Chapter II: Stable 24
"You sure you wanna do that?" I asked the black & yellow maned green unicorn that had challenged me to a fight. He heard about my unusual abilities, & decided to test them out.
"Yeah, I want to do it. Now get up, & fight me!"
"Fine." I sighed & stood up, moving into a defensive stance. He jumped forward & I slid out of the way, causing him to run into the wall. While he was stunned, I moved in & grabbed his right foreleg while still moving & pulled it out from under him. I could hear the snap of his bone breaking, so I turned around for another attack. I wrapped my tail around his other foreleg & slammed my claw into his chin. He flew into the air, breaking his other leg in the process. Lastly, I jumped straight ahead & frontflipped, kicking him into the ground, then spun on my right foreleg, knocking him into the wall head-first. The colt began to groan in pain as I approached him.
"Bad idea." I said as I punched him one more time, this hit knocking him unconscious. The other colts & fillies around me looked on in pure shock at the fact that I had just beaten the shit out of a colt nearly twice my size. A grey earth pony filly with a light pink mane stepped from the crowd, giving me a look that could have passed for scolding.
"What did you just do to him?"
"He wanted to fight me. So I gave him what he wanted. In my defense, I told him twice that it was a bad idea."
"That doesnt excuse the fact that you couldve just killed him!"
"But I didn`t, did I?" I gave her a quizzical smirk.
"Just because you didnt do it this time doesnt mean there wasn`t a chance of it happening." The filly gave me a slight shove with her right foreleg & walked away, her nose held high. I turned around & did the same, heading towards my home. As I flew, I almost walked straight into a light orange unicorn mare with a deep red mane. I was completely speechless at one single fact.
She was absolutely beautiful!
I then noticed that she had a cutie mark of two shields behind a bright green star. She looked at me, showing an expression of pure confusion.
"Uh, is there something wrong?" She asked me.
"I-I-Sorry. I didnt mean to run into you, I wasnt really paying attention."
"No harm done. I`m Citrus Shield. Nice meeting you." She held out a hoof, which I shook while wearing a look of complete "smitten-ism", as my dad had once called it. I quickly switched back to my normal look of both indifference & occasional curiosity.
"Rayzor. So, how did you get a cutie mark like that in a Stable?"
"Well, one time, my father was working on a piece of a ceiling that had started to fall in. It fell the rest of the way, & I used my magic to make a shield over his head. It probably wouldve killed him if it wasnt for me."
"What about the star?"
"That`s just because I have a green magic aura."
"Oh. Well, good meeting you. Im sure that Ill see you sometime again."
"Actually, you won`t."
"Why?"
"Im part of a team thats exploring the Wasteland outside of the Stable to see if its inhabitable again. Its me & two others. We leave in two days."
I couldnt believe it. There was the fact that she was probably much older than me & had a husband (or wife), but I thought I had fallen in love with her, & I couldnt let her leave right after I met her.
"Okay. Well, I hope you come back, & that you find something promising." I told her with a dejected tone. I turned around & kept heading home.
I walked through the door, & neglected to notice the large bruise on my knuckles from where I had punched the colt twice. I headed towards my bedroom, sat down on my bed, & picked up the old book I had gotten at the Stable library. Our Stable was a rare one, in that it had a library instead of just having a school.
"Rayzor? Was that you?" My father called. I stood up & walked through the hall towards him.
"Hey dad."
"Something wrong?" He asked with a warm smile, like he always gave to everyone.
"Kind of." I just couldn`t stand to lie to him.
"What is it?"
"I... kind of just had to fight someone."
"Why?"
"He caught me in a corner & made me fight him, because he heard that I could fight."
"What`d you do?"
"I think I might have broken a couple of his legs."
"This is gonna be bad. Who was it?"
"I had never seen him before. He was a green unicorn, about your size, with a black & yellow mane & a cutie mark of what looked to me like two microphones crossed over a treble clef."
Looks like being in a band actually paid off for once.
"Melodious Nocturne. I met his father once. Terrible stallion. If I had the choice, I`d rather shoot myself than have a conversation with him."
"So, what`s going to happen now?"
"Well, I honestly dont know. Nocturnes father is an unpredictable one. Just be ready next time you see him, but don`t actually fight him unless you truly have to."
"Alright."
I picked up a Sunrise Sarsaparilla from our refrigerator & headed back to my bedroom. I sat down at the small desk in the corner of the room & began to write in my diary.
Dear Diary,
Well, this really sucks. I ended up getting into a fight I didn`t even want to have, then my dad told me that I might have to fight him again!
But, I might have met someone that I could actually be friends with. The only problem? She`s leaving the Stable in two days!
-Rayzor
I looked over at the clock next to me.
10:30. Goddesses, I`m tired.
I walked over to my bed, laid down, & let sleep take me quite soon.
Chapter III: Planning & Action
Dear Diary,
It`s time.
I decided to try & go after Citrus Shield when her team leaves. I have a pretty rock solid plan.
The team leaves in exactly four hours. Im going to find a way to sneak into or somewhere near the Overmares office so that I can listen to her telling the teams leader the Stables exit code. After that, all I have to do is get prepared, then get to the door & unlock it right after the team leaves. Its easier said than done, though. The Stable door is blocked by two armed guards at all times, & they wont let anyone near the door unless they have a legitimate reason to. I`ll have to figure something out in less than five hours.
Below this is my goodbye note to my family & friends, if I have any that will want to read this.
Everyone,
Im leaving the Stable to go after the Wasteland exploration team. If you want to know why, yesterday I met someone. A mare who I believe I am in love with. I wont tell you her name for fear of her suffering your wrath, but I will tell you that Ive taken some supplies from my parents. I know its not worth much, but...
Goodbye.
-Rayzor
I tore the page`s bottom half from my diary & placed it in the pocket of the modified Stable barding I commonly wore. Heading back out the door, I picked up my pair of saddlebags that my father had given me as a birthday present a couple years ago. I opened a junk drawer in the kitchen & picked up a package of twenty bobby pins & a screwdriver.
The perfect lockpicking equipment.
Inside my desk was a book that nobody knew even existed: Lockpicking For Beginners, Earth Pony Style.
Lets take that. Anything else Ill need?
There were quite a few things I still needed: money, weapons if I could find any, & the specially made PipBuck I had been given four years ago. Inside the locked cabinet in my fathers bedroom was a set of what would end up being useful weapons. Obviously, I had to open it, but Id have to wait until he left.
The time was now. My parents had left, & the team was leaving in two hours. I stepped into my fathers bedroom, book & lockpicking equipment in claw. After fifteen grueling minutes, the cabinet popped open, revealing my fathers old war equipment from before the Megaspell attacks.
Let`s see. An assault rifle, a shotgun, two pistols, a metric shit-ton of ammo, two combat knives, some advanced lockpicking equipment, a medical box, &... a water talisman? Ooh, a box of bottle caps!
I took everything, & headed towards the Overmare`s office. I looked through the window & saw a yellow unicorn stallion conversing with the Overmare. I pressed my ear to the door & started to listen.
"So, make sure you write this down, Sun Flare." The Overmare told him.
"Alright." I pulled out a pen & paper of my own.
"The Stable door code is XY15.79-12.45. The coordinates for your first expedition are Y: 19.45, X: 23.44, Z: 0.85. The code for the terminal you`ll find here is BaBsEEd. Got it?"
"Door code is XY15.79-12.45. Coordinates are Y: 19.45, X: 23.44, & Z: 0.85. The terminal code is BaBsEEd."
"Good."
I had everything written down, so I needed to leave before either Sun Flare, or Goddesses forbid, the Overmare caught me. I immediately began to run, then broke into a brisk flight until I reached the Stable commons. There, I waited.
Sun Flare, Citrus Shield, & two others I had never seen before walked by. Sun Flare entered the code, & the group left. I pulled out one of my father`s pistols & fired two rounds at the opposite wall. The two guards went running, & I took the chance to make a break for the door, which had just closed. My claw flew across the panel, entering the code.
The door began to make an unholy grinding noise.
Finally it opened.
"What the hell?" One of the guards turned & started firing his pistol at me. The shots missed as I ran through the door. It closed behind me, & I realized that I couldn`t come back.
I was on my own in the Wasteland until I could find the team again.
Chapter IV: The Wasteland
"Good Goddesses! Where am I?" I asked nobody in particular, not hoping for a response. I had to either find the expedition team or find shelter quick, since my PipBuck was warning me of fairly high radiation levels. I brought up the Eyes-Forward Sparkle & continued on, pistol ready to be drawn. A spot of red flashed across my vision, apparently above me, then disappeared even faster. I looked up & saw a beacon of hope.
A pegasus wearing a strange-looking saddle flying through the air above me. The mystery pegasus was likely female. She dove to the ground in front of me, & I noticed that her saddle contained two assault rifles & two shotguns, all of which were currently trained on my head.
"Who the hell are you?" The pegasus asked. Now I knew she was female.
"My name is Rayzor. Im from Stable 24. Now would you please stop pointing those at me? Its getting kind of awkward."
The mares aim lowered slightly, but she was still ready to shoot me at a moments notice.
"Why should I believe you?" She asked me. I held the screen of my PipBuck in front of her, & she began reading my information.
"Alright. Youre legit." She completely lowered her weapons & gave me a bright look that wasnt exactly a smile, pulling a sky blue hat from her head. I noticed that the hat went fairly well with her powder blue coat & light green mane. Her cutie mark was what looked like two bullets covered in red sparks crossed over an orange flame.
"Name`s Volt Gauge. Call me Gauge."
"So Gauge, you know of any place where I can go & get out of this place? I`m not sure if I have any Rad-Away."
"What do you mean, not sure?"
"Well, nobody knows that I left the Stable yet. I stole some supplies from my father & made a break for it."
"Why`d you go & pull a dumbass move like that?"
"I was chasing a mare. She left on a Wasteland expedition team just a few hours ago."
"A pony & a griffin? Huh. & I thought I`d seen all the weirdness this place could throw at me."
"So, shelter?"
"Oh yeah. Follow me." Gauge flew off towards Celestia-knows-where & I followed. She started to drop, so I kept close to her.
"What`s wrong?" I asked as we landed again.
"Whatever you do, don`t make any noise." She lifted her guns upward & fired, three rounds from her assault rifles piercing the body of what looked like a giant red bat. She fired again & again, each burst killing another bat.
"What`s so bad about some bats?" I whispered to her.
"These arent bats, theyre Bloodwings. Deadly little bastards. They can suck every drop of blood from your body in a second, & Im nowhere near exaggerating. Think you can help me out? I see youve got some guns. That assault rifle should be your best bet. How good of a shot are you?"
"Pretty good. On a scale of one to ten, probably a seven."
"Good. Pick up a gun & start shooting."
I hefted the assault rifle to my eye & began shooting. Apparently, the rifle shot two rounds at a time. Two bullets caused the remnants of a Bloodwing`s brain to splatter across my head. Finally, Gauge brought down the last two, & we took to the skies once more.
"How do those things even exist? As far as I know, they`re not naturally occurring in Equestria." I said, my voice showing hints of doubt.
"Theyre not natural. Theyre what happens when vampire fruit bats were exposed to large amounts of Taint. They grew in size, & they started eating ponies instead of apples."
"Taint?"
"One of the worst things in the Wasteland, far worse than radiation. Only thing worse than Taint is the Pink Cloud, & noponys been out near Canterlot for a while for that exact reason. If you get Tainted, youre gonna wish that you were in the Pink Cloud."
"What`s the Pink Cloud?"
"It was created during a Megaspell attack. Celestia & Luna put up a shield over Canterlot when the bombs fell, & some Zebras set off a bomb inside the shield. It released the Pink Cloud. Everything & everypony inside was dead long before the shield was dropped. Set hoof inside the Pink Cloud, & everything youre wearing will become part of your body. Then, your organs start to fail. Lastly, you turn into what they call a Canterlot ghoul. Theyre like zombies, but they can only be killed by fire or dismemberment."
“Sounds bad.”
“Oh, theyre worse than they sound. One almost killed me last week, but the thing didnt see my incendiary rifle in its eyes.”
"How did you fight one without actually going to Canterlot?"
"Just because they have the word Canterlot in their name doesnt mean thats the only place you can find them. I was just a couple miles from Splendid Valley."
"Interesting."
"Looks like were here." Gauge said, pointing to a mostly intact structure that looked to me like a hospital, but painted yellow. A large emblem of a cross with a pink butterfly in its center marked the buildings front. She landed on the roof, where a small door led into the rest of the building.
"Is this a hospital?" I asked.
"No, it`s a hotel." Gauge told me, her voice oozing sarcasm.
"It`s an old Ministry of Peace medical center."
"Ministry of Peace?"
"You really don`t know anything about the Wasteland, do you?"
"No."
"Okay, have you heard of the Elements of Harmony?"
"Yeah. Magic, Laughter, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, & Kindness."
"Not the Elements themselves, but their bearers."
"You mean Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, & Fluttershy?"
"Yes. Now, when the war began, Celestia gave each of them a specific division of the war effort to run, also called the Ministries. Twilights was the Ministry of Arcane Sciences, or the Ministry of Magic, Pinkie Pies was the Ministry of Morale, Applejacks was the Ministry of Wartime Technology, Raritys was the Ministry of Image, & Fluttershys was the Ministry of Peace. The building were standing on right now was built during the war by the Ministry of Peace, which is why its painted yellow. The hospitals logo also features her cutie mark."
"Whoa."
"Alright, now let`s get inside."
We headed through the small door, & I realized that this hospital was probably around six stories tall.
"Gauge, do you know how tall this place is?"
"Seven stories. This is the seventh floor. I know all the floors from up here to the fourth like the back of my hoof. I want to check out the other ones, but there`s some seriously fucked up shit down there."
"Like what?"
"You don`t want to know."
"So, why do you still want to go down there?"
"The third floor has quite a few vending machines, so theres bound to still be some edible food in there. The second floor is the emergency ward, so theres a lot of valuable medical supplies. Hyper Rad-Away, ultra-strength restorative potions, painkillers, bone healing poultices, pretty much anything that can heal you in any way. The first floor also has a couple vending machines & a cabinet filled with medical boxes."
"Think you might be able to let me go down there?"
"Oh, hell no! You`re not gonna go down there on my watch! That is, without the proper equipment & information."
"Okay, what do I need?"
"Come with me."
Gauge led me to a room that was just as inconspicuous as the others, except this one had been refurnished for the most part, the bedding was clean, everything looked so... homey. I assumed this was her home.
"Do you live here?"
"Yep. Nice, isn`t it? Found all the stuff in the garbage behind what used to be a Quills & Sofas Megastore. Sit down over there." She motioned to a light grey chair. I sat in it, waiting for her to come back. She sat in a chair opposite mine, & pulled a paper from her saddlebags.
"Alright, first of all, youll need a weapon with a silencer. Ive got a couple that I can lend you. Then, youll need something that protects against both magical energy weapons & blades. Last, youll need a weapon with armor piercing rounds. Once again, Ive got some. Now for the information. Youre going to encounter some extremely disturbing monsters on the third & possibly the first floor that basically look like what would happen if a pony started to melt from the inside out, then grew a bunch of random flesh sacs across their body & their tongue turned into three giant tentacles. Do not, & I mean do not let them look at you. Theyll paralyze you, then do... *disgusting things*. If you have to kill them instead of running, shoot them from behind. Another really important thing to know is that a small band of hellhounds took over the second floor. After you get through the third, Ill come in & help you clear them out. Im sure weve got enough firepower to take them down. Got it?"
"Yeah. Take a weapon with a silencer & armor piercing rounds, wear armor that protects against magical energy weapons & blades, kill the tentacle monsters from behind, then come back after I clear out the third floor & we`ll get rid of the hellhounds together. I have a couple questions."
"What?"
"First of all, what are hellhounds?"
"Deadliest creatures in the Wasteland. They`re what happened to the Diamond Dogs after they were exposed to Taint. They went from the little idiots that Rarity once defeated with "the power of whining", to some bad mothers."
"Wow. Now, are these tentacle monster things actually ponies?"
"In body, yes. In mind, far from it. After they were exposed to Taint, they started to become mindless beasts that acted only on the basest of urges. Only reason the hellhounds arent like that is because they werent as heavily exposed, & all of the ones that are alive right now are children of other hellhounds, so they`re not as affected as their parents."
"Kinda trippy if you ask me."
Gauge opened a cabinet & handed me a wealth of items: an silenced assault rifle, a silenced pistol, a suit of what looked to be very thin armor, three large boxes of ammunition, & a strange object that I could barely recognize as being pony-made.
"What the hell is that thing?"
"StealthBuck. You can plug it into your PipBuck, & itll make you invisible until the battery runs out. Dont waste it."
"What about the armor? Is that supposed to defend against magic & blades? It barely looks like it could protect you against a pebble."
"Found that in the belongings of a dead griffin mercenary team on the fourth floor. Supposed to be super hard to break though."
I put on the armor she gave me, then slung the assault rifle over my right shoulder. I checked the clips on the guns & pulled one of my father`s knives from my bags, sitting them on the floor. Gauge turned to me, her expression turning determined.
"You sure you want to do this alone, Rayzor?"
"You already said it. Theres some seriously fucked up shit down there. I dont want to expose more than one of us to that."
"Alright. I`ll see you on the second floor."
Gauge led me to a large elevator & pressed the button on its panel. The doors opened.
The doors opened & I stepped inside, running & crouching behind a desk. I looked over the desk & saw one of the disgusting monsters for myself. It was exactly as Gauge had described, shuffling across the floor with its tentacles dragging behind it. They each writhed as an individual, as if they were on fire. I nearly threw up just from looking at the thing. It began to turn around. I crouched down & blindly fired a shot from the pistol. The creature fell, leaving a horrible stench that almost smelled like a flaming dumpster filled with used toilets.
I woke up lying on the floor, sweating profusely. I looked over to my side & noticed that Gauge had left. A few moments later, she came fluttering through the door.
"Rayzor, you okay?" She asked, showing genuine concern.
"For the most part. What happened?"
"Apparently, the smell from one of those monsters dying made you pass out. I found you lying on the floor behind a desk & brought you up here."
I stood up & drew my shotgun. Gauge turned around, a worried look on her face.
"What are you doing, Rayzor?"
"I think you mean "what are we doing". We`re going to storm the lower floors, kill everything, then come back through & scavenge what we can from them. You with me?"
"I think that you might be going insane, but Im not letting you go down there alone." She kicked a lever on her battle saddle, which apparently reloaded it. "Lets go."
Boom!
I ran through the third floor of the hospital, unloading my shotgun before the monsters could look at me. Every time, they nearly exploded from the impact of my shotgun at almost point blank range. It seemed like overkill, but I didn`t want to waste my assault rifle on them. I would need that for the hellhounds. A single one remained. I ran up behind it & fired two shots into its back. It was dead after the first shot, but the second was just to make sure.
"You good on ammo?" Gauge asked, reloading her weapons.
"Yeah." I still had four rounds in my shotgun & three full twenty-five round magazines for my assault rifle.
"Let`s go." I said, my voice showing pure determination. We headed back to the elevator. Right before we stepped inside, it began making a horrible creaking noise. The wires holding it up snapped, sending the elevator crashing to the ground floor. A strange canine looking head poked through the shaft.
"Oh shit. Hellhound!" Gauge fired one of her shotguns into the hellhound`s face, sending it falling alongside the elevator.
"So, how are we going to get down there?" I inquired.
"Don`t we both have wings?"
"There is that."
I opened a window behind me & we jumped from it, flying down to the next floor.
"How many are there?" She asked. I looked through the window & saw at least thirty-five hellhounds, most of them holding glowing swords or guns that pulsated with the same light.
"About thirty. Theyre all holding these weird guns. Theyre emitting some kind of light. Same goes for their swords."
"Fuck me. Magical energy weapons. I didnt think thered be a lot. We`ll have to pull a few stealth maneuvers. Follow my lead."
Two hellhounds guarded the window. I floated towards them & smashed their heads together with all my strength. They fell to the ground with little to no sound. I pulled out the silenced assault rifle & took aim. Two hellhounds` skulls exploded, sending the rest of them into disarray. We both began firing into the crowd, killing them like they were nothing. A stray bolt of green lightning flew past my head. I could feel the heat emanating from it. I quickly brought down three more hellhounds. Only ten remained. For these ones, I switched to the silenced pistol & one of my own.
"Let`s finish this." I told her.
We flew into the room. I took aim again & started firing.
Bang! Bang!
Two more hellhounds fell. Gauge took three out with a double blast from her shotguns.
Bangbangbangbangbang!
I unloaded the rest of the clips, killing four of the six remaining hellhounds. I replaced my pistols & reached for my shotgun. I flew towards them, bashed their heads together again, then spun around them & blew their heads to pieces. As the sheer realization of what I had just done dawned on me, I lowered my head, staring intently at the floor.
"I can`t believe that I just did that. I probably just committed forty murders."
"Rayzor, that wasnt murder. They werent ponies or griffins or zebras, they were monsters. Did you forget what they did to you?"
"Im not sure if I can get on that bandwagon, but Ill try. You ready for the last floor?"
"Let`s get it over with."
We reloaded our weapons & flew to the ground. I bashed the door in with my shotgun. Inside were five of the melted-pony monsters & four hellhounds. I blew away two of the tentacle monsters with a shotgun blast. Gauge decimated the rest of them with her assault rifles.
"That was quick." I remarked.
"I noticed. Now, let`s see what we can get from these floors."
We made a run-through of the entire bottom half of the hospital & found a massive amount of supplies: twenty extra-strength medical potions, seventeen normal medical potions, ten jars of bone-mending poultices, twelve twenty-packs of healing bandages, four boxes of ammunition for my pistol, two for each of our shotguns, one for each of our assault rifles, a magical energy weapon, & five magazines for a weapon that I had never seen. The sheer size of these bullets was terrifying, & I almost didn`t want to see the gun they were made for.
