Walking through the middle of a torrential downpour wasn't a particularly nice experience. Trudging through bombed-out ruins, on a bone-chillingly cold day, in the middle of a radioactive torrential downpour, was yet another miserable experience for Sunset to add to the list of miseries that she had endured in the wastes so far.

The only thing that kept the journey at merely miserable, rather than nightmarish, was the immense overcoat that Sunset had been given by Tabitha. It was incredibly baggy, made of thick leather to keep her dry and lined with lead to protect from the radiation. It came with a pair of foot coverings that slipped under the pant legs to protect her shoes, and the hood had a stiff, wide-brimmed hat attached to keep the rain off her face, whether it was windy or not. Even the plasma gun that Harkness had given her was in a thick sack made of the same material, along with a handful of the little microfusion cells that functioned as it's ammunition.

Of course, the whole ensemble was incredibly heavy, especially with armor on underneath, and visibility was vastly reduced thanks to the hood and hat, meaning that fighting while wearing it would be almost impossible. Thankfully, having a squad of power-armored Knights as an escort meant that very few beings would be dumb enough to try and attack, especially in this weather. At least, that was Sunset's hope. Nothing had tried to attack them yet, so that was always a plus.

Even so, Sunset couldn't help but feel relieved when they finally got back to the Citadel. The main entrance still hadn't been fully repaired, despite the best efforts of the Brotherhood, so a set of temporary supports had been erected to keep the gate in place while they raised and lowered it.

Once the group was inside, the Knights separated to give their reports to their superiors, while a gaggle of Initiates helped Sunset remove her overcoat.

"Your friends returned a little while ago, Miss, from Arefu" one of them said as they hung the coat up for scrubbing. "They're in the showers right now, then Miss Twilight has asked if you could all join her in Miss Applejack's quarters. They have something important to discuss."

"Awesome, thanks!" Sunset quickly thanked the rest of the Initiates and headed off to the showers herself. Slogging through the rain in armor and a thick overcoat was a perfect way to work up a sweat, so she figured she may as well clean up and check on Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie while she was at it. The fact that Twilight wanted to gather the Rainbooms all together afterwards was even better; it saved Sunset the job of tracking them all down herself, though she was mildly concerned about whatever it was that Twilight wanted to talk about.

When she reached the showers, Sunset found Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy getting dressed in the changing room. The three looked around as she entered. "Hey, Sunset! How's it going?" Pinkie asked brightly.

"Pretty good, actually," Sunset replied with a grin. "I've got some big news for everyone, but that can wait until I've showered. How did things go with the Family? Did you have any trouble crossing the wastes?"

"We had a little trouble with some raiders and an Enclave outpost on the way," Fluttershy said as she towelled her hair. "And, um, giant ants, too. The way back was alright, though. I think the weather is keeping most of the trouble at bay. Rarity had to keep up a shield the whole way home though, to keep the rain off us." Rarity did indeed look exhausted; every movement was slow and half-hearted, and her head was sagging even as she tried to pull her shoes on. "Things went alright with the Family, though," Fluttershy continued. "I, um, may have had a bit of trouble at first, but it worked out in the end."

Sunset listened eagerly as the girls described everything that they had experienced over the last few days. She was impressed that Fluttershy had managed to gain a measure of control over her hunger, though hearing about Vance's little demonstration just before they left almost had her in stitches: As much as he professed to be blessed by the arrival of a genuine vampire, Sunset couldn't help but think that it must have threatened his ego as well. Only someone with vanity to spare would have arranged such a self-aggrandizing display.

When the discussion turned to the Laws of the Family that Fluttershy had chosen to pursue further, though, Sunset couldn't help but feel a shiver run down her spine. The first Law made perfect sense; helping Flutters to control and direct her bloodlust. The second, however, hit uncomfortably close to home. "Slay only your enemies, huh?"

Fluttershy nodded grimly. "I'm not going to start going out of my way to pick fights, and to be honest, I'm not really sure that I'll be able to actually go through with it if the time ever comes, but I have to try. I can't stand by and watch the rest of you put your lives on the line while I just hang back and try not to get in the way." She picked up a sword from next to a locker, surprising Sunset. "Vance gave me this. He called it Vampire's Edge. Hopefully, it'll help give me courage when the time comes."

Sunset sighed and glanced at the plasma gun she had set aside. "I hate to say it, but I know what you mean. I think Harkness was thinking the same thing when he gave me that."

"I was wondering where you had gotten that from," Rarity murmured to herself. "Goodness, that's three of us with new weapons, now."

In response to Sunset's querulous look, Pinkie shrugged and said, "I'm going to try and build something with the Scribes' help later. I hope I'll never have to use it, but…"

"But we might not have a choice," Sunset finished. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, then drew in a breath and shoved the dark thoughts to the back of her mind. "Well, either way, I've got some good news." Sunset quickly finished getting undressed before grabbing a towel and some toiletries from a cupboard. "Let me just have a quick shower and we'll all head over to Twilight's room together."

Pinkie smirked at her. "Are you sure you want to go straight there after the shower, or will you want to get dried and dressed first?"

"Pinkie!" Rarity snapped.

Sunset laughed and stepped over to the door to the showers themselves. "Sorry, Pinkie, but I will be getting dressed first, so enjoy the view while it lasts!"

After a quick shower, largely spent listening to Pinkie giggling, Rarity giving an exasperated lecture about dignity and Fluttershy muttering enviously about body confidence, Sunset hastily dried herself off. It was only once she was dry that Sunset realized, much to Pinkie's amusement, that the only clean clothes she had in her pack were the Enclave clothes she had been given back at Project Exodus. Even Rarity didn't have anything spare for her tucked away in her pack.

The walk to the quarters Applejack and Rarity shared was, thankfully, a short one. Even so, Sunset's choice of clothing garnered more than a few confused and concerned looks from the Brotherhood personnel she met along the way.

"Who's in there?" Fluttershy asked as they approached the room.

Sunset looked at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"I can hear five heartbeats in there," Fluttershy replied. "I guess three of them are Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and one of those heartbeats is very strong, so I'm guessing that's Fawkes, but… who's the other one?" She frowned and sniffed deeply, then her eyes widened and she suddenly darted off ahead of the others.

"Hey, Fluttershy?!" Sunset hurried after her, struggling to carry her armour and plasma gun while Rarity and Pinkie followed along.

Fluttershy skidded to a halt and slammed the door open, eliciting surprised yelps from those within. Sunset caught up just as Fluttershy stepped into the room.

Applejack was sitting at a small desk with Twilight next to her in the wheelchair, Rainbow was sprawled on the bed opposite, and Fawkes was sitting cross-legged in a corner. The only empty space was the bed next to the bathroom door.

"Well, now there's a sight for sore eyes!" Applejack said brightly.

"He's in the bathroom," Fluttershy said blankly. Before anyone could ask what she was talking about there came the sound of a flushing toilet from the bathroom, then a moment later the door opened.

Sunset gasped as Adam stepped into the room, wearing simple Brotherhood-issue pants and a t-shirt. She almost said something, and she felt Pinkie about to explode with excitement next to her, but every eye in the room was drawn to Fluttershy.

"Flutters!" Adam stepped forward the second he spotted her, but Fluttershy took a step back and lowered her gaze to the floor, rubbing her elbow awkwardly. Hurt flashed across Adam's face, but only for a moment before comprehension bloomed. "Is this about the FEV?" Fluttershy snapped her gaze back to him in surprise. "Yeah, one of the trainee medics let slip what happened when he was giving me a checkup. Poor twit can't keep a secret to save his life." Adam shrugged and gave her a hopeful look. "So, yeah, I know about the whole vampire thing.”

Fluttershy nodded sombrely. "O-okay, um, so we should, maybe, talk things over at some point, but until then, um, we should-"

"Pick up where we left off?" Adam suggested in a hopeful tone. The poleaxed expression on Fluttershy's face plainly said that that was not what she was going to say, and Adam faltered at the sight of it. "I mean, if that's what you want…?"

Fluttershy blinked dumbly at him, then looked around at each of the others in turn, a blush slowly creeping up her neck. Sunset feared that she might bolt like a scared rabbit, but instead she visibly steeled her resolve and looked at Adam. "Fuck it."

Before anyone could react to the language, Fluttershy crossed the room in the blink of an eye, grabbed the front of Adam's top, and yanked him into a smouldering kiss that stunned everyone. No-one knew quite how to react as the two wrapped their arms around each other, kissing deeply. Rainbow shifted and grinned, as if she was about to say something, but a sharp look from Twilight made her settle back down silently.

That's interesting, Sunset mused. When did Twilight get a hand on Rainbow's leash?

After an uncomfortable few moments, for everyone else, anyway, Fluttershy and Adam finally separated. Fluttershy's face was burning brightly enough to fry an egg. She quickly turned and stepped over to the empty bed, having a little trouble with her sword as she sat on the edge of it, and flicked her hair in front of her face, though her embarrassment didn't stop her from leaning into Adam when he sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Sorry, Fawkes, but your 'welcome back' greeting just got bumped down to second place," Adam said with a faint blush of his own.

Fawkes held up a hand. "I have no intention of kissing you myself, so I shall graciously accept this demotion."

"Wait, what did Fawkes do?" Pinkie asked eagerly.

Applejack snorted. "Swept him up into a big hug then swung him around like a little girl. It was one of the funniest things Ah've ever seen." She gestured at Rainbow. "Hey, Dash, shift your ass so people can sit next to you."

"Don't move on my account, I'll just settle myself here." Sunset raised an eyebrow as Rarity stepped over to Applejack and perched sideways on her lap. Applejack made several garbled noises that almost approached speech, but didn't attempt to make the fashionista move.

"In that case, I call Fawkes!" Pinkie cried loudly. She darted over to Fawkes and dropped down into his lap, who just shrugged and accepted it without comment. Given the size difference, the two looked like a put-upon but indulgent father and his overly exuberant daughter.

Realizing that she was the only one still standing, Sunset shrugged and closed the door so she could lean against it. "I'll just stay here for now. What did you want us all here for, Twilight?"

Twilight vaguely waved a hand at Adam. "I was just going to surprise everyone with Adam being back, so, uh… surprise?"

"Cool, because I've got something important to tell you all as well. " Sunset grinned. "I know how to build a portal to get us back home."

The others all made noises of shock, joy, and incredulity at her words. "How did you figure it out?!" Twilight demanded.

"We ran experiments back at Rivet City," Sunset replied. "It turns out this world has a background magical field of its own, so we can actually build a portal based on the design of the Geode Diviner itself. The parts should be easy enough to come by, so all we need is something that can lock on to Equestria's magical signature, but that's going to be the tricky part."

"We're going to need something like the SDT-1 that they showed us back at Project Exodus, aren't we?" Rainbow asked.

Sunset nodded, quietly surprised that Rainbow had even remembered the designation. "Which means we need to make a decision. Two, actually."

"What decisions?" Pinkie asked.

Sunset jerked her chin at Adam and Fawkes. "First of all, if we build a portal, do you two want to come home with us?"

"You are inviting me?' Fawkes asked incredulously. Sunset just nodded. "I… I am honored beyond words." He glanced at Adam. "What will you do?"

Adam frowned thoughtfully. "A month ago I don't know what I would have said, but… my parents are gone, but Project Purity, their dream, is still here. I know it's up and running now, but the Brotherhood is still having trouble distributing water around the wasteland, even with Rivet City's help. I want to come with you, but I want to help stabilize the water distribution, and try to improve the connections between the various settlements in the Capital Wasteland first." He looked down at Fluttershy worriedly. "If that's alright?"

"Of course it is," Fluttershy replied quietly.

Fawkes nodded. "Very well. Then I shall assist in that endeavour to the best of my abilities and, when the time comes, I will join you in your journey beyond this world."

"I appreciate it," Adam said with a grin. "Okay, Sunset, what's the second decision?"

Sunset breathed in deeply and let it out slowly. "The second one is a little harder, and I think it's something we all need to decide on. Do we try and search the wasteland ourselves for an SDT-1? Or do we help the Brotherhood of Steel win the war, sign a peace treaty with whatever is left of the Enclave, and have Project Exodus help us build a portal when the war is over?"

The others looked around at each other uneasily.

Pinkie rubbed her neck awkwardly. "We're probably going to have to fight whatever we do, aren't we?"

"Almost certainly," Sunset replied with a grim nod. "Either against the Enclave, or against raiders and whatever else is lurking out there in the wastes."

"Like Talon Company," Twilight muttered darkly.

"I say we help the Brotherhood fight the Enclave," Rainbow put in. "At least that way we'll have Liberty Prime on our side, not to mention a bunch of power-armored Knights and Paladins."

Applejack nodded. "Ah'm with Rainbow."

"I hate to admit it, but so am I," Rarity sighed. "The Enclave is going to try and get to us either way. I don't like it, but we're probably better off taking the fight to them."

"Fighting alongside the Brotherhood will give us the greatest chance of survival, while also maintaining our relationship with them and giving them more reason to help us in turn," Twilight added. "The only problem, aside from the tangled mess that is the ethical considerations, is going to be dealing with the Enclave's power armor."

"I've already sent a message to Elder Lyons asking if I can have some Scribes help me build a weapon," Pinkie cut in, her expression dour. "If we can make it work, power armor won't be a problem."

With everyone else's decision made, all eyes once again turned to Fluttershy. She swallowed hard, then brushed her hair out of her eyes. "I guess you'll need me, too. Someone is going to have to patch Rainbow up when she gets herself hurt again."

"That's just harsh," Rainbow muttered as the others laughed.

Sunset sighed and looked around at her friends, surprised by how much stronger they had all grown. "It's settled then. We fight."

---

Elder Lyons frowned as he read through the latest reports from his scouts. He and Scribe Rothchild were sitting at a desk in his own personal office, while Eden waited patiently on top of it.

"I'm guessing they don't have good news," Rothchild stated as he watched Lyons carefully.

"Sadly not." Lyons threw the report on the desk and glared at the crystal spider on his desk. "The Adams Air Force Base is not in the location you gave us."

Eden folded his forelegs and sighed. "That is most unfortunate. It appears someone must have tampered with my files on Enclave facilities during my routine maintenance at Raven Rock."

"Or you aren't telling us the whole truth," Rothchild countered.

"I have no reason to lie to you," Eden said flatly. "Besides, almost everything else I have told you has been true. Why would I bother to lie about this one thing?"

Lyons eyed the little spider suspiciously. Eden had indeed provided a wealth of information on the Enclave's infrastructure, technology, current research projects, even the personalities and tendencies of its most important personnel, and all of it so far had proven true. In particular, the breakdown of Enclave training, strategy and small-unit tactics had proven exceedingly useful during the fight for control of the Capital Wasteland. When it came to the exact locations of Enclave outposts and facilities, however, his information was annoyingly inaccurate. The fact that the Citadel's own archives were largely corrupted or deleted certainly didn't help matters. "Why would anyone bother altering your knowledge of where these sites are located?" Lyons asked.

"I can only assume it was performed at Acheson's behest," Eden replied. "The only personnel I know of with both access to my server and the ability to alter data without my knowledge were part of his team." Eden sighed and awkwardly laid down. "Acheson has always been ambitious, but I never imagined he would be aiming for total control of the Enclave. He must have been planning to take control for years; intending on using me as a figurehead while he manipulated events behind the scenes."

"If all goes well, Acheson won't be a problem for any of us for much longer," Lyons said firmly. "We do have some good news. Our scouts have confirmed the location of the satellite relay station mentioned in Project Exodus' intelligence report. If we can secure that station, we should be able to discover the true location of the Adams Air Base."

"That's a big if," Rothchild put in. "Especially if Senator Lily's information is true."

Lyons glanced down at Eden. "Well? Can Senator Lily be trusted?"

Eden hummed thoughtfully. "Normally, it depends. She is utterly fixated on making herself immortal, and will go to any lengths to achieve it. The abomination loose in the depths of Raven Rock is testament to that. If Doctor Shoichet was telling the truth, and bear in mind that the good doctor has already betrayed the Enclave to save the Rainbooms once, and Acheson really is the one that manipulated Horrigan into attacking the Citadel in an attempt to destroy either the Brotherhood or Project Exodus, then I imagine that Senator Lily will use any and all methods to protect her interests and wipe Acheson from the face of the earth. In this regard, I believe we can trust her."

"Very well." Lyons crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "The only question that remains is how to go about securing the satellite relay station without suffering devastating losses. We have to send in Liberty Prime, the station is too heavily defended for us not to, but if the Exodus intelligence is true..." He frowned at Rothchild. "Have we come up with any way at all of countering the Bradley-Hercules satellite?"

Rothchild shook his head. "Twilight Sparkle has been working to improve Liberty Prime's operating speed, reaction times and targeting systems, but we don't know if that will be enough to help it survive. We tried coming up with a system to scramble missile locks, but it won't be completed for months at best. On top of that, we're going to have to deal with lobotomized deathclaws, plus the Enclave's newly developed armor and magical technologies. This is not going to be an easy fight."

Lyons nodded grimly. "I agree, but it is a challenge that we are going to have to face head on. Liberty Prime will go. I had intended for Paladin Tristan to lead the assault, but he was injured in Horrigan's attack, so I'll have the Wonderbolts lead the charge in his stead. That just leaves dealing with the Enclave's magic." He sighed heavily. "Send for the Rainbooms. If they are willing, then tomorrow, at dawn, we will strike."

Next Chapter: Chapter 88 - Broken Steel Estimated time remaining: 25 Hours, 25 Minutes