"What happened?" Celestia's question was soft, but to the point. "I must know. We all must know."

"I have every silo, every cache, being inventoried right now. No launch authorization was given. No launch is recorded. All radar histories show no missiles moving in that direction." Rason sank in his chair miserably. "We didn't do it."

Celestia tensed. That was the first time she heard an American president simply sound... lost. Scared... Compared to how they, and their country, had behaved up to that point, in the best and worst of times... "Swear this is true."

"To launch a missile required several layers of authorization." Rason sat up, leaning instead on his desk instead of his chair. "No one lone actor can decide to send the missiles into the air. Even if I ordered it, there's a process. My order would hurry it along, but there's still a process, and it's all recorded. The computers don't care who's doing it, they record it all."

He took a slow breath. "I know this is hard to imagine, but if a nuclear missile were launched, I'd know about it while it was still in the air, not from foreign news outlets. We are many things, and paranoid happens to be on that list. We would know if we launched a missile. I have things being double and triple checked right now, but unless something... beyond comprehension comes up, we didn't launch that missile."

Celestia took a soft breath of her own, looking across to Luna who was watching her conversation. "I am inclined to believe your words, but others will not be. You have a recording of all things that passed through your air, would you considered surrendering that, so others can see with their own eyes?"

Luna rolled her eyes with a little snort. "Human recordings verifying human actions? I doubt that will change the tunes of many, Sister. Don't be so ideal. Now if we had the recordings of somecreature not involved..."

But there was no such creature that could so furnish that... Randal clenched his jaw. "This is a nightmare. Tell me the EFC is still united."

"I can't make such a claim." Celestia stood up, the phone floating beside her. "I think it's time we had an emergency EFC meeting. We must all be on the same parchment."

"Paper," corrected Rason. "But yes. Let's get everyone together."

Queen Ruddertail squinted up into the air. Something was being dropped on her, a parachute slowing its descent. It was a box. "Get that," she ordered as she started for the shore of her pond. "Bring here."

Soon it was plucked free of the water it landed in and set before her. With a sharp claw, she broke its seal and pulled it open. Inside were a number of things that were all the same thing. Recordings of a variety of types, as if whoever sent the package wanted it viewed, no matter what magic or technology the receiver had.

Ruddertail waved at her servants. "Get me the viewer!" The other otters scurried away and soon had it set up for her. She shoved the viewing crystal into it and pressed the play button.

Soon she saw the minotaur city reduced to rubble.

She laughed. While the ponies might have flinched at the sight of such destruction, to the warrior queen, even one as playful as she, it seemed like a fitting end to her enemies. "What deserve!" she cried, jabbing a finger at the floating image of the bull making his plea. "Beg for help, all good for. Stupid bull."

The Lutrai would not be shaken in their resolve.

The beachhead's forces could only gape with slack jaws. The explosion was more than visible from where they were. It dominated the sky in a fierce display that had many humans scrambling to get away. If one could even see a mushroom cloud that clearly, they knew, than death was but moments behind it.

Attempts to restore order were entirely hopeless in those first desperate moments. Paul was ready to join the others in fleeing, but a rested Hoku did not allow it, affixed to his leg and dragging on the ground. "We have to get out of here," hissed Paul. "We're going to be dead in a few minutes at best."

"No run," barked Hoku, trying to dig his heels in with limited success. "Not ordered." He was a soldier. If he was to make a brave stand, that was exactly what he'd do. "Why scared of colors in the sky?"

"God damn it, Hoku." He looked up at the cloud that grew and grew. How large it was... there was nowhere to run fast enough to hope to get away. "Damn it..." He dropped to a squat in front of his furry friend. "We're going to die. At least I'll do it with a friend."

Hoku turned to face the colors, leaning against his friend. "We live together, die together. No die, have school."

"Yeah... have school."

As it turned out, the wave of heat and death did not rush across them. The bomb was actually very very far away. It was only the strange properties of the atmosphere that allowed it to grow so large to seem far closer than it was. When the cloud began to fade, and no one was dying, the panic faded with it.

Soldiers were gathered and brought back into line. Angry words were shouted at those that had deserted, but there were so many that even entertaining the idea of punishing basically everyone was not even brought up.

Instead, those who had stayed had positive marks on their record. Soldiers that could be trusted to remain cool under extreme conditions. Paul lucked out, having been forced to stay by his furry compatriot.

Whatever the explosion had been, their mission had not changed. "We have a country to invade and psychos to stop. Get some sleep, we move out at 0600!" The camp returned to order, even if new equipment was spread out. There was the possibility they would be marching towards radiation hazards, and it paid to prepare for that manner of thing before it became an issue.

Geiger counters came online to be sure and safety gear was added to the gear of everyone marching to be able to keep themselves rad free.

There was a war to fight, and the plans did not change.

Twilight and Starlight sat there. Human soldiers were rushing all around them, but they were stuck in spot, watching the great explosion reach higher and higher.

They were still there when people had begun to calm down. Starlight glanced sidelong towards Twilight. "So... we're in a real war this time. This is what humans call war." She thrust a hoof at the fading cloud. "And we're in it. You sure you want to rush in ahead of our friends here?"

Twilight rose on uncertain legs. "Do we have a choice? This must end." She turned away and down. "It has to."

"And it will." Starlight circled her quickly to keep their eyes on each other. "And I'm going to make sure you're there to celebrate it when it happens."

"You two!" A soldier was moving towards them purposefully. "You're not to be outside without protective gear. Come with me."

Twilight turned to the soldier with a quizzical expression. "Protective gear? You mean like these." She tapped at her protective vest.

"Not even close." He began shepherding magic ponies, silently wondering what world he now lived in. "A blast like that throws up radioactive dust, and we don't want that touching any exposed skin. Everyone's going to be suited by tomorrow, and that starts with you two, now."

Starlight rolled her eyes as she followed along. "Right right. We don't want to get a radio station suck in our ears."

Twilight thumped against Starlight. "That is not what radioactive means."

Starlight hiked a brow. "It doesn't mean radio... active? I mean that's what the words mean, right?"

Twilight pointed at the faded cloud even as they walked. "Nuclear energy and weapons produce radioactivity. The radio they speak of is energy, and a lot of it. Radioactive materials are to be avoided at all costs."

"Glad one of you has the right idea." He held open the flap of the tent for them to head inside. "Your suits were originally designed for canines, but they should get the job done."

Starlight frowned at the idea. "Because ponies and dogs are close to the same thing. Whatever, we have four feet, so do they, close enough."

The soldier that had led them did not come in with them, another, a female, approached. "We want to keep everyone safe, two legs or four. Now if you could raise your left forehoof?" When both mares did so, she smiled. "I've never had the pleasure of working on patients that really understood what I said. Now let's get you dressed." Soon they had plastic coating them from the front to the back, with a glass-like plastic mask over their faces, a gas mask attached on the front. It was not built for a horse, but then it was never form fitting for a dog either. Straps kept the plastic ends attached near their hooves and their tails went down into a tube in the back. They were enclosed and as safe as they could be in the risk of fallout.

"I know it isn't completely comfortable. We won't be either, I assure, and we will be wearing protection too." She was putting away her equipment. "If you're not actively in a tent, don't remove any of that. Ideally, you shouldn't take it off unless you're being decontaminated and swapping to a new suit. You're not dogs, so I can just tell you that this is for your own good."

Starlight stuck out her tongue in an impotent display. "Tell me yours fits just as badly."

"They do," she flatly replied, locking a drawer. "No one looks good when they're trying to not be dead, or worse."

That was how it went for everyone at that camp. The next day everyone woke up, showered, and got to get uncomfortable in a chemical suit. It couldn't hope to keep radiation entirely at bay, but it meant if dust came down on them, they could wash it off instead of getting it on direct skin. Every bit mattered.

Their precautions were proven worth it not long after they started moving. The curious atmosphere of the world had let the cloud rise so high up that it had taken all night and through the morning for the dust to come down, but it did in a faint, almost invisible dusting. Who knew how far and wide it had been spread in the cataclysmic blast, but they were experiencing it as they marched.

Progress was forced to a fresh stop, soldiers rushing to clean themselves and suits hurried to decontamination to be replaced with fresh ones. They were behind schedule, badly, but it was that or have people march forward with a developing green glow.

The call was made. Progress slowed to a crawl, but they would not turn back.

Twilight took a slow breath as the chemical-laden water splashed over her, trying to clean every bit of dust away. "Starlight? What... if they need our help?"

"Hmm?"

"The humans know how to handle this, and even they're scared..." Twilight's magic worked the stuff through her hair, her gaze distant. "War or not... There are people being... covered with this, who aren't humans. Who have no protection... Who will help them?" She turned to Starlight. "People could be dying, right now... Or not dying, just... Ugh... It's terrible." She had read up on how radiation worked. She knew what it could do.

"Are you proposing we abandon our stations, abandon trying to make peace even, and stop here, just helping random people instead of attacking the actual problem? That explosion already happened, Twilight. We can stop it from happening again." She moved to step from the shower. "See you when you're done."

Author's Notes:

Fallout, it's not a joke. Twilight is a sad pony right now.

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