FEV research without raising suspicion," Tara offered. "If I frame it as part of our Exodus research, then we should be able to get away with it."

Rainbow nodded her thanks. "That's awesome. Seriously, we owe you one." She glanced at Becky. "What about the peace treaty?"

Becky shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry. The Senate held a vote to decide on whether or not they should approve a peace treaty, but it didn't go through."

"Crap," Rainbow muttered.

"So I guess that means we're going to have to help you without the Senate finding out," Becky continued.

Patricia chewed her lip nervously. "This is treading dangerously close to treason again. Think carefully about this."

"We have been thinking carefully, and I'm done with the top brass's bullshit," Becky replied. "You heard what Devall said, they're already replicating and experimenting on the magic, we can't-"

"Hang on, what magic?" Rainbow cut in. "I thought the only magic the Enclave had was here and at what's left of Raven Rock?"

Tara grimaced and sank onto the bed. "I wish that were true. Thanks to Doctor Turner's betrayal a large supply of magic was delivered to our primary base of operations; the Adams Air Force Base just outside the Capital Wasteland."

"Getting really close to treason here, Tara," Patricia said warningly.

"Fuck treason, those assholes betrayed humanity the moment they chose to chase power and control instead of ending this lunatic war," Becky spat. "I'm not standing by and watching the Enclave burn down what little civilization is left in this world. If that means siding with the Brotherhood of Steel and working with the Rainbooms, then so be it."

Rainbow gave her an impressed look. "Are you sure about this? I mean, it's cool that you want to help us, but isn't that gonna be like, super dangerous?"

"No more dangerous than letting that lunatic Acheson play around with magic," Becky replied.

Patricia shifted uncomfortably. "And what about Andrew?"

"We can't tell him," Tara said quickly. "The less he knows the safer he'll be. Besides, he's the head of the military, we'd be putting him in an awful position."

"No shit." Everyone looked in startled surprise as the door opened and a man stepped in. He was wearing an officer's uniform and had a stubby plasma pistol clenched at his side, which he subtly pointed at Rainbow the moment he spotted her. Rainbow recognised him as the officer that had greeted the Vertibirds she'd chased at Raven Rock.

"Andrew?!" Pat and Tara cried in unison, jumping to their feet.

Andrew didn't acknowledge them. Instead he just glared at Rainbow Dash, who in turn didn't dare take her eyes off the plasma pistol pointed directly at her gut.

"Take it easy, you two. Don't do anything hasty," Becky said in a calm tone.

Rainbow smirked. "Don't worry. If I was going to kill this dipshit I'd have done it already."

"Big words for someone at gunpoint," Andrew countered.

"You're the one at gunpoint," Sienna called out. Despite themselves, Andrew and Rainbow both glanced at her. Sienna was still lounging comfortably in the chair, but she had pulled a sawn-off shotgun from somewhere and had it pointed directly at Andrew.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Tara snapped. "That's my brother you're threatening!"

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Sienna deadpanned.

Andrew frowned, but didn't lower his gun. "If you fire that from there the spread is likely to catch Rainbow too."

"It's a good thing it's not loaded with buckshot then," Sienna replied in a bored voice. "I use hollowpoint slugs."

The blood drained from Andrew's face in an instant. "You're really set on this, huh?"

Sienna inclined her head slightly in admission. "I'd rather not kill you if I don't have to. It would upset Tara and Pat-"

"No shit," Tara hissed.

"-but the Rainbooms are pretty much the only ones who can help us keep all of this magic from destroying everything," Sienna continued. "You're pointing a gun at one, so you do the math."

A taut silence fell as Andrew clearly weighed his options. Rainbow kept her guard up, ready to dive out of the way in a heartbeat if he decided to try and shoot her anyway.

After several long seconds, Patricia finally broke the silence, "Andrew, please put the gun down."

"You know I can't do that, mom," he replied.

"Yes, you can, dear," Patricia insisted. "The Enclave has been betrayed by its leaders so many times now. Thanks to Eden and Autumn we lost our home, families have been destroyed, and the Enclave is weaker than it ever has been. Whole classrooms full of our own innocent children were almost wiped out because of their power plays, and now Acheson and Lily are going to do the same damned thing with their stolen magic."

Andrew nodded slowly. "Maybe, but what about the soldiers under my command? How can I let you pass information to the Brotherhood of Steel while still keeping good people from getting killed?"

"You rat bastard!" Becky yelled suddenly, making everyone else jump out of their skin. "You're not going to shoot Rainbow, you actually agree with us!"

"Wait, what?" Rainbow looked back at Andrew to see him raising an eyebrow.

Becky huffed and shook her head. "I thought something was off. Why did you wait outside until we mentioned you? And why didn't you just drop in a flashbang and tie Rainbow up while we were incapacitated?" She gave him an unamused look. "You wanted to make sure that we were all on board before you made a move. Hell, is that gun even loaded?"

Andrew stared at her impassively for a moment, then sighed and held the gun up. "It's not even a real gun, it's a model of one of the prototypes that R&D have been working on. Come on, I wouldn't point a real weapon at someone I wasn't intending to shoot, loaded or not. Basic gun safety."

"Gun safety?" Sienna shot as she lowered her shotgun. "I almost blew a cavity the size of a football in your chest, dumbass."

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting you to be armed, especially with that," Andrew admitted. "Besides, I know we're exes, but I thought we were on better terms than that."

"Hang on, when did you two date?!" Tara asked incredulously.

Sienna scowled at Andrew. "We didn't date, I just used to let him bend me over a desk every now and then."

"Andrew!" Patricia snapped.

As the others all started talking over each other Rainbow threw her hands up and called out to get their attention, "Hey! Can someone explain to me what the heck just happened?"

Becky sighed, walked up to Rainbow, patted her on the shoulder and gestured to Andrew. "This asshole was scoping us out. He wanted to be sure that we-"

"Were all actually planning on helping me and my friends," Rainbow finished, "yeah, I got that. What I don't get is why he pointed a fake gun at me and pretended to threaten me."

Andrew shrugged. "Sorry about that, but I had to see how serious everyone was about this. If they had immediately started apologizing and begging for forgiveness then they wouldn't have the resolve to see this course of action through to the end."

"Right." Rainbow shot a confused glance at Becky. "How did you figure it out?"

Becky allowed herself a small smile. "His question: How can he let us pass information along without getting his soldiers killed?" She nodded to Andrew. "You weren't being rhetorical, were you? You were literally asking how we could manage to help the Brotherhood while avoiding getting the decent people under your command killed."

Andrew sighed heavily. "I'd prefer it if as few people die as possible, but since war is currently our only option thanks to the Senate, we may as well make sure that it's only the people who actually want a war that take the brunt of the fighting."

The bed creaked as Patricia sank back onto it. "I don't know how to feel about this," she said quietly. "How long have you been planning on betraying the Enclave too?"

"I'm not going to betray the Enclave," Andrew said firmly. "It's like you said; Eden, Colonel Autumn, Acheson and Lily all betrayed us. When we were in school we were taught that the Enclave did what it did because we were helping to restore peace and civilization back to the wastes. I plan on making those idealistic lies a reality." He crossed his arms as he added coldly, "People like Senator Lily who foment war in the name of power have no place in the Enclave's future as I see it."

Rainbow grinned at him. "I have no idea who most of those people are, but that still sounds awesome!"

"You're damn right it does," Becky agreed. "Alright, Andrew, clearly we have some planning to do, but first I'm going to need you all to fuck off for a minute." In response to everyone's confused expressions, she gestured to her bathrobe. "I need to get some clothes on, and there's no way in hell I'm stripping down in front of all of you."

That was enough to get everyone moving. Sienna said that she would gather some medical paraphernalia for Twilight and disappeared, quickly followed by Patricia who mentioned going to find her husband. As Andrew made to leave too, Tara called out to him, "Hang on a second, how did you even know that Rainbow was down here? I thought you were upstairs?"

Andrew nodded. "I was. Horrigan had just come back from patrol and was giving me his report when we saw the magic wind thing in the middle of the building suddenly flare up. It seemed pretty suspicious, so we came down in the cargo elevator. The moment I saw that none of you were observing the magic I figured that we had an intruder, so I left Horrigan guarding the hangar and came to find you." He looked back at Rainbow. "On a related note, you'd best come and find me when you want to leave so I can sneak you in and out of the elevator without Horrigan or anyone else seeing you."

"Sure, I'll do that." Rainbow waited as he closed the door behind him, leaving her alone with Tara and Becky.

"You should probably go with Andrew or Sienna," Becky suggested. "I wasn't kidding about wanting to get dressed."

"Yeah, sure, in a sec. I've just got a quick question first," Rainbow replied.

Becky and Tara shared a wary look. "What is it?" Becky asked tentatively.

Rainbow pointed up at Becky's pony ears. "How did you manage to pony up?"

"Huh? Oh, that?" Becky heaved a great sigh of relief. "It's pretty simple, actually. The magic in that weird tornado thing seems to respond when we get close, and certain colors get drawn to us." Rainbow nodded as she remembered the blue wisps swarming her on her way down. "I found out that we can actually catch some of the magic from the tornado just by holding a jar and waiting for a bit to float in. I've got a bit of Sunset's magic in a jar in the bathroom; I just open it up a little and it ponies me up straight away."

"Cool!" Rainbow replied, impressed.

"Was there anything else?" Tara asked.

Rainbow gave them a sly grin. "Just one more thing. What were you planning on doing with that outfit and the riding crop?"

"Out, Rainbow!"

Next Chapter: Chapter 74 - Fashion and the Forest Estimated time remaining: 29 Hours, 16 Minutes