Fallout Equestria: Hightide

Fallout Equestria: Hightide
Chapter One
by King of Malta
Fallout Equestria: Hightide
"Alpha"
By King of Malta

“We are the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To those who are thirsty We will give drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.”

Sunshine and Rainbows.

My eyes opened to see sunshine and rainbows stretching above me across a blue sky only marred by the occasional puffy cloud. The blue sky stretched from every corner of my ceiling only hemmed in by the verdant green forest that grew from my walls. I lingered my gaze on this portion of my room’s painted mural for a time before I admired the rest of a one of a kind masterpiece.

One small corner of my room imitated a sudden drop from a painted cliff side. I could just make out the cascade of blue and white waves in the far distance conjured by the original artist. I completed my admiration looking down to the pale glory that was the moon itself. It occupied the vast majority of my floor. The white orb was set in a sea of its own, of the purple night and golden stars that sometimes I imagined smiled at me and invited me to join their marvelous company.

This view was my right and privilege. No pony in all of Stable 81 had this and I would die with my last breath to make sure they understood this fact. I brushed away the thoughts of any other pony and continued to admire my special mural. While I could have stared at the mural for hours I all too soon noticed a little fact. This fact was a little piece of reality that immediately sent cold fire through my bones and rage coursing through my blood.

I was alone in my room.

“MAITRE D'! I AM AWAKE! WHERE IS MY BREAKFEST? I DEMAND YOUR PRESCENCE! RIGHT! THIS! INSTANT!”

That I had to raise my voice at all only furthered my own indignation! I was waiting like everypony else to receive their first meal of the day! I was Precious! I was daughter of the Overmare! I should not have to ever suffer through such hardship of this or any magnitude. I did not have to think if they knew who I was and how important I was! They had known it all their miserable lives so far and would know it until the day they died.

That reminded me of how utterly boring the lives of the other Stable ponies were. Some attended the maintenance of the Stable itself, constantly staring at a single dial to make sure the reactors would not spike. Others did ghastly mundane things like maintain every PipBuck in Stable 81 or made sure the Stable did not starve by tending the food plots. One stallion in particular only cut manes and for him he would do the same thing until he passed on. Granted I would happily give THAT donkey’s flank eulogy and maybe even compose a new Stable Anthem around it!

A sudden sharp pain in my stomach made my eyebrow twitch slightly and reminded me that my first attempt to gain the attention of my personal pony servant had gone unanswered. I could feel my cheeks as they burned red with anger as I huffed and puffed. As time stretched on the indignity continued to rise and so did my anger. I was about to let the world know once again that I was by no means pleased when the door to my personal room burst open. A small colt, barely fitting into the rumpled and oversized black suit, wobbled into the room and balanced a silver tray on his backside. The tray’s silver finery and porcelain containers clattered constantly as the young colt seemed to tremble. He sided up to my Princess size bed and his black fur and white mane covered face looked at me nervously as he began to mumble “S-s-sorryIwasl-late. Yourlady. Thisismyfirsttime. Ihopeyouwillbegoodto me.”

It took me a few moments to piece together the younger pony’s words. His lips trembled so bad it looked like he might cry any moment. I blinked at the colt and he blinked back. I took a breath of fresh, recycled air and-

“WHO ARE YOU? MORE IMPORTANTLY WHY WERE YOU LATE! WHERE IS MAITRE’D?”

The young colt staggered back, though in an admitting graceful move slid the tray onto my bedside rather than let it topple to the floor. If he had stained my beloved and priceless mural the consequences would not have been very pleasant. Not pleasant at all.

“M-my name i-is S-s-steward. I received my-my cutie mark yesterday. M-my father w-was pro-promoted by the O-o-overmare to be th-the Ove-overmare’s assistant.” Steward stuttered on and turned to show his flank to me where a black bowtie on a silver platter cutie mark adorned his hide. I could feel my temper rise already.

“You can’t possibly be serious.” I leveled him with a flat stare and watched as he shrank back to the floor with a slight nod. His eyes averted themselves toward the moon. I hoped he wished to Celestia and Luna that he could be banished to the moon! I rolled my eyes and facehoofed. Until things with Mother could be cleared up I would be forced to deal with what was given to me. The little shrimp was quickly making my day worse and worse. I could feel it in my horn that this would be the least, worst possible thing to happen to me today. The only possible answer for this would be to give as generously back and beat the hay out of this day.

“Auuuuugh. Very well.” I used my horn magic to bring the hay toast to my mouth and bite into it. I spat it back out into the face of Steward just as he had begun to feel confident enough to approach my bedside. “Are you an idiot? Are you mad?”

“N-“

“YES! Your mouth should be saying ‘Yes I am mad for bringing the most important pony in my entire life this slop’” I interrupted and used my magic to push the tray of food with enough force to embed it into the metal wall. My magic may not be as elegant as my Mother’s or all that controllable I was remarkably gifted with a force of push in my basic telekinesis spell. I had learned this early on when I had slammed a classmate’s pet rock (was its name Tim or something like that) through the bulletproof glass of the Stable’s classroom. Public education had been an insufferable period of my life I was more than happy to have ended.

“I. Do. Not. Eat. Hay. Toast. Without. Applesauce.” I glared at Steward with the force of a thousand suns “You. Go. Now.”

I was pleased at the way he turned tail before I had finished my sentence. Perhaps this commoner could learn. When Steward returned the meal he balanced on his head was better by an acceptable margin. Steward tried to say something but, I immediately cut him off with a glare. He squeaked then bowed then bowed again before he fled. I smiled to myself and occupied myself with breakfast. Once I had finished I cantered over to the one section of my bedroom and opened the door to my closet. My closet was a room about the same size of my own bedroom but, contained no mirror and beauty desk, but row upon row of racks holding my dresses. True, every ‘common’ dweller in Stable 81 was by regulation and necessity of a lack of materials forced to wear the same jumpsuit that had been worn for nearly two hundred years, but then again being the Overmare’s daughter had its advantages in Stable 81.
.
Supposedly, in the early days of the Stable the first Overmare had not seemed to care about what they wore or even mingling the commoners. That of course had eventually changed for the better and so did the perks of being Overmare or being related to the Overmare. Normally, when a pony died in Stable 81 their belongings and their jobs (such as being the Overmare) were passed onto surviving family. Whenever a pony died without family to claim their belongings their property became the property of the Stable-Tec and therefore property of the Overmare to do with as she wishes. I believed that my great-great-great grandmother had made that law after admiring a set of pearl earrings that had been in possession of a mare that no longer needed them.

I concentrated with my horn and wrapped with my magic one Stable barding that had been artistically transformed into a dress complete with sapphire jewels laced into the collar. The dress floated across the room to me on a rather…erratic…flight pattern as the magic field that surrounded it struggled to stay formed. The pain of concentration in my skull felt like my brains were trying to be scooped out. I should get a pony to do this for me. I pushed more magic at the dress which suddenly flew across the room like Steward had been running away and hit me in the face. I pulled the dress off my face and glared upward at my horn that poked through my blonde mane.

Why you little…I was the Overmare’s daughter! I did not need finesse or a repertoire of spells to make easy tasks easier. That was what the other unicorns were for! All I had was my telekinesis spell. So what if it was hard to control? I had a dress!

I slipped on the dress then looked at myself in the mirror. Teal eyes swept over me and approved of everything they saw…except for a stabbing glare at my covered flank. I ignored that and I spread the dress neatly over my sides and strode out towards the exit of my rooms. Beyond this were areas of the Stable that I normally rather did not prefer to go: everywhere but mine. Before I stepped through the door hatch I stopped to look down at a small indentation just to the left of the entrance. I stared at it for some time. It was barely noticeable to anypony who did not know what they were looking for. If only… no. I shook those thoughts from my head and I trotted out into Stable 81’s gray, dull, common, unappealing, terrible hallways.

Immediately, I was hit by the stench of…averageness.

-

The Stable, according to ancient maps posted along every stairwell, had in total nine levels. The first two levels were the entrance to the Stable as well as the Overmare’s office and living quarters for the Overmare’s family. This meant I literally lived above every other pony in Stable 81. The third and fourth levels contained the atrium, medical, security, the cafeteria, and other common areas. The Stable levels five through seven contained living quarters for the majority of the Stable’s residents, which I avoided like they were under quarantine. Finally, level eight through nine was where the reactors and the horticulture sections were housed.

Was Stable 81 big for its size or was it small for its size?

It was not the first time I had pondered this, if only to distract myself from the ponies that inhabited the Stable itself. The population of Stable 81 had once been well over a thousand ponies but, over the last two centuries the number of inhabitants of Stable 81 had shrunk leading to entire sections of the Stable to be abandoned. Once upon a time, in Stable 81 the Overmare had even lived in the lower levels with the common ponies! Such a thing was the stuff of my nightmares! This eccentric lifestyle had ceased since my great-etc. grandmother’s time when the Overmare had decided that some ponies in Stable 81 had to stand and live above the rest. One of the visible changes had been armed escorts for members of the Overmare’s family and posting of Security to every stairway entrance on every level in the Stable. Two such Security ponies bowed to greet me as I arrived at the stairwell.

“My dear lady, good morning.”

“Indeed, my lady.”

“Sir Bulletproof. Madam Brute Force.” I replied and gave a small curtsy in return for their respect of my station and person. The black and yellow stallion to my left and the red and blue mare to my right stood back to attention on their hooves. The only things in common between the two ponies included that they wore Stable Security barding and had batons holstered at their sides. Where Bulletproof seemed small for even a unicorn stallion it was Brute Force that seemed large for an Earth pony mare. Bulletproof had the tactical edge to get into the right spot for the best advantage while Brute Force simply ploughed on and battered so roughly she was known to cause collateral damage. At least that was what I heard about the two married ponies when they were in their living quarters.

As guards on the second level of Stable 81 they did not see much action but, were perfect deterrents and I did not doubt they were more than capable at their special talents as Security ponies. I remembered fondly the time the two had left a trail of broken ponies in their wake to rescue me after I had fallen down the stairwell. Though, they tended to talk about what they would do to each other after they were relieved more often then I liked.

“Has Mother called for me at all today?” I looked past them down the hallway to the very end at a single hatch door that was sealed. Above it an electric sign read ‘Overmare’s Office’. I did not quench the hopeful look on my face.

“No, the Overmare has not sent any messages to you today, my lady.” Brute Force replied, furrowing her brow for some reason. Why does she look so angry? This was not something out of the ordinary for Mother. Being the Overmare was the most important position and right in all of Stable 81. She spent days in her office working for order and stability within the stable. At least she had ever since…

“Though, my lady” Bulletproof interjected “Her standing wishes that you have a well and nice day remain unchanged as always” he gave me a broad smile of reassurance.
I buried the small smile that crept onto my face. I shook my head in the negative and waved a hoof as if it was nothing.

“Very well then, if that foolish little colt that is to be my new attendant arrives late with my lunch be sure to make sure he knows not to be late again. Ever.” I ordered and moved toward the stairwell.

“It would be my pleasure, my lady!” Brute Force replied with some glee in her voice.

“Now dear, save some of that pent up energy for latter…”

I left the two to their conversation quickly and traveled down just one flight to the third level where I once again exchanged respectful conversation with the Security ponies. They knew who their better was. Once finished I walked to the railing overlooking the atrium. I looked down over the entire atrium I could see dozens of the common ponies going about their daily lives. Some lounged on benches or tables, others appeared from one stairwell or hallway to disappear into another, one or two engineer ponies worked at panels in the walls.

“Look at them” I said to myself, my voice filled with contempt “So unappealingly…plain.”

What was it about any single pony below me that made them special or unique? Did any of them stand out from the ponies around them?

The answer to both was a magnificent NO!

They lived every single moment of their lives in the Stable below me. From birth to death they went about themselves mingling among each other content at life in the Stable. When they received their cutie marks it laid out for them what they would do their entire lives and they all happily accepted it. To think if a pony below me received their cutie mark as a PipBuck technician they would all too happily spend every waking minute of their lives doing just that. Why? They would say it was their special talent! This was pure denial. It was because they had no ambition. They meekly followed the destiny that their cutie mark’s and the Overmare’s authority ordered them to. They were not worthy of any of my respect or courtesy or even the lives they lived! How every single other pony in everything I called existence accepted this irritated me to no end. I hated to think about cutie marks in general. Cutie marks were just…just big lies.

Of course I was nothing like them. I was the Overmare’s daughter but, I had no destiny that could be ordained by a higher power! The Princesses were dust in the magical radiated winds no matter what the Stable’s teacher, Dull Lecture, said about them having transcended to watch over the remnants of all of pony civilization I was the only princess in the world. My destiny was not decided by anypony.

As Overmare I would…I would…what? I would one day succeed Mother as Overmare of Stable 81. Once I did so I would not be bound by the only rules that Mother commanded over me. The thought of Mother dying and Stable 81 placed in my hooves was an idea I did not like to contemplate. It filled me with fear. I was also sure it caused my hair to fall out of my mane.

“Tch” I spat and turned away from the atrium and its unending mediocrity. I had better business to attend to rather than waste my time bemoaning the state of Pony Civilization. I had long, long, long ago decided NO PONY in Stable 81 was worth my time. I trotted down a metal encased hallway and I left them all to their slow, agonizing fates.

-

As much as I hated to interact with the regular pony population some of them were able to do necessary tasks that I admitted I could not do. Such as replace the padding on my PipBuck which had begun to ware down and chafe my delicate coat. The mousy PipBuck technician had practically drooled over my leg in praise and his own desire for me. I was Stable 81’s beauty-incarnate but, beauty had its faults. The entire time the PipBuck technician gave me a horrific, crooked grin while showering me with praise that while truthful was misplaced. The image of me giving into his so called ‘charms’ was laughable and unsettling. Even if he had been the only stallion left in the Stable. A princess such as I could only be courted by a prince, not the lowborn scum that made up the Stable. This went especially for any pony as common as a PipBuck technician.

“A shower would do me good.” I muttered to myself as I walked back toward the Atrium. I could not remember the last time I had spent so much time among the majority of the Stable’s population. I could feel their stench on my Stable barding and the PipBuck technician’s drool had been the literal icing on the cupcake that was my disgust.

I had just begun to turn a corner that would lead me straight back to the atrium when a manedo stepped from the other side and blocked my path. I rolled my eyes as I recognized the manedo’s owner and groaned “I did not even think this day could get any worse and yet it has…”

“Aw, come one Miss. Pretty, Pony Princess. Yah, don’t have’tah be all square like that. Where the Tunnel Stallions go, it gets 20% more awesome! Ain’t that right fellahs?” the Earth Pony stallion with a clashing green coat nickered, as did several more stallions that surrounded me.

“Got that right boss!”

“Tunnel Stallions rule!”

“She should know better than to come into our turf boss!”

“Tunnel Stallions rule! Tunnel Stallions rule! Tunnel Stallions ru-ow! I mean. She is pretty boss! ”

I did not need to look to tell that each and every pony of the so called ‘Tunnel Stallions’ resembled their pathetic leader almost down to a tee. It took a special kind of idiot to swagger about the Stable wearing leather studded with metal and the image of a rearing snake. It took a special kind of idiot to wear sunglasses underground. It took the biggest idiot of the Stable to lead these idiots in a ‘revolt’ against the Overmare’s rule.

“Pompadour, I did not think you could ever be so bold.” I rolled my eyes and looking down on the mane-stylist as he produced a comb from his jacket and proceeded to run it through his black mane.

“Shows what you know babe. The Tunnel Stallions rule here. Get with the picture already.” Pompadour sneered, returning his comb to his jacket while pacing back and forth in front of me. “Once the Overmare gets with the picture you’ll be ‘slumming’ it with the rest of us ponies in the Stable, breaking your manicured hooves in hard work and common labor to better the Stable.”

“Hard work? You are the Stable’s mane-stylist. Even I know that it doesn't you have never broken your hoof in your life.”

“I’M AH BARBER!” Pompadour shouted turning around to face me. He surprised me when I saw the barest hint of the whites of his eyes over the rim of his sunglasses.

“Hmph. Applejack, Appletini. It is all the same.” I replied with a smile. I truly enjoyed watching Pompadour lose his self-inflated sense of ‘coolness’. “All you and your little 'Tunnel Worms' do is run around the Stable painting your names on the walls, pranking the Security Ponies, and bad mouthing Mother in the safety of your bed covers.” The more I talked about how pathetic the Tunnel Stallions were the more my anger at them grew and my words grew harsher. “You all think you are so important. That what you do matters towards some righteous cause that will actually overthrow the Overmare but, in reality you are all still stuck in the mud of your own mediocrity. In my eyes you all stand as the epitome of the Stable’s grandest losers.”

“W-what do yah mean by that? We're Tunnel Stallions we fight thah good fight!” Pompadour cried, taking a few steps away from me as if I was suddenly exposed to lethal doses of radiation. I could practically taste the resolve of the Tunnel Stallions crumble around me as they saw their leader talked down like he was just a little colt.

“Everything you do is meaningless.” I answered stepping toward him until his flank was pressed against the wall. “You think too small. Your pranks are forgotten within a week, nothing you do ever will change how things work in the Stable.” Turning my nose up and away from the Tunnel Stallions I trotted toward the atrium, the thought of that shower once again filled my head and pushed out even the existence of the Tunnel Stallions when something whooshed past my ear. Startled I turned back to Pompadour who had his hoof outstretched; I looked to see his comb lie against the Stable's metal wall.

“I’ll show yah Miss Pretty Pony. I’ll show yah good! Thah Tunnel Stallions are gonna rule thah Stable and then I’ll wipe thah smirk off your face!” Pompadour growled, turned away from me and ran off down the opposite direction, soon followed by his Tunnel Stallions who even looked at their leader with nervous eyes.

“HAH!” I shouted back at them down the hallway, “I did not know the Tunnel Worms were comedians!” I brushed off Pompadour’s childish temper tantrum as more bluster from the stallion that had the only mane filled with hot air in the entire Stable. This was Stable 81 where nothing changed. Roles in this performance could not be changed.

I had tried and failed doing it.

I dismissed the Tunnel Stallions from my mind and returned to my room to that long awaited shower. I spent the remaining day hours before curfew with Steward who I ordered around my living quarters. I needed to make sure he understood in the tiniest fiber of his being what was expected of him. It had been an enjoyable evening making him rearrange my room’s furniture, constantly I acted as if I changed my mind about where I wanted the furniture moved. When he tried to push a dresser I smacked him over the head and shouted at him. I threatened him that if he did not move my furniture more carefully and damaged the floor I would hang him upside down from the atrium ceiling.

Of course he had to carry it on his back to do that. Once everything was moved around and then arranged back to their original places I dismissed the panting and sweating Steward. Reminding him to make sure my breakfast was on time and to my exact desire or else. I made sure he did not want to know what ‘or else’ entailed. I ate my dinner and retired my bed for sleep.

-

I dreamed I was a young filly again. Sitting in my room and I played with my little pony figurines on the floor. I laughed and giggled something but, while I felt my mouth I could not hear any of the words that were coming out. I could not hear any sounds being made except a humming noise that came from everywhere. I was half aware that this was a dream but, I was shackled to it. I struggled to wake up or at least control myself but, a sudden wailing noise from one corner of my room caught my attention. I looked over to the source and stared that at the single piece of furniture that occupied one corner of my room. It stood on four long legs, its body a series of teeth like metal bars that trembled at the wailing sound that came from within.

A soft voice said my name.

The voice was so familiar but, I couldn’t remember where who it had been. I dropped my toys and drifted over to the crib. I balanced on my hind legs and peeked over the edge when the door to my room burst open and-

-a pair of hooves tightened around my mouth. A moment later several more wrapped around my body and pulled me off my bed. Before I could scream I was pulled off my bed to hit the metal floor and then kicked into a sack. Voices around me snickered.

“Serves her right.”

“Oh, boy she is going to get it!”

“What is with this painting on the wall?”

“Who cares, give her the stuff.”

Who did these ingrates think they were touching so rudely? Whose room did they think they were in? Whose flanks were going to be kicked by Brute Force and Bulletproof into cells in their near future? I knew I should have been mortified but, all I could feel was fury. I inhaled to use my most colorful language but, I soon realized that had been a mistake. Something wet had been pressed against my face and I just managed to inhale something that stung my throat. Moments later a mushroom cloud of pain erupted beneath my skull moment before blackness overtook me.

-

BANG! BANG! BANG!

“WHAT IS THAT NOISE?” I shouted, consciousness returned to me with a fury in the form of a throbbing pain in my skull. I snapped awake to find myself in a unfamiliar room, Stable-Tec terminals line the walls their screens emitting various colors at a blinding speed but, that was not what dominated my attention. I saw an all too familiar form of the gear shaped, metal, monstrosity dominated the room. I had seen it dozens of times in Stable-Tec educational videos informing all good little fillies and colts that it protected them against the dangers of the outside world.
The Stable door.

A wave of panic gripped me for a moment and I glanced to my flank. Relief flooded me as I saw the Stable 81 barding I had worn to bed had not been uncovered. I soon noticed that I was not alone.

“Was yah beauty sleep filled with cupcakes and cotton candy, Miss. Pretty Pony?” Pompadour asked, his voice brimmed with a sense of triumph. He leaned against what could only be the controls to the Stable door. He was also combing his hair.

“You mane dresser!” I replied, horrified now that I knew his filthy hooves had laid themselves on my body! In my room no less! I was going to need a quarantine magnitude delousing after this. A question formed in my mind and brushed away concerns of hygiene “How did you get into my room? How did you get inside here without Brute Force turning you to a green smear on the wall?”

“I’m ah Barber! As for how yah got here…heh. Well yah challenged me to think bigger. So I did.” Pompadour said as the grin on his face widened. He gestured to the room around us. I noticed that unlike our last encounter his Tunnel Stallions were now armed with what appeared to be the tools of their life in Stable 81. A few had hammers or knives, while the majority had such things as scissors or broken broom handles as weapons. Most of them pressed up against the only other visible hatch entrance or exit from the room. I heard the sound of hooves banging from the other side. That had to be my rescue.
“You’se see. My granpappy was a part of maintenance down below. One day while he was working he found this secret tunnel built into thah walls leading to every level in thah Stable. He told me about it one day and one thing lead to another and thah Tunnel Stallions were born!”

Pompadour seemed crazy to me. I wondered if the fumes from the spray he used on his mane had finally rotted his brain. His story seemed ludicrous to me because, it eroded the very foundation of the Stable that the Overmares of the past and present knew every little thing that went on inside of the Stable. That it had escaped Mother tested the very limits of the reality I knew. Yet here I was. Standing in a room that no pony had stood in centuries since the Stable door had been sealed shut. The hatchway to the Stable entrance had been locked too. Though not all hope was lost to me. There was one factor that I could use to tear off Pompadour’s smugness like I was gelding him personally.

“Was this your entire plan? Foalnapp me then flee up here to be corned by Security? Sure you could flee down whatever rat tunnel you found to get here, but Mother will know about it now and you will be punished. Severely.” I said, gloating, but for the first time ever I saw another pony stand up to my words. Pompadour’s smug smile had not left his face as I expected and instead he shook his head at me as if I was the idiot! How dare-! My hair rose along my neck in anger as he spoke.

“That’s not all toots. You see? What yah said tah me about nothing ever changing in thah Stable got me thinkin.” He Pointed a hoof toward the imposing Stable door as he continued “Why does nothin change? Its cuz were all cooped up in thah Stable living under you’se family thah stinkin, shit suckin, Overmare. Outside thah Stable you’se have not ah drop of power. If ah let thah outside into thah inside your ma is finished!”

Oh, no. He could not be that stupid could he? I never imagined he was actually serious about leaving the Stable. The outside was…the unknown and yet, filled with all the horrors of every young pony’s nightmares. Equestria was nothing. Even if it was not some empty void the penalty for opening the Stable door would be execution by the Overmare. As much as I detested these ponies the useless death they faced was just so very… uncouth. I realized how much trouble he and the rest of his Tunnel Stallions would be in but, the thought seemed to fly right over the stallion’s towering mane as he pressed the button to the Stable door controls. Immediately, lights and alarms began to sound as the gigantic drill that secured the door in place began to slowly unscrew one of the large door bolts.

Just as Pompadour pushed the button the hatch door leading into the room finally ceased to bang for several moments before an even louder BAM from a much heavier impact sent the Tunnel Stallions tumbling across the room. Security ponies flooded into the room lead by Brute Force. The Security ponies lined up in a horizontal formation and only parted down the center to let a single, aged mare through. The mare stared at me and inwardly I cringed at Mother. Instead of a warm feeling of relief a chill crept up my spine as the cold eyes of Diamond Sparkle disregarded my captors and went straight to me. The stared accusingly at me as if I was the one who was to be punished. The Overmare’s eyes only glanced at me for a moment, though it seemed like an eternity, before they turned to the Stable door as the first of the four gigantic metal screws were drilled loose.

The metal screw hit the equally metallic floor with a clang that drowned out all other noise. As soon as it ended Mother spoke.

“Idiots, interrupting my work.” she looked back to me again as if the mare with the white coat and blue mane had tasted something horrible. Again she looked at me as if I had lead this whole idiotic incident. “You do realize that the cameras beyond the Stable door have been offline for generations? That we have no clue WHAT is on the other side of that door? You are jeopardizing the lives of every pony in the Stable just because you want a little ‘freedom’.”

“It doesn’t matter!” Pompadour shouted back. He flinched a moment as the Overmare’s eyes turned on him for the first time. Her expression told that she regarded Pompadour as much as something she had stepped on. “Whatever is out there its better thah yah lookin down on ponies and telling us what we can and can’t do.”

“Please, enough with your idiotic rambling. I am the Overmare and by Stable-Tec mandate I am empowered with the right to deal with anypony that interferes with Stable-Tec rules and regulations.”

As the second metal screw came loose I almost admired Pompadour for standing up to Mother before I realized that even if he did it did not make a single difference. He was still an idiot and Mother would never agree to anything he said. I looked away from Mother to the Security ponies in their full security barding. Most of them only had security batons but, in the back I noticed a few pistols being levitated by the Unicorns. Was Mother really going to use this kind of force against the Tunnel Stallions? A part of me entertained the thought that Mother was worried about my safety with glee. Yet, the Tunnel Stallions were just fools lead around in a circle by their pompous King Fool. Even if they were commoners none of them deserved…death. I looked again at the levitated pistols and noticed the Security ponies aimed not at the Tunnel Stallions but, toward the Stable door. Was Mother that afraid of opening the Stable door?

Almost everypony looked between Mother and Pompadour in a ridiculous staring contest. Perhaps they were waiting to see who would make a move first? I noticed that not every pony was fixated on the two leaders. From the edge of my vision I could make out Brute Force and Bulletproof, as they inched closer in my direction. They seemed to be the only ponies worried about me. Mother was only interested in upholding her precious Stable-Tec laws. There was that feeling again that squeezed my chest painfully. Still, it did not matter. Pompadour was too much of a coward to fight Mother and Mother would never-

“As Overmare I have decided: No prisoners.”

“Tunnel Stallions Rule!”

The sound of the third screw hitting the floor seemed to start up the ponies as the Security ponies charged and the Tunnel Stallions did the same. The entire room dissolved into a ferocious melee in a matter of seconds. Now was my chance to get to safety. I scrambled and ducked toward the wall of terminals but, the two sides of ponies closed together over me like crashing waves. I dived down as a Security pony with a baton smashed it down over the head of a Tunnel Stallion who had been ready to whip a length of chain into the Security pony’s face. I heard the sound of bone crunching inside the stallion’s head and tried to scramble away as the Tunnel Stallion screamed in half-blind agony and whipped his length of metal chain wildly. He slashed the Security pony across the face and any pony close enough to him before another Security pony tackled him to the ground.

I had almost made it past them but, the chain-wielding Tunnel Stallion tossed his chain which smacked into my hind legs. The sudden pain forced me down to the floor. In a matter of moment I already began to feel the bruises across my legs swell. I had never been struck this badly in my life. Until this point.

The pain was nothing like Mother had ever administered to me when I was a foal and as I struggled to get loose from the chains the sound of small booms filled the air. They were shortly followed by pinging metal or the worse sounds of pierced flesh. While Tunnel Stallions went down left and right they did not make it easy for the Security ponies as they charged into the Security ponies. They made use of their improvised weapons with surprising effectiveness as the close range fighting caused several Security ponies to switch to batons instead of risking firing on their own. I crawled on my front hooves slowly through the melee. My eyes glanced frantically for safety within the ferocious violence. I saw no sign of Mother or even Pompadour. I began to wonder where they had gone when I felt a pair of hooves grab me. I shrieked and kicked out with my hooves at the offender and was met by thick security barding.

“Ouch. I guess you can start calling me ‘Hoofproof’, dear.” Bulletproof said, the form of Brute Force appeared in front of me. She smiled at me with affection before she turned and knocked aside two ponies that blocked a clear path to outside the fighting.

“You know I like it when I’m the one beating you but, you’re definitely not death-proof, Hun. Now, get Precious out of this!” Brute Force replied and brought her hooves to buck against a Tunnel Stallion who charged at her with a wrench. The Tunnel Stallion soared over the heads of several ponies before he impacted against a computer with a crunch.
Bulletproof apparently did not need to be told twice by his wife as he brought me toward the metal hatchway. We joined Brute Force as she used her baton to keep away both Tunnel Stallions and Security ponies. One vein filled stare from her sent friend and foe backing away from us.

“Mother?” I asked to no pony in particular. I was now free from immediate danger but, as my eyes scanned the room I saw that the Overmare, my mother, was nowhere to be seen. The sound of grinding filled the room making my eyes dart back to the Stable door, I finally noticed that the last metal screw had been removed and the impenetrable, metal slab was sliding out of place. Whatever remained of Equestria it was about to enter Stable 81. In my wildest nightmares I had not expected a rolling, wall of water and filth.

“Celestia fuc-“was all I heard one pony shout as we all watched the flooding wall of water as it swept ponies off their hooves. I stared petrified at the disgusting water, my stomach wanted to heave out but, instead my lungs pulled in air in a failed attempt to scream. I did not get the chance before the water hit me and I was swallowed by it. That some of it got in my mouth made me want to vomit even more but, I resisted the urge to do so and held on tight to my breath. I did not want to think what it had contained after hundreds of years of sitting against Stable 81’s door. Instead, I flailed my limbs blind in a watery void and kicked out in panic. My lungs burned for air but, I held and waited for the water to stop moving so violently.

After an eternity of bobbing beneath the putrid water a series of alarms began to sound and though muffled by the water I heard a draining sound from somewhere. I kicked my way to the top of the water; my head broke the surface only a few inches from the ceiling. The screams and shouts of other ponies that had bobbed their way to the surface echoed in my ears. Many ponies had also begun to realize they could not swim. I did not care about them though; I was the most important one in danger. I also could not swim of course. I thrashed in the water and looked around for anything I could latch onto when my desperate eyes spotted a security pony bobbing up next to me. Without thinking I latched onto the security pony only to realize the mare’s eyes were blank and a large, gaped wound on her head leaked blood and brain matter on me.

“EEEEEEEEE!”

My scream actually managed to drown out the other panicked noises. I let go of the corpse and sank back down into the murky water. This time I did vomit, I choked on bile and water as one tried to exit and the other tried to enter my throat. I kicked my hooves to the surface and gasped for air while my own stomach acid stung my eyes. I was absolutely mortified! The Princess of Stable 81 covered in her own vomit. This day truly could not get any worse than it had. If it could there was no hope at all for myself or the entire Stable!

After a few minutes the water gradually drained away. The ponies still alive stumbled to their hooves in mute horror at nearly drowning; a few followed my trend setting example by vomiting all over the floor. Picking myself up from the metal floor, covered in Goddesses knows what I glanced to the hatchway into the Stable realizing that the reason why the entrance way had flooded to the ceiling was because at some point in the fight it had been sealed shut. Realizing now that Mother was not in the Stable entrance I was left to wonder had Mother left me to die?

Click-Click-Click-Click-Click!

The clicking noise filled the room and it seemed to be coming from every single PipBuck, even if the PipBuck’s owner was…dead. Almost immediately a migraine throbbed in my head. I glared down at my own offending PipBuck to see a meter I had never seen before appear on the screen. It showed a rainbow that went from green to yellow to red, and the small needle on the screen wobbled erratically between the green and yellow. I had no clue what the significance of this was but, the other ponies did. I had known this because; they had begun to panic around me.

“Rads! We’re all going to die!” one of the Security ponies shouted.

“Radiation sickness! I’ve got yellow. I need to get the Tartarus out of here!” a Tunnel Stallion raced toward the hatch.

“Medical better have Rad-Away.” Another Security pony shouted.

A crowd of ponies that had been minutes before fighting each other to the death converged on the hatchway to the Stable. More shouts and cries of panic erupted from the huddled mass of ponies as they discovered that the hatchway had been locked. I now realized where Mother had disappeared to. She must have had leapt through and locked the hatchway sometime during the fighting.

“My mane is going to fall out!” a mare cried from the door.

Wait. I did not normally care for the moaning and groaning of commoners but, that got my attention. Radiation sickness made a pony’s mane fall out? I had been calm, if annoyed, until those words had been spoken. I clutched my hooves to my beautiful, blonde mane as panic burst inside of me. I could handle being Foalnapped, drowned in my own vomit, be made to clutch onto a dead pony, and be seen in public with a simple, Stable barding but, my mane falling out was one thing I could never deal with. The horror! The horror!

I needed a good, long shower.

I had begun to rise to my knees when I heard a maniacal laugh echo through the room. A mare with a purple coat and a green mane wearing security barding looked at the open Stable door and her face cracked into a grin then she hiccupped. “The Stable is open! I-I’m –hic- free! No more –hic- looks for me!” she cried then charged off through the entrance into the pitch, black...outside.

“Hiccup! No don’t!” a voice I recognized as Brute Force’s shouted from the opposite end of the room; the massive mare pulled Bulletproof from the wet floor. If I could just sneak over I could save my precious mane. Brute Force started to chase after the mare but, stopped in her hooves when the terrified and very, very painful scream of Hiccup’s cut through the air. Everypony and I slowly craned our heads back toward the Stable entrance. For a moment I thought that Hiccup had jumped back up into the Stable, terrified at something she had seen but, then I realized that her lower half was completely missing. The remains of Hiccup’s upper torso left a bloody trail across the floor. Everypony looked from Hiccup’s body to the Stable door as something massive shifted in the darkness.

"GUUUUUAAARRRGGGH" a roar echoed from the outside darkness as a creature from my little filly nightmares stepped into the Stable entranceway. It stood as tall as the open gap into the Stable and was just as wide, its dark green and brown discolored body shaped like a semi-round and semi-square box. It also looked to be entirely covered in overlapping, boney plates from the four legs tipped with claws that could easily disembowel a pony to its long careening neck and gaping head. Two red, beady eyes stared down as if looking right at me above a gaping jaw its leather hide there and underneath its neck didn’t have any boney armor, but it still had those jaws which snapped down between angry hisses. I noticed bits of purple pony flesh and green hair surrounding its jaws. It came from my darkest nightmares! It would devour them all! It was terrifying! It was monstrous! It was-

“It’s a tortoise!” one of the Tunnel Stallions said, gaping at the massive thing.

“A tortoise? It looks more like a turtle to me.” One of his buddies said, while he slowly moved away from the Stable entrance.

“No, look at its shape and posture. It stands too upright to be a turtle. Was I the only one who paid attentions during biological lessons of (probably extinct) Equestrian wildlife?”

“GUUURRRAAGH!” the thing answered, it did not seem to care what it was as it slowly moved two steps into the entrance . It moved so slow I was amazed when its neck stretched forward and crashed down onto an unlucky security pony who realized the danger too late. He could not move before it brought its jaws down with one sickening crunch on top of the pony. I stared into the monster’s mouth and saw in detail the unfortunate pony become pulverized between two powerful jaws. His bones crunched as his organs burst. Blood and gore dripped down the sides of the monster’s face and the pony continued to scream until the pony’s head was crushed.

The monster swung its gaze across the room. It had certainly walked into an All-You-Can-Eat-Buffet.

His mangled screams snapped every pony out of their paralyzed states and sent them panicking around the room. The surviving Tunnel Stallions that could still move raced toward a section of the wall of Terminals and began to push and pull them aside. Meanwhile those security ponies that still could move began to bang on the hatchway to be let out. Meanwhile those ponies that couldn’t move from their wounds could only scream as the behemoth’s head came down and crushed the life out of them in its jaws.

The sickening scene before me had finally done it to me. I shouted at the mental demons of my mind but, they just laughed and swooped down. I could hear jabbering voices on the edge of my consciousness as I took events into account. The day had started with an imperfect breakfast and had ended with my coat drenched in sickening water, my mane drooping over my face, and sticky with my own vomit. Also, the Stable door had opened and a monster was about to eat me. What a day. I trembled as I sat down on the cold metal floor. I asked myself over and over, why did it have to be me? I began to curl into a fetal position when a similarly sopping, wet mane arrived in my view then pulled me from the floor as the eyes of the turtle-tortoise-monster-thing swept toward me. “Miss. Pretty Pony. Yah better start moving or you’re gonna get an even worse bad mane day then usual!”

Pompadour pulled me away as the jaws of the monster crashed down to where I had just been, making a large dent in the metal floor that shook the entire room. The monster lifted its head and roared!

“Watch this, Miss. Pretty Pony” Pompadour grinned and swung his hoof up and down quickly, his comb twirled through the air at the monster, hitting the beast against the underside of its neck but, of course not causing the thing any damage. His comb had snapped in half on impact. “Damn, I thought that would’a worked!”

“Pompadour, now is not the time to be an idiot!” I shouted into his ear. I was going to die with this idiot? I was Precious of Stable 81! I deserved better company. The next moment I shrieked and we jumped to the side to avoid an attack by the monster, Pompadour fell toward his Tunnel Stallions and me toward the Stable door, over the separating railing and down right to the side of the beast! The thing’s head followed me, its massive legs lifted up as if to stomp me when a gunshot echoed through the entrance way. The beast to roar and stomp missing me completely, I looked up to see Bulletproof waving a smoking gun curled in yellow magical energy that shined from his horn, I looked to the monster and noticed a small red spot on the unarmored section of the monster’s neck. It was like a pinprick but, a pinprick was more than enough to enrage the beast. It roared again and like a falling anvil brought its jaws down crashing into Bulletproof. The monster’s jaw had only pulverized Bulletproof to the floor but, from where I stood Bulletproof did not appear to move at all. I had just enough time to see Brute Force look up from tearing the hidden doorway from the wall and scream the most emotionally pained sound I had ever heard from any pony. Brute Force pushed aside Tunnel Stallions and Security ponies as she charged over to her husband’s broken body. That was all I saw before the beast began to move its bulk and its legs reared up to stomp me into paste.

I Shrieked as I concentrated my horn’s magic over my body and FLUNG myself through the Stable doorway barely escaping being crushed to death. I landed in a pile of wet gravel just on the other side of the Stable door. For a moment I could not believe I had exited Stable 81 even if it was just by a few feet. I had escaped the bonds. The moment was soon lost on me as the monster turned around, blood soaking its jaw as its eyes once again locked onto me. Faced with its full attention I could only do one thing. No matter how un-ladylike it was.

I ran out into Equestria.

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: Rad-icalness--Your radical attitude or your exposure to Balefire Radiation has caused you to gain a +25 Radiation Resistance.