Fallout Equestria: Reclaim, Retread

The old ghoul sat. Upon his throne of deceit and lies. His eyes were focused on the doors in front of himself. He had lasted this long. Fear a memory. Neigh, fear had been removed from his mind all together as his sunken, bloodshot eyes stared at the massive wooden doors that stood before him. Gunfire occasionally rang out from almost anywhere that wasn’t his throne room.

“This is it. It’s finally my time” he constantly thought to himself. The world around him twisting and turning in funny ways. He’d lost count too many times of how many injectors, inhalers and used spoons he had in or around himself. His mind, normally hyperactive when dosed up was focused instead, in deep thought. About the doors in front of him; Grand doors of Oak from a time past.

He’d already felt the collapse of his ‘empire’ for months. His intricate plans were being dashed. Everything had blurred together like he was constantly high. High on something that he couldn’t replicate, in spite of many substances that scarred his body and mind, in spite of his own sick lust for pain, nothing could quite give him the same euphoric feeling that he was having right now.

Single mindedness

His mottled and tattered limbs were almost glued to the leather chair he was sitting upon, yet another priceless artifact of the old world that was made of long exhausted materials. Irritation that would constantly cause him to turn and adjust his position were none. Nothing could disturb his thought. One hoof over a small control panel, the other lying limp and unused to his side.

The gunfire got closer and closer to him. Methodically his enemies were killing his followers and rending his beasts, machines, and barricades to worthlessness. Defensive positions were being lost quicker and quicker, the whole situation snowballing into a certain rout of those whom had remained. Screams of pain, begs for mercy, and shouts of fury were drowned by the constant fire.

The euphoria was barely containable for the Ghoul. Something about the nature of his imminent demise was making it torture. Any moment and his enemies, whom he had spent so long trying to keep apart would burst through, and his deed will be done. He just needed focus on the door.

Every bullet that fell a devout follower, every laser that melted another turret, every explosion that tore limb from bloody carcass, they all caused his shaking to violently worsen. His eyes started bulging as the gunfire decreased in intensity. He knew what it meant. And he didn't care about what was next.

A faint ‘pifft’ from outside the room awoke his mind to their arrival. A second later and the two wooden oak doors splintered through the force of the explosion. Wood flew throughout the room at high speed. Even if the ghoul wanted to get out of the way of the piece of timber headed straight for him and his throne it would be a futile effort. It was coming too close, too quickly.

Like a spear of great vengeance and furious anger the giant piece of wood flew into the Ghoul, pinning him to the throne he sat atop. Pain flared as in his eyes readouts began to tell him of his already ruined body being mortally wounded. Blood flowed up his throat slightly. Drooling from his mouth as it flowed liberally through the holes between his teeth.

As the smoke cleared the outlines of several dozen ponies in various armours, with a wide range of weapons, and an even larger range of cutie marks or identifying symbols began walking into the Ghoul’s throne room. Most of the intruders stopped just after the door, but five continued. Although not marching in time with each other they were united, at least for now, in the goal of seeing the crippled ghoul dead.

The Ghoul smiled weakly as he saw the mare in front glare at him with her only good eye, the socket where the other belonged heavily scarred. Her once flowing, glowing mane now reduced to a buzz cut. The sight of the mare made it all to delicious. All too hilarious almost as his euphoric shaking began to die down. Coughing again he was reminded of his own disposition.

Slowly parting his lips the Ghoul began to speak in a ragged voice that seemed too confident for his current position. “S...so I suppose” the ghoul hacked with his blood flowing more. “The ranger and the knight seem to be getting a-” the ghoul coughed again violently. “-long. Please excuse my coughing, my guests, but i’ve got a bit of a lung problem at the moment.” he continued as he looked towards the left wing of the group. The behemoth in power armour and the hermit looking Unicorn didn’t say anything, nor look at each other.

“Who… else did you bring? Ah, it’s Bitter! My girl I hope you didn’t bring your mare friend. You know that you can’t bring her back.” he continued to chuckle as he slowly moved his left hoof towards a group of switches and buttons embedded inside the chair. “Tell me. Did you cry when ‘Grinder shot that pegasus when you were on the train? It must have been sad to see the first of your kind you’ve ever seen being killed only seconds after meeting him.” he coughed again. The pegasus on the far right of the group looked down in guilt, the mare in the center not taking her eyes off the Ghoul.

“Oh stop looking at me like that you old idiot. Don’t you know it’s rude to stare? Just like when I had your town tainted? You should be thankful that I let pinkie only take your eye. It could be worse. Poor thing doesn’t normally know subtlety unless I command it to be.” The ghoul continued, ignoring some of the splutters that were rising in his throat. There was one final enemy in the room he could taunt.

“And the zebra! Tell me, was my little ‘hostage’ stint really that bad? I gave you and your vermin you call your tribe protection, food, shelter, and a chance to stay alive. Your children did turn out to be wonderful followers, too bad you slaughtered them, especially after learning of your own infertility problems” The zebra simply looked away in shame.

“You’ve got a lot of crimes to pay for, Bloodshot. I doubt killing you a dozen times will atone you for what you’ve done. So i’ll be taking it nice and slow!” said the mare in the center as she pulled a machete out.

“Oh I doubt the princesses will forgive you for your wanton trespass and murder, m’lady. You’re stepping on sacred ground, ya’know.” the Ghoul chuckled as his horn lit up, weakly levitating an unused syringe to his limp  hoof. “I suppose you’ve given me good entertainment. And you all know what this stuff, in these syringes are, so I’ll give you all the chance to try it out on me.  I’ll feel real pain again. And worse. You’ve bought that much. You deserve that satisfaction.” the ghoul continued, his voice getting weaker.

Pressing a large button under his other hoof the Ghoul began to chuckle as his horn’s illumination lost it’s sickly yellow glow. The screech of metal in the doorway the group had walked through caught their attention as a giant metal door careened down. Slamming shut. The ghoul proceeded to flip a blue switch causing high pressure gas to begin splurting out of pipes in the ceiling. Pink Gas.

“YOU MURDERER” Yelled a stallion as everypony realised what was beginning to flood the top of the room. Banging his hooves against the giant metal door. The ghoul simply started laughing as the gas quickly descended from the pipes towards the ground. His laughing was harder than any other he had had for nearly a century. Tears actually forming in his eyes as he pushed the rest of the switches. Nothing could stop his laughing.

Except the machete the Mare suddenly used to hack through his throat. Pain again erupted for the ghoul, the laugher suddenly died. Another rush of blood came, this time from the massive deep gash. Staring into the mare’s eye he tried to mouth the words ‘thank’s for playing’. But it was taking too long as the gas landed ontop of him, melting the flesh on his head. Stares of hate in the eyes of those he had just condemned to death. The worst death.

Then nothing.

Fallout Equestria:

Rebuild, Retread

Chapter: 1

“For a Free equestria young ponies are dying.”

“From Canterlot and Ponyville, Equestria’s volunteers!”

“Young ponies are dying for the freedom of the kingdom, Princess Luna we’re all with you now! Young ponies are dying for the freedom of the kingdom, Princess Luna we’re all with you now!”

I stood there in that heavily padded recording room in front of the fancy looking microphone that was picking up every single word I attempted to sing.

“Heroic Luna and her heroes. Brave ponies from Hoof and Appleloosa will be glorified.”

“Heroic Luna and her heroes. Brave ponies from Trottingham and Stalliongrad will always be remembered”

“Young ponies are dying for the freedom of the kingdom, Princess Luna we’re all with you now! Young ponies are dying for the freedom of the kingdom, Princess Luna we’re all with you now!”

I stopped singing as the frankly confusing music that was playing through my headphones wound down. Giving a sigh as I brushed my beige mane out of my face.  Whoever wrote those lyrics was crap. Seriously. Crap. The music wasn’t any better.

Weird electric whines with accordion music were apparently  going to be the next big thing once the record hits the market. Obviously I had my doubts. But apparently my voice was easy enough to edit, and I was offered a crap ton of money for it, so why not?

It was about 8:34am and I hadn’t slept at all that night, trying to get my lines through properly. There was some relief when the music had stopped. I’d be able to soon rest my eyes. Coffee could only take me so far after all.

The ponies in the mixing booth were already hard at work, even at this late stage, doing their magic. Whatever they really did. Audio thingie miggigies. That was enough of an explanation for me. I put in what was required for my contract and they’ll do their jobs. Above me the lit sign saying ‘Recording’ suddenly died as it was turned off.

Sliding the headphones off my head somepony opened the door. And inside walked one grinning earth pony with fancy sunglasses and in a costume that I’d rightfully call a glorified dressing gown, it was the one and only Basso Continuo.

If you were to ask some pony on the street if they knew who Basso Continuo was, they’d reply with a resounding ‘Who?’ It didn’t really matter to him though, this new genre was going to be his calling to fame.

“I have to say” he began with his oh so perfect, stuck up canterlot accent. “You’ve done a wonderful job. Cathode says that you’ve been doing this all night” he said as some random crew member came in with drinks.

“To be honest Snow Berry, I was having doubts. Me of all ponies! It doesn’t help ponies in Canterlot have been telling me to come back for a party. One to be remembered one said even! I honestly couldn’t give two shits.” His voice changed to a more serious tone

“I’m finally bringing back the family honour after many generations of failure and shame!” Basso gave a little frown before taking two full glasses full of… What I assume was whiskey. “Now, my friend, give us a few weeks and you’ll be a star! The envy of Sweetie belle even.” he proudly proclaimed.

“Are you sure? I mean She is pretty big.” I asked, looking at the drinks..

“Trust me Snow Berry. You’ll be the biggest thing in Equestrian history!” He said taking one of the glasses and drinking all of the contents in one big gulp. Giving me a look so greasy it could lubricate a Robopony for a year.

Levitating the other glass up to my nose I gave it’s contents a good sniff… Ugh. My assumptions were right. Why Whiskey? Don't these Canterlot ponies pride themselves on excessive champagne consumption?

“That’ll have to wait until i’ve had a good night’s rest Basso” I replied taking a small sip of the Whiskey. My first reaction to the amber liquid was of shock. How could whiskey be this strong?

I swallowed the foul drink as to not offend Basso Continuo, because spitting it in his face would be a bigger mistake. The burn of the ‘refreshment’ was the exact opposite of what i’d call appealing. Making a good face I tried to convince Basso that it was alright. His frown however told me that i’d probably just offended him.

For a few minutes we both stood there saying nothing until Basso began talking again in the canterlot upper class voice again.

“Oh well. I assume you must be very tired Snow Berry, please I must escort you home, I don’t want you falling down a well and killing yourself” He chuckled bit with a sadly serious tone. “Please just lead the way and i’ll make sure nothing horrible goes wrong” he continued with a small grin.

We both walked out of the recording booth, a few mares gave the two of us… Well I assume mainly Basso happy, content smiles. I smiled back as we walked down the expensively carpeted hallways to the elevator. Next to the elevator was always a pane of glass that looked out onto the city of El Alimane. The Los Pegasus for those who weren't quite there yet.

Below us were many thousands of ponies going about their normal lives. Basso pressed a button for the elevator to come to this floor.

“So….” I asked leaning against a wall.  “Do you think  the Ministry of Image are going to let you sell this new genre of music? I mean for a first thought it’s patriotic, I guess. But what if they think it’s inappropriate for our current day?” I asked, given how a possible career was on the line. My boss simply chuckled.

“I have ponies who have contacts. And the family name still has some influence in Canterlot, even though I personally don’t. Anyways, the population needs to have more motivation or else national morale will collapse! Sweetie Belle isn’t getting any younger and she’ll probably lose popularity in a few months.” Basso replied with an ever so punchable Canterlot grin.

“By the way Snow Berry. I read in your resume and it had happened to tell me that you used to be a soldier. Is that correct?” he asked as a faint ‘Ding!’ sound interrupted him as the elevator’s doors opened. Obviously Basso walked in first. I followed after him.

“Yes, Bass… Mind if I just called you Bass?” I asked, looking at him. His head shaking in a disapproving manner. “Alright, Basso. I was indeed in the army” I said pressing the ground floor button. The sensation of slowly falling in a metal box making me feel a little uneasy.

“I was, drafted because I was unemployed, sent through basic training like everypony else. And after basic I was assigned to number 204 Brigade about three years ago. About six months later I was lucky enough to see an… associate of mine who had become a Colonel.” I gave a good chuckle remembering the good Stallion Creme Fraiche.

Although for the most part a good pony he wasn’t very honest with his missus. Especially when I walked in on him in basic training making out with an army nurse. Obviously I told him I’d keep his secret but in return for a favour in future.

“I… Uhh, convinced him that I should be able to go back to civilian life, it wasn’t like I was a good soldier anyways. The talk about fighting and big heroic battles wasn’t exactly as advertised” I said staring into my boss's eyes. Raising his sunglasses he looked back at me suspiciously.

“I only fired my gun two times and that wasn’t even in a big battle. It was just skirmishing, irrelevant pop shots. ‘Go here Private. Go dig a hole Private. Private you’re going to be in a supply convoy to another section of the front’.” I gave a sigh. “So when I saw my associate I threatened to let loose a little secret of his unless he’d discharge me. He accepted and i’ve kept his secret and his identity under wraps.” I was giving Basso a smug look.

“I couldn’t go back home, too dangerous, there’s a war on you know? So i’ve settled here in El Alimane. Got my own room in the Lazy Hay backpackers. And hey i’ve been able to do a few jobs to keep me afloat. I may or may not have also got some money from my associate” I gave a little chuckle. Why wouldn’t I? I wasn’t near the front. No danger.

Basso just looked at me. It took him till the end of our little elevator ride for him to finally respond. “Well… I’ll make sure that you’re not around me when things happen.” he finally said in a notably shakier voice as the elevator doors once again opened.

The two of us walked out into the foyer, ponies were going about their jobs. Couriers, Ponies with appointments, Business Ponies, the whole lot. Business as normal. The sun’s glorious light filtered through the giant glass windows. Obviously this wasn’t Basso’s own company. He’d just been able to hire one of the recording studios for a few months with a good sum of that which was left of his family ‘fortune’.

“So what have you done all these years?” I asked Basso Continuo with a sheepish grin. “I mean since the war began.” He looked back at me suspiciously for a second before relenting.

“Dodging the draft” he sighed. “The frontline of any war is scary. Too many ponies can die at any moment. I would have joined the Ministry of Peace but I have nothing they need. No medical ability, no way to help patients recover from the myriad of different issues war brings out. Why would I?” Taking off his sunglasses and cleaning them on his dressing gown he shook his head. “I’m Canterlot Material without the number one most important thing to be part of the aristocracy: Money.” Basso sighed again “So what do I do? I try to do something to gain my rightful place”

As we walked out of the building I was reminded by the brilliance of the clear blue skies, Pegasi flying freely in the air, some pulling sky wagons, others just using the sky for their daily commute into and out of the city.

“I’ve already tried many times to get a music label going Snow Berry. Every time i’ve been denied, Sweetie Belle being only the most prominent pony that’s caused failure. Disagreements with how the lyrics should be handled almost got me thrown in the Ministry of Morale ‘fun house’ on more than one occasion. If it wasn’t for my otherwise harmlessness I’d probably never be talking to you” Basso continued as we walked out into the streets. My focus still on the sky.

“You know. I’ve thought of just trying to get away from this all” I murmured to myself as a group of at least a dozen or so ponies in expensive attire quickly totted past us towards the city center. Bumping into one snapped me back into the domain of the Unicorn and Earth Pony. The streets were not unlike the skies in many ways. Foot traffic instead of the lanes of flying pegasi.One thing that was different were the vending machines, street merchants, and the occasional begger. All helping to make the already dense streets even more so.

Construction work was always happening on the old roads. Obviously. The old infrastructure of the city was poor and frantic upgrades were often made with little to no consideration towards the future need to expand. This had caused whole blocks to be torn down constantly as the thoroughfares and streets had to be more elaborately catered for by architects. El Alimane was by its own right a marvel in that respect.

El Alimane, once a small city that merely connected several farming, sandstone mining, and special animal herding communities to the rest of the kingdom. It was now the last stop ‘till the front lines in this corner of the war. And with the number of soldiers who would come back with pay on rotation the city became a magnet for merchants. Chocolate, Mares, clothes from a more civilized area of Equestria, music, drugs, and so many more were bought by homesick soldiers readily and without second thought.

“What?” Basso asked with his head tilted towards me. “What do you mean get away from this all? You should be saying ‘i’ve thought of trying to get away from all of this.” he said giving me a smug, Canterlot, ‘you poor illiterate peasant’ look. One more of those and I don't think i’d be able to hold back the punches. Sighing I looked up again.

“I don’t know. Just get out of the city. Away from all the war. Live somewhere out there, in the prime areas full of fertile fields, live the rest my life a farmer or something like that. Cities are killing us anyways.” I began to ramble. “I just want this to end and for everypony to go back to their normal, pre war lives” Basso looked at me for a second.

“But what about those colts and fillies who were born into this war Snow Berry? Have you had any thoughts about them? This is normal to them. Goodbye the days of manual labour. Hello industrialised… well everything! Hell, we're even religating thinking to machines nowadays with terminals and calculation devices.” I looked at Basso again as he returned a concerned look.

“And I thought you Canterlot ponies were all backwards looking idiots” I said to him, rather bluntly. “You know, being from the capital you surely do have a grasp on what’s happening, rather than just sitting in a comfy apartment and drinking wine till you develop gout. I mean you’re still a pompous bastard with that stupid fucking smile you use but. I dunno, you’re bearable I guess?” Basso simply chuckled.

“How could I not? I was born into what is essentially social poverty, even though i still make off interest more than most ponies get in a decade. I have to do something or i’ll just waste away. And trust me I do not want to waste away like some over dramatic fool who drinks even more copious amounts of whiskey than I do. But then he… or she would be an interesting one to follow. Would they not?” shaking his head Basso looked upwards as well. It was just beautiful enough to make me envy pegas- wait where’s the ground?

I looked down to see I was already falling down an uncovered access hole into the sewers. I screamed something along the lines of ‘fuu’ as i fell at least three metres into the sewage. Thankfully however, there was enough liquid feces and such to break my fall. But only just.

As I floated there, face down, in the water I noticed something odd. Something in front of me. It wasn’t like say a gem. It was something else, beyond my logic or reasoning. Some sort of stone tablet with something engraved on it? It didn’t look pony made. Was it some Zebra sabotage device? The burning of my eyes and lungs alerted me to the fact that I was still face down in a river of feces.

Lifting my head up, out of the sewage I could hear Basso yell. “Are you quite okay there? It seems like we’ve got to look where we’re going Snow Berry.” He didn’t really need to yell. I was still within talking distance. If you counted raised voices as still ‘talking’. Waving my hoof up and taking a deep breath in of the foul air in the sewer I began to gag.

“Yeah, I guess. Can you help me out maybe?” I asked before gagging again. Chuckling Basso nodded

“Yes, i’ll get somepony with a ladder, and a fumigation squad. For good measure obviously.” Basso laughed a little. Oh it’s all fun and games while you’re not in the sewer. “I’ll be back momentarily” Basso quickly said before running off.

Looking down, I saw the tablet once again. Something about it had changed though. The engravings seemed to have moved. Curiously I picked it up with my magic and brought it above the waterline. For some time, I’m still not sure how long I just stared at it as the symbol on it kept creeping around and around in circles formations.

I was entranced. This was surely Zebra sorcery. There was no doubt! The look of it sent shivers down my spine and caused my blood to chill greatly. But I liked it. It was mine. I found it.

I was indeed so overcome with its seemingly unnatural ability to hold my attention I didn’t notice the pitter pattering of hooves coming from down the sewer until whoever it was basically arrived. Turning my head around I saw him. A zebra staring hatefully at me. Opening his mouth I got the all too creepy zebra rhyme talk.

“What do you do you pony fool?” the Zebra asked. “Give it to me and I promise you go free”  the Zebra continued. Why did this prick want this tablet? It’s mine. I found it fair and square. I shook my head in disapproval to the Zebra's demand.

“No, zebra, I found this tablet, it belongs to me” I replied staring him down. “You can fuck off and find another nice tablet. This here is mine” I thought to myself that this must have been some Celestia given luck, i’ve found some really amazing artifact and caught a zebra spy! Now the tricky part will be to capture the little bastard. But details details. The tablet began to warm up and emit a faint blue glow

“You do not see, it was made for me. So give it pony fool or I’ll have to kill you” the Zebra snapped back. Pulling out some sort of weapon. “I will count to three and you’ll have given the tablet back to me” the Zebra threatened.

“Hey Snow Berry I just Got a ladder cre-” Basso began before seeing the Zebra standing right infront of me. The Zebra looked up at Basso. “Shit ZEB-” a quiet ‘pfft’  I looked up at the shocked Basso, blood pouring from a hole in his throat. He gave a little whine before collapsing into the sewer water. Dead.

I glared at the Zebra. The sound of an air raid siren slowly began to rise. An Air raid? This far behind the lines? I didn’t really care though I was safe. I was in a reinforced sewer. Their petty zebra bombs couldn’t reach me in here. So I did the one thing I knew to do.

It’s a little obvious that I have a heavy bit of rock that is probably very effective at smashing in skulls. Especially when paired with the fact i’m a unicorn that’s… decent with levitation magics.

The Zebra saw the tablet coming of course. When it’s glowing with unicorn levitation magic's it isn't exactly hard to miss. The little bastard jumped back the first time I tried to swing at it. In retort the Zebra lept forward and kicked me in the chest. Pain erupted across my chest as I was sent flying backwards.

Slowly, I began to stand back up in the water. The pain in my chest was excruciating. “The tablet is mine pony fool, don’t make me kill you too” the Zebra taunted as I struggled to fully recover.

My second attempt to smash the Zebra didn’t yield much of a difference result as I tried to catch pummel it with the now fully glowing, and quite hot tablet. However I was granted some semblance of an advantage as I dodged the second kick by the striped bastard.

A third time swing however wasn’t exactly what the Zebra had expected. I simply swung it round his head. Causing it to start charging me given how I was now, practically, defenseless. As he charged I pulled back the tablet with my Magic quickly and struck a blow right in the back of the Zebra’s head.

The blow was enough to make the Zebra go limp. A little surprising but that wasn't the biggest issue right now.

No hesitation kept me from charging back to underneath the hole I fell through. The air raid sirens continuing to scream their ominous sound. Again I smashed the tablet into the back of the Zebra’s head. Causing the Zebra to bleed all over my poor tablet… Was it me or was it getting even brighter?

“YOU FUCKING ZEBRA BASTARD” I yelled as I continued to bash. “YOU KILLED.” I smashed again. “MY!” Again “FUCKING!” Again! “BOSS” As the tablet was introduced to the Zebra’s skull again I heard the Zebra whimper something in their tongue before finally dying. Alright the tablet was getting worryingly hot now.

Looking up into the sky I saw such a wonderful blue sky with the sun just outside my view. Above the sound began to filter in. Ponies were screaming in horror as something was happening. The Air Raid Sirens didn’t help.

A sudden flash of sickly Green light suddenly filled every inch of the sewer. The heat of the concentrated light was horrifying, hotter than the tablet which I brought close to myself in spite of the Zebra greymatter that seemed to have stuck to the tablet.

The sewer shook as a massive blast of sound? Pressure? Whatever it was it blew over me with such  great force that I couldn’t do anything but get pushed further into the sewer system like a ragdoll. When i finally stood back up I saw that behind me, catching up quickly was more of that sickly green light.

Not wanting to know what it was I started running, as fast as my legs could take me.

The light chased me. Catching up. Getting closer. Getting onto my four hooves. The green light was an unnaturally green light that caused me to shriek in terror. The sounds of destruction above and to my surroundings masking my horrified scream.

A blinding white flash and the rush of immense heat suddenly hit me. My whole body burned and twisted as I melted in the intense heat. Flesh turned into a viscous liquid and flew away from me, still holding the tablet with my magic.

And I was gone

The world slowly shifted and turned as I gained my senses. Cold surrounded my body, nothing touching me, no sound ringing out. The burning green light, the force of the blast, the all powerful sounds of ponies screaming in it all. All gone, replaced with nothing. Was this it? The end? The sensation I had of my flesh melting off my bones wasn’t helping my hopes of being alive. I tried opening my eyes. Nothing.

I had to be dead.This had to be the life after. How in the world would I be able to survive… that. My thoughts drifted about what happened. Was this an isolated thing? Was the world destroyed? Was it just some elaborate Zebra illusion to make me divulge something? I didn’t know. And was all afraid to know.

Sweet Celestia what about the government? Canterlot? The ministry mares? Was the whole country a war zone now? Gah, I wasn’t even sure if I was dead or not.Yet I’d already raised more questions than this black void could divulge.

The cold air picked up slightly, okay. Alright. So now I know either death was prone to small gusts of wind, or I was in fact alive. That last part gave me hope. But it’d defy common sense. I’d just been overtaken, melted, and presumably killed by that green fire.

Questions questions. And by the feel of i’d be in this state for a while. Maybe enough time for me to reason what had just happened. I mean we had news of new war winning weapons being ready to be deployed. Did the Zebras have something else, even bigger and scarier? There was enough of an outrage when the Zebras tested a successful megaspell. We had drills in case of an attack… oh no. Did they actually use megaspells on us?

Now it was even worse for me to think about what just happened. And even more so it made sense. The Zebra in the sewers, the green fire, the screams. All of it was right there and I didn't even think about it, because of that tablet.

There was an overriding sense inside my gut, and mind, to reject what just happened. We couldn’t have just been wiped like that from the world. Somepony must have seen it coming before the sirens began. We can’t have just whimpered and taken it. There had to be something to prevent it.

There had to. We couldn’t have been caught off guard. We had the wonders of modern science and magic…

I slowly felt myself slip into what felt like sleep. My eyes, or the area where they were felt heavy enough to sink me in a pool of the dead. And why did it make everything feel so warm? So fuzzed. The little sense of touch I had across my whole body was turning into pins and needles as everything became heavier, and harder to keep together.

A final whimper in my mind passed as my eyelids opened and saw a pair of magnificent eyes. They looked at me. The eyes seemed mostly dilated but with some pink around them. They stared at me as if analyzing the remains of my existence. The stare was cynical, cold. Behind it was a blinding light.

Something in the eyes did catch what little attention I could muster as the fuzziness continued to grow. I could just pick up small circles within the pupils that were slowly turning in either direction. Reminding me of the slowly turning symbol on the tablet I fought bloodily to keep. A small piece of grey matter slid down one of the eyes, yet it didn’t seem to notice in the slightest.

We just gazed at eachother for goddesses know how long. Just there. No blinking, even with the brilliant light behind those two eyes.

Aeons passed, mountains became lakes, deserts became jungles, cities crumbled and left plains, it was all passing me. Yet I still looked into those deep purple eyes. Calling to me. Whispering things I couldn’t understand.

As the melenia tumbled away like discarded paper and the fuzziness continued to expand and grow I finally started to do something. As the insanity of my own small part continued to play out I moved a hoof to touch those eyes, empires rose and fell every millisecond. More war and death unfolded, unseen by those cynical eyes.

FInally, after nearly a billion years had spun past at an alarmingly fast rate I finally made contact.

Only an eyelash was touched, but it was all that needed to be. The pupils of those pink eyes shrank smaller than I could see. Causing me to pull back my hoof in surprise. Time stopped around me as the fuzziness quickly gave way to focus. The eyes continued to stare at me as the light behind them turned that sickly green.

I tried all I could to back away. Those eyes beaming hate towards every fiber that was left of me. The Green slowly infesting the… space, surrounding me and the eyes. Encircling me quickly the eyes reversed their look and dilated into massive pupils, the symbol from the tablet clearly spinning inside both of them.

A single word entered my mind. A voice that nopony should ever deserve to hear. The green light shooting tendrils towards me. Like the scrams of a thousand dead ponies, burning in the purest of fires.

“Reclaim” it said as the eyes glowed pink, and blue where the symbols rotated. The image and sound was instantly etched into my mind. It was like a task. The tablet? Wouldn’t it have melted with me?

Whispers of some tongue crept inside of me. Tendrils of knowledge and confusion spun something into my mind, like a spider web. The green getting closer and closer. My eyes straining.

“Reclaim” the voice said again. And again. And again. Over and over.

A bright white flash… again.

Footnote added: Level Up!