Fallout: Equestria - SURVIVOR

by SYNTH4

Rating: mature
Tags: Crossover, Dark, Alternate Universe, Adventure, Tragedy
Length: 69634

To save his stable from a madpony, Flatfoot must venture outside into the deadly Equestrian Wasteland.

"Eighty years before the Stable Dweller…there was another stable pony."

Flatfoot has always tried to live his life with optimism. He's been put into a job that goes against his Cutie Mark, has few friends, and lives in a dark and depressing Stable. But through all of this, he still tries to make the best of everything.

His home, Stable 11, isn't like your normal underground bunker. For in this stable, ponies are forced to perform horrible acts of nature. As stated when the door closed, one pony is to be sacrificed every year. The price for not doing so: death to all in the stable. So the votes are counted, and a pony is killed.

But the rules of the election have changed, and Flatfoot has just figured it out. Now, his friends are in danger and the OverStallion wants him dead. With nothing for him in the stable anymore, Flatfoot flees to the outside world above ground.

But soon, Flatfoot will learn that in order to find the help he needs, he'll have to Survive the Wasteland.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-04-11 01:26:13 UTC

Chapter 1: Truth and Lies

FALLOUT EQUESTRIA: SURVIVOR

Chapter 1: Truth and Lies

WAR….WAR NEVER CHANGES.

A long time ago, in the magical land of Equestria, there lived three different races of ponies. There were the unicorns, who used their magic to not only make lives easier, but to further themselves in the field of knowledge.

There were Pegasus’, who controlled the weather and helped with the transitioning of each season. Their ability to interact with with clouds allowed them to live about the world in the skies they so loved.

Finally, there were the Earth Ponies. Ponies like them didn’t have magic or wings, but did have inherent strength. This helped greatly when working on farms or in factories, giving them their own unique feature compared to the others.

All three races lived in peace and harmony for years, their lives bound together by the unbreakable magic of Friendship. They respected each other, helped each other, and most of all looked out for each other.

But soon, that era came to a destructive end. For soon the powers of friendship gave way to greed and anger. And soon, non-ponies also gave into the anger and greed; seeking to take what they wanted no matter what the cost.

In the end, no matter how much ponies opposed it, War broke out.

With it came the fears and uncertainty of what would happen to the innocent when destruction came. Their salvation came in the form of Stables; massive underground bunkers built to house ponies in the event of a widespread attack.

It was here that ponies fled when the eventual destruction came upon the land they had once called home. But when they emerged, they found only the hells of the Wasteland to greet them.

But our story begins in a different Stable. This Stable has remained closed since the day that fire rained from the sky.

However, life in this Stable is about to change.

***

“You can do this….You Can Do This!”

I looked down at the piece of paper that sat on my desk. The whole area was filled with many different projects I had been working on the past few months. Some old pip-bucks I had been trying to get working again, a lamp I was rewiring to run on direct horn magic, and a few other bits and bobs I won’t bother going into detail about.

I was sitting on a small chair in front of the desk. I had been sitting there for a good half an hour now, looking at the paper and thinking about what it meant.

“Make a decision” I said as I contemplated what I had to do. It’s not really something everyone LIKES to do, but it’s something everyone HAS to do. Personal opinion didn’t matter down here. The only thing that mattered was the good of everypony.

And sometimes…sometimes that means you have to be the bad guy.

But I guess I should do some explaining first,  just so that you get caught up to speed with what’s going on.

My name is Flatfoot, I’m an earth pony stallion living in Stable 11. Even though my cutie mark (a sheriff’s badge) probably means I work as a guard, I’m anything but that. Instead, I’m a maintenance pony. I keep the Stable running and make sure that if anything’s broken, it gets fixed.

The reason I’m a maintenance pony and not a guard...because The Over Stallion said so. Maintenance is one of the most important jobs available, and I was chosen because they were running low at the time. Guess it just as they say: for the good of the stable.

I guess you think I should count myself lucky that I was living in a Stable. That since I’m living the perfect life I should be as happy as a party animal.

Well guess what, life down here doesn’t leave a lot of room for smiles…at least not at this time of the year.

You see life down in Stable 11 is a little different than life in other Stables. While the other ones get lives of happiness and friendship, we get a life of worry and death.

It all began around…120 years ago, on the day the Stable door closed for good. My great, great grandparents were told to go to the atrium with the rest of the Stable’s inhabitants. That’s when the main computer came online…and gave them a chilling message.

It said that if the residents didn’t sacrifice one pony per year, everyone in the Stable would die.

And that was it, just sacrifice one pony per year. No reason why, just what would happen if we didn’t. Great way to welcome hundreds of ponies to their new home!

But as you can guess ponies didn’t want to sacrifice anyone. Not only did we know little about WHY we had to do it, but it just wasn’t right. How can anyone be cruel enough to actually select a pony to die.

However, when the lives of hundreds of ponies are on the line, things tend to go in the way of the masses.

The Over Stallion was the first one to be sacrificed. Not because ponies wanted him to, but because he volunteered to do it. The reason why: No One Knows! He just said that he was going to be sacrificed and that was that.

Of course after that, it was almost total anarchy in the stable. Thankfully a pony named...Braeburn...or something like that, took command of the stable.

Ponies quickly adjusted to their new lives, and sacrifices continued for years afterwards. At first the decision was made using a random lottery system. But this didn’t go on for long; ponies didn’t like the idea that it was a matter of chance between life and death. Tensions became fierce, and so a new plan was made.

Starting the year after, a voting system was put into place so that the stable as a whole could decide who was to be sacrificed. Ponies found this to be a better option, and that’s how it's been every since then.

Now, like every year, I looked down at the sheet of paper on the desk. The name of every pony in the stable was listed on it, each with a small box on the left side.

“Okay Flatfoot, you can do this. You’ve done it every year so far, so you can do it this year. Just check a name and put it in the ballot box” I said to myself, trying to make the feeling in my stomach go down.

“Let me think…I could vote for Lock Pick; he’s always breaking into other ponies things. Then there’s Stitch; never really did forgive him for putting that tack on my seat in school. But…maybe I should vote of Beaker.”

“I’m surprised you even have to think about putting that bastard's name down.”

I jerked back and looked around for the sound of the voice. I didn’t have to look hard, because standing by the door to my room was a dark blue unicorn mare with a short brown mane. Her heart (with a scalpel running through it) cutie mark was just visible in the dim light of the hallway. She was smiling at me so smugly it was like she’d caught me jerking off.

“What are you doing here Zest? Don’t you have some ponies internal organs to tie in a knot” I asked, turning back to the paper on my desk.

Zest laughed and walked right behind me, putting her hooves up on my shoulders.

“Why do you think I came here big boy? I wanted to know if I can turn your large intestine into a balloon animal” she said in a seductive voice.

I swallowed a lump that had formed in my throat and tried not to show fear in my face. Even after knowing Zest for a good fifteen years, she still found new ways to make me nervous.

“You’re just kidding…right” I asked, maybe with a little too much hope in my voice.

Zest started gently rubbing my shoulders and whispered in my ear “Maybe, but like I’ve said before: I’m always looking for volunteers. If you’d like to donate your large intestine…”

“I’m going to cut you off right there Zest. No way will I lower myself to be your personal play device” I said, shaking her hooves off my shoulders.

Zest came to my right side and gave me a typical puppy dog face. “You don’t have to be so mean Flat. I’m just trying to live out what my cutie mark says is my special talent.”

I snorted and continued to go down the list of names on the paper. Trying to get Zest to leave on her own is usually the only way to get her to leave at all.

“Your special talent is performing operations on ponies in the medical bay. NOT harassing ponies in their room while they’re trying to make a really important decision” I said sternly.

Zest snorted, but in a more comical way. “How hard is it to check the name of a pony you don’t like? I voted for Beaker in less than five seconds. Everyone who knows him knows that he’s the one that’s going to be sacrificed. You’d be crazy not to vote for him.”

“As much as I would love to put his name down, I have to think about what’ll happen if I do vote for him. Remember, he’s the head of the Stable’s research labs. If he goes, it’s going to be tough finding a replacement.”

Zest walked over and plopped down on my bed, keeping her eyes on the rusty ceiling. Her expression had become more concerned and serious: a rare occurrence for her.

“I’ll admit; a part of me agrees with you. Those who can work in that area are becoming scarcer. So the ones we have there now are more valuable than any of us. …But it doesn’t mean I’m going to change my vote. And I know you’ll still vote for him” said Zest, lifting her head to look at me.

I wanted to say that she was wrong, that I was going to make the decision that was the best for the whole stable. I was going to be the older stallion here and make the right choice.

But that’s never how these things work. Every year, the asshole of the year is chosen to be sacrificed, because everypony wants him dead. And as much as I didn’t like to admit it, I had done the same thing. Every time I had to vote, I voted for the one I hated the most. Now…I was going to do the same thing.

I took a pencil off my desk, and almost too slowly, I lowered it down and check a box on the paper. The name next to the box was: Beaker.

Zest walked over and looked at my decision. The smug smile on her face grew and I waited for the gloating to start.

“Well Flat, looks like you did the right thing after all. Just think about it: years from now, our grandfoals will remember how their grandparents rid them of having a very annoying pony be able to reproduce” she said, grabbing my shoulder and sliding her hoof across air in a dramatic fashion.

Her words had an effect on me, but not in the way they should have.

“What do you mean OUR grandfoals” I asked with a cocked eyebrow.

She turned to face me, still with that seductive look on her face.

“Well who knows? One day you and I could be drunk, walk into a room together, and make some…MAGIC…happen.”

“Makes me glad that I’m an EARTH pony. I prefer to stay away from anything magic. So sorry to burst your bubble Zest, but you’ll have to wait a little longer to be a mom” I said, taking the piece of paper in my mouth.

“Not if I really wanted to be. Ratchet’s said a few times that he wouldn’t mind having a little fun with this flank. Just because I spend more time with you, it doesn’t mean you’re my only option,” she said.

“Then why don’t you go and talk to him in your seductive voice. He’ll probably enjoy all the attention you’d give him” I asked, walking to the door and pressing the OPEN button.

I walked out into the hall with Zest following me. She never really gets it when somepony wants to get rid of her.

“I would, but he’s working at the moment. Probably fixing something in the reactor room or the water filtration plant. He’s a real he-stallion you know” said Zest.

And that’s another thing Zest loved to do: trying to get me jealous. A lot of ponies say it’s because she likes me, and part of me thinks that’s true…or at least hopes that’s true. I’ve never really been a sticker for the mares, so having one that liked me and was pretty isn’t something most ponies would pass up.

But to be honest the only reason she does try to get me jealous is so that she can get under my skin. At first I fell for her little act, but as the years went by I became more aware of what she was trying to do.

But I couldn’t ignore her forever, and part of me wanted someone to talk to during this depressing time. Most residents became emotionally unstable when election week came along. From tears to cries of rage, we’ve had it all come through the medical bay.

“Changing the subject; do you know anyone else who’s voting for Beaker? Or even more informing; anyone who is voting for either of us?” I asked with a hint of nervousness in my voice.

Zest smiled, not smugly, but continued to look ahead. “Well I know Zap and Zip are voting for me, and that Tin Can is voting for you.”

“Figures: you accidentally dump soup on him ONE time and you get labeled for life. He votes for me every year, and he’s one of the few that do,” I said while I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, but just be glad that more people hate him than you. As long as you aren’t the most hated pony in the stable, you’ll never have to worry about being picked,” she said with another smug smile.

We walked through another door and into the atrium. A few ponies were mingling around on chairs scattered around the area. Four fillies ran by in a game of tag while some of the elderly watched.

The sight filled me with hope and sadness at the same time. The Stable had one restriction when it came to voting: Don’t vote for anypony over 80 or younger than 10. The elderly were given the right to live out the rest of their life if they had survived long enough.

Hopefully sixty years from now, I’ll be sitting in a chair watching foals have fun with other young ponies. My wife will be beside me, and I’d reminiscent about years gone by.

Young foals were also given leeway in the election. Ponies though that foals should have some time to grow and have friends, before being able to vote. There innocence was one of the reasons these elections were bearable.

But that’s when the sadness kicked into full gear. Seeing those foals reminded me that eventually, the restriction would end for them and they could be sacrificed. Their childhood would be the only happy years that they would get to experience…and that just wasn’t fair.

I shook the thought out of my head. I couldn’t change what was necessary, so worrying about it wasn’t going to help me. I began walking towards the door on the other side of the atrium.

However, just when I had walked a few feet, I saw somepony…somepony I REALLY didn’t want to see right now.

A Maintenance pony with a dark cream pelt and a dark amber mane and wrench cutie mark was scrubbing away at some of the rust on the wall. He turned away from his work and wiped his forehead with his hoof. He gave a quick look around the atrium, and when he spotted us, trotted over to where we were standing.

“Zest, how’s it hanging? I heard from Lock Pick that you operated on old Cranks yesterday. Tell me, is the old coot still bucking or is he sipping cocktails with Celestia?” he asked with a smile.

“Don’t worry Skycap; I was able to keep him down here on Earth. However, you should have seen the inside of his middle section! I swear that certain parts of a pony are not supposed to be green,” said Zest.

I rolled my eyes at the thought of Zest not seeing anything weirder than that. She handled all the major operations in the stable. And trust me; we’ve had our fair share of weird illnesses in this metal paradise.

Skycap turned his attention away from Zest and looked over at me. His smile grew even bigger, which didn’t make me feel any more comfortable.

“Hey Flatfoot, good seeing you again. I haven’t seen you come out of that room of yours since Friday. Maintenance has been wondering if you dropped dead or just passed out. Don’t hate me, but I went for dropped dead,” he said, still smiling.

“Wow, some friend you are Cap. If I were in that position, I would go and maybe check on my friend to see if he was all right. That’s the right thing to do anyway,” I said with a frown.

Cap was ready to say something, but then looked down to where I had tucked the ballot sheet into my stable jumpsuit. Before I could even react, he had whipped it out and was looking it over.

“Hey, give that back!” I yelled. I tried to get my paper back, but Cap put his hoof out far and used the other to hold me back. His grin became even bigger when he found the box that had been checked.

“Ha, no surprise there Flat. Beaker is the lead in this year’s election, and there is no way he can get enough ponies to vote for someone else now. He’s going to be sacrificed whether he likes it or not,” said Cap as I snatched the paper back and tucked it deep inside my jumpsuit.

“Whatever Caps, I wasn’t doing it because everyone was doing it. I don’t like Beaker just as much as everyone else does. He votes for me every year just because I made him look foolish ONE time.”

“One time is all it takes Flat,” said Zest.

“Alright, enough of this. I am going to cast my vote and then head back to my room for some good me time. You can follow if you want Zest, but it really doesn’t make a difference to me,” I said sternly.

I turned away from the two and headed towards the large door and the other end of the atrium. A large sign with an arrow pointing to it said “TO BALLOT BOX! DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!”

As the door opened, I heard two pairs of hooves coming up behind me. I turned around and saw Zest walking towards me with Cap following closely behind.

“Both of you are coming with me?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Zest and Cap began rummaging through their jumpsuits, and soon both pulled out pieces of paper with ponies’ names on them.

“We need to cast our votes to Flat. After all” said Cap, and he put his head up and spoke with a high authority voice, “It is the duty of every pony in Stable 11 to vote every year for the one who is to be sacrificed. It’s for the good of you, for the good of me, for the good of STABLE 11!”

Zest did a small clap while Cap bowed and smiled at us.

Those words are said every year when election time came around. The computer would pump that message through the PA systems from day one to the day of the sacrifice. Every pony in this stable knew it by heart. It was not just a message, it was a reminder that what we were doing was for the good of the Stable. Therefore, in a sense, it was for the good of Ponykind.

“Alright, no use standing around. Let’s go decide who’ll be killed this time” said Zest as she pushed past me and continued down the hall. Cap followed closely behind her. Letting out a deep sigh, I followed them to the Ballot box.

***

The box was located near the Science labs on the lower levels. A security guard was standing next to it so that no one could tinker with the votes. A riot helmet covered his head, and leather armor covered his back. He eyed us as we approached but did not say anything.

I spotted the Stable issued 9mm gun that was latched onto his belt. One shot from that in the right area, and I’d never have to worry about what went on in this Stable again.

I had a feeling he saw me look at it, because then he shifted his belt so that I could see it even clearer.

“I’ve never had to use this in my whole time as a guard. I personally wouldn’t have any problems using it for the first time. No funny business, any of you” he said sternly.

“Yes sir” I said, keeping my eyes locked on the box next to him.

I took out my slip of paper and dropped it in the box. Zest and Cap did the same after me.

“Alright you all voted, now beat it!” said the guard sternly.

“Geez, calm down snappy. You need some Pinkie Zip. I’ve had them, and they REALLY keep you energized all night” said Zest with a smug smile.

The guard just grunted and turned away from us. Zest was going to say more, but I pulled her away before the guard arrested her on disorderly conduct.

“Why’d you pull me away? I could have given him a piece of my mind” said Zest as we walked back towards the atrium.

“That’s exactly why I pulled you back. I didn’t want to wait next to you in the medical bay while they pulled a bullet from your flank. One of these days you’ll do something stupid and I won’t be there to help you” I said as we walked through the door to the atrium.

Zest was about to retort, but was interrupted by a ringing noise. Looking down, I saw my pipbuck was alight and the image of a scroll was on the screen. It was also the one making that beeping noise.

“Oh, wonder who’s calling this time,” I asked as I pulled the pip-buck closer and opened the message.

It was short and didn’t have a lot of big words…just how I like it.

“Flatfoot, it’s Screwy. I got a message on my terminal that there’s a wire malfunction in the vents above The Over Stallion’s office. You’re the closet pony to the office, so I need you to take care of it. Go to the vent on the wall on the far left side of the door to the office. Open the grate, climb in, and locate the fuse box. Fix the wiring and report back to me when completed.”

“As a side note, The Over Stallion has been complaining about sounds coming from the ducts. He suspects that Radroaches have gotten in there. So be careful when you’re climbing around. Au revoir and good luck my friend.”

I groaned as I lowered the pip-buck away from my face. I didn’t want to go crawling through that might have Radroaches crawling in them to. I’ve dealt with those things before, and they aren’t very friendly. Don’t believe me; I’ve got the scar to prove it.

“Sorry guys, I’ve got work to do. Screwy needs me to fix some wiring in the ducts over The Over Stallion’s office” I said to the two.

Cap and Zest both showed different expressions. Zest looked like she was holding in a laugh and trying not to scratch an itch. Cap had a mix between sorrow and relief.

“Well good luck with that Flat. Last time I had to go into the vents it was right above the waste disposal plant. …Yuck, I can still feel the burning in my nose” said Cap.

“But hey, look on the bright side Flat. Maybe you’ll catch The Over Stallion doing something REALLY embarrassing. Then, you’ll have some pull in this place” said Zest.

I rolled my eyes again. Anything that Zest thinks about is usually a bad idea. Plus, if it has any chance of making somepony she knows powerful, she’ll push them to do it…no matter what.

“RIGHT…well I’m going to head off and fix that wiring. I’ll talk to you both tomorrow before they announce the sacrifice. Try not to get arrested before then Zest” I said as I walked to the door to the upper levels.

Zest put her hooves under her chin and smiled sweetly.

“What, little old me?”

Cap began laughing, and as much as I didn’t want to, I began to smile. I really couldn’t stay grumpy this whole time, or I’d just be like everypony else in this stable. Best try to make the best of a good situation.

I walked to the other side of the atrium and opened the door to the floors above. I was ready to fix that fuse box, and hopefully, get back with enough time to sleep.

“After all, how much trouble can fixing a fuse box be,” I asked myself as the door closed behind me.

***

On  the other side of the door sat a flight of stairs. They stretched upward towards the top levels of the stable. The overstallion’s office was on the next level up, so I had to go to the one above it to get to the air duct. I already had a few tools with me, so I didn’t see the point of going back to my room to get my tool box.

I’d been taught early on how to handle things without much on hoof. Sure it was a little challenging, but it’s a skill that I wouldn’t want to be without. Course, there’s not that many chances to use this skill down here. Most of what you need is pretty much within reach.

But hey, when you cutie mark is a sheriff's badge and you're good at fixing things, it  just proves that sometimes the mark doesn’t make the pony.

I reached the top of the stairs fairly quickly, and found myself in a small hallway. There wasn’t anypony in sight, and the only shred of life was the bleep that was coming from my PipBuck. The bleep let me know if somepony is nearby if the population drops below twenty. A nifty little addition that Stable-Tec added.

I walked away from the stairs and towards the hallway Screwy had indicated in her note. The floor here was rough from the lack of proper maintenance in the area over the last few years. I had to step carefully so I didn’t get cut on the rust.

I jumped over a rusty patch and landed around the corner in another hallway. Like the last one, there was no pony in sight. But this one had clean floors, so I could walk normally. Good thing too, because my legs were starting to ache.

My eyes landed on the surprisingly large air grate at the bottom of the wall on the left side. The grate looked dirty and damaged, most likely from the radroaches that were supposedly crawling around in there.

I walked over to the grate and gave it a small tug with my hooves. It jiggled a little bit, but didn’t pull out.

“Ha, think a few screws are going to stop ol’ Flatfoot do you? Well think again” I said as I rummaged through my suit looking for a screwdriver. I found one and began removing the screws.

“Alright, let’s just hope I can find the box...and not get bitten by radroaches while I’m at it” I said as I pulled out the last screw.

I grabbed the vent and pulled it away from the wall. Placing it next to the opening, I kneeled on the ground and looked down the vent. It was too dark to see anything, and I couldn’t hear anything moving around.

“Alright, here we go” I said, and I began to crawl through the duct.

Years of dust began to cover me as I crawled farther into the vent. The light from my PipBuck helped me see where I was going. My eyes scanned the walls of the vent for the fuse box I was supposed to repair. Wires ran along the top of the vent, so I just followed them. Eventually I’d come across the fuse box.

However, it wasn’t going to be a comfortable task doing it. This vent may have been big, but so was I. My head kept scraping against the top, and I sometimes got stuck when I came to a corner.

“Don’t worry Flats, you’ve been in situations worse than this. You’ll come across that fuse box any time now,” I said, trying my best to smile.

Unfortunately, I came across something else first. I just turned at a corner vent when I found myself face to face with a radroach. The thing was about five feet long, and his soulless eyes were looking right at me.

I kept still and tried not to breathe too loudly. Normally radroaches attack the moment they see a pony. But this one just looked at me, not moving an inch. It was a stiff as a board, and not even it’s pincers were moving.

My instincts told me to slowly back away, but my curiosity told me to poke it and see what it did. This was the first radroach I had ever seen that hadn’t attacked me on sight. When you come across something like that, you want to know why.

So I slowly raised my hoof up and gave the creature a poke.

Nothing happened.

I poked it again, this time a little more forcefully. Again, it didn’t do anything. I even flipped it over, and it didn’t even twitch a leg.

“Dead. Must have been recently, or else it would have decayed more” I said with a little more relief in mind.

I pushed the carcass into another vent and continued on my way. I hoped that every radroach in the vents were dead to, but I put my hammer closer to my hoof just in case.

After another four minutes of crawling around the vents, I found the fuse box I was supposed to repair. It sat on the right side of the vent, a few feet away from another grate. The outside looked fine, but I knew to never judge a book by it’s cover.

I reached a hoof up and pulled the hatch open, and found a complete mess inside.

Wires were criss-crossing all around the inside. A few were unplugged and others were burned out altogether. The lower wires looked alright, which meant I needed less materials.

Reaching into the pocket on the back of my suit, I found some spare wires and my flat head screwdriver. I put them in front of me and began pulling out all the damaged wires. Once they were all laid out on the floor, I started putting the new ones in.

A few minutes later, all the wires had been replaced and the old ones were safely tucked into my suit pocket. I gathered my tools and pulled my PipBuck up to my face. I quickly wrote down a note to Screwy, telling her I’d fixed the fuse box.

“Well, got that done. Now I can head back to my room and get some sleep. I want to be wide awake when they announce the sacrifice. Don’t want to fall asleep like last year” I said as I began to reverse back to the grate.

“Another one for Beaker. Well I must say, this colt doesn’t have many friends down here does he.”

I froze where I was, both with shock and curiosity. That voice was talking about Beaker, AND said he had a lot of votes. How could the voice know that.

“Where’s Dial with the next sack of votes.”

The voice sounded close, and didn’t seem to be an echo from down the vents. If that’s true, then there’s only one place it could come from. My eyes instantly went to the grate a few feet in front of me.

Slowly, I crawled over to the grate. Light was flowing through it, and I could feel the air pushing past me and down into the room below. Once I got close enough, I looked down through the grate.

The room I was looking at was large, larger than most rooms in the Stable. A few mainframes ran along the walls, and a window was on the wall in between them. I could see the upper half of the Atrium through it. A large half circle desk sat in the middle of the room. Stacks upon stacks of paper covered the whole area, and even more were stacked around the desk.

My eyes tried to take the whole thing in, but then I noticed a pony sitting behind the desk. He was a cerulean blue unicorn with a dark white mane. His eyes showed ones of age and his judge mallet cutie mark sat on his flanks. Signs of a beard showed on his chin, and his hair looked even whiter in certain spots.

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open. “I’m above The Overstallion’s Office” I said quietly to myself “and he’s counting the votes!”

The O.S. shifted through more papers. No sign of emotion appeared on his face; he just looked at the paper, wrote something on his terminal, then moved on. He was like a well oiled machine; never skipping a beat.

I crawled a little farther over the duck, so I could look down clearer. He didn’t seem to notice me, and I doubt anything could distract him from the most important job in the stable.

But at that moment, a dinging sound rang through the room. The Overstallion, not even looking up, pressed a button on the side of his desk. “Name” he said with no emotion.

“Dial sir. I’m here with another sack of votes from the ballot boxes” said a voice through the intercom.

“Very well, come on it then” he said, and pressed another button on his desk. The door in front of him opened, and a small earth pony mare walked in.

She had a yellow mane with a red coat, and a steam dial as her cutie mark. Slung across her back were two full sacks, no doubt filled with votes for the election. She dropped them right next to where the overstallion was sitting.

“Thanks for bringing the votes Dial. I’ll send out a message to all the residents later tonight, telling them they have to vote by midnight. Hopefully Everypony will cast a vote this year. I don’t want to deal with another shortage for the records.”

The more he talked about the election, the more I smiled. The overstallion was a very responsible pony, and he definitely had my respect. Having to count all the votes every year must be a very challenging job. But he did it anyway, and that’s the reason he was O.S.

Dial took a chair from a corner and pushed it besides the O.S. She took and seat and looked over the stacks of paper covering the desk.

“I don’t understand why you bother counting those votes anyway. The votes don’t decide who gets sacrificed, so why go through all that trouble?”

My ears shot up and my eyes popped wide open. The words rang through my head with the vigor of profanity. The front of my hooves began to shake, and I had to lay them over each other to calm them down.

“What...what did she say,” I asked myself, with nervous sweat starting to pour down my head.

“Because Dial, part of my job is to count all the votes and log the data in the Stable computer. If I don’t do this, the computer will think we’re not sacrificing anypony this year. Even the most brainless ponies know what happens if we don’t sacrifice anypony” said the O.S., who was STILL counting votes.

“But you can just put in whatever you want into the computer. You already pick who gets sacrificed anyway, so I don’t see the point in wasting your time. You need to live your life a little, which doesn’t involve spending all your time in this room. There are other ponies out there that would love to spend time with you,” said Dial, who I noticed was fluttering her eyes. But her actions went unnoticed by the O.S.

“I’m a little more preoccupied with keeping this stable up and running. Spending time with mares isn’t really a high priority for me. You should feel the same, because I need all hoofs on deck until tomorrow. I don’t want a repeat of what happened five years ago.”

I kept silent as I listened to the conversation the two were having. I didn’t want to believe what I was hearing. I didn’t want to know this...I didn’t want to know the truth. But I was; I chose to listen in, and now I was paying the price for it.

“You can’t worry about what happened that year sir. All ponies know that if they are chosen, then they must be sacrificed. Even if it was you who picked him and not the majority of the stable. You did what you had to do” said Dial.

“But what I didn’t expect was for him to be packing a gun. Fool waited till we arrived at the chambers before springing on us. If the computer hadn’t seen him as a hostile and taken him out, I shudder to think of what he could have done. I don’t want to have a repeat of this, so I need you to make sure the armory is well protect. I don’t want any ponies getting near there until the sacrifice is over.”

Dial stood up and made a small bow to the O.S. “I will do what you wish sir. However, some note from you so that they don’t think I’m up to anything would be nice.”

Keeping his eyes on his work, the O.S. pressed another button on his desk. A slip of paper slid out of a slot on his desk, and Dial took the paper and stuffed it into her suit. She turned to walk out the door, giving her flanks a little wiggle when she did. But this time the O.S. did look, and he smiled a little.

***

My mind was racing with the new information I had just heard. The O.S., the most respected pony in the stable, had been lying to us all this time. The votes didn’t matter, HE was the one who decided who was sacrificed. We were completely at his mercy, and we didn’t even know it.

I knew that I couldn’t stay up here forever: I had to get out.

There was a nag a the back of my mind telling me I had to go and inform anypony who would listen to me about what I had just heard. Ponies had to know this, it couldn’t go on!

But the majority of my brain was telling me to keep quiet and try not to grab attention. When you know something like this, you’d better not draw attention to yourself. Especially when it involves the most powerful pony in the stable.

Still arguing with myself, I slowly began to reverse away from the grate. I held my breath and hoped that the O.S. and Dial wouldn’t notice or hear me. I kept my legs squished together so they wouldn’t hit the sides, and lowered my head away from the top. Hopefully I could make it to the grate without attracting any unwanted attention.

But of course, stuff like that never happens to me.

Just as I began to crawl back, I felt a vibration on my foreleg. The light of my PipBuck turned green, and then the voice began to blare out.

“ATTENTION, ATTENTION, YOU’VE GOT A MESSAGE! YOU’VE GOT A MESSAGE!”

I mentally cursed myself and tried to click away the message. The image of a scroll burning up kept flashing on the screen, and my clumsy hoof work didn’t help make it go away. My inventory and Health stats flashed up instead, and the voice kept screaming out that I had a message.

Finally, I slowed my hoofwork down and found the off button. The scroll burned up and went into my file storage. I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that it was over.

But just then, I realized everything had gone quiet. I didn’t hear the shuffle of Dials hooves, or the sound of flipping paper from the O.S. My mind began to go into panic mode again, and I had another bad feeling. Slowly, I looked down into the room. Dial was stopped in front of the door, her face in one of shock/despair. The O.S. had looked up from his papers, but his face still showed no emotion.

“Dial...was that your PipBuck by any chance” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Dial still seemed shocked, and swallowed a large lump in her throat. “N...no sir. Was...was it yours” she asked.

“No, it was not. Since it wasn’t mine and it wasn’t yours, you know what that means right” asked the O.S., whose eyes had suddenly become cross.

“No sir, what does it mean” asked Dial nervously.

The horn of the O.S. began to glow, bringing more light to the room. But the moment it did, I saw the same light wrap around my front hooves. Keeping the sudden surge of panic under control, I tried to tug my hooves away. But the magic held onto them like they were encased in concrete.

“It means we have a visitor with us. Why don’t we let him in” asked the O.S.

I suddenly felt a sharp tug at my hooves. Before I could react, I felt them get pulled towards the grate, bringing my whole body with them. They were pulled against the grate with so much force it broke like a cracker. My body was dragged through the opening and free fell onto the hard steel floor. My back collided with the broken grate, causing a ripple of pain to go across it.

My PipBuck began to ring out, stating things about bruises and possible cuts. I ignored it and slowly began to rise off the floor. My legs were wiggling with pain, and my back now felt like someone had put a hot knife into it. My teeth gritted against themselves while I tried to work through the pain.

But when I lifted my head up, my eyes fell upon the face of the O.S.

He looked at me with the stinging face a disapproving father would give to his foal. His eyes were filled with hate and loathness that any other kind of creature would have run off in fear. He brought his hoof up to his suit and dusted some...dust...off of it.

“Well hello there my young friend. How nice of you to drop in on us. I must say you didn’t give me enough time to prepare, my office is a complete mess” he said, still with a disapproving scowl.

I didn’t know what I could say in this situation. The most powerful pony in the stable had caught me listening in on him. Now I was trapped between him and Dial, who was still shaking by the door.

He quickly pointed his hoof at me, squishing it forcefully into my nose.

“State your name, occupation, and most importantly; the reason you were in the vents above my office!”

It took me a minute to collect my thoughts. Ponies say it’s hard to speak when under pressure, and I can confirm that 100%.

“Uh...my name is Flatfoot sir. I’ve been a maintenance pony for almost six years sir. I...I was up in the vents to fix a fuse box that had blown out” I said, with fear flowing out with every word.

“Do you have any proof that you were fixing a fuse box?” he asked crossly.

I swallowed another lump in my throat. “Yes sir, I have a note from Screwy with instructions for me to repair it,” I said, and I quickly pulled the message up on my PipBuck.

The O.S.’s horn glowed and magic wrapped around my PipBuck. He forcefully tugged it (and myself) over to him and read through the message. When he was done, he dropped my leg and stared coldly at me.

“Well it seems your story checks out...on your reason for being here anyway. But I’m not focusing on why you’re here. I’m more interested on what happened after you repaired the fuse box. So tell me, how much of our conversation did you hear?”

Sweat poured down my head while I tried to answer his question. No way I could tell him the truth, and I couldn’t say I didn’t hear anything. There’s a icepops chance in Tartarus that he’d believe me. So, I compromised: “Uh...I just heard the part about you wanting Dial to make sure nopony gets into the armory.”

The O.S. stepped closer to me, his eyes still mentally burning holes in my brain. His head was not only half an inch from mine. I could feel his breath on my face and the point of his horn on my forehead.

“Are you positive that’s all your heard? Not a single thing about anything else?” he asked.

“No...no sir. Nothing more than that, I swear,” I said, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

The O.S.’s horn glowed, and once again wrapped me in magic. But this time he focused on my face, squishing it with the force of a body builder. Pain erupted through my head as he pulled me even closer. If he hadn’t raised his head slightly, then his horn probably would have pierced my head.

“So let’s say I was to go and get Beaker. Say I had him perform the most powerful truth spell he knew on you. So powerful that you’d spill every secret in your mind to anyone who asked. If I were to do that, would you still be saying the same thing? Choose your answer carefully,” he said sternly.

His magic continued to crush my face into my skull. The pain was worse than any headache I had ever had. If he didn’t release his grip soon, my head would pop like a magic bubble.

“Yes, yes I would sir. I swear I didn’t hear anything more than what I told you,” I said through gritted teeth. Tears began flowing down my face, and my legs were so numb they were about to give out.

The O.S. kept looking at me with a disapproving scowl. But then, he stopped channeling magic and let me head go. I dropped to the floor, breathing heavily. I rubbed my temples, hoping to get the beating to go down. I’d need about twenty pain relievers after this.

The O.S. looked down at me with his non-emotion face once again on. But something was different about it: now I could feel hatred just lurking behind it.

“Alright then, I believe your story. You seem to be telling the truth, and the truth is always the right thing to say,” he said, then turned around and walked behind his desk.

“You're free to go...Flatfoot was it. Dial will escort you back to your room. Make sure no one bothers him” he said to Dial, who nodded in agreement. “I hope to see you at the ceremony tomorrow Flatfoot, but I don’t want to see you any time before then. Try and have a good day..and try to keep out of trouble while you’re at it” he said, then went back to looking at the “votes”.

Dial stepped forward and waved a hoof towards the door, indicating me to follow her. Slowly, I got up from the floor and turned to face the door. I didn’t look back at the O.S., but I could tell he was staring at me. I slowly followed Dial out of the office, and the large door closed behind me the moment I stepped into the hallway.

***

I kept my thoughts to myself as Dial and me walked to my room. Ponies watched as we walked in silence, but none of them took much notice of us. A few small fillies giggled as we passed, and I could only wonder what was going through there heads. Dial walking so close to me was a pretty good clue.

But my mind wasn’t on the ponies that were watching us. My mind was still on what had just happened to me. I started off just fixing a fuse box, and ended up learning the biggest secret in the whole stable. Plus to top it off, The O.S. now looked at me as some kind of criminal.

We passed through the doors that lead to the Living Quarters. Dial steered me straight to the door of my room. She pressed the button on the wall and watched my room door spring open.

“Alright, you’re to stay here until the ceremony tomorrow. If you are spotted outside before that time, guards will be on you faster than you can say “party pony”. Have a nice day” said Dial, who gave me a forceful shove into my room. The door closed behind me and I was alone once again.

Naturally, nothing had changed since I was last in here. My old PipBucks and magic-powered lamp were still sitting on my desk. Papers overflowed my wastebasket, while a stack of blueprints sat on my nightstand. The sheets on my bed were unruffled, and my closet door remained shut.

Sighing, I trotted over to my bed and buried my face in my pillows.

“Why...why me? Why did I have to get that job? Why did I have to have such curiosity? WHY DID ALL THIS HAPPEN TO ME!” I shouted through the pillow. I lifted my head up so I could breath again.

“The worst part about all of this is knowing the truth. Our votes count as nothing; it’s the O.S. who picks who dies each year. Somepony who would normally not be picked is sacrificed just because the O.S. says so. How did it come to something like this?” I asked as I turned around so I lay flat on my back.

An occasion twinge of pain would shoot up my back every few minutes, but it passed just as quickly. Dial had given me a stimpack on our way here, so the pain was starting to die down. Right now I needed to get some sleep.

I closed my eyes, hoping that I would drift off to sleep quickly.

Unfortunately, my mind was in the mood. No matter how still I laid, or how hard I shut my eyes, sleep never came. I tried this on and off for an hour with no success. I was ready to start counting sheep when the door to my room opened.

I quickly sat up and looked to see who had entered.

A dark green earth mare with a dark brown mane walked into my room. She wore a smile on her face that would make just about anypony smile with her. Bags hung under her eyes, and her jumpsuit looked dirty and patched in places. Just below her suit sat her cutie mark: a water pipe with a bandage over the center. She walked over to my bed and smiled at me.

“...Mom, what are you doing here?” I asked while I climbed down from my bed. I walked over to her and quickly gave her a hug, which she gladly returned.

“Well, I was talking with Cap’s mother a little while ago, when she mentioned something rather interesting. She said that you were spending time with Dial today. Not only that, but a little pegasus told me that she was your new marefriend” she said with a smile.

Okay….total gag moment.

“What..what, NO. She just walked me back to my room, with orders from the O.S.” I replied hastily. Just the thought of me and Dial doing anything made my whole body shiver.

“And do you mind explaining why the O.S. asked her to walk you back to your room?”

My mind started racing for an answer. I couldn’t tell mom what had happened up in the office, less the O.S. sends guards to take care of me. So I did what everypony hates to do to their mother: I lied.

“Uh, I was fixing some wires...in...the O.S. office an hour ago. He was thankful for my services and saw I was tired and asked Dial to escort me back. He didn’t want anypony to bother me” I said in the most convincing way I could.

Mom raised an eyebrow as she studied me. She always had some kind of instinct that let her know when I was lying, but she never got it right all the time. I still got away with plenty of things when I was a foal.

Mom sighed “Alright, I’ll believe you this time Flatfoot. But I really do hope you actually try and find a mare for yourself. I want you to have a great life, no matter how short or long it might be.”

I snorted (in a funny way) and turned around. “Sorry mom, but this colt’s going to stay a bachelor forever! No mares for me, it’s just going to be this colt right here,” I said confidently.

Mom smiled and shook her head. “Sarcasm, another wonderful trait of yours...just like your father.”

The moment she said this, both of our smiles turned to frowns. Mom’s eyes widened slightly and then looked down. I sighed and turned towards her, before walking up and giving her a hug. He waited a moment before doing the same.

“I’m sorry...I shouldn’t have brought him up. I should have known what happens when we talk about him” said Mom, who was still hugging me tightly.

I patted her back gently “It’s okay mom. We don’t want to forget dad, so talking about him is good. There’s no use ignoring something in the hopes that it will go away.”

Mom stepped back from the hug and wiped a tear from her eye. Her frown turned back into a smile “using my own words against me? Now I know how you feel.”

I smiled “hey, sometimes you do give good advice. I didn’t just think of girls and candy when you were speaking “words from the wise” all those years ago.”

Mom wiped another tear from her eye and smiled a little more. “Good to know. But I think it’s time for me to head out Flatfoot. And I think you should go to bed now; you need to be wide awake tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to fall asleep when they call my name.”

I smiled at my comment, but then my head jerked to the side. Pain spread from my cheek and rippled through my skull. My already throbbing head now felt like a sewage pipe had been dropped on it.

“Don’t you ever...EVER...say things like that. No one in their right mind would even think about picking you to be sacrificed. Your mind is so valuable to this stable that we’d be all but screwed without it. Plus, I’d personally kill all those who would make you the sacrifice,” said mom with the meanest scowl I’d ever seen on her face.

I gently rubbed my now sore cheek, hoping to get the pain to go down. Mom may not have had the best mind, but I didn’t get my strength from dad.

“Yeah...sorry mom. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I know you shouldn’t have. Now I’m heading back to my room, and I expect you to go to bed in the next half hour,” said mom. She raised her nose indignantly and walked towards the door.

“You can’t tell me what to do mom: I’m not a foal anymore,” I called to her.

She walked out and door just as she was closing. But that didn’t mean she was done talking to me.

“You’re right, you’re not a foal anymore. But you are still my son” she said, before the door closed completely.

I groaned slightly while I turned back towards my bed. I jumped into the air and landed back first on the mattress. Slight pain rippled through my spine, but once again it quickly subsided. I hoped this wouldn’t be a recurring theme; maintenance would be a pain if I had back problems.

As I lied there, I thought about all the things that had happened to me over the last few hours, and how my life would probably never be the same again. The future I had always dreamed about could now be just that...a dream.

I thought about this for an hour, before my mind became bored and I finally fell asleep.

***

I was worried about oversleeping when morning came. But I didn’t have to worry too much about that; I got an unwanted wake-up call.

“Wake up Flats, it’s killing day!”

My brain hadn’t even started up yet when I felt something large land next to me on my bed. The impact caused the mattress to ripple, which in turn sent me flying into the air. I hit the floor with a solid thud and rolled across it until I hit the wall.

“Jeez, what’s the big idea,” I asked as I slowly got up from the floor. I turned towards my bed, ready to kick that buck till he needed more than sixty stimpacks.

“The ‘big idea’ Flat is that I don’t want you to miss the most attended event of the year.”

Once my vision had stopped spinning, I looked over to see who’d catapulted me out of my bed. “What a surprise,” I said silently.

Zest was lying down with her hooves crossed over one another. She smiled normally at me, but I could see glee streaming through her jumpsuit-blue eyes.

I frowned and walked over to my bed. Zest looked up at me, still with a smile, that I could tell she was hoping would get her off the hook. But instead, I raised my hoof and gave her a slight tap on the head.

“What’s the deal with waking me up like that Zest. I could have broken a rib, or a leg for that matter,” I said grumpily. I was usually grumpy when I was woken up early, and tumbling across the floor hadn’t helped it.

Zest rubbed the spot where I’d tapped her, but still had a smile on her face. “I tried shaking you awake, but you were out like an atrium light. I even tried slapping you in the face, but that didn’t work either. So, I did the last thing I could think of: flinging you out of bed.”

I groaned slightly, pinching the bridge of my nose. “If I don’t wake up next time then just let me sleep. You know how cranky I get when I’m woken up early in the morning,” I said while walking over to my dresser. I grabbed the handle in my mouth and pulled it open. Sitting neatly in rows were all my stable issued jumpsuits. I picked one out and began removing the one I had on.

Being an earth pony, this was one of the hardest parts of my day. I had to wiggle my head out of the suit, then work it down my front legs. And when I got that done, I had to reverse the process on my new jumpsuit. This was the only time I wouldn’t have minded being born a unicorn.

Zest jumped off the bed and did a few stretches. I started pulling the clean suit over my head, but soon found it to be stuck. I tried pulling on it with my free hooves, but it wouldn’t go down. As I tried pulling again, I heard the sound of hooves approaching.

“Here, let me help you with that.”

I felt Zest bite down on the end of the suit, and then she began pulling. I did the same with my hooves, and soon the suit slid over my head and slinked up my legs. I quickly adjusted the bottom half so that it wasn’t folded, while keeping it short enough so my cutie mark was still visible.

“Thanks for the help Zest. I don’t know how long I’d have been at that without you” I said while turning to face her. But the moment I did, I found our faces so close together our noses were touching. I looked down at them then up at Zest. She did the same...so we were now looking right at each other.

My brain was telling me to back away and say I was sorry. But I stayed rigid as a stone and kept looking at her. I breathed and my nose inhaled the sweet scent of apple cinnamon, filling every crevice of my head. I didn’t know if it was perfume or some kind of shampoo, but I really liked it.

It was only then that I looked down at Zest’s cheeks, and I didn’t see the color of blue. Instead, her cheeks were starting to turn a light shade of red. For the first time in my whole time knowing her, Zest was actually blushing. I couldn’t tell if it was embarrassment or nervousness, but the shade just kept getting darker.

I wanted to stay like this a little longer and see what happened, but I knew I couldn’t. I still didn’t know if Zest really liked me back, and I wasn’t going to risk it by staying so close. I quickly stepped back and put a hoof or so’s distance between us. For a moment, it look as though Zest was frowning slightly, but it was gone just as fast.

“uh...so...Zest...did, did you come to wake me up for a reason. You never usually do it,” I asked nervously.

Zest sighed slightly before looking at me with her normal smirking demeanor. “I came to wake you up because they announce this year’s sacrifice in twenty minutes. All ponies in the stable are to be present or risk sewage cleanup duty. Knowing how much you hated doing that last time you were punished, I decided to help you out. So I woke up early and came to get you.” She gave me a playful punch on the shoulder. “I just didn’t expect you to be so hard to wake up.”

I smiled to before playfully doing the same to her. “Says the mare that once slept two whole days, even after she was rolled down a flight of stairs and rubbed by just about every pervert in the stable.”

“To be fair, I was highly drunk at the time.” I gave her a raised eyebrow look, to which she just shrugged. “What else did you expect to happen: It was cider season. That’s my favorite time of the year, and something as small as consequences isn’t going to stop me from enjoying it.”

I let out a small laugh, then began walking over to the door. “Come on Zest, we’d better head to the atrium. Like you said: we wouldn’t want to be late.”

I reached a hoof up and pressed the OPEN button. The door slid up and locked itself into place. A few ponies quickly ran past towards the atrium. I could hear talking all throughout the halls, and feel the rumble of hooves on the floor.

Zest walked up to me and looked down both ends of the hallway. “Alrighty then, let's go see who's getting killed this year,” she said happily, and ran out of my room and down the hallway.

Smiling at the energetic behavior she was showing, I followed behind her as my room door shut behind me.

***

Me and Zest quickly merged into the crowd of ponies that were making their way to the atrium. Old ponies, young ponies, mares, colts, were all seen throughout the crowd. A few foals were there too, since ALL ponies had to be present at the announcement.

Zest kept her happy smile plastered on her face the entire way there. Besides her smile and my blank expression, every face of every pony was either scared or nervous. I know I should have been to, but I didn’t want to show my concern.

In reality, I was as scared and nervous as any other pony in the stable. Unlike all of them, I actually knew the truth about the goddess awful act. I didn’t want to think about it, but I couldn’t keep it out of my mind either.

It wasn’t long before me and Zest reached the atrium. Hundreds of ponies filled the bottom and top floors. Guards were stationed at all the doors, each one looking dead center at the stage near the back wall. A large podium stood at the center, and microphone wires ran from it to speakers around the atrium.

Zest and me walked further into the crowd of ponies. Occasionally I saw one with a look of disinterest or boredom, but most showed ones of fright or sadness. Foals were either talking with their friends or tightly holding their parents.

The whole sight made my insides churn.

When Zest finally stopped near the center of the atrium, she looked around at all the ponies and guards. She squinted her eyes and frowned as she did.

“Something wrong Zest,” I asked.

“...Is it just me, or does it seem like there are more guards on duty than there normally are?”

I tilted my head, not understanding what she was saying. “What do you mean?”

“Just look around you Flat. Normally there’s one guard for every door and one for the stage. But now there’s two guards at each door and four near the stage. They’ve more than doubled the horsepower this year,” said Zest, who was still looking around.

My initial thoughts labeled it as nothing too unusual, but then that itch in the back of my mind kicked in. Just yesterday I had found out the truth about this, and now more guards had been called in.

And if that wasn’t enough, the final nail in the coffin soon presented itself.

I felt a hoof touch me on the shoulder with a good slam. I turned my head around, looking for the owner. Looking at me with a face that a mother would give her lying son was Dial. She wore her normal stable jumpsuit, but was now wearing a gun belt with it.

Trying to show that I wasn’t afraid of her, I smiled smugly like Zest. “Morning Dial. I see you let your mane down today. Didn’t have enough time to style it this morning? You should probably spend more time sleeping and less time rubbing your flanks in the O.S. face.”

Zest started laughing, and I almost did to. Dial’s face went from annoyance to pure hate, but she shook that off and put on one of patience instead.

“I’m not here to help you make jokes Flatfoot. I’ve been sent to give you a message, directly from the Overstallion.”

“Oh, this I gotta hear,” said Zest, who quickly ran over to us with anticipation on her face. But Dial wasn’t having any of that.

“This message is for Flatfoot only. No other pony is allowed to hear it,” she said.

Zest raised an eyebrow “And how do you expect that to happen when we’re surrounded by ponies?”

Dial grabbed my face with her hooves and pulled me close to her face. A few nearby mares giggled at this, which caused my face to turn red fast. I looked back at Zest, who looked like she was ready to kill.

“I’ll whisper it to him. Now be a good filly and leave us for a moment. You can have your coltfriend back after I’m done with him,” said Dial.

I wanted to explain that I wasn’t her coltfriend, but Zest nodded and turned away before I could say anything. Dial looked back at me with a wicked smile. Her mouth moves close to my ears.

“The O.S. wanted me to tell you why there are so many guards this year. He’s been worried that certain ponies will...speak their mind...during the announcement. Therefore, all the guards have been told to shock anypony who says anything that would bring ponies to worry or be scared. Plus, all those who are close to the pony will face equal punishment. He hopes you enjoy the show, and that you don’t have to deal with the guards.”

Dial moved away from my face, looking at me with an evil smile. Then she turned on her hooves, slapped my face with her tail, and walked away towards the stage.

Zest watched her leave before walking back towards me. “So, what did she say? What’s the scoop Flat?”

My eyes shot up to look at the nearest guard, who was looking at me and Zest with the concentration of a meditator. His horn magic flickered for a moment, and I felt a slight tingling in my right hoof.

“Uh...none of your buisness Zest. Just some stuff I have to do for the O.S. later. Nothing more nothing less,” I said, trying my best to smile.

Zest looked like she was about to respond, but was cut off by the speakers turning on. All the ponies in the atrium stopped talking and looked up at the stage. The door behind it opened, and the O.S. walked out. He was wearing a new O.S. jumpsuit and had shaven whatever remnants of a beard were left on his face. His hair was unkempt, but it worked well for him.

As he made his way up to the podium, ponies began clapping and cheering. Zest just did a small clap while I stayed silent. No way could I ever clap for that stalion again.

The O.S. reached the podium, where the mics had just turned on. He raised his right hoof, which caused all the ponies the quiet down. The guards stood at attention, raising their right legs up to their forehead in a solute.

The O.S. lowered his leg and turned to the crowd in front of him.

“My fellow stable ponies; it is unfortunately that time of year again. It is the time where one pony will be sacrificed so that all other ponies in the stable will be able to live. Now I know many of you are scared or worried that you shall be picked this year. But I want you to remember that if you are picked, you are making the biggest contribution anyone can do for the stable. You shall be saving the lives of all the ponies around you. Every single one, saved because you made the ultimate sacrifice: yourself.”

The ponies in the crowded once again clapped and cheered, but I continued to remain silent. All he was saying was bullshit and I was the only one who knew so. To everyone else, he was speaking words of wisdom.

“Now it is time to reveal the name of the pony who was voted by the stable to be sacrificed. When I call the name of the selected pony, I want him or her to immediately come up to the stage. If the pony refuses to or tries to run, the guards will forcefully take you away. Now I hope that doesn’t happen, but it has before. Now, I do believe it’s time to see who has been picked. Dial, if you please,” he said, waving a hoof in Dial’s direction.

Dial walked up to the stage with a small blue envelope in her mouth. Making a great deal of it, she walked up the the O.S. and held the envelope out. He took it in his magic before turning back to the crowd.

“When I call the name of the pony selected, please come straight to the stage. Ponies may say their goodbyes while they are walking here, but no pony is allowed to stop him so they can have a long talk. The sacrifice must be done within the next hour.”

The crowd silently talked to one another, but none had any objections. Nopony ever did.

The O.S. increased his magic, tearing a side of the envelope off. A smaller piece of paper floated out and unfolded itself in front of him. Ponies watched with anticipation while the O.S. read the piece over. When he was finished, he lowered the paper and looked at the crowd with a smile.

“Well I must say I didn’t expect this pony to be the one picked this year. I hadn’t even met him until a while ago, but he seems to have quite a record to have as many votes as he did.”

Everypony in the atrium was holding their breaths. Zest looked more nervous than ever, and I could see Caps a little distance away. He was shaking so much you could make a milkshake with him.

But I ignored him and turned back to the O.S. He was now looking more serious, and spoke with a tough voice.

“Who would have guessed that this pony would actually be this year's sacrifice. I didn’t expect it, but you all did.”

I wanted him to say who it was and get it over with. The feeling I was getting from the area was starting to make me sick.

“The pony that will be sacrificed this year is none other than the chirpy maintenance pony himself...FLATFOOT.”

Chapter 2: Escape

FALLOUT EQUESTRIA: SURVIVOR

Chapter 2: Escape

“The pony that will be sacrificed this year is none other than the chirpy maintenance pony himself...FLATFOOT.”

My mind shut down for a good five seconds before I got control again. My back legs wobbled so much that I fell back on my hunches. Sweat poured down my forehead, and I couldn’t remember when I started breathing so quickly.

Ponies around the atrium were starting to turn their heads towards me. Some had on a look of sadness, tears just barely escaping their eyes. Some looked upset, but had the deep sense of relief on them as well. Other were slowly shaking their heads while they smiled.

“Flatfoot, would you please walk up here to the stage please. There is much that has to be done,” said the O.S. from behind his podium.

I didn’t want to walk up there, I didn’t want to be at his mercy. I wanted to run, to get away from the stallion who now had my life in his hooves. But the guards had moved in front of every door, blocking all the ways out. Their horns were glowing, and all were pointed at me.

“Flatfoot, we mustn’t keep the stable waiting. You know we have to do this within the hour. Think about everypony here,” said the O.S., who wore a sincere smile...had to be fake.

Something grabbed me on the back and pulled me back to my feet. I looked back, and saw Dial standing behind me. She wore the most evil smirk I had ever seen on a pony, and no one else was even looking at her.

She gave me a push with her hoof. “Go on Flatfoot, walk up to the stage.”

I swallowed a lump in my throat and looked up towards the stage. It seemed like such a long distance away, even if it was just a few feet. The O.S. continued to smile at me, most likely with glee that no pony questioned.

Slowly, I moved my hooves and began walking towards the stage. Ponies moved so that I had a walkway up there, so now it would take even less time.

But I had barely moved a few feet when something slammed into me. I didn’t fall over, but he impact was enough to get me to stop. Hooves grabbed my face and turned it to my left. It was then I found out who the hooves belonged to.

“Zest.”

The look on Zest’s face made my heart split in two. Her eyes were scrunched together and watering so much that tears ran down her cheeks like a faucet. Her lips were trembling and her nose was beginning to run. Sobs left her mouth, but every time they did she began to choke up.

“I’m sorry...I’m so sorry Flat. I didn’t think a pony like you would be chosen, but you were. I should have done something...I don’t know what...but something. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you out…” she tried to say more, but she just started crying again.

I had never seen Zest like this before. What I was seeing now was a sad, broken pony who was losing somepony close: ME. Zest had always been known for teasing me and trying to get me jealous. But now, she was just somepony who wanted to be hugged and comforted.

At first I didn’t know what to do. Zest had never been like this, so I didn’t know what would make her better. But the more I thought, the more she pulled me closer.

And that’s when I knew what to do.

I wrapped my hooves around her and pulled her into a hug. Zest continued to cry, and gratefully returned the hug. I heard a few ponies awing at us, but I didn’t care. I was helping a friend, even if I was on my way to death.

But a moment later, I felt something grab my jumpsuit and pull me back. Zest got yanked back to, and the force knocked her to the floor. A large guard stood behind her, scowling at me. Another guard stood behind me, keeping his hoof on my shoulder.

“I’m so sorry to break up the moment...Zest. But I did say that no one was allowed to stop the sacrifice on his way up here. Lucky for you your display of affection has made me choose not to punish you. Guards, escort Flatfoot up here so nopony disturbs him,” said the O.S.

The guard behind Zest walked to my side, pushing me against the other guard. They grabbed me with their magic, and soon began dragging me towards the stage. My hooves scraped across the ground while they did.

Ponies amongst the crowd began saying things to me as I passed.

“Sorry about this Flatfoot.”

“I never wanted you to be the one chosen.”

“Good Luck Flats.”

“Tell Celestia I said hi.”

I was almost at the stage, when a voice rang out.

“NO, NO, NOT MY SON! I CAN’T LOSE MY SON TOO!”

I looked back around to see the sound of the voice. Ponies were moving aside as a figure came closer to the pathway. The last ponies moved out of the way, and Mom came barreling towards us.

Her face was covered in tears, and her eyes were blood red. She rang towards us faster than a wonderbolt, and with just as much determination.

But before she could get to us, two guards appeared out of the crowd and blocked her path. She tried to get past them, but they held her back with magic. Her hoof reached towards me, stretching past the shield of magic.

“You can’t have my son! He’s all I have left. Don’t you see what you’re doing; he’s important to this stable. We’ll all die without him,” she screamed.

“You’re right Lead Pipe, we will all die without him. And that’s why he’s being sacrificed; so that all in the stable may live,” said the O.S.

“I’LL KILL YOU FOR SAYING THAT!” screamed mom, who was now pushing even harder against the guard’s magic. But nothing could get through a shield that strong.

“Okay...well thank you for saying that Lead Pipe.” He looked at the two stallions holding her back. “Guards, escort her to the medical bay for psychological treatment. She’ll need some after what happens here today. And make sure they’re very thorough.” It was almost demoic the way he smiled at the comment.

The guards nodded and began pulling my mom towards the exit. I tried to turn and run after them, but the two stallions kept a tight hold on me. And I was pretty sure the only reason I couldn’t talk was because of the magic that surrounded my face. The guards once again pulled me towards the stage, while my mom continued to cry out behind me. I could feel tears gathering in my eyes, but none fell.

The walk seemed to get slower and slower the more we walked. Ponies and guards alike became sluggish and unresponsive. The lights flickered and everything seemed calm.

That’s when it finally hit me: I’m Going To Die.

This wasn’t fake or a joke, this was the real deal. I was going to be killed. By what, I didn’t have a clue. All that mattered was that my life was over. I was going to DIE!

After what seemed like forever, we finally reached the stage. The guards released their magic and stepped away from me. I breathed in a sigh of relief, glad to be out of their bind. Magic and me have had a history, but it ain’t always great.

“Flatfoot, would you come up to the mike please,” asked the O.S. I could hear glee in his voice, and sensed an evil smile he was trying to keep concealed. He was obviously having a great time telling me what to do.

Not seeing any other choice, I slowly walked up the steps to the podium. I could feel all the eyes in the room staring at me like I was a prisoner being led to the gallows. Which, when you thought about it, this was pretty much the same thing.

I stopped next to the podium and turned to face the O.S. He was looking at me with a calm smile, like the one a grandfather gave to this rowdy grandfoal. There was another buzz in the back of my head, saying I should beat the living crap out of him. But my reasonability set in again, and I held myself back. No use attacking somepony if guards are all around you ready to fire.

The O.S. turned to the large crowd of ponies looking at us. “Ponies of Stable 11, I present to you this year's sacrifice! This brave and fearless pony will be giving up his life so that all of you may live. He will be taking a journey not all of us can take yet, but one we will indeed take someday. I know many of you may be upset that he was chosen, but be assured he was the one the stable, as a majority, voted for. So now, I would like to hand the mike over to Flatfoot, so that he may say his final goodbye to all of you.”

The O.S. moved to the side of the podium, and ushered for me to step behind it. I didn’t see any other options at this point besides running, which would have gotten me killed faster than Celestia could raise the sun. So, slowly, I walked over to the podium. The O.S. whispered to me when I passed him.

“Remember, all the guards are watching you.”

“Thanks for the reminder ass hole,” I said before I faced the crowd, who all stared back at me. Eyes of sadness, worry, glee, and a bunch of other emotions I couldn’t decipher all focused on me. They all just watched and waited for me to say something.

I cleared my throat, hoping to get the lump I had out of it. The mixes sent out that screeching wave they usually do, causing a few foals to cover their ears. I stepped back slightly and tried again.

“Uh...hello everypony. If...if you didn’t hear the O.S., my name is Flatfoot. It seems like I’m the one who’s been chosen, by you, to be sacrificed this year. I’ll admit...I didn’t think this would happen to me. I knew that it was a possibility, but I never thought that I’d be standing up here moments before dying.” the last words stuck in my throat like a clogged apple.

A few ponies in the area began crying, while others just looked at me sadly. I looked farther back and found Zest where she had been standing earlier. Tears continued to flow down her cheeks in waves, splashing down to the floor. Good thing she didn’t wear mascara, or it’d have been running dry by now.

“...I, uh, I just wanted to say that things may look bad, but they will get better. You’ll all leave here today, mourn for a while, then get back to doing what you’re doing. I may be gone soon, but you’ll still be here; keeping this stable going. I will miss you all, but I’m also...Proud...that I get to do this for you.” I thought hard about what to say next, but for some reason, the words just flew out of me.

“Because it’s for the good of you, it’s for the good of me...and it’s for the good of STABLE 11!” I screamed.

The crowd was silent for a few seconds. Their faces were all looking like I had just slapped them in the face. I didn’t know where I should step away or say something else.

But then I heard clapping. A pony, farther in the back, was clapping his hooves and smiling at me. Soon others joined in, until everypony in the atrium was clapping and cheering for me.

“Amazing Flat” screamed a pony.

“We love you Flat,” screamed another.

“Best speech ever,” called Caps, who was crying like a little foal.

The energy in the room was building, and it wasn’t sadness or misery: it was joy. Ponies were happy, even in this awful time. They weren’t thinking about what was going to happen, they were thinking about what I was doing. This actually got me to smile a little.

But the next thing I knew, I was being pushed aside and found myself once again between two stable guards. The O.S. stood in front of the mikes, and soon the whole Stable went quiet.

“That was a beautiful speech Flatfoot. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to top that. But now the words have been spoken, and it’s time for the sacrifice. Please follow me,” he said, before turning around and walking towards the door behind the stage.

The guards turned me around and matched me across the stage and down the steps to the door. I could hear ponies calling out more words of luck, but it all cut out when the door closed behind me. The guards moved away from me and stood by the door.

The O.S. turned to look at me. His smile was so smug you’d think he was the new rich foal at school with a lot of connections. Dial stepped next to him with the same expression.

“They really should be with each other, they can terrorize anypony they come across,” I thought.

“I’m very surprised at how you handled that Flatfoot. I was ready to blast you with my own magic if you spoke out. But instead you put on quite a show, one that probably tops all last speeches given by sacrifices. You really know how to keep up the act,” he said.

I narrowed my eyes, trying to hide any fear that wanted to crawl up to my face. “I can say the same to you. All that about “stable ponies choosing me” was pretty convincing. And let’s not forget when you acted like you were so surprised I was picked,” I shot back.

The O.S. smiled smugly “why thank you Flatfoot. I practiced in front of a mirror last night. I wanted to make sure I sounded realistic, and it turns out I did.”

“So you decided to make me the sacrifice because I found out the truth. Smart, I will admit, but I said I wasn’t going to say anything,” I said.

“Yes you did, but you can never be too cautious when dealing with a secret like that. I could already see you spilling everything during cider season. So to keep the secret safe, I made you the sacrifice. As simple as that,” he said with a smile.

I was getting more cross with this guy the more I listened to him. But I had a few questions to ask before I did anything I would regret.

“So tell me, since I’m going to die soon, why do you pick the sacrifices. Why is it that the ponies of the stable can’t decide,” I asked.

The O.S. looked at me like I had just cursed him out. “Why, because ponies are idiots that’s why. For years we let the stupid ponies of this stable get to decide who got killed every year. They ranged from good for nothings to high up officials. We lost many great ponies during those years. So, when I was elected Overstallion, I decided to make a few changes. From then on, I decided who was to be sacrificed. That way, I could make sure no pony who was valuable to the stable could be sacrificed. Then, our stable could live for years to come, and only have the best ponies living in it.”

My mouth dropped open in shock, and my legs began to wobble. This pony was mad, mad with power. He used his position to rig the whole process. Now no pony could make their claims. This wasn’t a democracy, this was a dictatorship.

“But it also means you yourself can’t be sacrificed either,” I said sternly to him.

He slowly rubbed his chin while he thought about it. “Well yes, that is another perk to this. But I primarily did it for the stable.”

“Sir, I don’t want to rush you when you’re enjoying yourself, but we really do need to get on with the sacrifice,” said Dial, who I had almost forgotten was there.

“Quite right Dial, mustn’t keep the computer waiting,” he said before turning to me, “now Flatfoot, please proceed to my office. The guards will escort you, but I believe you know where it is.” He said the last part with a smile King Sombra would have worn.

The guards walked from the door and positioned themselves on either side of me. The other guards began walking up the stairs, with the O.S. and Dial walking closely behind them. The guards on my sides encased me in their magic, and once again pulled me along.

***

It seemed like forever, but we soon reached the O.S.’s office. The doors opened and the seven of us crowded into the tiny room. I could see ponies in the auditorium outside the window on the fall wall. Some saw me, and began waving at me. If I could have moved my legs, I might have waved back.

“Alright Flatfoot, let’s get down to business. This is where you and I see each other for the last time,” said the O.S.

I looked around, a little confused. “Are you going to kill me here,” I asked.

The O.S. shook his head, and still wore a smile. “Oh no, not in here. Blood stains are so hard to get out of the wood. No, we have someplace else for you to go. From here you shall proceed to the Sacrifice Chamber. And there, well, the name says it all.”

The O.S. walked up to his terminal and activated it. He typed in a few codes, then stepped away from his desk. At that moment, I heard machinery grinding. Then the O.S. desk rose off the floor and up to the ceiling. Below it was a hidden staircase that lead to a large metal door. It looked grimy, and a few smears of blood could be see along the walls.

“Well, there you go Flatfoot. Go down these stairs and through the door. The computer will take care of things from there. Off you go now,” said the O.S., waving his hoof down towards the steps. The guards gave me an extra push, which did get me moving.

The fear that was running through my body was like nothing I’d ever faced before. My legs were barely able to keep myself up, and my teeth were chattering so much that I was afraid they would break. Everyone had their eye on me, and I couldn’t go anywhere but down from where I was.

So, I slowly walked down the staircase to the door. I looked back at the opening, seeing everypony looking at me either with a smile or a grimace. The O.S. walked to the opening, looking down at me with an evil grin.

“Remember….it’s for the good of the Stable,” he said.

I really wanted to go up and punch him in the face and break his horn. But I was just one pony against a group of five armed ponies. My odds were against me, and a pony knows that means to just do what you’re told. I turned back to the door, and with a few deep breaths, opened it. Hissing filled the air as it slowly swung open, revealing a long hallway behind it. There were lights above some pipes, and the walls had a small amount of rust on them.

I walked through the opening, but when I did, the door slammed shut behind me. I jumped a little at this, but overall I was okay. I was already scared, so something like that wasn’t going to push me over.

But maybe a strange voice would.

“Congratulations, martyr, your fantastic journey is only just beginning. Please proceed to the light.”

The voice was calm, like a mother talking to her scared foal. It definitely sounded like it was coming out a speaker, but the voice still sounded nice. My legs stopped wiggling, and my teeth stopped chattering. I didn’t know if this was some kind of hypnosis, but I did what it said. My legs began moving, even though I didn’t want to move.

The farther I walked, the harder it became to look at the end of the hallway. A large, bright light was shining on the other end. My legs were so focused on getting me there that I couldn’t even put my hoof up to block it.

“The light is calming and puts your mind at ease. Go to the light.”

That voice was beginning to sound less southing and more like a stallion luring foals to their untimely demise. The wiggling in my legs began to come back, but I was still able to walk. The light was getting closer, and it was so bright I had to close my eyes.

But soon, the light glowed so dim that I was able to open my eyes. I wasn’t in the hallway anymore, but a small room. There was another door on the other side, which looked like all normal Stable doors. Four spotlights were pointed at the door I’d just come through.

“Why would they want to blind the sacrifices,” I asked.

As I looked around the room more, the door at the other end of it began to open. A small amount of light leaked out of it, and a small gust of air blew outward. The door continued to open until it hit the back wall. Even with the light from the spotlights, it was still hard to see inside.

I slowly walked towards it until I was standing in the doorframe. The room beyond was very large, between the size of the O.S. office and the atrium. The walls were void of anything, except for the splatter of blood every few inches. The floor was also dirty and covered in blood. A few streaks rang through the stains at certain points, but I couldn’t figure out what they were.

In the center of the room was table with an old projector on it. A few wires from from it, down the table leg, and into one of the side walls. A large and plump chair sat next to the table, colored a very appropriate shade of red. To the left of that was a small circular table with a vase of flowers on it. They looked tall and healthy, so they must have been fakes. Finally, a large sheet covered the wall in front of the projector.

“Welcome, please sit in the chair. The show is about to begin."

“If that voice doesn’t shut up soon, I’m going to lose it,” I said through gritted teeth. I was being led to my death by a stallion who had died hundreds of years ago. The thought of that really pissed me off. But I couldn’t do anything about that more than I can do about this.

I walked up to the chair and looked around it. I didn’t see any needles, so that probably meant they weren’t going to poison me. I didn’t see any hatchets or knives either, which hopefully meant no stabbing. Plus the chair looked fairly clean, and comfortable to.

I slowly sat down in the chair, facing the white screen that hung from the opposite wall. I heard something click, and looked around. The projector had started up, and a Stable Tec logo appeared on it. But it soon scrolled away, and was replaced by a different picture. It showed a stallion relaxing on the beach with a pair of sunglasses and a picnic basket next to him.

"Greetings, martyr, and welcome! If you're here now, it means you've been offered up as a sacrifice so that your stable can continue to thrive. Currently, you may be feeling sad or angry. Perhaps you never got to have grandfoals, or to enjoy the pleasures of a fresh cigar. But march with your chin held high, soldier, and remember that each of us has an important role to play."

If this was supposed to make me feel better, then it wasn’t working. I did care about having grandfoals, and I already enjoyed a cigar before. Not only that, but this was telling me to the HAPPY that I was being sacrificed.

So yeah, the stable gets to live. I really am happy that they get to live. But to know that I’M going to die just made me feel like shit. And it wasn’t because others wanted me to, it was because I found out the O.S. secret. That was the only reason I was here. But my brain kept telling me their was nothing I could do, so I listened to the creepy speaker voice.

“For some ponies, their role might be to heal the sick. For others, it might mean they will build things, or become a wonderbolt. And some of us are meant to forfeit our lives for the good of the people. Sure, it might not be as fun as becoming a wonderbolt, but it's every bit as important.”

I felt a connection to what this slide was saying, except for the part about becoming a wonderbolt. I was an earth pony, and flying wasn’t something we could do. So when it came to career choices, wonderbolts weren’t an option.

The other parts of the slide did strike a connection with me.

As a maintenance pony, I’d gotten used to building and repairing things. It just came with the job requirements. I’d fixed everything from pip-bucks to Terminals. And when it came to building, I was just as good. My unfinished magic powered lamp still sat in my room. Maybe somepony in maintenance would find it and finish it. But that was probably just wishful thinking.

The other part didn’t concern me, but it concerned my best friend.

Zest may have been weird at times, but she was good at what she did. There wasn’t a surgery she couldn’t perform or disease she couldn’t cure. She was definitely one of, if the the most important pony in the Medical Bay. If I ever had a medical problem, I knew I could turn to her.

But I guess now, I’d unintentionally given her the worst disease anypony could get...sadness. She had been tearing up when my name got called, and even tackle-hugged me when I started to head up. She said she was sorry, that she wished she could have done something. While there was nothing she could have done, it still made stomach ache seeing her like that. I just wanted to hold her tight, and never let go until she was happy again.

Geeze, if I thought like that any longer I’d start crying too.

"Let's take a moment to reflect on the moments that made your life worth living. Think about that time you kissed your steady mare for the first time under the bleachers at the big game. Or when you snuck out after curfew to catch that new flick that your parents wouldn't let you see because it was too scary. Boy, were they right! And who could forget when you met the love of your life. What a looker! These are just examples.”

If only my life had been that exciting. I’d never kissed a mare before, and there wasn’t anything new in terms of movies in the stable. Nothing for me to sneak out and see. This projection was shooting false info at me, and it didn’t make me feel better.

My whole body tensed a little, and I started to grit my teeth. For some reason, I was becoming very angry. The nobbing in the back of my skull, that was always being put out by my brain, was beginning to grow stronger. It felt harder to keep it down, and part of me wondered what was going on in my brain right now.

“Come on Flats...don’t get too angry. There’s nothing you can do...there’s nothing you can do,” I repeated to myself. I had to close my eyes and concentrate, because I felt like I was ready to burst.

“You’re stuck in a room with no way out and will soon face whatever they use to kill ponies. I can’t stop it, and I won’t try to. This is how I end...even if I don’t like it,” I said to myself.

“Do you feel that feeling stirring in your chest as you think of these things? Good. What you are feeling is peace. You've led a great life - living it has been its own reward. But, it is only the beginning.”

I didn’t think this stirring was peace, but I couldn’t say what it was. I’d never felt something like this before. It was pulling at me, twisting the inside of my brain like a spring. My breathing grew more rapid while my hooves pushed deeper into the upholstery.

“what...what is happening,” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Close your eyes now and imagine what joys await you in the next life - the afterlife.”

“Come on Flats, get yourself together. Calm breaths, happy thoughts. This is it: don’t die being like this. You are a good pony who does what he has to. I’m the sacrifice...I’m going to die,” I said, with my eyes snapped shut and my teeth pressing against each other.

“Can you see them? Good.”

And that’s when I snapped.

“...No...FUCK THIS!” I screamed.

My eyes shot open, and my face turned into one of great anger. My ears shot straight up, and my hooves stopped pushing into the chair.

My brain, the only thing that told me the safe thing to do, had gone quiet. Instead, the constant nagging in the back of my skull had fully taken over. My head kicked into overdrive, and big time.

“I am not going to be sacrificed. I will not going to be the O.S.’s pawn. I’m going to live, and I’m going to kick the O.S.’s ass for what he’s done. And nothing is going to get in my way,” I fumed.

I really shouldn’t have said that.

Just at that moment, I heard the sound of gears turning. It sounded like it was coming from the walls, so I looked around the room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until I got to the wall on my right side.

A small door was lifting itself up and into the wall. Dust and grime floated down  and obscured the view. Once the door was all the way up, everything got quiet. The dust settled, and I saw what was on the other side.

It was definitely the biggest robot I’d ever seen. Four legs held it up at the bottom, all fitted with wheels. It had a large body with a small round head. Two arms sat on either side, each with a different weapon. The right arm was fitted with a grabbing claw that looked like it could cut through me. The left arm was a complete laser cannon. Tubes ran from the cannon to the robot, no doubt being the ammunition tubes.

The eyes on the robot turned on and off, almost like it was blinking. But then the lights came on all over the thing, and it slowly rolled out of it’s space. The head looked around the room, before landing on me.

“Yearly sacrifice identified. Please stand still while you are disintegrated. Resistance is futile.”

“Shit,” I said to myself.

The robot aimed it’s large laser cannon at me. I heard the sound of power building up in the back of it. The red light in the cannon grew bigger and brighter.

“Move Flatfoot, MOVE,” my head screamed.

I dove behind the chair just as the cannon fired. The beam of energy shot over my head and blasted against the wall behind me. A large black shot indicated where it had hit. To think that could have been me almost made me sick.

“Target not in visible range. Search for target. Execute on sight.”

I mentally cursed myself as I watched the robot begin to roll around the room. It’s cannon started up again, ready to fire when it saw me. It headed first to the wall on my right side, before slowly moving to the wall on the left side. Sooner or later, it would come around the chair and see me.

“Okay, think Flatfoot: you need a plan,” I thought. I’d never dealt with this kind of machinery before, but I was skilled in robotics. I’d helped the stable guards repair an old security bot a few years back. It failed again after a year, but it did give me some understanding of how robots work.

I carefully looked around the chair. The robot was going along the wall with the door I’d come through. That meant only one wall between it and me. If I didn’t come up with something fast, then I’d be barbecued.

The robot turned and looked at the door carefully. It had closed when I’d walked through, but it maybe thought I’d somehow opened it and gotten out. But I hadn’t, and looking at that door was a very stupid mistake.

I looked at the back of the robot, and smiled at what I saw. Sitting near the bottom of the middle section was a square piece of metal attached to a latch. Either that meant a battery compartment, or a control panel. The only problem: how do I get to it.

The robot stopped looking at the door and continued along the wall. It reached the corner, and began moving along the wall to my left. My time was running short, and I needed to get to that panel. I just had to distract it.

Then it finally hit me. I looked over at the table next to the chair. The only object on it was a small vase with a few fake flowers in it. I slowly snuck over to the table and picked up the vase. It was light, but not too light. No water was in it, and the flowers were glued to the bottom.

I moved back against the chair and looked for the robot. It was near enough to me that I could see it without looking too far around the chair. I had to act fast, or it would see me in a few seconds.

So I turned towards the corner near the door, and threw the vase as hard as I could. It soared through the air, before smashing into the wall with a loud CRACK.

The robot stopped moving along the wall. It turned around, and started moving towards the broken vase. I crept slowly from behind the chair and began sneaking up to the back of it. The robot was so focused on the vase, it didn’t even notice me.

When it reached the broken vase, it looked down at it. I moved in from behind and got close enough that I could open the panel. I unhooked the latch and swung the plate to the left. Beneath the plate was a crisscross of wires and switches. The dials had no name plates, and the wires all got tangled up in each other.

I had to hurry: the robot wouldn’t be occupied forever. It was already starting to look up from the vase. Panic would normally overtake me and I’d just run away. But for some reason, this just gave me more urge to focus. I scanned the switches, hoping to find the one I wanted.

And thank the goddesses, I did.

Located under some wiring near the bottom, I found the one switch that actually had a label: EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN.

I quickly reached a hoof out and flipped the switch. The lights on the robot quickly went out, and the whole machine became still. I slowly reversed away from the machine, hoping it didn’t come back online. But it stayed still and silent.

“Wow Flats, you did it. You took out a high performance Sentry Bot without destroying it. You are one smart pony,” I said with a smug smile.

But my happiness didn’t last long. I may still be alive, but the O.S. sent me down here to die. I couldn’t stay down here forever, and I’d die if I just walked back up there. I needed to use my brain again...I needed a plan.

I looked over at the door the robot had come through. Since it was so big, the door had to be large to. And it wasn’t just a small closet; it was another room. I walked to the door and peered into the room.

It looked to be the size of the room before this one. But what was in the room is what made my mouth drop.

Hanging on the walls was an assortment of weapons! Small guns huddled on one side of the room, while large ones sat on the other side. A table was set against the wall across from the door. Cases of bullets and tool kits sat neatly along the top. A long barrel shotgun sat against a corner, looking like it’d never been touched.

“Sweet Celestia. They have a whole room full of weapons down here. Did they never think a pony would beat the robot and get in here?” I asked myself as I walked towards the table.

Then again, they probably didn’t think a pony would be able to outsmart the robot. Maybe they thought only stupid or really scared ponies would be sacrificed. But that still didn’t explain what this was all doing down here.

I reached the table and looked over the ammunition that lay out in front of me. Assortments of bullets ranging from 9mm to 50 Caliber were all set in boxes along the top. Each one looked brand new, without any signs of decay or rust. The same could be said for the guns. All looked fully functional and shinny.

“Well, I’ve got a room full of weapons at my disposal...now what?” I asked. I may have been able to defeat one robot, but their was a whole section of soldiers up in the Stable. And if they saw me, they’ed either shoot me or capture me. Either way, I’d be right back here with the intent of being killed.

Plus, there was no place in the stable I could hide. Every part of the stable was checked regularly by the guards. Eventually my luck would run out and I’d be found. And I couldn’t ask one of my friends for help either. I’d be dragging them into this mess and getting them killed to. I couldn’t let that happen. But if I couldn’t do any of that, where could I go?

...Wait, if there was no place in the stable I could go, there was only one place I could go.

“Outside,” I said silently.

***

“I’ve got to be the craziest son of a bitch there ever was.”

I looked around the room for any kind of bag I could find. If I was really going to try and leave the stable, I’d have to be prepared. Water, Medicine...Protection. So I’d need a bag to carry everything in.

I opened a crate under the table and looked around inside. I found more ammunition and a few smaller guns, but no medicine or food and water. I shut the crate and moved onto the next one. I didn’t find any food, but I did strike a jackpot on everything else.

The crate was full of yellow medical kits and had a brand new saddlebag in it. The color was dark brown and had the standard Stable-Tec insignia on it. The medical kits were all stacked in neat rows, so I quickly picked a few out. Each one contained two cases of clean water, five rad-aways, some med-x, and five stimpacks. I picked a few out and dumped their contents into my saddlebags. I shut the crate and flung the bags onto my back. The weight was almost not there, and the padding felt great on my skin. I could move around without any disturbance, and the items didn’t move around either.

Now that I’d gotten that taken care of, I looked around at the guns hanging from the walls. I knew I’d have to defend myself once I got to the O.S. office, but I didn’t know which gun to pick. Some were small, so I could easily hold and store them. Some were large, which meant more power but a harder chance to fire right.

Plus, being and earth pony, I had to find one I could shout off with my mouth. I did see a few guns with mouth holders, and they seemed rather nice. Two that caught my eye were hanging very close to each other.

One was a small gun with a long barrel. The back end looked like a normal gun, but the bud was pointing sideways and looked like someone could hold it in their mouth.

 I walked over to it and pulled it down from the wall. It wasn’t too heavy or too light. I put the mouthpiece in my mouth to see how it felt. It fit perfectly and I could look right down the center of the barrel. I thought about putting some ammo in it and testing it out, but I didn’t have the time. I stuck it in my saddlebag and moved to the other gun.

This one was much different from the small gun. This one was large and had a much longer barrel. There was no piece for my mouth to fit on the end, so this one likely was meant for those who can use magic. It was probably a shotgun, so firing it with my mouth probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

“This could really come in handy if I’m facing something big. But I really don’t want to lose my teeth when I use it. There has to be something here I can use to help fire it,” I said.

I began opening the last two crates left under the table. The first one I opened had a few boxes of ammo and a few cans of syrup apples. Since I didn’t have any food, I grabbed the cans and put them in my saddlebag. Once again, I barely felt them in there.

I moved onto the last crate and opened it. And once again, the princesses were looking down on me with favor. Because sitting inside the crate was a brand new, unused, and perfectly clean battle-saddle. The leather back cover looked perfectly smooth, and the gun holders weren’t rusted at all. The firing mechanism didn’t have any missing or broken parts, so I hoped it all worked fine.

“Celestia, Luna, thank you both for giving me my ticket out of here. Praise be to Equestria,” I said, before carefully lifting the battle-saddle out of the box.

I set it carefully on the ground and went to retrieve the shotgun. It had a little more weight to it, but I was able to carry it over to the saddle. I slid the gun into the holster and set up the firing mechanism. Everything fit perfectly into place.

Once everything was set, I lifted the battle-saddle onto my back. It fit perfectly, and like my saddlebags, the leather felt great against my skin. Then again, most of the saddle covered my jumpsuit.

I tightened the leather straps under my belly and made sure it was loose enough it wouldn’t hurt, but tight enough so it didn’t roll around. I walked around the room a bit to see how it felt.

“Feels good and stable, and doesn’t really slow me down. Now, I think I should at least test this one. I’d hate for this thing to be dead weight,” I said.

I went back to the table and gathered up all the ammo I could fit in the loading slots. I attached a magazine into the gun, and walked into the sacrifice chamber. The projector was still on, but it only showed a logo of Stable-Tec. The Sentry Bot still sat quietly in the corner.

“Perfect target practice,” I said to myself. I walked back to the chair and turned towards the robot. I lined up the barrel right at the robots head. Once I did, I grabbed the fire mechanism with my mouth and pushed down on it. I heard a blast, and felt the gun push against the saddle. I stumped a little, but I didn’t loose my footing. Unfortunately, the bullet didn’t hit the robot. It smacked into the wall, flattened out, and fell to the floor.

“Shit. If I can’t hit anything, how am I going to survive out their. There’s got to be a way I can fire straight,” I said.

I began thinking about what I could do, when my pipbuck began to blink. I brought it up to my face and looked at the screen. The screen said “Press Me.”

“Can’t be much simpler than that,” I said, and pressed the screen. The words disappeared and another screen popped up. It had an image of a pony on it, and the letters S.A.T.S. on the top.

“What in the name of Celestia is this,” I asked myself.

A note appeared on the screen with some writing. I scanned over the document and was surprised by what I found.

“The Stable-Tec Assisted Targeting Spell, or S.A.T.S. for short, is a new feature on all Stable-Tec PipBucks. This spell, which can be used by Unicorns, Pegasus, and Earth Ponies, will allow you to get your eye in on all targets. Simply activate the spell with your head, and pinpoint your target. The spell will allow you to pick the part of your target you wish to hit, and make sure it lands a bullseye. Enjoy, and shoot responsibly.”

“Really...it’s that simple. Just activate this spell and choose what I want to shoot. Please tell me this isn’t some prank by Stable-Tec,” I said to myself.

But if this thing really did work, then I might have a shot, literally, at getting out of here. And personally, I’d rather try this and be proven wrong then not try at all. So, I looked confidently back at the robot. I concentrated hard, and mentally screamed “S.A.T.S., ON!”

It was like my eyes had become a telescope. My vision zoomed until it looked like I was right in front of the bot. But then it got weirder. The robot's left arm glowed green, which didn’t make much sense. I looked at the other arm, and was shocked when the light jumped from one arm and onto the other. No matter what part I looked at, the green light always encased it.

“Well, I guess that’s how it works. But, let’s see how it performs,” I said. I looked up at the robot’s head, which now glowed green. I cautiously bit down on the gun trigger, and pressed it hard. The bullet shot from the barrel and passed clear through the robot’s head. Sparks flew from it, but thankfully nothing exploded.

“Wow...this thing is AWESOME! Now, I can shoot whatever I want. Gee, I wish I’d known about this during my fight with Lock Pick,” I said happily.

“Well, it looks like I have everything I need to make it out of here. Now, let’s just hope the whole security force isn’t waiting for me on the other side. But if they were, I’d have to deal with them with lethal force.

I turned toward the closed door to the hallway. Once I walked through those doors, I’d be the enemy of everypony in the stable. It would be hard, but I was willing to pay the price. So, I walked to the door and pulled it open. Looking at the long hallway beyond, I walked through the door, leaving the dark sacrifice chamber behind me.

***

The walk back down the hallway was much faster than the first time. I paid no attention to the blood stains or the blinding lights behind me. The voice wasn’t saying anything, which was perfectly fine with me. That voice gave me the creeps.

I finally made it to the other side of the hallway. The door I’d walked through was closed. But I could see a small amount of light sneaking through the bottom, which must mean the O.S.’s desk was still up. Another thing on the list of good things happening to me.

I moved to the door and slowly pulled it open. Light poured into the hallway as I opened it more. I stopped when it was still mostly closed but I could look outside through the open part. I moved over to the opening and looked out.

As I suspected, the O.S.’s desk was still up in the air. The room seemed fairly quiet, but I couldn’t tell if there was anypony in it. I’d have to go up and see if anypony was there. So I opened the door more and slipped through. I kept my walking as quiet as I could, and slowly moved up the stairs.

When I was close to the top, I stuck my head up and looked around the room. The path to the O.S.’s office door was clear, and there was nopony behind the desk either. But as I looked around the room, I did spot somepony.

The O.S. was looking out at the atrium through his office window. His face showed one of pride and happiness; no doubt from thinking he’d gotten rid of me. Now he was probably thinking of how nopony would get in his way again.

But I wasn’t dead, and I was ready to kill him with my guns. But if I fired off a gun here, the whole Stable would be able to hear it. I had to find a way to incapacitate him without killing him. Plus, I had to get the passcode if I wanted to open the Stable door. It would either be on his PipBuck, or on his terminal.

“Ponies die, Ponies live. Those that die do because they aren’t smart enough to find a way to live. Those that live do because they can use their knowledge to have others killed instead. Flatfoot died, and I shall live. Seems we all have our place,” he said as he nodded his head.

I contemplated on what I could do. The O.S. was a unicorn, which meant he had magic on his side. If I tried anything, he could use his magic to counteract it. I need to stop him before he could use his magic. I need to be fast, and I needed to not be seen.

The O.S.’s PipBuck began glowing and shouting out “You’ve Got A Message.” Wow...Deja Vu.

The O.S. brought his PipBuck up to his face and opened the message.

“This is your chance; he’s distracted. Sneak up to him like you did with the Sentry Bot,” I thought to myself. So I moved up the last few stairs and maneuvered myself behind the O.S. I turned around and had my legs ready. Since I was an Earth Pony, I was going to use my natural strength to take care of this guy.

“Stable sensors reported the sound of gunfire only moments ago. Sensors say it originated from the sacrifice chamber. This most likely means that Flatfoot has been taken care of. I’ll report back to you when we have complete confirmation. Signed Dial,” read the O.S. He put his PipBuck down and smiled as he looked to the window.

“Well it seems that Flatfoot is no longer with us. Let us remember the pony as he was: A small and unimportant pony who stuck his nose into things it didn’t belong. Now I’m free of that pest, and I’ll never see him again.”

“Never might be sooner than you think,” I said sternly.

The O.S.’s body tensed up as if electricity was running through it. But just as fast he started turning around towards me.

“Now or never,” I thought.

I pulled my rear legs back, then shot them towards the O.S. I felt my hooves collide with the side of his face, and the CRUNCH that came with it. I looked and saw the O.S. stagger back to the wall. His nose was bleeding and a large bump was beginning to form where I’d hit. But he still wasn’t unconscious, so I went in for another blow. I made my hooves curve at the last second, giving him an good left hook to the left side of his face.

The O.S. staggered for a second, before slowly crumpling to the floor. Blood continued to flow out of his nose, and the two bumps he had just kept getting bigger. If I didn’t fucking hate the stallion, then I’d probably feel sorry for him. But he tried to kill me, so I was extremely happy.

I moved over to the body and put a hoof up to his neck. After a few seconds, I felt a slight beating of a pulse. He wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t going to be harming anyone anytime soon. I reached down and activated his PipBuck. Scrolling through the sections, I soon found the one labeled NOTES.

I opened the section up and scrolled through the list of notes he had on their. They ranged from simple repair notes to preparations for the sacrifice. All interesting, but all not the one that would help me out.

I was about to give up and start searching the terminal, when I hit the jackpot. At the very bottom of the list sat a note with the title: STABLE DOOR OVERRIDE CODE.

I tapped the file and looked at the options that it showed me: Delete, Open, or Transfer. I selected transfer and typed in my PipBuck registration code. The note icon rolled into a scroll and burned up. And a second later, a fire image blazed on my PipBuck before turning into a scroll that flew to my notes section.

“Alright, step one is done. Now it’s time for step two; getting out of this place without dying.”

I walked over to the office door and pressed the button. The door opened and I looked out into the hallway. I couldn’t see anypony in sight, and the Eyes Forward Sparkle didn’t sense anypony in the nearby area.

Since the coast was clear, I ran out of the office and down the hallway. The stable door was on the next level up, past the dining area. Once I got to the door, I’d be able to get out.

So I increased my speed and ran for the nearest stairs.

***

I made it to the stairs without encountering anypony. Most ponies chose to stay inside the rest of the day after a sacrifice was chosen. Some mourned, some slept, and some had a party if the pony sacrificed was their enemy. I’ve done all three over the course of my time here.

I jumped the last few stairs and found myself in another deserted hallway. An empty theater room sat on the right side with a note saying “Closed For Sacrifices. Check Back Tomorrow.”

The other side was the dining area. The door was open, and I smelled fresh food being cooked from the grill in the back. No doubt Whisk would be making comfort food for the ponies who needed it. I always had a few hooffulls when I was younger.

But I didn’t have the time to sit and remember. I shook my head and ran down the hallway. I came to a corner and duck to the left side. I continued running until I came across another door. It wasn’t for the Main Entrance, but I knew what it was.

I pressed the button on the wall and the door sprang open. On the other side sat the stable bar. A long counter ran along the back wall, with an assortment of wines and alcohol stacked on shelves behind that. Comfortable stools ran along the counter, and a few tables were scattered around the area. Behind the bar, cleaning a glass, was Tapper. He ran the bar and served all the drinks. His dark green pelt went well with his stable jumpsuit and rusty orange mane. His cutie mark, a shot glass, was just visible under his suit.

But then my head darted to another pony in the room. In the corner, sitting at a small table, was Zest. Her mane was slopped down and messy. Black streaks ran down her eyes, which were bloodshot. Twenty empty bottles sat around the table, and a half empty one was clutched in her hooves.

I ran into the room, past Tapper, and up to Zest. She looked even worse up close.

“Zest, what are you doing. What happened to you?”

Zest didn’t respond right away, and just continued to look into space. But then she slowly lifted  her head and looked at me. Her eyes were emotionless, and her mouth seemed covered in a mixture of different drinks. I could definitely smell it.

“...Not now Tapper….I’m trying to drown my sorrows. Maybe, maybe you could get me another drink? I think this one’s almost out,” she said, taking another sip from the bottle.

“Zest, snap out of it. It’s me: Flatfoot. Your best friend in the whole stable,” I said.

“Don’t be stupid...Flatfoot’s dead. I saw him get taken away by the O.S. He’s gone….gone forever.”

I was getting more annoyed. Zest had drank so much her brain wasn’t even working right. I had to snap her out of this somehow. But I didn’t have a clue on how to do it.

I turned towards the bar. “Hey Tapper, I need some help!”

Tapper stopped cleaning his glass and looked over at me. His eyes bulged out when they did. He quickly ran from behind the bar and up to me.

“Flats, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be dead,” he screamed.

“So I heard. But you really didn’t see me when I walked in or hear me when I was talking to Zest?”

He shrugged. “Hey, when you run a bar, you learn to tune out voices and ponies who aren’t directed at you.”

“Well right now I need some help.” I waved a hoof at Zest, who was still drinking. “I need to snap Zest out of this and fast. You’ve dealt with drunk ponies before, you must have some way of snapping them out of it.”

Tapper rubbed his chin. “Well, she’s a lot more drunk than most ponies I get. But I may have a way to get her going again. But you have to promise not to hit me when I do this.”

I raised an eyebrow again. “What are you going to do?”

Tapper rubbed his hooves together while a grin appeared on his face. I was starting to get nervous.

“I’m going to shock her out of her stupper,” he said.

“Zest is a pretty tough pony. What can you possibly do that will make her get out of this,” I asked.

“You’ll See. Now just don’t hit me when I start.”

He walked over to Zest and positioned himself on her left side. She took no notice of him and kept staring into space. I watched, waiting to see what kind of tactic Tapper was going to use.

Tapper reached his hoof towards Zest, before suddenly turning down and putting it between her legs. Zest’s eyes popped open faster than anything I’d ever seen. Her mouth opened and let out a high pitched scream. She fell off the chair and curled up in a ball on the floor, holding her neither regions carefully.

“OW...WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR TAPPER,” she screamed.

Tapper held a hoof up to his mouth, trying to hold back a laugh. If the situation was different, I might have laughed too. And I was glad Tapper had warned me before, because normally I’d have him down on the ground bloody by now.

“Well you were in a stupor, and there was a pony who needed to talk to you,” he said, still trying not to laugh.

“Whoever this fucker is, he’ll be getting the same beating I’m going to give you!”

“Aw come on Zest, I’ve been through enough already,” I said with a smug smile.

Zest’s eyes popped open and looked straight at me. She looked shocked, then began to smile. Her eyes watered, causing the black streaks to wash away. Pain not being a problem, she jumped off the floor and ran over to me. She wrapped her hooves around me, brought me close, and buried her face in my chest.

“Flats….it’s you. You're ALIVE! How’d you escape, how’d you find me….and where did you get that sweet gun and battle-saddle,” she asked, eyeing my new gear with a smile.

“It’s good to see you to Zest. But I don’t have time to explain everything. I need you to listen to me and remember everything I say….you too Tapper,” I said to the pair.

The two looked at me, confused. “What’s the problem Flats. Is something wrong,” asked Tapper.

“Something is VERY wrong. Look, the reason I was picked to be sacrificed was because I found out something big. Something the O.S. didn’t want getting out. The elections are rigged, no ponies vote counts. The O.S. is the one who picks who is sacrificed. When I found out, he picked me so I wouldn’t say anything.”

Zest shook her head. “Wait a minute…. the votes don’t count. The O.S. decides who gets picked. But….why would he do that,” she asked.

“Because he wants to make sure anypony important, like himself, doesn’t get picked. When I was fixing that fuse box, I overheard his conversation with Dial and found out. He caught me, and that led to everything else. I took care of him, but I can’t stay here. So….I’m leaving the stable.”

Tapper and Zest’s mouths dropped open, and their eyes grew wide. I figured they react positively.

“Flats, are you NUTS! Going outside is a death sentence! There’s nothing out there, and if there is, it’ll probably kill you. What’s the point to doing something like that,” Zest screamed.

“I agree with Zest on this one,” said Tapper. “I’ve heard stories about what’s outside the Stable, and it isn’t good. No pony has ever left this Stable, and the door hasn’t opened for 120 years. How do you even plan on opening it?”

I pulled up my PipBuck and opened the Override note, showing it to the two. “I’ve gotten the override code. Once I get to the door, I just have to type it in and I’ll be outta here.”

“How on earth did you get that?” Zest asked with a raised eyebrow.

I slowly rubbed the back of my head. “I….may have knocked the O.S. out and took it from his PipBuck.”

“You knocked the O.S. out! Oh, if he didn’t hate you before, he’s going to now,” said Tapper.

“Even more reason for me to get out of here. I don’t know how long he’ll be out, but I don’t want to be around when he wakes up. I need to get to the Stable door before any guards see me. Hopefully they…”

“ATTENTION STABLE 11, ATTENTION STABLE 11. THIS IS AN URGENT MESSAGE FROM YOUR OVERSTALLION!”

“Crap,” I thought.

“THIS IS A STABLE EMERGENCY! FLATFOOT, THIS YEAR’S SACRIFICE, HAS ESCAPED FROM THE CHAMBERS! ALL GUARDS ARE TO SEARCH THE STABLE AND FIND HIM! CITIZENS ARE TO STAY IN THEIR ROOMS AND NOT INTERFERE! IF ANYPONY IS CAUGHT HELPING THIS RENEGADE, THEY WILL FACE A PUNISHMENT GREATER THAN DEATH! BE WARNED: FLATFOOT IS CARRYING A RIFLE AND IS THOUGHT TO BE MENTALLY INSANE. ALL GUARDS ARE TO TAKE CAUTION WHEN APPROACHING HIM. BRING HIM TO THE O.S.’S OFFICE WHEN FOUND, BUT IF NECESSARY, YOU MAY SHOOT ON SIGHT! NOW FIND THAT STALLION!”

The speakers cut off, and the Stable seemed to go eerily quiet. But then, I heard the sound of hooves running along the metal floor. It was coming from everywhere, so the guards must have spread out fast.

“Well that’s just great. Now I have the entire security section hunting me down. So much for getting out of here silently,” I said.

Zest walked up to me and put a hoof on my shoulder, smiling. Under different circumstances, I might have blushed. “Don’t worry Flats; we’ll help you out. No pony tries to kill our friend and gets away with it.”

I wanted to smile, to say thank you for everything. But instead, I shook her hoof away and frowned. “Sorry Zest, but I have to do this alone. You heard the O.S.; anypony who is caught helping me will face extreme punishment. I don’t want that to happen to you, or anypony else.”

“So what, we’re just supposed to do nothing while you try and get out of this place,” asked Tapper.

“YES,” I screamed. I was wasting time, time in which the guards would be spreading out in the stable. If I wanted to get to the door, I’d have to move fast.

“Look, I have to bolt now or I’ll be caught.” I walked up to Zest and embraced her. “I’m….I’m sorry Zest. I’ll miss you, but I hope to see you again. Try not to do anything stupid okay,” I asked with a smile.

Zest sniffed and tried to smile to. “O….okay. But promise me you’ll come back alright!”

I giggled at the comment. Zest seemed to know just how to make me laugh. Even when I was in a life or death situation.

“Hey Flats, catch!”

I turned towards the bar just in time to see something flying towards me. I grabbed it in my hoof and examined it. It was a bottle of “Apple Arcs Top Notch Cider”, which the label said was over 150 years old!

“When you head outside, there’s going to be times you need to relax. Have this one on me, and show the outside just what a stable pony can do,” said Tapper from behind the bar.

I put the cider bottle in my bag, then walked up and held my hoof out to Tapper. “Thanks Tapper. I hope your bar doesn’t suffer from what I’m about to do.”

Tapper grabbed my hoof and gave it a firm shake. “My pleasure Flats. And don’t worry about me and my bar. If it does suffer, the I can always drown my sorrows in alcohol.”

I rolled my eyes at the thought, but figured he was only joking. At least I hoped he was only joking. But I pushed it aside, turned to the door, and breathed.

“Well, goodbye guys.”

And then I bolted out of the room and down the hallway towards the entrance.

***

I quickly got to the end of the hallway, but stopped before I turned a corner. My E.F.S was showing a red dot on the other side of the corner. I sneaked up to the bend and looked around at the other side.

The second hallway was shorter, and I could see the other end from where I was. A door sat on the opposite side of the hallway. A sign above the door described my destination: MAIN ENTRANCE.

But the I spotted what my red dot had been showing.

A guard was standing in front of the door, keeping an eye on the door and the hallway. He didn’t seem to notice me, so I must have been well hidden. He wore stand issue stable guard barding and helmet. A gun was holstered onto his leg, and was in easy range of unholstering. Since I didn’t see a horn on his head, he must have been an earth pony.

“Okay, I have to get past this guard if I want to get to the door. I really don’t want to shoot him, but I can’t just knock him out like I did the O.S.; he’s too far away. Come on Flatfoot, use your brain,” I thought. I ran through a few different options in my head, but it took me a minute to find a good one.

I moved round the corner and began walking towards the door. The guard turned around and jumped a little when he saw me. He instantly went for his gun and pulled it out of its holster. With lightning speed he pointed the end at me.

“Stop right where you are Flatfoot,” he called through a full mouth. His eyes looked fierce and his whole body wobbled. From nerves or adrenaline I had now idea. But I didn’t stop and kept on walking towards him.

“I SAID STOP, I’ll shoot if I have to,” he screamed.

I didn’t respond to his threats, and kept walking until I was a leg's length away from him. The barrel was so close to my head, if he shot I was dead. But I kept my cool and just smiled at him.

“Okay, I’ve stopped. So what are you going to do now,” I asked.

The stallion seemed a little confused about what I was doing. But he quickly put his fierce look back on. “I’m taking you to the Overstallion as instructed. You are in no position to refuse or resist.”

I raised an eyebrow questionably. “Am I? From what I’m seeing it’s your 9mm gun against my battle-saddle. I’m not an expert on guns, but I think a weapon like mine beats a weapon like yours every time.”

The guard looked down at the shotgun attached to my battle-saddle. His eyes grew wider, and his fierce demeanor soon began to dissolve.

“Where….where did you get that?” His voice became shaky, and so did the rest of his body.

“Doesn’t matter where I got it.” I could feel his confidence drain from him with every word I said. “What matters is that I got it. Now, do you feel lucky enough to go up against me with a toy like that?” I said, looking at his 9mm gun.

The stallion remained still for a moment, looking back and forth at our weapons. His pupils had gotten smaller, and his gun was now beginning to shake like the rest of him. Eventually, he lowered his gun back into his holster.

“No….no I don’t.”

“Good. Now I want you to get away from this area and not come back until further notice. If you see any guards on the way down, tell them the same thing. Failure to do so will result in painful injuries,” I said. I shifted my saddle a little just for emphasis.

The guard looked at me nervously before nodding. “yes, yes sir. I’ll, just, leave,” he said. He walked past me and down the hallway. I watched him until he disappeared around the corner with a flick of his tail.

“Wow, didn’t think that would work. But hey, I didn’t have to kill him, so that’s a bonus,” I said happily. I reached over the pressed the button on the wall. The door slip up and I walked into the entrance room.

I’d never been in there before, but it wasn’t exactly a classy room. The walls and floor were covered in rust. Old computers sat in a small side area to the left of me. Some rusty metal crates were stacked along the right wall, with a desk and terminal sitting in front of them.

A small section of stairs led to the lower area of the room. At the top of the stairs sat the door control pad. It looked fairly clean, but a few patches of rust coated the lower areas. Above the bottom of the stairs sat the door opening mechanism. It looked like a round tube with a pole sticking out of it. And at the other end of the room sat the large, cog-shaped, stable door.

“Wow, never thought I’d come into this room. Let alone come in here so that I could leave,” I said to myself.

I walked over to the stable door control panel. It seemed like a simple control panel; a keypad, a few blinking lights, and a small lever.

“Great description Flats. Good to know those years of working in maintenance have paid off,” I thought. But I shook those thoughts away and focused on the task at hoof.

I brought up my PipBuck and opened the fire containing the override code. According to the text, the code was “072574-LMF.”

I looked over the keypad and quickly typed in the passcode. Once I hit enter, a green light appeared above the small switch.

“Hopefully that means it worked. Guess I’m about to find out,” I said. I grabbed the lever with my hoof and pulled it down quickly.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!

Alarms began ringing all around me. It wasn’t loud enough that I had to cover my ears, but I did grimace a little when it started up. I looked at the door and notice an orange warning light spinning above it.

Then the cylinder moved down, extending its pole into the stable door. Once it was in, it pulled back which brought the door with it. The screeching of metal against metal along with the siren was enough for me to cover my ears.

Once the door had been pulled out, it rolled to the right along a set of grooves. It tapped the wall and moved no more than that. I moved away from the panel and looked out beyond the door. All I could see was pitch black.

“Didn’t expect it to be so dark. Is the rest of the outside like this,” I wondered. “But it doesn’t matter. I can’t stay here, and out there was the one place I could go. Safety in the Stables doesn't apply to me anymore, or ever again. This is where my life changes.”

I walked down the stairs and began walking towards the open doorway. I stopped just before the entrance and looked at the blackness beyond. I hoped that my PipBuck light would be able to light my way.

“I know I have to leave….but….can I really do this?”

“Oh I believe you can do it Flatfoot.”

My head shot into the air before jerking around to look behind me. I hadn’t even noticed five ponies walking into the room.

Four were stable guards, each one a unicorn. They all had their guns drawn and pointing at me. The pony in the middle had two lumps on the side of his face and bandages covering his nose. He was giving me a death glare, and I knew why. I had just knocked his face up a while ago.

“Go ahead Flatfoot; leave the stable. Die outside along rather than in the comfort of your home. See how ponies react to your death being for nothing,” said the O.S.

“I’d rather die outside a free pony than die a slave to you in here,” I shot back. Anger overtook me again and what was left of my willpower was the only thing keeping me from shooting the bastard.

“You do realize that if you leave, you’d never be let back in. I’ll make sure the stable override code is changed and place guards at the entrance. You’d be stuck out there forever, and have nopony to help you. But it doesn’t have to be this way,” he said with a smug smile.

I looked at him questionably. “How so,” I asked.

“Well,” he started, waving a hoof in the air. “You could give yourself up right here and now. I’ll have the guards escort you to the sacrifice chamber and give you a choice. You can choose how you want to die. Knife, Gun, Hanging, you name it. Therefore the sacrifice is complete, and you get the satisfaction of choosing how you die. Everypony wins,” he said happily.

This stallion was fucking nuts. Everything that dealt with me ended in my dying. I really wanted to blast him with my gun, but then I’d have to deal with five high class unicorns and their guns. Guns were bad enough, but guns and spells were twenty times worse.

Well I wasn’t going to have it. Not this time, and not ever again.

“So I get to choose how I die?” I asked.

The O.S. smiled smugly. “Yes you do; anyway you want. Well, except maybe my explosives. We have to keep the chamber intact you see.”

“Alright then. I choose to die outside, ALONE!”

I turned away from the five and bolted out the stable door. I screeched to a stop a few feet outside and looked back. The guards still had their guns aimed at me, but they hadn’t fired at all.

The O.S. looked at me with disappointment in his face. He slowly shook his head. “Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this Flatfoot. But it seems you’ve given me no choice.” He turned to the farthest guard on his right side. “Guard, shut the door.”

“Right away sir,” he said. The unicorn’s horn grew brighter, and the magic engulfed the control pad. The alarm bell rang out again as the stable door began to roll back into place. But the overstallion wasn’t done talking to me just yet.

“Know this Flatfoot: when you’re lying on the ground dying from Celestia knows what, remember that this is what you choose.”

And with that, Stable 11 door rolled into place, before sliding itself shut once more.

___________________________________________________

Flatfoot :

S.P.E.C.I.A.L

Strength: 8

Perception: 5

Endurance: 6

Charisma: 9

Intelligence: 6

Agility: 4

Luck: 8

PERKS

ScavengerLarge GunsBarterFortune Finder

Chapter 3: Discoveries

FALLOUT EQUESTRIA: SURVIVOR

Chapter 3: Discoveries

The sudden absence of light almost made me freak out.

My breathing began to pick up again, and I felt another gnawing at the back of my skull. It kept screaming at me: “Run to the door. Bang on it. Try the override code again. Get back inside the stable. You won’t make it out here.”

“No, that’s not how this was going to work.” I left that place because I didn’t want to die for nothing. I wanted to live; I wanted to kill the asshole who calls the shots. If I went back, there’d be no way of accomplishing that.

I pulled up my PipBuck and hit the light switch on the front. The device shown a bright green light that lit up the area. I looked around at my surroundings.

The stable door itself was rusty and clearly showing its age. In the middle of the door was a faded number 11 that glowed slightly in the dark. Another control panel sat on the left of it, looking rusty but not broken. The floor in front of it was metal, before smoothing out to rough dirt.

I slowly paced around the area, getting a feel of the terran. I’d lived my entire life in the stable, so I had always walked on solid metal or tile floors. This was my first time walking on dirt, and it felt great! It scratched at my hooves and covered them in a fine layer of dust….or stone dust to be precise.

I stopped moving and shone my light across the rest of the cavern. It seemed barren except for a few boulders father up ahead. But then I looked below them, and saw a skull looking back at me.

I jumped a little in surprise, but still managed to keep my cool. I walked up to the skull, seeing the rest of the structure lying behind it. The bones were a little scorched, but overall it seemed fine. Nothing was sitting near it except for a sign with the words: We’re Dying Assholes. Let Us In!

I shook my head sadly, thinking this pony was lucky he wasn’t let it. He was able to die out here with a purpose: trying to get in. Futile, but at least he didn’t die because the Overstallion didn’t like him.

Not much better, but still better than the Overstallion option.

“Alright, enough gawking,” I said. I looked around the cavern, waving my PipBuck wherever I needed to look. “There’s got to be an exit somewhere.”

I left the skeleton behind and began walking down the cavern. The terrain was flat at first, but soon began to slope up. I had to climb over so fallen rocks a few times, but other than that nothing got in my way.

“How far down did they build these stables?” I’d studied books on the making of stables before, but none spoke about the depth or location of a stable.

I decided the best bet for me was to just keep walking until I found an exit. The slope was beginning to flatten out again, so I figure I must be getting close to the exit. But what I found instead wasn’t an exit.

I reached the top of a large slope, and found myself at the foot of a spiraling staircase. The structure was made of metal, and had rust all over it. I looked up as the stairs spiraled into the blackness above.

“This must be the way to the top,” I said aloud. I put my hoof on the first step and pressed down on it. I heard a slight groan, but the staircase didn’t fall apart. Good thing, because I needed to climb it.

I put my other hoof on the step above it. Once again, it creaked but didn’t collapse. I repeated this process as I slowly climbed up the staircase. The cavern walls reflected the light of my PipBuck, making everything seem brighter.

I looked up above me, and noticed a platform a few more steps up. A hole was cut in the middle to make room for the spiraling staircase. When I finally reached the top, I looked around the area.

The platform wasn’t very big, but it was roomy enough to walk around. A few open crates sat along one side, while a table occupied the middle. On the side opposite the crates was a small terminal station. Metal poles stuck into the floor, each with a small gate in between the others. A sign above the area read: ENTRANCE CHECK IN.

“It looks like this was where ponies came before going down to the stable,” I said as I walked to the terminal. I began to imagine what my Great-Great-Grandparents were thinking when they came down here that day.

Hundreds of ponies pushing and shoving, trying to get to the safety of the Stable. The guards that must have been trying to keep everypony calm while the megaspells rained down outside. The cries of foals and the mayhem that would follow.

Uck, I didn’t have time to think of stuff like that. I need to see if there was anything helpful up here. I trotted over to the terminal that sat on the podium. The screen was dark, but then I noticed the power switch was off. I push it up and watched the screen blink to life. Green light helped my PipBuck with lighting the room, and green words appeared on the screen.

“Stable-Tec Terminal for check in at Stable 11. Server has been offline for 120 years, five months, Two weeks, 1 hour, and 44 minutes. Please check with Stable-Tec mechanics for any questions relating to server problems.”

“Too late now. I highly doubt there are any technicians left,” I said. But I kept my focus on looking over the terminal. I scrolled through the notes and maintenance records, but none of that interested me. What did catch my attention was the list of audio files.

I’d listened to a lot of audio files during my time in the stable. Most of them were radio messages from soldiers or speeches given by the princesses. But that was all that was available. The Overstallion kept the more interesting files locked up. But now, I had a chance to listen to a few new ones. I clicked the one that was located on the top.

Entry #1: Well Stable-Tec is making us do these audio files as a way of better preserving all aspects of ponykind. I really don’t see why I have to do this. I’m just an employee who sits here all day waiting for the shit to hit the fan. But hey, I follow orders, so I’ll give this a try.

Entry #2: We had a dry run today for if, or as the boss says, WHEN, the bombs drop. We had a few volunteers walk through here today, and we had to work as if this was a real life situation. That meant handing out passes, ushering them down the stairs, and even closing the stable door. A whole lot of work for no pay off.

Entry #3: Mrs. Scootaloo, or as we're supposed to call her, Vice-President Scootaloo, visited the stable today. I had to lead her down to it and take her through all the rooms and hallways. She kept asking if everything was cleaned and readied for when the bombs dropped. I talked about our dry run a few days ago, and she seemed pleased with that. But then she asked me to take her to the Overstallion’s office. Once we got there, she made me wait outside while she “checked some programing.” I did what I was told and stood watch. I heard what sounded like machinery working inside, but didn’t go and see what it was. She came out ten minutes later with a half smile on her face. After that she left, and I was back doing what I usually do.

Entry #4: Working on a Saturday, just great. My wife wanted me, her, and our son Punch Bowl to go out for the day. The sun is shining and the temp. is just perfect. And where am I? Stuck down in this dark and damp cave. Goddesses this is torture. Stable-Tec puts so much effort into these stables, but where’s the proof those Zebra bastards will go so far that we have to use them. If I was in charge of Stable-Tec, I’d make sure that….”

The last entry was cut off by the sound of something exploding. I could hear rocks falling from the roof, and ponies running around shouting. I couldn’t hear what they were shouting, but I could hear the pony on the recording.

“My Celestia….IT’S HAPPENING! They did it, oh fuck, they actually did it. My wife, Punch Bowl, they’re still out there. I….I have to go find them. I….what is it Free Throw?

I listened to the conversation intently. I could hear two voices talking at once. One sounded panicky, the other sounded stern.

“WHAT, what do you mean I can’t leave? My family is out there, and I have to make sure they’re safe. Screw Stable-Tec and the Stables. I’m going out to find my family! Want to stop me, HA, just try!”

I heard the sound of a pony running, which was surprising given the amount of noise going on in the background. I waited a few seconds before another voice spoke up.

“....well it would seem that Cocktail has, uh, stepped out for the moment. We’ll probably have ponies running up here any minute now, so I’ll finish this up. I just got one message to say to whoever’s listening. Those Zebra bastards won’t kill our nation. Equestria is strong, and will fight as hard as we can do defend ourselves. Because while we may suffer, we’ll never fall.”

The recording cut out again with a resounding beep.

***

Numbness and apathy filled my body when the recording cut off. I didn’t know weather to feel sad or inspired. Even when fire was raining from the sky, a pony had still found time to record a loving message about his nation. About the ponies who lived in it, and the Zebras that tried to destroy it.

For some reason, that started to fill me with hope. So I decided to transfer the audio recordings into my PipBuck. “Maybe these can lift my spirits up sometimes….at least the last one.”

Once all the files were downloaded, I walked past the gates and found myself in another tunnel. This one had a metal floor, but the rest was natural rock. I looked up ahead and saw a door at the other end.

“Sweet,” I thought, racing towards the door. “I finally found a way out.”

I quickly reached the door, which looked worn out and ready to fall apart. The wood was splintered and in some places rotten. I grabbed the knob with my hooves, but then looked back at the hallway and the platform beyond it.

“This is it. When I step outside, there’s no going back,” I said to myself. But I didn’t hear any arguments from my brain, so I knew I had to leave.

Looking back at the door, I pushed it open and walked through to the world beyond.

____________________________________________________

The world beyond wasn’t much brighter.

I walked through the door, and was greeted by the sight of a large open area. Walls rose up around me, encircling me like a bowl. They stopped at the end opposite of me, leaving a large area that was my only way out.

Wind pushed at my face and through my mane. It smelled like a mix between sewage and grassbars they used to serve in the Diner. I looked up at the sky, and saw nothing but dark grey. No white clouds and blue skies like they showed in kids books.

“Alright Flatfoot, think. You finally made it outside….now what.” I had been so focused on making it outside, I hadn’t thought about what I was going to do when I finally got out.

I pulled up my PipBuck and pressed on the MAPS feature. A small map appeared on the screen, with a yellow blimp that represented me. A cog shaped image appeared behind me with the name “Stable 11” written under it.

“Okay, looks like I’m facing east right now. There’s a roadway not far from here, so that’s probably going to be the best place to start,” I said while looking at the areas surrounding the stable.

I put a marker on the road’s location, which thanks to my PipBuck, appeared as a little arrow in my vision. When I turned left, it pointed right. When I turned right, it pointed left. And when I looked forward, it pointed forward.

Now that I had a way of keeping me on track, I walked away from the door and across the barren area. There weren’t even rocks or boulders along the walls. Nothing but a wide open space filled with dirt.

Once I made it to the other side, I walked through the canyon until I reached the other side. A large field spread out in front of me, covered in dead grass and withered shrubs. I spotted the roadway a good distance ahead, and started walking towards it.

While I was walking, I got another message on my PipBuck. It was a signal from a radio station, but there was no name for it. Truthfully I was surprised that there was even radio out here, let alone a station. But since I was growing uncomfortable by the silence, I tuned the radio station to my PipBuck.

“HELLOOO WASTELAND! This is DJ Pon3, coming to you live from my studio in the fabulous Tenpony Tower. Looks like we got, surprisingly, a bit of news. Listen up fillies this stuff's important.”

The pony on the air sounded a little too happy for my tastes. His speech reminded me of Disk Jocky, the pony who ran Stable 11’s radio station. She had always tried to replicate the way radio broadcasters used to talk before the war. Not that she was bad at it, but it did get annoying after a while.

“Alright folks, our first bit of news comes from the town of Stalliongrad out in the south. The town has been recently attacked day after day by raiders. It all started a few weeks ago, but we haven’t been told how. So if you’re down in the area, or planning on going by their, you might want to stop by. Ponies from their are saying they need all the help they can get if the want to beat these savages. If you got the guns and the guts, they’re willing to pay for services.”

“Geeze, is that what it’s like out here?” I had always known that the outside was a dangerous place. We’d been told that since we started going to school.

But usually it was because of radiation and weird creatures. We’d never been told anything about other ponies and what they may do.

Another beep came from my PipBuck, which I quickly looked at. A small box had appeared on the map, south of the road I was walking to. There was no name under it, but I figured it must have been Stalliongrad.

I finally made it to the stretch of road I’d marked. My PipBuck told me that the road was called “Highway 10.” But now that I was here, I had to decide which way to go. I could either follow the road north and hope to find something that way. OR, I could go south to Stalliongrad.

You’d think I’d pick to go north, avoiding the town that was being pelted by raiders….whatever they were. But I had to think logically if I wanted to survive out here. I had no idea what was in the areas to the north, and if there was even a safer town that way.

Right now, Stalliongrad was the closest place to my location. And raiders or not, I need to find someplace where I could stay and figure out what to do next. So I put a marker on my PipBuck, turned until the arrow pointed toward it, and set off down the road.

***

I had been walking for a hour or two now, and still hadn’t reached Stalliongrad. The road was a lot rougher than the dirt or the cavern floors. I didn’t know if this a concrete or some other kind of material, but it did leave deeper scratches on my hooves.

Every once in awhile I’d come across some kind of ruined cart. Most were either sitting on the side of the road, or lying a little further away. I checked everyone I came across hoping to find something useful. So far all I’d managed to find was a few healing potions and bobby pins. Not really anything I was desperate for, but useful none the less.

I had walked a little farther along when I came across something. It was moving in the shrubs, keeping out of my sight. I couldn’t tell if it was a pony or something else. I was about to go and see what it was when it jumped out at me.

It had a large bloated body, and short stubby legs. It’s head slanted down to a rather large mouth. Big, sharp teeth pointed out it’s mouth, perfect for ripping flesh off another animal….or pony. It moved so fast that I barely had enough time to move out of the way. It soared past me before landing on the road and turning to face me again.

My E.F.S. showed the thing as hostile, but I already knew that. I readied my gun and slipped into S.A.T.S., picking the creature's head as my target. I bit the mouthpiece and watched as five bullets blasted from my gun and embedded themselves into the creature's head. It stopped moving and slumped to the ground, while the red dot on my E.F.S. disappeared.

I slipped out of S.A.T.S. and went to examine my first kill. It seemed much bigger up close, but I still couldn’t tell what it was. “Whatever it is, I killed it. And that means meat,” I said.

I knew that thing was probably irradiated, but I only had eight cans of syrup apples, so eventually I’d need to find different kinds of food. So I picked up my knife and began carving a large section of flesh out of the creature. Blood poured out of the cuts and covered my hooves. But I just worked through it until I had a large section of meat in my hooves. I wrapped it in some scrap paper I found and placed it in my saddlebag.

Once I did, I checked my PipBuck to see if it had a name for it. And surprisingly, it could tell what it was. The name of the item said “Radhog Meat.”

“So that’s a radhog? Well I sure hope they taste as good as they fight,” I said. But in all honesty I was just hoping it didn’t put me out of my misery. Maybe cooking it would help kill any unwanted viruses it might be carrying.

I left the radhog carcass on the side of the road, thinking another animal or pony might be able to make better use of it. I continued on walking for a while after that.

“Well, that was something” I said to myself. I could feel adrenaline rushing through my body, pounding at my head and legs. Sweat poured down over my face, but overall I felt like I’d just escaped from the stable five times over!

I continued walking in silence for another hour before I couldn’t stand the silence anymore. I’d turned off the Equestria One Radio signal a while ago, not wanting to hear anything else about towns getting attacked. But right now, I’d rather have anything than silence. I turned on my PipBuck radio and tuned it to the radio station.

“Alright ponies, DJ’s back and ready to fill your hearts with lead….sorry, I mean joy. I’d just gotten finished talking to a former raider a while ago, and it seems his words stuck to me.”

“What a freak this stallion is,” I said. The way he described things in a joking manner. It just….just…. “makes me want to shoot something.”

“Anyway listeners, I have one last piece of news for you before we get back to the tunes. Anypony who’s currently, or planning on, traveling past Fillydelphia might want to rethink their plans. The New Equestrian Military has been getting more and more violent to all those who pass by their city. Sometimes they shoot you, other times they forcefully drag you into the city. So my advice, stay out of that area and come to Manehattan. There’s plenty of room and lots of buildings you can make your own. And now, some music.”

A soft tune began to filter through the PipBuck speakers, filling the area around me with music. My brain became calmer when the tunes reached my ear. “Now that sounds nice,” I said a I continued on my way to Stalliongrad.

***

A few hours later I was walking over a small hill. I had left the road a while ago since it curved off in another direction. When I reached the summit, I spotted my destination in the distance. A large wall surrounded a number of large buildings, with a few towers at certain points around it.

“Finally, I was beginning to think I’d never get here,” I said while I walked down the hill. The area on the other side didn’t have any grass, but it did have a lot of rotten trees. They didn’t look at all like the trees I’d seen in pre-war books; with green leaves and a hard brown trunk.

“Radiation can really kill the mood of any environment,” I said while I walked past the rooting plants. The town was much closer now; I could see ponies walking along the top of the walls. They were all looking out across the land, some with guns floating next to them.

One of the guards looked over in my direction, before turning and shouting something to another pony. He looked in my direction, and soon most of them were doing the same. I couldn’t see the looks on their faces, but I imagined they didn’t seem happy.

As I got closer, I cleared my throat. “HELLO,” I called “How’s it going. Pretty good day hu?”

I expected the ponies to holler back. Either some kind of greeting or a holler to get lost. What I didn’t expect was what actually happened.

I was almost to the wall when I heard the gunshot ring out. Something whizzed through the air and struck me above my chest. The worst pain I’d ever felt rang through my whole body. I didn’t even have time to scream before I heard another gun go off.

This time the bullet hit me in the flank, spilling more blood over me. The wound from the first blast was already spilling my blood over the ground, mixing it with the dirt. My legs collapsed under me, too worn out to hold me up.

“Oh Celestia….this is painful. Is, is this it? Am I going to die?” I thought as I sat there bleeding to death. The pain was just getting worse, and it was hard for me to breath.

“Hey You!”

I looked up to see who had called….big mistake.

The moment I looked up, I saw something large and round coming straight at me. It hit me hard in the head and everything went dark.

***

“....I think he’s getting better….”

“....what’s a pony like him doing someplace like this….”

“....Think he’s going to die. He did get hit with those buck shots…”

“....Don’t doubt my medical skills Flank. I’m pretty good with a needle. But it was a nightmare getting all those balls out of him….”

“....well he’d better wake up soon. He’s wasting our supplies and our time….”

“....Then you should have thought about that before you riddled him with bullets. Next time think before you act….”

“....I told those two not to fire, but they didn’t listen to me. Next time it’ll be Spark and Zap who’ll be getting the wind kicked out of them….”

“....Well go talk to them now. I’ll send Spark in later to help you move him. Until then, do whatever you can….”

“....Yes Sir….”

The voices were so soft and far away, I thought I was dreaming. The pain from earlier was gone, but then I couldn’t feel anything. All I saw was darkness, but the voices seemed close.

But soon I began to feel my eyes again, and slowly started opening them. The light burned my sockets, but I didn’t stop. Blurred images flashed around me, but I couldn’t make out any of them. Three large lights sat above me, while the ceiling had a faint blue color to it.

The spinning in my head began to slow down, and the images became less blurred. I began to make out the face of a pony looking down at me. Soon my vision cleared enough that I could see her properly.

It was a bright red unicorn mare with a golden mane tied in a ponytale. She had on a white hat with a red cross stitched onto the front. A stethoscope hung around her neck, and a syringe was floating in her magic. She wore a pink nurse uniform, but it wa short enough that her bandage cutie-mark was visible She was smiling right at me.

“Oh good, you're finally awake. I was beginning to think you were either in a coma or brain dead. Guess we got to you just in time,” she said with a smile.

I didn’t know what to say at this point. I was lying in a strange place with a strange pony looking down at me. I wanted to sit up, but as I tried, I felt red hot pain spread through my body again. It seemed to emanate from my chest and flanks, so both ends were covered.

The unicorn mare put her hooves on me and gently pressed me back onto the table. “Don’t move, your injuries haven’t had time to heal yet. We’re going to move you to the recovery room in a while so you can rest. Until then, you need to stay still.”

I groaned and tried to look around the room. It was fairly big, bigger than most rooms in the stable. The table I was on was just one for three that sat in a row in the middle of the room. Cabinets sat at the four corners of the room, while the rest of the wall space was taken up by trays of medical equipment.

“I know you must have some questions,” said the mare, taking a seat in a small chair next to my table. “And I assure you they will all be answered. But please just wait until we move you. Then you can think properly.”

“I can think properly right now,” I said. My voice sounded more quiet and shaky than normal. My mouth was also dry and had the faint taste of iron to it.

The unicorn looked at me carefully. “Maybe, but I’ve dealt with a lot of patients who’ve said the same thing. Then they start talking crazy or try to find a way out of here. So until you’re moved, try to go back to sleep. You’re safe here.”

“And where exactly is HERE,” I asked, looking back up at the lights above me.

The mare looked uneasy “You’re in the medical wing of Stalliongrad hospital. Some ponies brought you in here a few hours ago, saying you’d been shot.”

“Yeah,” I said, feeling the bandages that covered my chest. “I remember that.”

“Well at least your memories are okay,” she said, trying to put on an amused smile.

It wasn’t amusing for me, not one bit. The pain, the bone crushing, tear jerking pain. I had never felt anything like that before, and then I got hit in the head. If the Overstallion had felt that when I hit him, then I was starting to regret doing it.

I wanted to ask more questions, but was interrupted by three stallions entering the room. Two had on barding and had a gun holster, loaded, attached to their forelegs. The third wore metal plates around his body and legs. His face remained uncovered, and he looked grimly at me.

“Well it seems you’ve finally woken up. Guess that means it’s time to take you to the recovery bay.” He turned to the two stallions behind him. “You two, take him there now. Cuddles will escort you,” he said before walking out of the room.

“Yes sir,” said the two. They walked over to my table, with Cuddles standing on the other side.

“Alright, this will be simple. I’ll lift him up with my magic and place him on the gurney. You two will walk the gurney to the room three doors down on the right. Please be careful with him,” she said.

“Right, we got it. Let’s just get this colt were he needs to go. I’ve got to get back to my shift,” said one of the guards huffily.

The other rolled another table over to mine. But this one had soft padding along it and rails on the side. Wheels poked out of the legs, and the whole thing seemed light weight.”

“Okay, I’m going to lift you up now. Please don’t move or say anything while I do,” said Cuddles. Her horn glowed and I was soon covered in red pulsating magic. I felt myself lift of the table and slowly get placed down on the gurney.

Cuddles smiled “See, that wasn’t so bad. Now you two, we need to take him to the recovery wing. Follow me,” she said. And she strolled out of the room with the two following behind her.

The hallway was fairly large and not very crowded. The paint was peeling off the walls in chunks. Old posters, long since faded, were still mostly intact. One or two benches, made from scraps of wood, were positioned near different doors.

Soon we left the hallway and moved into another room. This one was much larger than the other room. Beds lined either side, leaving the middle as a place to move. Most of the beds were empty, but some held either a sleeping pony or one reading a book. Some of those who were reading a book looked up and waved at me when I passed. I wished I had enough energy to wave back.

“Alright,” said Cuddles, stopping next to a bed at the back. A rather large window sat to the left side, while a small nightstand took the other side. “Place the gurney over here.”

The guards pushed me over till I was horizontal with the bed. “Now I’m going to lift you up again. Please try not to….”

“Can you just get it over with,” asked one of the guards. I could feel the anger radiating from his body.

Cuddles looked hurt, but she stayed quiet while she lifted me into the bed with her magic. “Good, now let’s go,” said the guards. They look the gurney and quickly walked to the door.

“Oh, I really hate those two.” Cuddles glared at the two as they left, but then turned to look at me. “Now, how do you feel? Are you comfortable?”

I shifted a little, trying to regain feeling in my body. “Yeah, I’m comfortable. Now can I start asking questions?”

Cuddles giggled a little, before bringing a chair over and sitting in it. “You sure are eager, I’ll give you that. And yes, I’ll answer any questions you have to the best of my ability.

“Okay….so what happened to me?”

“Well, you were shot at by some of our border guards. When they brought you in, you were bleeding from your chest and flanks. I worked as best I could to get the bullets out of you, but they were pretty far in there. I didn’t think you were going to make it,” she said.

I saw her brows dip lower than before. The scrunch in her eyelids made them droopier. In some way, I felt sorry for her. I thought she looked hurt. Her face reminded me of Zest's just before I scrammed.

“Glad I did,” I said, keeping my eyes on the wall ahead of me. I didn’t want to look her in the face, less my emotions start to show. I felt the bandages around me again, before noticing that I wasn’t wearing my Stable jumpsuit. In fact, I just realized then that everything I had was gone.

“What happened to my supplies,” I asked, maybe with a little more force than intended.

Cuddles gently patted her ponytail, looking more nervous than before. “I think they confiscated them when they brought you in. Guns aren’t allowed in the walls unless you’re a guard. And it would have been hard to operate on you if you had on any garments, so they took those off to.”

I raised an eyebrow, “And where would my stuff be now?” As much as I wanted to forget that place, I was feeling more naked than ever without my jumpsuit. It had always felt snug and warming to me, even when I came outside.

“They’re either be in the storage warehouse, or in Mayor Drops office. They really don’t tell me where everything goes when they bring ponies in,” said Cuddles.

I groaned, thinking of all the things they could be doing to my gear. “And how long,” I asked questionably “before I can go get it all back?”

Cuddles shook her head. “You can’t walk for at least another day. And I don’t feel comfortable letting you leave for at least three days. I take care of ponies here, and I don’t want you to go out there until you’re fully healed.”

I wanted to tell her she was wrong; that I could go out now and feel fine. But my body was killing me, and I needed these wounds to heal. Feeling defeated, I slumped back into the bed.

“Fine, I’ll wait. But I won’t be happy about it,” I said crossly.

“I can deal with that,” said Cuddles. She used her magic to float a bottle of liquid over to me. “Drink this; it’ll help your wounds and make you fall asleep faster.”

I grabbed the liquid in my hooves and looked it over. “And how do I know this isn’t poison?”

Her eyes scrunched down and her mouth curved into a smile. “If I wanted to kill you, why would I spend all that time taking those bullets out? I could have done nothing, and you’d have died soon enough.”

“Point taken,” I said, rolling my eyes. I brought the bottle to my mouth and downed the liquid. It had a sugary taste to it, but had the feel of cough syrup.

Cuddles took the bottle from my hooves. “Now just try and get some sleep. I’ll come by and check on you later.” She walked around my bed before disappearing around the curtain.

Sighing, I laid back and looked up at the ceiling. “First day out of the stable. I’ve shot a creature, found a town, and gotten shot myself. Great start to my new life.”

I closed my eyes, and found myself falling asleep not long after.

***

“Flatfoot….Flatfoot, time to wake up buddy.”

I opened my eyes slowly, and saw a pony looking down at me. He was dark brown, with a black mane. He wore stable guard barding and had a gun holster attached to his leg (which was empty). His cutie mark, a guard baton, sat on his flanks.

“DAD,” I screamed, jumping out of bed and giving him a hug. “How was work last night?”

Dad hugged me back, “Oh it was normal. Nothing new….that is until I came across a THIEF!” He said the last word with a little dramatic emphasis.

“Really,” I asked in amazement.

“I sure did.” He carried me to the couch and sat down in the middle. I crawled closer to his face and listened carefully.

“I was down near the armory when I heard the sound of something moving on the other side. When I looked through the window, I saw a pony taking a gun from one of the cases.”

“NO,” I said, not believe what he was saying.

“Oh but he was, and he thought no one could see him. But I wasn’t going to sit around and let him get that gun. So I grabbed my baton and charged into the room. He was so surprised he didn’t even have time to use the gun on me. I charged at him and hit his head on the left side. He went down faster than a falling rock,” said Dad with a smile.

“Alright dad,” I said, jumping up in the air.

“It does sound like a surprising night.” Mom had walked into the room, smiling at the both of us. She gave dad a kiss on the head, before walking over and sitting by me. “All we did was play a game of cards. This little law enforcer won every single time.”

Dad rubbed my head, making my mane go all over the place. “Good job there tyke. You’ll be an expert poker player when you’re older at this rate.”

“CHASER! I don’t want our son to know about this stuff yet. It’ll cloud his mind and send him down the wrong career choice!”

“And what if is cutie-mark is a deck of cards? Then he’ll probably work in the stable’s game lounge,” said Dad with a smug smile.

Mom rolled her eyes. “I hope it doesn’t come to that.” Then she looked down at me with a smile. “Now, how about some breakfast Flatfoot?”

“Yeah, I’m hungry,” I said, jumping off the couch and running to the kitchen. Mom and Dad, both laughing, followed behind me.

***

I woke with a start, breathing heavily while sweat covered my body. It took me a moment to calm down, and then another to remember where I was. Everything came back again: leaving the stable, traveling to Stalliongrad, getting shot, the hospital. It seemed like a bad dream, but from the sight of the bleak ceiling above, it was real. I sat up slowly and looked around the room.

The place was empty except for me and three ponies sleeping a few beds down. I checked my bandages again, and saw that they’d been changed. The didn’t have any blood stains on them, and they felt/looked cleaner.

The pain in my chest and flanks had gone down substantially since I’d fallen asleep. It now felt like a minor cut and not a gaping wound. I swung my hooves over the side of the bed and set them on the ground.

“No pain so far,” I said, and I put my front hooves on the ground next. My legs wobbled a little, but I was able to keep myself up. The pain had increased slightly, now feeling like a deep gash. But I ignored it and started walking towards the door.

None of the sleeping ponies woke up when I passed. Although one did start talking about pies and rainbows….weird. “So this is what ponies are like outside the stable,” I asked myself.

I was only a few feet from the door when it opened. Cuddles came in with a tray of food floating above her head. Her eyes widened when she saw me.

“What on earth are you doing out of bed,” she asked while placing the tray on a nearby table. She ran up to me and began pushing me back. “You need more rest. Back into bed.”

“Hey, hey, wait a minute,” I said. I raised my hooves up and gave her a push back. This mare was now starting to get on my nerves.

“Look, I can walk now,” I said, walking in a circle around her for emphasis. “So that means I’m fine. I need to leave and get my supplies.”

Cuddles shook her head angrily. “No, you need to rest. Walking is good, but I said you need to stay for at least another two days. Your wounds won’t heal properly if you don’t rest.”

“I have med-x and healing potions in my saddlebags. If I can go get them, I’ll be fine. You can’t just make me stay here like a prisoner.”

The more time I stayed here, the more time Stable 11 suffered. The Overstallion was probably doing terrible things to the residents, and all because of me. I had to do something, but I couldn’t do that if I was stuck here.

“You’re not a prisoner, you’re my patient. And that means you can’t leave until I say you’re fully healed. Now please go back and rest,” said Cuddles. She didn’t seem like she was demanding it. It felt more like she was begging me to do it.

I wanted to retort, but was stopped by the sight of another pony walking into the room. He was a dark grey unicorn with a blue mane. He wore a white lab coat, and a pair of glasses sat on his nose. He smiled at the both of us as he walked in.

“What seems to be the commotion in here. We don’t want to wake the other patients,” he said happily.

“Too late,” called a pony from one of the beds.

Cuddles turned to the unicorn. “Dr. Remedial, this pony needs to rest, but he refuses to listen to me. I’ve tried to make him see reason, but he keeps insisting that he’s fine. Please help me get him back into bed.”

I looked at the doctor with a vengeful look. “I assure you I’m fine. I can walk on my own and don’t feel much pain anymore. I just need to go and get my supplies.”

Dr. Remedial walked over to me, pulling a stethoscope out of his jacket. He put the two end into his ears and put the other end on my chest. “Do you have any weakness in your legs?”

“Uh...no. My legs feel just fine,” I replied questionably.

“On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?” he asked while putting the metal bit on my lower chest.

I thought for a moment, getting a good feel of what my body was saying. “I don’t know….a four I guess.”

He put his stethoscope away, before putting his hoof up in front of him. “Last question; how many hooves do you see?”

“One,” I said.

He put his hoof down and smiled at me. “Well it seems this pony is in fine working order. I see no reason for him not to go walking around.”

Cuddles looked flabbergasted at the remark. “But….but sir….”

Dr. Remedial looked back at the mare with a questioning face. “No buts now Cuddles. This pony has the right to leave whenever he wants to. I don’t want you keeping ponies here just because you strike a fancy with them.”

Cuddles tensed up while her cheeks turned bright red. From anger or embarrassment I couldn’t tell, but she stayed like that for a good few seconds. Dr. Remedial looked back at me.

“Do take care of yourself my young friend, and try not to get yourself riddled with bullets again. It can be hazardous to your health,” he said before turning away and walking to check on some of the other ponies.

I had a good feeling about that pony; he seemed nice and knew how to talk to others. Plus he got me out of this place, so I was happy.

I turned back to Cuddles, who was looking sourly down at the ground. Her cheeks were still slightly red, but the color was slowly starting to disappear.

“Well then, I guess, I’ll just go,” I said. Cuddles still looked down at the ground, but she wasn’t scowling anymore. “Uh, thanks for the help Mrs. Cuddles.”

“Miss.”

“What,” I asked.

She looked up at me with a blank expression. “It’s Miss Cuddles; I’m not married. And even then, just call me Cuddles. Everypony here does.”

“Oh, okay then….Cuddles. But like I was saying, thanks for patching me up and, well, saving my life,” I said nervously. I didn’t want to say anything else that would upset her, so I tried to pick my words carefully.

She half smiled at me, which I guessed was a good sign. “No problem; it’s my job anyway. Helping ponies and getting them back up again.”

“Well you certainly do a good job,” I replied “I guess I’ll see you around then.” I started walking towards the door, but found a leg blocking my way. I looked and saw it belonged to Cuddles.

She looked at me nervously, with her cheeks turning red again. “Um….I’m about to give the patients some food. After that I was planning on getting some myself. Since you didn’t eat yet, I wanted to know if you’d like to join me?”

“Oh,” I said. She was asking me to join her for breakfast, and was quite nervous about it. I remembered what Dr. Remedial had said: “Just because you strike a fancy to them.”

Could that mean that Cuddles….no, that probably wasn’t true. I mean, who would fall for someone like me. My mind quickly brought up Zest, but I shoved that out of my head for now. Maybe Cuddles just wanted to make friends, and was too nervous to make any. Now, she was trying to do so.

“I mean, if you’d rather just leave and get your supplies, I’d understand. I wouldn’t want to keep you here any longer than you wanted to,” she said nervously.

I smiled at the mare and gently took her hoof. Her pelt felt soft and clean, which felt great against my dirty hooves. She quickly looked up, her cheeks becoming even more red. Her eyes were shining bright like a polished diamond, and they were staring right at me with anticipation. Now I was starting to get nervous, and my hoped for smile now became a nervous grin.

 “I’d love to join you Miss Cuddles. But to where shall we be getting our meal?” I asked, my smile turning into a smug one as I talked.

“Oh….uh….in the cafeteria. It’s four doors down on the right. You can head down there if you want. I still have to hand out food to the other patients,” she said. She sounded less nervous, but not by much.

I did a slight bow to her, like I’d read about in most romance books. “Very well then, I’ll meet you down there,” I said before rising back up and walking into the hallway.

***

Once I found the cafeteria, I walked in and looked around. The room was about the size of the atrium back in the stable. Long tables were placed around the room, filled with plates and utensils. I spotted the kitchens on the other side, with ponies bustling about carrying pots and pans.

I walked over to there, hoping somepony would see me. I large earth pony was walking by when he looked over at me. He smiled and walked over to the counter. “Hello there, ready to eat some good food?”

I tried my best to smile. “Uh, yeah.”

“Excellent, pass please,” He said with a smile, putting his hoof out towards me. I looked down at it questionably.

“What do you mean pass,” I asked.

Now the stallion was looking at me questionably. But I couldn’t tell if it was because of the pass, or the bandages that covered me. “You know, your food pass. You didn’t lose yours did you?”

“No, I never had a pass. I just got here yesterday,” I said.

The stallion retracted his hoof, now looking at me even more questionably. “You're the pony who got shot outside the walls aren’t you?”

I rolled my eyes; it seemed everypony knew about me. “yeah, that was me.”

“Well I’m sorry to tell you this, but I can’t serve you anything. You have to get a pass before you can get food. It’s how we work here,” he said.

“Seriously?” I asked. I was hungry now, I could already feel my stomach starting to grumble. “Can’t you make an exception for a pour stallion who got shot?”

“No can do,” said the stallion, shaking his head. “Orders are orders. Talk with one of the guards if you want to get one.”

“That won’t be necessary Batter.”

I looked back and saw Cuddles walking up to me. Two slips of paper floated next to her, then over to Batter. “Two passes; one for me and one for my patient.”

Batter looked over the papers, before giving them back to Cuddles. “Alright then, he’s cleared. So,” he said looking at me with a toothy grin, “what do you want?”

“Uh….” I’d never had food outside the stable before. I was used to getting mashed up apples and water for breakfast. I could only imagine what they had to eat out here.

Thankfully Cuddles saw my confusion and stepped in. “We’ll have two bowls of Sugar Apple Bombs. And this time, no spoiled milk,” she said.

Batter laughed a little. “Alright, two bowls coming right up,” he said before disappearing behind a door. He soon came back, balancing a tray with two bowls on his head. Cuddles encased it in her magic and floated it next to us.

“Thanks Batter,” she said before turning and walking towards a table. I followed along behind her.

“No problem Cuddles. You have fun with your coltfriend,” he called out.

Cuddle’s eyes narrowed, and her mouth puckered up as her cheeks turned red once again. She found and table and placed the tray in the middle. I took the side opposite of her and sat down.

Cuddles floated a bowl over to me, before picking up and spoon and digging into her bowl. I looked down at the substance in my own. “So….what do you call this?”

“Sugar Apple Bombs. Best cereal in the wasteland,” said Cuddles through a mouth full of food.

“Is it good?” I asked questionably.

“Just try it.”

Still not sure, I lowered my head and gathered a few pieces in my mouth. “Sweet Celestia….THIS IS GREAT!” I thought.

They were sweet and had the great taste of apples to them. I quickly dug into the rest of it, splashing milk all over my face. When I finished, I looked up at Cuddles. Her eyes were squinted and her mouth hung open a little bit.

“What?” I asked.

She slowly started to smile. “I’ve never seen another pony eat like that. You must really like Sugar Apple Bombs.”

“Hell yeah, that was the best food I’d ever eaten. Am I allowed to get seconds,” I asked hopefully.

“Sorry, but we only get one pass for breakfast. We don’t have that much food with us, so we have to ration it. But don’t worry, we have even better food for lunch,” she said.

“Sweet,” I said. Life in the wasteland may be dangerous, but getting to eat that kind of food was totally worth it.

“So,” said Cuddles, pushing her empty bowl away, “where exactly did you come from. I’ve never met a pony like you before.”

“I came from Stable 11, up north from here,” I said.

Cuddles’ eyes widened with wonder, and she leaned closer to me. “Oh, I’ve never met a stable pony before. What was it like living down there. I hear you have clean water, great food, and nothing dangerous to worry about.”

I rubbed the back of my head, not sure how to tell her. My stable hadn’t been great, but I wanted to spare her the horrors of the truth.

“Well, we did have clean water, and the food wasn’t bad. I wouldn’t say life was perfect though. We had to worry about the piping, electrics, and the occasional radroach,” I said, remembering all the dangers I’ve had to face.

“That doesn’t sound too bad, we have those problems here in Stalliongrad. So what made you want to leave,” she asked, leaning even closer to me.

I thought about what I could say. I couldn’t tell her about the sacrifices, and what I’d done when I got picked. The truth would probably hurt her innocent mind.

“Let’s just say I made somepony mad, mad enough that I decided it would be best if I left.”

“Oh, what’d you do to make him so mad,” she asked.

I was beginning to sweat a little; keeping up the secrecy wasn’t going well. I had to end this soon.

“I….I really don’t want to talk about it. It’s just too painful to bring up,” I said, making my voice sound low to help with the scene.

It paid off, because Cuddles backed away, looking sadly at me. “Oh, I’m sorry. It must have been hard for you to choose to come out here. I mean, you did end up getting shot after all.”

I waved my hoof at the comment. “Hey, I’m alive aren’t I? And it’s thanks to you that I am. Can’t say how much thanks you deserve.”

Cuddles rubbed her ponytail again, which I found surprisingly cute. “It’s just what I do best.”

“So what about you,” I asked “what’s your story?”

She continued rubbing her hair nervously. “I was born out in the wasteland, near the ruins of Manehattan. My parents came across this place a year later, and I’ve lived here ever since.”

“So have you ever gone outside the walls since then,” I asked. She didn’t seem like the kind of pony who would survive outside. But then again, I thought the same thing about myself when I left the stable.

“No, I never go outside. It’s dangerous and there are raiders everywhere,” she said sadly. Her squinted eyes looked down at the table, keeping me from looking at them. “Plus, they said I’m needed here. I help Dr. Remedial when I can, but I think most ponies see me as his assistant.”

“Well I don’t,” I said blatantly. This pony had saved my life, yet others saw her only as a helper. That just wasn’t nice, or fair.

She looked back up at me, her eyes sparkling with glee. A smile formed on her face, making it look even cuter. “Really?”

“Yeah really. You saved me from dying, and did a great job getting those bullets out of me. But I have to ask, did you enjoy removing the bullets from my flank?”

Cuddles put on another sour face, looking away from me. “Shut up.”

“Hey, I’m only joking. I had hoped my sense of humor would still be intact,” I said.

“You didn’t get hit in the brain smart ass,” said Cuddles, who was smiling once again. She opened her mouth to say more, but then a bell rang across the room.

“Shit, time for me to head back to work,” she said, gathering up our dishes. “I’ll see you around Flatfoot. And if you want to get your stuff back, I’d talk to Mayor Drop. He’s probably in his office; it’s in the building at the center of town.”

I watched her give the tray to Batter, then head back to me. She came close and wrapped her legs around me in a hug. “And try not to get into anymore trouble. Not that I wouldn’t mind fixing you up again.”

I chuckled at the thought, before returning the hug. “I’ll try my best.”

Cuddles stepped away, “Good. Well….I’ll see you around.” And with that she turned away and walked out the door. I was left alone in the empty cafeteria.

“Man, I wish ponies were more like her,” I said. “But now I got to go and get my stuff.” So I walked to the door, and headed left down the hallway.

***

Once I’d reached the front door, I walked out into the city of Stalliongrad.

“Sweet Celestia,” I said in amazement.

The city was even larger up close. Skyscrapers, like the ones in books, rose high up into the air. Sidewalks lined the streets, and vendors were set up near some of the intersections. Ponies walked through the streets, or were shopping at the vendors.

I walked down the steps and looked down the street. “Now, which way to the mayor’s office?” I probably should have asked Cuddles that before she left.

I saw a pony walking towards me with his saddlebags full of….something. I waved to him to get his attention. “Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to the mayor’s office?”

But the pony didn’t even look at me, and he continued on his way without stopping. “Okay, rude much,” I said. The ponies in the hospital seemed way more friendly.

Another pony came walking down the sidewalk, and this time I stepped in front of them. They tried to move around me, but I kept moving in front of them.

“Sir,” he asked crossly “can you please get out of my way. I have places to be.”

“Well so do I, but I need to know how to get there. Can you please tell me where the mayor’s office is?”

The pony stopped moving and huffed. “Take the road south to the statue. Once you’re there, take the left road and you should come to a large building. His office is inside that.”

“Thanks,” I said happily, and started walking down the road. The pony walked away, muttering things about “ponies these days.”

***

I got to the statue a lot faster than I’d thought. The area was surrounded by black grass and old, crumbling benches. At the center of it all, on a pedestal, sat the statue.

It depicted an earth pony with messy hair, a tie, and an hourglass cutie-mark. There was an inscription under it reading:  “You don’t just give up. You don’t just let things happen. You make a stand! You say no! You have the guts to do what’s right, even when everyone else just runs away. -Doctor….” The last part of the name was scratched out, so I couldn’t tell his full name.

I reread the quote a few times, thinking about it’s meaning. “You have to keep going and keep fighting, even when the odds are against you,” I said to myself.

I looked at the statue for another few minutes before I headed down the left street. A few minutes later, I found the building I was looking for.

The outside seemed surprisingly intact, and most of the windows weren’t broken. At the top of the building sat a large clock, and in front stood a small fountain. No water ran through the pipes, but dirty water did fill the basin.

I walked up to the front door and pushed it open. The atrium beyond was rather large, with staircases heading up to the next level on either side. In the middle of the room sat a large desk with terminals and papers all over it. A small unicorn mare sat behind it, reading a book. I walked up to the desk.

“Excuse me, I’d like to speak with Mayor Drop,” I said to the mare. She looked up at me from her book, but then looked back down.

“Name,” she asked.

“Uh, Flatfoot,” I replied.

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No,” I said.

She pushed her glasses further up her nose, still looking at the book. “You need to have an appointment to see the mayor. He has an opening tomorrow morning, I can schedule you in there.”

“WHAT, but I just need to get my stuff back. Can’t I just go up without an appointment. I’ll be out super quick,” I said. I really didn’t want to wait another day to retrieve my supplies.

“Rules are rules hon. If you have any gripes, take it up with the guards. Now either accept the appointment or get out of here before I call security,” said the mare, who still wouldn’t look at me.

My anger was rising steadily, but I didn’t want to cause any trouble. “Fine,” I said, then turned around and headed for the door. But before I reached it, I ducked behind an overturned desk.

“Yeah right, no way I’m waiting for tomorrow. Now, let’s see if my sneaking has gotten any better since the stable.” I crept behind the desk, then slowly made my way to the stairs. The secretary didn’t seem to notice me, but that may be because she was engrossed in her book.

I made it to the stairs, and slowly made my way up. I checked back at the secretary, but she still didn’t notice me. Once I reached the top, I crept over to a large set of double doors. The sign next to it said: Mayor’s Office.

I opened the door slightly and slipped inside. The room behind it wasn’t very large. It was half the stable’s atrium, but it was definitely more decorated. Old black and white photos hung along the walls. The carpet was old, but still had color to it.

At the other end of the room sat a large wooden desk. A terminal sat on the right side, and a lamp sat on the other end. Behind the desk sat a very dressed up pony. He wore a top hat, a black jacket, and a monocle on his eye. He was looking down at some papers when I walked in.

“Excuse me,” I said. The pony looked up at me, his eyes half closed and his mouth formed into a frown.

“Who are you?” he asked questionably.

“My name is Flatfoot sir,” I said while I approached the desk. “I was the pony that got shot outside the city.”

The mayor raised an eyebrow. “Oh yes, I remember you. I saw them take you past here towards the hospital. From the way you looked, I thought for sure you were going to die.”

“Yeah, I’ve been told that a few times,” I said when I stopped in front of the desk. I could see a small nameplate on the desk reading: Mayor Sweet Drop.

He put his papers aside and put his hooves together, looking at me questionably. “So to what do I owe this visit?”

“That’s the thing sir, I came to get my supplies back. I was told you were the one who had them,” I said.

The mayor looked me over for a minute. “yes, I have your supplies. They were delivered to me while you were being operated on. I must say I was impressed with what you were carrying.”

“Uh, thanks. So, can I have them back now?”

The mayor looked under his desk, then pulled a large bag out from under it. He tossed it to me, “here’s everything we took from you when we brought you in.”

I opened the bag and saw everything I had. My battle-saddle, while covered in blood, still seemed undamaged. My saddle-bags didn’t have any tears, and still had all my medical supplies, cans of food, ammo, and pistol. Even my stable jumpsuit was there. It had a few tears in the front, most likely where the bullets hit.

“Alright, it’s all here. Thanks for this,” I said while I started putting on my jumpsuit. It felt good having it back on again. Even though it didn’t help with the bullets, it made me feel secure.

“Not a problem at all,” said the Mayor, waving a hoof at me. “We wouldn’t want to rob you of supplies that weren’t ours. We’d be no different than the raiders that attacked us.”

I put on my saddlebags and  then started on my battle-saddle. “Well it looks live I’ve gotten everything. Thanks for the help mayor. I’ll just be going now,” I said. I began to walk towards the door, but he mayor wasn’t done.

“Hold it right there Flatfoot, I never said I was done talking to you,” he called out. I stopped walking and turned back to the mayor. His eyes glowed with anger, and the look on his face reminded me of the overstallion.

“What else do you need to talk about,” I asked.

“What we need to discuss is Medical Supplies. Ever since raiders started attacking us, we haven’t been able to send scouts out to get more. And then you came along, making us use even more supplies. We’re dwindling down, and soon we’ll have nothing,” he said, banging his hoof on the desk for emphasis.

“So what does this have to do with me?” This seemed more like there problem than mine.

“It involves you because we had to use some of our most valued supplies to save your life. So, I believe you owe us for that,” he said sternly.

“What, how’s that fair. Your guards shot me, and You were the ones who decided to patch me up. So I don’t think I owe you anything,” I shot back. No pony was going to force me to do something for them, not again.

The mayor got up and walked around the desk. He stood in front of me, and I just noticed how bigger than me he was. “We patched you up because you would have died if we didn’t. What my soldiers did was not right, but we still did it. Now we patched you up, saved your life, and you Still think you don’t owe us?”

I wanted to scream back at him, saying everything he said was right. But his towering figure began to make me nervous. “Not only that,” I thought “he had a whole squadron of guards at his disposal. It’s not looking so good for me.”

Defeated, I breathed heavily. “Alright, I’ll owe you. What do you want?”

The mayor’s sneer became as victorious grin. “I’d thought you’d never ask. What I want you to do is somewhat simple. To the west of here there is an old building that belonged to the Ministry of Peace. They specialized in medicine and magic repair. What I need you to do it go out there and collect as many medical supplies as you can.”

I thought it over for a moment. It didn’t seem too hard, but I knew that most jobs came with a catch, or something they wouldn’t tell you. “Is there anything else I should know about this place?”

The mayor’s grin turned flat, with his eyes narrowing. “I guess I should warn you. The building is said to be the home to some raiders. They aren’t the ones attacking us, but all raiders are dangerous. I’d say take a gun, but it looks like you have that covered,” he said, eyeing my saddle.

“So you want me to go to a building filled with raiders and collect medical supplies?” I asked. This already was sounding like a bad idea.

“Yes, quite simple isn’t it. Collect those supplies, and we’ll all be even here. But I’ll make you an even better deal. Kill all the raiders in the building, and I’ll pay you 400 caps. Sound good,” he asked.

Now I was even more confused. “Caps?”

The mayor rolled his eyes. “Oh right, you’re a stable pony. Well then I’ll be the one to inform you. Bottle Caps are what we use as currency here in the wasteland. Bits are just outdated, and not in strong supply. But bottle caps are everywhere, so we use them instead. Got it?”

This all sounded too stupid to be real, but the look he was giving me told me it was real. “Okay, I’ll take the job.”

“EXCELLENT!” screamed the mayor. “Well then you’d better get going. It’ll take you some time to reach the hub. It should be marked on your map.”

I looked at my PipBuck’s map, and saw another blank box not too far away from Stalliongrad.

“Well,” said the mayor, walking back behind his desk “I’ll see you when you get back Flatfoot. And remember this; if you try and run away, my guards won’t miss the next time you come near here,” he said sternly.

I swallowed a lump in my throat, trying to look confident “Don’t worry sir, I’ll fulfill my promise.” I turned around and started heading towards the door.

“After all, how hard could this be?”

____________________________________________________

Perks Gained:

Lady Killer-

Do 10% more damage to females in combat. Out of combat, you get to use unique dialogue options when talking with the opposite sex.

Sneak-

Become whisper, become shadow. You are 20% harder to detect while sneaking.

Chapter 4: Good Girl

FALLOUT EQUESTRIA: SURVIVOR

Chapter 4: Good Girl

“This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.”

I stood on a hill overlooking a flat plain. Old rotten tree stumps spread out down the hill and across the field. In the distance was a lake with two rusty boats; half sunk in the middle.

It was almost as if the whole wasteland was nothing but dead tree stumps and old vehicles. I’d passed many on my way here from Stalliongrad. Some sat rusting away in random places. And others were either smashed into nothing or in the middle of a crater.

I scanned the field carefully, making sure there wasn’t anything hiding away farther beyond. “I don’t want to be jumped from behind. Besides, that building looks dangerous enough as it is,” I said. I looked back up at the building that sat in the middle of the field.

It was large, and shaped like the top of a metal can. Faded yellow paint was still visible even at this distance. In terms of height, it looked to be only one floor. The top of the building had a fence running along the outer edges of it. The same setup occupied the area around the building. It looked like a pretty shoddy defense build, but I never judged anything by sight alone.

Ponies stood at different points behind the fences. It looked like there was only four, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I knew little about these ponies, and what I did wasn’t very encouraging.

In terms of what they were wearing; it looked like shity armor. Brown fabric covered their bodies from the front to the middle. Larger patches sat on their shoulders and knees, making sure the parts they needed to run were protected. But they all looked like they hadn’t been washed in years. And for all I knew, that was probably accurate.

“Dam, these ponies know how to build defenses,” I said, lowering the binoculars. There was little chance I could just barge in there; I’d be swiss cheese in no time flat. But my options for sneaking in were limited.

The trees were all gone, so I couldn’t use them for cover. And the area around the back would be another long walk for me. “But it’s the safer, and smarter way,” I said to myself.

When Mayor Drop had sent me here, I hadn’t given much thought about the raiders that lived in the building. I was too focused on what I supposed to get, not the problems that would be in my path.

I’d been told before I left what exactly raiders were. As Mayor Drop put it; “They are crazy and cynical ponies who only care about killing other ponies and getting what they want. If you see one, don’t worry about killing it. Because if you don’t, he won’t hesitate to kill you!”

That was a good a reason as any to shoot them in the head.

I put my binoculars back into my saddlebag, and turned to head around to the back of the building. The area that laid between it and me was littered with ruins from the past. Old picnic tables sat alone along a small walkway. Empty packages of food covered their dirty tops, while others covered the ground.

On the other side of the path were old wrecks of carriages. Some had the words “Scenic Paths Tours! Home to the Majestic Roaming Bulls, and the amazing Ministry of Peace center.” written on their sides. A bright pink pony with curly hair was smiling next to it. From the looks of it, she almost seemed too happy.

I continued along the path until it ended halfway from the building. Luckily boulders littered the area between here and the point where the fencing ended. Hopefully the raiders wouldn’t notice me as I snuck towards the fence. I slid behind the first boulder, then moved along to the next one.

Every time I got behind a new boulder, I waited and listened. At any time those raiders could come sneaking up on me. But I didn’t hear anything the whole time, and soon I reached the last boulder.

I scanned the area carefully, keeping my E.F.S. on the whole time. The fences ended a little distance from my current stalking spot. Looking down, my E.F.S indicated there were at least two ponies behind the fence.

“Are they carrying weapons though?” I clicked my shotgun into place, ready for when things went to hell. I sneaked up to the opening and peaked around it.

Two ponies were looking out across the plain, guns floating near their eyes. “Great” I thought “they had to be unicorns!”

The one nearest me had a blue coat and a brown mane that looked like it had been white at one point. He had on some pretty slapped together barding; held on with string and patched up with duct tape. Not really the best defensive clothing.

The other one had a red coat and….was that a pink mane? His mane and tail were a bright pink color! The rest of his clothing was the same as the other one’s. But seriously….his mane was pink!

“Heard anything from the boss?” asked the one with the brown mane.

“No, and why should I? She doesn’t tell us guards anything. She tells her second in commands what’s going on.” said…I decided to call him Pinkie. It suited him well.

The brown mane one rolled his eyes. “Well duh, we’re not important enough. All we get to do is guard the building and shoot anypony who comes near it.”

Pinkie laughed. “Not that that’s a bad thing.” Soon the two were chuckling like old friends telling a joke. “Sickos,” I thought.

I didn’t know much about these ponies, but I knew they couldn’t be reasoned with. Just from listening to these two, I could tell that the one way to get through to these guys was with some bullets. Luckily, I had a large supply.

I slipped into S.A.T.S and stepped around the corner. The ponies were so busy laughing they didn’t even notice me. As my perception kicked into overdrive, I saw their body parts glow green as the spell activated.

I selected both their heads, and bit down on the trigger. The bullets left the barrel and turned their heads into flying chunks. Blood splattered the fence and sprayed on me. Their bodies fell to the ground almost in slow motion.

“Yuck,” I said, walking up to the headless ponies. Their blood colored guns had fallen near their necks, and I was quick to pick them up. Hey, you can never have too many guns.

I looked through their bags too, hoping to find something of value. Mostly it was either junk or a pack of cigarettes. I left everything but the cigarettes; a pony in Stalliongrad was paying a lot for any pack anypony could find.

I was about to head off, but then I looked down at the bodies again. As dead as they were, they still had more protection than me. Their barding was slapped together, but it was more protective than what I was wearing.

I looked down at my stable jumpsuit, remembering when I got shot outside Stalliongrad. “I need more protection if I’m going up against more of these ponies.”

So I began removing the barding from the carcasses. The pads came off easily, but the chest pieces took a bit of work. However, I soon got enough pieces to beef me up.

Once I’d made sure I had enough protection and everything was on tight, I began sneaking around the side of the building. Red dots covered the lower half of my vision, but they were mostly jumbled to the left.

Soon I came across a pile of sandbags stacked in a curve. Behind it sat a few cases of ammo and a syringe of Med-X. Reminding myself to get those later, I ducked behind the cover and looked over the top.

Two more ponies were guarding a large door a few feet away. But unlike the last two, these two looked deadly. They both wore wicked smiles, and their beady eyes scanned the area. The only good thing was that these two were earth ponies.

“Finally, an even playing field,” I said, making sure my gun was fully loaded. S.A.T.S was still charging, but I didn’t want to wait for it to finish. Those ponies could come over here at any moment to get ammo, and then I’d be dead. So, without taking a second thought, I jumped around the barrier and began shooting.

***

Sweet Celestia was I stupid.

I fired without thinking….or even aiming. The bullets rained into the wall and gave the raiders time to react.

“Oh good, fresh meat!” one screamed, aiming her gun at me. The other ran up beside her, keeping his gun on my face.

“I get his legs, them’s good eatin!” he called. I saw his gun go off and heard the bullet whiz past my ear. I jumped to the left, taking cover behind the barrier of sandbags.

“Stop moving cunt! We only want to kill you,” called the mare, firing twice at me. One bullet was stopped, but the other one flew through the barrier and bounced off my barding.

S.A.T.S. was still charging, and I didn’t want to fire randomly again. But these ponies were moving so fast, I couldn’t aim properly without it. I needed a delay, just long enough to distract them so I could get a shot through.

The sound of gunshots ended, and I peeked around the corner. The two ponies were quickly trying to reload their guns. As they went to get more, I sprang out from behind the barricade. I lined up my shotgun and fired at the stallion. The bullets hit him in his barding and his leg.

He screamed in agony as he and his gun dropped to the ground. I turned my attention to the mare, who was loading the last two pellets into her gun. “Get ready to die cunt,” she screamed.

“You First.” I aimed my gun and bit down on the trigger. Bullets exploded out the barrel, all heading for her. They mostly hit her barding, but luckily some hit home. One bullet hit her neck, and as she bent down from the blow, another nailed her right in the eye.

Her head became a mass of flying chunks as the body slumped and fell to the ground. The stallion screamed angrily, and was now trying to crawl towards his gun “You killed my fuck buddy cunt, now I’m gonna kill you!”

But with his leg injured, he was moving at a snail’s pace. The tiny bar in my vision informed me that S.A.T.S. had recharged, but I didn’t need it for this. I quickly aimed at the stallion and opened fire. The pellets blasted his head apart, and his body went slump on the ground.

Breathing heavily, I wiped my leg across my forehead, flinging sweat all over. “That was...invigorating,” I said, walking towards the fallen bodies.

Blood began mixing into the dirt, making a large puddle. I walked up to the dead raiders and began raiding the corpses. Like the last two, I mostly just found ammo and junk. I examined the guns carefully, checking their condition.

“Too broken,” I said, flinging the stallion’s sawed off shotgun over my shoulder. The mare’s pistol looked alright, so I slid it into my saddlebag. I rummaged around her barding, trying to find any extra ammo she might have.

“Got to be something…” I stopped speaking when I felt my hoof touch something. It felt rough, but was easily compressed. I pulled it up and out of the barding. It was a small folded piece of paper.

“What the hay is this?” The mare didn’t seem like the kind of person to keep records, but then again I knew little about these kinds of ponies. I unfolded the paper and began reading.

Overdose,

I had to send this message the old fashioned way, unfortunately. I got word from The Boss that you and Poison will be on the next shift to hit Stalliongrad. Grab gear from room 56 tomorrow, and head out to meet with the other group.

The Boss, again, reminded me to tell you that your group is to capture Textbook alive, or at the very least mildly injured. Whiplash knows what he looks like, so ask him if you want to know who not to shoot. But if you do happen to shoot him, make sure you collect all his records, projects, and everything else from his facility. And if you fail, I’ll personally throw you in The Pit and see what Knockout does to you.

Slice Dice

“Geez,” I said, finishing the letter. “Guess she doesn’t have to go to the Pit,” I thought as I looked down at the dead mare. But now I was beginning to think.

“So, the reason their attacking Stalliongrad is to capture a pony named Textbook. But why?” I asked, rereading the note. What could one pony have that makes somepony else hire raiders to get him.

But more importantly, who was the pony behind all this! The note only said The Boss; no name at all. White mane and Pinkie had talked about him earlier. So, it seemed he was a big deal for these ponies.

I pocketed the letter, intending to show Mayor Drop when I got back. I still had medical supplies to get, and they were all on the other side of the door.

But so were at least seven red dots, all moving around my field of vision.

“Can life out here ever be easy?” The answer was a big fat no, but I couldn’t change it. So I slowly opened the door before slipping inside the building.

***

Once the door closed behind me, I looked around the area. It looked to be a lobby, given the chairs lining the wall and the desk at the other end. But it did have some gruesome features.

Limbless bodies hung from chains to the ceiling. A few cages, all containing dead ponies, sat huddled in a corner. Blood stains ran across the dirty carpeted floor.

“Ugh,” I thought, holding my hoof up to my mouth. “What kind of sickos would do something like this?” Stable 11 was looking merciful compared to what these ponies were doing.

The red dots were split to the left and right of the room, more than likely behind the doors on either side. But one dot was coming closer from the left.

I didn’t even have time to move before the door opened. Another earth pony stallion walked into the room, wearing bloodied barding. He turned my direction; his eyes widening when he saw me.

“Kick ass!” he screamed, his mouth turning into a wicked smile. He reached behind himself and pulled out a sawed-off shotgun. He aimed it at me faster than anything I’d seen before.

And this time, I didn’t have time to move out of the way.

The stallion fired, keeping his aim on me. The shot covered our distance quickly before hitting my left leg. I almost lost my balance, but was able to stay upright.

“Shouldn’t have come in here cunt!” he called as he aimed the shotgun again. But this time I was more alert, and slipped into S.A.T.S. I selected his head, then opened fire with my shotgun. His brains exploded backwards, before covering the back wall.

I relaxed for a second, but then kneeled down. “Shit, he got me right in my leg.” The wound was small, but it was still making me bleed a whole lot. I didn’t know much about medicine, but I knew I had to do something about this.

Lifting my PipBuck up to my face, I scrolled through my medical supplies. I had plenty of healing potions, some Med-X, and thankfully a pack of bandages. I rummaged through my sack, pulling out one of each.

I downed the healing potion, then injected a syringe of Med-X into my bleeding leg. The pain began to go down, at least enough to where I could work. I tried wrapping the bandages around the wound, but it didn’t feel right the first time. After another two tries, I finally got it wrapped comfortably.

Once I’d tied it off, I tried standing up. The pain was still there, but nothing like how I felt back at Stalliongrad. “At least I can walk.”

I examined the red dots again, looking to see if any were getting closer. But even with the sound from my gunshot, the dots stayed on their respective sides.

“These ponies must have terrible hearing. How can you not hear two guns going off?”

I walked up to the body and looked through his items. I took the shotgun and ammo, but left the barding. Mine wasn’t damaged enough that I needed to replace it.

“Okay, now I got to find out where the medical supplies are kept,” I said, looking towards the desk. Terminals sat along the top, old but looking to be in working condition.

“Maybe they have some plans for the building in there. Or even better, a note telling where the supplies are kept.” I walked around the desk and examined the terminals.

“Broken….Broken….Really Broken….Ah Ha,” I said, finding a non-damaged terminal at the end of the desk. The screen flickered, so at least it had power. I activated the home screen, but was welcomed by a password screen.

I mentally cursed myself as I began working through the possible codes. Eventually I found the right one “Angel”, and found myself in the man file storage.

I looked over the list of files on the screen. They were labeled by date, starting from earliest to latest. The top one was titled: “Working for the Ministry of Peace.”

“Best place to start off,” I said with a shrug. I opened up the file and began reading.

Hello there fine mare/stallion/griffin. If you are reading this, you have been hired as a receptionist for the Ministry of Peace Animal Care Center. We are happy you chose to work with us on our trip to make the world more peaceful.

As a receptionist, you will be in charge of dealing with anything that has to come through our building. That includes calls, meetings, inspections, paperwork, and of course being friendly to others. That last part isn’t in the job requirements, but it is important none the less.

Now, there is a matter that has to be discussed. There are two levels to this building: the floor you are on right now, and the basement level. The first floor houses all the animal kennels as well as medical wings. There is also a break room for employees, as well as barracks. We do hope the accommodations are comfortable.

Now as for the subbasement, that area is off limits to all without a pass. Nopony except those with clear access given by me will be allowed down there. If anypony defies these rules, they will unfortunately be terminated on the sight. We do hope this doesn’t happen.

Finally, I just want to wish you luck with your new job. It’s just as important as any other job in Equestria, so be proud of yourself. Because every pony, in any job, can make a big difference.

Signed,

Ministry Mare Fluttershy

I blinked, thinking about what I’d read. “Well, I guess that explains all the cages,” I said as I looked around the room.

But I didn’t have time to focus on that now. This tape had given me the location of the medical bay. The only thing standing between it and me were a few raiders.

All I had to do was clear them out.

That was easier said than done.

***

The dots in my vision were split to both sides of the room. Four were on the left, while four were on the right. But were they on this floor, or the bottom floor? S.A.T.S. may be able to tell you when enemies are nearby, but they didn’t tell you how high up they were.

I rubbed the back of my head, grimacing. “I hate to say this, but I’ll just have to walk through and see.”

I trotted over to the door the raider had come through. It was still partially open, so I peaked into the other side. A long hallway curved ahead of me, with doors running along the sides. More dead bodies hung from chains, while some littered the floor.

I put a hoof up to my mouth, trying to keep the Sugar Apple Bombs in my stomach. “Why, why do these ponies have to do this,” I thought, walking into the hallway. My E.F.S. showed me that one dot was close. It seemed to be behind the door on the left.

I crept over to the door and pushed it open. The room looked like my dorm back in the Stable. A desk sat in the corner, covered in piles of junk. A dresser was lying on it side next to it. And along the wall sat a large bed, with a snoozing pony lying on top of it.

His mouth widened open with every snort that escaped it. The few teeth he had were yellow and chipped. His barding lay in a heap at the foot of the bed, while a loaded gun holster sat on the desk.

“Idiot. Never get into bed without wearing protection,” I thought, slowly walking over to him. Not wanting to use my noisy shotgun, I pulled out my pistol. The mouth grip felt just as good as the one on my saddle.

I didn’t want to waste S.A.T.S., so I pressed the barrel to his temple and fired. The close range muffled the blast, and sent lead and blood spilling out the other end. He didn’t even open his eyes.

“Okay, now it’s time to gather and go,” I said as I started to route through his room. I took the gun from the dresser then looked through the draws. I found a few boxes of ammo along with some bobby pins. I took both, though I didn’t know what I could do with the pins.

Once I had made sure everything had been searched, I headed back towards the hallway door. Three red dots still shown on my E.F.S. towards the left side. That meant I had three more raiders to deal with. But as I neared the door, I felt my hooves push against something.

I looked down and saw what looked to be two metal apples sitting down below me. A stem on the top of them, and the bottoms was as round as a ball. I picked them up, looking over the two carefully.

“What are these?” They definitely weren’t apples that you could eat. “Probably a weapon,” I said, pocketing the objects. The PipBuck indicated the items was called “Grenades.”

“But what do they do?” I asked as I walked into the hallway. The dots were still jumbled to my left down the hallway.

“Down that way,” I thought. As I continued to walk down the hallway, I tried to ignore the bodies that hung like cured meats in a locker. The whole place smelled of piss and iron, and a whole bunch of other things I didn’t want to think about.

Almost all the doors were closed, but then there were some that weren’t. Rooms filled with cages or more bodies were behind almost every open door. But strangely I didn’t see a single raider.

I was beginning to think the dots were on the other floor. But as I began to turn a corner, that’s when I saw another raider. It was a unicorn stallion, standing in front of a large metal door. He leaned back in a chair, reading an old magazine called “PlayMare.” His smile only made me wonder what it was about.

As soon as I saw him, I ducked back behind the corner. My breathing was quick, but I was able to keep my cool. The stallion didn’t seem to have noticed me; most likely distracted by the magazine in his hooves. I peaked behind the corner, hoping he kept his eyes away from my location.

“OH, we don’t have ponies like that anymore. All we get are the leftovers from the beat towns and scumbags from the Brotherhood,” he said, flipping through more pages. His grin only got bigger each time.

I heard the sound of shuffling hooves from somewhere behind him. Then the large metal door opened, and a black earth pony stallion walked out. A cigar was stuck in his mouth, which shot ash and embers into the air when he flicked it. His faces was frozen in a frown, with his eyes narrowed in distaste.

“Hey Shank, stop reading about sluts and keep an eye out like you’re supposed to. I sent Dart to get supplies ten minutes ago, and he hasn’t come back yet,” said the stallion. He moved his cigar around, dropping ashes to the ground.

Shank looked up from his magazine, his mouth drooping and his eyes half open. “Yeah, so what? I’m doing my job, and I’m not responsible for what Shank does. If you want to find out, go see for yourself.” He looked back at his magazine and began reading again.

The stallion growled at Shank. The end of his cigar grew brighter, making more ashes blast from it. “You’d better watch your flanks Shank. One of these days I’ll get ticked off enough to blow them right off your hindlegs.”

Shank rolled his eyes, still looking at the magazine. “I wait for the day when you finally keep that promise.” The other stallion huffed before walking in my direction.

My mind began racing as the stallion drew closer. He didn’t look like he was armed, but it could mean he had a concealed weapon. What kind? That’s what worried me.

If I didn’t want to get killed, I’d have to take both of these two out as fast as possible. I could take the black stallion out first, then use S.A.T.S. to take out Shank. I’d have to be fast, and accurate. One false move and I’d have two angry raiders bearing down on me.

Taking a deep breath, I shot out from behind the corner as I slipped into S.A.T.S. Time paused as I picked the stallion's head as the target for my gun. I bit down on the trigger and watched the pellet shoot out.

The shot hit him right in the head, which blew out a perfect hole in the front of it. His eyes widened before rolling up into his head. As his body hit the ground, I turned towards Shank.

He looked up at me with his eyes wide open. His magazine was still open in his hooves, and I could see him sneaking quick glances at it. “What a pervert,” I thought.

I ran over to him, pushing my gun's barrel right up to his chest. I put on my best you’re going to be dead unless you do what I say face, hoping it would work. But for some reason I felt it looked like I was constipated.

“If you say anything, and I haven’t said you can speak, you’ll meet the same fate as your friend,” I said. I had never had to use a gun to make a pony do what I want. But I didn’t want to take any chances with this one.

Shank’s eyes looked all around me; most likely sizing me up. I could almost see the gears in his head starting to turn. After a minute he nodded his head.

I pulled my gun back a little, but kept it close enough that I couldn’t miss him. “Good, I’m glad we understand each other. Now I’m going to ask you some questions. You answer them, and say nothing else. If you do, I won’t hesitate to use this.” I pushed my gun forward again before pulling it back.

“Question 1: I took out four ponies outside, then three more inside. How many raiders, including you, are left?”

Shank took a moment to answer. “Four.”

“Good. Question 2: Are you carrying a weapon?”

“Yes.”

“Take it out and throw it to the other side of the hallway,” I said sternly.

Shank didn’t do anything for a moment. Maybe he was thinking of ways he could get out of this situation. But I guess a gun pointed at you is a pretty good indicator of what would happen.

He reached inside of his barding and took out a small pistol. He flung it over to where his dead friend's body lay.

I knew what I need to ask next, but my curiosity got the better of me. Keeping my eyes and gun on him, I pulled the metal apple out of my bag. “Question 3: What is this?”

Shank looked at the apple, which caused his eyes to widen. “Woah bud, you aren’t going to use that on me are you?” He seemed a little more scared than usual.

I decided to play on his fear a little. “Maybe, but first I want to know what it does. You seem to know, so tell me!”

Shank swallowed a little, keeping his eyes on the apple. “It’s a grenade alright. You pull the pin and throw it at something. After a few seconds, it explodes wherever it lands.”

Suddenly the “grenade” felt a lot more heavier than I’d thought. This tiny thing could cause a big explosion? And I was holding it in my hoof? I quickly put it back inside my bags.

“Final Question: What are you all doing here?”

Shank’s face of fear soon turned into a sleazy grin. “We’re just trying to survive, like everypony out in the wastes. That’s what you're trying to do, am I right?”

“You’re not in the position to ask questions,” I said, putting the gun barrel against his chest again. “And I’ve seen what you’ve done to other ponies. That isn’t surviving, that’s inhuman.”

Shank chuckled. “That’s what you think cunt. Out here, it’s killed or be killed. If you haven’t figured that out by now, you never will. We do what we have to do to survive. And if that means killing and eating a few ponies, I’ll do it. Maybe one day you will too.”

My insides clenched up, making me grit my teeth. “Never,” I said, and I bit down on the trigger. Shank’s chest soon had a nice bullet hole in it, and he didn’t say another word.

***

After I looked through the two bodies, I walked through the large metal door Shank had been guarding. The room on the other side was just as big as the atrium. A row of desks sat on one side of the room, each covered in blood and pony meat. On the other side sat a staircase that lead to the bottom level. A sign on the door at the bottom read Restricted: Authorized Personnel Only.

I spotted another large door on the other side of the room and walked over to it. I had to step over a few bodies, but they didn’t have anything loot worthy on them.

I opened the door and looked out into the hallway beyond. More rooms stretched down it, but there weren’t any bodies lining the floor. Just streaks of blood where bodies had been dragged. I made a note not to go into any room that wasn’t medical.

I trotted down the hall while keeping an eye on my E.F.S. Three dots still lined my vision, which I guess proved Shank was truthful. One was on the left side, the other two on the right. And they seemed to be closer than the left one.

I kept walking down the hallway, keeping an eye out for the last three ponies. The blood streaks began to disappear the farther along I went. In fact the whole area seemed cleaner and nicer.

Which means that something wasn’t right.

The walls were starting to gain color, and the doors were all intact and closed. I began to question the whole thing, until I saw the two dots move to my right side. I looked over and saw that they stopped right in front of a door. I could hear slightly muffled voices behind it.

“Found them,” I said, kicking my shotgun into action. I made sure S.A.T.S. was charged up before opening the door. The first thing that met my eyes was two ponies going at it.

I sat frozen in the doorway as I watched these two slapping flanks and calling names. I wanted to turn away, but I was too shocked to do anything. But after a moment I was able to get myself composed.

Slipping into S.A.T.S. I aimed my gun at the two ponies’ heads. With a bite of the trigger, the two ponies collapsed into a bloody mess on the bed. And thank goddess none of the blood looked old.

“Well,” I said, backing out of the room “I guess that’s why this place is so clean.” It only made sense that even raiders would keep the place they had fun clean and intact. But sweet Celestia, I wish I could unsee that. If anything, at least those two died happy.

But for all that had happened, it also meant I was down to one pony. “After that, I get the medical supplies and I get out.” So I headed off towards the last red dot on the E.F.S.

***

I soon came to the door that the red dot was in front of. The last raider was behind this door, and all I had to do was shoot him. After that, it was medical supplies and then back to Stalliongrad. So simple...yet I felt myself hesitating.

If this was the last raider, than he was either lucky or smart; maybe both. For all I knew, he had a military issued turret behind there waiting for me. Maybe the door was rigged to explode. All these questions ran through my head as I stood in silence.

“Worry about that later Flatfoot, you have to get the job done.” I took a few deep breaths and opened the door. The thing didn’t blow up, so at least I could walk inside.

The room wasn’t very large, and was covered in machinery. Old computers sat along the walls, and mainframes sat on the opposite sides. The floor was carpeted like the hallway, only this one was covered in screws and puddles of oil.

I looked over at the wall opposite of me, which is where a large computer sat. The screen took up most of the wall, while the controls took the bottom sections. A medium sized orange unicorn mare was typing away on the curved keyboard. She didn’t even seem to notice me.

I raised up my shotgun and prepared to blast her head off. I moved my mouth over to the trigger…

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

My mouth stopped moving, and I stood wide eyed at the orange mare. She kept typing away on her keyboard.

“I’ve been watching you since you got into this building colt, and I must say I’m impressed.” She turned her head to face me. She wore half-cut glasses which surprisingly went well with her red mane. “I thought that you’d be dead before you got to Shank.”

I didn’t know why this mare was actually congratulating me. More importantly, she didn’t seem like a raider. She seemed more like a science whiz than a bloodthirsty killer. So why was she in a place like this?

“Well, now that you’re here, I suppose you’re going to try and kill me,” she turned back towards the computer.

I blinked as I tried to think of a response. “Uh, well, yeah. I mean, you’ve obviously seen what I did to the rest of your buddies.”

The mare rolled her eyes. “Oh, those weren’t my buddies; far from it actually. They were more like my...employees. I tell them what to do, and they do it. In exchange they get caps, a place to stay, and all the freedom they want.”

“Sounds almost too good to be true.” I said, keeping my gun pointed at her sleek, rubbable flan...no, I’m not getting sexy thoughts. Not after what I’d seen a while ago.

“Oh it was, and still is. Ponies love nothing more than getting what they want for doing a job they love. And that’s what I provide. With the help from my employers of course.”

I raised an eyebrow questionably. “I thought you said you were the boss?”

“I said I was the boss of this group of ponies. Hence the term was,” she said, raising an angry eyebrow at me. “But I hire my boys out to those who require our services. We’ve been hired by other groups, towns, single ponies, and so on. Ponies pay good caps for our excellent service.”

This mare seemed smart, which got me worried. I couldn’t see any guns on her, and I doubt that any could be hid behind that labcoat. But she was already dangerous for one reason: she had gotten me scared. However, if she was in charge, then maybe I could get some information out of her.

“So,” I said as I took a few steps closer to her “you're the boss? You know every single job that your boys went out and did?”

“Well that’s fairly obvious.”

I took a few steps closer to her, but she was too focused on the computer to notice or care. “So would you mind if I ask a question?”

The mare looked at me questionably, but for some reason still typed on the computer. “And just why would I answer the questions of a pony like you.”

I leaned against one of the terminals, trying my best to look smug. “Because this pony just blasted his way through all your boys and into this room.”

Her face became questionable, but then slowly changed. Now she looked at me like how Zest used to look at me...oh man, Zest. I still had trouble thinking about her, and what she must be going through.

“Well that is true; you did beat all my best ponies. Then again, you beat the worst ones to. But I’ll admit; you’ve intrigued me.” Her glasses fell a little ways down her nose. “So I’ll answer any question you ask me.”

Great, now I had a chance to find out what’s going on. “I only have one question: Why are you attacking Stalliongrad? I know you want to capture a pony named Textbook, but what for?”

The mare’s grin grew wider. “Oh, you know about Textbook. Well I guess I can’t keep anything from you then.” He turned back towards the computer. “It’s simple; somepony hired us to go capture him. We’d bring him to some location, then He’d send other ponies to collect him and pay us.”

“But what was his name,” I asked, stepping closer. This info had given me some insight, but it still had many holes in it. “And why is Textbook so important?”

“That’s not my problem; I was just told what we had to do. Whatever happens after that has nothing to do with us.” The mare looked over at me. “Now that I’ve answered your question, what are you going to do now?”

“Oh…” I really hadn’t thought about what I was going to do. Well, I did, but things had changed after talking to this mare. Or maybe I should just stick to the original plan.

I aimed my gun at the mare, keeping S.A.T.S. on standby. “I’m giving you a choice; surrender peacefully, or be killed. And you’ve seen my shooting skills, so don’t expect me to miss.”

I expected the mare to looked worried, maybe even scared. That she’d get down on her knees and beg me to spare her. Maybe even offer me something. But instead, she started laughing.

“What’s so funny,” I asked, keeping the barrel pointed at her.

The mare, still laughing, looked up at me. “You are. I mean, you really think I’ll do what you say? I guess you weren’t as smart as I thought you were.”

“Coming from the mare who has a shotgun barrel pointed at her, containing a bullet with her name on it.” This nerd was getting more annoying, and more interesting, the more time I spent with her.

“Yes, it seems that I do. By the way, the name is Spark. Now you can engrave that bullet if you want.” She turned back to her computer. “But if you do shoot me, you’ll have something worse to deal with.”

I pressed closer to Spark, making sure my gun was always a few inches from her. “And what exactly would that be?”

Spark chuckled. “Shoot me and find out. Then again, when my client wonders what happened to us, he’ll probably come after you. That is if you survive my little surprise.”

“And what happens if I don’t shoot you?”

“Well,” said Spark, looking at me, “then I walk out of here and get more of my colts. It’ll give you enough time to run for your pathetic life, but I must warn you. When I get my colts, we’ll find you and kill you...slowly.”

If she was trying to intimidate me it wasn’t working. If she was trying to confuse me, it was working. “You’re surprisingly forward with your information.”

“Because I know that there’s no way you can win this. Either you kill me and get killed by my surprise, or you don’t and my boys find you. It’s a lose lose situation.”

I was never okay with lose lose situations. There was no chance of success, and I always liked a chance of success. And no matter what she said, I was planning on making one.

“Actually, it’s a win lose situation,” I said. I aimed my gun and pulled the trigger, not even trying to open V.A.T.S. The bullet pierced her above the heart, and exited below her neck.

Spark’s eyes widened, before looking down at her bleeding bullet hole. But instead of looking shocked, she actually looked happy! “Well, it looks like you’ve made you decision. Now get ready to face the consequences.”

She raised her leg and slammed it down at a large red button on the console. “Face the beast,” she said, but then she crumpled to the ground and moved no more.

“Face the beast,” what had she meant by that? It didn’t sound very good, and that was probably an accurate statement. I was beginning to think about what it could mean, when I heard something roar.

***

“Oh Shit.”

I ran out of the computer room and into the hallway. I couldn’t see anything around, but my E.F.S. had a new large red dot. It looked like it was farther down the hallway I’d come down.

My senses told me that I should probably hightail it in the opposite direction. Not knowing what that thing was is probably worse than knowing what it was.

“But I have to finish my mission,” I thought. It seemed stupid that I was so hooked about finishing this mission when my life was in danger. But Stalliongrad was counting on me to get them medical supplies. I was one pony, they had thousands.

I took a deep breath and ran down the hallway as quickly as I could. Whatever was up ahead let out another roar, which sounded louder than the last. “This thing must be pretty big.”

I can up to the room with the terminals I’d passed through earlier. The door at the bottom of the stairs was now open, and a large creature was standing in front of it. It was on all fours, and had it’s back hunched up. It’s eyes were slinted, and rang along towards it’s long snout. Sharp teeth protruded from it’s mouth and drool dripped down to the ground.

“What the hell is that?” I thought.

The quickly turned it’s head towards me, with his eyes narrowing when the faced my direction. He began to growl and slowly claw up the stairs.

“Okay, S.A.T.S. time,” I said as I activated the spell. The beast slowed to a crawl and my perception sped up. I selected the head and let loose a magnitude of pellets. I eagerly waited for the head to become a bloody splat on the wall.

But instead, I watched in horror as the bullets bounced off the creature’s skin. The skin didn’t even look scratched, let alone pierced. The beast let out a loud roar and quickly ran towards me.

“Shit,” I thought as I turned and ran down the hallway. The beast busted through the small door and followed close behind me. Even at my best speed, I knew it would soon catch up to me.

I soon came up to the hallway from before, with both room doors still open. I ran into the computer room and quickly shut the door behind me. I felt/heard the beast on the other side; pounding on the door.

“Come on Flatfoot, think,” I said through gritted teeth. The door was strong, but it wouldn’t last forever. And I doubt that creature would give up easily.

But what could I do? The bullets from my best gun had just bounced harmlessly off the thing’s head. If my best wasn’t good enough, what else could I try. “All my other weapons aren’t even close to my saddle.”

The beast continued to pound on the door, and I could hear the nuts and bolts begin to pop. Feeling desperate, I pulled up my PipBuck and scrolled through my inventory. “Bullets, Guns, Stimpacks, Grenades, Water….wait a minute,” I said as I scrolled back a little. A little icon of the metal apples I’d picked up appeared on the screen.

“I’d almost forgotten about these,” I said as I reached back and pulled the two out of my bags. “But what kind of damage can you do?”

The door gave a resounding shudder as one of the bolts popped out of the wall. “No better time to find out,” I said. But if I was going to use a new weapon against a strange creature, I needed a smaller space.

I came up with a plan fairly quickly, and it was incredibly stupid.

***

I grabbed the door handle with my mouth. It tasted like the rusty thermometers they used in Stable 11’s medic bay. Shaking the thought and taste away, I pulled the lock slowly down.

Once it clicked into place, I let go and scrambled away as the door flew open. The beast charged through the door, cleared the room, and slammed into the computer on the other side. The screen blasted glass shrapnel and the beast fell to the floor. As it began to rise, I quickly ran out the door.

“Hopefully this works,” I said, as I reached for the door handle. I grabbed it and swung the door until it was just a few inches from closing. I pulled out one of the two grenades, holding it gently in my hooves. I pulled the pin out of the slot and threw the thing into the room. As it landed, I pulled the door closed and ran across the hallway.

I could hear the beast rush over and smash into the door. But this one opened the other way, so it would be harder for him to open. I waited….and waited….and waited.

Until...BOOM!

The sound of an explosion hit me first, then I felt the shockwave run through the building. Dust and bits of mortar fell from the ceiling. When everything settled, I tried my best to regain my senses. My vision was blurred, and my ears were still ringing from the blast.

The red dot on my E.F.S. had vanished, which I hoped meant that thing was dead. At the very least, I hopped it was so close to death I could put it out of it’s misery. So with my shotgun loaded, and another grenade on standby, I slowly walked over to the door. It didn’t look and worse for wear than when the beast had been smashing into it.

“Strong door,” I said as I grabbed onto the handle. But just when I did, I felt the door and handle begin to pull against me. The metal slab fell backwards and onto the ground with a resounding thud. The metal bolts lay in melted pools on the floor to the left.

“Maybe not.” I walked over the door and examined the damage to the room. The terminals along the walls were blackened and torn apart. Portions of the rug were still burning, while others had been torn from the floor. The large computer on the other side had fallen to the ground, with the hard drive lying charred on the floor.

But then I focused on the large burnt body that lay in the center of the room. The carcass had large burn marks all over it, while it’s left leg sat severed in a corner. I walked over the carcass, but I now had the biggest smile on my face. “I need to use these more often.” That was probably a lie, but I was feeling so good at the moment I didn’t care.

I carved out a bit of meat that wasn’t so burnt, hoping to either eat or sell it. My inventory surprisingly couldn’t tell what it was; the name that came up was “Mystery Meat.”

“Sounds appetizing,” I said as I walked back into the hallway. My hooves made nice prints in the newly fallen dust. Overall the computer room was the only one that looked to have received damage. I walked down the hallway towards the room the beast had come from. The doorframe was now gone, having been blown apart as the beast had busted through it.

Inside the room, things were still the same. I trotted over to the steps that lead towards the previously locked door. It now stood wide open with a dark expense behind it. “What else could be down there,” I asked. My E.F.S. didn’t show and hostiles, but then again that thing hadn’t appeared on it either.

Slowly I walked down the stairs and up to the door. I couldn’t see anything more clearly than from upstairs, so I turned on my PipBuck light. Green light shown across the now visible hallway beyond.

“Sweet Celestia.”

Pony skeletons were stacked in piles along the hallway. Some had on old lab coats, while others had vest with the MoP insignia on them. The walls were covered in claw marks and blood. Doors ran along both sides, some open while others were closed.

“What happened here?” I walked into the hallway, stepping around to avoid walking on the bones. “Did that thing do this?”

I looked closely at one of the skeletons, more specifically the clothing. It didn’t have any claw marks or blood on it, and the skeletons had a brownish color to them. “Must not have; these have been here for a long time.”

I looked up and scanned the hallway, hoping I could find some kind of clue. These ponies weren’t raiders, and those doors had definitely been locked when I’d first arrived. And if that beast hadn’t killed them, what had?

My luck was probably high, because near the large door sat a old but functioning terminal. Maybe these ponies kept records, or maybe there was some recording of when they died. Either way, I hoped I would find something that would give me a clue.

Like the reception desk, this terminal was locked. The first few tries brought up nothing, but thankfully I found the password on the fourth: Centaur.

But for the get go, I knew something was different about this terminal. The logs all had strange titles to them; Experiment 343, Mangled Fox Dead, Words from the Ministries. I didn’t know what these had to do with the building or it’s staff, but I was about to find out. I scrolled up to the first one and clicked it. I almost jumped as a stallion’s voice spoke out.

Lead Scientist Bunsen Burner

Log Number 1

Today marks the first day of my work in the Ministry of Peace Animal Care Center. I’ve been transfered from the Ministry of Arcane Science center in Maripony. Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle herself selected me to lead the projects we have planned.

From the start I knew we had what it took to go forward with these projects. Both the MoP and MAS made sure that this base was fully stocked with test subjects and lab equipment. Later, once we have everything ready to go, I’ll be giving each group their respected task. I just hope they have near the amount of intelligence my other colleges have.

I blinked in confusion as the passage processed in my brain. “Test subjects, Arcane Science, experiments. I thought this place was supposed to be an animal care center.” I scrolled down to the next recording.

Lead Scientist Bunsen Burner

Log Number 5

It has been 2 weeks since we started on the projects given to us by the Ministries. Unfortunately not all of them have been perfect successes. Just last week one of the test subjects broke out of it’s cage and attacked the two members in the room. We were able to subdue it, but those ponies will have some serious scars after that.

But it hasn’t been all bad luck this week. We’ve made progress in the hypersleep syrym that Stable-Tec had us test. We were able to get a small bunny’s body to slow its processes down to nearly 5%, then bring it back. Stable-Tec is pushing very much for this to be successful; apparently this is going to be used in one of their stables.

“Stable-Tec….” I had to clench my teeth to stop me from lashing out in anger. Even after leaving, I couldn’t forgive that company for what they did to my home. And from this tape, it seemed it wasn’t the only stable they messed with.

Lead Scientist Bunsen Burner

Log Number 34

It’s been….too long since I made a log. I’ve, well everypony, has been in the dumps lately. Not much has been going right for the last few weeks. Experiments 1-19 have all ended in failures; each test subject has died. The other scientists have begun to question the purpose of these experiments; some were threatening to quit if they don’t get an answer. Let’s just say that we’re three staff members down.

At least I can say that the project I have been working on has been a success. Similar to the hypersleep project, I have been working on a Cryosleep project. This, like hypersleep, is a way for ponies to sleep their way through the recovery of Equestria. Only this uses ice as a way to preserve the body for hundreds of years. This was….also given to us by Stable-Tec. But with these tests a success, I can move on to stage two.

The next experiments will begin tomorrow, and I already have a new test subject. One of the Ministry Mares volunteered her own pet to be part of the experiment. She said that, if it works, then she wants her pet to sleep through the turmoil and into the  new Equestria. It’s currently up in the kennels with the others, but it’ll be brought down here tomorrow. I eagerly await the start of the tests.

Now I was starting to get somewhere. Experiments were failing, but were they the cause of what happened to the scientist. Wanting to know more, I clicked on the next log.

….Bunsen Burner….

Log Number….I can’t remember

I’ve finally got this thing working again. The circuitry was trashed, but I salvaged one from the other terminals.

It happened, it actually happened. Two days ago the world came to an end. Me and the others were enjoying a nice breakfast in the cafeteria when we heard the alarm. Not many worried, “Just another drill” they said. But then we felt the shockwaves, and heard the explosions.

Everypony started screaming and running towards the doors. Where they wanted to go I had know idea, but it was all in vain. The security doors had locked shut when the Megaspells hit, trapping us inside.

We quickly sized up the amount of food and water we had, and projected how long we could survive. The final count came to just 100 days. I don’t know if that’s enough time for rescue to arrive; if they’re even coming at all.

Until then, all we can do is wait.

***

“And they did.”

I looked down at the piles of skeletons down the hallway. “They waited for help to arrive, but it never did. Instead, they sat down together and died.” I looked down at my PipBuck, which was showing me slightly higher amounts of radiation.

“I guess whatever did survive got mutated. That’s probably where that beast came from. Some mutated animal that was living down here for Celestia knows how long.”

The best thing I could do now was walk back up the stairs, get the supplies, and leave. Never turn my back and never think about this place again. Everything that happened here had nothing to do with me; it never did.

But instead, I started to check the rooms. Even though these ponies were dead, I was alive. And that meant I had to find things I could use. If all these ponies were scientists, then maybe I could find something valuable.

The first few rooms came up as duds; just old empty packages and broken lab equipment. Others had varieties of cigarettes and a few healing potions. I kept those in my bags for when I got back to Stalliongrad.

It wasn’t long before the hallway was all but clear. One of the doors had been smashed apart, likely from the beast. The room wasn’t much better, and smelled like a sewage processor. I decided to leave that room along.

Soon I came across the last door in the hallway. Unlike the others, this one was locked. I didn’t have any bobby pins with me, so I pointed my saddle and shot the lock.

I pushed the door open and almost immediately I was blasted with a string of cold air. I was able to see my breath, and noticed a layer of frost on the floor. “Woah, who turned on the AC,” I asked as I walked into the room.

It wasn’t very big; about the size of a room back in the stable. On the right sat a workbench with a bunch of beakers and test tubes on it. All the contents they once held had long since spilled onto the floor.

When I looked on the other side of the room, I found myself staring at some kind of pod. It was oval shapes, sitting above the ground by some kind of machinery. A terminal sat on one side, and the top of the pod was made of glass.

Once the confusion settled in, I remembered what Bunsen had said in his recording. “Cryosleep,” I said as I walked over to the terminal. It too was frozen over, but I simply wiped the frost off.

“Bunsen said that one of the Ministry Mares had volunteered her pet for this experiment.” I got as close as I could to the glass, but I couldn’t see anything beyond it. “Is it still in their?”

I found it strange that a machine like this could still be operating after all this time. “It should have shut off a long time ago.” I turned back to the terminal and started it up.

Thankfully, this one didn’t require a password. Only two files came up; Cryosleep and Power Options. I clicked on the first one, which opened up a short document. I began to read it over.

***Caution: For Authorized Personnel Only***

Dear Mr. Bunsen Burner

I’m writing to you today to inform you of the latest project we wish for you to start work on. Earlier this week Stable-Tec sent to your laboratories a new Stable-Tec cryopod. After much research and experimentation at our labs, we wish for you and your personnel to do further tests on the machinery.

Our research has shown that these pods will have the ability to freeze all cells in an organism, therefore suspending them in an ageless environment. If this project is a success, then this could be used to help ponies go from wartorn to rebuilt Equestria.

We are very hopeful that these experiments will turn out a success. It is the hope that a form of this can be used in one of our stables; Stable 111 to be precise. But for scientific purposes you understand; we’d never use this on a pony without their consent first.

Now your job is to use the pod provided on the animals that you have in the facility. If it is proven that it works on animals, then we can further work on making them work on ponies. We have complete faith in you Bunsen, and hope for the best.

Signed,

Stable-Tec Research

My mind raced with thoughts of bullets and a Stable-Tec representative; in the same scenario. “I’ll bet my Battle-Saddle that they didn’t tell ponies about the freezing.” I made a mental note to myself to inspect the Stable if I ever came across it.

Exiting out of the message, I selected the Power Options menu. Only one option came up: Shut Down; Open Pod. I looked again at the frost covered glass of the pod.

“There’s an innocent animal in there that’s been asleep for over 120 years. The world’s not much better, but I think it’s slept long enough.” But for added protection, I kept my saddle fire-ready.

I clicked the Off selection and backed away from the pod. It began to hiss as the cover slowly began to raise away from the body. Mist rolled out of the inside and across the floor. Once the mist cleared, I walked over and peered into the pod.

“...Sweet Celestia…”

Inside of the pod, curled up in a napping pose, was a dog. It had brown fur, but also some white patches on its tail, chest, paws,  and noise. A nice red collar ran around it’s neck. It was slowly breathing, like most ponies when they sleep.

I’d read a little about dogs when I was in the stable. There were a lot of picture books that showed dogs running around and herding animals. They were even described as a “Stallion’s Best Friend” in some cases. “Are you thought?”

The moment the words left my mouth, the dog's eyes popped open. I almost staggered back in surprise, but was able to keep my footing.

The dog lifted its head and let out a big yawn. Then it rose and stretched it’s legs, before hopping out of the pod. This time I did lose my footing as I moved to get out of it’s way. I fell on my flanks and watched as the dog started looking around the room.

Then it’s eyes landed on me.

It looked up and began to wag its tail, before running over and sitting right in front of me. It huffed and continued to wag its tail, while I just looked at it. “What does it want?” I wondered.

We stayed like that for a few minutes; the dog and me looking at each other. I didn’t know what it was waiting for, but I was determined to outwait it. Then, it did something strange; it walked over to my hoof and nuzzled it gently.

“Hey,” I said, quickly drawing my hoof back. The dog looked up and me, it’s eyes growing wider. Then it whimpered; almost like it was crying. Now I was even more confused. “What did I do wrong?”

The dog, still looking sad, stared at my hoof. I looked at it too, and then back at the dog. “Does it want me to touch it?”

Testing my theory, I reached over and gently sat my hoof on the dog’s head. Instantly, it smiled and began to rub it’s head against my hoof. Soon I found that I was repeating the action while it just sat there. “So, you just wanted me to pet you?”

The dog barked happily, leaning more into my hoof. “Well you do seem more happy,” I said. I moved my hoof down to it’s back, and it thumped it’s foot happily. “Wow, you really like to be pet.”

It was then that I noticed the tiny golden plate on the dog’s collar. I brought it closer to my face and saw there was something written on it.

“Winona,” I read. The dog raised it’s ears and looked at me with it’s full attention. “So your name is Winona.” I looked over the rest of the tag. “But it doesn't say who you belong to.”

Winona just barked as I continued to pet her; this time it was her belly. I knew that whoever had owned her was long since dead, but I didn’t want to tell her it. She was happy now, and I didn’t want to ruin it.

I stopped the petting and got back on my hooves. Winona got up to, still keeping her eyes on me. “Well I have some medical supplies to get. Try not to get into trouble,” I said to her. I didn’t know if she could survive on her own, but at least now she had the chance.

But as I walked towards the door, I heard the sound of paws on the floor. Looking back, I saw Winona stopped right behind me with her tail wagging. “You’re following me,” I said with a raised eyebrow.

Winona just continued to look at me with happiness. I think I was beginning to understand why. “Do you want to come with me?”

Winona barked happily and started running around my legs. Then she ran in front of me and began to lick my front hooves. “Hey,” I said as I looked at my now slimy hooves. But I could help but smile at the whole thing.

“Well then, let’s head out.” I said. And with a resounding bark, Winona and me set off down the hallway towards the doors.

Chapter 5: Destinations

FALLOUT EQUESTRIA: SURVIVOR

Chapter 5: Destinations

“Until next time, this is DJPon3, OOOHHH. And you’re listening to Wasteland Radio! We spread the truth, no matter how bad it hurts.”

“Do we seriously have to listen to this,” I said to Winona. She was walking briskly beside me with her tail wagging. Her happiness must have made it hard for her to see the destroyed nation of Equestria around her. She barely had any reaction when we left the MoP building.

She barked loudly and gave my PipBuck a little nudge. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Not long after we had left the hub, I’d gotten tired of the numbing silence and turned on my PipBuck’s radio. Almost instantly my ears were greeted to the sound of D.J. Pon3 and his constant ranting. I tried switching it to another channel, but that’s when Winona started to whine. She continued to do that until I turned back to Wasteland Radio. And she did that every time I tried to change it again.

“You know, a good dog does what their master says. So if I say I want the radio off, I should be able to turn it off.”

Winona looked up at me with her head leaning over. I pointed my head forward; sighing. “Why am I talking to a dog?”

If there was one place I didn’t want to go crazy, it was here. I was almost to Stalliongrad, and I had to get the supplies there. Turning back, I saw that the cart I'd salvaged from the area surrounding the building was still full of yellow medical boxes and crates of potions. The wheels continued to squeak, but overall the it seemed to be holding up.

“I hope Sweet Drop is grateful for me doing this, and what I had to go through.” The burning in my left leg wasn’t as bad as before, but I did want Cuddles to look at it when I got back.

Which thankfully, wasn’t that long.

The large metal doors of Stalliongrad soon met my eyes. The ponies along the top of the wall had their guns aimed at my head. “Don’t shoot, it’s Flatfoot! I don’t want to be a practice dummy for your guns again,” I called.

I reached the doors without getting shot, then I looked up at the two ponies above them. “Mind opening up, I have the medical supplies!”

The ponies did a quick exchange of words before looking down at me. “We have our gun pointed right at you! Try anything and you’ll be Swiss Cheese in no time!”

I rolled my eyes as the doors slowly began to swing open. Winona crouched down with her tail wagging even faster. “Please don’t do anything to get me in trouble,” I said as the doors fully opened.

Two unicorn guards walked over to me with their weapons floating next to them. “Well it seems you made it back in one piece newbie. I thought for sure those raiders would eat you alive….literally.”

“Well sorry to disappoint.” I watched as the other guard began to look through the cart. “Mind telling me what your friend is doing back their.”

The buck in front of me looked at his college with loathing. “He’s making sure that you aren’t bring anything dangerous into the city.” He eyes my battle-saddle questionably, “though it seems you will be anyway.”

Winona walked up to the guard and sat down in front of him. He looked down at her, then back at me. “So, you made a new friend?”

I adjusted the barding on my legs, not meeting his eyes. “You could say that I….found her.”

Winona barked again and started rubbing her head against the guards leg. He flinched a little, but didn’t back away. “What is she doing?”

“She just wants you to pet her.” The second guard walked back from the cart. “So can I go in?”

“Well I didn’t see anything that could be a harm to the city….except your battle-saddle,” said the guard, eyeing my weapon.

I gave my saddle a little shake, shifting it into a more comfortable position. After losing it the first time I had gone into Stalliongrad, I wasn’t in the mood to do it again. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to give it to any of these ponies.

The second guard  gave a slight cough, bringing my attention back to him. “Just uh...keep that thing’s safety on while you’re inside.” I couldn’t tell if that was fear or warnings in his voice, but I wasn’t too interested in finding out.

“Will do,” I replied as I pulled the cart through the open gates. Winona followed closely behind me, but not before giving the guard’s leg a good lick while she passed. “Stupid mutt,” he muttered.

I rolled my eyes at the whole thing, though I really couldn’t blame his reaction. I’d jumped like a foal when Winona and me met. But then again I’d had to deal with a deadly creature just a few moments earlier.

As I passed the vendors that lined the street, ponies began to turn and look at my cargo. Some smiled as if I was pulling Celestia herself, while others were so shocked they couldn’t keep their mouths shut. A few vendors even started asking me what it'd cost to buy a box or two. Part of me was temped to take the offers, the caps could really help me get any supplies I'd need. But I'd made a promise to Drop and I wasn't going to break it.

But ...the scene was just too good to pass up. So I cleared my throat and spoke as loud as I could. “Hail ponies, for your salvation has arrived,” I screamed. “The brave and powerful SURVIVOR has come to bring you aid in your time of need. Claps and cheers may now be presented!”

Unfortunately the ponies didn’t seem to be in a clapping mood, and they remained silent as I came to the end of the market area. I looked back at them, but I tried my best to smile. “What’s it take to get a little applause around here?”

When nopony responded, I huffed and continued on towards the hospital.

***

“Oh….my….Alicorn!”

Cuddles’ mouth dropped to the ground when she spotted me approaching the hospital with my cart of supplies. She’d untied her mane since I’d left, and it now feely flowed down her neck. And when the wind blew slightly, even with no sunlight, it swirled and glowed with the grace of a princess.

I stopped near the curb and unhooked myself from the cart. Cuddles walked up to it and gazed at the many yellow medical boxes. “This will be enough to supply us for month!” She turned to look towards me, a smile formed on her face. “Thank you so much for doing this. I don’t know how I can thank you.”

I walked up to her and put a hoof gently on her shoulder. I could see a blush trying to creep onto her face, but she managed to keep it down. “You already did when you patched me up.”

Cuddles waved off my hoof, while at the same time giving her eyes a roll. “To be fair we were the ones who shot you. So it was actually pretty even when you think about it.”

“Yeah well, I’m just happy that you’ve got the amount of supplies needed to keep you guys running. Which I wouldn’t mind you using on me. I did get shot up and banged a few times getting them from those raiders.”

Cuddles gasped and quickly started looking over me. “What? Are you in any pain? Rate it on a scale of 1 to 10. Where and how many times were you shot?”

I grabbed the filly as she was coming around me again, and made sure she stayed there until I was finished. “Calm down Cuddles. I’m feeling sore in a few places, but overall I’m fine.” I removed my hooves from her, but she still didn’t move. “Now before you go rushing all over me, I have to go talk to the Mayor. So until then, try to keep a level head.”

Cuddles snickered. “I can do that just fine. But I’m worried that one day you’ll come back with a head that too far to the left.”

I chuckled at the joke, before turning on the spot and heading to see Sweet Drop.

***

“Why the savior of Stalliongrad has returned!”

Mayor Drop sat at his desk, wearing the biggest “i’m doing this because I have to” smile I’d ever seen. I kept my face neutral as I walked over to the desk and plopped down on one of the large brown chairs.

“So,” he began “I take it from you being back that there are two outcomes. One; you chickened out of getting the supplies and wasted the whole day.” His smile grew even bigger, and had the slightest hint of a sneer in it. “Or, you’ve collected the medical supplies and taken care of those raiders.”

I was very tempted to lash out at the stallion for the way he was reacting. I’d just risked my neck for this colt and he’s acting as if I’m nothing more than one of his little helpers. “Oh, I got the supplies. They’ve been delivered to Cuddles at the hospital.”

“Splendid!” he exclaimed. “And what of the raiders we talked about?”

I breathed steadily, trying to keep my anger under control. “Taken care of,” I replied.

“Excellent, most excellent.” The stallion leaned back in his chair. “With those raiders out of our tails, we’ll have a little less to worry about.”

He looked me over carefully, as if decided what he should say next. I’d seen the look on my mom whenever I’d done something wrong and she’d reached the end of her lecture. But this time, I had the power to talk back if provoked.

Finally the stallion spoke. “Did you happen to find anything….interesting….at the facility?”

I raised an eyebrow questionably. The question had the distinct flavor of being asked for a specific reason. I doubt he could have known about the experiments, but I wouldn’t put it past him to have some knowledge of something going on there.

“I did find another lab under the building.” Drop leaned forward, now having all his attention on me. “It had a lot of failed experiments in it. Turns out the building wasn’t just run by the Ministry of Peace. The Ministry of Arcane Science had a hoof in it, and they used the animals as test subjects.”

Drop pushed his glasses up more onto his nose. The eyes behind them were big with something. I couldn’t tell what, but it wasn’t wonder. It seemed more….devilish.

“And was there anything notable in any of the testing facilities?”

I thought for a moment. Part of me didn’t want to explain Winona to him, or how she’d now become my new pet. Instead, the thought of that large, mutated creature was flung into my brain. The sharp teeth, the disfigured body, the raw power….ugh, it still made me shudder.

“They had a creature locked down in the labs. It was mutated, and almost took me out. I only killed it by sealing it in a room with a grenade.”

Drop paused for a moment, then leaned forward and started laughing. “Oh my, that is pretty impressive.” His laughing slowed enough for him to talk more clearly. “So, is that all that you found in the Animal Center?”

Now was the time to talk about what I’d really come here for.

Ever since I’d found that letter on the raider by the door, I’d been eager to find out who this Text Book was. Why was he so important; at least important enough to have a complete raider group after him.

I pulled out the note I’d taken and slid it over the desk. “I found this on one of the raiders I killed. I think you should read it.”

Drop brought the note closer and began reading. I could see his eyes going from one line to another, but the words didn’t seem to have an effect on him. Eventually he reached the end and looked up at me.

“Well that does clear up some confusion on those raider’s motives. But what on earth did they want with Text Book?”

“They said they were hired by somepony to capture him. If not alive, then they had to at least bring all this work back with them,” I replied. What that mare had said still clung to my mind.

Drop stepped out of his chair and began to pace across the floor. “But why would somepony want Text Book? He barely talks to me, let alone another pony!”

Feeling confused, I decided to speak up. “Just to help those who aren’t familiar; who is Text Book?”

Drop stopped paceing, sighing slightly before looking at me. “Text Book is a pony who showed up in Stalliongrad a few months ago. Arrived with a cart full of supplies and lab equipment; asking for a place to carry out his work.”

“And you didn’t find that strange?” I asked.

Drop chuckled. “Oh of course we did. A few of the guards wanted to shoot him on sight. But we have a saying here in Stalliongrad; no guns, no attitude, no problem. As long as a pony plays by our rules, they’re always welcome here.”

He turned to look out the large window behind him; his attitude becoming more serious. “Since he didn’t seem to be causing trouble, we let him in and gave him a place to work. After not seeing him for a few days I sent some guards to check on him. They came back saying he’d told them to leave and not disturb him and his work.”

Just hearing this story was enough to make me agree with his earlier statement. This pony seemed even stranger than most of the ponies I’d met out here. Asking for a place to work, then to not be disturbed seemed okay; but the way the mayor made it sound gave a different feeling.

Drop continued, “So eventually I went down to see him myself. The lab was a complete mess; tables cluttered with papers and vials, and the floor was covered in some chemicals. He even had a few spell books open. But no matter how hard I pressed him, he wouldn’t tell me what he was working on.”

“And this still didn’t make you question letting this pony in?”

Drop sighed sadly, turning around to face me. The sadness that ran through his face could be seen a mile away. “It did, but less so than normal. He really wasn’t hurting anypony, so I found no harm in letting him stay. But now that he’s being targeted by raiders, maybe it’d be a good idea to go pay him a visit.”

I thought about the prospect of talking to this pony myself. That mare had made it sound as if he was part of something really big. And even though my priority was saving my home, the nick in the back of my head was starting to itch again. “I’d like to go with you, if that’s alright mayor.”

Drop looked me over again, most likely in deep thought. “What business do you have with him?”

“Call it stranger's curiosity. If this pony is really as strange and unstable as you say, I’d like to find out why. And since my life ( as well as the life of this city) was put in danger, don’t you think I have the right to know why?”

I don’t know why, but I felt something different in the way I talked. For some reason I felt more….confident. I felt as if with the right words, I could convince somepony to shoot themselves in the head. My mind flashed back to the guard in the stable; the one who didn’t shoot me just because I talked to him. “How was I able to do something like that?” I thought.

Drop’s eyes opened a little wider, as if he suddenly came to a realization. “Well, I suppose that does seem like a good idea.” He stepped out from behind the desk, approaching me wearily. “But I don’t want you doing anything rash around him. He’s smart, but that doesn’t mean he’s in the right mind.”

I placed a hoof over my heart. “I promise not to do anything that could lead to conflict.” I took my hoof away and glared at the Mayor. “But if he does something that causes me to defend myself, I will. Don’t you agree with that?”

The mayor shook his head. “Sweet Celestia you’re a hard flank. But fine, if he attacks you in any way, you are allowed to fight back. However, if non-killing methods are available, then please try those.”

I nodded my head in agreement. After the bloodshed at the Ministry building, I wasn’t in the mood for any more too soon. The sight of those bodies hanging from the ceiling, the blood  on my hooves, the constant killing….

“Are you feeling okay?”

I blinked twice, only now realizing that I was looking straight at the floor. My breathing had increased, and I felt sweat starting to form on my head. I quickly shook my head, trying to get those thoughts out of my mind.

“I’m fine,” I said slowly “just thinking.” I didn’t want to explain the situation with Drop, at least not now. I felt myself relax when he nodded his head knowingly. “I’ll let you lead the way; you actually know where he is.”

“Agreed,” said Drop, and he headed towards the large oak doors. Shaking off any other problems that were beginning to take shape, I hopped off the chair and followed closely behind him.

***

“This is where Text Book stays?”

I stared up at the crumbling building in front of us. The walls were deteriorated and covered in markings. The roof sagged under the stress of the wooden beams, and the windows were either shattered or pitch black. Signs littered the front that read Keep Away or Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again!

I looked over at the Mayor questionably. “You gave this pony a decrepit rotting building as a place to perform experiments?”

“To be fair,” the Mayor replied “he only asked for a place to work. And when we gave him this place, he didn’t complain at all.” He looked back at the building with a huff. “At least we were able to get some use out of it.”

I watched as Drop walked up to the small rotting door that stood at the front. It to was covered in signs warning ponies to keep away. But Drop ignored them as he knocked on the door four times. He waited patiently for the door to open, not even looking annoyed as the minutes ticked by.

“Think he’s not home?” I questioned.

Drop frowned and narrowed his eyes, not letting them leave the door. “As I said before; he never leaves his house. It’s natural for him to take a while to answer the door. I once waited a whole hour before he finally answered it.”

I rolled my eyes at the thought, but decided it was best to keep my mouth shut. Any wrong comment and I could end up with another bullet in my flank….or worse. A shudder ran down my spine as my mind played the situation out.

“State your business or be prepared to be fired upon!”

I had my saddle up and ready in a flash, scanning around the area for any sign of the voice. But I couldn’t see anypony for a whole mile, and even E.F.S wasn’t picking up anything. I turned towards Drop, hoping to see if he’d heard the voice too. But when I looked at him, I saw him staring at a small wooden box that was placed over the door.

“It’s me Text Book; Mayor Drop,” he said to the box “I’m just here because I have some things to discuss with you.” His voice was stern, but also had a calmness to it.

“If it’s about the caps I owe you, I said I’ll pay you back as soon as I get them.”

Drop rolled his eyes, but still had a cool demeanor when he replied. “I’m not here about that. I need to talk to you about some recent….situations….that have arisen because of you.”

The box was silent for a few moments; we couldn’t even hear any static. I was beginning to think the colt was ignoring us when the front door opened slowly.

“I’m down in the basement. Please try not to break anything.”

Drop smiled as he turned his head to look at me. “You heard the pony; don’t break anything.” He looked forward and slowly walked through the open door. Not wanting to be left out here, I quickly followed behind him.

But the inside of the building wasn’t much better.

The walls were all stained and covered in peeling wallpaper. Dust covered the floor, but hoof prints could be seen weaving their way through the room. A pile of broken furniture sat in the corner, which seemed to be supporting part of the ceiling. A worn out door was placed on the right wall near the back; more than likely being the one that lead to the basement.

I looked over at Drop with a deadpan expression. “Even the Ministry building was more put together than this rotten hut.”

Drop glared at me, clearly not amused by my comment. “Well Text Book had no complaints when we gave it to him. And he spends all his time in the basement anyway. This whole upper area could be torn away and he wouldn’t mind at all.”

Drop began walking towards the rotten door. “Now come on; I want to get this over as soon as possible.”

This whole situation was getting stranger and stranger. Drop seemed to be feeling the same thing; his face (when not sneering at me) was concentrated into one of confusion. It was like he wasn’t even sure about the pony he knew better than anyone. And if that was the case, I could only imagine what meeting him face to face would mean.

Drop pushed open the door, revealing a darkened staircase behind it. He slowly began to descend while I followed closely behind. The wood creaked and groaned under our weight, but it was sturdy enough that it didn’t break. I kept close to Drop so that I knew I was heading in the right direction.

Once we reached the bottom, I saw that we were at the end of a long hallway. Lights were hung at the end, giving us a slightly clear view of the path ahead. There weren’t any traps or alarms, so I didn’t hesitate to follow Drop towards the door at the end.

“Remember,” he said, “let me talk to him first. He’s probably going to wonder why you are here.”

I half smiled and said “just say I’m here because my hoof’s been mutated.”

Drop didn’t laugh at the joke, and remained silent until we finally reached the door. I looked around the frames, thinking there’d be a hidden bomb somewhere. But there wasn’t a mechanism in sight, and I didn’t see any wires running along it.

The Mayor grabbed the handle and gently pushed the door open. It groaned until it was fully opened on the other side. Drop walked through the frame with me quietly on his tail.

“....Wow….”

Text’s lab was a lot bigger than I’d anticipated. Rows of tables ran along the room, each covered in vials, beakers, and other scientific equipment. Fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling, making the room seem very bright. The floor was covered in a mixture of dust and some chemicals, but it seemed to be safe since my radiation meter wasn’t going off.

Drop looked around the room, keeping his eyes wide open. “Text Book, where in Celestia’s name are you?”

I heard the sound of glasses being shifted from somewhere farther away. A voice called out “Back here. Please mind where you step.”

Drop headed down the small pathway between tables, making sure not to bump into or step on anything. I followed along behind him, trying my hardest to disturb anything. “He sure does have a lot of chemistry sets,” I said with a slight smile.

“Please do keep your mouth shut until we make sure he doesn’t want you out or dead.”

I snorted at the comment. I personally didn’t care if this stallion wanted me here or not. After what I’d seen, I was getting answers no matter what. And if he had any problems, I could always introduce him to my battle-saddle.

Drop turned a corner and walked into a more open space. Tables surrounded the perimeter, and the inside was filled with a large machine connected to a terminal. But as I walked into the area, my eyes immediately went to the pony that was standing in front of a table filled with books and notepads.

The stallion had a grey pelt, a styled brown mane, and an open book as his cutie mark. A pair of glasses sat on the bridge of his nose, and he wore a white lab coat. He was focused on a book that lay open in front of him, and used his magic to bring over another from a different table.

Drop cleared his throat. “Text Book.”

The stallion turned his head around to look at the mayor, but his face showed little to no emotion. “Good Day Mayor. I didn’t expect you to visit me today, but I’m intrigued to know what it is that I did to warrant this visit.”

“I’ll be glad to fill you in on that matter. Tell me,” said Drop, his demeanor becoming more serious “have you been keeping up with the recent attacks we’ve been having by raiders?”

Text Book nodded. “I still have my ways of getting news from around town.”

Drop waved a hoof in my direction. “Well it would seem that this stallion has taken care of those raiders for good.”

Text Book looked in my direction, still not showing any emotion on his face. “Good job. Doing that must have been quite the ordeal.”

I snorted angrily. “You have no idea.”

Drop glared at me, but didn’t say anything. Instead he turned to address the stallion. “Yes it was, however it would seem that something surprising was discovered during this mission.”

“Something surprising was found in a building full of raiders?” asked Text Book sarcastically as he returned to looking at his books. “Hm, what a surprise.”

Drop huffed angrily, now finally letting a little anger show off. “The surprising thing is why the raiders were attacking. It turns out somepony had hired them to capture you; dead or alive!”

Text Book froze in place, not moving a single inch from his current spot. Even his magic had gone out, and the book he was carrying flopped to the ground. I could see his face from my position, and it was formed into one of pure terror. I don’t believe I’d ever seen a pony's eyes open as wide as his did.

“....they were trying to….to capture me?”

I knew I should have stayed out of this until it was right, but I had things to say to. I was the one who had blown through all those raiders, and I deserved some answers for it.

“Yes, they did.” I retorted. I ignored the glare Drop gave me; I wasn’t going to go easy on this stallion. I walked up to him until I was only an inch from his face. “I found a note saying they were supposed to bring you back to somepony that hired them. And if they killed you, the pony wanted all of your work instead.”

Text Book began to shake, and I could feel his increased breathing on my face. His eyes shone with fear the likes of which I’ve never seen before. “I….I didn’t think….I didn’t think he would come after me. I thought….I hoped….that he would think I died” he mumbled.

Drop walked up to us, looking as angry as I was. “Who did you hope thought you died. I want answers, and clear ones to!”

Text Book swallowed hard, his eyes zipping back and forth between us. It looked like he was trying to figure out what to say. He kept opening and closing his mouth, but no words came out. Until….

“Cycle.”

I raised an eyebrow questionably at the stallion. “Who?” I asked.

Text Book didn’t reply, and when I turned to look at Drop, I found something surprising. The stallion was as stiff as the nervous wreck in front of us. His eyes were as wide as a hoof, and his mouth was formed into a fearful frown.

I was about to ask if he was okay, but stopped when I saw his demeanor change. His eyes narrowed while his mouth formed into an angry sneer. He rushed forward and grabbed Text Book by his coat collar, shoving him against the table.

“You mean to tell me you worked for Cycle? And not once did you think it would be a good idea to tell me this!”

Text Book began to shake violently, his mouth stumbling as he tried to find words. “I….I made it look like I’d died. I thought that, maybe, he’d believe it and he’d forget about me. I never imagined he’d find out, let alone send raiders to get me.”

I sat there watching those two with both anger and confusion. It seemed that Text Book worked for somepony that had enough power to hire raiders. But the way he acted when speaking his name made me think that this pony wasn’t as good as the Mayor.

Drop pulled Text Book closer, keeping his eyes narrowed and stern. “If you think like that, I wonder how you can even call yourself smart! You know what that stallion’s done to ponies who desert him. And somehow you thought that nopony would find out, and if they did, that they wouldn’t come after you?”

Text Book’s eyes were shooting from side to side, not wanting to look into Drop’s unforgiving eyes. “I….I never meant for anypony to get hurt. I just couldn’t work for him anymore; I would have gone mad if I hadn’t left.”

I was getting more and more confused the more they talked. I knew I should probably speak up; if not to get information, then at least to diffuse the situation. “Hey,” I yelled.

The two stallions looked over at me questionably. “For those who just got out of the stable, why not telling me who the hell you two are talking about.”

The two remained silent for a moment, each looking at the other and then back at me. I could see their minds battling over who would explain and who would listen. But soon, Drop sighed and began to speak.

“The pony we’re talking about is called Cycle. In short terms; he’s the most powerful and corrupt pony in the entire wasteland. Very few have seen him in person, and those that do are either in his army or buried in the ground.”

Drop looked at Text Book, who waited a few moments before taking over. “In terms of what he is; he’s the head of what he calls the New Equestrian Monarchy. Years ago, he turned the second largest Ministry of Arcane Science building into his headquarters. He’s been said he chose this because he wanted the lab equipment. A lot of scientists came to join him when they heard of his promise of a “scientific sanctuary” for all knowledge ponies.”

“Soon, his followers also captured a Ministry of Wartime Technology warehouse; giving them access to a lot of guns and weapons. With all this at his disposal, he was able to get lots of ponies to join him. He got so many he was soon able to form his own army.”

Text Book sighed, trying to control his shaking and fast breathing. “And he didn’t care what they did as long as they achieved the goals he set for them. I can’t tell you how many settlements have burned to the ground just because he said they could.”

He let out a sacred breath. “And if a pony who is shown to have a massive knowledge or gift of science, then they are drafted into his personal workforce.”

Drop looked over at me, his face a mixture of both anger and sadness. “Does that answer all of your questions?”

In all honesty, it gave me even more. Why was a pony doing something like this? What had Text Book done that had made him want to flee? And most importantly; What else was there to know about Cycle?

Drop looked back at Text Book, giving him a stern glare. “Now normally I’d ask what you did under Cycle, but not this time. Flatfoot may have killed those raiders, but that just means that monster can send something worse our way. The longer you stay here, the longer Stalliongrad is in danger.”

“What….what are you saying?” asked Text Book.

“I’m saying,” sighed Drop “that you need to leave Stalliongrad. I don’t care where you go, but you just can’t stay here.”

Text Book jerked back in surprise, his eyes growing and his breathing halting. “WHAT! You, you can’t do this! I won’t survive out there; I’ll be killed by the first monster that comes my way!”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t risk this any longer. The protection of my citizens comes first, and if that means banishing you, then so be it. At least then Cycle will stop attacking our town.”

Drop turned away from Text Book and began walking back towards the pathway. “You have two hours to pack up your equipment. After that, I’ll be sending guards to escort you out.” He gave the stallion a sidelong glance. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t put up a fight.”

I watched Drop walked past the tables and into the pathway towards the stairs. Text Book just stared blankly at that spot where the stallion had been standing. I sighed sadly before looking at the scientist.

“I’m sorry. I never thought that this would happen to you. I just wanted to know why those raiders were after you.”

Text Book regained himself and sighed, turning to look over at me. “Don’t beat yourself up for it. Their intentions would have come to light eventually; it was only a matter of time.”

He looked around at the many terminals, beakers, and books that filled the tables around him. “I just shudder to think that all my work will be gone. All that I have done will have been for not, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

I felt bad for the old stallion. He was only doing what he did best, and now it would either be halted completely or be destroyed. And if he really did meet his fate in the wasteland, then there would be no way of continuing it at all.

Text Book looked down at my leg and raised an eyebrow when he saw what was strapped to it. “Oh, you have a PipBuck. I’ve only seen one of those before now, but it was being dissected by another scientist at the time.”

He scratched his chin in a thoughtful way. “You know, I could give that a quick tune up if you want. If you plan on going out into the Wastes again, you’ll want it to be operating at full capacity.”

I looked down at my PipBuck for the first time since I’d left the stable. The leg mounted computer had been scratched and dented in multiple places; likely from all that I’d face since I left. The screen was a little dusty, but I could still see the displays below that showed my Stats.

“It would only take a moment. Just a simple hook up to my terminal and it’ll make sure the systems are working and the displays are accurate,” said Text Book as he walked to a nearby terminal.

I placed a hoof protectively over my PipBuck. While the object was a remind of the Stable I’d left behind, it was also a very useful too. I’ve used it ever since I got my cutie mark all those years ago, and it had never let me down. S.A.T.S. was necessary if I was going out into the wastes again. Plus E.F.S. is basically now my sixth sense.

But as I looked at the battered case and the dust covered screen,  I began to think. “If this thing goes, where will I be? It’s never let me down before, and I don’t want it to start.” I sighed.

“Alright. You can give it a look over.”

“Excellent,” said Text Book with a large smile. He gestured over to where he was standing. “Now please step over here so I can take a look it.”

I trotted over to the terminal and lifted my PipBuck up to him. He reached behind the terminal and pulled out a cable, which slotted into a spot on the back. “Keep it up while I type in the codes to initiate the scan.”

Text Book quickly began typing away on his terminal. Walls of numbers flashed across the screen, which was reflected on my PipBuck. I watched as the numbers continued to go faster and faster, until eventually they vanished. My PipBuck vibrated slight while Text Book pulled the cord out of it.

“Alright then; all systems are now operating at full capacity,” he said while he put the cord back into place. “That wasn’t so bad was it?”

“No,” I said as I looked down at my PipBuck’s screen. The lighting did seem brighter, but besides that nothing seemed too different. “But then again nothing looks different.”

“Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. The codes can be intact enough that it works fine. But there can be holes that, over time, could effect how a system works.”

I’d learned a lot about technology from my time working in maintenance. Most of it was about how terminals and robots work, but there was little in the courses about PipBucks. The ponies in the science wing used to joke that we only use about half of the functions that our mini computers have. I’d used to do the same….but now it didn’t seem that much like a joke.

Text Book walked up to me and placed a hoof on my shoulder. “Well Flatfoot, I do believe you should get going. I have a lot of packing to do, and I’m sure Drop will want to talk to you.”

I raised an eyebrow at the pony; his demeanor was strangely calm for somepony in his position. “You sure? I don’t mind staying and helping out if you need it.”

Text Book just shook his head, turning his face back to the emotionless one he’d worn before. “I have a system for everything and I don’t want it to be disturbed.” He turned back to his table and began to close his books. “You go on. The mayor’s probably waiting for you.”

I watched Text Book as he started to pack up all his equipment. Part of me wanted to go talk to the mayor; maybe convince him to reconsider his actions. This pony was safe here, and he didn’t have anywhere else to go. Now he just being thrown back into the hell with only his brain to survive. And out in the Wasteland, brains weren’t the only thing needed to survive.

But Text Book looked like he had accepted his banishment….maybe a little too easily. He hadn’t argued that much about it, and now he was acting as if he was about to go on a nice daytime stroll. His demeanor had also changed back to being emotionless, but this time it didn’t seem natural. His ears flapped a little, and his chin began to shake; the symptoms of somepony hiding something.

However, he’d made his decision. Now he wanted to be left alone, and I wasn’t about to deny him those rights.

So I walked back to the pathway that lead to the stairs back to Stalliongrad.

***

I found Drop waiting for me outside near a nearby light post. His face was unreadable, but his eyes showed that he wasn’t very happy. Either with Text Book or me I couldn’t tell, but I knew I’d find out soon enough.

“I was wondering when you’d come out of there,” he said as I approached him. His tone was tense, but not as stern as I had guessed. “Care to tell me why you took your sweet time?”

He motioned me to follow him as he started walking down the street that lead to his office. I fell in step beside him as I explained everything that the two of us had discussed since he’d walked out. Drop’s face didn’t change during that time; his only reaction a slight nod whenever I reached a certain point.

“So he just accepted his fate, fixed your PipBuck, then started packing?” He stared ahead thoughtfully, making sure to occasionally check to see if I was still following him. “That does seem strange, even for Text Book.”

“Wouldn’t you act strange if the mayor of your town had said you’d be getting the buck?” I asked.

Drop sighed. “I did what was necessary to protect my citizens. If Cycle knows that Text Book isn’t here, then maybe he’ll leave this town alone.”

“And you don’t think that he won’t interrogate the ponies of this city to try and find out where he went?”

Drop opened his mouth to respond, with a retort or explanation I didn’t know.

And that’s when the explosion happened.

Light flashed from behind me, and the shockwave that followed was enough to push me and Drop down to the ground. I felt bits of bricks and dirt land all around me as the sound slowly died down.

My brain was rattling so much it felt like I had a million headaches. It didn’t feel like I had any damaged body parts, and there wasn’t a pool of blood around my either. I slowly got back onto my shaking hooves, trying to get my head back in order. Drop was also getting back onto his hooves, but he was a little more quick than I was.

“Are you alright,” I asked.

Drop nodded before turning in the direction of the explosion. When I looked to, I saw a large cloud of smoke rising a few buildings down. At first I didn’t know what could have caused that….then I remembered what was at that location.

I turned to Drop. “Move, now!” I didn’t wait for a response as I rushed towards the scene of the disaster. Drop wasn’t far behind me.

***

The smoke was almost so thick I didn’t think I’d even be able to see the remains to Text Book’s lab. A large crater now sat where the building had once been, and the houses around it were so charred that they looked as black as darkness. Ponies who were nearby had either rushed to see what happened or run away in fright. And a few were even trying to put out fires that had sprung up around the area.

Drop and Me watched as the black smoke continued to rise above the burning lab. I didn’t bother thinking Text Book was alive in there; nopony could survive that explosion.

A few city guards arrived and tried to usher the crowd of ponies away from the sight. The ones fighting the fire were allowed to stay, and of course Drop and Me ignored their orders. The mayor kept his face unchanged as he walked as close as he could to the crater; right next to the edge.

I followed behind him and matched his gaze, looking down to the less smokey pit. “I guess this explains why he was so calm about having to leave.”

Drop didn’t say anything at first, but he soon found his words. “I never meant for this to happen. I….I never thought he’d do something like this.”

“Don’t beat yourself up,” I said as I put a hoof on his shoulder. “You didn’t say he had to kill himself. He’s the one who decided that death was better for him than being out in the wastes.”

But even as I said that, I saw how the past events could have unfolded a lot differently. I could understand why the mayor made his choices. But the way he chose to accomplish them could have been done in a less banishment way.

Drop shrugged off my hoof. “But he would still be alive if I hadn’t said that. I knew he wasn’t a good survivor, but I figured he’d at least be able to make it do a different settlement.” He closed his eyes tight as he turned away from the crater. “Guess I was wrong.”

Besides the obvious words of sorrow and comforting, I didn’t know what I could say. Drop had unintentionally caused another pony to commit suicide, and in possibly the most brutal way possible.

I followed Drop as he walked away from the site and towards the street we’d been walking along earlier. “Sir,” called a voice. I looked back and saw the metal covered pony from the hospital running towards us. He completely ignored me as he ran straight up to Drop.

“Sir, what exactly are your orders. My men are ready to begin searching the site; we’re fairly confident that we’ll find the cause of the explosion.”

Drop looked over at the pony with the same blank expression he’d been wearing since the lab had blown. “There will be no investigation Spark; I already know what caused it. But if you find any remains of a body in there, you’re to give it a proper burial.”

Spark’s face turned to one of confusion as Drop headed down the street to his office. “Flatfoot, come with me.”

I was almost a confused at the statement as Spark was. Why did the mayor want to talk to me? And more importantly how was it going to affect me? But I shoved all that away for later as I followed Drop back to his office.

***

“Spill.”

Drop was once again sitting back on his chair, his hooves put together and his face scrunched in anger. He’d started acting like this the moment he'd entered the building. Even the secretary was nervous when she saw the look that was plastered onto his face.

I really didn’t know what he wanted me to say. Did he want me to explain what had happened in the lab again? I wouldn’t know till I asked.

“Care to elaborate,” I asked as I leaned back in one of the comfy chairs that sat in front of the desk.

Drop snorted angrily, but if he thought that was going to scare me he was sadly mistaken. “Just who are you Flatfoot?”

Okay….not the question I was expecting.

“Everything has been normal in this city until you arrived. Once you were carried through those gates, we’ve had our raider problem eradicated and a pony blow himself up!”

Was he really trying to blame me for everything bad that had happened? I’d risked my life for this town, and gotten shot a few times. And yet now here he was accusing me of causing all of their problems!

“Oh, I see. Well I’m so sorry that I not only killed those raiders but also gave you more medical supplies!” I shot back.

Drop pointed hoof at me. “That was an agreement since you used up our supplies when you were shot.” His demeanor became even more angry with every word. “And we wouldn’t have even shot you if you hadn’t come here!”

Those words brought me back two days ago; the day I’d escaped from the hellhole called Stable 11. I remembered listening to the radio about Stalliongrad’s problems and wanting to find a city where maybe I could find help. A place that could save ponies who hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Why did you even come to Stalliongrad in the first place?”

I looked up at The Mayor, my eyes half open and my mouth formed into a frown. “I came here looking for help.”

Drop’s mean demeanor softened slightly. “Help with what exactly?”

For a moment, I didn’t think I should tell him about Stable 11. For one thing; I didn’t think he would be able to handle it. But also because I didn’t want to have to describe it to him. I was already having nightmares just thinking about it, and I’m pretty sure a full fledge description would be just as bad.

But if I wanted his help, I’d have to do some explaining.

So after a moment of collecting my thoughts, I began to explain everything that had happened.

***

“And that’s the reason I came here for help.”

I’d tried to explain everything in as much detail as I could muster. The parts about the elections and sacrifice chamber were the hardest to get out; I’d choked up a little explaining them. After that is was just a simple retread of me escaping from the Stable and coming here.

Drop’s cold attitude had now been transformed into a look of awe and sadness. He hadn’t said anything during my recap, but I could tell that a thousand questions were now swimming inside his mind.

He swallowed hard before speaking. “That’s quite the story you have Flatfoot. Seems like something out of a book.”

“If only it was.”

Drop tapped his hooves together gently, now putting on a face of focus and questioning. “So you came here thinking that we’d be able to take down that Overstallion. You do realize that would require a large amount of my guards.”

“I understand that sir,” I replied “but I know that you have plenty of ponies on guard. All I ask is that a few come back with me to Stable 11 and help me take down Mallet. Lives are on the line here!”

My voice was beginning to become inaudible thanks to the sobs that were starting to break through. That stable was my home, and the ponies living there were my friends and family. I’d left them because I had to, but I didn’t want to just forget about them. I wanted to do something; I wanted to make a change.

But I couldn’t do it by myself. That’s why I was asking Drop to help me; he had the ponies and the firepower. At most I’d need maybe twenty ponies. If they were trained in combat, then they’d easily be able to overpower anything that Mallet threw our way.

Which made it even more crushing when Drop slowly shook his head at me. “I’m sorry Flatfoot; but we can’t send any of our guards to help you.”

It took every ounce of willpower I had not to scream out in either agony or anger. The words and actions that I’d shared with this pony, all in the name of freedom, had all been thrown out the door.

“....Why,” I asked; trying my best not to yell it.

“You’ve done a great favor to this city Flatfoot; there is no denying that.” He got up from his chair and once again looked through the large window behind him. “But the protection of it comes before anything. I don’t want to risk being a few guards down if more ponies come and attack us.”

He turned back towards me with a look that kept me from saying anything. “As you said; ponies may come here and torture us if they think that we know anything about Text Book. I can’t let that happen; so I want to keep our regiment completely full until further notice.” He sat back down in his chair, giving me an empathetic look. “I’m sorry Flatfoot, I truly am, but the answer is no.”

I wanted to scream; I wanted to tell him he was a cold heartless bastard. How could a pony who watches over others just let another group of them be stuck in a place run by a madpony. They were innocent; more innocent then the entire population of this city combined. And yet here he was saying these ponies had to come first.

But he’d made his point, and I was certain I wouldn’t be able to change it. He wasn’t as frightened as the guard back at the stable, so a gun wouldn’t work either. And when you have options like that, it’s best to know when you’ve been beaten.

I got up from my chair and turned towards the door. “Then there’s nothing more to discuss.”

I began trotting to the door, not really sure where I was going to go. Logically I thought of another settlement; one with a big enough population that they wouldn’t mind sending a few ponies to help me out. Though the likelihood of that happening was probably lower than my knowledge of math.

I was almost at the door when Drop called out to me.

“But, I think I know a group who can help you!”

My hooves stopped cold just as they were reaching for the doorknob. I turned back to the stallion and saw him smirking at me, but with a much kinder demeanor. “Stalliongrad isn’t the only city to have ponies who can fight.”

I could practically feel hope flowing back into me as I walked back to the chair and sat down. “Where are these ponies; what are they called?”

Drop leaned back in his chair. “They call themselves The Steel Rangers. As they say over their radio broadcasts, they are the last remaining remnants of the Equestrian Military.”

He put on a sour face. “Horse shit if you ask me. All they care about is hoarding Pre-War technology and making themselves stronger. Honestly, most of them would be more interested in saving your PipBuck than saving you.”

For some reason I slowly began to rub where my PipBuck met my foreleg. “But are they willing to help me?”

Drop shrugged. “Depends on if it suits their interests. If they feel they’ll get something out of it, then they’ll help. If not, well, they wouldn't even give you a second look.”

These ponies didn’t strike me as the kind that would help a poor stable pony out. I guess they were probably their own deal, which meant that It’d probably be hard to get them to agree to help me. But if a few nerds were all that was standing between me and my home’s freedom, I’d be willing to try anything.

“So where do they operate?”

Drop smirked at me as he leaned forward in his chair. “They have multiple sections across Equestria. But their mane regiment is said to operate in Manehattan. So if you wanted their help, I’d head there.”

I brought up my PipBuck and switched to the MAP feature. The gear icon of Stable 11 and Stalliongrad both appeared on my screen. A blank box had appeared in the north eastern section, which was a long distance off from my current location.

“That’s quite a walk.”

Drop stepped out of his chair and walked over to look down at my PipBuck. His eyes scanned the map, and soon he’d covered the distance to Manehattan. “Yes, it would seem so.”

He looked up, keeping his eyes directly on me. Looking right into them, I could see a pony who was both scared, nervous, and angry all at the same time. I guess being a Mayor of a city had some major drawbacks.

“Think about this though; do you care enough about your Stable to make a journey like that?”

Out of all the question he’d asked since we’d met, this was by far one of the stupidest. “Of course I do,” I shot back.

Drop smirked. “Then I’d suggest you use today to prepare, and then leave early tomorrow morning. You want to try and travel during the day as much as possible.”

I nodded in agreement. Even though I’d only spent a small out of time out in the Wasteland, I knew I’d be in for a tough ride if I wasn’t prepared.

“Well, if I were you, I’d get started right away. And make sure to think about everything you’ll need.”

I nodded in agreement once again before turning towards the door. I kept my steps quick as I walked through the door and down the stairs.

***

If there was one other thing about Stalliongrad that I enjoyed, it was that the vendors here basically sold everything you could ask for. There were stalls filled with bullets, guns, food, and even some that I’m sure Zest would have loved to look at.

The ponies that ran those stalls were just as diverse as the merchandise they sold. Some wore eyepatches, others dressed in high authority clothing, and a few others, well, once again; Zest would have a field day with them.

Thankfully, with all the caps I’d earned from those raiders and Drop, it wasn’t too big a problem to find everything I needed. What I needed the most were bullets, better barding, and even a few spare parts for my guns. My PipBuck showed the item condition to still be high, but It’d dropped enough that I wasn’t going to take any chances.

There was still a few items that I needed to get, but I wasn’t going to buy them from the venders. For one thing; the prices they were asking for were much too high. And more importantly, I thought it stupid to pay for them when I could get them for free.

So, with that thought in mind, I left the crowded marketplace and instead turned my attention to the building with the large red cross on it.

I expect the hospital to be much more crowded than it actually was. Ponies zipped in and out of rooms either carrying a tray of tools or bags they place on those metal poles. They were so busy they didn’t even notice as I walked down the hallway with a cut up body and a battle-saddle on my back.

Eventually I reached a spot in the center of the building that looked like a reception area. A large desk took up the side wall, which was plastered with posters that depicted a yellow pegasus treating different injuries. The rest of the room was fairly clean, and the only shred of life was a ember earth pony sitting behind the desk.

I walked up to the pony, clearing my throat in a bid to get her attention. “Excuse me, would you happen to know where Miss Cuddles is?”

The mare looked up at me; her eyes widening when they saw the multiple cuts and bandages that covered me. I could already tell she was debating calling for a doctor to help me. But instead she gave her head a quick shake and tried her best to smile. “Miss Cuddles is currently in Room 110. Just down the hallway,” she said as she pointed to a hallway on the right side of the desk.

I replied in kind and set off down the empty hallway. Voices could be heard from behind almost all the doors; most of them either crying or complaining. Not wanting to hear more, I concentrated on finding the right room.

It took me almost the entire way down the hallway, but I finally found the room labeled 110. I knocked on the door twice and waited for a response. Hooves moved behind the door until they eventually stopped in front of it.

“Who is it,” called a voice on the other side.

“It’s Flatfoot. Is that you Cuddles?”

The lock clicked as the door was flung open, revealing the pink unicorn standing behind it. “Oh, Flatfoot! I….I….didn’t know you were coming to see me.”

I raised an eyebrow at the way she was acting. I’d learned enough from her that she was naturally nervous. But for some reason, she seemed even more nervous than before. Then I looked behind her and at the room beyond.

It was fairly small; only a bed, nightstand, and a small bookshelf took up the space. Another poster with the yellow pegasus sat over the bead, the bottom part reading: It’s All Fun And Games Until Somepony Gets Hurt.

Then the realization kicked in. “Oh, is….is this your room?”

Cuddles blushes slightly and nodded her head. I couldn’t see my own face, but I was sure my cheeks were starting to turn red to.

We stood there for a minute in silence, but for me it felt a lot longer. However, if I wanted to get ready for tomorrow, I’d have to get on with why I’d come here. “So Cuddles, I was wondering if you could do me a favor.”

Cuddles looked at me questionably; her cheeks beginning to turn the right shade. “Oh, okay. What do you need?”

“I need a box or two of medical supplies. I know I just got the hospital some, but I’m going to need them after tomorrow.”

Now she was starting to looked confused. She cocked her head to the side as she asked “What are you doing tomorrow?”

I didn’t know if I should tell her what I planned to do. I had a feeling she’d have something to say about it. But then again, she could be more inclined to help if I told her was I could be facing. And since she seemed so innocent, I’d feel bad if I lied to her.

“I’m going to be heading towards Manehattan tomorrow, so I’m going to need all the medical supplies I can get. I was wondering if you could possibly get me one of them.”

As expected, her reaction wasn’t very positive.

“WHAT! Why in the world would you want to go there?”

Not understanding her reaction, I decided to poke the mutated animal more. “What’s so wrong with Manehattan?”

Cuddles rubbed her arm, choosing not to look directly at me. “From what I know, Manehattan isn’t like Stalliongrad. While we have walls and a city filled with ponies, Manehattan is the exact opposite. The place has no protection, so the old buildings are going to be filled with mutants and Celestia knows what else. I know ponies say Tenpony Tower is safe, but that’s only if you can get in there.”

I was starting to wonder if the Steel Rangers were Alicorn damned idiots for setting up shop in a city like that. But if they were as powerful as Drop said, then maybe it didn’t matter to them. And if they were the only hope I had to save my home, then I’d have to risk it.

“You still didn’t answer my question.”

Cuddles was now looking at me intently. It almost felt like she was interrogating me. I could have lied to her face, but I didn’t want to; for all the headaches she gave me, she was still innocent.

“I’m going to Manehattan to speak with the Steel Rangers.”

She raised an eyebrow questionably. “Why do you want to speak with the Steel Rangers?”

What was this; 20 questions? I actually didn’t want to tell her the truth about my Stable, so I stretched the truth. “Let’s just say a place I know is having some problems. A bad pony is running it, and I think the Steel Rangers could help take him out.”

“If they agree to help you,” Cuddles murmured.

I put on my best “angry” face and stared straight at her. “Look, I just need to get some supplies. So can you get me a box, or do I have to go ask somepony else?”

Cuddles matched my stare, which kept us looking angrily at each other for a whole minute. I wasn’t going to back down, and I’m sure she wasn’t going to either.

Finally, Cuddles backed off. “Fine,” she said as she walked past me “but you owe me for this.”

Glad that I was going to get my supplies, I replied “sure, whatever you want.”

“I’ll remember that,” said Cuddles as she walked down the hallway.

For some reason, that statement made me worry a little. I knew only to well how much a promise of “anything” could hurt you back in the Stable. I still have memories of cleaning the Sewage System for Zest after a “promise” I’d made. But I shoved that out of my mind as I began to think about what I was going to be doing tomorrow.

“Next stop; Manehattan.”

____________________________________________________

LEVEL UP!

New Perk:

Intimidation: Ponies are now 90% more likely to do what you say.

Chapter 6: Liberation

FALLOUT EQUESTRIA: SURVIVOR

Chapter 6: Liberation

I Ran.

I ran so fast that the walls around me were a blue of grey. Blood pumped in my veins, so much so that I could literally hear my heart beating.

Ponies looked at me as I ran past; but none of them stopped to ask what was wrong. I didn’t want to bother explaining anyway. All I wanted was to get where I was running to.

Thankfully, I reached the door I wanted and opened it as fast as I could.

“DAD!”

I screamed the word as loud as I could, keeping in the tears that were forming in my eyes. I held my right hoof in the air, trying not to put too much pressure on it now that I wasn’t running.

The stable guards that were loitering around the room all stopped and looked over at me. Some had on faces of confusion; others concern. But that didn’t matter, because just then a brown earth pony wearing stable barding rushed into the room. As soon as he laid his eyes on me, he quickly ran over and pulled me closer.

“Flatfoot, what’s wrong?”

I sniffed, trying to hold back the wall of tears that was trying to break through my eyes. “I….I was playing ball in the atrium with Zest and Caps. But then….then Beaker came up and started picking on me.” I sniffed again, letting a few tears leak out of my eyes. “He kept saying I was weak, and that I only made lives harder for ponies in the Stable.” Finally, tears started for flow. “And then he pushed me down and kicked me!”

Dad sighed, slowly rubbing the my back in a comforting manner. He’d learned that trick from mom, since she would do it every time I got upset. The other guards either watched or pretended to be doing something else.

“It’s okay Flatfoot,” he spoke as calmly as he could. “Did you do anything that might have caused him to act like that?”

I shook my head, flinging teardrops all over. “No, I’d never do that.”

“I know that kiddo.” He thought for a moment. “Ponies sometimes have problems with themselves. It ranges depending on the pony, but they all deal with it in their own way. Sometimes, ponies pick on others to make themselves feel superior.”

He wiped away some tears from my eyes. “Beaker’s doing just that, whether he knows it or not. And do you know what ponies like you need to do when he does stuff like that?”

I shook my head again, but this time there were no tears. “You pick yourself up, and say with a straight face: ‘I know why you do this, and that’s okay. I still see you as a good pony.’”

The other guards smiled and nodded at the statement. I myself was surprised; I thought dad would say something along the lines of ‘hit him in the legs with a security baton’. But now, he was telling me to be niceto a pony that was mean to me?

“Will that really work?”

Dad smiled again, giving my mane a good rub. “It worked when your mom used to pick on me.”

I looked at him, surprised by the answer he’d given me. He laughed while setting me back on the ground. “Now why don’t you go find Beaker and tell him what I told you?”

Could I have said no….yes. But the way he was looking at me, and the way the others were to, made me think I shouldn’t argue. So with a sigh, I walked out the door and back to the atrium.

***

My eyes opened to the sight of the dark grey ceiling of the hospital; just as it had the last time I’d woken up there.

Those dreams….why were they occuring now? They’d been in abundance in the months following….the event. But they’d stop as soon as I was able to move on. Was the outside tainting my brain, or was that just radiation? Either way, I needed something to distract me from those dreams.

So I slowly raised my head to spot the source of the snoring that I now noticed was reverberating throughout the room. My eyes soon rested on a dark brown ball of fur that sat at the end of the bed I was currently occupying. It rose and fell with each breath it took. It sat near my legs, so I flex them a bit to give it a slight nudge. The snoring stopped as the furball uncurled itself and raised a head to look over at me.

I frowned. “Winona, where have you been?”

I hadn’t seen my new pet since I’d left to see Drop yesterday She’d decided to stay at the hospital with Cuddles, but she hadn’t been there when I got back. Maybe she’d run off somewhere after the explosion.

She just looked at me with those large black eyes, probably not understanding a word I’d said. I sighed, then flew the blankets off me and started crawling out of bed. Winnona jumped off before the sheets covered her and sat on the floor patiently.

The room Cuddles had given me to use had been a quarantine room sometime before the war. Both the patients and hospital staff didn’t like the vibe they said the room gave off, so most stayed away from it. But for me, it was just what I needed for a one night stay. Guess since ponies would be in here for a long time, they’d tried making everything as cozy as possible. That meant a comfy bed, adjustable lights, and even room temperature control.

Thanks to the Mega Spells, only the comfy bed remained, but the rest of the room still had a good feel to it.

Once I’d rolled out of bed and given my muscles a good stretch, I walked over to where my supplies and Battle-Saddle sat. I grabbed the bag and slung it over my back. Once it was secure, I grabbed my saddle and quickly fit it back on so that it was level and comfortable.

Winnona walked up to me and wined, looking at me with….well….puppy dog eyes. I didn’t know what she wanted until I heard the rumble of her stomach. “You hungry girl?”

She responded with a happy bark and ran towards the bedroom door. I smiled, thinking about how hungry she must be after not eating for 120 years. And since I’d needed to fuel up before leaving, I figured now was as good a time as any to head to the cafeteria.

So I opened the door and watched as Winonna rushed out and sped down the hallway, probably already smelling the food in the kitchens. Since I didn’t want her to eat all the food, I followed closely behind her.

***

Like last time, breakfast consisted of a hearty bowl of Sugar Apple Bombs. The sugary taste and apple flavoring tingled my taste buds with every single bite. As for Winonna; I’d gotten Batter to give up a few cooked pieces of meat for her. She sat down next to me, devouring the steak like a wild animal.

Once I’d finished and given my thanks to Batter, I set off to find Cuddles.

She still hadn’t given me the medical supplies I’d asked for yesterday. When I asked her last night, she said they’d be ready tomorrow morning. Hopefully she was right and I could collect them and set off soon.

I decided to head to her room; thinking that would be the best place to start looking. Winona followed closely behind me, wagging her tail at any pony that walked by us. If pets were really that friendly before the war, I could only imagine what uses they had back then.

But soon we reached Cuddle’s room, and I could hear noises coming from inside. I knocked on the door twice. “Cuddles, it’s Flatfoot!”

“I’ll be out in a minute!”

I rolled my eyes and began pacing in front of the door. Winona just sat still and kept her tail wagging. She did seem eager to see Cuddles again after the brief meeting yesterday.

Just as I was doing my third pacing line, the door swung open and Cuddles walked out. My eyes went wide with surprise.

“What are you wearing?”

The nice fitting nurse outfit had been replaced by a leather harness and knee pads. Her hair had been undone and was now flowing down her neck, coming to a rest just above her shoulders. Her cutie marks were covered up by two yellow saddle-bags with pink butterflies on them.

She looked sternly at me, puffing her chest out for emphasis. “I’m coming with you to Manehattan.”

WHAT!

“No,” I said sternly. Being from a stable aside, I knew what it was like outside the city. It wasn’t the place for someone like her, and I wasn’t about to put her in danger.

Cuddles tapped her chin gently. “If I recall correctly, you said you’d repay me any way I choose in exchange for getting you the medical supplies.” She gestured to her saddle-bags. “Well here are your supplies. In exchange, I want to go with you.”

I pinched the tip of my nose, trying to think of what to say. “Cuddles, I know you were born in the Wasteland, but you’ve also lived your life behind walls. Out there, there aren’t any walls; as I’m sure you told me yesterday.”

“So what,” she retorted. “Just because I was born inside a city; it means that I can’t defend myself?” She looked me over, still keeping a stern face on. “And don’t forget; YOU were raised in a stable, which is a thousand times more safe than Stalliongrad.”

I wanted to rebuff her; to tell her that Stable 11 was in fact much worse than Stalliongrad. But that would mean talking about the sacrifices, which I wasn’t in the mood for.

“But I’ve killed raiders, and have a gun. What do you have to defend yourself if I’m not there when Raiders, Mutants, or Celestia knows what else come to kill you?”

Strangely, Cuddles smiled smugly. She gestured into her room; towards the bookshelf that sat in the corner. “See that tin can,” she asked. I looked up and noticed a small dented can sitting on the top. I nodded my head in agreement.

Cuddles’ horn glowed brightly as she turned her head towards the can. Then, with a sharp pop, a blast of solid magic burst forth and blasted the can off the shelf. She looked back at me, still smugly smiling. “That proof enough?”

I thought hard. That wasn’t the most impressive magic I’ve ever seen, but it could definitely be deadly to those without proper protection. Unicorns usually had advantages compared to other ponies, and I guess this was the reason why.

I sighed. “....Fine, but don’t blame me if you get killed.” I began to walk down the hallway; with Winona followed closely behind me. Cuddles huffed happily and soon fell into step behind us.

“Oh don’t worry. I don’t plan on dying.”

***

The journey out of Stalliongrad was lackluster at best. There weren’t any ponies out and about this early in the morning, and the deafening silence could make anypony shiver. Drop wasn’t around to say goodbye, but he’d left a note at the secretary’s desk wishing us good luck.

At least he cared enough to tell us he didn’t want us to die.

Once we’d passed the city gates, I pulled up my map function and selected the marker that was supposed to be Manehattan. A little arrow appeared in my vision, pointing north-east of our current location.

We began walking, making sure we kept together. Winona ran ahead, happy to be back out in the wide open wasteland. Cuddles walked next to me, but made sure there was a reasonable gap in between us.

We stayed like that for an hour until Cuddles decided to break the silence. “So,” she began “what was life in a stable like?”

I raised an eyebrow questionably. “Well, that came out of nowhere.”

She looked ahead, not even sparing a glance at me. “I just thought I should know more about the pony I’m traveling with.”

I thought for a moment, thinking of a way I could explain the situation. The best option was probably to stay quiet, but that would give her the impression that I’m a jerk. Then I began to think about life besides the sacrifices.

“It was peaceful….to a degree. There wasn’t any fighting, or creatures that could kill us.” I looked up at the dark grey sky that stretched over us. “It wasn’t that spacious, but it wasn’t cramped either. Work was fine, but certain jobs really were a hassle.”

Cuddles nodded her head. “What about the ponies that lived there with you? Did you have many friends?”

I looked ahead, trying to not frown or (even worse) cry. “I had two close friends; Zest and Caps. Caps worked with me in maintenance. He was nice, if not sometimes full of himself. But we liked to place cards and even sometimes chess.”

Then, my mouth gave out and I frowned. “Zest was my best friend. She worked as a doctor in the Medical Wing; mostly performing surgeries. We were friends ever since we were blank flanks.”

She looked over at me; her large blue eyes filled with sympathy and understanding. “Do you miss them?”

I sighed, thinking back to days before when I’d decided to leave the stable. “Yes. I’d be a terrible friend if I didn’t.”

My mind was still playing over the way each of my friends looked the last time I saw them. Zest with teary eyes, Caps shouting with joy about the speech I’d given, even Shot Glass throwing me a bottle of aged cider. But with those came the image of the last thing I’d witnessed in the stable.

Mallet; looking at me with a death glare and telling me that I was going to die. I saw the stable door close, and the utter darkness that came with it.

I didn’t realize I was shaking until Cuddles put a gentle hoof on my shoulder. “Flatfoot, are you alright?”

My eyes, which had suddenly shut, popped open and looked over at her. The face she wore was a mixture of confusion and worry. It was then that I noticed my legs were still shaking slightly. I took a few deep breaths, trying to get the shaking to stop.

“Yeah. I’m….I’m fine,” I said, my voice shaking as much as my legs.

“You didn’t look like you were fine.”

That voice didn’t belong to Cuddles, and it definitely didn’t belong to Winona.

I quickly clocked my riffles and turned towards the the origin of the voice. To my surprise, I was staring at something that looked like a metal bug.

It was round with large, almost fiber-like, wings. A small metal cylinder stuck out of the bottom of it, and large antennas stuck out of the top.

Cuddles backed over to me, looking uneasily at the flying metal bug. “Did….did that thing just talk?”

I heard the bug huff angrily. “Yes, That Thing can. And This Thingdoesn’t like being called a thing.”

Cuddles looked embarrassed, and was now staring at the ground with more fascinating than she should have.

“Sorry,” I said for her, “from the way you look, it does kind of give off the impression that you have thought.”

The metal bug laughed slightly. “I guess I should expect that. But just so you know, this isn’t what I really look like. I only took over this Sprite-bot so that I could talk to you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What’s a Sprite-bot?”

The bot was silent for a while. I guess I must have sounded like an idiot, but being who I was I guess that wasn’t a large problem.

“You’re not from around here are you?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m not. I’m a Stable pony.”

“Oh, stable pony huh? Never met one of you before. I figured all ponies would never want to leave the safe life that stables provide.” He remained silent for a few seconds. “I’m guessing yours wasn’t so great; since you left that is.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“So what Stable did you come from?”

Whoever this pony was, he sure was noisy. Was I going to have to tell him my life’s story? Because I really wasn’t in the mood to have to make up another story again.

“Stable 11,” I said, trying my best to sound gruff.

The bot kept silent for another minute. “Never seen that one on my records. But since you said it wasn’t pleasant, I guess that’s a good thing.”

I nodded my head in agreement. “So,” the voice continued, “where are you and your friend heading?”

Surprisingly, Cuddles walked out from behind me to answer instead. “We’re heading to Manehattan to talk to the Steel Rangers.” Her voice was soft, but also a little shaky.

“The Steel Rangers? What in Equestria would make you want to talk to them?”

“Help,” said Cuddles. “Flatfoot needs their help.” She looked at me, then nodded her head in the bot’s direction. A silent way of telling me ‘go on, tell him.”

I sighed. “My stable is being run by a dictator. He’s in control of everypony, and can even decide who lives and dies.” I closed my eyes tight, trying to keep down the anger that was building up inside of me. “I left so that I could find a way to stop him. Mayor Drop in Stalliongrad told me that the Steel Rangers might have the firepower needed to take him down.”

Once again, silence spilled from the robot. In fact it was a full two minutes before the voice returned. “Well, I can definitely see your reasoning. Hell, I’d probably do the same thing if I was in your hooves.” He paused for a moment. “So, do you have the guns and guts needed to get to Manehattan?”

I pointed to my saddle-bags. “I bought as many bullets as I could get. Plus Cuddles has two bags of medical supplies. I’d say we’re all set.”

The robot huffed. “I wouldn’t.”

Okay….what was this pony’s deal? He pushes into our business, and now he’s telling me we’re not prepared to make it to Manehattan? I was very tempted at this point to aim my guns at the bug and blast it into spare parts.

“Why?”

I looked over at Cuddles, who was staring at the bot. But she didn’t look angry; she looked concerned.

“For one thing; you don’t have enough bullets. I looked at your inventory, and it could be a lot more full.”

I looked down at my Pip-Buck, which had somehow switched to my inventory setting. “How did he do that?” I thought.

“Noted,” said Cuddles, “anything else?”

“Guns. That battle-saddle is nice, but you need more than that. Plus, both of you should be carrying a gun on you at all times.”

Cuddles rubbed her mane nervously, choosing to look away from the robot. “Is that it?”

“One more thing; armor. Flatfoot, you’re raider armor is okay. But it looks like crap to and it won’t last long. As for your friend, she needs some armor pronto. Without it, she’ll be dead in no time.”

This time, Cuddles was the one who was silent while I nodded in agreement. I may not like the way this pony operates, but he definitely seemed to know what he was talking about. And right now, good advice was something I could really use.

“So,” I replied, “since I spent most of my caps buying what we have, do you know where we could get all of this for cheap?”

I felt my Pip-Buck vibrate before the bot even had a chance to speak. “I sent a location icon to your Pip-Buck. There, you’ll find everything you’ll need.” He was quiet for a moment. “But I should warn you, other ponies already have it.”

I groaned, already knowing what the answer was going to be. “Let me guess; Raiders?”

The robot chuckled. “Have you dealt with raiders before?”

Part of me didn’t want to go into details about the medical center. What went on there still rung in my head. But this pony had given us info and possibly a chance at new loot. The least I could do was answer a few of his questions.

“I cleared out a nest of raiders that were attacking Stalliongrad. They were hold up in an old MoP center.”

“You killed the raiders that were attacking Stalliongrad?” The voice sounded surprised and shocked at the same time. “Wow, that’s pretty impressive.”

I waved a hoof at the bot. “It was nothing really.”

Cuddles walked up and gave me a playful punch in my shoulder. “I can speak for a whole town that says otherwise.”

The robot chuckled. “Well, either way, I think you’ll have no trouble with these. Guess all I can say now is good luck.”

I may not have liked the way the pony acted, but I guess he wasn’t all bad if he was trying to help. It was hard to imagine many other ponies doing the same thing.

Just as the Sprite-bot began to turn away, Cuddles called out to it. “Wait, we didn’t even get your name?”

The bot stopped, and I head the soft chuckle of the voice.

“You can call me Watcher.”

The robot gave a slight buzz as the voice faded away. It was replaced by music that reminded me of the military marching songs I’d heard on the old stable holo-tapes.

The bot paid us no attention as it turned in the opposite direction and buzzed away.

***

“I’m not sure if we should trust him.”

Once the bot had left, Cuddles had started pacing back and forth across the dead grass. Apparently that’s what she did when she needed to think, so I left her to it.“Why not,” I asked. The information he’d given us seemed legit. Plus if he really wanted us dead, a simple head blast from that pistol might have been able to do it. But more than anything; he seemed legitimately concerned about us. The tone he’d used clearly showed he wasn’t intending to do us harm.Cuddles stopped pacing and looked towards me. “What if he’s lying. What if we’re just walking into a trap; there are ponies out here who would do things like that.”I clicked my battle-saddle into “stand-by” position. “Then I’ll take care of it. But he was right; you need armor and a gun. And more ammo is always a good idea.”“Magic works just fine for me,” she said, lighting her horn up for emphasis.“Well no offense Cuddles, but I think I’d rather listen to the pony who seems to know his way around the Wasteland.”I really didn’t want to have to argue with her about all this. No matter the pony, good advice was good advice; and you’d have to be an idiot to ignore it. If there was a way to get better armor and more bullets, I’d be willing to take it.Cuddles huffed angrily, but gave me a slight nod of her head. “Fine, but don’t expect me to do that much killing. I close wounds, not open them.”“Fine,” I huffed, “then please stay out of the way while I take them out.”I removed the marker from Manehattan and switched it to the mark that Watcher had made on my map. “It’s not too far, so we should get there fairly quickly.”Cuddles nodded again. I let out a low whistle, and soon Winona was barreling towards us from whatever location she’d been hiding in. “Time to kill some raiders girl.”She barked happily, which made Cuddles look at the dog nervously. “Let’s go,” I said as I began walking in the direction of our newer destination.My two female companions were not far behind me.

***

The building in question could be summed up in one word; decrepit.It was situated a small distance away from a nearby town that my map had labeled “Shimmerton.” I had thought about stopping in a few buildings to see if they held anything valuable. But wanting to keep the good ammo for the raiders, I decided to leave them until later.Me and Cuddles were crouched behind a large concrete slab near the building. I noticed a few ponies prowling the outside, but not that much. Another thing I noticed was that, from the outset, they did have good armor.Unlike the leather pads that I was wearing, this armor looked strong. No duct tape patches or strings holding it together. Of course that meant that it would be even harder to land a deadly blow on them. I had a sneaking feeling that V.A.T.S. was going to have it’s work cut out for it.Cuddles peared over the slab, keeping her eyes on the two ponies closest to us. “How many are patrolling the outside?”“Five,” I said, counting the red dots that appeared on my E.F.S. But they were the only ones that showed up; everything inside the building seemed to almost disappear. I made myself a note to find out why after we’d cleared the place out.“I could knock out maybe two with my magic; three if they don’t notice me.” She looked over at me with an uneasy frown. “I guess that should give you enough time to take out the rest.”“What happened to the plan that you stay out of the way while I take care of them?”She huffed angrily as she began to tap her hoof on the ground. “I wasn’t really thinking then. Plus we don’t know what these ponies are carrying. So, I thought it would be best to help you out.”Angry or not, she did have a point. If Watcher sent us here because they had more guns, bullets, and better armor, then there was no telling what they had at their disposal.With that in mind, I reached into my saddlebag and pulled out the small pistol I’d also taken from Stable 11. I held it out to Cuddles. “Just in case.”I expected her to argue; to refuse to even think about spilling another ponies blood. So I was fairly surprised when she grabbed the gun with her magic and floated if carefully in front of her. “Just in case,” she repeated.With a silent agreement between us, I looked down at Winona. She’d been fairly quiet since we arrived, but I could see the excitement in her eyes.I wasn’t too sure if she would even be able to take part in this. She didn’t scream the killing type, nor did she look it. However, she had speed and size on her side; small enough to sneak up to the raiders, and fast enough to run away.“Okay girl, time for action.”I looked over the slab and pointed at the raider that was starting to come around the corner. “Get Him!”In a flash, Winona had ran around the slab and was barreling towards the raider. He didn’t even notice the furball until she jumped right on him.I really didn’t know what I expected; maybe she’d lick him, or maybe just knock him to the ground. I was just hoping she’d distract him for a minute so I could line a shot up.What I didn’t expect was for her to bite down on his neck.Me and Cuddles watched in shock as Winona tore into the raider’s neck amidst a shower of blood and meat. No screams permeated the air, but I could see his eyes. They were opened wide with shock, terror, and confusion. He let out a strange gurgle noise as he fell to the ground, his eyes rolling back into his head as his chest stopped moving.Winona let go of the raiders throat and looked back at us with a smile.I really didn’t know what to even say. We’d just witness Winona, a sweet and lovable dog, tear apart a raiders neck. Then after all of that, she was looking at us like she’d just done a good job. “But I guess, technically, she did,” I thought.I could have probably stood like that for a whole hour, but thankfully there were other things to worry about. I saw a red dot move across my E.F.S., and just a moment later another pony rounded the corner.Her eyes, bloodshot as they were, grew as she witnessed the gruesome sight in front of her. Letting out a snarl, she pulled a gun out with her magic and pointed it at Winona.“Stupid….murdering….BITCH!”Winona jumped behind the wall as two bullets exploded out of the raider’s gun. She growled angrily and ran over to try again.“Oh no you don’t,” I thought. Slipping into S.A.T.S., focusing my attention on the head before unleashing a barrage of bullets into her head. It exploded into a bloody pulp that left blood oozing off the wall.“What the fuck was that?”I heard the raiders before I saw them run around both sides of the building. Each had one a metal chestplate and metal leg braces. They held low quality guns that looked like they would fall apart after one shot.S.A.T.S. still needed time to recharge, so now was a time for distracting. “I could really use some magic right now!” I aimed my saddle and let loose a barrage of bullets. They all missed their target, but the spray did cause the raider to duck back behind the wall.“Working on it,” Cuddles replied. Her horn glowed brightly as she turned towards the second approaching raider. A veil of magic enveloped his head, and I saw his face begin to strain. He dropped his gun and started pulling at the magic field around him. But his legs just passed through it, and soon he began to move slower and slower. Then, with a final breath, he fell onto the ground and didn’t move again.I was surprised to say the least, but I kept my focus on my current opponent. The raider levitated her gun around the corner and began firing wildly. I ran behind the other wall and waited until the sound of gunshots subsided. Taking a look around the corner, I saw the mare quickly trying to refill the gun with more ammo.My PipBuck showed that S.A.T.S. was recharged, so I quickly slipped in and sent two pellets into the mare’s head. Blood and meat blew out the back as the lifeless body slumped to the ground. I checked my E.F.S. to see if there were any leftover raiders on the outside, but it came up empty.Cuddles walked up to me, looking like she’d just had the wildest night after a party ever. “That was….that was….”“Exhilarating, Bloody, Fun?”“....All the above,” she replied. Winona ran up to us, still covered in raider blood from paw to tail. Cuddles looked uneasily at her. “I can’t believe she did that.”I smiled and gently patted the dog’s head. “Good Girl Winona.” If she could start doing that more often, I might not have to waste so much ammo when dealing with ponies. That, and I could threaten to send my dog after those that bothered me.But time for joking was over; we still had to get armor and bullets. I began to look through the raider bodies; searching for anything useful. Two of the raiders had guns that were basically junk, so I left those behind. But they did have bullets, caps, and even some good piece of armor.One raider had on metal leg braces, which my inventory said were much stronger than the ones I was wearing. I swapped them out before moving onto the other two bodies. The one Winona had taken down had a metal back brace and a few pieces of ammo; both of which I took.But it was the final raider that had the best stuff. She may have been using a pistol, but my PipBuck told me it was in much better condition than the two other pistols I had. The caliber was different, but she also had some bullets to go with it. Finally, she had the piece de resistance for my protection; a sturdy metal piece of chest armor.After peeling it off the body and swapping it with the leather on, I looked towards Cuddles with a smile. “So, how do I looke?”She raised an eyebrow. “Like a raider.” When I gave her a puzzled look, she rolled her eyes to. “With the blood over you and the dirty metal armor, you look like you’ll eat the first pony you come across.”I smirk and gave my lips a quick lick “Hm….well you do look good enough to eat.”Cuddles’ cheeks began to turn red again, and I couldn’t help but smile at that. It was so easy to get her embarrassed that is was almost ridiculous. But in all honesty, I think it helped me keep a level head. If I didn’t have somepony to joke around with, I might have gone insane from loneliness. And I wasn’t ready to paint a face on a rock and start talking to it.“So, is that all of them?”“Nothing’s coming up on my E.F.S., but I did see a pony walking inside when we got here. I’m guessing that’s where we’ll find the last of them.” I looked the building over again. “Since it’s not that big, there shouldn’t be that many inside.”Cuddles shook her head, “looks can be deceiving….but I hope you’re right.”“Just keep your magic ready and your gun pointed.” I began walking around the building until I reached a old wooden door on the other side. A sign next to had faded away, but I could still see the words etched into it.“Equestrian Military Recruitment Office.” That didn’t make things any better for our cause. If this place used to recruit ponies for the army, then more than likely had a few high power guns in their possession. I reached into my saddlebag and pulled out two grenades. I a few hooks on the chestplate and attached the two to them. Hey, better to have them at the ready.Cuddles are Winona finally caught up with me, each looking at me with confusion. “What’s with the grenades?”I pointed at the sign beside the door. “I’ve read about a few Pre-War places in the Stable. Recruitment offices usually came equipped with different kinds of ammunitions. I want to be ready if they have something that’s going to either mutilate and or annihilate us.”“Good call,” said Cuddles. “Now, let’s go ahead and get this over with.” She pulled out her pistol and slid six rounds into the cartridge. “I’m already getting sick from all this blood.”I couldn’t say I disagreed with her; killing was necessary, but not very pleasant. The lives lost and the blood spilled could drive anypony to insanity. For now, I was fine. But for the long term….well I couldn’t say just yet. Hopefully this would turn out differently.“Just watch your back,” I said before reaching up and pushing open the door. I quietly slipped inside, with Cuddles and Winona following silently behind me.

***

After the MoP center, I thought I’d be used to the blood soaked insides of raider buildings. But the sight of mutilated corpses hanging from the ceiling still made my stomach churn.

Unfortunately, Cuddles didn’t have a stronger stomach.

“Oh….oh my Celestia! I think….I think I’m gonna….” She wasn’t even able to finish her sentence. Instead she turned her head around and ejected the contents of her stomach onto the bloody floor. I slowly rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.

Once she was finished, she looked up at me with watery eyes. “How can ponies do something this horrible?”

I was beginning to wonder that myself. Did these ponies really find joy in mutilating and decorating dead bodies? Raiders were a curious breed on their own, so I could only imagine what their world with no proper upbringing or restrictions was like. But really, the evidence was all around me.

As Cuddles recovered from her episode, I took a better view of the room. The walls, besides streams of blood, were completely bare. The tiled floor was streaked with blood and vile patches of rotting gore. Other body parts were either hung from the ceiling or nailed to the walls.

Across the room was a staircase leading up to the top floor, which was also decorated in assorted body parts. A small desk sat beside it, which held a few worn out terminals and busted lamps. A radio was positioned near the end, which was only broadcasting static.

Cuddles walked over from her corner and looked around the room. Her face still seemed pale, but she put on a tough look of concentration. “Are there any raiders down here?”

I looked at my E.F.S., which showed three red dots in my vision. All three had a small arrow pointing above them, indicating that they were above us. “There’s three on the top floor.”

“Well that’s good. As long as they aren’t too protected, we should be able to take them on.”

“Let’s just wait until after we spill their blood to make comments like that,” I replied as I began walking towards the stairs. I took care not to step on any spleens or gallbladders, or at the very least slip on the blood soak tiles. Cuddles was following me as closely as possible, while Winona was curiously sniffing a legless body by the stairs.

When the two of us reached her, I clocked my gun and checked my E.F.S. again. Two of the dots were stationary, while the other was moving back and forth across the room. “Why aren’t they coming to attack us? Didn’t they hear us talking, or even the gunfire outside?”

“Maybe the walls are soundproof,” said Cuddles as she levitated her gun up to her face. “Or maybe Raiders just have bad hearing.”

“I really hope it’s the second option.” But I wasn’t going to get anywhere by just standing here. So without any worry of what’s next, I took a step up the stairs.

And that’s when I felt something thing push against my leg. Before I could even look down, I heard a click and something fell down from the ceiling. When I did look at the floor, my eyes fell on a small red colored grenade….with its pin pulled.

“GRENADE!” I screamed, and I quickly ran as fast I could towards the opposite side of the room. Blood splattered on my hooves and legs as I tried my best to get to away from the explosive. My experience with them was minor, but I knew what kind of destructive power they had.

But after reaching the opposite wall, I realized that Cuddles hadn’t followed me. Looking back towards the stairs, I saw Cuddles enveloping the grenade with her magic and lifting it up into the air. “FIRE IN THE HOLE!”

The grenade, which probably had a slower detonation time, was flung up the stairs to the floor above. The red dots on my E.F.S. started scrambling around like crazy. I could even hear them screaming from my position. “SHIT, FUCK, SHIT FUCK!”

The screaming came to a stop when the grenade finally went off. Dust rained down from the ceiling as the explosion ripped through the room above. Two of the red dots disappeared from my E.F.S., while the other one didn’t move at all.

When the dust settled, I walked back to the stairs and a very stiff Cuddles. Her breathing was normal, but her face was stuck in one of surprise. Winona was crouching next to the stairs, her ears down and winning slightly. I gave the dog a little pat, which thankfully got her up and smiling again.

I turned to Cuddles, “are you alright?” She didn’t seem inclined to answer, instead remaining silent and keeping a constant breath. Waving my hooves in front of her, I tried again. “Equestria to Cuddles, do you copy?”

Her eyes finally blinked, and her open mouth closed while still forming a frown. She slowly turned her head towards me, as if only just realizing I was there. “That was….a lot more energetic than I thought.”

“You get used to it,” I said as I began to climb the stairs. I kept my eyes open for more traps, but it looked clear all the way up. Cuddles slowly followed behind me, with Winona right next to her.

When I reached the floor above, I looked around at the carnage the grenade had caused. There were three burnt mattresses next to the wall across from me. Crates covered in blood were stacked along the other walls, while a bucket filled with what looked like eyeballs was below the only window.

Two of the raiders were in pieces in the center of the room, their body parts thrown all over the place. The third raider was lying in a corner; his legs were covered in blood and he was staring at me with a death glare. “You….you….FUCKER!”

I loved the small yet potent list of insults that raiders seemed to spew out. It really showed how the wasteland could affect a pony like them. But for now, all I was really interested in was what this raider had to offer. I walked over to him and knelt down until we were staring right at each other.

He made a move to try and bite me, but Cuddle’s magic wrapped around his throat and held him back against the wall. “Stay down like the sick dog you are,” she seethed.

I smiled at her before turning my attention back to the bleeding stallion. “A little sprite-bot told me you and your friends have some interesting supplies? That true?”

His bloody eyes sprang back and forth between me and Cuddles. He gave Winona a quick look, but then noticed the blood on her lips and quickly looked back at me. “So….what’s it matter if we do?”

I chuckled slightly. “Well you see, me and my friend need those supplies more than you do. I’d be okay with tearing this whole place apart to look for them, but I think it’d be faster if you just told us.”

He growled, giving me a good look at his yellow and cracked teeth. His breath wasn’t much better; it had the distinct smell of the stable sewage processor. That was one memory I wish I could forget.

“Why would I tell a cunt like you anything?”

I raised an eyebrow and gestured towards the limbless bodies of his partners. “Uh, because we can do the same thing to you. But if you tells us where they are, then we’ll let you go.”

“WHAT!” The magic tightened around his neck, causing him to cough slightly. I looked back at Cuddles, who was looking at the raider with a death glare. “You want to let that monster go? Don’t you see what him and the others have done to innocent ponies!?”

Trust me, I’d seen plenty at the MoP center, but that was another place and another time. “Didn’t you tell me that killing wasn’t right?”

She shot me a warning glance, tightening her magic around the stallion’s throat. “I don’t do the killing….but you do. And if anypony is more deserving to die, it’s ponies like these.”

I couldn’t say I disagreed with her, but these ponies were our ticket to better equipment. “I do the killing, so I decide who dies.” I turned back towards the raider. “So, do we have a deal?”

He stared at me, still with a death glare. But eventually he nodded his head in agreement. “Good,” I stepped away from him and adjusted my saddle. “Try anything, and your head gets blown off.”

***

The raider lead us back down to the first floor. His legs were still messed up, even after two healing potions. Cuddles wasn’t very happy about letting them go, but thanks to some sweet talk I’d been able to convince her. But she kept the magic wrapped around the raiders throat tightly; “Just in case”.I will admit, I was nervous about trusting this stallion to. Raiders were labeled as vicious killing machines that would butcher your body, defile it, and eat it….and not particularly in that order.But I had better equipment on the line, and I wasn’t going to lose it just because my companion wanted the colt dead. If he was more helpful alive than dead, then that’s exactly how he was going to stay.I just hope that nagging at the back of my head would stop telling me I’m wrong.The colt stepped up to a door I hadn’t even noticed when we first walked in. It was situated behind the reception desk, covered in torn and bloody rags that dripped fresh red goo. He looked back at us when we were all in front of it.“I need to get the key out of my bag. Or am I not allowed to do that?” His tone was understandably cross, but I at least happy he wasn’t calling me cunt or fucker anymore.

“Cuddles, can you get the key out of his bag?” I asked her. I didn’t want to take my gun off him, or get too close. Hopefully, with magic, the job would be easier for her.

I saw a pink light envelope the colt’s saddle-bag. A moment later a small and rusty key floated out and over towards the lock. It slid in perfectly and turned until we heard the click on the other side. The door swung open slowly as Cuddles placed the key in my bags.“Seems strange that raiders would lock up what they would use the most,” she said sullenly.The colt began walking down the stairs as we followed behind. “It’s because we don’t want ponies like you sneaking in and taking our guns….or our livestock.”I raised an eyebrow at him. “You raise animals down here?”He paused for a moment; his bloody eyes making quick glances in almost every direction. I didn’t know if he was dodging the question, or just acting like a raider. It was hard to tell with ponies like these.“....Not exactly,” he finally replied.It wasn’t the answer I was looking for, but it was probably the best answer I was going to get.We continued down the stairwell for a little while before finally reaching another door at the bottom. The raider pushed open the door and the three of us walked in.What my eyes fell upon was both spectacular and horrible.The room we had walked into was about the size of the stable atrium. Shelves were set up along the walls, though most held either empty cans or nothing at all. A few random shelves held guns, bullets, and even mines. No blood lingered on the floors or dripped from the ceiling.In the center of the room was a set of three cages. Inside each were up to three or four bloody, bruised, and weary looking ponies. They all looked at us with shock and fear, some even moving as far from us as the cages would allow.Now his answer made sense, now I understood what he’d meant when he said “livestock”. Those mutilated corpses had to come from somewhere, and it looks like this was where they got them from.I turned to the stallion; possibly to start yelling at him. But before I could fully turn my head, he suddenly was yanked to the side and smashed against the wall. The pink magic enveloping his neck tightened, causing him to cough and gag repeatedly. Cuddles, her face aglow with furry, stared directly into his bloodshot eyes.“You….You….You….BASTARD!” She screamed, her magic tightening a bit more. “So you don’t only kill ponies, but you keep them captive to. What else do you do with them, eat them, rape them, make them into slaves?!?!?”The stallion desperately tried tugging at the constricting field of magic, but each tug simply slipped through it. Cuddles looked back at me, still having the look of fury plastered on her face. “Flatfoot, kill him. KILL HIM NOW!”It was safe to say that anger had completely taken over my companion. Breaking so soon outside wasn’t something unexpected. But the things that these ponies were doing, it was downright unthinkable. I was still trying to process what I was going to do.One thing that was clear was that I couldn’t kill the stallion. No matter the actions, we’d made an agreement. But right now, it wasn’t my hooves holding that pony down; it was magic. And from the looks Cuddles was giving me, I knew that it could only get worse the more I was silent.I stepped towards the pair, slowly reaching my hoof out. “Cuddles, let the stallion go.” One wrong action, and she could use that magic on me. And I for one didn’t want to use my gun on her at all.Thankfully, she dispelled her magic and stepped away. The stallion fell to the ground, coughing badly while he breathed in as much air as possible. I knelt down before him, making sure we were looking right into each other’s eyes. “Unload everything from your bags.”The stallion didn’t respond as he pulled off his saddle-bags and spilled their contents onto the floor. Items included a small pistol, some ammo, and a second set of keys. I could only hope that they were the cages behind us.Once everything was dumped out, I reached into my own saddle-bags and pulled out two healing potions, a can of pure water, and a box of sugar bombs. I placed them in his bags and then shoved it forcefully into him.“Leave. Don’t ever think of coming back here. If you send ponies after us, we’ll kill them. If we see you again, we’ll kill you. Do You Understand!?”“WHAT!” I glanced back at the raging unicorn, who now looked even more vicious. She was breathing heavily; keeping her death glare on the shaking raider.“After all that we’ve seen, you still want to let that monster go free?!”I nodded my head slowly. “I made him a deal, and where I come from deals are binding.” I glanced back at him, “and if he does anything similar again, I’ll personally track him down and kill him.”I was expecting Cuddles to argue, or even use her magic against us. She’d looked ready to kill when she’d been holding him against the wall, and I was worried she’d do the same now.But I guess Celestia was working inside her head, because she engulfed the keys with her magic and headed over towards the cages. The ponies inside looked at her with a mixture of fear and wonder; she must have put on quite the show for them.I turned back to the shivering stallion, now giving him my own death glare. “Get out,” I seethed, pointing a hoof at the door we’d entered through. “And remember what I told you.”The stallion quickly nodded. He put his bags back on before getting to his hooves and making a run out the door. I waited until I heard the sound of the front door slamming shut before walking over to the cages.Cuddles was unlocking the last one, while the ponies in the other two slowly advanced towards the open doors. I walked as close as I could before they started backing away. Some had even stayed huddled against the cage corners.“Are you alright?” I tried not to talk too loud or in a way that would scare them. Celestia knows what those raiders had done to them since they’ve been down here. I just hoped that the blood on the floor came from only cuts or nosebleeds.A skinny orange unicorn stepped out from the first cage. His eyes were bloodshot, and a multitude of cuts covered his face. He kept one hoof in the air; more than likely broken from whatever torture he’d been through.“Who….who, are you?” His voice was shaky, and his breaths were ragged and slow. His teeth were broken in different places, and his horn looked like it’d been rubbed with sandpaper.I reached out to him and gently placed my hoof on his shoulder. He flinched, but didn’t pull away. I took that as a sin that I could keep going.“My name is Flatfoot, the mare’s named Cuddles.” I thought for a moment before continuing. “As to who were are? Well I guess you could say were liberators.”

***

It took a while for me and Cuddles to corral all the ponies out of the cages. Two in particular didn’t even want us near them; even with coaxing from the others. Eventually we decided it wasn’t worth the time trying to get them out; instead we just gave them some food and left them to cower in their small prisons.

The others, while still looking nervous, were much more cooperative. After all the ponies were out and huddled near the door, Cuddles went along every shelf checking for useful supplies. Any food found was automatically given to the slaves, and any medical supplies was divided between our group and theirs.

Meanwhile, I was looking along the shelves too. But instead of food and medical supplies, I was looking for any guns and ammo that was still there. It seemed the raiders had taken most of the supplies for themselves; leaving only empty shelves and ammo boxes. I was able to find two automatic pistols and more ammo for my shotguns, though the latter's conditions were somewhat questionable.

I didn’t really have to do this now, but I needed a distraction from what I’d seen. Everytime I closed my eyes, I saw the dead, ghostlike faces those ponies wore. The meaty read cuts that sliced down to the bone; the small stumps were hooves once were; cutie marks scratched  to points where very few had something let; the eyes filled with longing for salvation, which was now being granted.  The images were so revolting I could almost feel the same thing on me. The feeling sent a shiver down my spine every time.

Once all the guns and ammo had been collected, I headed back to where the former slaves had gathered. Cuddles was moving around them, giving out food or helping heal cuts and bruises when needed. I walked up to the pony I’d spoken to earlier and sat down in front of him.

He was levitating a box of Crisp Apple Farm Apples in front of him, quietly eating the dried apple bits. Cuddles had put magical healing bandages over his worst cuts, but there was still a multitude of them over his body. His eyes quickly looked me over; the blood staining them lower than it was before.

He swallowed a mouthful of apples, coughing a bit as he tried to speak. “Thank you, for saving us I mean.” He was silent for another minute, putting a few more dried apples in his mouth. “It’s all so strange; being free after being enslaved for so long.”

“Didn’t look like you were their slaves,” I said, glancing at the blood and body parts along the wall. “It looked more like you were their cattle.”

The stallion shivered. “That doesn’t make that experience any less traumatizing.”

I nodded in agreement. Knowing your a slave is one thing, but learning that you were on the butchering block is even worse. And if there was anypony who understood him the most, that would be me.

The stallion finished off his box of apples, then held his hoof out to me. “Never should forget my manners; my name’s Buck Shot. If you couldn’t tell already, I’m basically the leader of this group you see here.”

“I had a feeling,” I said with a smile as I shook his hoof. For some reason, this stallion just seemed to radiate “leader.”

“So, what brought you two here in the first place? I suspect you don’t go barging into raiders nests that often, so why this time?”

I scratched my mane nervously. “Let’s just say a pony told us there was good armor, bullets, and guns here. He figured since we’re trying to get to Manehattan, it’d be good to get those supplies.”

Buck Shot looked around at the empty shelves that surrounded us. “Looks like they cleared out all the good stuff beforehand.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. The thought of going through all of this and only coming out slightly more armored wasn’t the best thought to float through my head. Plus with Cuddles giving out some of our supplies, it seemed more like a loss for us.

“So since we’re on the topic of asking questions, could you tell me how your group got here?”

Buck Shot looked down at the ground sadly; his ears following a similar course. He didn’t speak for a minute; instead only breathing and giving me an occasional glance. I might have see it as a sign to move on if he hadn’t spoken up.

“Were what ponies call Scavengers. We go from place to place in the Wasteland; trying to find anything that could still be valuable or useful. We either sell if for caps, or keep it for ourselves. Our main base is in Bucktown; a small settlement a few miles northeast of here.”

His breathing became slower the more he talked. But he didn’t miss a beat as he continued with his story. “Our group was on a mission similar to yours. We had to scavenge ammo and guns from this recruitment office; but those assholes never told us there’d be raiders here. When we arrived, we were no match for the guns and armor they had. Half our group got killed, while the rest of us were captured and locked up. We’ve been here ever since.”

Not wanting to say it out loud, I began to think about how weak these ponies actually were. Me and Cuddles were able to defeat them with ease, and we didn’t have the best armor. Heck, even Winona had taken out a raider in a spew of blood and neck meat.

Buck Shot glanced over at Cuddles, who was wrapping a pony’s leg in more healing bandages. “Your friend’s good….maybe a little too good,” he said looking back at me. “As much as we appreciate the help, I don’t want to drain you two of your supplies.”

I waved a hoof at him and gave my eyes a roll. “Don’t worry about us; supplies or not we’ll be just fine.” I looked over the battered and bruised ponies again. “Beside, I think your group needs it more than us. Plus Cuddles carries our food and medicine, so what’s done with it is basically up to her.”

Buck Shot chuckled. “Makes me wish there were more ponies like her out in the wasteland. Nowadays you’ll be lucky to find someone willing to pass you a piece of rotten food. Let alone one who’ll heal you up and give you supplies.”

I sighed, thinking about all I’d seen since leaving the stable. The mutated creatures, the killer ponies, the tyrannical nutcases; it really messes with a pony's’ head. “Yeah, not really what I expected it to be like.”

Buck Shot chuckled again, “your a Stable pony aren’t you?”

“What gave it away; the stable jumpsuit or the utter cluelessness?”

“Both,” he said smiling. “I’ve only ever met one other stable pony before. He was out here looking for something to help his stable. Stopped by Bucktown, did a little looking around, then left. Never knew what happened to him.”

Now I was curious. I’d never taken into consideration that there would be other ponies that have left their stable too. The pony Buck described had a good reason to leave his stable; so he could help it. But were their others; ones that grew tired of their normal everyday lives and wanted something with more adventure?

I put a mental note down to ask a that if I ever came across another stable dweller.

But my train of thought was derailed when Buck Shot spoke up again. “So back to the matter of your supplies. Now I know you said it’s no big deal, but ponies like us like to pay back what’s been given to us. And I’m certain that everypony here would agree that we owe you big time.”

I opened my mouth to counteract, but he put his hoof up in defense. “I don’t want to hear anything other than ‘okay Buck Shot.’ We have our principles, and we’re going to pay you back.”

I sighed, trying not to get irritated at this stubborn as a mule pony. We had come here to get supplies, but things changed when we found them. They didn’t ask for our help, so they didn’t owe us anything. I still got better armor, as well as a few guns and bullets.

“Tell you what,” he said “why don’t you accompany us to Bucktown?” I guess my look of confusion was pretty strong, because Shot rolled his eyes and elaborated. “Bucktown has everything a pony needs to survive outside. You come with us, we’ll get you the supplies you used on us. Deal?”

“Is no an option?

Buck Shot shook his head. “Fraid not partner.”

I thought the proposal over for a minute; thinking of all the positives and negatives. My PipBuck buzzed, signaling something new being added in. I brought it up and looked at the MAPS function. A small square had appeared on my map, a small distance northeast of our current location.

“It wouldn’t be too far out of your route, and the scouts in town probably know some quick ways to get to Manehattan,” Buck Shot said with a smile. “But remember, it’s up to you.”

I glanced over at the group of freed slaves; at the bullet holes, the cuts, the bruises, and even the busted legs. How long could ponies like that make it outside, even with armor and guns?

These ponies didn’t need to repay us….but there were other reasons for taking them back home.

I turned back to Buck Shot, who was looking at me with a calm and unreadable face. That was impressive on his own; looking calming even with those scars and cuts all over his head.

A smug smile formed on my face. “So, when do we head out?”

***

LEVEL UP!

Perk

Animal Friend: Pets and Animals under your command now do 25% more damage when in combat.