Author's Note

Typically, there won't be an author's note at the top, but this requires a little special attention.

Before you go in and read, let it be known that I am fully aware that the indentations are completely out of whack. There's probably a way to fix it. There's also a very high likelihood that I'll never find it. A real author's note will be at the end of the chapter. That is all.

Chapter 2: Door to Tartarus

Fallout Equestria: Wasteland Rhythm

By: Roachy

~ ~ ~

That was Sapphire Shores’ ‘Roundabout.’ A nice, high-energy sound for those of us currently bathin’ in the stillness of the day. Speakin’a which, no new news today, I’m afraid.

But since we don’t have anything new…let’s try for another peek into the past, shall we? A DJ fightin’ the good fight on a much smaller, but no less important scale? Well, I’m already interested, pardon the bias.

Wavelength…that pony’s probably havin’ a rough time. But, no need for the sentimental stuff. Movin’ on!

Needless to say, stuff went down. When we last left the stable, Wavelength and Failsafe were gearing up to do the same. With more recent news on his end, I can only assume he wouldn’t let his uncle get away from him that easily. Barricade apparently abandoned the stable when they needed him most. Now, I’m certain the pony must’ve had his reasons, but what could those reasons be?

Let’s see if these two can shed a little light in the darkness, shall we?

~ ~ ~

Chapter 2: Door to Tartarus

“Season ticket on a one-way ride…”

Fragments of glass were scattered across the floor of my room…

Whether from my mirror, my terminal, an empty bottle of whiskey or a shot glass, it’s no secret that glass is fragile. Inebriated anger and sorrow completely engulfed me. No matter how many objects I broke or shattered, it didn’t dull the pain.

That was what the whiskey was for. But that didn’t help much either. All it did was make me feel like everything was my fault. Stupid twelve-percent alcohol content… going through another bottle was helping, I think.

I couldn’t feel much of anything anymore. Even when a shard from my mirror etched its way across my face, I was still too focused on my internal suffering to notice anything external.

Knocks came at my door every once in a while, telling me to shut up. I recognized the voice. Upon opening the door, I pieced together that it was one of the stallions that had bad-mouthed me in the showers a few days ago. Noses can be just as fragile as glass as it turns out.

Another round of knocking began that I interpreted as an attempt at a rematch. When I opened the door, fully prepared to launch my half-empty bottle I had in a field of magic at him, I caught a glimpse of the teal eyes that always seemed to calm me. After that pony scampered away, I should have predicted that would have warranted a visit to the med-bay.

“Wavelength...” He peered around me, catching my destructive tirade’s aftermath in his vision. “Isn’t it way too early to be drinking?”

“No…just…jus’ too lata’be happy…” I replied groggily. I levitated the bottle to the top of my desk and twisted the cork back in. “Wha…whad’ja need?”

“Well, I suppose an explanation for why I was suddenly charged with tending to a broken nose is in order.”

Wow, that bit me in an uncomfortable place…

“Wha’makes ya think it was me?”

“He was complaining about the DJ.”

“Pfft…zat cou’be anypony.”

His eyes narrowed as I stumbled back and landed on my haunches. With a sigh, he entered my room and closed the hatch behind him, fixing me with a look that told me he just felt sorry for me.

“I can tell we need to talk,” he said.

“’Bout?”

“Wave…Wavelength…your sist—“

“Nope!”

“Wa—“

“No. No. No! We ain’t talkin’ ‘bout zat ri’now…we can talk ‘bout somefin else…like…uh…” I paused to scratch the back of my head, “how…how’s you’re day been, babe?”

“It would be better if we talked. Wavelength, you haven’t left your room since you heard the news. If I had more time, I would be in here with you, but even now I’m risking my position by leaving my post just to check on you.

“Do you have any idea how many ponies require medical attention since the Edges attacked? Some have minor injuries, but even more are in critical condition. Some are barely clinging on to life even as we speak. Several other doctors included.

“I understand what you’re going through right now…don’t think I don’t. If you want to talk about it…then I have an obligation to you to listen. It’s just like what you did for me…I leaned on you for hours after…you know.”

I unsteadily raised myself, wandering back toward my bed and taking a seat on my mattress. “Flash, there’s nothin’ta talk about.”

His eyes narrowed once more. “Pardon my language, but cut the shit. You’re obviously hurting, and trust me, through experience I know that talking helps more than you might think.

“This,” he began, lifting the bottle away from my desk with his magic, “isn’t the answer to your problems. If anything, I am. So please…just treat me as a solution rather than an obstacle.”

“…please put’za bottle down.”

He snapped, throwing the bottle against the wall as more fragments joined the glass collage being formed along my floor. “Dammit, Wavelength! Do you think I enjoy watching you do this to yourself? Do you really think your sister would want you to mourn her loss rather than celebrate her life?”

“Too shor’ta celebrate anythin’,” I said, unfazed by his outburst.

His eyes widened. “You…how could you say that? So…what, you’re just going to step on her memory? Keep your hoof over it so you don’t ever have to face it, is that it? Do you know how feeble that makes you look?

“What kind of attitude is that to have when you’re the Overstallion? When ponies around here have to look to you for guidance? Do you really think with the state the stable is currently in that anypony around here should feel worried about their leader?”

“Flash, nopony in ‘ere gives a damn ‘bout me. I cou’drop dea’tomorra ‘n nopony’d even cry fer’me.”

He began approaching me. Lifting his hooves over my shoulders, he crossed his horn against my own as it glowed profusely and sparks began to emanate upon their connection.

I was locked in place. Any attempt I made to move was a message sent with no return address. I felt like I was being sapped away of all of my happy thoughts. As he pulled away from me, I understood what he just did.

“Way…wayshba—“

He passed me the wastebasket.

Is this going to be the norm? Vomiting into a bucket to start a day?

As I pulled my head away, I collapsed back onto my bed.

“Why?” I asked. Tears began to pour down the sides of my face as I couldn’t even raise my head to look at him. “You can’t just let me deal with my problems my own way? Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Because stupid ponies need education. How dare you say that.”

I craned my neck forward. “Say wha—“

“I give a damn! And do you know why that is? Because I love you, you idiot! I’m not asking you to stop being sad, hell, I’m just as broken up as you are right now. But don’t think for even a second that you can absentmindedly sulk until you hit the bottom of a bottle!”

“Flash…you know what I meant.”

“That’s exactly why I’m berating you! Why can’t you understand that? Why can’t you understand the simple truth that we’ve proven time and time again, even before all of this? That no matter what, we will always have each other…and we’ll get past anything that comes our way together.”

He held a hoof out to me. As I hesitantly took it into my own, he pulled me into an embrace and finally let his voice fall apart at the seams. He was in just as much pain as I was… but he’s always been stronger than me when it came to this…

“That’s exactly why I’ve decided I’m coming with you.”

What?

“Flash…wh-what do you mean? I-I can’t let y—“

“Look at my cutie mark.” He lifted the end of his coat. “Tell me what it means.”

The beaker… filled with a light red, fizzing liquid. It was tilted over as some of the liquid could be seen pouring from the lip in the still-frame. Adorned across the front of the scientific instrument was a large, red heart.

“You pour your heart into everything you do…”

He pulled away, his eyes conveying my correctness and a wry smile telling me what to expect. “And since I do you…” he sniffed, “it all makes sense, right?”

Wow, I really needed to laugh. I pulled him back in. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me…”

“You don’t have to. We’ve said it all before…”

* * *

I left my room.

The first thing that greeted me was a poster; the shield read S-E-C-U-R-I-T-Y.

Hollow hallways. Completely empty. I’d made no attempt to raise anypony from their beds this early. Four in the morning; beating my alarm by a good two hours. The last couple of days have gone by at an agonizingly slow pace. I’ve actually been taking every minute as a mental tally.

Two hundred and forty two down, eleven hundred and ninety eight to go.

Time and eating; two things I’d forgotten to keep track of lately. I’m pretty sure the last thing I even tasted was whiskey… maybe a glass of water here and there, but water doesn’t ever really do that whole ‘taste’ thing… if only it were possible to put time off.

Lunch time… the best of both worlds?

I made a left turn.

A single doctor rushed from a room, the curtain rattling from above as plastic rings scraped over the metal pole, “Probably before next curfew…” I overheard him mutter as he stepped by me. He lifted the end of another curtain with a hoof and slipped under it. Despondently, his voice still carried from the other side. “The orchard will have never been so full of life…”

Just as I slipped by the room he’d exited from, I heard the unmistakably prolonged singular beep of a flat-line. I felt myself jolt at the noise. The first thing my mind jumped to was the number two-zero-three. I chanced a look at the curtain to my left; two-zero-five adorned on the plaque directly to its right.

Not Mom’s room…

The curtain rattled as the doctor peered around the flap he lifted. “Overstallion…” he addressed me solemnly. Without another word, he proceeded right on by me and into his original room again.

Not Mom. That’s good…

I reached the end of the medical area. Using my magic, I depressed the large switch. The humongous, airtight double-doors immediately slid apart, granting me entrance. Next thing I know, I’m in the cafeteria. The lights overhead remained on perpetually, giving the wrong impression.

I stood right by the counter, waiting to be served, I suppose. Surprisingly, little did I figure, Cuisine wasn’t at his station. Gee, I wonder why. Did I seriously just tap on the glass? What am I not processing?

“Where is everypony?” I asked curiously.

It’s four in the morning. That’s still out, not in. I saw the time when I looked at my Pipbuck…but I… Oh, now I’m beginning to feel it… I’m tired… Like asleep-on-my-hooves, forget-the-necessity-of-cognizance, running-on-nerves tired.

I wasn’t even concerned about heading outside at the moment. There were only two things on my mind: trying to find out if Cuisine was willing to part with some of his whiskey and wondering whether or not I’d ever see my uncle again.

Today. He comes back today.

I took a seat at one of the tables, tapping my hooves along its surface. There was a rhythm in there somewhere, but I felt no reason to listen for it. I guess I wanted to when I started, but that desire only faded little by little. My practice became sluggishly weaker with each second my eyes remained locked on the table I had shared with my family the other day.

I sighed sullenly, averting my gaze as the room fell into its natural silence. My hooves folded across the table, I scanned the back of Cuisine’s workstation one last time. I found myself staring at my reflection in the glass, my yellow corneas surrounded by fissures of red.

I allowed my head to rest atop my forehooves. My eyelids began to gently fall closed as I felt the rest of my body relax. I let out what I felt coming on as a sigh, but came out a harsh, quaking breath. “He’s okay…he’s okay…” I raised my head with a sniff, gingerly rubbing an eye. “We’re gonna go out, get him and he’ll be just…fine…”

“Ah, it’s you who’s been traipsing their way around the corridors.”

The voice rebounded from the large doorway in between the cafeteria and medical area (I just realized how unsanitary that is). I wearily focused on the stallion that entered… Podium. He was staring back at the scene from beyond the doorway, sighing as a pony-shaped bulge under a sheet was wheeled away from the medical area. As he stepped into the cafeteria, he closed the doors behind him, obstructing it for his own benefit.

“I heard that you’re heading outside today.” He took a seat across from me at the table I had chosen. His eyes and mine looked pretty similar; restless and bloodshot. Laying his hooves on the table, he cupped them together, giving a smirk that lasted no longer than a facial tick.

“Overstallion. No security or combat experience. No idea as to what’s out there aside from a gaggle of speculations with no real physical evidence of what to anticipate. I hope we’re clear that if anypony asks who your teacher was, you won’t say me.”

I disregarded pretty much everything he’d just said. “How are you awake right now?” I asked groggily. “Or is this the norm for you?”

I was fixed with a dead-eyed stare. “Couldn’t sleep,” he stated. “Lightswitch’s been keeping me up.”

Um… “I don’t…what, is yours faulty?”

“Lightswitch is my boy’s name.”

“Oh…wow, teach, I didn’t know you had a son.”

I watched every feature of his face twinge in disgust. “Yes…past tense. It came to my attention the other night that, uh, my boy was in with the scoundrels that…attacked everypony. The Edges…but…I never saw him in the auditorium.

His son was in the Edges? That doesn’t sound like any son of his.

“So, of course, my first instinct as a father was that it was…somewhat of a sick hoax. It was enough to learn that security had apprehended him prior to this. He’s never been outspoken, his motives were always sincere and he’s more often than not tried to do me proud in one way or another. To…hear that he may have played a role in what happened, it…had been driving me mad.

I mean, the Edges? Really? We have clubs for a reason, right? Math, science… I was in debate… argued with my parents all the time.

“Then I…learned he was never in the auditorium. Overstallion’s office,” he continued, as my ear perked straight up. “Along with two unicorns who’d succeeded in escaping the stable entirely.

Wait… no… No. N—what? He can’t be… that… what?

“There was this glimmer of hope I’d had that he’d gone with them…then again, a glimmer that wished he hadn’t. For better instead of worse…and the worst of it was to find out that…he’d been holding hostages.

His… son is…

“The Over…Late Overstallion Black Tide… The Overmare, Crescent Moon, intensive care…allegedly brought about by my son’s direct actions. And…is it true? Was he the pony who…Ocean Cur—“

“Switchblade.”

His name left my mouth almost as if I were correcting him. I felt every hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Every word that left his mouth was like a hoof scraping along a chalkboard. It hurt every part of me to so much as make eye-contact with him.

“That dreadful alter-alias…” He gave a half-scoff. “In his final moments, was that how you came to know him?” He carried a pained expression that he forced back through his words; he sounded like he wanted to make himself laugh. “Why not Lightswitch? Why the Edges? What possessed him…to…ch-change so suddenly? So drastically? To give everything for nothing?!”

I cringed as that last word etched and screeched its way along the chalkboard.

He let out a shaky sigh. “Wavelength, the truth of this matter, what every little detail points to is that my son…my Light…Lightswitch died well before you ever got your hooves on him. But even if I’ve come to grips with that fact, and though I don’t blame you…I feel I must be honest with you. I harbor a great deal of ill will for you.”

He pursed his lips, staring intently at the empty space between his hooves. “But I can’t excuse my son. His mistakes led him to his grave…perhaps it’s better he stay buried with them…” He shook his head, putting a hoof to his temple before staring off into space, visibly disturbed by what he’d just said. “I am truly…sorry for your loss.”

He’d uttered those last few words very quickly, as if he were covering up what he really wanted to tell me. Once he stopped talking, the natural silence weighed heavily on my heart. It wasn’t long before Podium wordlessly excused himself from table, treading toward the cafeteria’s exit. I didn't have it in me to tell him the same.

I’d waited a good ten minutes after he’d left to follow him out... I lost my appetite.

I walked past every curtain, made a right and drifted straight into my room. I stepped hoof into my bed and paused. I stared at the ventilation shaft and slowly put myself down. I lay on my mattress, almost expecting to see a glint of indigo shining from within. I cupped my hooves over my eyes, shuddering until my body forced them away, almost like pantomiming a game of peekaboo.

Using my magic, I tore the grate from the shaft.

I peered inside…

It’s so dark in there…

I slid the grate back into the slot.

I sat in lonely contemplation. Envisioning something, anything, to alleviate my dread.

“Maintenance…”

I left my room.

#

Barricade had placed me in one hell of a position, in more ways than one as it would seem. A stable in shambles with the population a shadow of what it once was. With the Edges’ attack, we lost lives. Not just the lives of the average inhabitant, but very few of their ‘insurgents’ survived the acts of my uncle and the security teams. What few had lived were in critical condition… none of them are older than twenty… the youngest was fifteen.

This would be the second blind charge Barricade’s made in the last couple of days, and I’m weighing my options as to which one caused greater chaos. With him gone, we lost a major asset to the stable and I lost another member of my family… I won’t let either remain that way. As far as I was concerned, the swiftness of Barricade’s return depended solely on how fast we spotted him. And, from how big he is, it shouldn’t be too hard.

That plan of action is truly the art of a mastermind.

Flashbang accepted my offer to allow him credence as a temporary Overstallion until I returned. He took up the spell for maintaining the orchard on his first attempt and easily succeeded. Also, I had imagined that somepony with an overall knowledge of security would undertake a far better grasp at the decision-making involved. The only thing he denied in the position was the robe out of, in his words, ‘respect for my father.’

Lie though that may be, that means I get to carry it with me…

Ya-hoo…

Gleaned from his words, the outside world is unpredictably brutal in its own war-forged nature. There are other civilizations beyond the stable door, but I’ve been forewarned a majority of the outer inhabitants should be avoided, and wildlife even more so. The presage of a nightmarish creature with the likeness of a rotting bear carcass was enough to give me second thoughts.

The more I was informed about the world that we were stumbling into caused me feelings of terror and apprehension. But Barricade isn’t staying out there. Search and return. After a day, search and rescue. If more than a week passes… search and recovery… in which case, I return with empty hooves to be filled with a shovel… but that won’t happen.

Time is of the essence and Barricade has already been out there for a day. I had faith in my uncle’s strength, endurance and overall ability to handle anything that came his way, but... the stable still needs him. And… as the Overstallion, it was my prerogative to ensure his return as soon as possible... but as his nephew, I just wanted my uncle back.

* * *

“Cocked, locked and ready to go!” Failsafe shouted, eagerly eying the closed stable door before him.

Something I had never truly understood about him compared to his father was his unbridled enthusiasm to step into dangerous situations. He was always ready to test his skills and better himself even when he knew he was outmatched. Then again, the same could be said for licking a light socket multiple times, which is just stupidity.

Each of us is carrying our own supply of food and water in our saddlebags, but we each held something different when it came to our survival.

Failsafe was brandishing three pistols, each individually placed into their own holsters along a sash wrapped around his chest. Each one had been fully loaded. Let’s hope that they stay that way. His right saddlebag was bulging with a bulk of ammunition and strapped around his right forehoof for easy access was a baton for ‘CQC,’ whatever that means.

Flashback stood by my side, head resting on my neck. His decision to come with me was completely unexpected. Though I feel terrible for taking him from the stable, he assured me that the doctors were more than capable of handling everything in his absence. I wasn’t going to say it flat-out, but having him with me out there will undoubtedly make this journey a hell of a lot easier.

He was burdening white cloth saddlebags. Across the center on each bag was that red plus mark that somehow correlates with medicine. He was carrying five healing potions, bandaging gauze, tape and other medical paraphernalia all concealed within them.

I was just carrying clothes, deodorant... and of course my own supply of food. More apples than I’d care to count and ten bottles of fresh water in the left side and just about anything having to do with hygiene on the right. Along with the clothes, however, were four syringes that Flashback personally asked me to hold on to.

But I snagged something else that I just couldn’t leave behind… there are some perks to being the Overstallion. Like going wherever you want and nopony asking questions about what you were doing. Unlimited access is the only thing that allowed me to take it. For only moments, I considered just leaving it, but I needed to take something of hers with me.

As I stared forward, the door to the outside practically taunted me. It had the appearance of a giant gear adorned with the rusted number forty seven set in the center. Whoever put it there must not have paid very much attention to their work considering it was slightly lopsided. As if it were a face, cocked in my direction asking ‘what are you thinking?!’

Disquieted anxiety filled my body as I tried to stifle my buckling legs beneath me. My father’s robe even felt like it was coiling around me, nearly strangling me. The thoughts of being ripped apart by the possibly ravaged landscape sent my mind spiraling in opposite directions. Absurd notions such as balefire bombs plummeting right down on top of me wreaked havoc on my mind.

The war’s over, so that shouldn’t happen… right? Of course not, Wavelength, don’t be ridiculous. Just breathe… breathe… okay…

“You seem calm,” Flashback muttered, obviously feeling me tremble. I didn’t need to look at him to know he was toting that smile. “Wavelength, we don’t have to do this. You know as well as I do that Barricade is more than capable of handling himself out there.”

I uneasily shifted, getting a better look at him. “And you know as well as I do that that’s not the point.”

“Yes, I’m aware.” He raised his head and rounded me, placing his hooves on my shoulders as he studied my eyes. “But you’re lucky I don’t inform my dad about that little episode yesterday regarding your sister,” he said, lowering his hooves and stepping away. “We wouldn’t be going anywhere if he knew.”

“Flash, I…you have to know that there isn’t any way that it wasn’t going to affect me the way it did. But my mind’s clear,” like a smokescreen, “and I’m ready for this,” like an exam I didn’t study for.

“Certainly you can tell me that, but can you say it to yourself?”

I had to think about this one. “Nope.”

Breaking away from him and moving to the door’s control panel, I input the code: ‘omegabroughtanother.’ One word, no capitals, no spaces.

She was a miracle… Brain, I swear to Celestia, if you don’t change the subject…

I pressed the large button as the beeping signaled my success, for whatever that’s worth. The door jostled in place before slowly rolling along the floor, opening. Failsafe stood ready at the entrance, tapping his hoof on the floor excitedly as if he were being teased. The door creaked, straining against its hinges as it revealed the outer world in all of its barren glory.

“Wavelength, Flashback,” I heard Flashbang call for us. I turned my head. From the door to the maintenance wing, he emerged and stood by his son, who gave him a passing glance before eying me once more, wordlessly telling me to play it cool. The bandage wrapped around his right eye was still taking some getting used to…

He probably wants to talk to us before we leave, I’d bet.

“May I speak to you for a moment before you three head out?”

Called it.

I moved away from the panel as I watched Failsafe trot outside, grinning like a foal who just received a reward for good grades (secondhoof experience). Flashbang’s eyes were following his overly-enthusiastic son as I approached him. He stammered a little before his attentions were once again focused on me.

“I know it’s his job to keep you guarded,” he said as he trained his gaze from me to Flashback, “but I have to ask that you two protect him from doing anything…”

“Reckless?” I asked.

“Stupid, yes.” He placed his head in a hoof. “I love my boy, but…”

He cracked open an eye and peered around me to him, his mouth hanging open slightly. I turned my head and witnessed Failsafe, strafing with a gun tightly gripped in his mouth. I fully turned, expecting that he may have already run into some danger… then he started striking poses.

“Uh-huh,” I said with a drawl. I turned back to face Flashbang and noticed Flashback’s twitching eye. “Got it.”

He gave me a curt nod and gave an admonishing, almost threatening look to Flashback. “I’m getting news from the doctors that there are a few missing medical supplies outside of the few you told them you were taking. You happen to know anything about that?”

“Missing medical…?” Flashback ran over his words, eyes widening in sudden realization. “Are you accusing me of—“

“N-no, of course not,” the old security officer interrupted with a sigh. “Though, the fact that you bring that up unprovoked is more than just a little unnerving.” He looked forward, past the both of us. “Failsafe! Could you come here for a moment?”

Failsafe turned at hearing his name, gun still in his mouth. Spotting his father, he came trotting back toward us, spitting the armament back into the holster wrapped around his chest and giving me a grin as he passed by.

“Wassup, pops?”

Flashbang lifted his left hoof and draped it over Flashback’s neck and his right hoof around Failsafe’s, pulling them closer. I decided to turn away from the scene before me, not wanting to ruin their moment. I stared outward into the sand-colored void that I feared would soon become my own personal graveyard.

“I want you two to be safe out there, okay? If anything happened to either of you while you were out there…I couldn’t ever forgive myself.”

“Aw, dad, stop being so mushy,” Failsafe said. “I can handle whatever’s out there with all of my hooves tied behind my back.”

“What Failsafe means is that we all have each other’s backs,” Flashback rebounded. “You don’t have anything to worry about.”

I listened to the silence for a moment as I let out a sigh. “Wavelength?” I heard Flashbang beckon. I looked over my shoulder back to them. “You’re family too, come here.”

I was honestly taken aback by that. I turned around, if for no other reason, to make sure he wasn’t going to pull my leg any harder. As I approached him, however, Flashback pulled me in with them as we sat there… just… we were hugging…

He’s serious? Why would he care about me?

I didn’t really care for questioning it, but I saw how he first reacted when he found out about Flashback and I. I’ve seen my coltfriend at his worst, more often than not brought about by the hooves of this pony. Yet, here I am, watching him use his hooves for something much more meaningful. Without even thinking, I wrapped my own hooves around him.

I felt the back of his barding, completely rigid from wear and tear. I felt his neck cross against the back of my own, his breath traveling down my spine. I felt Flashback and Failsafe on either side of me; the former helping me share in the solace, the latter, albeit reluctantly, following along.

I felt… my eyes burning.

Failsafe began to squirm away from the embrace and was shortly followed by Flashback letting go as well… but I was still holding on. “And keep in mind,” Flashbang broke the silence in a hushed tone, “when you get back, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

Oh, that almost did it!

I had to fend off my tears’ brutal onslaught. I couldn’t give a reply. If I had, I might not have been able to keep the dam from bursting. I pulled away, looking him in the eye and hoping that would be a substantial enough answer. Thankfully, his unusually gentle smile gave me the feeling that it was.

“Oh…yes, I should definitely ask before you go. What’s the password for the office? You never gave it to me and…I can’t get in.”

I paused, trying to steel myself in preparation for the effort it would take to answer that without breaking down. “I-it’s…it’s ‘angel wings.’” I choked on the last syllable, turning away from him.

“Huh…thank you, sir.” I didn’t bother correcting him. I only tried to get away from him… then I jumped.

“Whoo!” I heard Failsafe’s voice reverberating from the entrance.“Huh-hey, you guys comin’?”

I steadied myself upon my hooves, unready for his outburst. “J-just give us a second,” I managed to stammer out. I fully regained my balance and began trotting for the exit before I noticed Flashback from the corner of my eye fixing me with an odd stare.

I stopped when I realized he wasn’t following me and shifted, pretending to fasten my saddlebags. As I began getting a better look at him through my mane, I caught him scowling, but as I rose, it quickly reverted into a feigned smile.

I gave him a half-hearted smirk. “Got something smart to say?”

He slowly worked his way toward me. “I love you.” He wrapped his forelegs around my neck as I felt his horn cross against my own, his teal eyes nearly drowning me. My smirk disappeared. “How about you? Have anything smart to come back with?” he nearly whispered as our lips were inches away from one another’s.

I’m at a loss for words and my lungs are beginning to overflow. Help? “Uh, hehe…” Oh Goddesses, I’m about to die over here! Mind pulling me from the water?! Please?! “I…love you, too?”

That wry smile broke through, shining past that accursed shell he always wore. “I think that would be the most intelligent thing you’ve said in the last two months.”

Yes, I shall survive! Celestia, Luna? Good work, team.

My victory was short lived as I began to drown once more in his embrace. I didn’t want to let go, but… ah, screw it. I dove further down, submerging myself with him being the only wave crashing against my mind. He was my anchor, pulling me further into the welcomed abyss. As my vessel plummeted, the depths of my subconscious pushed me back to the surface as he pulled away, leaving me breathless.

“No, but seriously though, can you two lovebirds give it a rest?” Failsafe chided before looking upward. “We’re wasting time here an—whoa…” he trailed off. In more ways than one as he stumbled forward, keeping his eyes fixated on whatever was above him.

I reluctantly drifted away with my anchor in tow, one tepid step forward at a time. The outside world in its unwelcoming visage, a torn world brought about by senseless actions. We took our first steps into the outside world and turned back, giving Flashbang the okay to close the stable with the wave of a hoof.

He moved over to the control panel and let his hoof hover over the large red button. “Just so you guys know,” he said audibly as it bounced out the exit, “if you want come back early, I wouldn’t be against it.”

I stared at the ground while I contemplated what that meant; leaving Barricade behind. I gave him a reassuring smile. “We’ll be back in a flash,” I said with a wink. Flashback’s hoof connected with the back of my head.

Ow… I thought it was funny. Least I didn’t tell him we’d be keeping an eye out.

I saw him shake his head as a small smile formed. Then he pressed it. I heard the door begin its slow rotation to conceal the stable once more. As the door continued working its way closed, I caught a short glimpse of his eyes shutting tightly… his teeth clenched… he turned away… then it was sealed…

I watched as Flashback brought his hoof along the door, letting out a sigh as he slid it across the inscribed forty-seven. I couldn’t help but notice that this number had been correctly worked into the metal. The face of the door was looking onward, through us, past the horizon and possibly beyond.

I turned, hoping to see where its gaze led. There was no envy in the grass, no discernable sadness in the sky; instead, corrupted soil with the consistency of sand sprouting sparse patches of grey glades and an outward expanse of a seemingly endless cloud cover that hung overhead, obscuring the sky in an opaque blanket of alabaster.

Shriveled forms of what may have been trees, baring fragile, blackened limbs and lightly rustling brittle leaves stretched across the landscape in spaces that appeared entirely random. Even the air was stale with the odor of petrified emptiness. It was as if every picture I had seen in my history books: the plants, the animals and the beauty of nature… adulterated fiction loosely based on reality.

“Why in Equestria would your uncle want to come out here?” Flashback thought aloud as he took to my side. “Or even Claymore for that matter? This is downright depressing!”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” I turned my head back to the stable door…then I looked up. “Flash, did you know the stable was built into a mountain?” My eyes continued along the massive, rocky ninety-degree angle upward as it jutted into and above the clouds.

Flashback let his eyes scour the visible peaks as if he could glimpse past the puffy, white shroud. “Well, if this is the mountain’s face, I suppose we live in its mouth, huh?”

“Wow, did you just try funny?”

“No, that was a deliberate failure, but I succeed very regularly.”

“Sure, yeah, of course you do, babe,” I shook my head and turned, slightly admiring the difference in the way the ground felt, letting my hooves glide through the brittle earth with each step.

I treaded the ground, slowly taking in the environment for what it was; a shattered silhouette of the world Celestia and Luna had once watched over. As I took another few steps, I squeaked once I was caught off guard by a mad beeping from my Pipbuck. Raising the device to my eyes, it revealed that the map function had given a name to the new location.

“Baltimare…of course.” Flashback acknowledged, having caught up to me. “Wait, wait, wait, how…how does this thing know what this area is called? The parts of the stable, that’s one thing, but there’s no possibility that this thing has even seen the light of day!”

“Flash, take a look up.” I pointed my hoof upward and watched as his eyes followed it. “I’m pretty sure we still have that in common.”

He sucked his teeth. “Well, I suppose stranger things could happen.”

As we took in our new surroundings, I realized I was forgetting—

“Failsafe?” called Flashback.

Oh yeah, where did he go? Let’s see… he was looking up and walking forward… forward? Uh… nope, not there. Ooh, wait, “Hey, Flash, I see hoofprints.”

We began to follow the trail along the slightly angled slope leading away from the stable. The tracks led near a small gathering of wood, each placed over one another. Though the hoofprints continued and Flashback began to leave me behind, I felt my attention drawn to the pile seeing as it just felt out of place.

Hang on. “Failsafe?” No response… well, back to the wood.

I inched myself closer, completely ignoring the fact that I still didn’t know where Failsafe was. I tried to use my magic to pull a piece of wood from the jumble as it ascended unsteadily before dropping back into its interlocked position.

Wow, this wood is heavy… okay.

I moved closer, placing my hooves upon one of the slabs of black timber that protruded from the pile and pulled at it. After a few moments of my forceful attempts, it finally slid out from the collection, causing me to stumble backwards. The piece of wood cluttered to the ground, kicking a faint arc of dust up into my face.

“Nuh!” Oh, it got in my mouth!

Once I had finished sputtering and spitting the foul taste from my tongue, I lapped at the inside of my mouth, garnering an immediate disdain for the poignantly salty aftertaste and the crunch of the dirt between my involuntarily gnashing teeth.

“Why ain’t I surprised you’re playin’ with wood?” Failsafe asked. After a rather high-pitched yelp and a crash down to my haunches, I looked to him as he sighed.

Flashback stood beside him, toting a wry smile. “Found him,” he said.

”Hey, I’d prefer not to be snuck up on while I’m distracted, don’t gimme that look!”

“Just…just move over.” Failsafe strode to the pile, turned and raised his hind legs, not really waiting for me to get out of the way.

“Oh, yeah, like you can do bet—”

His hooves shot outward, sending the pile toppling with a single buck… while he gave me a smirk…

“—ter…shut up.”

What lied under the heap of timber was a small metal lockbox, unlocked as if purposefully left for somepony to find what was inside. Failsafe kneeled over to it as I levitated it away from him.

Tee-hee.

I sat it in front of me and he moved to my side. Once it was opened, it revealed a small parchment, which Failsafe immediately snatched out of the box.

Fair’s fair, I suppose.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s a…” His eyes began darting as he skimmed whatever had been scrawled upon the parchment. “It’s a letter from Barricade.”

“What? Let me see.” I got up from my haunches and cantered to his side, trying to get a peek at the paper only for him to keep it away from me as he read it aloud to spite me.

“It says ‘if you are reading this, then that means that you have found my hiding spot and are more than likely reading this…’”

Yeah, sounds like Barricade.

I stepped to his side as he quickly whirled around, still keeping the parchment from my eyes. “’I’m going to make a guess that it is one of three ponies reading this. Flashbang, if it’s you, I’m telling you I’ll be just fine and to just let it go. I have to do this for reasons that I can’t explain, but you have to listen and just get back in the stable…’”

I swerved around him, attempting to catch him off guard by making him think I would approach from the right. Instead, I would get him from the left and grab that pa—and he’s running away.

How is he doing that on three hooves?!

Flashback and I took off after him. It didn’t take long for me to catch up to him, though. I think that barding of his is either slowing him down, or I’m faster than I thought I was. Now, if his hind hoof weren’t in my face and holding me back, I might get that parchment. I can feel his resistance loosening!

Just… a little… further…!

“’Failsafe,’” he paused before turning back to glimpse at me. “Hey that’s me! ‘Its been fun teaching you everything I know and I hope you can use it to benefit the stable…and though your father would never say it…he’s extremely proud of the stallion you’ve grown into…’”

His hind hoof gave way and I ended up landing on my stomach. As I began to lift myself, that evil genius actually sat on me. Whatever, I can get out of this… anytime I want…

Alright, never mind…

He only sat there, still on top of me, analyzing the parchment silently. I tried to use my magic to get it away from him, but I couldn’t get a good line of sight on it. Flashback finally managed to catch up with us, panting slightly. Taking notice of the scene before him, he snickered as he levitated the parchment away from Failsafe and skimmed what remained of the text.

“Oh my…” He held the parchment down to my eye level as I sent a field around it and began greedily… reading…

‘Wavelength, what the [fancy]

are you thinking? Get back

in that stable before

Bro starts haunting me!’

Needless to say, ‘fancy’ wasn’t the actual F-word that was used. Flashback manipulated the parchment into his open medical bag and latched it shut. He then gave Failsafe an abnormally intimidating look, causing him to stumble off of me, showing at least enough courtesy to offer me a hoof. Once I was helped to my hooves again, I looked myself over and found a splotch of dirt on the edge of the robe.

“Oh…dammit.”

I know it’s just a robe, but…

“Whoops, sorry ‘bout that,” he attempted to apologize, breaking out of his melancholy tone. He stepped closer and inspected the stain. “Uh, lemme try somethin’.” He licked his hoof (ew) and tried to place it upon my robe, to which I immediately staggered away from.

“No, you’ve done enough.”

I can’t believe I’ve only owned this thing for a few days and caused more damage to it than it’s received in nearly two centuries…

The image of my dad glaring at me whipped through my mind.

It was Failsafe’s fault, not mine! Blame him!

“Oh, come on, what can it hurt? Not like I’ll make it any worse.”

I eyed him incredulously, every facet of my common sense telling me ‘yes he can, don’t let him do it!’ I glanced at Flashback who gave me a look that urged me to have some trust in his brother.

“F-fine…” I conceded.

I’ll at least trust Flashback’s judgment.

He approached me yet again, licking his hoof and rubbing the splotch gingerly as I silently observed. Once he pulled it away, to my amazement, the stain was gone.

“See? Good as new.”

I examined the edge of the robe and found myself relatively surprised. Typically, I wouldn’t expect a member of security to have even the slightest idea as to what cleanliness was, so whatever color impressed happens to be, color me that.

“Old trick my ma taught me. Always got stains outta everything.”

“Th-thanks,” I said, still working over the fabric to look for where the stain had gotten to.

“Don’t ment—why’re you still lookin’ over it? Y’don’t trust me?”

“Uh…no, no I don’t,” I replied curtly, causing him to snort with a huff. I diverted my attention away from the hiding stain and looked to the sky. “We should probably get started. I can’t tell, but I think we’re burning daylight.” I began walking forward as they swiftly followed close behind.

“So your uncle’s note didn’t really register with you, huh?” Flashback asked almost wistfully.

I chuckled to myself. “Please, if I ever listened to anything Barricade told me to do, I’d be with a mare, have short hair and more than likely have a collection of Playcolts under my mattress. It goes without saying that I’d disregard what a piece of paper says.”

“Whoa, whoa, hang on, Playcolts?” Failsafe cut in. “Can, uh, can we go back to the stable for a bit?” I shot him a look so dirty it could easily be featured on the next cover if they ever went back into production. “Right, message received.”

“We’re not setting our hooves back into that stable until a fourth set’s with us.”

“Right.” He kept his eyes forward as we continued our stride. Each of us remained silent for a few steps; the only sound being Failsafe’s annoying habit of clicking his tongue along the roof of his mouth. “Hopefully I’ll see some action out here while we’re at it.” Though, I’d take the noise over whatever he had to say.

Flashback leaned over to me and whispered, “You’d think he was kidding.”

“Didn’t bring these pistols for no reason,” he said, bringing one out to inspect within a fetlock.

“You’d be wrong.”

I gulped. I’d like to think it’s pretty obvious I’m hoping for the opposite… and it’s no coincidence that Flashback and I let him take the lead as we moved onward. The secret is that I really, really don’t like guns.

* * *

Our hoofprints left new indentations in the ground behind our path; new paragraphs beginning on another page of life. We walked and searched for hours in no particular direction with no leads to follow. And to make things worse, wherever Celestia’s sun happened to be up there, Luna’s moon was taking control of the atmosphere, and fast.

We made absolutely no progress in finding Barricade, and after such an uneventful exploration, I could feel my hopes dwindling. No stone was left unturned, neither nook nor cranny left undefiled in our wake. But it’s only been a single day and we still had plenty of food, water and (oh, thank the Goddesses) ammunition to spare. I’m certain tomorrow will shed further light in our darkness, but for now, Luna just doesn’t want to give up.

We came upon an old farmhouse, a place of agricultural significance during the pre-war era. Just a small, cream colored shanty complete with barn and already-harvested crops surrounded by a flimsy-looking fence comprised of wooden planks.

We’d passed by, and even entered some houses on the way, but they looked like they had been completely demolished for the most part. There was nothing of note to be taken or observed by the ramshackle establishments that riddled the area. My Pipbuck didn’t even produce a name for it. Whether their destruction was caused by time or balefire, it was difficult to tell.

Then again, how could I know? It’s not like I’ve seen the destruction balefire can truly cause. I would expect charred remains, maybe a crater rather than the mold and blankets of dust we encountered… they were basically desiccated rather than eradicated.

So I’ll just surmise time. Time. Not balefire. Time. Because balefire would be silly.

We’d been warned about the outer-inhabitants, but we hadn’t any other place to go. Admittedly, I found it interesting to see a door made from wood rather than metal for once. Failsafe just kept jabbering about this place being unoccupied even as I knocked upon it… only to receive an echo to his words when there was no answer.

“Maybe we should just keep moving,” I said with a sigh.

“What’re ya, deaf? I just said there’s nopony here,” Failsafe affirmed with wary glances at his surroundings. “This place is totally deserted. We could just head right in if we wanted to.”

“What, so you can see through walls all of a sudden?”

“No, but E.F.S. isn’t picking up anything.”

“E.F. what now? Do you have an imaginary friend?” He passed me a dumbfounded expression as if I just asked him who Celestia was. “Aw, that’s so cute.”

I climbed to my hind legs, leaning myself against the outer wall on my forehooves to take a peek into the small circular window only to have my vision blocked by some sort of accursed light blue fabric.

“What’s it stand for?” I asked without looking back.

“Eyes Forward Sparkle?” I heard Flashback intercept. “How do you not…did, at any point in your life, find that reading the manual for your Pipbuck might just be an idea worth consideration?”

I looked over my shoulder. “There’s a manual?” I climbed down from the window sill and looked between them as they both stared at me, wondering when I was going to tell them the punch-line. “No, really, there’s a manual?”

With a roll of his eyes, Failsafe moved toward me, taking my left hoof in his own as he tapped the buttons on my Pipbuck. “You just have to cycle through the presets, scroll over this little thingamabobber right here and voila.”

He pressed the enter key and my peripherals were invaded with a layer of green brandishing the letter ‘S.’ I turned my head to the left and the ‘S’ scrolled away, being replaced with ‘E.’

Whoa! That is so cool! Is it weird that I’m spinning in circles for the fun of it? There’s ‘E,’ now it’s ‘S,’ oh, hello ‘W,’ you want to join the party? ‘N,’ how have you been? Yeah, this is weird, I should probably stop. Flashback’s looking at me funny… and I’m getting dizzy anyway…

“The letters are the directions…north, south, yada-yada and those little yellow dots are us.” He looked to the house with intent. “That’s how I know there’s nopony around. No yellows, no fellows.”

As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. The only yellow dots were him and Flashback, but as I turned to the barn, there were a large amount of red ones. “If yellow is you, what about red dots?” He cocked an eyebrow before Flashback hoofed him in the side, getting his attention as he pointed in the direction I was facing. “In the barn, I see a bunch of—“

And his gun’s out. Note to self, red is not good!

“Red gets filled with lead.” He barreled for the barn, kicking dust up in his tracks. Flashback and I screamed for him to wait, but he, again, continued to ignore us. Breaking through the door of the barn, he opened fire on whatever was in there.

The darkness of the barn’s interior was lit briefly between each round fired. Twelve times I heard the gun discharge. Red dot after red dot either scurried off of my peripherals or simply dropped from the overlay altogether.

Finally, I heard several clicks as I slowly drew near the barn. An extremely bright light escaped the entrance as a yellow dot grew closer on my newly discovered E.F.S. Failsafe stood before us; his Pipbuck’s light shining intensely, showing he was bringing us a present.

There’s… something in his mouth…

He spat it in front of me as I jerked my hoof back to dodge the squishiness of the gooey impact.

“Got ‘em, coach!”

I wish I could say something intelligent at this moment, but… EWW!

“Gah! Wh-what the hell is that thing?!”

“Radroach,” he answered, not missing a beat with a hint of enthusiasm. “We got ‘em all over the place in the maintenance wing. Caused a hell of a lot of false alarms. Place’s almost infested.” He let out a dry chuckle. “You mean to tell me you’ve never seen a radroach before?”

“No!”

On all of my trips to the maintenance wings, whether to the smelter used for forging ammunition and new firearms (yeah, that exists in the stable, go figure) or just a stroll from one random machine to the next to gather sounds to use in my music, I had never seen one of those things in my life.

Needless to say, when I get back to the stable, first order of my Overstallion-ness will be to eradicate the gross little vermin.

At that moment, another red dot slipped onto my overlay, darting ever closer to the three of us. Now, I can’t really lie when I say that a radroach scampered around them, scurried up my leg and latched onto my face!

I’m not quite sure how I managed to be standing on Failsafe’s back within a split-second, but it happened. The radroach remained suspended in midair for a moment before it dropped to the ground, landing on its back. Its tiny limbs were sprawled and twitching as disgustingly as possible and I remember giving the most important order of my entire life:

“Quick, I found its weakness! Smash it with a hammer!” I nearly shouted, pointing my hoof with such fierceness that I almost dislocated the joint. Failsafe lifted his hoof and brought it down on the vile beast with enough force that I heard a crunch and a tiny squeal; an acceptable alternative.

I was hyperventilating, sliding to my stomach, trembling as I held onto Failsafe for dear life. The creature lay dead before us, its final breath nothing more than a whisper on the wind to even the most attentive of listeners.

It… was… vanquished.

“Good…good teamwork,” I managed to stammer between borderline convulsions.

He craned his head, giving me a half-lidded expression.

Realizing where I still was, I gave him a sheepish smile in return. “I, uh, got your back?”

A short, nervous chuckle followed by several moments of awkward silence led me to let go and climb down from his back. We then stood there for more oh-so-joyous seconds of awkward silence. He turned, walked back to the barn’s entrance and lifted his left hoof, illuminating the darkness within.

“Wow, you’re so brave, Wavelength,” Flashback chided. “I’ll have to be more wary of radroach attacks.”

“Ignoring that.”

“Oh, come on, Wavelength, look at it like this, if you prefer. You handle all the nasty radroaches and I’ll patch you up if they get a couple of good hits in.” He wrapped a forehoof around my neck, leaned in and kissed my horn. “We’ll make a good team,” he whispered in my ear, “it’s what I’m here for.”

“Oddly enough, I know you’re playing me…but thanks.”

We followed Failsafe into the barn and took a quick look around. Like every other place here, it was practically empty. The smell of aged paint and rotting wood with just a pinch of dried dung (possibly the insect-demons) entered my nostrils as we took our time to inspect it.

Rakes, ploughs, a wheelbarrow and other farming equipment were lined against the wall, appearing to have had no use in a long time judging from the strands of cobwebs that linked them to the walls. Gigantic bales of browning hay were strapped together and stacked upon one another toward the back; a place I began to assume was where the radroaches had made a home of.

A metal ladder was leaned against a ledge above. I raised my Pipbuck’s light and discovered it was an access to an upper loft. “Hey, I think I found a place to sleep—the hell did Failsafe go?”

Flashback, standing at the entrance of the barn, gave a deadpanned expression as he pointed his hoof toward the farmhou…

Aw crap…

I retreated from the barn and looked toward the farmhouse. Failsafe, of course, was galloping for it.

“You couldn’t have told him to wait?”

“Yes, because that’s worked well before.” He faced the farmhouse and his encroaching brother. “I’ve learned by now that my words would fall upon ears so deaf that it would be far simpler to tell a blind pony ‘go that way.’”

I let out an exasperated sigh as we began our tentative pursuit. Failsafe was right, however. There wasn’t anypony here, so once he barreled through the farmhouse door, I didn’t expect to hear a scream.

Oh, but guess who was wrong.

We began to rush for the structure.

On three hooves, the other being used to nurse his right shoulder, Failsafe walked out of the farmhouse doorway, keeping his eyes averted from me and more to whatever was behind him.

“You…y’all don’t wanna go in there,” he said with a shaken whisper.

“What?” I asked as I cantered in front of him. “What is it?” He let out a sigh, slightly shifting his shoulder and turning his head to look back with a wince. He slowly stepped to the side and…

The scene before me shouted for its recognition into my reality. Streaks of crimson lined the inner walls of the establishment, the color beneath, a decaying cream forever stained by the dark color of somepony’s life essence.

A dismembered yellow hoof, severed from the shoulder, lay curled upon the floor blemished by the same stark hue. I felt myself drawn to the scene before me. Regardless of the stench of rot brutally wafting through the air and assaulting my nostrils, I continued to walk further, taking it in, realizing.

This… this was somepony’s home…

Death… yes, I’ve dealt with it, obviously… but this is… horrifying.

Then, I noticed the most grisly aspect of the entire display… on the furthest wall, directly in view of the doorway was the letter ‘A’ scrawled in lifeblood. If a picture’s worth a thousand words, this is just the word ‘evil’ repeated a thousand times… I could barely hear my own thoughts as cries for vengeance seemed to echo from the doorway.

There’s no misconception to be had at that… a sentient being did this…

I felt Failsafe’s hoof upon my shoulder, beckoning me away from the former home. My hooves took steps forward against my own will, breaking away from him. Before I knew it, I went inside… and caught something out of the corner of my eye.

My eyes shot to the right, to a room that held a single bed. Heaped on top of a dark blue blanket… a… oh, dear Goddesses. I staggered backward out of the farmhouse, tripping over my tail and off the front steps onto the ground behind me. Failsafe regarded me from the porch. His lips were moving, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. I only continued to stare at him vacantly.

He leapt from the porch and ran to me. His lips continued to move as no sound seemed to escape them. I began violently trembling as sound slowly started to work its way back into my brain. I hadn’t noticed it before, but I was hyperventilating.

“Wave!” I heard Failsafe, but it felt distant. He started coming in clearer with each eternal moment that seemed to drone on. “Wave, come…aring me here, ma…ap out of it!”

It was like being forced to have a conversation underwater. His hooves were on either side of me. I only began to understand moments later that my trembling was actually him shaking me…

So hard… why?

Flashback nearly shoved his brother away, taking me by my shoulders as the trembling finally stopped. “Wavelength?! Wavelength, can you hear me? Wavelength!” A voice finally registered… I looked to him… he was studying my eyes. “Are you with us?”

“Y-yeah.” The one syllable was all I could manage.

Flashback let out a very hesitant breath. Wrapping his hooves around me, he pressed a forehoof against the back of my head, pulling me closer. I stared up to Failsafe, who regarded me with a seldom worry I didn’t think he was capable of.

“Okay, man,” he took a shaky breath, “you had us goin’ there for a bit. You good?”

I nodded lethargically.

“Flash and I’re gonna salvage what we can from in there,” he stated. “But first,” he tapped his brother on the shoulder, “Flash, we’re, uh…we’re gonna set up in the barn for the night, ‘kay? Help the guy there, would ya?”

Flashback cautiously pulled away from me as he offered me a hoof. I gave a weary nod as I took his in my own and he lifted me. I kept my breathing stifled as we began a surprisingly lengthy trek back to the barn.

* * *

Once I got over the smell of decay, the barn actually wasn’t that bad. The outside of the structure had been dark red, but the interior was a moldy, brown color. Though the stench of dung became prevalent, I found myself attempting to focus on the rotting wood simply because it was a more tolerable alternative.

Turns out I had been right though.

Radroaches smell like sh… manure.

Speaking of which, I had a nice view of the barn from atop the loft I climbed up to with the use of the ladder. There was a window above me that left the darkened cloud cover adorned like a framed picture.

Very little light broke through the panes of dank glass and I found myself using my Pipbuck’s light, giving me just enough visibility so that I could tell where the edge of the loft was. The loft wasn’t uncomfortable by any means, just rather small, and the fall, rather steep. Pretty cold, too… a little humid, albeit, but cold. I was currently using my robe as a blanket, draping it over myself as I lay upon my hoof-made hay-bed. Pardoning an obvious pun involving literally hitting it, I can’t believe we used to eat this stuff.

Multiple bales of the tan, easily crinkled, and surprisingly itchy straws were heaped in stacks around me. It only felt necessary to unravel one and spread it out to help me in creating a makeshift mattress. I set one up for Flashback right next to mine, even cozier than my own if I do say so myself. I even made one for Failsafe, the nice pony that I am.

Flashback went back to the farmhouse, leaving me here… by myself… which wouldn’t be such a problem if my peripherals weren’t still flooded with red from every crevice of the E.F.S. thingy. I knew those things were just sitting down there, waiting for a moment to strike.

Must… remain… vigilant…

Every twitch, every rustle, every bone-chilling click that emanated from the darkness caused my eyes to shoot open. Sleep seemed like a possibility that further slipped from my grasp with each slight movement proclaiming its presence in my vicinity.

I silently nibbled at an apple I had retrieved from my saddlebags. My eyes darting in every direction, the only advantage I have against the enemy being that the radroaches can’t climb upon surfaces like smaller insects. I suppose that’s the cost to their far more menacing appearance compared to their tinier counterparts.

Celestia. Loft. Good job.

The doors to the barn burst open as Failsafe stood at the entrance. Does he have to buck every door? He can’t just… I don’t know, open it normally? Though I nearly jumped out of my skin and a few chunks of apple were now scattered across the floor, at least a majority of the red scurried off from my overlay.

Celestia. Failsafe. What happened?

“Hey, Wave, can you come down here?” he bellowed up the loft as I assumed he heard my frantic gasps for breath.

“Not a chance,” ugh, apple in my throat, “you come up here!”

“Oh, but I found a bunch of neat stuff—“

“That you can show me up here!”

I heard mumbling and the clattering of the ladder’s metal rungs as they shifted under his weight with each step, the light of his Pipbuck climbing with him. As his head poked over the edge of the loft, he brought his left foreleg up first, highlighting his position. With a grunt of exertion, he rolled over the ledge, brought himself to his hooves and tossed me his saddlebags all in one swift motion.

My placement of his ‘mattress’ was rather strange, I must admit. I may just be tired, but it seemed funny that we were segregated by the cloud-breaking moonlight, facing each other from the darkness and peering through Luna’s essence as particles of dust began to part and sway in the rays with each breath we exhaled.

Yeah, tired… definitely tired…

“Where’s Flashback?”

“He’s still dealing with what’s goin’ on back there, tryin’ to find the cause of death or some shit like that.” He scratched the back of his mane. “But dude, check out the swag,” he said with a prideful smirk as he shut off the light from his Pipbuck.

“No,” I said flatly with a raised hoof.

“Huh?”

I leered at him. “Never…ever use that word again.”

“What? Swa—“

“Ah!”

He deadpanned. “Shut up and look at what I got.” He propped the saddlebag up and unlatched its buckle, kicking it over and letting the contents spill across the floor in a heap.

A box of… I guess food? ‘Sugar Apple Bombs…?’

Oh yeah, that’s some good marketing techniques right there, put the word ‘bomb’ in the title of your brand. They must’ve made quite a profit during the war. I wonder if it’s weird that what’s turning me away from it more is actually the ‘apple’ part.

“Got a couple healing potions from a not-so-locked medicine cabinet and this little beauty,” he said while holding up a bottle of what anypony could recognize as alcohol, “in the unpowered fridge.”

“So…” I’m a little bit annoyed at what I’m hearing here. “You just…took what you could find from a dead pony’s home?”

“There were actually two in there. I’d give ya the details, but…”

“And that’s supposed to make it right?”

I’m dealing with Failsafe. I don’t know if I can make the bar go any lower without a shovel… which just so happens to be in the barn.

He swirled the bottle in front of his eyes as if inspecting the mixture, not listening. It possessed a narrow neck and contained a transparent liquid. Emblazoned across its center was the picture of a white beast with piercing blue eyes clutching a bridle of some kind within its jaws.

It was being bound and broken by an armor-clad pony standing atop its back using one hoof to take hold of the stirrups and the other holding up a bottle of what I could assume was the same unrightfully confiscated, yet equally tantalizing liquor.

He held it up in the air as the moonlight seemed to cascade through it like a glowing gift from the Goddesses. “A little warm, but who cares! This stuff’s marked as an import from Stalliongrad! ‘Wendigo Stirrups!’” He straddled it between his fetlocks, clamped his teeth around the cork and yanked it out with a resounding pop.

“Don’t you think we should at least save that for another time? Like maybe celebrating bringing Barricade back? Sound like a plan at all?”

Of course he ignored me. The bottle was already a fifth of the way gone by the time I had even said Barricade’s name! He pulled it away from his muzzle, licking his lips to get what little must’ve accumulated from his short-lived binge before passing it to me.

“And you feel no regret for basically grave-robbing?” I asked, levitating the bottle in front of me.

I took a closer look at the bottle’s picture. Strangely enough, the way Failsafe was holding it earlier… he looks a lot like the pony on the bottle. Maybe the bottle in the picture across this bottle has the same picture and it would just be an unending string of ponies taming beasts with the aid of this alcohol and I really need to sleep…

“Why? They don’t need it anymore.”

Yep, that did it.

Before he realized his mistake of giving me the bottle, I levitated it over the edge of the loft and poured what remained down below, dropping the bottle with it. Each splash that connected with the ground became more and more satisfying as the look of horror on my companion’s face grew the longer it carried on.

Then, the crash of the bottle… his face… oh Goddesses, yes! The falsetto of his twitching eye! The melody of his gaping mouth! And the brilliant chorus of his outstretched hooves!

“Dude! The fuck?!”

Ah, music to my ears.

“My master plan!” I exclaimed, throwing my hooves into the air in my feigned excitement. I am going to have so much fun with this! I lowered my hooves. “The radroaches will get drunk off of that stuff. Then! I make my move and leave with Flash as they decide their hangovers are too severe to care!”

“Um…” He placed his right hoof under his chin and the other against the left side of his more-than-likely swimming head, staring at the floor as if it held the answer to this riddle I must have told him. “Y-yeah, that makes sense, I guess. You meant with me, too, right?”

“Of course!”

That throws a bit of a wrench in the plan…

“Good…good…” He scratched the back of his neck, letting his eyes wander in different directions, not really selecting a particular place to study.

Drunk Failsafe is best Failsafe. I’ve always had an incredible lack of belief in his stance as a lightweight. He may be at least twice my size, but I can put away twice as much without nearly the same hassle. Then again, the whiskey in the stable is nowhere near as powerful as that stuff he just drank.

Even down there in between the cracks of a dwelling far past condemnation, the aroma of what could’ve been mistaken as a decaying liver still reached me atop the loft. I wondered if it would be too late to go down there and sample some... soaked through the floorboards of a crumbling foundation.

Perhaps I was too hasty in my decision. Maybe the ponies who owned it would’ve been happy to share before their disappearance from the pages of history. Maybe they would’ve wanted that fire to pass by another’s lips if they hadn’t received the opportunity to do so themselves, which, at this moment, they clearly didn’t…

Maybe there would still be some left in the morning. And maybe I should stop thinking. Thinking doesn’t seem to be doing me too much good at the moment. Yeah, thought processes: you’ve lost your privileges.

“So…this is where we’re all sleeping tonight, huh?” Failsafe examined.

“We have the choices of the sight of a massacre, Tartarus’ den of soul-devouring entities or a nice loft with added view.” I crossed my forelegs over one another. “I’ve made my choice.”

“Fair enough.” He turned his head to the left and watched the wall. His mouth was hanging slightly agape as his eyes passed over every inch of it like it was closing in on him. He anxiously tapped a hoof on his hind leg, starting up that annoying tongue-clicking noise.

Goddesses, I hate that noise… Well, I can put a stop to that!

I could only imagine he was noticing how much red currently covered his peripherals. Turning the volume of my Pipbuck up to maximum, I played a recording of a hammer striking an anvil.

About two feet off the ground… respectable. My dad still holds the record for grazing his horn on a light bulb... and he wasn’t even drunk. And, added bonus, I’m seeing a lot less red… on my E.F.S.

He just gave me a look of terror combined with anger. He continued to stare at me, condemning my actions as if I had done something immature and I should be completely ashamed of myself. I’ll be fair and at least plead guilty to the former.

“You. Are such. An asshole.”

“Yeah, yeah…hey, so what else can this Pipbuck do?”

E.F.S. is something that I wish I had known about before we left the stable. I would have enjoyed having this when the Edges started springing up… come to think of it, if we have this function, how in the world did the Edges manage to go into hiding?

Heh, maybe E.F.S. can’t pick up the cold-blooded…

“Uh, depends. Outside of recording, what do you already know it can do?”

“It has a map…and E.F.S.” That cocked eyebrow he offered me gave a vibe of ‘really?’ “Whaaat? I didn’t even know there was a manual for this thing up till about thirty minutes ago.”

“Wow, okay.” He sat silently for a moment, thinking of something simple, no doubt. “It can show you what you’re carrying.”

“Sort my inventory?”

“Yeah, those words. Right down to the clothes on your back.”

I turned my eyes to my Pipbuck’s screen and cycled through its features… and discovered something.

He’s a liar.

I opened my mouth, but before I spoke, he’d already made his way over to me. I guess he saw the look on my face and decided that it was the look of somepony who didn’t know what they were doing… though, he wouldn’t be wrong.

He tapped one of the buttons on the left side under the word ‘Items’ and, low and behold, my inventory. “Man,” he said gently before looking to me, “you should really just leave it to the experts.”

Cute.

“Oh, my gracious guru. How I have counted the times you’ve proven your worth to me,” three, “my knowledge of Pipbucks is humbled merely by your button-pressing prowess.”

I’m not jealous he knows more about Pipbucks than I do, no… at least I still know what one plus one is.

“Two?”

“What? How?!”

“You only brought two sticks of deodorant with us?!”

Oh… apple-scented with a hint of cinnamon. Wow, our stable really only has one dimension.

“Well, what do you want from me?” I jerked my hoof away from him. “You said—‘bring the bare essentials’— so, I did.”

His eyes grew wide. “Never do that voice-copy thing again, it’s fuckin’ creepy.” Shaking his head, he exaggeratedly outstretched his hooves. “Do you not understand the gravity of this? Do you not understand that these vests security wear trap smells?”

He reached around to his back. I heard the click of the vest being unlatched one by one. Once he slipped out of the barding—

Uegh—I already miss the smell of dung! Hell, I’d take a field trip of waste disposal back in the stable if it meant I didn’t have to deal with this anymore!

I practically threw the deodorant at him. As it stumbled from one hoof to another before he got a proper grasp, I started scrolling through my ‘Items.’ With my magic, because, well… my other hoof was plugging my nose. I’ve never used this function on my Pipbuck before. I guess what I’ve always had it under was ‘Data’ which is where all the recording and map functions are.

‘Right down to the clothes on your back’ indeed. Small green squares appeared next to the attire that I could guess were the clothes I had on: Stable 47 Jumpsuit, and under that, the same title with the number four in parenthesis on the right, Stable 47 Saddlebags, Mantle of the Overstallions… wait…

This thing’s defective!

He reached through the moonlight and pulled my Pipbuck to his eyes. “Few changes of clothes…weird, never seen a Pipbuck list itself before…meh.” He pressed a button and the screen swapped over, this new one showing a list of our food and medicine. “You brought plenty of noms, good…and you got…got…oh-ho-ho, Sweet Celestia!” He assaulted me, ripping my saddlebags away and sending me landing on a pile of moldy hay.

“Okay, ow!” I squeaked out, rubbing the back of my head. “What was that for?!”

I saw it.

The plunger protruded from the numbered cylinder like a tail. He clenched his teeth around its small plastic cover, pulling it away and spitting it out, revealing the needle. It extended like a single fang dripping with venom. A syringe of the Magically Enhanced Dulling chemical, or, ‘Med-X’.

“Flash didn’t tell me you were packin’! This is just what the doctor ordered!”

“Med-X? Are you hurt?” I moved to him, giving him a once-over and…“Was it the radro—“…his eyes… they were just... staring, mesmerized by the syringe.

I know that look…

“I should’ve known when Flashback told me to carry them.” His ears perked. “You’re an addict, yeah?”

“What? No I’m not,” he snapped like a foal caught attempting to steal something even as his hooves were stained red with evidence. “I just really, really like the feeling I get from Med-X. Like the feeling you get right after you’ve finished with that mare you’ve been trying to get in bed for weeks.” He gave me a once-over. “Course, not that you’d know anything about that, exactly.”

Really?

“I dunno, I’d like to think I get it.”

“Naw, naw,” he nearly cooed, swirling his hoof in the air with a certain condescending aloofness that only he could manage. His hoof limply shot forward, tapping my nose and causing my eyes to cross. “You, my friend, are tied down. All the more power to ya for it, but, oh-ho-ho…damn, are you missin’ out!”

“Not what your brother said…” I half-scoffed at my own words.

“Yeah?” He leaned forward. “And who else?”

My hoof involuntarily shot upward in hopeless objection and hovered while my mouth attempted to form the sounds required to create another name. “Umm…” being all I could manage. My eyes rolled back in thought as my hoof grounded itself.

Surely I’ve been with somepony else at one point or another… not that it matters. Flashback’s all I’d ever need.

“Wow, you really won’t say, will ya?” he chided.

Nope.

“But forget about it. C’mon, you got three more in that bag of yours. Just pull one out and join me. It’ll be like our own little adventure! Almost like old times. Whaddaya say?”

“Nope, nuh-uh, not gonna happen, no siree, never in a milli—“

“Tell ya something ‘bout the Pipbuck.” I paused. “Guarantee you don’t know it.”

Gee, that makes all the difference.

“Narrow minds tend not to make narrow paths, huh?”

“Wha?”

I sighed exasperatedly. “Outside of the obvious reason, why wouldn’t I know it?”

“S’not in the manual.”

Not in the manual? By the Goddesses! What information could be so precious?! Play along, learn from the master, then get those syringes away from him. It can’t be that hard. It’s not like this pony can live up to his name or anything silly like that.

I made a swift motion to grab the saddlebags away from him and pretended to rummage to find the Med-X, which, hopefully unbeknownst to him, was staring me right in the face.

“Okay,” I shifted my hooves as I pieced this together, “but you have to tell me before I join you.”

“Really? Alright, cool.” I continued to work my hooves through the saddlebags, waiting for him to declassify. “Having trouble there?”

“What?”

“…gimme the bag.”

Of all the times I’ve watched his brain at work, this is the first time it isn’t slacking off? Are you kidding me?!

Not wanting to warrant another uncomfortable landing on the hay-bed, I complied. He took the bag and let his eyes wander through its interior until he seemed to give up.

“They were sittin’ right next to each other, where’d they go?”

We’re going to go with not hidden under the bale of hay behind me.

“Whatever, we can look for ‘em later.” He held out the other Med-X syringe and offered it to me which I accepted in a pale yellow glow. “We can share this one for now, good?”

Crap… uh…

I lowered the needle to my hind leg. Before I broke skin, “Hey, I’m not gonna have all of myself under control on this. You mind telling me about the Pipbuck thing before that happens so I can remember it?”

“Yeah, sure,” he slurred as he bowed into the moonlight, grabbing the back of my neck and pulling me closer. I felt his slightly chilling breath scrape across my good ear. “Only security on the highest level know ‘bout this.”

Success.

“Really?”

“Keep it on the hush-hush, but…”

My ear perked as his words seemed to slam into my brain with their sheer surreal, unadulterated stupidity with the silence that followed. The syringe fell to my side and there was a faint beating that could be heard only from inside my head.

There’s senseless, there’s idiotic, there’s birth defects which can’t be blamed… then there’s Failsafe.

Pipbucks can track other Pipbucks. I went off.

Balefire be damned! You have met your match!

“YOU MORON!” I amplified my voice, the recoil from my words causing him to cringe, red to scurry, and the panes in the window to rattle. “Highest level security? I’M THE OVERSTALLION! Understand that there is NO LEVEL HIGHER THAN ME! This is something that you should’ve told me BEFORE we even left the stable!”

“The fuck’s your deal, Wave?”

“My deal?” He can’t be serious. “MY DEAL IS THAT WE COULD’VE TRACKED BARRICADE DOWN BY NOW IF YOU’D OPENED YOUR DAMN MOUTH IN THE BEGINNING!”

“Okay, so? I mean, we’ve only lost a little time. It’s not like we were gonna find him today anyway.”

“And how do you know that?!”

“Okay, look you bipolar fucknut. I’ve had the damn thing turned on since we walked out of the stable! He’s got a good twenty miles on us right now. Here,” he said as he brought his Pipbuck forward, “look.”

He showed me two blinking green triangles that I assumed were us, one a few millimeters above us that I could guess was Flashback, and, as he expanded the map, a fourth triangle reared itself about five inches above us. “You think we’ve just been walking in circles this whole time?”

This… this…! Damn it, I dropped the ball on this one…

I’d apologize, but there’s still a little something to be annoyed with about this. “If you knew where he was this entire time, why didn’t you stop me when I searched in such ridiculous places?”

He smirked. “Just ‘cause I know where he is doesn’t mean I don’t get to have anyfun out here.” He started with a snicker and gradually worked his way into full-on laughter. “You’re…you’re right though! You did look in some funny places. Almost lost my shit when you looked in that cookie jar ‘bout two miles back!”

“Hey, that was because I was hungry! Besides, that thing didn’t have any cookies in it. I think…I’m pretty sure it was ash.”

“The hell puts ash in a cookie jar?” I gave a quick shrug. “Well, hey, past that.” His eyes widened with glee as he dragged his hooves across one another. “Now, about that Med-X.”

I did forget something.

“We can, uh…save it for later.”

“Yeah, we can but…” he let out a low, half-chuckle, “we aren’t gonna.” His tone began to get a little dangerous for comfort, like the moment when Flashback gives me a certain look… except… less exciting and more fear-inspiring.

“I-I think we should—“

“Yeah, no.” He held out his hoof expectantly. “Give it here.”

I tossed the syringe into my saddlebag and latched it shut, clutching the woven satchel closer to myself, hugging it. “Um…no.”

He paused for a few moments, blinking rapidly. Then he started laughing again, stopping as abruptly as he began, looked me up and down, then laughed some more, going so far as to add the exaggerated knee-slap you see when somepony tells you a funny joke.

“Bu…bu-hut seriously though.”

He lunged at me with wanton fury. Before I fully understood what was happening, he was on top of me. It took him little effort to tear the saddlebags away from me, but in doing so, they came unlatched, sending a majority of my supplies scattering in different directions. Several apples, along with a bottle of my water tumbled from the loft and fell to the ground below.

Once I sat up, I saw Failsafe trying to sift through them to find the syringe. I raised my Pipbuck’s light and allowed my eyes to dart around. Remembering the other three that I still had hidden, I looked for the last syringe, holding up my Pipbuck for more visibility.

“Hah!” I heard Failsafe blurt. He had the syringe in his hoof. Just as he was about to send the drug into his system, I sent a field around it and pulled it away from him.

He gave me one of the most menacing looks I had ever received as he prowled forward. I wanted to retreat further from him, but I was already backed into the bales of hay and I didn’t want to risk the lunatic actually seeing the others. So, instead, I floated it over the edge of the loft, holding it there as he stopped in his tracks.

His eyes darted between me and the syringe. “Okay, Wave,” he said in a much calmer tone. He began to inch himself forward. “Don’t do anything you’d regret.”

He was getting closer to me and I realized that he wouldn’t stop unless I made him. I considered letting the syringe fall below, but that wouldn’t stop him from going down there to get it. And if it broke, that would just be a waste of perfectly good medicine.

He was only a few feet away from me and I had to think fast. I did the first thing that came to my mind. Focusing all of my magic on the needle, I bent it, dubbing it useless and levitated it back to the loft, placing it down in front of him.

He sat in silence for mere moments, his eye twitching profusely. “You…you…!” he began to seethe. He shut his eyes tightly, snorting. “Why is it that every fucking Overstallion has to ruin everything?!”

Whoa, where the hell did that come from?

“Every. Single. Time. Once an Overstallion comes into power, they think they get to control everypony’s choices!” He stepped on the syringe, shattering it with his hoof. “And you know what? I thought that you’d be different.” He twisted his hoof as I heard the crunch of the broken plastic shift under it. “But no, you just care about how you feel. You don’t care about how anypony else does!”

“Wh-what the hell are you talking about? I would trust your father with my life, and I have. Your mother was the closest thing I had to one while I was growing up. Your brother is my best friend and I want to spend any and all of my time with him in my waking and sleeping hours. Podium, Cuisine and…everypony else in the stable! What gives you the right to tell me that I’m selfish?”

“Yeah, y’know you just listed off ponies you’ve spent enough time around to have no choice but to remember their names, right? Give me one name from maintenance, from medical, from anywhere in the stable.”

“There’s that nurse that cleaned me up, she—“

“Name?” he asked flatly.

“I…uh…it was…”

I… I don’t know anypony else’s names? That isn’t right. There’s… umm…

“You proved my point,” he said snidely.

“Just because I don’t know other pony’s names doesn’t mean that I don’t care about them. Besides, what does that have to do with ruining everything?”

“What my family’s been put through ‘cause of this whole Overstallion thing! I lost my mom ‘cause of that toxic bullshit that your family authorized!”

“So, wait, we haven’t suffered enough? My dad’s gone, I don’t know about my mom and…my sister…I’m one thing, but damn you if you’re gonna tell me that all of your problems are any of her business!”

“Please! Your dad was like a fuckin’ band-aid to you anyway. Quick pain and it’s over! You didn’t have to watch any of your family rot from the inside like I did! My mom kept that smile on her face until her dying day..." he seemed to fall back on his anger, if only for a split-second. “I still don’t know what it means when your organs calci-whatever-the-fuck-ify, but I do know Alpha caused it. That shit your great grandfather thought was such an amazing idea.”

“My dad had nothing to do with that decis—“

“But he let it go on for another twenty years!” He passed through the moonlight and entered my personal space, leaning in so his words would continue to break me. “Face it, Wavelength. Your entire family is full of so many fuckups that the rest of the fuckups in the stable have no choice but to listen to them.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know exactly what that means! As a matter of fact, I got a few things to point out to you that you obviously haven’t figured out. And, if you’re half the Overstallion that you probably think you are, you’ll listen to what I have to say.”

I tried to remain calm. With a quick sigh, I looked him in the eye and spoke, “F-fine, I’ll let you say your piece.”

He gave me a wretched smirk. “You know your dad, our leader?” He scoffed. “Right…puts on a mantle and makes all the decisions that affect our lives. I bet that bullet was probably the first time he’s ever felt pain in his life and fuck if it wasn’t well-deserved.”

Let him say his piece…

“You know your mom? Like all Overmares, she. Does. Nothing. A pick from your dad’s all-seeing eye that is the surveillance cameras put up every which-way ‘round that fuckin’ place. Her bull mixed real good with your dad’s shit, hence the namesake.”

Let him… say…

“Oh, and of course you know yourself. Your grades say that was your favorite subject. Being the over-privileged colt ready to take over for daddy and havin’ all the ponies in the stable kissin’ so much of your flanks just so they could get a chance to be the next Overstallion’s favorite little pony and, oh, would you smell that shit they talk.”

Let… him…

“Oh, but y’know. You always know, right? Like how much you think I’m addicted to Med-X? Or maybe you should check on your own problem, huh? I just happen to like Med-X. You on the other hoof…can’t seem to remember the last time you turned down Cuisine’s whiskey. And that bottle before…whoo! That must’ve been one of the hardest things you’ve had to do in your whole life, huh?”

I… I can’t…

“But I should’ve seen this comin’. You were makin’ decisions for us before you even became Overstallion. My brother was perfectly fine before you made the decision for him to stop using Med-X. But I bet he was just ‘addicted’ right? Not like it was hurtin’ anypony.”

“Not hurting anypony?” I let slip. “I understand we live in a stable, but come on! What kind of sheltered world have you lived in that you don’t believe that chemicals are harmful?! He dropped his addiction because he cares enough about the ponies around him to do it! He cared about his family enough, your father enough, your mother enough! Even—“

“You?”

There’s a certain point where words can hurt. But none that can be used without a certain voice; a voice that, if used correctly, can push enough buttons to make somepony shut down. In my head, there’s only two that could possibly push them on Failsafe. The first one’s simple:

“’Don’t do this with me, Failsafe,’” I warned in a missed low monotone.

“Think you’re gonna get me to back off from you just ‘cause you can do a decent Barricade?” he continued to rile. “What’s next, huh? Gonna do my dad? Maybe bring my brother into this? Oh, oh! Maybe your dad, right? That’ll get me to cool it! But then…what’s a dead pony gonna do to me?”

This… has gone on long enough…

“Let me just say one more thing about your little sister.”

No…

“She’s was just the sweetest little thing, wasn’t she? Such a shame that sh—“

“’You rat-bastard! I hope you know how disappointed I am with you! Look at you, drunk out of your mind and saying such awful things…I have a great idea for you! Why don’t you take one of those pistols, put it in your mouth and pull. The. Trigger!’”

The sweet yet sorrowful tone of flower petals drifting over a closed casket that would utter no ill word toward anypony, let alone her children. He has so many tells. Never foretelling of his weakness, his mother was the voice of reason in his life. Without her voice, reasons became a thing I’ve seldom seen from him. But what is action without reason?

In Failsafe’s world, a reckless drive toward nothing.

The silence overtook the entirety of the loft. The clouds outside must have thickened as the moon’s rays were choked from the barn. Failsafe faded bit by bit into the shroud. The light from my Pipbuck was the only thing keeping the darkness from fully enveloping either of us as even Luna turned her gaze.

His hoof rocketed toward me, but it slipped past me. I fully expected to feel the full-frontal impact of his hoof across my head, but his grasp entangled with something far more meaningless.

He spotted them…

The needle entered his leg. As he forced the plunger to quickly descend, I made no attempt at stopping him. He removed the emptied syringe and furiously threw it over the edge of the loft with a frustrated yell.

I heard the dull smack against the far wall and the faint clacking as it hit the ground. He let in a deep, hissing breath through gritted teeth before exhaling as he must have felt the effects seeping through him. His eyes opened wide as I watched them roll upward.

I hate his eyes…

He shares absolutely everything with his father right down to the tip of his tail, but his eyes… they’re exactly the same as Flashback’s. Pools of teal that I would deliberately drown myself in… but watching the same corneas pull back in forced ecstasy, the same pupils dilate… the same hated memories of what my Flashback used to be…

He stood and donned his vest, each click of the harness carrying itself throughout the barn as even the radroaches remained silent. He nearly toppled the ladder over as he made his hasty descent, his hooves barely connecting with the rungs as he passed over them like a shadow.

“I’m gonna go for a walk,” he said to himself.

“Failsafe?”

“Wavelength, you may now kindly fuck off,” he retorted groggily, his voice cracking as he drifted toward the barn door, opening it; letting the rusted hinges moan as it slid open. I spotted Flashback as his brother strode by him with the mercy of a conqueror. Failsafe clicked the light in his Pipbuck to life.

“Where are you go—“

“Flash, not now.”

“Just…be safe, okay?!” I shouted after him.

He halted, absorbing my words rather than letting them bounce back. He turned his eyes toward me, saying nothing, but I’ve seen what those eyes can whisper across a room. He continued to move as Flashback slid by him and closed the door with his magic, letting it creak back into place.

He quietly shuffled up the ladder. As his head poked over the edge, he eyed me with a tinge of unease. “You mind telling me what happened?” He clambered up and over the ledge. I said nothing, but gave him a glance and pointed to the shattered remnants of the Med-X syringe. His eyes widened. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“What’s the point?”

The light in his Pipbuck clicked to life as he brushed away the pieces of the syringe over the loft, taking a seat in front of me. “The point is that I’m so…tired of having to contribute to his bad habits, of covering for him…of lying to dad.” He fixed me with a serious look. “Now, I want you to tell me what happened.”

“I…started it.”

“Wavelength, I know my brother better than that,” he forced a chuckle. “Here, let me guess. He found out that you had Med-X and tackled you to get it, am I correct in that assumption?”

“Not…entirely?” He gave me an unconvinced glare. “Okay, look, I wouldn’t give it to him.” I scratched the back of my mane. “Then we said some things, it…got kind of heated and…Flash? The things that he said, that I said…can and never will be able to be taken back.

“And what’s worse? What I fear from his words isn’t the words themselves, but their accuracy. Your brother’s a lousy shot, but even a bad shooter eventually hits their target.

“There’s only so many times I can hear the complaints about the system we live with before I can’t. Stop. Listening. Only so many times that I can have my family’s name be cursed before I start believing it, and you know what else? There’s only so many times that I can hug my own reflection and tell myself it’ll all be okay…”

He sat in a moment of silent contemplation. He raised himself and wrapped his hooves around me, letting me shudder in his embrace.

“Did he hurt you?”

I kept my gaze locked on the mattress I made for him, looking over Flashback’s shoulder as my eyes began to burn. “Not as bad as I hurt him…”

* * *

“Damn this alarm!” I shouted at my Pipbuck. I proceeded to slam it repeatedly into the edge of the loft until the only sound I could hear was metal colliding against wood. And then continued until I was satisfied. “Six in the morning? Even outside of the stable, six is in?! I slept on hay hiding from demon-spawn! I want an early out!”

Upside: sleep had never been more welcome. Downside: I had a better rest in a rotting barn infested with an awful vermin, not to mention radroaches, than I’ve had in my own room in the stable for the past months of having to sleep with one eye wide open. A place where my threats couldn’t reach me and my biggest worry was waking up to a relatively awkward cuddling with a far too touchy-feely, jacked up Failsafe.

I raised myself from the hay, watching as the light began to shine through the window sill; still breaking through that horrendous cloud cover above and falling from wherever Celestia pleased.

Brushing several straws from my mane and returning my robe to its rightful place on my back, I looked to the mattress on the other side of the loft and realized Failsafe never even came back last night. Not a single straw was out of place from the hay I set up for him.

Flashback, on the other hoof, was still asleep. “Damn, he’s a heavy sleeper.” He looks so peaceful… why would I want to disturb him? Actually, I could think of a few reasons…

Eh, not in a barn… we aren’t animals.

Though Failsafe’s absence from the barn felt more… appealing, I still had to make sure that I had everything. The Med-X was the first thing I grabbed, taking the two remaining syringes and placing them gently inside their home in my right saddlebag and latched it shut.

Following that, I levitated four apples and a bottle of water into the left. I even swallowed my holier-than-thou attitude as I swept the provisions Failsafe gathered last night. First, the bomb-box went into my bag and the two extra healing potions were slipped into Flashback’s.

I scaled down the ladder, taking my time as I remembered the supplies that fell from the loft the night before. As I leapt from the ladder, I took a slight satisfaction in the crunch of the glass from the bottle of Wendigo Stirrups that I had discarded.

Passing under the loft I managed to retrieve another bottle of water and two of the three apples that rolled over. The other, I guessed, had probably been snatched by a radroach.

“Hope it choked…”

Clipping my saddlebag closed for the last time, I let out a sigh as I turned for the barn door. I extended my hoof and placed it upon the molding gate, exerting force only to slide back about half a foot away. I blinked, realizing that I just got pushed by an inanimate object.

I can not be this weak!

Well, it is a big door… I pressed both of my hooves against it, exerting all of my weight into forcing it open… I leaned my back against the door, utilizing and straining the strength in my hind legs to propel myself backward into it. My hooves dragged along the floor for several moments before I came to a valid conclusion.

The door must’ve rusted shu… no, the hinges are fine…

I’ve got no grip on the flo… it’s wood, Wavelength…

The radroaches have formed some sort of blockade and are stopping me from leaving! Yes! That is the only logical conclusion! Because, you know… so what if there aren’t any red dots outside… I’m not a weakling, okay?!

Oh, who am I kidding? I just need to admit to the fact that… there’s a yellow dot getting closer to the barn. Failsafe! I will not let him have this satisfaction!

I turned and bucked at the door. Once. Twice. The third time…

* * *

“I…didn’t expect you to open the door so fast,” I said half-apologetically and half-amused.

Failsafe was tending to a bloody nose with a crimson-stained rag thanks to a little poor judgment on both our parts. What I mean is I probably shouldn’t have bucked the door with the knowledge that Failsafe was getting so close and he probably shouldn’t have opened the door knowing full-well that something (much) stronger than a radroach was trying to break free from his moldy prison.

We were sitting back in front of the farmhouse on the small staircase leading to the porch. Flashback slept through the whole thing! But, luckily, in watching that pony perform his duties in the stable, I picked up on the conservation of healing potions by wetting rags or bandages and lacing them with the purple liquid to treat afflicted areas rather than simply drinking them.

“Wave, look,” he began, “I’ve got one hell of a hangover and, normally, I would kill somepony for something like that.” He dabbed the rag once more over his muzzle, snorted inwardly, hocked up and spat out a large wad of bloody mucus. “But…” he spoke solemnly, “I…I said some shit last night that…well…” He paused, placing his attention on the rag he held in his hooves. “I deserved that one.”

Dear Goddesses, how hard did I hit him?

I sat in stunned silence for a few moments. I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t really agree… and I sure as hell couldn’t disagree.

He looked to me. “Didn’t get any sleep last night, man,” his voice cracked. I’ve only just now noticed the dark circles under his eyes and his bloodshot sclera; an estranged intertwinement of condolence and sorrow.

“Just been…thinkin’ all night, y’know? Just…I just wanted to say that…and…look, I know ya may not have gotten good grades or whatever, but I know you’re the smarter one between us. You come up with what I’m trying to say here, okay?”

“Apology accepted,” I said. “And I’m sorry too.” I gently patted the back of his barding, letting this little moment between us actually sink in. “What happened last night was just…a lot of pent up agony. You’ve been looking for somepony to blame for that for a long time and, well, it only seems natural to place it on those with the most power, doesn’t it?”

“Y-yeah,” he said as he gave me a passing glance. “I didn’t really mean all that stuff I said last night. Y’know that, right?”

“Of course I do.”

Honestly, I can only tell him that. Thing is, your true feelings come out when you’re inebriated… drunk as all hell. But I wasn’t lying in the fact that I do forgive him… I find it hard myself sometimes to not harbor blame for my father on some of what happened in the past.

“It’s just…Wave, I…I fuckin’ hate Alpha.”

“So do I.”

He regarded me with a look of curiosity. “Well, my reason…you get it, but what’s yours?”

The question caught me off-guard. “Why does it matter?” I attempted to dodge it. “I only wish that I could’ve gotten an idea for what my life would’ve been like without Alpha ever being a part of it.”

“Wave, I’m not very bright when it comes to math,“ he began.

“History, Equestrian, geography, sci—“

“Okay, shut up. Point is, I’m not stupid when it comes to ponies lyin’.” He looked me in the eye as he spoke, “Now come on, spill it.”

I sat in a moment of dejected reflection. “You really want to know?” I asked rhetorically. Not that I’m impatient with him (at the moment), but I don’t get an opportunity to speak for myself very often. I’m taking advantage of this while I have the chance. “Fine. You know how stallions are supposed to have one X-chromosome and one Y-chromosome?”

“Y-yeah, sure.”

“No you don’t. You see, a few years back, your brother and I got a little alone time—”

“Wave, I don’t need to know about that.”

“Okay, I know how that sounds, but bear with me. We were getting to that point where we were starting to get curious—“

“Wave!” he shouted, clutching the side of his head as his volume must’ve caught up with him.

“About what Alpha does…we already knew about it making a filly come out colt during the pregnancy, but did you know that one of the side-effects of Alpha just happens to be…err, infertility?”

“Yeah,” he drawled.

“Lying isn’t good in the grace of the Goddesses, Failsafe.” I sighed, “Anyway, when Flash and I took a look at our medical records, we found something that really…caught our attention.

“Stallions made by Alpha in some of the past generations of the stable possessed two X-chromosomes. It took some digging, but we managed to come across an entire orchard-full of long-dead information. When a male has two X-chromosomes, they’re, uh…sterile.”

“So…?”

“Stallions with two X-chromosomes can’t…have kids.”

“Wait, so that means…”

Come on, I’ve given you all the pieces, the puzzle could be solved by a foal, you got this.

“That means I’ve been pulling out this whole time for no reason?!”

Seriously? Really? I mean… come on, Wavelength, at least he gets it.

“No you…” don’t say idiot, don’t say idiot, don’t say… “fool!” Good enough. “Just a hoofful of us. Like me…”

“Oh…” I watched him think for a moment. “But what’s it matter to you? Y’know, considerin’ you being gay and all.”

Wow, blunt.

“Two X-chromosomes means that the only thing keeping me from being a mare is my…inert baby-maker.“

“You mean your di—“

“You can’t approach anything indirectly, can you?” As he gave an apathetic shrug and turned his attention elsewhere, I seemed to involuntarily roll my eyes at his immaturity. “Hey, over here, you hear me?” I beckoned while tapping my hoof on the staircase, trying to do something to keep his focus on me.

“S-sorry, got distracted.”

How? Oh, wait.

“You still…uh…” I raised an eyebrow while gesturing my left hoof upward.

“Y-yeah.”

“Uh-huh,” I exhaled curtly. I’m not quite sure what a ‘brick wall’ is but I’m pretty sure it isn’t as dense as what I’m talking to right now. “What’s the point in asking me about anything if you’re just going to drone me out?”

“Y-you’re right, I’m sorry.” His eyes were still averted from me, so I knew speaking any further would just be a waste of breath. “H-hey,” he paused to wipe the rag across his muzzle once more, “you wanna see what I did last night?”

He just completely changed the subject on me! That…that…!

“Sure, let’s see what you did last night,” I obliged.

He gave me several hasty nods and stood, facing the door to the inside of the farmhouse. He pressed his hoof forward.

“Wait, Failsafe!” I reached out in a feeble attempt at getting him to stop. But as the wooden veil creaked upon its hinges, it revealed that what lied beyond its frame was a messy immaculacy that I couldn’t fully comprehend.

Where a curled hoof once laid was devoid of any evidence of a violent struggle. The wall, though still stained, was now a faded picture of the ‘A’ that previously adorned it; just a figment of smeared crimson barely retaining its latched presence. It was as if every spirit that vied for vengeance was now pleading for peace.

“You…you did all of this?”

I’m, well, surpri—no—impre—no—astounded! Yes, astounded.

I entered the farmhouse to get a closer look at his work.

“Yeah, it was nothin’. Just a little knee-grease and, well, y’see the result.”

Did the floor just sparkle? I… I can see my reflection in it! Oh, my mane is just a mess… but a shiny mess!

Though the wall could use a little more touching up, it was only a pale imitation of the horror that I witnessed last night.

If I pretend, it almost seems like a decoration! It clashes with everything, but out of pretext, a decoration nonetheless. It almost makes me forget all about the… the…

I slowly turned my head to the right.

“Failsafe,” I squeaked out, “what did you do with the…ponies that lived here before?”

“Buried ‘em in that patch of garden they had. Y’know, to help the plants grow and stuff.”

“Like the orchard?”

“Pretty much.”

I stared at the bed. The sheets; anything less than burning them wouldn’t cleanse them. “Can…” I faltered, turning my focus back to him. “Can you take me to them then?”

“Y’sure? After the way you reacted last ni—“

“Please.”

He let out a sigh as he exited the farmhouse, cocking his head in the direction of the crops. I forced myself to walk forward and follow, but what I attempted to turn into an enthusiastic canter became nothing more than a notch below sidling. As he carried on, he looked over his shoulder and caught my hesitation. In the seconds that passed, I had only pushed myself to the doorframe.

I took a deep breath, and stepped hoof outside of the farmhouse. I took each step down the small staircase as if I were descending a mountain. Once my hoof connected with earth, I began to work my way up to walking within a few foal-capable strides, keeping a straight face all the while.

Failsafe continued moving. I kept my pace at his side, eying his cutie mark. A red sponge. In the time that I’ve known him, I never really asked what it was for… I guess cleaning just happens to be his talent…

Soon, we came upon the shoddy, wooden fence that closed off the crops. It didn’t stop him as he placed his front two hooves atop it and vaulted it. I, on the other hoof, took advantage of the large gap between the rotting planks.

The crops were shriveled and long-dead, not harvested like I had initially thought. I tried stepping around the blackened plants as Failsafe didn’t seem to really care, mindlessly trampling over a few. The crackling of them under his hooves hurt just to hear.

“Failsafe, please,” I said imploringly.

He craned his neck back to look at me. He paused, lifting his hoof and shifting his gaze to what lied underneath. “Oh, sorry…” He showed the decency to step around them for what remained of our time in the crops. Within five more steps we reached a fresh mound.

“Here it is.”

The more I let it sink in, this seemed pathetic. It’s no fault of Failsafe’s, though. I’m honestly glad to see that his heart’s in the right place, but… two ponies who probably lived here, set up a home here, had a history with this world that would never be shared… their legacy nothing more than a mound of dirt in a lifeless garden.

I… I was crying.

I don’t even know who these ponies are and I’m shedding tears for them? Why?

“Wave, you okay?”

“I-I-I’m fine.”

Nopony deserves this… my sister wouldn’t have wanted this for anypony… why should I?

There was only one gesture I could do that meant something, at least to me. I channeled my magic and my horn glowed bright yellow, casting our shadows across the crops as they flickered. A glowing orb emanated from the tip of my horn as I sent it skyward, letting it burst open, showering the crops with rays of magical radiance.

I don’t know what it can symbolize to those ponies… but, hopefully, it could just be their light in the darkness.

~ ~ ~

Well, if I can’t say anything else about this pony, he most certainly seems to have a way with words. A bit sappy for my taste, but, eh, whaddaya gonna do?

Well, that’s the end of this segment, children, but there’s more to be had of this pony yet!

Till next time, stay safe.

________________________________________________________________________

Footnote: Experience Estimated |38%|

Just wanted to say that the events of this chapter and the next were originally going to be one huge one, but I can’t pull off Murky-Level deadlines. Shorter chapters mean more frequent updates… so… there’s that. I also have to apologize for how boring this must be to read, but I felt I had to build the characters a bit more before I moved on. I promise the next chapter is far more exciting. Also, you’re probably wondering why there isn’t a level up… Wavelength won’t level up every chapter. This story could go on for a while, and I can’t have him reaching the level cap by chapter 20. Quest perks can help, but sometimes… they just get out of hand. I can’t do that either. There has to be a limit to a character’s power, and the level cap for this particular story is 20. Just so you know.

[Quote: ‘Highway to Hell’ by ACDC]