James looked around warily as he crept through a maze of dark corridors. His thick black hair and matching beard, both liberally streaked with gray, combined with the lab coat he perpetually wore over his Vault-issued jumpsuit, lent him a distinguished air that suited his position as the only qualified doctor of Vault 101. For now, however, he was about to engage in an experiment that the Vault's Overseer would not approve of.

The lower levels of Vault 101 were usually fairly empty, but it wasn't uncommon to encounter Stanley or Andy performing maintenance, a member of the security team checking for radroach infestations, or even one of the other Vault residents seeking out a quiet area for an illicit tryst. Luckily, James didn't encounter anyone on his secret trek.

In the deepest depths of the Vault, James finally found what he was looking for; a cramped room dominated by one of the spare generators intended to provide power to the Vault in an emergency.

Glancing outside to make sure no one was around, James closed the door and locked it before pulling a small bundle wrapped in cloth out from under his lab coat. He carefully unraveled the bundle, revealing an egg-shaped metal object with curious little green crystals at each end.

Truth be told, James didn't have a clue what the damned thing was, which was why he had been sneaking down here whenever he got a chance over the last few months and hooking it up to the spare generator. Unfortunately, pretty much all he'd been able to figure out so far was that the crystals glowed softly whenever electricity was applied to it. He was positive that it was doing something, though, and he wasn't one to simply give up when his curiosity was piqued.

With an ease born of practice, James quickly and efficiently connected the bizarre device up to the spare generator and laid it on the ground. The output of every generator was monitored from the Overseer's office upstairs, but he was confident that such a small drain wouldn't be noticed. After all, it hadn't been so far.

As usual, the crystals on the device started glowing the moment it was connected up properly. James nodded and went to check his Pip-Boy; a boxy little computer worn on his left forearm, when a strange beeping sound grabbed his attention. The egg-shaped device that normally did nothing more than glow was now letting out a soft beeping noise.

"That's peculiar." James quickly checked the generator over to see if anything was different, but nothing had changed. He had heard that a damaged wire had been replaced recently, but that alone shouldn't have caused any particular changes.

The beeping slowly got louder and more insistent, prompting James to back away from the generator slowly. He threw an anxious glance at the generator's terminal. The amount of power the device was using had spiked rapidly, enough that the Overseer was sure to notice and come looking to see what the problem was. It was time to go.

Thankfully, James had a plan prepared for just such an occasion. He was moderately confident that the generator wasn't going to explode, and even if it did, the Vault's safety measures would keep it from doing too much damage to the surrounding area. At least, so he hoped.

Ducking out of the room, James hurried through the corridors until he was an acceptable distance away, then straightened up and strode along purposefully, cupping his hands to his mouth so he could call out, "Stanley?" He had to wander for several minutes, calling out occasionally, until finally he got an answer.

"James? Is that you?" Stanley stepped out of a side room, wiping his hands on a cloth. A skinny man on the far end of sixty, with thinning white hair combed over his bald scalp, he was Vault 101's primary maintenance worker. "What brings you down here? Did you need something?"

James shook his head. "Actually, I have something for you." He reached into his pockets and pulled out a bottle of water and a couple of Aspirin. "I know you haven't had time to pick up your refill yet, so I figured I'd bring some down for you."

"Oh, you're a lifesaver!" Stanley gratefully took the Aspirin and knocked them back with a swig of water. "My head has been killing me for the last hour or so."

James opened his mouth to reply, but was distracted by the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. He schooled his features into an expression of mild curiosity as, as if on cue, two men hurried around the corner. The first was wearing an armored security jumpsuit and a matching helmet with a reinforced plastic visor; clearly one of the Vault's security officers. The man that appeared a step behind him had dark brown skin and close-cropped grey hair, and was wearing a standard blue Vault 101 jumpsuit. Overseer Almodovar.

"James? What are you doing down here?" The Overseer asked suspiciously.

"I noticed that Stanley hadn't had a chance to pick up a refill of his prescription, so I brought him some myself while I had a quiet period." James gave the Overseer a look of innocent curiosity. "Has something happened?"

The Overseer nodded, easily accepting the lie. "I received an alert that one of the backup generators was experiencing a power surge, so I was going to fetch Stanley and go to investigate. Officer Gomez joined me in case it has been caused by vandalism or illicit activities." He paused and looked thoughtfully at James. "Come to think of it, you have some experience with machinery, and since you have a quiet period there's nothing stopping you from coming along as well."

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Overseer," James said smoothly. "Which generator are you having trouble with?"

"Sub-generator 4," the Overseer replied.

Stanley frowned and scratched his head. "Jenny 4? That's weird." He pointed down the corridor. "It's just down here, follow me."

The others followed Stanley as he led them to the generator, James keeping to the rear of the group and trying not to look guilty.

"In here," Stanley said when they reached the right room. He pushed the door open, then stepped back and cried out in shock. "What the hell?!"

Over Stanley's shoulder, James could see a dazzling display of rainbow-coloured light swirling around in the middle of the room. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not that the light show hid his device entirely from view.

"What in god's name is that?!" The Overseer exclaimed.

Officer Gomez cautiously stepped into the room. The others followed him in warily, Stanley with visible reluctance.

"What the hell is it?" Gomez asked quietly.

"How should I know?" The Overseer snapped. He glanced at James. "Do you have any ideas?"

James shook his head. "I've never seen anything like it in my life," he replied honestly.

The four men jumped as the strange lights disappeared with a loud crackle. In their place, a thick black cloud formed out of thin air above the generator. As the other three cried out in shock, their attention stolen by the cloud, James focused on trying to spot his secret device. His stomach sank as he saw a mangled mess where he had left it. Even as he watched, the remnants of his little secret crumbled to dust.

Perhaps fortunately, the black cloud didn't give James any chance to regret the loss of his little secret. The cloud pulsed with a faint light. Then, to everyone's immense shock, a person was flung out of it to land heavily on the floor with a loud, "Ow!"

The four men stared at the person in stunned disbelief. They barely had time to register that she was a teenage girl; with purple skin, two-tone purple hair and an outfit that had never been seen or even imagined in a Vault, when another two girls were dumped out of the cloud. These two were strangely-colored too; one had amber skin with red and yellow hair, while the other was, in a word, pink. Only seconds later another pair appeared out of thin air and landed on their predecessors; white skin and purple hair paired with blue skin and rainbow-coloured hair, followed by yet another pair. The first of this pair had yellow skin and pink hair, but the final girl at least looked to have ordinary Caucasian skin, if a little tanned, and blonde hair. As if to cap off the bizarre spectacle, a single cowboy hat wafted out of the cloud and landed on the floor next to the pile of girls.

With all of the visitors apparently through, the cloud began to writhe madly until, with a rumble that shook the room, it finally dissipated, leaving behind a ringing silence broken only by the pained groans of the visitors and the hiss and crackle of smoking machinery.

The four men stared at the new arrivals in stunned silence.

"What in the heck was that?" The blonde girl asked in a stereotypical Southern accent as she tried to clamber off the pink one.

"I have… no idea," the amber-skinned girl huffed, trapped beneath the albino one. "Is everyone okay?" She called out.

The albino raised her head with a dazed look. "I think so?"

James' mind whirled as the girls grumbled and tried to disentangle themselves. He had known that the secret device was far more advanced than any other technology he had ever seen, but it had never given off any indication that it was capable of something like this. The girls' coloration wasn't the only odd thing about them; their clothes were like nothing that James had ever seen, either in the Vault or in the wasteland outside.

As James silently freaked out, the purple girl picked her glasses up off the floor, put them on, and rolled onto her hands and knees. She froze like a mole rat in torchlight as she spotted the four men. "Uh… girls?"

Finally noticing the men, the girl quickly helped each other to their feet and turned to face them. A tense standoff followed as each group stared at the other, neither apparently willing to break the silence. Eventually, the amber girl said quietly, "Er… hi?"

Her nervous greeting broke whatever spell of frozen shock the men were under. The Overseer recovered first. "What in the world? What the hell is going on here?!"

Stanley, never the bravest of men, let out a fearful whimper and retreated several steps. "They must be some kind of mutants from outside! I mean, Jesus, look at their skin! And their hair!"

"Mutants?" The purple girl asked quizzically. She and the other girls scrutinized each other carefully, obviously puzzled.

"And what exactly is wrong with our hair and skin?" The albino asked testily.

"Easy now, Rarity," the southern girl said quietly.

James noted the albino's name, determined to burn every facet of this encounter into his brain. The amber-skinned girl slowly raised her hands. "I think there's been some sort of misunderstanding. We didn't mean to come here. We were involved in an accident and-"

She took a step forward, but flinched and stopped in her tracks as Gomez pointed his baton at her. "Don't you come any closer! I'm warning you!"

The girl quickly stepped back. "Please, we don't mean any harm."

The Overseer snorted loudly. "No harm indeed! Where the hell did you… things come from?"

James suddenly realized that things were going to quickly get out of hand if someone didn't break the tension in the room. "I think we all need to calm down here before anyone gets hurt," he said quickly before turning to the Overseer. "These people don't look dangerous, Overseer," he said evenly. "Surely we can give them a chance to explain themselves."

There was silence as the Overseer crossed his arms and glared at the girls. James silently prayed that the Overseer would keep his head and allow the group to explain themselves.

"Very well, James," the Overseer said, much to James' relief. "You… girls… have one chance to explain yourselves. But be warned, if you do anything that seems even remotely like a threat, I'll have Officer Gomez put you all down in an instant."

"I'd love to see you t-mph!" The rainbow-haired girl's challenge was cut off as the southerner clamped a hand over her mouth.

James fought the urge to sigh with relief. The last thing this encounter needed was an overly aggressive participant on both sides.

The amber girl glanced around furtively, and James got the impression that she was doing some very quick thinking, before taking a breath to calm herself. Sensing that an explanation was about to present itself, James focused all of his attention on her. "My name is Sunset Shimmer. Me and my friends were working on some experimental equipment when something went wrong. I don't know exactly what caused it, but a mass of energy like the one you just saw sucked us in and somehow transported us here."

It took all of James' willpower not to wince at the thought that he and his experiments might have caused the issue.

"Never seen a backup generator do anything like that before," Stanley muttered.

"Quiet, Stanley!" The Overseer snapped, before turning back to the girls. “You expect me to believe that you seven were working on some sort of highly advanced technology that just happened to go wrong and randomly teleport you straight into our Vault?”

“It’s the truth,” the purple girl said earnestly. “We picked up some strange electrical readings coming from somewhere we couldn’t figure out, but we didn’t have a chance to shut down the machinery before everything went wrong.”

James blanched as he realized that his device was more than likely the source of the strange electrical readings.

The Overseer looked over his shoulder. “Stanley! When was the last time you checked this backup generator?”

Stanley flinched as if he had been struck. “Day before yesterday, sir. I make sure to check it twice a week as per regulations.”

“Did you find anything suspicious?” the Overseer asked.

Stanley shook his head. “Looked the same as always. A Radroach had chewed through one of the wires but I cleaned it up and replaced the wire just like it said in my report.”

The Overseer turned back to glare at Sunset. “Where exactly have you girls come from?”

“Canterlot High,” she replied quickly.

The Overseer raised an eyebrow. “Canterlot High?”

“That’s the school we were at when all of this happened,” the purple girl supplied.

“A school?!” The Overseer spat incredulously. “You honestly expect me to believe that there is some decrepit school out there in the Wasteland with access to that kind of technology?!”

“I’ve heard of it,” James lied quickly, hoping that the girls would pick up that he was trying to help. “I think it’s a part of the Institute, up north in the Commonwealth.” He winked at the girls, putting a finger to his lips then whipping it away a heartbeat later as the Overseer turned to him.

“You’ve never mentioned this before,” the Overseer said suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.

“You did ask me to avoid speaking of my time outside at all costs,” James replied evenly. Sometimes he surprised himself with just how easily the lies poured from his own mouth. “There were rumors circulating that they were a rogue element experimenting with dangerous teleportation technology. I never believed it might actually be real, though.”

Looking more perturbed than ever, the Overseer turned to the girls again. “Is this true?”

“Er…” Sunset hesitated, prompting James to subtly nod his head. Thankfully, the girl decided to roll with it, as she replied, “Yes, sir, it is. We thought the safety features we had implemented were adequate but... apparently we were wrong.”

“Clearly,” the Overseer sneered.

Sunset finally lowered her hands. “Please, we don’t want to cause any more trouble. We just want to find a way home.”

“And what’s to say there aren’t going to be more of you turning up out of thin air and causing even more havoc?” the Overseer asked.

Sunset gestured to the still-smoking machinery behind her. “Frankly, the last I saw, the equipment on our end was in even worse shape than this.”

The Overseer mulled this over for a bit. “Alright, let’s say I believe you about this being an accident.” He gestured vaguely at the girls. “It still doesn’t explain your grotesque mutations.”

Rarity squawked indignantly. “Grotesque!?”

“Easy, Rarity,” the southerner said again, though she was frowning at the Overseer herself in a way that made James wary.

The purple girl looked around at the others in confusion. “What do you mean by mutations?”

James noted how the girls checked over themselves and each other. It was clear that their unique coloration was nothing unusual to them, but he had to redirect the Overseer's attention before he got any more suspicious. "Perhaps it’s a side effect of whatever energy is given off by the teleportation experiments?” James suggested quickly.

“Radiation levels?” the Overseer asked instantly, nervously checking the Pip-Boy computer on his forearm.

“Nothing I can detect from here,” James replied, frowning at his own Pip-Boy in an attempt to better sell the distraction. He stepped up to Sunset, ignoring a hissed warning from Gomez. “May I?” he asked, holding out his arm.

The girl simply nodded, staying perfectly still as James passed the device on his forearm over her body. Still frowning, he turned to the Overseer. “It seems they aren’t giving off any radiation whatsoever.”

Stanley let loose a sigh. “Well that’s one less thing to worry about, I suppose.”

“Might I suggest we keep them quarantined for the time being,” James said as the Overseer glared at Stanley. “Let me run some tests to check for infections. If they are clean, then we can decide what to do with them from there.”

The Overseer didn’t seem to like that idea, but he soon relented. “Very well. stand down, Officer Gomez.” Gomez relaxed slightly, much to James' relief. “I want these girls kept contained here on this level. Put them in storage room D for now,” the Overseer ordered.

“Storage room C might be better sir,” Stanley put in. “It’s got a toilet,” he added quickly as the Overseer rounded on him.

“Fine," the Overseer huffed. "Stanley, you will lock these girls in room C, and then I want you to stay down on this level until James has given these girls a complete inspection.”

James nodded, glad that things had finally calmed down, not to mention the fact he'd get a chance to speak to the girls in private. “I’ll have Jonas handle the clinic while I run the tests I need. He can manage for a few days.”

“Good. I also want you to check for any genetic aberrations while you are at it," the Overseer instructed him. "Officer Gomez, I want you to make sure these girls do not leave the storage room until I say so. If they attempt to leave you are to treat them as hostile and deal with them accordingly.”

“Yes, Sir,” Gomez replied.

“I shall have Andy sent down to cover you for breaks, but I want you to stay on this level as well until we are sure that all is safe.” The Overseer looked back to the girls. “I want you all to follow along quickly and quietly. Should you try to run or do anything foolish you will be dealt with immediately, and severely.” The amber girl nodded obediently, prompting the Overseer to nod to Stanley. “Now then. Stanley, lead the way.”

The girls followed as Stanley led the way out of the room and into the corridors. James took up a place at the rear of the group with the Overseer and Gomez, ostensibly to keep them from trying anything foolish, but in James' case he was using the opportunity to think hard and fast about what had happened.

The testing of the secret device had been a factor in this, that much was undeniable, but how and to what extent were impossible to tell right now. The girls were even more inscrutable. James had never seen their like either outside or inside the Vault. He supposed it was possible that the girls actually we're from the Commonwealth, but that was unlikely going by their reactions.

The girls' clothes were far too flashy and impractical to belong to a wastelander, meaning that they were likely from a self-contained mad isolated community with little to no interference from the outside world. Perhaps the Enclave, or the rumored Big MT, or even another Vault.

The sound of Stanley hauling open the door to the storage room snapped James from his thoughts. Once the door was open Stanley stepped aside and gestured for the girls to enter. A few large crates were stacked against one wall, with several smaller ones scattered around haphazardly. A toilet was visible through an open door in the corner.

The girls stepped inside, looking around worriedly at their surroundings. Sunset turned as James and the Overseer entered the room after them. “How long will we be in here for?”

“Until I decide that it is safe to do otherwise with you,” the Overseer responded imperiously.

Ignoring the pompous idiot, James stepped forward, pulling a little notepad and pencil out of his pocket. “I’d like to take down your names, if that‘s alright?” He nodded to Sunset. “You said your name was… Sunset Shimmer, correct?”

“Yes, and this is Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie,” Sunset replied, indicating each of the girls in turn.

“Interesting names,” James muttered, smiling faintly.

The Overseer snorted and stepped over to the door. “You are to stay here in this room until I decide otherwise. James will be down periodically to perform whatever tests he deems necessary.” He looked them all over one last time. “So long as you behave yourselves, I shall have someone sent down with food for you at appropriate times.”

“Are any of you girls allergic to anything?” James asked, eager for even the smallest tidbit of information.

The girls all shook their heads. The men both left the room and closed the door behind them. There was a loud clang as it was locked.

The four stood silently outside the room in a confused daze.

"This was not how I expected my day to go," Gomez muttered.

"Yeah, no kidding," Stanley agreed.

"Shut up, the both of you!" The Overseer snapped. "Stanley, go and check over the sub-generator and see if it can be repaired. Gomez, keep an eye on this door. Make sure the girls don't try to leave. James, we're going to the clinic."

James nodded. "Of course, Overseer. I suggest that we keep our distance from the other residents as we walk, just in case the girls have brought something contagious with them."

"Good idea," the Overseer agreed, gesturing for James to follow as he set off through the corridors. "But until we get to the clinic, I don't want a single mention of what has occurred down here. I don't want the other residents knowing about the breach until we have decided what to do with those girls."

"Of course, but if we run into someone we'll have to tell them something to keep them from getting too close." James briefly considered what plausible lies they could spin.

The Overseer hummed thoughtfully. "We'll tell them that we were inspecting some equipment underneath the old North Block, and believe we have been exposed to an unusual form of radiation or contagion. That should be enough to keep people away from us and out of the maintenance levels."

James fell silent as the pair climbed the stairwell into the main section of the Vault. Thankfully, they didn't run into many people, and the few they did encounter left them alone when they heard the Overseer's explanation. Walking as quickly as they could without making a fuss, it didn't take long for the two to reach the clinic.

Inside, James' assistant Jonas was busy cleaning all of the work surfaces in case any patients came in. A bespectacled young man with dark brown skin and cropped black hair, Jonas had been assigned to the clinic ostensibly to keep him out of trouble, but he had quickly become James' only true confidant in the Vault.

"Jonas, I need you to wait outside for a moment," the Overseer commanded. "This is going to be a confidential discussion."

"Actually, it would be better if we brought him into the loop," James said quickly. "That way he knows what's going on, what potential issues we might have to deal with, and he can run the necessary precautionary tests on you while I go and do what I need to downstairs."

The Overseer considered for a moment, then agreed with a nod. "You make a good point. Alright, James, grab what you need for our new arrivals and get going. I'll bring Jonas up to speed."

James nodded and wasted no time as he rummaged through the clinic, quickly and efficiently gathering what he needed to perform some quick tests on the girls. He stuffed the necessary bits and pieces into a spare medical kit, then darted out of the room before the Overseer could stop him.

This was James' chance. Getting Gomez to wait outside the room while he performed basic tests wouldn't be difficult, giving James a brief window during which he could speak to the girls alone and try to figure out exactly what had happened. It was perfect.

The doctor hurried through the occupied areas of the Vault as quickly as he could without drawing too much attention, but he gave up on decorum the moment he set foot in the lower levels and broke out into a jog. He sped around the last corner, accidentally startling Gomez. "Sorry, Herman. The Overseer wanted me to hurry."

"It's alright, I imagine the old coot is going to be riding our asses like never before thanks to all of this," Gomez said wearily.

"Have they said or done anything?" James asked, referring to the girls.

Gomez shook his head. "Not really. They've been talking amongst themselves, but I can't really hear them from out here."

"They're probably just as confused as we are," James suggested. "They don't look far off Adam's age, and I know he probably wouldn't handle something like this anywhere near as well."

Gomez grimaced, clearly imagining his own son, Freddie, in such a situation, as James had anticipated. "Do you really think them coming here was an accident?"

"If it was an attempt to infiltrate the Vault, I imagine that whoever was responsible would send an armed squad, not a group of frightened teenage girls," James replied.

Gomez's shoulders slumped. "God, they must be terrified."

James smiled. Security officer or no, Gomez was a gentle soul at heart, and a good man. "With any luck my tests won't turn up anything horrible, and we can work on making them more comfortable." He gestured to the door. "May I?"

"Sure, one sec." There was a loud clang as Gomez unlocked the door and stepped through.

James followed him eagerly, looking around at the girls as he entered. They were spread around the room, half of them sitting on crates, the rest of them standing and staring at the men. They were all clearly nervous, but that was only to be expected. “Are you all alright?”

Sunset ran a hand through her hair. “We’re okay, just a little overwhelmed by what’s happened.”

James smiled slightly. “Understandable. You gave us all quite a fright too to be honest.”

Sunset sank onto a nearby box. “We’re sorry, we didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“Well, you haven’t caused any real harm yet,” Officer Gomez said bracingly. “I’m sorry I was a bit aggressive with you earlier. As long as you girls behave, I’m sure we’ll have you out of here just as soon as the doc gives the all clear.”

“And I’d like to get started on that right away,” James said, holding up his medical kit for emphasis. “Would you mind waiting outside while I examine them, Herman?

“Alright, doc, if you insist. Just shout if you need anything,” Gomez replied, thankfully accepting James' reasoning without question. He left the room without another word, closing the door gently behind him,

James set down his medical kit and checked the door before turning back to the girls. It was time to come clean. “I’m sorry about this, I fear it may be my fault that you’ve been brought here,” he said with a somber look.

The girls exchanged glances before looking back at James. “What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

James sighed heavily. “I’ve been doing experiments in secret down here with my assistant. One of the experiments I was working on was testing a device I discovered before I gained entry to the Vault. I haven’t really had a chance to test it until recently.”

“What sort of device?” Sunset asked.

“Honestly, I’m not sure," James replied. He hated to admit it, but it was the truth. "I’ve never seen anything like it before. I’ve been setting it up, testing it, and putting it away without anyone noticing for a little while now, hoping I could use it to help with my research.”

“What does it do?” Twilight asked curiously.

“I thought at first it was some sort of energy converter, but, when I switched it on today, it started pouring out that dark cloud that you girls came out of.” James shook his head in confusion. “Tell me, what kind of technology were you working on?”

Sunset paused, clearly wondering whether he was trustworthy. James couldn't blame her. Seeing her hesitation, Twilight spoke up, “It was a machine designed to detect magic.”

“Magic?” James asked, half-certain that he has misheard her. “What do you mean, magic?”

Twilight touched the necklace she was wearing, a purple stone with a stylized starburst engraved on it, and extended her arm. A purple glow surrounded one of the boxes, and it smoothly rose several feet into the air, as if floating.

James stepped back, gazing at Twilight in shock. For a brief moment, he actually believed that she had magic, but he quickly recovered himself. It seemed that the girls really were from a faction with highly advanced technology. He smiled and shook his head again. “I see, some sort of technology that manipulates magnetic fields, I assume? Very impressive. I hardly see any reason to call it magic though.”

“Oh really?” Sunset asked coyly, grinning at the other girls.

Applejack chuckled as she hefted one of the heavy crates and held it above her head one handed, scraping it against the ceiling. James’ mouth dropped in amazement. Rarity held out her hands and a complex arrangement of gemstones materialized above them. There was a rainbow-colored blur as Rainbow Dash darted all the way around the room several times, finally stopping and leaning against the wall with a smug look on her face.

James stood slack-jawed in amazement. “Incredible,” he breathed. “Simply astonishing.” He looked in disbelief at Twilight. “I never believed magic existed.”

“Perhaps it doesn’t in this world,” Fluttershy put in quietly. “It didn’t in our world at first, either.”

“Your world?” James raised an eyebrow at her, struggling to keep his wits about him.

“Yep. Our world used to be ordinary ‘til a connection got opened up to Equestria,” Applejack replied.

“Equestria?” James asked weakly, feeling the situation spiralling further and further out of control.

“It’s the world I’m originally from, it‘s where all of our magic comes from,” Sunset answered.

Twilight nodded. “Recently, we’ve been having trouble in our world with magical artefacts and creatures that came to our world from Equestria. That’s why we built a machine that could detect magical anomalies before they become a problem.”

“It also allowed us to communicate with our friends in Equestria, which is what we were doing when everything went wrong and we were sucked through to here," Sunset said sadly.

James scratched his beard, putting everything together in his mind. “You say you were communicating with another world, Equestria, when you were brought here. Do you think that is what the tool I found was? Some sort of… magical transportation device?”

“I don’t think so, we didn’t detect any magical signatures other than our own,” Twilight replied with a frown. “Perhaps it’s some kind of dimensional technology that interfered with our portal when you switched it on?”

“Could we take a look at it?” Sunset asked.

James shook his head grimly, wishing he had any other answer to give. “I’m afraid not. It was completely destroyed when that dark cloud consumed it.” He gave the girls a moment to acknowledge that fact before continuing, “I‘m glad you were quick on the uptake earlier, when I lied about the Commonwealth. I was trying to protect you and buy some extra time. The Overseer will go to extreme lengths to protect the safety of the Vault.”

“Does this Commonwealth really exist?” Twilight asked hopefully.

James nodded. “I think so, I’ve heard rumors about them over the years. Nothing about teleportation, though. They were simply the only group I could think of that the Overseer won’t know much about, so he wouldn’t be too suspicious.”

“Do you think they could help us?” Pinkie asked.

“I doubt it, to be honest," James admitted. "Even if they could, getting there across the Wastes would be an almost impossible journey, even for girls with abilities such as yours. Incidentally, I wouldn't let the Overseer or anyone else know about your powers, we don’t know how they may react.” James started digging around in his kit. “First of all, let's get these tests done. If everything comes back clean, I’ll see if I can convince the Overseer to let you stay in the Vault. At least until we can find you a way back home.”

“Thanks, James,” Sunset said gratefully. “What tests do you need to do?”

“For the moment, just a cursory examination for any rashes or lesions, nothing too severe or intrusive," James replied. "Plus a few blood samples from each of you, if that is alright?”

Sunset nodded with a sigh. “Whatever you need.” The other girls all agreed too, allowing James to quickly examine and take a sample from each of them. He worked quickly and efficiently, trying to hold back his enthusiasm at being able to study humans from another world. Fluttershy was a little intimidated by the needle for the blood test at first, but it wasn't difficult to keep her calm enough to get a decent sample.

When James was finished he quickly turned to leave the room, eager to get started on the tests right away, but as he opened the door he turned back to the girls, smirking as a thought occurred to him. “This is something I never thought I would find myself saying to anyone,” he muttered, half to himself.

“What is it?” Sunset asked curiously.

James smiled grimly. “Welcome to Vault 101.”

Author's Note

Welcome to the first spin-off of Fallout Girls! This first section is going to show the arrival of the Rainbooms in Vault 101 from different character's perspectives, as well as showing more of what they got up to in their time there.

I hope you enjoy!