//------------------------------// // Chapter 34 - One Size Fits All // Story: Fallout Equestria: Blue Destiny // by MagnetBolt //------------------------------// So Mom was alive. That was… it was sure something. I guess I’d mentally prepared myself to have to put her down but I thought it would be a mercy killing. Of all the things I’d prepared myself for, I hadn’t put ‘Mom learns to control the full power of an ancient technology and ascends to become some kind of super-being' on my bingo card. Grey light poured in when I stepped out of the shadows of the zebra infirmary hut and into what passed for daylight in the basement of the world. Outside, some of the zebra paused their chores and waved to me. I smiled and waved back. “How’s our little Sky Lady feeling?” Smoke-in-Water asked. I looked over at him. He was sitting to the side of the door with a piece of wood, slowly carving it into something I couldn’t recognize yet. “Most people wouldn’t call me little,” I pointed out. “I’m taller than you.” “True, but I am older than you, and that counts for more,” Smoke said. He put down the knife he’d been using. “You’ve been spending a lot of time in town lately,” I noted. “I’m sure the Companions miss having you around, but I bet Wheel-of-Moons doesn’t mind the company.” I wiggled my eyebrows in a very suggestive manner. “Is there something wrong with your face?” Smoke asked. “You’ve got a twitch--” “Never mind,” I sighed. “I know you’ll see Wheel-of-Moons later. Can you tell her it took way longer than it should have, but the Dartura did eventually start helping regrow my feathers?” I spread my wing so Smoke could look. They’d come in overnight, which had led to a very restless few hours and not a lot of sleep. Silver glinted from the entire surface of my wing that had been exposed to the acid gas. It actually looked more natural now, since it wasn’t just a few large primaries on each side. “It itched all night but it looks like they’re done growing. I should be able to fly again without crashing into her hut.” “Good,” Smoke said. “I still don’t know how you managed to destroy a wooden beam as thick as your thigh on accident.” “I’m just a force of nature.” I shrugged. “Where’s Destiny?” “Your little ghost?” Smoke looked around, then pointed. “She went to the high ground just outside the village. If she hasn’t come back, she must still be there.” “She went alone?” I asked. “There haven’t been any raider attacks since you destroyed the dragon,” Smoke said, smiling. “Peace has finally returned. I think even your tiny spirit has found some measure of that peace herself -- she wasn’t even condescending when she asked Walks-in-Shadow to go with her.” “That’s a shock,” I said. “I hope she’s not dying.” The rushing air felt amazing. Nothing hurt. Nothing itched. I was absolutely sure that it wouldn’t last, but I wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. Potions and healthy eating had mended me in less than a week. We’d thought about going to the hospital to use the Auto-Doc, but I needed the bed rest just as much as I’d needed something to soothe chemical burns. Sometimes, when I was lying in bed just starting to wake up, I’d forget everything. The doom hanging over me like a hungry skyjoy, the personal responsibility. The ponies I’d killed. When I couldn’t remember any of it, I felt so relaxed and at peace. Then I’d wake up just a tiny bit more, and it would all come crashing down again. At least being in the air let me feel a little detached from it all. I spotted Walks-in-Shadow at the same time he saw me. He waved from the top of the hill just outside the village, one of the spots inside the valley that almost rose to the level of the cliffs around us. My power armor was next to him, lying on a sled. Destiny must have asked for help because she wanted to drag the whole suit up on the hill. When I landed, he ran up to me like an excited puppy. “Sky Lady, there’s great news!” he said, almost hopping in place. “You found more of those little red berries?” I asked, hopeful. Walks-in-Shadow frowned. “...No, and elder Wheel-of-Moons said you shouldn’t eat those. They’re poisonous.” “If they want to be poison they shouldn’t taste so good,” I huffed. “Chamomile, those were crystal holly bushes!” Destiny yelled across the clearing. “You’re lucky you didn’t get sick! They’re for birds, not ponies!” “Scientifically speaking I’m basically half bird,” I said in my own defense. “Stop eating poison and come over here,” Destiny said. “You know how when the dragon died, all the radio interference disappeared?” “I’m not part radio, but I’ll take your word for it.” I walked over to her. “Technically you are part radio. There’s a wireless receiver-- it’s not important. What is important is that I finally got through!” “Got through to what?” I asked. “To us!” another voice said through the armor’s speakers. It had been so long since I’d heard her that I almost didn’t recognize Emerald’s voice. “Quattro, it’s Chamomile! Destiny has her on the line!” “You got through to the Enclave?” I asked, excited. I got closer to the armor like there was somepony inside it (aside from Destiny, who was only inside it in spirit). “Hey! Can you hear me?” “Loud and clear,” Quattro said. “I thought you were dead for a while.” “Only mostly dead,” I promised. “I’ve been busting my flank down here.” “Destiny got us caught up on everything that happened,” Emerald said. “Things have been relatively quiet up here.” “Sorry to bring excitement and drama back into your lives,” I joked. “We’ve been thinking about how to get you back here now that we know you’re not entirely dead,” Quattro put in. “I’ve got a plan,” I said, confidently. I was very clever. I’d thought up a plan ages ago, but I’d needed to take out the dragon before I could do anything. “Remember SPP Tower Zero? It had a central shaft that went all the way down to the ground. I can just find an entrance below cloud level and go right back up! It’s like a secret entrance and--” “--And we thought about that too,” Emerald interrupted. Quattro sighed. “We can’t get to Tower Zero anymore. The derelict ships we used as a bridge through the storm wall are gone.” “They fell apart?” I asked. “No, I mean… gone,” Quattro said, emphasizing the last word. “There are a half-dozen Raptor-class cloudships totally unaccounted for. And all of them are radioactive enough that I don’t know why anypony would want them.” “We’ll figure that out later,” Emerald said. “My bet is that the storm wall had a surge of some kind and it finally broke enough talismans to send them down to the ground.” “My bits are on pirates,” Quatto said. “And the smart money is on it not mattering,” a third pony snapped. “Chamomile, this is Captain White Glint.” “Ma’am,” I nodded, not that she could see it through the radio, but I hope she heard me respecting her enough that she wouldn’t refuse to help me get back home. “Your best bet is contacting somepony on the surface to assist,” she continued. “We don’t have any reasonable idea on breaking through the lightning shield or how to locate you once we got to the ground.” “Your advice is just for me to do it myself?” I asked incredulously. “I had somepony particular in mind,” White Glint said. “I know a Dashite cell runs out of the general area you’ve fallen into. Their leader and I knew each other personally.” “When you say personally--” “I don’t know where their base is located or how to contact them directly, but the Enclave has an ongoing military operation in the city of Dark Harbor. Can you locate it?” “We’ve got local maps,” Destiny replied. “Dark Harbor isn’t all that far away. We can probably get there in a few days.” DRACO beeped. I stepped around the armor so I could look at the screen where it was mounted on the armor’s integral battle saddle. DRACO showed the local map, zooming out until I could see the shoreline on the tiny screen. A star blinked rapidly on the coast. “If the Enclave has a presence there, it’s where the Dashites will be,” White Glint said. “I know the leader of this cell likes to take a very… active approach. She’d never let them do what they wanted unmolested.” “You’re using words like ‘molested’ and you know her personally, so I’m just kind of wondering if--” White Glint cut me off. “She’s dangerous. She won’t seem dangerous. If you tell Unsung you know me, she might be willing to listen to you. If she can’t or won’t help, there could still be an opportunity to get back here using the Enclave. Steal a skywagon with the right IFF, hack the systems to let yourself through, something like that. It’s your best bet.” “Okay,” I sighed. “I’ll go to the city full of ponies that probably want to kill me, find an extremely dangerous terrorist, and hope that I can figure something out.” “You’ll have to be lucky,” White Glint admitted. “But you’re the luckiest pony I know.” “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” Wheel-of-Moon asked. “This valley is a place of peace. You could live here and forget your worries. Abandon your quest before it kills you. This can be your home as much as the sky is.” We were at the edge of the valley, at the one pass they’d left open. The low end of the road was warm and pleasant, and by the end of the short road, the ground was covered in snow. “I want to stay, but I can’t,” I said. “I have a personal responsibility. My mom is out there hurting ponies. I might be the only one who can stop her. I could stay here, but then the blood would be on my hooves.” Wheel-of-Moon stepped closer and took my hoof in hers. “There will be blood on your hooves no matter what path you choose,” she said quietly. “So much blood. Do not lose yourself in the death that lingers over this broken world.” “I won’t.” I squeezed her hooves. She nodded back to me. “Take this,” she said. She held up a cloth bag. “Dartura tea. Mix the powder with hot water. I know you will hurt yourself again, and this is the best I can do to protect you.” I stowed it away, and the second it disappeared from my hooves into the armor’s Vector Trap, Walks-in-Shadow slammed into me, hugging me and trying not to sound like he was upset. “I’ll miss you, Sky Lady,” he said, sniffling. “I’ll miss you too, kid,” I said. “I promise I’ll try and visit.” I wasn’t sure if it’d even be possible, but I really did like the rift valley. Once everything was over, it’d be a nice place to live. Something with incredible, inequine strength picked me up from behind and squeezed me in a hug that made my bones creak. “A warrior like you will be missed!” Two-Bears-High-Fiving practically shouted. She gave me a firm squeeze before setting me back down on my hooves. “You would have made a worthy Companion. I want you to take this.” She gave me a wrapped fur. “It’s a Ghost Bear skin, worked into a cloak,” she said. “It will keep you warm in even the coldest winter storm. This way, something of the tribe will always be with you.” “That means a lot to me,” I said. I gave her a hug back, squeezing hard. She laughed. “Enough, enough!” she said, giggling. “You’ve no need to prove your strength to me, Dragon Slayer.” “Think you can keep everyone safe without me?” I asked. “We will manage,” Two-Bears said. “Do not worry for us. You have a way of finding new trouble, and that will be enough to occupy your thoughts, quiaff?” I nodded. “I have a feeling I’m gonna find all sorts of new ways to get killed.” “When you come back, you’ll have to tell us the tale of your adventures,” Two-Bears said. She ruffled Walks-in-Shadows’ mane. “Perhaps by then, this one will have stories of his own!” “I know he will.” I nodded to him with a smile. “He’s already got a few good ones!” “Now get going,” Two-Bears said, slapping me on the back. “This isn’t a farewell. It’s only until we meet again!” “I swear on the stars, Chamomile, you made that windigo mad on purpose!” Destiny said. I huffed and hit my hoof on a rock, breaking the ice sheet that had formed on the armor. I flexed my knee to make sure nothing was really hurt. "And I'm pretty sure it was the same one you pissed off the last time!" “I didn’t see it! I was thinking about something else!” I protested. “So you flew right into it?” Destiny asked. “You realize we don’t have any way to actually fight a ghost, right?” “We got away! Isn’t that good enough?” I huffed. “What do you even use to fight a ghost, anyway?” “Necromancy. That’s the most obvious answer. Probably just about any spell effect with enough power. Try not to get caught in any megaspells.” I snorted. “You know what, I’ll put that on the list just in case it comes up. Stay away from megaspells. Got it.” I wiped my visor free of frost and was just about to take off when I spotted something. “What’s up?” Destiny asked. “Look at this,” I said, looking down at the road. As we went south, snow had given way to slush and mud. At the rate things were warming up, by the time we hit the city it would be warm enough that it’d practically feel like summer back home. “Hoofprints. And these are probably from wagon wheels…” “You’re right. They look pretty fresh. According to the maps we’ve got, this should be the way to Dark Harbor. It’s possible they’re heading there too.” “Let’s try catching up with them,” I said. “If they’ve traveled this way before they might know something useful about the area. We could actually avoid trouble before we walk snout-first into it.” “A shockingly good idea. Just try not to pick any fights.” I took to the air and followed the road. It wasn’t quite a direct path, curving around hills and stuff I could just fly over. I only had to fly along for an hour before I found the ponies who’d been making the tracks. It was a caravan, and the first one I’d seen on the ground. Back home there had sometimes been trading caravans that came around town, but they were sort of illegal in a vague way that meant the local police ignored them as long as they didn’t cause too much trouble. Dad had always forbidden me from going to look, so I’d obviously made it a point to hang out with them. Unfortunately, he’d been totally wrong about the cool ponies offering me free drugs, and my allowance wasn’t enough to get anything that might really get me into trouble, so mostly I just ended up getting little trinkets that he pretended not to see me wearing just like I pretended I didn’t see him buying banned books. I was half afraid I’d find them on fire or being attacked by monsters. That would have been exactly my kind of luck. Instead, they were in the more mundane kind of trouble that ponies got into even before everything exploded -- one of the caravan wagons looked like it was stuck in the mud. “Keep quiet for a bit,” I said to Destiny. “I don’t want them to get jumpy.” “I’m sure a heavily armed pegasus in power armor won’t spook them at all,” Destiny retorted. I rolled my eyes but she stayed quiet while I flew in overhead. They didn’t look up until I was hovering above them. It looked like the cart in trouble was being pulled by a thin-looking unicorn, and I could see why she was having trouble -- it was absolutely overloaded, with ratty tarps stretched over a pile of junk that was taller than I was. She was arguing with a couple of earth ponies, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. “Hey there!” I yelled down to them. “Do you need--” “Oh buck my eyes it’s an alicorn!” one of the earth ponies screamed. He broke and ran for cover, and the others followed like I’d shown up just to kill them. “My expectations were low and they still managed to disappoint me,” Destiny muttered. “Woah, woah!” I yelled. “I’m not here to hurt anypony!” I landed quickly and struggled with the armor’s helmet, pulling it off just in time for one of the ponies to shove a gun in my face. It was ludicrously janky, made out of pipes and scrap, and looked more likely to blow up in his mouth than actually hurt me. “I don’t know what you’re doin’ out here, but--” he started. He glanced at my forehead. “...not an alicorn?” “It’s just barding,” I said, showing him my helmet. “I don’t know why you’re afraid of princesses, but I’m just a normal pony.” I felt Destiny’s spirit vibrating the helmet in my hooves as she forced herself not to comment. The earth pony looked at me warily for a few more seconds before finally lowering the gun. If he’d held it on me a little longer I would have been sorely tempted to slap it out of his mouth, but I was really trying to make a good impression. “This one got her stupid broken-down old wagon stuck damn near axle-deep in the muck,” he said, waving in the unicorn’s direction. She was still strapped into the harness, but she looked like the only reason she wasn’t hiding behind something was because she’d already frozen in terror. “We were tellin’ her we’ve already got her unstuck three times. If she can’t keep up, she needs to drop some of the salvage or figure out how to shift it herself, because we got places to be.” “I-I just need a few minutes to rest!” the unicorn protested. “Then I can cast the weight reduction spell again and pull it out myself!” “That’s what you said last time,” the earth pony groaned. “And the time before that! We’re stuck at half-speed because you need rest every other mile!” “I can pull it for a while,” I suggested. “That way she can rest and you can make up the time.” “I don’t…” the unicorn bit her lip, stopping herself. I could see her fighting her instincts. Part of her wanted to refuse immediately. I don’t know if it was pride or what. “It’s really heavy,” she said quietly. “That’s no problem,” I assured her. “I’m stronger than I look. How about it?” I turned to the Earth Pony. “If you keep up, that’s fine. Just don’t expect us to slow down for you.” He shrugged. “This is the last time I take somepony on a trip that ain’t never done a caravan run before… darn unicorns thinking they can fix everything with spells…” he trotted off back up the line of waiting carts and wagons. “Let’s get you unstuck,” I said. She nodded warily. “I’ll pull. You push from the back. That way when we get it moving we won’t have to stop and switch. Sound good?” “O-okay,” she said, unhooking herself and walking around to the back. I got myself into place and started working the buckles. Destiny subtly started helping with the ones that were harder to reach, but almost as quickly, stopped. “What’s wrong?” I whispered. “I felt something,” Destiny said. “It was… some kind of resonance effect.” “SIVA?” I asked. The last thing I needed was a dragon fight. “No. You’d feel that, not me. It was magic. Something from this pile of scraps…” “Yeah?” I started lifting up the edge of the old faded tarp, and caught a glimpse of something huge and black. “Don’t!” the unicorn yelled. She yanked the tarp edge out of my mouth and secured it more tightly. “Don’t… please don’t look.” “Wow, okay,” I said, holding up my hooves. “It’s fine. I was just curious. I’m sorry.” She nodded quickly, not looking at me. She looked more afraid than angry. The wagon ahead of us started moving. “Let’s see if this stuff is as heavy as it looks,” I said. “On three. One, two… push!” It wasn’t as heavy as it seemed. It was way heavier. Getting stuck in the mud was no surprise, but what shocked me was that the entire wagon didn’t collapse. The weight was enough that I’d swear on my wings that the steel frame was bending more with every step. Her cargo was several tons of unrelenting metal and the first couple miles were brutal. “Is that better?” she asked. “The spell should be helping now.” I nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. “Yeah. Are you sure you can keep it up? You must be using a lot of power to negate the weight.” “It’s okay as long as I don’t have to pull it at the same time,” she said, settling down on top of the cart next to where I’d stuck Destiny. Compared to how much the rest weighed, having her along for the ride didn’t make any kind of difference. “Thank you again. I’m just… I’m not used to ponies helping me for no reason.” “That’s too bad. Ponies should help each other.” I looked back at her and smiled. “I’m Chamomile. I don’t think we had a chance to introduce each other before we got this thing moving.” “My name is…” she hesitated and touched the helmet at her hooves, picking it up and holding it like a safety blanket. “Four. Four Damascus.” She didn’t sound like she was lying, but the way she said her name made me think she wasn’t comfortable saying it. Maybe she had some kind of family problem. I could relate to that. “So you’re going to Dark Harbor?” I asked. She nodded. Four was pretty cute for a surface pony. Her coat was deep lavender, and she kept her bright aqua mane cut short. She had a willow, thin build that made her almost as tall as I was and probably half the weight. It helped that she also seemed to have bathed within the last week, which was better than the rest of the ponies we were with. “I’m going to… meet ponies there. I hope.” She swallowed. “What about you?” “Pretty much the same,” I admitted. “It’s nice to make the trip with other ponies. It’s not as fast, but I don’t know my way around here. The last thing I need is to find a monster nest the hard way because I got lost.” “We’re pretty close to the city, I think. I mean, that’s what the pony running the caravan said,” Four explained, stumbling over herself. “They’re really very nice. I know they might not seem like it, but that’s because I’ve been putting them all in danger. Because I’m slower than they are, they’ve been moving at my pace, and that leaves us more vulnerable to raiders…” A caravan limping along and getting stuck would be a pretty tempting target, I guess. “Raiders aren’t that big of a deal,” I said, trying to make her feel better. “I’ve had to fight off a few. Probably meaner ones than you’d ever get out here.” “Really?” Four asked. “I thought you were from…” she hesitated. I caught her glancing at the sky. The way she trailed off, it was like even saying some words was too much for her. “I came down from the north,” I said. “Outside of Stalliongrad. It was cold but… the people there were good.” I wasn’t going to flat-out say they were zebras. I didn’t know how the average pony down here thought of them. If they were like Destiny, they might be less friendly if they thought I was on good terms with an ancient enemy. “Why did you leave?” Four asked, her voice soft. “They asked me to stay. I was really tempted. But…” I sighed. “Complicated family stuff. I need to find my Mom and give her a piece of my mind. Then figure out where Dad is, if he’s even still alive.” “Sorry,” Four said. “I didn’t mean to…” I shook my head. “It’s okay. If it was too sensitive to talk about I wouldn’t have told you. Stars, I haven’t even really thought much about my Dad since he left. He was such a jerk, and then he went and did something selfless and I’ve got no idea what happened to him after that. I don’t even know if I want to know!” “You should try and find out,” Four said. “It’s… not knowing is the worst.” “Do you have any family?” I asked. Her expression changed like I’d struck her. I instantly regretted asking. “I had two sisters and a brother,” she whispered. “They’re…” “Sorry,” I mumbled. She nodded. “Hey, uh,” Destiny said, clearing her throat. “Sorry to interrupt this sensitive topic but--” Four shrieked in surprise and tossed the helmet away. “What?! What is that?!” Destiny caught herself with telekinesis and turned to me, ignoring Four’s question. “I spotted a raider back there. At least I assume it’s a raider since they were covered in blood and filth and were trying to hide behind a dead tree.” “An ambush?” I asked. “Probably. I doubt he’s alone. Maybe a spotter for others.” “What is going on?!” Four demanded. “It’s fine!” I promised. “It’s nothing weird! My armor is just haunted. Destiny is a ghost.” I saw her expression change. She blinked rapidly like this was the very last thing she expected anypony to say. “...Oh. That’s… okay. That makes sense. I just didn’t know anypony else…” “We need to focus on the raiders,” Destiny said. “They could be attacking any second.” She started tugging on the cart’s straps with her weak telekinesis. “I should have paid more attention while you were getting strapped in,” she mumbled. “Which buckle do I undo first?” “It’s the one on her--” Four started. She snapped her head to the side and ducked. A gunshot rang out a second later. “They’re here!” “I just have to--” I grunted and tried to get free, but the straps were stubbornly tough. They’d been strong enough to pull ten tons of metal, and I wasn’t going to be able to just tear my way out. “Just calm down!” Destiny said. “I can’t get a grip on the buckle with you moving around!” “I can cut them!” I said. “No!” Four gasped. “That would ruin the wagon! I can’t leave it here! Just hold on!” She climbed down carefully, like she was afraid of even a tiny drop, and started helping with the straps. “Don’t pull on that one, it makes it tighter! We need to get this one first…” While they were busy with the straps, raiders appeared on the sides of the road, running out from the cover of dead trees and bushes and where they’d been waiting in the ditches on the sides of the path. We had maybe a minute before they got to us, and I couldn’t get an angle to shoot them with DRACO. “A little faster, please!” I said, watching the madponies run towards us full-tilt. “We’re working on it!” Destiny shouted. The sound of the wind changed, getting louder, even more than the war cries of the raiders galloping at us. It changed into a distinctive roar punctuated by a dull thump-thump-thump, and my blood ran cold. I looked up and saw two Vertibucks swooping towards us. “Oh buck me,” I swore. When White Glint had mentioned Enclave activity, I wasn’t expecting this! Four followed my gaze and had exactly the same reaction I did. We threw ourselves down and tried to hide. The Vertibucks swooped overhead, then turned around and started shooting. At the raiders. The crazed bandit ponies were cut down by heavy automatic fire, the shells practically ripping most of them apart. The raiders barely even had working guns, and definitely nothing that could even scratch the armored air support. It was like throwing them into a meat grinder. I almost felt sorry for them. “This area is under the protection of the Enclave,” boomed a voice from one of the Vertibucks. “You’re all safe now! No raiders or monsters will be allowed to harm ponies traveling these roads.” The other ponies in the caravan cheered. I shared a look with Four. I don’t know her reasons, but she looked like she’d have preferred the raiders. So would I. “Are you going to be okay?” I asked. There was a line of wagons waiting to get into the city. There were Enclave soldiers patrolling the skies and checking the paperwork of every pony who wanted to enter. The ones that didn’t have paperwork were being taken aside for what I had to imagine was something between a census and a criminal interrogation. I’d thrown the Ghost Bear pelt over my armor like a cloak to disguise my wings and what I was wearing. So far the soldiers hadn’t really noticed me. “The ponies I’m meeting, um, they got me the papers I need to get in,” Four said. “That’s good,” I said. “I, uh. I think I’m going to go for a little bit of a walk.” “You mean find a way to sneak in,” Four corrected, with a small smile. She pulled me into a hug. “Thank you so much for helping me. I would have gotten left behind if you hadn’t come along…” “I’m glad I could help,” I said, very carefully returning the hug. I was worried I’d break her with how fragile she seemed. “Hey, since we’ll both be in the city, maybe we’ll see each other around! If we’ve got some time, maybe we can meet up and get lunch?” “That would be great,” Four said. She let go, and I nodded to her. She struggled with the heavy cart, even with the weight reduction spell active, but she’d already promised me that she could manage it the rest of the way now that the roads weren’t mud. The line started moving, and I watched from a distance while she gave one of the ponies her paperwork and was allowed into the city. “I guess she really did have the right paperwork,” I said. “And we don’t,” Destiny pointed out. “How are you planning on getting inside?” “I’ve been thinking about that the whole time we’ve been standing here,” I said. “The city’s got walls, so we can’t just walk in, and with the Enclave watching the skies, flying over the top is a bad idea.” “I hope you’re smart enough not to try shooting your way in.” “To be honest I’m hoping to avoid killing anypony.” I started walking parallel to the wall, towards the setting sun. “And we won’t need to, because I had a brilliant idea.” “Chamomile…” “No, really! We don’t have money for a bribe, we don’t have official paperwork, but we do have an environmentally sealed suit of armor with its own air supply, and in case you forgot, this city is called Dark Harbor.” “And?” “And this.” I stopped at the top of a rise. Below us, the dirt turned to sand and gravel and led into the sea. “The Enclave is watching the sky, so we’ll just swim into the city! It’s a great idea, right?” “I suppose it could work,” Destiny admitted. “Even during the war we would have had trouble detecting a single swimming pony.” “We’ll wait for it to get dark so they don’t see us from above. Then it’s easy-going until we find Unsung.” “How are you planning on doing that?” “I, uh… I’ll just come up with another brilliant plan once we’re inside. You’ll see!”