Chapter One: Departures
Chapter One: Departures
“Home ain't the place you rest your head, colt. That’s a house. Home is a place where you feel welcomed, safe, and happy to be in.”
"Solar!"
“You’d better get your ass out from wherever it’s hiding and show yourself, Solar Flare!” a blue-coated mare yells loudly as she walks into a storage room. Two other ponies that both have batons clenched in their teeth flank her. “It’s time for your daily beating, you freak!” She motions with a hoof for the other two to spread out and start searching the room. “Extra brutal today, because you’re running from security!”
Wonderful. Here I am casually hiding behind a loose ventilation plate, watching the room below. The loud one is Cobalt Arc, second in command of the security ponies here in Vault 45. She’s playing her favorite game, ‘hunt the freak’, which she happens to organize and encourage most of the other ponies here in the stable to participate in. The three of them start searching the room methodically. I know they saw me run in here, so I have some time before they give up. My mind starts idly wandering backwards in time, thinking about the events that got me here.
A long time ago, here in Stable 45, my parents gave birth to a freak, an abomination of a pony with a horn sticking out of his head. Of course, before I was born, everypony in the stable was happy about a new birth, because it signified another pony to help support the Stable, to keep everypony alive. In the renewing cycle of life and death, maintaining a delicate balance was critical, and every family is allowed two foals. Resources are at a premium, and deviation is unacceptable. So when a pony with such an obvious flaw was born, the doctor was concerned and summoned the ruler of the Stable, the Overmare.
In a brilliant display of sound judgement, the Overmare declared that I was some sort of mutant, and that the radiation outside must have somehow leaked in. This threw maintenance into a blind panic as they frantically searched every inch of the Stable for sources of leaks, only to find none. The Overmare told, no, recommended strongly that my parents let me die, and that my existence would be removed from the records. My father had agreed, however, my mother had much more sway around here, and she said that she would gladly raise me, physical appearances be damned.
I’m not entirely sure she made the best choice. My father hung himself when I was less than a year old, and I had to be raised separately from the other foals, as the other parents were scared that my mere presence would taint their little colts and fillies. School was a huge ordeal for my fragile little psyche with the constant verbal and physical abuse I sustained. The only classes that weren’t terrifying to sit through were the ones that everypony else hated, like history and science.
My mind snaps back to the present as one of the ponies below me slams a locker closed. “He’s not here, Cobalt. It’s like he vanished.”
Cobalt Arc makes a frustrated noise and checks her PipBuck before looking up and turning in a slow circle. I can tell what she’s doing; she’s using her brilliant little piece of Stable-Tec equipment to track the PipBuck that’s on my left foreleg. A second frustrated noise indicates her failure as she smacks the thing against an empty metal crate. “Damn thing must be broken.” She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, before raising her voice again and proclaiming, “Oh, whatever. You got lucky today, damn freak bastard pony!” She leaves the room, and the other two ponies obediently follow her wordlessly. Bunch of sheep, the lot of them.
I poke my PipBuck, bringing up my EFS and checking that my mother’s security override code is still enabled. Oh yeah, my mom’s the head of security and the only pony around who can stop Cobalt’s crap. Or the only one that cares to, anyway. I silently slip down into the storeroom, checking my EFS to make sure that she didn’t leave somepony to cover the door.
Thinking about it, I marvel at the PipBuck’s usefulness. They’re a marvel of technology left over from before the apocalypse, developed by Stable-Tec. They function like a personal computer, complete with notes and an audio recorder and player. It’s also a radio and short-range transmitter, but the only thing to listen to down here is the drab Stable Radio, playing the same songs over and over again. The transmitter also has a search function, so if somepony knows the code to my PipBuck, they can track it down. Much more useful, though, is the EFS, or Eyes Forward Sparkle system, which indicates the direction, location, and intent of somepony. It’s a vision overlay system that has a lot of useful things that show up on the edges of your vision. Most ponies don’t use it; however, I find it a life saver. Ah, yeah, and it can be made to glow like a lamp.
Satisfied nopony outside wants to beat me up, I open the door and start heading to my assigned workplace. Most ponies don’t even look in my direction as I head to the kitchen. Looking around, I spot a cleaning robot furiously scrubbing the latest painting off the wall, returning the hallway to its original metallic grey. A group of mares have been attempting to paint the Stable up a bit, trying to relieve the stress of living in an underground metal box, but the cleaning robots treat the paintings as dirt and keep cleaning them up. Reprogramming the robots hasn’t helped a thing. The lighting is no better; the constant stark white of the artificial lighting illuminates almost every corner of the Stable.
As I walk into the cafeteria, I realize a moment too late that it’s suspiciously quiet. I start to backpedal, but Cobalt Arc nails me in the head with a metal serving tray. As I recoil from the blow, she steps in and hits me again, twice, three more times. Damn SATS, I think to myself. I crumple to the floor, dazed and bleeding. She tosses the tray aside, leaning in close and saying loudly, “Teach you to waste my time, damn freak.” She proceeds to step on me on her way out the door. Other ponies in the room either start laughing quietly or attempt to ignore the violence, pretending to be oblivious to the abuse.
As I pick myself up off the floor, I consider the tray and returning the favor. After all, every PipBuck has SATS, the Stable-Tec Assisted Targeting System. It would be trivial for me to grab the tray and activate the function, and that’s exactly what I do. Time freezes as I select some targeted shots with the tray. There’s some sort of accuracy function along with the queued attacks, and part of my brain wonders how the damn thing works in the first place. Then the other part of my brain convinces me how terrible of an idea it would be to attack a member of Security, and I cancel the whole thing, letting the System drop, and begrudgingly take the tray back to the kitchen. I glare at a couple of ponies still snickering at my fortune, or lack thereof, and in a low growl remind them who exactly it is that makes their food.
I head into the kitchen, tossing the tray into the pile of dirty dishes that should have been cleaned up by now and grab my chef hat and apron from where it is hanging. Great, it looks like somepony used my apron to wipe down the stove. Bronze Charm, the male pony who works the first shift, finally spots me. “About damn time you showed up. You know, twenty minutes late for your shift.” I check the clock on my EFS as he’s talking; it’s only been eight minutes, but whatever. “I’m going to report your sorry ass.”
“Yeah, fantastic. You do that. They’ll file it next to every other report you file about me. Every day. Ever.” The sarcasm clearly flew right over his head as he hangs his apron with a snort. I keep drilling him even as he’s leaving the kitchen, saying, “Did you even bother to clean anything around here? There are three ponies on your shift; none of you can do anything? Laundry? Dishes? Freaking waste bins?” Bronze exits the kitchen without another word. Ugh.
Well, now I have the kitchen all to myself. It sucks, really, there’s supposed to be three ponies on First and Second shift, and two on Third, however, one of the other ponies on my shift died in a non-work related accident, and the other mysteriously transferred to another department completely. The Overmare, in her infinite wisdom, decided that the positions did not need filled back up. I carefully apply a bandage to my bleeding forehead and get myself and my apron cleaned up the best I can. It’s an eight hour shift and I have a lot of work to do.
I walk over to the food generator, a huge machine that takes up most of the back wall of the kitchen, and start cleaning the thing so I can use it. The manual, which I managed to read once before somepony lost, states that it’s an experimental, state of the art, one of a kind machine that can take any sort of input, mostly just energy, and create fresh food out of the dispenser. Of course, the food comes out in a raw state, so the kitchen ponies have to then prepare it for the meals that feed the several hundred other ponies who live in the Stable. I heard a rumor that the other Stables have huge underground orchards, but we got this machine. We toss our food waste into it and it somehow turns that into energy that it uses to churn out the next batch of food. We’ve had the machine since the Stable closed, so everypony just accepts that it works and doesn’t ask questions.
My work routine sees me running about the kitchen, preparing food for a few hundred ponies, casually keeping up with the constant flow of custom orders. I’ve developed my own techniques for kitchen work, which involves standing upright on my hind legs and using both forelegs to manipulate knives and other tools of the trade. Even though most of the ponies refuse to acknowledge my presence outside of the kitchen, they do seem to enjoy my work, both watching my display of agility and consuming anything I prepare. The best part of the job is taking a moment to see everypony in the cafeteria happily consuming the food I’ve given them.
After eight hours, the first pony from Third shift shows up. White Berry, to her credit, is one of the three or four ponies in Stable 45 that actually leans towards liking me. I give her a warm smile; her presence is probably the best part of any day for me. “Hey.”
Ignoring the strict health code we pretend to follow here in the kitchen, she walks over to me while I’m finishing the assembling the dispenser of the food replicator. She gently pokes at the bandage on my forehead and asks, “Cobalt Arc again?” I don’t bother answering, she already knows. “She might be a security pony, but that doesn’t give her the right to attack you.” She glances at the list of rules posted on the wall. “Besides, bleeding in the kitchen is a serious violation, and you could get in trouble.”
“Why do you think she does it?” I finish fixing the machine with a sigh. “And if I wasn’t the freak with the horn, the Overmare might actually do something about it.”
“Solar, you’re not a freak. Quit saying that.” She sounds tired of having the same conversation at least twice a week. She dons her kitchen apparel, adding, “I don’t think you’re a freak. You’re a pony, just like everypony else. Somepony who deserves a chance.”
That’s the reason seeing her is the best part of my life. She’s always saying things like that. “Sorry. Just, you hear something enough times, you might start believing it.” It’s true. Nowhere in any of our history books or computer logs have there ever been entries on ponies with horns growing out of their heads. Out of the hundreds of ponies who live here in the Stable, or the several generations before us, nothing like this has ever happened. Or been recorded, anyway. The ridicule got to my dad early, which is why he committed suicide. Mom, however, is head of security, and a very strong mare, to boot. The stress never drove her mad, and she didn’t let anypony else talk smack to her. “Ah, there I go again. I’ll stop being so depressing, my bad.”
I hang my work clothes up and head for the door. “It’s all yours. Oh, Bronze Charm left a used morphine syringe under the food generator again. I got rid of it, but I still don’t know how to explain it to anypony else. He needs help; he’s addicted to the stuff and keeps trying to pin the blame on me.” I roll my eyes with a slight smile. “Anything else?”
She shakes her head and walks over next to me. “No, it’s fine. Get going, and be careful.” She gives me a small kiss on the cheek before heading into the back room.
I practically melt into a puddle on the floor. She’s never done that before! I touch a hoof to my cheek to see if that really just happened, and sure enough, I can feel the warmth. I stand there, dazed, until the other Third shift pony comes in. She rudely shoves past me and then pushes me out the door. “Get out of here, freak.”
In a slight daze, I start heading back to my room, thoughts racing through my head. What’s going on? Why does today feel extra special? Should I ask White Berry if she’s being serious? I nearly missed the red blip on my EFS, indicating a hostile pony in front of me. Shit, what now? I cautiously peek around the corner, and sure enough, a security pony is standing in front of my door. I recognize the stallion as the one that Cobalt Arc is sleeping with, or at least the main one she’s seeing anyway. The idiot fell asleep standing up though; I wonder how long he’s been waiting there.
I make sure that my mother’s security code is turned back on, hiding my PipBuck from being tracked, and silently slide past him. The noise of the door opening startles him awake, but before he can react, I’ve slipped past him and inside, closing the door as fast as I can. The stallion starts pounding on my door, proclaiming loudly, “Solar Flare! Open this door; you’ve got three counts of punishment today!”
I lean against the window of the room, looking at him and holding down the speaker button. “Sure, as soon as Strong Law tells me what I did wrong. In the morning. It’s my sleep cycle, go away.” Cobalt Arc probably made up at least two of the security violations, but my mom, Strong Law, will get that sorted out. I turn off the lights to my room and cycle the window to opaque and head towards my bed. I hear a grunt of frustration from the other side of the door; the security pony must have tried overriding the lock. The nice part about having the head of security as a mother is that she’s worried about my health and uses her personal codes to make sure ponies can’t attack me whenever they feel like.
I curl up on my meager bed, trying to clear my thoughts enough to sleep. Today’s events are mostly normal, with a few exceptions. Cobalt attacking me in the open in front of everypony, White Berry’s kiss, and hell, most of the other ponies I was serving today were not as mean as usual. They were almost nice. Maybe ponies are getting tired of harassing me? Maybe Cobalt is getting frustrated, trying to remind others that I somehow deserve the abuse?
I sigh and roll onto my back. After counting the rivets on the ceiling for the umpteenth time, I try to think about something else. Sleep has never come easy, and I just finished the Big Book of Science last night, and was not eager to start it up again. My mind wanders to my horn. Damn this thing! It’s never done anything for me! Well, except make me a target. Oh, there was that one time, I think. I mean, I think it’s the horn’s fault. My mind wanders back to the scene again, the one memory from my foalhood that sticks out so much that I’ll never forget it.
There I am, as a young colt, backed into a corner by Cobalt Arc and three other ponies, down in the lower levels of maintenance. Yep, Cobalt started abusing me pretty early on. Probably why she’s so good at her current job. They were all laughing and calling me terrible names, using language that would make some of the maintenance ponies find the nearest glass of water and do a spit take. One of them, a colt named Onyx Poem, barely a year older than me, started beating me with a baton he probably stole from a security pony. The others joined in, kicking me as hard as they could, and my cries of pain only encouraged them. I was frustrated, scared, and angry, screaming at them to stop. Like that was going to help.
That’s when it happened. My horn started glowing. It was kind of pretty, glowing gold, the same color as my mane. They get scared and I get more scared. They back off, suddenly very afraid of this new development. Emboldened, I stand up and start threatening them, even though I have no idea what’s going on. Onyx Poem was going to have none of that, and started hitting me again with the baton. One moment he’s hitting me, the next moment the glow from my horn flares up and he bursts into flame. Not the kinds of fire from accidentally getting too close to the stove but completely engulfed! And the screaming, I could never forget that.
Cobalt had grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall as I sat down, staring at the burning pony. The others ran off, and the extinguisher did nothing to stop the flames. The screams stopped about the same time that Onyx stopped moving. The flames kept going, completely consuming the corpse, leaving behind nothing besides a pile of dark ashes and a cherry red hot PipBuck that maintenance was never able to fix.
When the Overmare and my mother finally arrived on the scene, the fires had completely died out. It was horrible. The Overmare was screaming at me, my mother was screaming at the Overmare, and somewhere in the middle was a scared colt and filly. The Overmare wanted to throw me out of the Stable, but my mother argued that down, as it would have meant instant death. The books from class said so. When the Overmare started questioning Cobalt Arc, she started blurting out the whole story, telling the truth about everything. I think she was more scared than I was. I mean, the freak had just killed someone with fire!
I don’t know how I did it, and I’ve never been able to do it since, but I do know that it was my fault. The Overmare was furious, but mom managed to control the whole situation. I wish I had her talking skills. The end result was getting punished about as much as they could to a blank flank colt. Actually, that’s the most ironic thing about the whole ordeal. I discovered later that I got my cutie mark for burning somepony alive with abilities that I didn’t realize I had and have no control over. Yep, I have a bursting flame on my flank. I step out of my memories to make sure that it’s really there. Sure is. Heck, that’s why the Overmare stuck me in the kitchen, because surely fire has something to do with cooking.
Oh well. I really should be getting some sleep.
My dreams seem overly violent tonight. The whole Stable is shaking, ponies are running around screaming, there is fire everywhere, and the kitchen I’m in explodes when the food generator overloads, killing me in a glorious soul-purging flame. When my Big Book of Science falls off my shelf onto my head, I realize it’s not just my dreams that are shaking. I jerk upright, and then fall out of bed when I realize the Stable is shaking! That’s impossible, the Stable doesn’t shake! And the terrible noise of metal rending is overwhelming!
My door slides open and Strong Law flips on the lights. “Solar Flare! Get up, get moving! There’s something wrong with the generators, we’re losing power!”
I stagger to my hooves, “Losing power? That wouldn’t cause the Stable to shake like this! Mom, something else is-“
She cuts me off with a wave of a hoof and gestures out into the hall. “I know that, but I don’t know what. It might be an earthquake.” She sounds very impatient. “You have to go to the cafeteria. The Overmare has everypony in Security rounding up the others. I have to go. Get to the cafeteria!” With that, she runs off.
“Great. Fantastic! We’re all gonna die together!” I get my Stable 45 outfit on as fast as I can, and take off at a dead run. The place is still shaking a bit, and the hallways are packed with what I could only call chaos. Security ponies everywhere, maintenance running faster than anypony else, and the normally stark white lights are all tinted in red. I get to the cafeteria and head to the only place I’ll have some room to myself, the kitchen.
White Berry shrieks when I enter. She must be scared out of her wits. I try to smile, but it comes out all wrong and I just ignore it and grab my uniform. Have to be dressed up right otherwise you’ll get in trouble. “Solar, the- I mean she just ran off and left me here!” She must be talking about her coworker. “The floor, it’s moving! It’s not supposed to do that!”
“Mom thinks it’s an earthquake.” I walk closer to her, but she back away nervously. I hesitate, adding, “Something broke downstairs. We’ll be fine, I promise.” Yeah right. I don’t even believe myself.
“T-the g-g-gen…” She points with a hoof. “It’s not s-s-supposed to be…” as she’s stumbling over her words, I turn to look where she’s pointing. True enough; arcs of electricity are coursing over the whole machine, just like in my dream. Oh hell.
“Get out! I have to shut it down!” I run over to the access panel and start pulling the machine apart, throwing breakers and messing with the wires. The food generator starts up, spitting out random produce.
White Berry, now terrified for a different reason, runs over to me. “You can’t do that! We need the food generator! You’re BREAKING it!”
“I know what I’m doing! I can save it!” I look at her, pleading. “If I don’t, it’s going to explode!” I cross the wrong wires and get a reward of a strong jolt of electricity. Oh, ow, that hurt a lot. However, that cleared up some of the arcing, and I finally realize what needs done. If I thought that shock hurt, this one is probably going to kill me. I turn to the lovely mare standing next to me and calmly ask, “White Berry, can you get me the medical supplies? I need them. Specifically, the morphine.” Yep, that sounds great, I think sarcastically.
The mare is clearly somewhere off in another Stable. “W-what? But you, I mean…” She keeps stammering, like she’s going to lose everything ever. Which still may happen.
“WHITE BERRY! NOW!” Yelling works sometimes, and I’m glad it did now. She shuts off her brain just long enough to dig through the medical supplies and hand me the morphine. I take it, mutter vague obscenities under my breath, and slam it into my left foreleg. My whole body goes numb, though it isn’t unpleasant. I’ve never used the stuff before, even though I’ve been flagged as an addict thanks to Bronze Charm.
I look at the machine again, and wrap a hoof around the fission battery inside the machine. It makes all my hair stand on end, but it doesn’t hurt. Yet. For some reason, it’s discharging its entire energy store faster than the machine can handle. It needs removed. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Racing through my mind are thoughts about how this is going to kill me. Yep, imagine me dying to save a Stable that hates me. What a cruel twist of fate. I exhale, snap my eyes open and violently rip the battery out of the machine. The food generator immediately powers down, having no more stored energy or connection to the power generators below. Half of a partially generated apple rolls to the floor. The overloaded battery continues to discharge its stored energy into the nearest thing, which happens to be my body. The pain, even over the morphine, is actually pretty amazing. I mean, in a bad way. Every part of my body that can hurt screams in pain, and I see every possible color arc across my vision. Even my PipBuck can’t take this much punishment and turns off. The sweet embrace of unconsciousness blankets everything else.
Oblivion slips through my hooves as my eyes ease open. I see the second most familiar ceiling in the Stable in all its glorious metallic grey. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve woken up on an infirmary bed. Huh, apparently saving the food generator didn’t kill me. I try to move on the table, but that just makes the pain flare up again. I let out a soft whimper, and a nearby nurse pony lets out a huff before saying, “Don’t try to move. You’re pretty much paralyzed. And you’re hoofcuffed to the bed.”
Wait, what? I try to look around, but my muscles aren’t cooperating. I’ve been hoofcuffed for saving the damn food generator. Though, I should consider myself lucky, because by all rights I should be dead. Hah, I bet half the ponies in the Stable would have preferred that. I may include myself among them if this gets much worse.
“I still don’t know how you survived that, junkie. Should have just died in there.” She says, mildly irritated. Junkie? That’s what they call drug addicts. I’m not-wait, what happened after I passed out?
I muster the energy to open my mouth, but before I can start asking questions, I hear the door open. I can’t tell who walked in, but knowing how today has been going, I can only assume one pony. I hear the sharp voice of the Overmare address the nurse pony. “Can he move? How is he?” From her tone, I can tell she doesn’t actually care about my health and well-being.
“Nope. He’ll probably be unable to function properly for several hours, maybe a couple of days. His functions should return to him slowly.” I could build a wall with the apathy oozing out of the two ponies present, and hide behind it forever.
“Good. That makes things easier.” The Overmare walks into my field of view, her lovely pink coat and mane clashing with the blue and yellow of the Stable suit. “Solar Flare, for your attempt at sab-“ she stops as I hear the door open again. That should be my mom. “Good, Strong Law, you’re here. That will make things simpler.”
Okay, enough. I decide to test out my vocal cords, and to everypony’s dismay, they seem to be working just fine. “What the hell happened?” Wow, my voice sounds pathetic and raspy. “I saved the food generator and I’m arrested? Come on, you ponies like to eat, don’t you? Mom, I didn’t do whatever they’re accusing me of.”
“I know, Solar Flare.” Her voice sounds distant, like she has already given up trying to defend me. I sure hope she tried.
The Overmare continues in her authority tone, “As Overmare, it is my job to decide punishments for the most grievous of violations in the Stable. And you, Solar Flare, have endangered the Stable for the last time.” Wait, I thought to myself, was there a first time? Or were there any other times in between? “For the act of sabotaging the power reactors in lower maintenance, and the subsequent dismantling of the food generator in an act of malicious intent, you are hereby exiled from Stable 45.”
“But I was-wait, sabotage the power reactors? I was asleep in my room!” Other concerns had more priority, but this one was out of left field. “How does that make sense?”
My mother walks over to the bed, and quietly says, “There was extensive fire damage, no known source, in the reactor room, honey.” She pauses, unsure if she should continue.
The Overmare doesn’t mind stepping in, though. “The cameras very clearly caught you, a pony with a dark orange coat and a horn sticking out of his head, leaving the reactor rooms last night, right before the earthquake began.” Triumph bleeds through her tone, and it sounds like she’s enjoying herself.
My mother continues, “White Berry and Bronze Charm both testified to you forcing your way into the kitchen and violently attacking the food generator. The cameras match their testimonies.” She sounds so disappointed in somepony. It takes a moment for me to realize that somepony is me. Oh, fuck me sideways.
“Fire damage? Attacking the food generator? The camer- What the hell? I didn’t do ANY of that! White Berry wasn’t…” I trail off as gears start clicking into place. Bronze Charm’s coat could be mistaken for mine, or at least, on shitty security cameras. And it seemed like no matter what I did, I was always getting heat from the other kitchen shifts one way or another. “But she likes me…” I whisper in desperation.
“White Berry and Bronze Charm are engaged, honey. They didn’t tell you?” my mother sounds confused. “Surely they would have. And there was the news bulletin on it earlier this week.”
“Enough!” The Overmare stomps a hoof, cutting off further conversation. “Your exile begins in an hour. I’ll make sure you’re not late for it.”
Strong Law clears her throat and in her mother voice, addresses the Overmare. “You’re exiling my colt. I demand time alone with him before you throw him out into the void.”
The most powerful mare in the Stable huffs and storms off. “Fine. I’ll give you five minutes. I need to prepare my ponies anyway.” The nurse follows her out of the room.
“Mom, I didn’t-“ She cuts me off by placing a hoof over my mouth.
“I know. Hell, you saved everypony last night.” She beams at me with pride. “I haven’t even done that. Without that food generator, the Stable would die.”
“I was framed. I don’t know a damn thing about the power generators. I don’t have access to those levels. The evidence was faked! And-“
“Shhh…” Oh man, full mom mode engaged. “Solar, I –know-. Listen, I figured this was going to happen. I mean the exiled thing. So, I spent the last hour packing some saddlebags for you. Most of your things fit inside, and some extras. There’s quite a bit of food in there. It’s behind a loose panel in the blind spot of the camera in the airlock room.” She kisses my forehead, which is a trick with my horn in the way. “I love you.”
I wait a moment, and then say, “It’s nothing but death and radiation outside. The books all say so. We’re taught that in school.”
She smiles sadly. “The books are wrong. The Overmare knows it’s somewhat safe outside. She insists on lying to everypony about it. I’ve argued countless times with her to no avail.” She unlocks the hoofcuffs, snorting at the idea of cuffing somepony who’s paralyzed. “There are a lot of things that the books are wrong about. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You’re strong.”
“Not strong enough. Or smart enough to realize I was being played.”
“Shush. Now, please promise me you’ll take care of yourself? You have to survive, no matter what. Otherwise, I’m going to be stuck down here worrying about you forever.” Is that a tear in the corner of her eye? Surely not. She’s tougher than that.
“I don’t-“ The door slides open and two security ponies walk in. “Okay, I promise. And, I’ll come back, too, and make that Overmare eat her words. Love you.”
“Ma’am, we’re to escort the prisoner to the Stable door.”
My wonderful mother gives me one last smile before switching back into security pony mode, turning to her subordinates. “I know. I will come as well.”
“The Overmare-“ They begin to argue.
“It is my right both as head security pony and as mother of the exiled to oversee this.” I’ve heard this tone before; it’s her ‘don’t mess with me I’m head of security’ tone. “I know the regs. Don’t even think about trying to talk me down.”
They look at each other, before simply responding, “Yes, ma’am.” They walk over to the infirmary bed, and prod at me to move. The prodding elects a grunt, and they realize I can’t move at all. They drag my sorry ass off the bed, and it weren’t for my mother watching them, I’m sure they would have dragged me all the way to the Stable Door. As it is, they dejectedly support me there as gently as they can.
Once we arrive, I hear the pleasant shrieking voice of the Overmare. “Throw him through the airlock, let’s get this over with.” As they take me closer to the door and the oblivion beyond, I notice a mare standing next to the Overmare. Cobalt Arc! This has to be her fault, especially with that wicked grin on her muzzle. If I could control that fire thing I did so long ago, I would turn her into a screaming torch right now. “We haven’t got all day, hurry it up.” I smirk, thinking to myself what could be making her so impatient. Does she have a stallion waiting in her bed? What else-ow. The guards toss me into the airlock unceremoniously on my face and hurry back out of the airlock. I do notice from my new spot on the floor the panel my mother was talking about.
The smaller airlock door closes behind me, and I hear a new sound, the warning bell of the outer huge Stable door opening. And I still can’t move. The only thought running through my head is that some giant… something is going to grab me from beyond the Stable door and pull me into eternal darkness. The terrible grinding of the Stable door opening for the first time in who knows how long drowns out other thoughts.
After what seems like an eternity, but is probably just a few minutes, the door finally stops moving. Over an intercom somewhere, I hear the Overmare say, “Get outside. Right now.”
Not knowing what else to do, and with all the stress piled on me from the last several hours, I burst out laughing. I mean, I have nothing else to lose, right? As loud as I can muster, which isn’t very, I proclaim, “Come and make me, you dumb bitch!” I blame the other security ponies for my foul language. It’s directed at me so very often. I don’t get any response, so either she didn’t hear me, or didn’t elect to respond.
After lying on the floor for a few hours, I’m struck by the words of the nurse pony earlier. ‘A few hours to a couple of days’. That means I’m going to starve to death, right here. No, wait, dehydration would set in first. Pleasant thought, that. I try moving again, and this time I am rewarded by a bit of elevation that doesn’t send pain racing up and down my body. Yay, progress! It takes much longer to get my full range of movement back. I finally get coordinated enough to start walking again. I grab my saddlebags, or at least they’re mine now, and put them on. I check my PipBuck to get an inventory, the darn thing somehow knows what I’m carrying, catalogues it, and sorts it without any effort. Crazy what technology can do. Unfortunately, I’m greeted with a dull screen. Saving the food generator must have broken my PipBuck. Great. My greatest tool of survival is broken before I can even use it.
Ten hours after they opened the outer door, I finally start walking away from the miserable place I’ve called home for, well, my whole life. I emerge into some sort of rocky hallway. A cave perhaps? Right when I get far enough away from the door to not make it back in time, the Stable siren sounds again and the huge door starts closing behind me. I just stare at it until it slams shut with a resounding thud. It would be great if I could use my PipBuck lamp right now. I sit down and wait for my eyes to adjust as much as possible to the utter dark. This is darker than anything before in the Stable.
Eventually, I notice some mushroom-looking things growing out of the ground, emitting a very faint glow. It’s better than nothing, and I can see well enough to not run into the walls. It doesn’t stop me from tripping over the skeletal remains of at least three ponies. After I shake off a panic attack, I examine them closer. Are they the bodies of other exiles, too stubborn to move on? Or could they be ponies from the outside, trying to get in? I push the thoughts from my mind. They’re long gone, and I shouldn’t care about them. They can’t help me survive outside.
I explore more of the cave. There have only been a couple of short dead ends, otherwise it’s mostly a straight shot. I hear scratching ahead and immediately flatten myself to the ground. It doesn’t sound big enough to be a pony. I start creeping forward, wishing my EFS would work. I finally spot the source of the noise. It’s a huge insect, a third the size of a full-grown pony! It doesn’t notice me, or doesn’t care about my presence, and skitters further away. I look around, and realize there are six of them, just hanging out right in my way. Beyond them, I see a new source of light. Is this the sun that I’ve read so much about? I just have to get past these bugs.
I straighten up, figuring that the bugs would be scared of anything larger than them, and start walking towards the light source. Much to my luck, I figured wrong. These overgrown bugs start clicking loudly and start half scurrying, half jumping towards me. I do not want to end up as bug food. I swing my PipBuck at the first one that gets within range, and the reinforced casing crushes the bug with relative ease. Welp, that makes things easier.
After a moment of bug squashing, I hear even more skittering behind me. Wait, and above me. I look up in time to see one of these bugs fall onto my back. “Ewewewewew gititoff!” Panic and adrenaline surge through my body and I start bucking frantically. The damn bug bites clean through my work uniform and Stable suit. To be fair, it’s barely more than basic clothing, but ow! I slam into a wall and the bug falls off my back. I frantically start attacking the bugs, kicking in practically every direction. There are twenty more still moving around. Fatigue starts to set in, but the adrenaline hasn’t gone yet. Ten left, then five. I smash the last one against the wall hard enough that I’m covered in bug goop. Gross.
I just stand there, breathing heavily, and realize that I probably killed a whole colony of the things. Giant bugs! What the hell?! Listening close, I don’t hear any more skittering. Ugh, and the place is starting to reek. Time to go. I work my way towards the light, even though it’s painful to my dark acclimated eyes. I reach the entrance of the cave, head on a swivel, looking for anything else that wants to turn me into lunch. Remembering the bug on the ceiling, I look up, which turns out to be a big mistake. Vertigo knocks me off my hooves as my brain tries to register the scope of the sky. How could anything be so big?! I shake my head and get back on my hooves. Just keep moving. I have a new life to live out in the Equestrian Wasteland, I don't have time to admire the scenery.
--Note: Level up. New Perk: Tough Pony: Grants 10 additional Damage Resistance when health drops below 20%.
Author's Note
Solar Flare also starts with the traits Kamikaze and Jinxed.
(Super special thanks to Kkat for creating everything behind Fallout: Equestria. No, seriously. Go read it. Right now. http://www.fimfiction.net/story/119190/fallout-equestria )
