Author's Note

Content warning for this chapter, strong discussion of suicide/self harm, with a heavily implied attempt, but nothing explicitly shown. I've marked the area the scene takes place in with a ()><~>()<~><() as the page break.

Chapter 26: Highs and Lows

Twilight stared with her jaw slack at the growing ring of darkness on the horizon. A faint black contrail peeled away from the ring, streaking across the sky like a comet made of tar before it banked hard and turned in her direction.

Recovering her senses, Twilight blinked. There were two pressing questions. Why was Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom black, and how did Rainbow know to fly her way? Was it a coincidence or something more?

Twilight turned from the streak in the sky to Daniel. He mirrored her earlier slack-jawed expression before it formed into a grin.

“That was a sonic rainboom, right?” Daniel asked.

“I’m leaning towards ‘yes’,” Twilight said, shifting her eyes back towards the oncoming ring of dark-light. “Rainbooms are normally rainbow colored, though.”

Telekinetically reaching into her backpack, Twilight extracted a pair of binoculars. It was the same pair she had used to spy on Pinkie Pie's strange powers years ago. Luckily, the binoculars had survived the falling piano.

“You brought binoculars?” Daniel asked.

“Yep,” Twilight said after a moment, her lips creased in contemplation. “Going to try and make sure it’s Rainbow.”

Twilight didn’t know if her binoculars could make the source of the black contrail any clearer at their distance, but it was worth a shot. All Twilight had to do was follow the contrail to its source and…

Sonic boom, check; Sky blue wings and ears, double check; Aviator shades, check; Sharply dressed in a black suit… not something Twilight would normally expect from Rainbow, but it fit with the shades and hair color. Three out of four, with the forth being a strong maybe.

“I think it is Rainbow Dash!" Twilight hopped with glee, landing poorly on the uneven terrain. Loose stones rolled out from under her hooves, sending her stumbling into Daniel as she landed. He caught her, helping her reorient herself before she put her binoculars away.

“So you weren’t kidding when you said she really can fly that fast,” Daniel laughed, then blushed as he scratched the back of his neck, sheepishly looking at the rocky ground. “Just don’t expect me to get into any wagons pulled by her.”

Twilight wouldn't do that to him.

Turning back to watch the sky, the black ring was slowing down and starting to dissipate, leaving the black contrail as one of the only few blemishes in the mostly clear sky, apart from some stubborn rain clouds from the morning that had lingered into the late afternoon.

The journey through the mud and the trek uphill had taken all day. Hopefully, with any luck, Rainbow could help her and Daniel reach the Dunwich building before nightfall.

“Hey, you two up there!”

Twilight spun towards the female voice that wasn’t Rainbow Dash’s. Her mane stood on end as she laid eyes on three figures in dark black power armor running uphill towards them from the direction of the satellite dishes.

The one in the lead wore a suit much bulkier than the two trailing side-by-side behind them, or even the Brotherhood of Steel. Its massive pauldrons made them look like a super mutant. The eyes were puny in comparison, their amber glow swallowed by the blacks of the insect-like helmet.

The smaller suits were of a similar shape, but only slightly heftier than the combat armor Daniel wore, like a miniaturized copy of the bigger armor.

They were all armed; the rear two carried rifles covered in piping and glowing changeling-green lights, while the middle one carried a supersized version of the rifle that had to be carried by large handles. The cannon’s long, thin metal barrel ended in three cruel looking blade-like protrusions.

“Where did they get a plasma caster!?” Daniel yelped, struggling to raise the lead-lined suitcase up with one hand as he extended the other upwards in surrender. Twilight joined him in raising her arms despite the black-armored soldiers not aiming their weapons at them… not yet at the very least.

Twilight froze in place, her brain working overtime to analyze the situation. She needed a plan. Soldiers running after her was never a good sign. Running wasn’t an option, the soldiers had guns. Twilight couldn’t teleport, her horn was broken. Fighting them wouldn’t work, Twilight had seen a power helmet deflect a super mutant’s rifle round, and all she had was her 10mm pistol since her rifle had been left behind in Rivet City.

All that was left was to surrender and play nice.

Her arms trembled, and she prayed under her breath that the humans weren’t in a shooting mood.

The three figures ended their uphill charge around a dozen paces from them. Thankfully the weapons remained lowered, and Twilight got a better glance over the armor since they were closer.

The larger middle suit was dirty, with chipped black paint and visible dents and repair marks, while the smaller two were nearly pristine. Both types of suits bore markings. Their right pauldrons had names stenciled in white lettering in what Twilight assumed was ‘rank abbreviation, last name, first initial’, style.

Twilight raised her arms even higher in surrender when she saw that they weren’t the Brotherhood of Steel. On their left pauldrons, rather than a sword overlaying cogs insignia, was a gold E surrounded by a ring of stars.

Despite her worry, Twilight couldn’t help but chortle as she thought back to Pinkie’s singsong voice.

‘It was under Eee’.

Whoever they were, they had advanced technology, like the hovering eyebot in Springvale broadcasting the Enclave radio.

E for Enclave!

“Wait, are you guys the Enclave?” Twilight asked the middle one of the group, smiling at what was either an insane coincidence or yet another example of Pinkie’s powers.

“Good guess, maggot!” The middle soldier yelled. The name stenciled onto the armor was SGT. Dornan. A. Her orange-eyed helmet bobbed as she studied Twilight and Daniel, before she yelled without stopping to take a breath, “I am under orders to escort you two civilians off base, do you understand!?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Twilight shouted, suddenly feeling the urge to salute. It had worked for Fluttershy and the Brotherhood of Steel. The Enclave were by all appearances just as militaristic.

“Excellent!” Sergeant Dornan yelled at a volume below ear splitting. “Private Smith, search their bags and that suitcase!”

That wasn’t good. If the Enclave opened the suitcase they would find the black book. However, neither of the rear two soldiers approached.

“Permission to speak freely, ma’am?” a male soldier to Sergeant Dornan’s left asked. The Sergeant merely grunted an acknowledgement. “Is that necessary? The special agent is already on the way.”

Twilight sighed a little in relief.

“I’d sooner retire my father’s power armor than let trespassers slip past this base unchecked. We’re going to do this by the book,” Sergeant Dornan sternly intoned, shattering the relief Twilight felt as she kept her gaze locked tightly on Twilight and Daniel. Then it was back to screaming. “You two have been caught trespassing on government property! You are about to be searched for any photographic or surveillance equipment! If you do not comply, you will be compelled, do you understand!?”

“L-let’s talk this out” Twilight stuttered, looking sideways to the horizon. Rainbow Dash herself was visible in the distance without binoculars and closing fast. If Twilight could stall for time until Rainbow Dash saw them… then what?

Was Rainbow Dash even a part of the Enclave? Of course she was, one of the soldiers had called Rainbow a special agent. Or was it coincidence that Rainbow Dash had made a sonic rainboom and the special agent was someone else? Was the Rainboom what had drawn the soldiers to the top of the mountain?

Twilight looked back to the soldiers in time for Private Smith to hand off his rifle to the other rifle carrying soldier, before he aggressively stomped forwards without a second remark to his sergeant. Sergeant Dornan raised the barrel of her plasma caster to keep her soldier covered and to dissuade Twilight from making any sudden moves.

It was an unnecessary gesture, one suit of power armor was enough to make Twilight feel sufficiently dissuaded.

“Your bags,” The private said. “And that briefcase.”

They couldn’t be allowed to have the black book.

“Don’t open it!” Twilight blurted before she could stop herself. She cursed under her breath as the Sergeant’s helmet whipped to the briefcase.

“And why not?” The Sergeant growled. “Are you two spies here to bomb the base? Do I have a couple saboteurs smuggling a briefcase nuke? There is a radiation symbol on it. Well, lucky for us power armor blocks radiation. Private! Open that case.”

The private reached for the case, and Daniel instinctively flinched. The private in turn reached for the pistol on his hip. Daniel released his hold of the handle, and the pistol wasn’t drawn. Twilight couldn’t blame him for giving it up.

“You really shouldn’t open that,” Daniel pleaded.

The private ignored him, holding the suitcase up with one armor-assisted hand. He used the other hand to casually flick open the first latch, then the second, then slowly opened the briefcase.

Twilight tasted ashes and bile as the lid swung open. The perverse sensation of dark magic wasn’t as intense as her first exposure to the book, but it still clawed at the back of her throat. Daniel, meanwhile, gagged.

“The fuck is wrong with them? All they have in here is a book,” Private Smith sputtered as he shut the briefcase, cutting off the magic. “My HUD didn’t ping any CBRN hazards. It’s just a book that these dumb muties chose to put in the heaviest suitcase they could find.”

“Alright,” Sergeant Donan said. “Give it back to—”

“Hey, bozos!” A familiar voice called down from the sky. “Hands off my friends!”

Rainbow Dash landed between Twilight and the sergeant, arms crossed in displeasure as one final wing flap kicked up a mininuke’s worth of dust and gravel before she back-stepped to look between both groups. Reaching for her aviator shades, she pulled them off with two fingers and a twirling flourish to dramatically reveal her magenta eyes.

“Excuse me but—!?” The speaker in the sergeant’s helmet crackled from the gain before cutting out. The sergeant’s body went rigid as the grips of the plasma caster groaned under the pressure of clenched armored fists. She let out a slow breath that was loud enough to hear through the muffling of her helmet before she knelt and set down her plasma caster. Standing back up to full height, she reached for her helmet and removed it, revealing her soft brownish-tan face, like coffee with a lot of added creamer. Twilight wasn’t good at guessing the ages of humans, but Twilight went with forty. She had the beginnings of wrinkles and a few sprigs of gray mixed into her short, curly, dark-blonde hair.

Sergeant Dornan pressed the helmet to her hip, where it clanged as it magnetically locked into place.

“These trespassers haven’t shown any military papers,” Sergeant Dornan said slowly. Her natural voice was as scratchy as Rainbow Dash’s, no doubt left hoarse from years of yelling everything. “I’m taking them through the proper procedures before booting them over to you. Do you have the authority to override my standing orders?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Rainbow said as she faced the sergeant head on and slipped a hand under her jacket, pulling out a black wallet. She flipped it open with a flick of her wrist. Twilight couldn’t see what was inside. “Special Agent Rachel Dash, United States Secret Service.”

‘Rachel Dash?’ Twilight thought while staring at her friend’s back. There was something off about her suit, like there was a ridge running along her spine.

“So you’re the new Horrigan I heard rumors about. Imagined you’d be… taller.” Sergeant Dornan scoffed. The private setting the briefcase down by Daniel’s hooves pulled Twilight away from Rainbow’s back.

“Not every secret service agent has to be a twelve-foot-tall cyborg super mutant,” Rainbow said as she turned to the side and pointed with her whole hand like it were a blade. “Anyways, those two are under my protection and jurisdiction. President’s orders.”

So, Rainbow worked for President Eden. Maybe she could explain his sudden absence on the radio. That, and several other questions. Rainbow had somehow acquired a title half as big as her ego… and it was a title that carried weight. Twilight didn’t know if she should be worried or impressed.

“Yes ma’am,” Sergeant Dornan said. “Understood.”

“Good,” Rainbow chuckled. “Now that this situation is done and dusted, you three are dismissed.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Sergeant Dornan bellowed in time with the other two. She bent over to pick up her plasma caster off the ground.

“Before you go,” Twilight said to Sergeant Dornan. "I might be able to fix your helmet.”

“My father died for his country in this armor,” Sergeant Dornan hissed. “I will do the same before I let a mutie touch it.”

Okie… dokie… loki. No touching the equipment of the violent xenophobe.

The three soldiers turned and stomped back down the hill, leaving Twilight and Daniel alone with Rainbow Dash. She slowly looked over Daniel, then Twilight, lingering a moment on the leg brace, and even longer on Twilight’s snapped horn.

“Sorry about them,” Rainbow Dash said, placing a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Twilight said, knocking the hand away to wrap Rainbow in a crushing hug. “Not the first bigot I’ve—” Twilight cut herself off as her arms pressed into several hard ridges under Rainbow Dash’s suit. “Are you wearing something under your suit?”

“Yeahhh,” Rainbow Dash said while gently pushing away from Twilight with one hand, and scratching the back of her head with the other. “We’re going to have to do a lot of catching up on the way into the base.”

“The base where those Enclave guys just went?” Daniel asked, jerking a thumb in the direction of where the three soldiers had left. Twilight shared his sentiment.

“I flew so fast out of Raven Rock I didn’t grab any comms gear,” Rainbow Dash said, nodding her head before she looked Twilight in the eyes, her voice low and serious. “But before I did leave, the President insisted on telling me they wanted to see you.”

Twilight gulped. President Eden wanted to see her…

<>~<>~<>

“And you said that there were similar runes in Raven Rock?” Twilight asked, passing by the fourth one she had seen on the way to the command room. The rune was precisely carved onto a concrete wall in the hallway, low to the ground to be out of notice unless it was being pointed out. Thankfully, the technician leading Rainbow Dash at the front of their group had been doing so.

What Twilight noticed at her quick glance of each rune was the quality of the carvings. They were clearly done by someone who knew exactly what they were doing, and had the tools to make the runes. Rune-making took months of practice to perfect and specialist tools. According to Rainbow Dash, the unicorn who carved the runes had those few months… inside Equestria. Runecarving tools could be bought at any number of magic shops in Equestria.

Or just given to her because she claimed to be an aspiring young mage.

“Yeah, exactly the same shape. Do you know what they do?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Eden’s records said they were to prevent teleportation.”

Twilight recognized the style of runes as the creation of Astrolathe the Amazing, who had been Starswirl the Bearded’s last apprentice over a millennium ago. Twilight possessed every copy of Astrolathe’s work in her library. She even remembered loaning out a spare to a unicorn mare named Electrum Eagle... over a year ago.

‘It was under Eee’

“I do,” Twilight grumbled. “They’re defensive wards against teleportation and many forms of magical spying.”

The perfect spellbook for people not wanting to be found. The Enclave special operations command had been in Equestria for a year at the very least, and Twilight had given them something that could help destroy Equestria by allowing them to hide anywhere.

They reached the command room’s door, and Twilight took in a breath. At least it wasn’t President Eden who wanted to see her… just President Abigail Jacklyn.

The insanity of the situation Twilight found herself in outweighed any joy she felt in reuniting with another friend. An uncomfortable running theme the last few days.

The technician stepped aside and Rainbow Dash entered the command room first.

()><~>()<~><()

Sergeant-Major Ellie King had been in Equestria too long. She dreamt herself as Georgia Blackhawk more and more, and with it, other aspects of the dream took on Equestrian qualities.

Human or Equestrian, the charred corpses in the pit were still charred corpses.

Couldn’t she have one peaceful night before she died?

Blackhawk closed her eyes, but even in the dream she still saw them. She didn’t even know who was in the pit. NCR troopers who lied about their age to enlist? Farmers who didn't give the Enclave everything and then some more, and paid the price for it?

All closing her eyes served to do was heighten her senses. The weight of the flamer was even more pronounced strapped to the side of her power armored gryphon body.

“You always come back to this memory,” Princess Luna’s soft voice drifted over the pit. She was standing across it from Georgia in her own suit of Enclave power armor, sans a helmet. Georgia thought black looked good on Luna. “Why?”

“It’s what I deserve,” Georgia said, her voice as coarse as the sand of the Californian Wasteland. A smoker’s voice, and a drinker too. Anything to put the memories off until later. It was years later, and she was alive. They were charcoal memories.

“I’d like to think I’m an expert on torturing myself in my dreams,” Luna said, slowly walking around the pit. As it always did, the pit grew wider, deeper, and yet more bodies filled the void as fast as it grew. Some of the unburned ones close to the top Georgia remembered. Red Glare topped the pile. How many more recognizable faces would be there by the time the Enclave was done tearing itself apart? “You can’t undo the past. Only work to make it right, and this—” Luna’s horn glowed, and the pit stopped growing. “This is torture.”

Georgia’s talons dug into the sand. She was naked now. The greasy, oily smoke rising from the pit clogged her nose. Her eyes stung. She closed them to blink out the tears, but closing her eyes never worked.

“Look at that and tell me I don’t deserve it,” Georgia coughed up blood. “Most of those people didn't deserve it.”

She knew by this point one more corpse would be in the pit, somewhere, buried among all the others. The one murder she couldn’t forgive herself for.

Luna placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“You have made many mistakes,” Luna said, her words soft and maternal. “I know your pain… I made a mistake so terrible that I created a dark spirit to give me nightmares that were out of my control. But, if you really want this dream to play out, I’ll be here and stick with you to the end.”

Why would she stay? Why did she care? Georgia didn’t deserve her kindness. Not after what she had done.

Georgia opened her eyes. They were in a wastelander’s hovel, sitting across from each other in a booth scavenged from a diner. She faced towards the door. Luna had a Nuka~Cola. It fit right in with Luna’s scrap metal armor and the broken windows and rusting corrugated metal.

“Why do you care? What does your bullshit have to do with me!?” Georgia yelled as two malnourished gryphons in patchwork armor and ponchos entered the hovel from the front door. One male, one female. Georgia remembered how it all played out. Didn’t need the dream to show her. Didn’t want it to show her, either.

“Sis,” Joseph said in a low voice as he pulled the door closed with his tail. “We need to talk.”

“Goddamnit, not this one,” Georgia ground her beak, darting her eyes anywhere but the two. Luna lit a cigarette, offering her one as the only salve from the dream rather than ending the torment like usual. Georgia took the cigarette and burned it down in one long drag. She could still hear the pair. She drummed her clawtips on the table. It didn’t drown them out.

“Can it wait until we’re back at camp?” Ellie asked after knocking over some furniture. A thrown rug landed on the table, knocking over Luna’s Nuka~Cola. “Maybe they have some old cans of pork and beans stashed in this place. I’d be fine with anything that’ll put meat on our bones.”

“No, it can’t wait,” Joseph raised his voice. The only time Georgia had heard him angry. “We just traded some of our stuff with these people… and they need food just as much as we do. It’s not right robbing them blind when they aren’t home.”

“You think the others are going to let these wastrels keep Enclave tech?” Ellie asked. “They aren't coming back.”

Did she really talk like that back then? Of course Georgia did, she was Ellie, and this was more memory than dream. She couldn’t forget, no matter how many bottles of whiskey she drank or how many chems she took.

“We’ve done this across the entire damn country!” Joseph yelled. “I’m sick of burning corpses and plundering homes. Eden can’t fix the Enclave because we're just… raiders… with better gear. I’m leaving.”

Georgia burned down another cigarette.

“Joe!” Ellie screamed. “The Enclave is our family. You don’t turn your back on family!”

“I just di—”

Bang.

Georgia blinked. She stood with the pistol clutched in her talons. Her younger brother was on the floor, a growing pool of crimson staining the wood. He wasn’t moving. Dead at twenty.

The dream melted away like wax in the sunlight. A field of grass and flowers surrounded her. Equestria. Luna stood before her, dressed as her normal regal self, but still missing half her face like her physical form.

“You asked what my story had to do with you,” Princess Luna said. “I know what it’s like to make mistakes. My sister and I both know very well, and we still make mistakes… like not telling Princess Twilight about the Enclave in hopes that she wouldn’t do anything rash and focus on finding her friends.”

“Doesn’t seem like that big of a mistake,” Georgia grumped, falling back onto her haunches.

“It may or may not be, but mistakes are mistakes, and the little ones pile up so high over the centuries,” Luna said with a sigh. “As I said before, I know what it’s like to torture yourself. I didn’t finish my story.” Luna sat down onto her own haunches, mimicking Georgia. “You see, the creature I made grew too powerful and escaped me, endangering everypony I knew by infecting their dreams. It was only because of Twilight Sparkle and her friends that we were able to defeat it. My friends.”

“If there is a moral to the story, I don’t get it.”

“My self-inflicted punishment spilled out and hurt those I cared about, and those that cared about me. It made me think about other forms of self punishment I had considered,” Luna said softly. The small sad smile on her face and tear filled eyes brimmed with knowing sadness. Luna knew her pain. “Since coming to Equestria, and even before you left Earth, you’ve made friends. Friends that care about you, and would miss you if you tried to punish yourself to the extent you feel would be just for what you’ve done. I would be among those missing you.”

Georgia looked away, her cheeks flushed with shame. Luna spoke the truth. Georgia had met so many wonderful people native to Equestria. She still kept in touch with Yellow Shores after meeting him during a trip to the beach. Blue Blossom from the flower shop she liked to go to. Embershard the dragon who lived next door.

But how many would be like Luna and forgive the real her… Ellie… for what she had done?

Starry had been the last piece of family she had left, and he was gone. But, even if no one else was there for her, she still had Luna who cared for her.

“The Waterfall Road motel,” Georgia said softly, “Room s-six… b-bathroom…”

Luna wrapped her in a tight embrace, and Georgia broke down crying.