A light breeze swept over the wasteland, ruffling Sunset's hair and wafting a layer of dust across the ground. She breathed in deeply, enjoying the moment of peace while it lasted. She, Adam, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were standing by the bridge near the Super Duper Mart, deciding on what their next move should be.

The journey so far had been easy enough. A small group of raiders had been lurking around a short way north of the Citadel, but they hadn't dared risk a fight against three Rainbooms and a power-armored warrior.

"I think we should head that way," Adam said, pointing past the Super Duper Mart. "That'll be the straightest path towards Old Olney."

"That's west, Old Olney is to the north east," Fluttershy corrected gently. She glanced at the Mart. "This side of the river will take us in the right direction, but there's a Mirelurk nest, an Enclave outpost, a warren of giant ants, and at least one raider gang we'll have to get past, and that's just to get to Meresti Station."

"But the other side of the river might have Super Mutants." Sunset hummed and checked her map. "We're right at the northern tip of the downtown ruins, so hopefully we're less likely to run into any Super Mutants. Plus, that side of the river will give us a much straighter shot to our destination. I say we cross. What do you think?"

The others readily agreed. Once they'd crossed the bridge, the group followed the bend of the river to the north, avoiding getting too close, just in case there were more Mirelurk nests about.

As the ground rose, more ruined buildings came into view: An outlying section of the downtown ruins. The group gladly gave them a wide berth, following a road that led them around the edge of the buildings and any hostile groups that may have been dwelling within.

The journey was, at first, a lot less stressful than Sunset had anticipated. They passed buildings and blasted areas of detritus with little difficulty. They even discovered what appeared to be a huge scrapyard, though they made sure to go around it, just in case.

The only encounters of note were a run in with an incredibly overgrown and bloated fly, which Adam put down with a single shot from his plasma rifle, and a crossing with a pair of mutated bears.

That had been enough to get Sunset's blood racing. But, thankfully, despite their horrifying appearance, the pair were quite happy to leave the group alone once Fluttershy had had a word with them.

Fluttershy proved invaluable in other ways; her senses allowed the group to easily avoid confrontations with raiders, radscorpions, and even a bizarre robot rolling around on tracks with what appeared to be a brain in a glass container for a head.

The ground rose and fell gently, dotted with rocky patches and pits filled with radiation or billowing Equestrian magic, but even so the four made good time.

Unfortunately, their good fortune had to run out at some point.

As the group was climbing a hill towards Old Olney, Fluttershy suddenly stopped and tensed up. "There's an Enclave outpost up ahead."

Sunset looked up the hill. Near the top was a rocky area packed with debris, along with an equally rocky promontory that could also harbor potential enemies. "Are you sure that they're Enclave?"

"Positive," Fluttershy replied firmly. "They're not Exodus either, they're joking about how Acheson is going to crush Shoichet and her, um, f-fuck buddies."

"Assholes," Sunset spat, then checked her plasma rifle while Pinkie loaded her Party Cannon. "How many of them are there?"

Fluttershy crept forwards on all fours, her head cocked as she listened. "Two soldiers in power armor, three people without armor and…" she hissed angrily. "One Deathclaw."

"Do you think the Deathclaw will be able to hear us? Or smell us?" Adam asked.

"It won't matter, they're keeping it locked in a crate," Fluttershy replied.

Pinkie sighed with relief. "That's good. In that case, let's head back a little then sneak around really quiet-"

"No," Fluttershy growled. "It's in pain. I will not let them get away with this."

"No, wait! Fluttershy!" Sunset swore under her breath as Fluttershy darted forward in a running crouch.

Moving as quickly and quietly as they could, the other three followed as Fluttershy disappeared into the rocky area below the promontory.

Weaving through the debris, Sunset heard voices wafting down from the peak. She hoped that all of the Enclave personnel were up there. A short distance into the rocky area, Sunset slowed to a halt, her eyes widening in horror.

Two large shipping containers were sitting incongruously among the rocks. One was open and empty, but the other was closed and locked with a solid deadbolt. Fluttershy was standing before the closed shipping container. There was a flash of magic as she vamped up, then she raised a clawed hand and, before anyone could stop her, sheared through the deadbolt in one fell swipe.

"What was that?!" The shout from above showed that the sabotage had not gone unnoticed.

Fluttershy clearly didn't care. She ripped away the ruined bolt and hauled the container doors open. Sunset felt an icy claw grip her chest as a Deathclaw stepped out into the light, looking around almost curiously.

"I sure hope this scrambler works," Adam said drily.

"What the hell?! That suicidal bitch just let the Deathclaw out!" Someone shouted from above.

Sunset looked up to see the Enclave soldiers staring at Fluttershy. An unarmored officer looked around them, spotting the rest of the group first, then stepping back in horror as he spotted Fluttershy. "That's the girl that controls animals! Shoot her you fuck-wits!"

The soldiers swore and raised their weapons, but by then it was far too late. Fluttershy dove aside into a commando roll while the Deathclaw lunged at the base of the promontory, scaling the rockface in a heartbeat and unleashing itself on the men.

Sunset flinched at the sounds of horrific carnage coming from above. At least it was over quickly, the shrieks of mutilated metal and the screams of terror swiftly fading, leaving only a deathly calm in their wake.

Fluttershy moved first, walking around the rocky area to find an easy way up. After sharing a worried look, the others cautiously followed. The Deathclaw was waiting patiently for them at the top of the promontory. Sunset tried to avoid looking at the gory mess it had made of its erstwhile masters.

"At least we know that the scrambler is working." Pinkie sighed with relief, then glanced sidelong at Fluttershy. "Normally, I love surprises, but could you at least let us know the next time you're planning a stunt like that?"

"I-I'm sorry," Fluttershy replied quietly. "I just, I could tell that he was in pain and I… I didn't think."

Sunset patted her on the shoulder as she stepped past. “We get it, just give us a heads up next time. I've only got one spare pair of underwear on me." She looked up at the Deathclaw. Sunset felt a little thrill of fear at being anywhere near the creature, but at the same time she couldn't help but admire the creature, enjoying a view that very few people would get to see and live to tell about.

As Sunset inspected it, she spotted a little black box half-buried in the back of the Deathclaw's skull. "So that's how they're controlling them. Deathclaws are scary as hell, but that just feels wrong."

"It is wrong. It's that thing that's hurting him, but he's probably programmed not to touch it." Fluttershy reached down and pulled what looked like a bulky remote control from the hand of one slightly dismembered corpse. She wiped the blood from the little screen, then started flicking through it. "This looks like the control module." Fluttershy looked from the remote to the Deathclaw and back, then bit her lip. "I… I think I'm about to pull another crazy stunt."

"You're not going to let us use him as a bodyguard, are you?" Sunset asked.

Fluttershy shook her head. "I want to turn the control unit off."

"Of course you do." Sunset sighed and ran a hand through her hair, idly wondering how she could manage to hold a rational conversation while standing in a miniature open-air butcher's shop. "One second. Adam, stay where you are. Pinkie, get behind him and get your Party Cannon ready, in case our new friend decides he wants a bigger lunch."

"Roger!" Pinkie stepped behind Adam, who just sighed and lowered his shoulder so she could use it as a gun rest. After sidling behind Adam herself, Sunset nodded to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and pressed a button on the remote. The Deathclaw shivered and shook its head, dazed, but before it could recover Fluttershy spoke, "It's alright, they can't hurt you anymore, you're free now." She tapped the back of her head. "Don't touch that. I know it's painful, but trying to pull it out is going to hurt a lot more. We're going to go into Old Olney now. I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to attack us when we're on our way back. If you get hungry…" Fluttershy looked around at the dead bodies and swallowed, her face paling. "There's plenty of food here."

Without another word, she turned and walked away, heading north. The others looked warily at the Deathclaw before following. None of them felt particularly comfortable turning their backs to it, but, thankfully, the creature didn't follow them.

The grisly crunching of bones as she walked away would haunt Sunset's dreams for a long time to come.

---

Princess Twilight dropped onto the chair with an exhausted sigh. Getting the crystals she had been given to resonate with the correct magical frequencies was proving exactly as fiddly and awkward as she had expected, and hooking them up safely to the Geode Diviner was just as tricky.

"How's it going?" Principal Celestia asked.

"We're getting there," Twilight replied. "We've got a fair few crystals connected, but we're still going to need more before we can open the portal again, and it's probably going to take a couple more hours to reconfigure the Diviner to safely open one to a world without Equestrian magic. That's assuming we can get it right."

Celestia nodded. "I have faith in you."

The two looked around curiously as someone opened the door. Trixie was standing in the doorway, an annoyed expression on her face. "Vice-Principal Luna sent the Great and Powerful Trixie to fetch you both. There's something you need to see."

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

"Something we should kick to the curb as soon as we find out what it wants," Trixie answered cryptically. "They're in the Vice-Principal's office."

Celestia and Twilight shared a confused look before setting off through the school.

When the pair arrived at Luna's office, they found a surprise waiting for them. Sonata Dusk was there, sitting in the chair opposite Luna herself.

"Ah, good, you're here. Miss Dusk apparently has something to tell us," Luna explained.

"No, I don’t," Sonata said flatly. "Why would I have anything to tell you three?"

Luna gave her a disbelieving stare. "You told me literally two minutes ago that you needed to see Twilight."

"Yeah, but I don't have to tell her anything," Sonata replied as if she was talking to an idiot. "I'm just supposed to text Dagi and ask her what flavor ice cream she wants, then wait with the annoying Princess until she replies."

The others watched in utter bewilderment as Sonata did exactly what she said she would; sending a quick text then sitting still with a vacant expression on her face. Barely ten seconds later Sonata's phone rang. "Hey, Twilight Sparkle's here. Should I go get the ice cream now?" Her expression soured at the reply. "What do you mean there's no ice cream?! Why do I have to give my phone to her?! Can I get ice cream later? How about tacos? Ugh, fine!" Sonata held the phone out to Twilight. "She wants to speak to you."

Baffled beyond any rebuttal, Twilight just accepted the phone without question. "Hello?"

"Twilight Sparkle," Adagio said by way of greeting. "This is Adagio Dazzle. We need to talk."

Next Chapter: Chapter 94 - Dark Surprises Estimated time remaining: 23 Hours, 55 Minutes