Fallout: Equestia – Unscrewed Audio Files

by ComicSansPony

Rating: mature
Tags: Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Adventure, Pinkie Pie, Sex, Science Fiction, Tragedy
Length: 13946

My name is Screwloose. Until the final day I was bark raving mad–literally speaking only in barks–the radiation cured me. Turning me into some new form of life. Armed with an audio recorder I set out to find my sister...

My name is Screwloose. I'm a mental patient and resident of Ponyville Hospital mental ward. A construction accident permanently danged my brain. That was at least the case until the megaspells fell. Locked in my padded cell and left to die as Equestria burned to ash in a storm of heat and balefire. The radiation changed me and gave me back my sanity. Here are the audio logs of my adventures after as I try to find out if my sister made it safely to a stable.

Author's Note:
This is a content warning for Audio Log #004. There is a scene of non-consensual sex. If that makes you uncomfortable, I'm sorry. Rape is a very serious topic and it is one of many terrible things that happen to Screwloose. I do not condone nor support such a thing. I just included it for narrative purposes.

This story is being turned into an audiobook! Check out the playlist! the individual chapters will be linked in their respective logs below as they are released.

Also the sequel is out! Brittleshine's Quest!

Published 2016-10-21 23:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-06-13 18:49:54 UTC

Audio Log #002: Screwy Revelations

\**//CLICK\**//

Food tastes strange to me now.

I realized this when I finally found the cafeteria. In my defense my meals were typically brought to me and most of the time fed to me, so the location had been unknown until now. I was packing a saddle bag in preparation for leaving when I couldn’t recall the last time I’d eaten. Upon reflection I realized it was the day the megaspells fell–within mere hours of them dropping. That was–I think–4 days ago at this point.

Anyways, though I managed to eat something–mashed potatoes and a fancy buck cake–it tasted downright terrible. Maybe it is just crappy hospital food.

Another odd thing I’d like to put on record is I also appear to not need sleep. You’ll recall my insecurity over how many days have past, well that is because I haven’t slept–not for lack of trying–I just haven't. I've been trying to measure the days by looking at the clocks, but some of them tell different times than the others–Maybe they were damaged in the earthquakes following the megaspells.

Light from outside isn’t much help telling the day and night either. Its just a greenish hue all the time–either slightly lighter or slightly darker and for no uniform amount of time.

\**//SILENCE\**//

Is it strange that I feel slightly agoraphobic? Part of me wants to stay, but I know I should go. I guess despite my newly regained sanity, I can still be crazy.

\**//STATIC\**//

Patient isn’t responding to treatment. I’ve tried everything I could. It was a mistake to switch my field of medical study from pediatrics to psychiatry. I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing as my Screwy–my Screwloose–barks like a celestia damned dog for the rest of her life.

We were going to get married before the accident. It was only a month away. I was walking on air and now it feels like I’ve been shot through the heart. **Sniffle**Sob** Maybe I’m too close to this? Me being here is doing more **sob** harm than good. First: do no harm. I think I’ll hand Screwy’s case over to someone who knows what the fuck they are doing.

I’m so sorry I couldn’t cure you Screwloose, I’m so very sorry.

\**//STATIC\**//

**Sobbing** How–how could I have forgotten about him? My fiance. I–I had a fiance. Doctor–Doctor–Who? I–I can’t remember his name. We were in love–I know we were–and getting married. WHY CAN’T I REMEMBER HIM? I remember my sister, my mom, nearly everypony in my life, but him.

Think rationally Screwloose, there has to be an explanation. Whatever the radiation did to heal my brain must not have restored lost memory. So, I just have amnesia? That can be fixed with the right triggers. I wish my Doctor were here–the one I don’t recall–he’d know what to do–I’m sure of it.

\**//SILENCE\**//

I have decided to not listen to any more native recordings. It–it is too painful not knowing who he is, but having these feeling flare up hearing his voice. I’ll just let the rest get over written. It is for the best.

Now I’ll just focus on locating any other survivors. First I’ll look in on my old house to make sure mom and Shoe made it to a stable. If they didn’t–**labored breath**–I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

this chapter...log...was inspired by the pic showing the doctor from "Read it and Weep" having a personal connection to Screwloose before the accident... Link

Audio Log #003: Ponyville Encounter

\**//CLICK\**//

I–

\**//SILENCE\**//

I–um–

**whimpering**

I don’t know where my old house is.

No it isn't part of the apparent selective amnesia I have. I went into Ponyville Hospital years before the war was remotely conceivable. My accident happened in the early stages of Equestria’s industrial and technological revolution. When the tech to keep steel beams safely suspended stories above unsuspecting ponies on their lunch break wasn’t quite perfected yet.

Basically, Ponyville has changed dramatically. And I’m not just talking the darker hue it is cast in by the oddly persistent cloud blanket. There are new buildings. New streets. New businesses. "Stable-Tech" is one such business–I’ll assume they built those stables. "Ironshod" is another–not sure what they produced. To put it plainly, everything looks alien to me.

**frustrated growl**

**distant murmurings and the sound of approaching footsteps**

**panicked gasp**

**thud**thud**thud**

**threatening growl**

BARK! BARKBARK! BARK! ARF! BARK!

(other pony) GAH! What the hey! **metal hitting the ground** Are? Are you barking?

BARK! BARK! **clears throat** Um–well–um–force of habit. Sorry to startle you. I’m Screwloose. It may shock you to know I was in the hospital mental ward before the megaspells fell. Radiation cured me–right as rain.

(other pony) Right–

Well mostly.

\**//SILENCE\**//

Oh like you have never barked at another pony.

(other pony) Can’t say that I have. I have a friend from the MoP who can give you a checkup–when she and Ditzy get back from Manehatten. I–uh–feel you may need it. You may have radiation poisoning. You said something about it curing you. May might be able to help–um–set you straight on that fact.

\**//SILENCE\**//

(other pony) My name is Gizmo by the way. Nice to meet you Screwloose.

Yeah, you wouldn’t happen to be able to help me find my old house? I wanna be sure my sis and mom made it to a stable and though I remember the address, Ponyville has changed since I was committed.

(Gizmo) No, but if your family is in a stable the info would be in the Stable-Tech outlet. I was just on my way over there. I work–worked for Stable-Tech.

I’m so happy I could lick you.

(Gizmo) Uhh–

I won’t though–it is a figure of speech.

(Gizmo) Oh! Hey a Solid State Omega Recorder. I didn’t think they made those anymore.

**threatening growl**

Mine. Touch it, I bite.

(Gizmo) **swallowing sound** Noted.

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

So I really debated if crossing canon with The Ditzy Doo Chronicles was a good idea or not...especailly without permission from the author...in the end I went with Screwloose meeting Gizmo while Ditzy and May are in Manehatten (during the first 9 days section of the story).

Also is the way I denoted Gizmo speaking good...or should I do something else?

Audio Log #004: Bad Touch

\**//CLICK\**//

(Gizmo) **sounds of typing** So that recorder belonged to the doctors who treated you?

Yeah, I knew one of them–was engaged to him before my accident apparently–**sniffle** Don’t remember him though, so I’d rather not talk about it–or listen to the other recordings.

(Gizmo) **sounds of typing** You’re not the least bit curious?

Nope. Just gonna let my recordings overwrite them.

(Gizmo) **typing stops** That isn't how that recorder works. They’ll only overwrite if the memory is full. I doubt it is.

Oh–

\**//SILENCE\**//

(Gizmo) **metal scraping on metal sound** They aren’t all by the pony you forgot. It might be–I don’t know–Therapeutic to know what they did to try to help you.

**sigh** Maybe–

(Gizmo) If you play another recording while recording, it effectively quotes the other recording into the new one.

\**//STATIC\**//

Cortexaphan has proven ineffective to fix Screwloose’s mental state. I’ll try upping the dosage before switch to another drug. There is always the option of electroshock–primitive as it may be–the previous doctor on her case didn’t seem to have the stomach for such a thing. I’ll keep that idea under advisement. It will be a last resort. We do aim to cure her here.

On an unrelated note, during Screwy’s last outdoor time some of the orderlies saw fit to placate her canine tendencies and played fetch with her. They thought it was a real hoot until she saw fit to–**clear thought uncomfortably** do her business–on the front lawn. Bet they had fun cleaning that up.

On one hoof she seemed happier while playing fetch than she has in the entire time I’ve handled her case and it has greatly improved her mood–she didn’t whine and whimper when we had to put her back in her room. On the other hoof it might not be wise to indulge in her delusion. It could further her disconnect from reality and end up making things worse.

I’ll talk to the orderlies involved to see that it doesn’t happen again.

\**//STATIC\**//

(Gizmo) See, not that bad. No unrequited feelings?

No, that was–was–Dr. Cortex. Good, I remember him. Any luck on info on my mom and sis?

(Gizmo) Crowning Achievement–your mom–never got back to the stable-tech representative. There is no Shoeshine in the system. On the bright side, Sweetie Belle is the Overmare of the local stable. I’d bet my left hind hoof she let unregistered ponies in otherwise this town wouldn’t be so deserted.

Shoey worked in Canterlot. Maybe she is in the stable there.

(Gizmo) Maybe, can’t find that info out here though. I have some more work to do here. Need to get a message sent for a friend. You can stick around if you want. Play another recording.

Sure, the last one wasn’t so bad.

\**//STATIC\**//

**wet slurping sound** Oh yeah, that’s a good girl. Lick your bone. If you're real good it will squirt an extra treat. You want that right?

(Screwloose) Bark! Bark! **panting**slurping continues**

OOOOOOOH! Gah! **heavy breathing** Good girl. They said you were a difficult patient to feed. I found it quite pleasurable.

**hoofsteps approaching**

Shit! Doc is coming! Uh! Quickly lick up your treat.

(Dr. Cortex) **muffled** Bedside Manner, what is taking so long? It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to feed Screwloose. I should have just sent Redheart when she wasn’t busy.

Uh! Sorry, Doc, I–she just finished. I’ll be out shortly.

(Dr. Cortex) **Muffled** Ok, you have other patients to tend to. **close shuffling** Now where did I put my recorder?

**receding hoofsteps**

You’re such a good little bitch Screwy. I’ll be sure to come back tomorrow to give you another treat, but only if you're a good girl.

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//SILENCE\**//

(Gizmo) Screwy, I–I didn’t know there would be that kind of recording on there. I’m sorry. Are–Are you ok?

**growl**

(Gizmo) OUCH! Screwloose– **voice fades abruptly to loud galloping sounds**

**5 minutes of constant galloping**

**1 minute of violent puking sounds**

**Sobbing**

**inequine wail** BAD TOUCH! **THWACK** BARKBARK! BAD TOUCH! **THWACK** NO! BAD TOUCH! BARK! BARK! **THWACK** BAD! **wind whistle**THUD**

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

I'm sorry if the events of this chapter made you uncomfortable...it is the events that I wanted to tell...I never thought I could write something like this, but I did.

Audio Log #007: Mysteries and Cover-ups

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

Dear sweet Celestia. How could this have happened?

I finally located my recorder and I found a recording on it. Bedside, dear Celestia, why would anypony do that to such a helpless mare? It makes me sick.

The worst part is, the board is covering it up. They just fired Bedside and swept the rest under the rug–Not like Screwloose is going to come forward with and accusation in her mental state. The only evidence is the recording–which I have been ordered to delete.

I should probably delete this too even if it goes against every fiber of my being.

Though, ever since Littlehorn and Celestia’s abdication, Luna has rearranged the government. The Ministry of Peace, run by her shyness: Fluttershy, is now in charge of hospitals across Equestria. Her ministry–though from what I’ve heard not the mare herself–has cut funding to our establishment because we don’t meet the new standards for care.

As is, the hospital is bordering on bankruptcy. If this Bedside debacle got out, the lawsuit would run us into the ground. I may not like it, but it is how it has to be.

I’m sorry Screwloose, one scum bag goes free, but we still have a hospital and another day to try to cure you of your psychosis. Once that happens you can drag Bedside Manner to court and make him pay.

\**//STATIC\**//

No! No! NO! Stupid recorder! I just wanted to record! Not play one of those tartarus damned native files!

**sobbing**

**sniffle**labored breath** Celestia damn those doctors. They let Beh–**gaging**–They let him get away with it. I hope whatever stable they went to turns out to be a deathtrap.

I hope he dies in a megaspell crater.

**sniffle** What was I going to say before YOU decided to bring up the past again?

\**//SILENCE\**//

Oh–my coat and mane have completely fallen out and my skin is becoming very dry and cracking in places. It is odd that is doesn't really hurt. I’m not sure if I should be worried or not.

**sigh** I don’t really feel like talking anymore.

\**//EXTENDED SILENCE\**//

You're not stupid, I didn’t mean that. You're just damaged goods–like–like me.

I’m regretting not having Gizmo fix you, though.

\**//SILENCE\**//

Just please don’t play anymore native recordings. Gizmo was wrong it isn’t therapeutic. Knowledge is painful. I’d rather not know.

\**//CLI–FEEDBACK\**//

The recording didn’t stop did it? I see somepony else on the road. Big and made of metal, but still pony shaped. My–**sigh**–dog instincts say I should bark at him until he goes away.

I don’t want to scare another pony. Gizmo worked out–til I bit him.

**heavy metal hooves approaching**

(Other pony) You don’t look too well, are you alright?

Dosed with magical radiation, feeling great.

(Other pony) You never took any RadAway?

That a drug?

(Other pony) A rad purging potion. Non-addictive if that is what you are wondering. How are you not familiar with it?

\**//SILENCE\**//

(Other pony) Your gown. Were you a hospital patient before–

The megaspells fell? Yeah, Ponyville Hospital Psych Ward.

(Other pony) A small town Hospital. Not a primary target. In care of mentally unstable patients. Still, MoP run hospitals always had some on hoof.

Ponyville Hospital wasn’t MoP run. They cut funding due to care not meeting standards.

(Other pony) I see. So what brings you down this way?

I’m heading to Canterlot to find out about my sis. If she is safe in a stable or–or not.

(Other pony) I was in Zebratown when the megaspells fell. Canterlot is nothing but a deathtrap now. Littlehorn Agent. Instant death to anypony. I’m sorry, if your sister was there. She is dead.

No. I refuse to believe that unless I have definitive proof.

(Other pony) Then it is your funeral. Only death is in that direction.

I’m still going.

(Other pony) Best of luck to you then.

**receding heavy metal hoofsteps**

(Other pony) **a distance away** I hope you find her Screwloose.

I–I don’t recall giving my name.

(Other pony) **a distance away** You didn’t. I’m sorry. The logs on your recorder will explain.

Tell me, who are you?

(Other pony) **a distance away** Nopony important.

**receding heavy metal hoofsteps**

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

hmm...a mysterious stallion in heavy armament who was in Zebratown on the final day with a familiarity with the ministries...I wonder who that could be?

Audio Log #008: Unholy

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

**cough**cough** I made it to Zebra **cough** town. This Littlehorn agent **cough** isn’t so bad. **cough** My steel clad mystery pony **cough**cough** said Canterlot was the deathtrap. Zebratown **cough** is just a breathing hazard–**cough**cough**cough** I think. I hope **cough** the air is better inside. **cough**cough** The MoP hospital **cough** may have something for the cough **cough**cough**. It isn’t helping my horse voice. **cough**cough**cough**cough** Hold on a second.

**trotting sounds**door opening**slamming shut**

**cough** Better, but not perfect. **cough**cough**cough** Very hard to talk when coughing. **cough**

**door opening down the hall**

(Other pony) **very raspy** Well, well, well, Welcome.

**threatening growl**

Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark!

(Other pony) **very raspy** No need to fret. Come this way. I can help.

**growl** Who are you?

(Other pony) **very raspy** A friend. Come. I was a doctor here, I have something for the cough.

**cautious trotting**door opening**door closing**trotting**distant locking sound**

**gasp** What are you doing? Why did you lock the door?

(Other pony) **very raspy** I’m insulted. You don’t recognize me.

There–there are gaps in my memory.

(Other pony) **very raspy** Well, this new state of mine may also prevent recollection. Were I not like this, you’d recognize your favorite orderly.

Beh-**gaging**–Bedside Manner. **growl**

(Bedside) **very raspy** So you do remember our relationship. You were my little bitch. Now fate has brought us back together.

**growl** By relationship you mean rape. Bark! **growl**

(Bedside) **very raspy** I always did prefer your old mental state, not a fan of the attitude. Bet I can reverse it with the correct tre–

**choking sounds**

**thud**

**violent puking sounds**

**sobbing**

\**//EXTENDED SILENCE\**//

I–

\**//SILENCE\**//

I killed him. Were this old Equestria, I’d be the one facing charges.

**unholy sucking sound**

(Bedside) **very raspy**coughing** Well that was unexpected. Somepony has been a very bad girl.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Y–you're dead. I killed you.

(Bedside) **very raspy** Much like your sanity returning–against every prediction from any Doctor–death can also be defied. You’ve been a bad girl. Bad dogs get punished.

**forceful slam**shattering glass**panting**galloping**

(Bedside) **very raspy**a distance away** You can’t get away from me Screwy, you are my little bitch!

**pursuing hoofsteps**

**skidding stop**door slamming**locking sound**heavy breathing**

**whispering** He was dead. How is this possible?

(Bedside) **very raspy**muffled** Come on Screwy, once you are punished, I’ll give you a treat. Your favorite.

**whimpering**

**bang**bang**bang**bang**

**soft slow trots**

**bump**thud**thud**thud**thud**skidding sound**

**bang**bang**bang**bang**snap**crack**

(Bedside) **very raspy** Here’s Bedside! **snap**crack**thud**

**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**thud**click**click**click**

\**//EXTENDED SILENCE\**//

Five shots. **sniffle**labored breath** He must be dead now, right?

Right?

**unholy sucking sound**

(Bedside) **very raspy** That is twice now, I’m starting to think you don’t like me.

I don’t! You need to work on your bedside manner! **swoosh**wet crunch**thud**thud**thud**clang**

\**//EXTENDED SILENCE\**//

**long slow sigh**

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

and action scene lacking all descriptions and everything making it really hard to follow. Fun right? :pinkiecrazy:

In case you missed it she chocked him to death, he came back, she shot him to death, he came back, then finally she chopped off his head. He was a canterlot ghoul, so he was hard to kill.

Audio Log #009: Distraction

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

He–

\**//SILENCE\**//

He is still dead.

I–

**small whimper**

\**//SILENCE\**//

I killed him–three times.

\**//SILENCE\**//

I passed out after–after I did it. I don’t know if it was from shock or something else. While I was out I dreamed. I wasn’t sure I could still sleep, let alone dream.

In the dream his body got up and continued attacking. Only I couldn’t kill him. Not again. It was hard enough the first three times.

To take another pony’s life. No pony can come back from that.

I’m glad it was just a dream. He is still dead.

Why doesn’t that make me feel any better? About my dream or what he did to me back then?

\**//EXTENDED SILENCE\**//

He is still here though. His body. Actually bodies.

There was another body in the office I didn‘t notice while trying to find a hiding place. A doctor here committed suicide. I used his gun to–um–kill him the second time.

I–

I need a distraction.

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

**muffled background conversations**

Well, Ponywille Hoshpital is offfffffffficially bankrupt. **gulg** Redheart saw the writing on the wall and opened her own clinic downtown–You’ll neeeeever guess which new clinic got MoP backing?

**hic**

Spoiler alert, not Ponywille Hoshpital.

(Other pony) That is just terrible.

I wasn’t talking to you. Mind yer own bussssinesssss. **hic**

(Other pony) Yeah, but that recoder isn’t very talkative and it won’t save your job.

\**//SILENCE\**//

Yer point?

(Other pony) I’m Vial, like what pills come in–though I suppose it depends who you ask.

So you just waaaait around in bars looking for ponies down on their luck and then promise to fix things. **glug** Empty promises. **hic**

(Vial) My promises aren’t empty, Dr. Cortex. Far from it. I work for Green-Med. Here’s my card. **magic sound**

Keep your Cewescctia damned card, not interested.

(Vial) We’ll see.

**receding hoofsteps**

\**//STATIC\**//

That slimy little pony from the bar went to the hospital board with his proposition. Unlike me, they took him up on his offer. If I still want a job, I now have to work with the guy.

I have a bad feeling about this.

But, I’ll give Vial one thing, he was right about his promises not being empty. Ponyville Hospital is now the only privately owned and operated hospital in Equestria–now part of Green-Med Research & Development.

Here’s the catch. They are only keeping the psychiatric ward open. All other patients have been transferred to Redheart’s Clinic. The upside is they are granting us access to new untested psychiatric drugs to be used on the patients. That means there is hope for Screwloose. I may not trust a slicked back hair in Vial’s mane, but the company he works for made Cortexaphan.

It may not have worked on her, but other drugs from the company might. This could be good news for Screwloose. I’m glad I never went through with electroshock.

I still don’t like Vial, nor trust him further than I can throw him. I just hope nopony gets hurt when the other hoof falls.

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

I should get going. Shoey won’t find herself I suppose.

\**//EXTENDED SILENCE\**//

I’m keeping the gun and the axe–the gun isn't very useful without more ammo–but the axe proves useful against those–uh–resurrectors?

Clearly I need to have something to defend myself with. The mysterious steel pony said Canterlot was a deathtrap. He also said the cloud was instant death–they said the same about high dosages of magic radiation–if I survived and became different–who’s to say others haven’t from this pink cloud. Ones like Beh–**gaging**–like how he was.

A mare has gotta protect herself, right?

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

I was gonna do 3 native recordings, but thought I'd only do 2.

Audio Log #010: One Does Not Simply Canter into Canterlot

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

**constant trotting**

Hi, long time no chat.

**sigh**

That was awkward. I’m just trying to fill the silence. I’ve been experiencing a lot of it since regaining my sanity–mostly–and leaving Ponyville Hospital–wait, in light that native recording the other day, was if still called that? I never thought to check when I left. Wasn’t nor will ever be a priority.

Even though I said I should get going at the end of my last log, I stayed behind to–to give Him and the dead doctor a proper burial.

\**//SILENCE\**//

Were you a pony and could reciprocate this friendship, you’d probably question the jester. Why bury the pony who violated me–**gag**several times–and tried to do it again before I–I killed him?

My answer is simply. He may have been the scummiest of scum bags, but he was still a pony–or was one at one point–and he deserves to at least be laid to rest.

The Doctor–Dr. Spinal Tap–according to his office door–I buried him because it don’t feel right to bury one and not the other.

It took me a couple of days to find something sturdy enough to dig the graves, and another to find soft ground not covered in cobblestone.

I–

\**//SILENCE\**//

I also looted the hospital. I feel bad about stealing from one of the ministries–From what I’ve heard they were equestria's government. No pony had a better use for them now that Equestria is gone. Why not take them? I’m no thief, but I might need them if Canterlot truely is a deathtrap.

I’d also like to note that the pink cloud–Littlehorn agent–seems to no longer affect me. I’m not coughing while trying to breath it. I can also swear it is seeping out of my cracked skin–though as the vail thickens as I ascend to Canterlot I really can’t be sure.

If I end up a resurrector, I may just chop off my own head. Not being able to die would be horrible. Beheading appears to be the only way to kill them.

I really hope I don’t have to kill anypony else.

**trotting stops**

\**//SILENCE\**//

Whoa–

\**//SILENCE\**//

Canterlot is as deserted as Ponyville.

**inequine wail too close for comfort**

BWAARK! Or not. Resurrector!

**ung**swoosh**wet crunch**thud**thud**ptweh**

**more distant inequine wails**

This isn’t good.

**panicked galloping**

**more distant inequine wails**

**tink**wind whistle**thud**thud**thud**crack**crunch**

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

**many many many inequine wails**

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

sorry, couldn't resist the meme reference chapter title.

Audio Log #012: Wait Just a Minuette

\**//CLICK\**//

(unknown pony) **very raspy** There that should fix it. You’d think she’d take better care of you.

**startled gasp**

Where am I? Who are you?

**growl**

Give me back my recorder! BARK! BARKBARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!

**growl**

(unknown pony) **very raspy** That is another thing she got right. I thought she was crazy when she gave me this task. “Find the pony who barks when you meet her.” I’m Minuette. You are in my denist office–what’s left of it. And here is your recorder **tic** I fixed it for you.

Who got what right?

(Minuette) **very raspy** **sigh** I wish I could tell you, but here is the answer she told me to tell you if you asked: Spoilers–Though she always adopted the most ridiculous Braytten accent. All I can say is the answers are in the recordings on your recorder.

You are not the first pony to tell me that. Frankly it's frustrating. Did ponies forget how to be straightforward while I was committed?

(Minuette) **very raspy** Ponies forgot how to do a lot of things during the war. They forgot how to love and tolerate. They replaced it with hatred and malice.

**shuffling** I got that impre-ESSION! **flop** OUCH!

(Minuette) **very raspy** Right, your leg–don’t walk on it, it is broken.

**crack**wince** Can’t you heal it?

(Minuette) **very raspy** Fresh out of healing potions. You may have noticed our animal-like former pony problem. My friends and I are the same, bit hard to kill and as long as we are near the littlehorn agent, it somehow heal us. No need to keep track of healing potions when we became–well this.

Any thoughts on how to heal me?

(Minuette) **very raspy** Yes, actually. Moondancer had a theory. You became similar to us though magic radiation exposure, right?

I think so.

(Minuette) **very raspy** She guessed that by the necrosis and hair loss. She theorizes that if littlehorn agent has healing effects on us–since it was the thing that changed us–maybe radiation has the same effect on you?

Ok, will it work?

(Minuette) **very raspy** I’m a dentist, not an arcane scientist. I just wanted you awake before I could possibly kill you–to get consent. My x-ray was damaged by the gas. I turn it on, the system goes critical and magic radiation fills the room. Moon’s theory works you are healed, it doesn’t well–

Do it.

**boop**door opening**door closing**boop**beep**beep**beeeeeep**FZZZZZDT**

\**//EXTENDED SILENCE\**//

(Minuette) **very raspy**muffled** You still alive in there?

I feel warm and tingly, is that normal?

(Minuette) **very raspy**muffled** Debatable. Your leg?

**shuffling sounds**hop**hop**hop**

Seems to be healed.

(Minuette) **very raspy**muffled** Pay up Moondancer! Your theory totally worked.

\**//CLICK\**//

Audio Log #014: The Brewing Storm

\**//CLICK\**//

Been awhile, hasn’t it?

I left Canterlot about a week ago–again the constant cloud cover and lack of sleep makes it hard to tell time. I got a bit turned around. I’ve been locked in a mental hospital for years. Much like how Ponyville became alien, so did the rest of Equestria. It was a miracle I made it to Canterlot without getting lost–well to be fair Ponyville is connected to Canterlot by a single road–Ponyville to the newer Zebratown and on to Canterlot proper.

Canterlot to Manehatten isn’t so straightforward. It is a confusing network of roads littered with idle sky chariots and ground carts–some with decaying pony corpses still in them.

Long story short, I somehow ended up Appleoosa–at least I think it is Appleoosa–I’m not the best at Fill-in-the-blank, but the burned wooden sign said:

“A-blank-black-blank-E-blank-blank-S-A”

The blanks were somehow sanded away. Based on the desert around me and the rudimentary, wooden architecture of the frontier town, it is Appleoosa–true it could be Doge Junction, but the apple orchard is more of a dead give away–Doge Junction has a cherry orchard.

I haven’t seen anypony since I got here–not out of the usual for this Equestrian Wasteland since–but with no apparent megaspell crater or one of them stables nearby I thought there would be more–well life.

But there is nothing–just cow bones and tumbleweeds.

**crunch**

Wait? I don’t think they are **glup** cows.

\**//SILENCE\**//

It is cliche to find a single cow skull in a desert, but this is the whole skeleton–dozens of skeletons–hundreds of **gag** pony skeletons. I mean I’m no physician, but cows don’t have a single horn or wing bones.

\**//SILENCE\**//

How? What could shear away a pony’s flesh and leave the bones?

**wind pics up in the background**

Huh? I feel that tingly feeling that I felt when Minuette dosed me with radiation.

**wind picks up more**

What in Eque–SANDSTORM? No. RADIOACTIVE SANDSTORM?

\**//SILENCE\**//

I–

I think I know how a pony can be sheared to the bone.

**wind picks up more**

Fuck!

**panicked galloping**door opening**slamming a door closed**heavy furniture shifting**

The skeletons, the sign. I–I don’t know if this–saloon–will be enough.

**strong wind**sand abruptly hitting the outside**creak**crack**snap**gasp**thud**thud**thud

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

The drug trials–that I’m still not convinced are completely legit no matter how many times that slimy corporate stooge explains it–have been going on for 3 months now. Green-Med has had me cycle through over a dozen different drugs to test on the patients.

Though Screwloose has actually responded well to the new treatment by our corporate overlords at Green-Med. Thyrorudin Glucotamine is the drug. It was developed for Wartime Stress Disorder, but Screwy proves it could be used help treat other mental illnesses.

I could have sworn she asked coherently for her sister.

Progress? I can’t be sure, but I’m hopeful.

I asked if her supposed request could be fulfilled. Vail said it couldn’t be done. That no good son of a mule. I will continue to protest. He can’t keep these ponies from their family.

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

been a while, but here is the new chapter. The idea for the radioactive sandstorms is another shout out to The Ditzy Doo Chronicles

Audio Log #015: A Simply Vile Pony

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

NoooOOOOoooOOoo! Don’t tell me thiiiiiiIIIIiiiiiiIIs thing is broken again!

**thunk**thunk**thunk**

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

–oney I’m home.

(Mrs. Cortex) **in the other room** Welcome home dear, how was work?

**sigh** It was–

(Mrs. Cortex) **in the other room** Was what honey?

Nothing! It was fine. **quiter** I wish I could tell you.

(Mrs. Cortex) **in the other room** Dinner will be ready in 5.

**Phone rings**

(Mrs. Cortex) **in the other room** Hello? Mr. Who? Slewfoot?

Honey, that is for me! I’ll take it in the study!

**30 seconds of trotting**door opening**door closing**boop**

Slewfoot, you weren’t supposed to call me at home. I don’t know how connected he is, that is why I contacted you. You’re a pony who can find things out–discreetly.

(Slewfoot) **over the phone** Sorry, Yes. I’m working a lead. Meet me in a few days–Friday–Ponyville Park–5pm. I’ll have what you need.

**phone hanging up**

**deep sigh**

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

**distorted howling wind slowly righting itself to sound normal**sand spraying against wooden structures**

**growling**thunk**thunk**thunk**rip**rip**peh**peh**

Work!

Please work–

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

**cut in abruptly to quick trotting**

Vial, a moment of your time please. Screwloose asked for her sister. Please find it in your heart to grant the sick mare’s request. Her sister visits so rarely.

(Vial) You can keep asking. It isn’t going to happen, Dr. Cortex.

Why not?

(Vial) You make the mistake of getting attached. She is nothing more than a test subject.

You can’t keep her away from family.

(Vial) That is where your wrong. These are ponies nopony cares about. They have been left to rot in this joke of a psychology ward. Not long ago ago this place was about to be shut down. Green-Med saved it, we saved your job if I recall–even after you so rudely turn me down. Lucky for you the board was more amicable. Green-Med owns the hospital. In essence we own these “patients” you are so fond of. We can permit and no permit what we please. Good day.

No it is you who is wrong. Ponies still care about these ponies. Honey Dew has a kid living with her folks in Fillydalphia, Seeker’s Father just went off to fight this Celestia damned war, and Screwloose has her sister and mother. Each and every pony in our care has ponies who want to see their loved ones get better. How can you be so cold?

(Vial) Fine. Screw-for-brains can meet with her sister. *receding hoofsteps** Now don’t ever say I didn’t do anything nice.

(Gruff sounding stallion) **farther down the hall** Sir, we have a situation we need you to look into.

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

–ere is Slewfoot? He should have been here 10 minutes ago. That stallion is usually more punctual.

**phone ringing**boop**

Slewfoot? Where are you?

(unknown pony) **over the phone** I’m sorry but Slewfoot is not available right now. Can I take a message?

V-Vial?

(Vial) **over the phone** Yes, Dr. Cortex. You didn’t think I’d notice somepony snooping into my past?

I–

(Vial) **over the phone** Don’t speak. I see 2 options here. 1. you go running to the pinks, tell them everything, the MoM investigate Green-Med, me, and Ponyville Hospital. Maybe I get arrested. 2. You don’t. We forget this little issue ever happened and I don’t spill the beans on the whole Bedside Manner Scandal.

How did you know about that? The board would never speak of it. Neither would I.

(Vial) **over the phone** Recorders, such primitive pieces of technology. Though, Dr. Cortex, if you intend to delete recordings, you really should. You never know when a curious pony like myself might find them and listen.

You slimy little bastard!

(Vial) **over the phone** You flatter me Cortex. So which choice do you pick? End me and I end your career, or we go back to being co-workers.

You win. I’ll stay silent.

(Vial) **over the phone** Now that is what I like to hear. See you first thing in the morning. The MoA, MWT, and the MAS just signed a new agreement with Green-Med. We test combat drugs at dawn.

**phone hangs up**

That no good son of a mule! Fuck.

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

YoooooOOoooOoOoOOOOoou finally functioning. I think I fixed the problem with some duct tape I found behind the bar.

Anyways I think the storm is winding down. I’ll have to work on clearing the rubble from the door before I can head out again. Of all the buildings to take shelter in it had to be the one that would collapse.

\**//SILENCE\**//

I’m ok though, you–

You were touch and go for a while there. You seem fine now.

I hope.

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

and another chapter more focused on the "native recordings" than the present...and more focused on random accidental recordings than intentional ones...sorry...I need to move the past plot along, but at the same time allow the present one to be elongated. The next few chapters will contain more present and less past...I pinkie promise. :pinkiesmile:

Audio Log #016: One Sided

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

So it didn’t take long to move the rubble enough to get through it, but turns out what I thought was the end of the storm was only the eye–meaning it was calm just long enough for me to leave cover, then it came back in full swing. I barely made it back into another building before it got really bad.

\**//SILENCE\**//

I will miss the skin that covered my flank though. Despite the rest of my body appearing to rot, it had remained intact. My poor cutie mark–a single screw–I will never see it again. One side is sheared down to the bone. I–

I can see my pelvis where my muscle, skin and coat used to be. I’ve stopped wondering why it doesn't hurt or bleed. I am no longer an equine. I look like a monster out of the old horror flicks–I look like some of the old residents of Ponyville Hospital before I left. The kindest comparison to a monster I could make between myself and one of those horror movie monsters is a ghoul.

I am a ghoul.

It is better than zombie, right?

\**//SILENCE\**//

Anyways, I’ve made my way out of the Appleoosan Desert. I finally found a road sign that pointed me in the direction of Manehatten. I think it will be at least a 2 day trip–not that I mind walking–but I wish I could be carried there on one of these discarded carts–that would require another pony to pull and I’m the only one around period.

Aside from the more zombie-esk ghouls, I haven’t seen a real pony since–since–since–

\**//SILENCE\**//

Ponyville–no real ponies since Ponyville and I don’t even know if Gizmo and the group he was with are still alive.

\**//SILENCE\**//

You know, sometimes I wish you could talk back to me. Our conversations are very one sided. Either I talk to you or you spout back events from the past even when I don’t want you to.

It should be more inclusive.

I’d say: Hi recorder.

And then you say: **higher tone** Hi Screwy, how are you today?

And I’d be all: Good, just walking along the road on the way to Manehatten. Alone in a very alien equestria.

Which you’d respond: **higher tone** You’re not alone, you have me. Now why are we going to Manehatten by hoof?

So I’d reply with: To get a pipbuck that may or may not even be there, so I can find out who took the info on the residents of Stable 1 to finally find out if my sister is alive. When at this point I really think it is more likely she isn’t and I should just give up and–and–

**through the sounds of crying, though there are no tears** You’d put your arms around me and hug me and tell me everything is ok, you’d say that we will find out if Shoeshine is safe–

Together.

But you are just a recorder, you can’t be the friend I need right now.

\**//SILENCE\**//

I mean you're still my friend, but I need someone who can comfort me when I need it.

I need Shoeshine.

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

if you read another Audio Log #16...I got mixed up with the time line...this is the real #16...the other will now be #18 or so...once I get to that part.

Also, sorry it took so long to get this one out...I've been busy...

Audio Log #017: Trigger Happy

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

I feel that same warm sensation I feel when near radiation. I guess the city was hit by a megaspell. The construction of those buildings is impressive to have withstood that blast and not have simply fallen over.

The radiation healed some of the lost flesh on my flank, but unfortunately not my cutie mark. I–I still miss it. I keep looking back hoping it would appear again in a sudden burst of magic as it had done when it first appeared when I was a filly.

\**//SILENCE\**//

Did I ever tell you my cutie mark story? Suppose not we’ve only known eachother for–for–for–for–

Shit how long has it been? Damn cloud layer making telling time near impossible. I hope the pipbuck has a clock on it.

So anyways, guess I should record my cutie mark story for posterity and stuff. Incase I’m some old pony someday and forget it–especially since it is now no longer there.

It really wasn’t a special day by any means. It was my sister’s seventh birthday. Mom got Shoe a box of blocks. She was pissed because she wanted the pretty princess doll set and locked herself in her room. I wanted to cheer her up so I opened her present and built her a castle. **sniffle** We played princess of the castle for the rest of the day. I was having so much fun, I never noticed I got my cutie mark. Mom pointed it out when she got us ready for bed. It was– **bang**pfft**

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

ShiiiiiIIIiiiit! FuUUuck! We screwed up! By we, I mean the hospital and the spineless board. We let a snake into our halls. FUCK! Vail–he–he–Fuck! I tried looking into him. He found out about the Bedside Manner Scandal. He blackmailed us into doing inequine test of new combat drugs. Buck, Dash, Rage, Stampede–others–we tested them all. Many had been in limited use before the war, some were new.

Fuck!

There was a new one in the bunch. The geniuses at Green-Med cooked it up. They are calling it Celestia’s Tears. Better than any combat drug on the market. But it has a 99% mortality rate or something like that.

**deep breath**

Five deaths. Vial’s greed has killed five ponies. Five innocent ponies. Ponies who were admitted to Ponyville Hospital to get better–be treated for varying mental illnesses–only to be treated like lab rats. Fuck!

\**//SILENCE\**//

We swore and oath when we became doctors. First, do no harm. We have all broke that oath.

Screwloose is next up a dose of Celestia’s Tears nearly twice the dose we have been giving the others–the ones that died. I will not have another pony’s death on my hooves. To Tartarus with my job, my reputation, everything. I’m going to the pinks. I’m going to tell them everything. About Bedside, the coverup, Green-Med. The MOP will handle our patients better.

**door opening**

(Vial) Well, I’m very sorry to hear that Dr. Cortex. You understand the predicament you put me in.

You won’t silence me.

(Vial) I have no need to silence a mental patient. I can however admit them into my care.

But I have no mental illness.

(Vial) Hospital forms are so easy to forge. What should I list as your illness. Depression? Schizophrenia? Oh, how about my favorite: Wartime Stress Disorder? It is a very popular diagnosis in this time of war in equestria.

You can’t do that!

(Vial) I can and will. Orderlies, take him to testing room H.

NO! **thud**thud**thud**thud**

(Vial) I have a new batch of Celestia’s Tears I want to test–no I think I’ll call it Luna’s Tears. It is better than the inferior Celestia’s Tears. If it works it will be a great way to rally the troops and will make us a nice pile of bits.

**receding hoofseps**

\**//SILENCE\**//

**magic sound** And I think I’ll keep this. For posterity.

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

(unknown pony) **very raspy** TeeeeEEeeeeErribly sorry about shooting your recorder. I thought you were one of the others. Those ponies like us but more akin to zombies.

It's fine, just be cAAaaaaaaaAaAareful with him–uh it.

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

Patient isn’t responding to treatment. I’ve tried everything I could. It was a mistake to switch my field of medical study from pediatrics to psychiatry.

\**//STATIC\**//

Cortexaphan has proven ineffective to fix Screwloose’s mental state.

\**//STATIC\**//

That slimy little pony from the bar.

**click** rabehtmorfynopelttilymilstaht **click**

That slimy little pony from the bar.

\**//STATIC\**//

Why were those other doctors so fixated on recording things. Does no pony write things down anymore. Incriminating evidence of a rape and a cover up–all would have never been discovered if it weren’t for this device. I’m much more careful. Call it an old habit from my old job. Well, I have some business in Canterlot. Tah tah.

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

the plot does thicken.

Celestia's Tears is a drug from the now canceled fic Fallout: Equestria – Duty...it is used with the author's permission. The story can be listened to here.

Audio Log #018: **ERROR**ERROR**

Audio Log #018: **ERROR**ERROR**

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

**ERROR**FILE CORRUPT**ERROR**

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

literally the same 8 words as Audio Log #005. That gun shot in the last chapter must have done more damage than expected...or the "fix" wasn't good...we'll never know what was on this log or on log #005...

Audio Log #019: Unnatural Occurrences

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

**bang**bang**pish**spish**bzzt**bzzt**

Gah! **inequine wail**

**thud**thud**sliding hoofsteps**

**panting breath**

**cough**

This might be a bad time to mention I hate guns. This wasn’t the–

**bang**bang**bang**bang**pish**spish**pish**spish**

–thing I wanted to talk about. I was trotting along about to just make a recording to update my progress when.

**bzzt**bzzt**bzzt**bzzt****bang**bang**bang**bang**pish**spish**pish**spish**

That began to happen.

(Unknown pony) **at a distance** Did you get it?

(Unknown pony 2) **at a distance** I don’t know. Those zombie things freak me the fuck out. What the hey are they?

(Unknown pony) **at a distance** Star Paladin String Bean says they are an after effect of the megaspell. Either way they are abominations that need to be put down. We have to keep this place no matter what.

I’m not a Zombie! I’m just a mare looking for her sister!

(Unknown pony) **at a distance** What? It speaks?! The others didn’t speak!

(Unknown pony 2) **at a distance** It doesn't matter, Star Paladin's orders! And your sister isn’t here.

I just need a pipbuck! I don’t want to fight.

(unknown pony 2) **at a distance** Not gonna happen zombie! Time for the bigger guns.

**click**click**click**clunk**

I JUST WANT MY TO FIND MY SISTER **voice breaks into an inequine wail**sound of a rush of gas being released**

(unknown pony and unknown pony 2) **at a distance** **pained yells quickly changing to gargled bubbles**

\**//SILENCE\**//

What?

\**//SILENCE\**//

What just happened?

I–

I just breathed out that pink littlehorn stuff. That shouldn’t be possible. Should it?

\**//SILENCE\**//

**deep breath in**deep breath out**

Um, well, whatever it was I can’t do it again. Not sure if that is good or bad. **sigh** well let's get that pipbuck.

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

Well, this is an interesting change of pace. I get to head any specialized test I want. I should have done away with Cortex weeks ago. Well, that wasn’t my intent of the test of Luna’s Tears, I’d have preferred it been a successful test.

Anyways, I’ve had some tests run on Screwy-brain after she withstood a mega dose of Celestia’s Tears. I found a strange hormone in her blood. My scientists say it it chemically similar to Green-Med’s failed drug Cortexaphan. I’ve elected to call it Cortexamine. They say it somehow accelerates her body's natural healing. If we could replicate the effect it–

(Unknown pony) **a distance away and moving closer** Miss Pie, you can’t go back there.

(Pinkie Pie) **a distance away and moving closer*** Oh can’t I? I am a ministry mare. There are bad ponies here!

(Unknown pony) We don’t have a warrant!

(Pinkie Pie) I don’t need a warrant when there are bad ponies ahoof. I am the Ministry Mare of the Ministry of Moral!

(Unknown pony) Miss Pie, please. Not when you're on your **clears throat** medication.

(Pinkie Pie) I don’t need a foal sitter! I am a foal sitter, I’m good at it too. Ask Pound and Pumpkin.

Can I help you Ministry Mare?

(Pinkie Pie) Yes, you are a bad pony. Denying Shoeshine visitation!

Miss Ministry Mare, I assure you I did nothing of the sort.

(Pinkie Pie) You gave her barely 10 min. And refused to give her more!

We are a mental institution, as Screwloose’s doctor I thought it unwise to have much exposure to her sister until treatment was done.

(Pinkie Pie) Liar! **stomp** GAaaaah! Achy tooth! That’s a new one. Screwloose? Give me that!

(Vial) Wha–hey! Give that back! Is she sane, you do know this is a mental hospital. We’d be more than happy to take in a ministry mare. Discreetly of course.

(Unknown pony) Believe me, I wish you could, but Luna would have my head.

Shshshshshsh I need to have a conversation here.

(Vial) With my recorder?

Yes, shshsh. No, no, no! This part plays while she is unconscious. Wait a second.

\**//SILENCE\**//

(in the present, Screwloose) What is equestria? Who is unconscious?

(in the past, Pinkie Pie) You silly, though this clip does play twice so this is likely time 2 for you.

(in the present, Screwloose) Uuuh. Are we actually talking to each other?

(in the past, Pinkie Pie) Yes.

(in the present, Screwloose) But isn't this a native recording?

(in the past, Pinkie Pie) Yes. You ask a lot of questions. I’m here talking to a recorder, you are also there talking to the same recorder in the future. It is just busted enough to allow a conversation.

(in the present, Screwloose) This a natural occurrence?

(in the past, Pinkie Pie) For me, yeah it happens when I take Mint-als.

(in the past, Unknown Pony) Well the cat's out of the bag now.

(in the past, Vial) Well now isn’t that interesting.

(in the present, Screwloose) Wait, I could tell you what happens, you could stop the meg–

(in the past, Pinkie Pie) Ah ah ah **bad Braytten accent** spoilers. **regular voice** There are things beyond my control.

(in the present, Screwloose) Wait, you sent Minuette to meet me in Canterlot?

(in the past, Pinkie Pie) I did? Oh, I guess I will. Gah! Oh no, I’m sorry for what you’ll have to do when you return to her. **sniffle** I’ll be sure a pipbuck is available for you in Manehattan.

(in the present, Screwloose) What will I have to do? Pinkie?

(in the past, Pinkie Pie) You just need to stay strong Screwy. You and your sister will meet again. I know it. Just hang in there.

(in the present, Screwloose) Could you at least arrest Vial and stop my suffering back then?

\**//SILENCE\**//

(Unknown pony) Dr. Vail, was it?

(Vial) Uh, yes.

(Unknown pony) I’d appreciate if you’d keep a lid on Miss Pie’s drug usage.

(Vial) Why of course, as long as I can continue doing what I’m doing here. Unimpeded by the MoM.

(Unknown pony) **sigh** You’ll have nothing to worry about. Pinkie, give the nice doctor back his recorder.

Like I said Screwy, there are things out of my control. I’m sorry. I wish I could do more, but my hooves are tied. He has to keep this recording too, no deleting it.

(Vial) Wouldn't dream of it, Miss Ministry Mare.

**receding footsteps**

(Pinkie Pie) **a distance away** When we get back, have my memory of this visit erased, but first give the following orders to Minny. **voice fades**

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

What just happened?

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

umm...its pinkie pie, don't question it. she has broken the 4th wall of memory orbs, why not recordings.

Also her breathing pink cloud...we'll come back to that.

If you read this chapter when it was accidentally released as Audio Log #016, there has been a few changes to it since then.

Audio Log #020: Cortexaphan and Cortexamine

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

**constant rapid clicking from a geiger counter**

This pipbuck thing is amazing! It has a map feature so I won’t get lost on my way back to Canterlot.

It also can measure radiation–it has been clicking nonstop since I turned it on.

**pipbuck sound**

Oh! It can organize my inventory. 44 magnum, firepony axe, Solid State Omega Recorder, tattered hospital gown, 3 bottles of irradiated water, 2 boxes of Sugar Apple Bombs, and a Fancy Buck cake.

Huh, honestly thought I had more belongings.

**pipbuck sound**

Anyways, the one thing I don’t understand about this thing is keeps saying I’m deceased when I look at the screen that should show my vitals. I guess my ghoulish state doesn’t register. The smart ponies who made this never accounted for something like what I am now.

\**//SILENCE\**//

Speaking of what I am now, could it be related to the Cortexaphan or Cortexamine thing? Could that have contributed to my current state? Or at least allowed me to remain sane?

I should have asked Higgs after he shot you. He seemed like a pony who knew things.

\**//SILENCE\**//

Maybe–maybe one of the native recordings has the answer.

Come on be strong Screwy, you've listened to plenty by now, some may have been bad, but not all. Dr.Cortex tried to do the right thing in the end.

**sigh** here goes nothing.

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

So little pony, lets see what makes you tick. How effective are the effects of Cortexamine?

**bone snapping sound**

(Screwloose) **pained yelp**whimpering**

\**//SILENCE\**//

Dammit. So it isn’t instant healing like a healing potion or spell. Though it appears to make you more resistant to chems and even prevents the vegetative state one should suffer from after surviving Celestia’s Tears.

**distant glass breaking**

Well you have been off the drug for a few years. The effects could fade over time. I could put you back on the drug. Feh, why waste it on you. I’ll just up my dosage. Then we’ll see if it accelerates the effects.

(Unknown Pony) **other room** Where is you?! I know you are here! Fix’n Snitch! Or should I say Vial, that is what you are going by now! I tracked you down through the front company you work for, Green-Med. This hospital was bought by that company. I have been informed you spends your time here. WHERE ARE YOU?! FACE ME COWARD!

**door opening**

Who is yelling at this late hour–oh Applesnack, what brings you to my mental hospital?

(Applesnack) Dispense with the pleasantries. I know it was you who did it?

Me who did what? You are being awfully vague.

(Applesnack) You rigged that elevator to collapse!

Oh yes, the tragic accident that befell the Ministry Mare of the Ministry of Wartime Technology. How is Applejack?

**smack**crash**clang**thud**

(Screwloose) **Scared dog yelp**

(Applesnack) You keep her name out of your mouth!

**cough**wince** Must have struck a chord. Say I did do this, which I did not, what motive would I have to try to kill her?

(Applesnack) Several company’s owned by your family would stand to benefit from AJ being out of the way. Your name was also the dying breath of the pony who hired you.

**sigh** Damn, no expectation of privacy. Though you said he was dead, so it is merely speculation at this point. Hardly enough to convict. Besides I have friends in the MoM.

(Applesnack) You're a bastard, you know that?

Send my regards to AJ. I hope she gets better soo–**smack**bone snapping sound**

(Applesnack) I SAID **smack** KEEP **smack**bone snapping sound** HER **smack** NAME **smack**bones snapping sound** OUT **smack** OF **smack**flesh tearing sound**thud**smack** YOUR MOUTH! **pulpy smack**heavy breathing** I wasn’t planning on letting you live long enough to go to trial.

**garbled bubbles**

(Screwloose) **whimper**

(Applesnack) I won’t hurt you. I was only here for him. Run along.

(Screwloose) **whimper**

(Applesnack) **shuffling of papers** Screwloose? Is that your name? Oh so it was you Pinkie was talking about. You don’t need to be scared. Go off to your room or something. I'll send help for you if I can. **receding hoofsteps**

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

**steady heart rate boop every few seconds**

Yes, I’m alive. I realized the recorder was on and caught the confrontation a month ago. I’ve been in recovery for a while. Though I did find the secret to Cortexamine. It only activates when in a near death experience. So I must send a thank you to Applesnack–though that will likely insight another visit.

**hydraulic sound**wince**cough**

I’m not a fan of the new cybernetics though. They are painful. But with Cortexamine only going so far to save my life, these keep me alive. Glad I have connections in Project Steelpony.

**hydraulic sound**wince**cough**

When I get back to Ponyville, I’ll see if Screw-for-brains can survive Luna’s Tears, but first I’m going to head to the Green-Med Manufacturing Plant in Canterlot to get a resupply of Cortexaphan. Still going to up my dosage, it might enhance the effects of Cortexamine going forward.

Though I don't need to lug around this recorder, I'll have it sent back to my office in Ponyville.

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

So radiation was killing me and this Cortexamine stuff helped me and allowed for my current state?

Dammit! I’m not qualified for this! I’m just a construction worker. If only–

**gasp**

Dr. Stable Rate! The name of my fiance. I remembered! If only he were here, maybe he could make sense of this.

**sniffle** Why did I have to think of him? He is likely gone like everypony else.

**smack** No I have to snap out of it! I need to focus on getting back to Cantelot and finding Shoey.

**pipbuck sound**

Cool! This pipbuck has a radio feature.

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

some of the mysteries of Cortexaphan/cortexamine are finally explained...sort of..also how SteelHooves knew Screwloose is revealed...and is kind of anticlimactic. There was likely other times where Steelhooves heard about her, but they weren't recorded. Might mention more stuff on that if I ever do a sequel...

Audio Log #021: The Return to Canterlot (Part 1)

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

Well I’m back in Canterlot. Thought I’d spare you another recording of me hacking up a lung. **cough**cough** Thought I got used to the pink cloud last time I was here. Guess not.

Anyways, I thought since I’m back in Canterlot I’d swing by Minuette’s dentist office. Especially because of what Pinkie said.

**knock**knock**knock**elongated creek** Minuette? Moondancer? Twinkleshine? Lemon Hearts? Anypony home or are you out scavenging?

(Minuette, Moondancer, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts) **4 overlapping inequine wails**

No! **thud**thud**thud**thud**

(Lemon Hearts) **inequine wail**

**thump**thump**smack**grunt**metal scraping the ground**swoosh**wet crunch**thud**thud**thud**

(Moondancer) **inequine wail**

**clang**threatening growl** BARK! **flesh tearing sound**thump**

(Minuette and Twinkleshine) **2 overlapping inequine wails**

BARK BARK! BARKBARK BARK! **metal scraping sound**swoosh**wet crunch**thud**thud*thud**

**at a distance** Minuette, **cough** I don’t want to do this. Please, you are only here because of me. Pinkie sent you specifically to help me. I’m the reason you were here when the megaspells fell. The reason you are a resurrector. I–I don’t want to be the reason you're dead.

(Minuette) **inequine wail**

**swoosh**wet crunch**thud**thud**thud**thump**

**at a distance** I–I said I didn’t want to be the reason you're dead. **sniffle**

\**//SILENCE\**//

**at a distance, but getting closer** I can’t even cry anymore. Somepony needs to mourn them and I’m not able to. **thunk**

\**//SILENCE\**//

I’m going to stay in the office for the night. I might not need sleep, but for the first time in a while I feel tired. So very, very tired.

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

yeah, it is a shorter chapter...the logs are location based kind of thing and the MWT hub is not near Minuette's Dentist office.

Audio Log #022: The Return to Canterlot (Part 2)

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

I had a very odd dream. I dreamed I was back in ponyville hospital, but it was not like the place the native recorders described. It was how it should have been. Dr. Cortex was actually able to make progress on my treatments. Shoeshine, Stable Rate, and even Mom visited almost weekly. I had a few friends among the other patients. They took on the appearances of Minuette, Moondancer, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts–not as they were when I–when I had to kill them–the brown and brittle skinned, walking corpses with patchy coats and thinning manes–but as they must have looked before the megaspells fell.

The dream went on to see me successfully treated. No Cortexaphan, Cortexamine, Vial, Beh–**gagging**–Bedside, or radiation. Legitimately better. I got married and of all ponies Pinkie afficated the ceremony. I was happy. Then I woke up and the fractured reality came back. Hold on.

**boop**

Now I can track this FXR pipbuck tag.

\**//SILENCE\**//

Is it just me or is this pipbuck getting fused to my leg? I noticed my gown started to stick to my thinning coat last time I was here, but never thought it worth mentioning.

Now let’s see where this FXR is.

**pipbuck sound**

The industrial district? I thought all industry was based in Manehatten, Fillydelphia, or Detrot. Guess they had to squeeze factories where they could to support the war effort.

\**//EXTENDED SILENCE\**//

The more I think about this, the more I get a bad feeling that it is setup to deliberately mess with me. The only pony likely to need the list of Stable 1 residents in the whole wasteland would be me.

Who did I piss off? I was a mental patient. I had every mannerism of a dog.

What are the odds my rapist would be in Zebratown? Or the list would be gone? FXR? Who the hey are you?

Guess it is time to find out.

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

things are finally coming to an end. Have you figured out who FXR is? it is obvious if you paid attention.

Audio Log #023: Showdown

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

**whispering** I’m here. The pipbuck tag lead me to–to Green-Med Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Plant. The builders must have been really short on space, I’ll 99% sure the ground here is artificial–as in there is no mountain beneath us. Just a drop down to Zebratown.

**clothes rustling**door opening**door closing**echoing hoofsteps**

(Unknown Pony) **very raspy**Over the loudspeakers** So, you finally arrive.

Who are you? What do you want with me? The data you took is only important to me, no pony else is alive to care about it.

(Unknown Pony) **very raspy**Over the loudspeakers** Wow, here I thought you’d have figured it out by now. Ever since I saw the real you emerge from your cell–not the helpless loon you were, barking like a dog and slobbering all over the place. You are rather smart.

H-how did you see me leave my cell, there were no other sane ponies–sane ghouls–in the hospital.

(Unknown Pony) **very raspy**Over the loudspeakers** What green-Med would acquire a drug testing site in the boonies of Equestria and not have a way to watch and monitor our subjects from out true base of operations?

Cameras.

(Unknown Pony) **very raspy**Over the loudspeakers** Yes, though the feed went dead a week ago, I saw all I needed. The true power of Cortexamine.

So you’re a scientist from Green-Med? What purpose do you have to torment me?

(Unknown Pony) **very raspy**Over the loudspeakers** I’m not really a scientist, though I did have everypony fooled into thinking I was a doctor. If you haven’t figured out who I am by now, then you really do have a screw loose, Screw-for-brains.

Vial?

\**//SILENCE\**//

**Distant automatic door opening**

(Vial) **very raspy**hooves clapping** Very good.

I just wanted the stable 1 list. I just need to know my sister is ok. Why did you do this?

(Vial) **very raspy** Ah, right to the point. Well, simple really. You are my test subject. I had to see how you dealt with this grand new Equestria–test the extent of Cortexamine. And well, it is also fun. I know you’d look for your sister. I knew you’d go to Canterlot. I was elated that Bedside survived too. I told him you’d be along shortly. The Manehatten trek was planned by good old Pinkie Pie, I just needed a pipbuck for you to track.

\**//SILENCE\**//

You're a sociopath.

(Vial) **very raspy** My findings are rather conclusive. You are fit to be by myside. We shall rule this new Equestria. No pinks or Princesses or Calzone family to get in our way. You called us ghouls. We are more than that. We are Cortexaphan Ghouls! The only true ghouls. The others are made by chance, we were made as a way to preserve our lives. We were destined for this gift.

Like I’d ever stand by and rule over anything with you. You are a vile, despicable, equine. Ponies like should have died when the megaspells fell–You and Bedside. I fixed the error with Bedside, it is your turn.

(Vial) **very raspy** You ungrateful bitch! If it weren’t for Green-Med, you would not be here. We made Cortexaphan. We made you. I change my mind, I liked you better acting as a dog. So much more obedient–As Bedside proved. Maybe I’ll even partake in some of that when I get you back to your old state. I steel beam to the back of the head, right? **raspy grunt**

**plink***plink**plunk**BWOOM**panicked gallops**screeching metal**BLANGLGLGLGLLANG**rumble**cough**cough**cough**

(Vial) **very raspy** **inequine wail** Stay still! **raspy grunt**

**plink***plink**plunk**BWOOM**panicked gallops**screeching metal**BLANGLGLGLGLLANG**rumble**CRACK**CRACK**

\**//SILENCE\**//

(Vial) **very raspy**across the room** Here, Screwy. You a good little doggie again? If so, come here and I’ll give you your favorite treat.

**cough**cough**cough** Not even close. **rumble** Here is a lesson in architecture. If you want to build an artificial terrace to expand a city build on a mountain, you can. It takes a lot–and I mean a lot of well crafted supports to prevent it from simply falling off the mountain.

(Vial) **very raspy**across the room** What are you going on about?

**rumble**CRACK** It might also be helpful to build in an area that doesn’t experience sysmic activity–Like Sanfransicolt for instance. They can’t build anything like the industrial district of Canterlot. Too many earthquakes. Canterlot is no near an active fault line. It experiences no, earthquakes and is not earthquake proof–well not all of it some parts were likely megaspell proofed in the war and the processes are fairly similar.

(Vial) **very raspy**across the room** Shut up! **inequine wail**raspy grunt**

**plink***plink**plunk**BWOOM**panicked gallops**screeching metal**BLANGLGLGLGLLANG**BOOM**rumble**CRACK**rumble**CRACK**

This section of the city was not since most companies moved manufacturing plants to other, cheaper cities–it is basic economics, why spend thousands of bits to be capital based when when it is cheaper to be based in the Hoof?

Your grenades have been causing mini earthquakes in a part of the city not built for that. **rumble** And Celestia only knows how the littlehorn stuff has been affecting the supports

**pipbuck sound**SATS sound**BANG**ping**

(Vial) **very raspy**across the room** Ha! You missed! Even if you hit, I’d just resurrect.

I wasn’t aiming for you. I was aiming for the coolant hose for the generator.

**Alarm begins to sound**

(Vial) **very raspy** You bitch!

If decapitation can end a resurrector, and explosion should also do the trick

**Alarm sounds continue**

If you ask me, your name should be spelled "V-i-l-e", it is more fitting.

**BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM**

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

**BOOM**BANG**CRASH**

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//EXTENDED STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

umm...Game over..or is it? there will be an epilogue.... :trollestia:

Audio Log #024: **ERROR***ERROR**ERROR**

Audio Log #024: **ERROR***ERROR**ERROR**

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

**ERROR**FILE CORRUPT**ERROR**

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

ambiguous end :derpytongue2:

Epilogue: 210 Years Later – Who has Been Listening?

“ERROR, FILE CORRUPTED!” the pipbuck responded for the tenth time, as the canterlot ghoul in stable 1 barding selected yet another of the thousands of logs copied from the broken recorder.

“Mayor Brittleshine, are you ok?” the secretary ghoul asked the one fiddling with the pipbuck.

“I’m fine,” she lied, “I was just hoping to find out what became of my sister, but it just ends. She doesn't even find out I made it to stable 1!”

“Well if you don’t know if she died, maybe she is still alive?” the secretary suggested before shrinking back, “I mean she did become a ghoul afterall. She may not have been of the canterlot variety, but even regular ghouls can survive more than you’d think.”

“What did I tell you about eavesdropping, Sundae?!” Brittleshine barked back angrily, a few wisps of pink cloud escaping the corners of her mouth.

“Sorry, Mayor, won’t happen again.” Sundae sheepishly replied pretending to get back to work.

Brittleshine sighed, “Even if she was alive, the trail has been cold for 210 years. And most of Zebratown was crushed when the Enclave destroyed Canterlot.”

Suddenly, Brittleshine remembered something said in her sister’s 19th log. Sitting up straight in her rusted swivel chair she quickly selected the log and fast forwarded to the part.

“You and your sister will meet again. I know it. Just hang in there.” Pinkie’s comforting voice rang out of the pipbuck.

What did Pinkie know? She was known for freaky predictive powers, right? Her Pinkie Sense? Brittleshine pondered, her secretary's suggestion no longer seeming outlandish.

“Sundae, you read The Book of Littlepip, right? Pinkie predicted events in that, correct?” Brittle cautiously inquired.

“Oh, um, yes.” Sundae replied flustered, dropping a stack of papers on the floor, “She said it would all end in sunshine and rainbows. Most believe she was referring to the day Red Eye and The Enclave were taken out. The day the skies cleared in brilliant bursts of rainbow color.”

“Really?” Brittle inquired further having not read the story herself, only being aware that the heroine had visited Stable City before its destruction.

“Yeah, strangest thing was, she predicted it in a memory orb while having a chat with the lightbringer.” Sundae explained gleefully.

If that is the case, then Pinkie could have predicted I’d meet Screwy again! Came Brittleshine’s shocking revelation.

“Sundae! Have Ditzy send a message to Dr. Stable Rate in Meatlocker. His fiance might still be out there.” Brittleshine cheered, “And send Ditzy some fresh baked muffins for bringing this recorder to me while you're at it!”

“Yes madam mayor!” Sundae replied before rushing off, leaving the papers in a scattered mess on the floor.

Author's Note

incase you are confused, Brittleshine is Shoeshine...she changed her name after becoming a Canterlot Ghoul.

Also yes, I am sequel baiting. :derpytongue2: stay tuned for the sequel 210 years later following Shoeshine/Brittleshine and Dr. Stable Rate as they try to find out what happened to Screwloose.

Bonus #1: SPECIAL, Perks, ect.

Name: Screwloose
Gender: Mare
Race: Earth pony (Formally), Cortexaphan Ghoul
Age: 25
Current Status: Unknown
Levels Earned: 3

S - 6
P - 4
E - 9
C - 1
I - 6
A - 6
L - 8

Traits:

Dogmare – Your time believing you were a dog has changed you. You have picked up the traits of a dog.

Wild Wasteland – Wild Wasteland unleashes the most bizarre and silly elements of post-apocalyptic Equestria. Not for the faint of heart or the serious of temperament.

Pinkie Pie is Watching – The Mare of the Ministry of Moral has taken an interest in you. Your luck is now always set to 10, even under status conditions that might lower SPECIAL stats. (as of Audio Log #019)

Perks by Audio Log:

Audio Log #001:

Quest Perk Added: Ghoulification (Rank 1) – Sure, you're still a pony - on the outside! Radiation now regenerates your lost Health.

Audio Log #002:

No perks gained.

Audio Log #003:

No perks gained.

Audio Log #004:

No perks gained.

Audio Log #005:

Unknown status.

Audio Log #006:

Quest Perk Added: Ghoulification (Rank 2) – Radiation now regenerates even more of your lost Health.

Audio Log #007:

Quest Perk Added: Ghoulification (Rank 3) – Radiation now regenerates even more of your lost Health, and some Feral Ghouls will randomly become friendly.

Audio Log #008:

New Perk Added: Slasher – You are more likely to strike a fatal blow with a bladed weapon like a knife, saw or axe.

Audio Log #009:

No perks gained

Audio Log #010:

Quest Perk added: Cortexaphan Mutation (Rank 2): Borrowed Power – An experimental drug given to you long ago has unlocked a unique power within you. You can temporarily borrow the unique powers of other ghouls, but only one at a time.

Audio Log #011:

No perks gained.

Audio Log #012:

Quest Perk Added: Ghoulification (Rank 4) – Rad damage will now begin to slowly heal, restoring health and healing crippled limbs in the process.

Audio Log #013:

No perks gained.

Audio Log #014:

No perks gained.

Audio Log #015:

No perks gained.

Audio Log #016:

No perks gained.

Audio Log #017:

No perks gained.

Audio Log #018:

Unknown status.

Audio Log #019:

Retroactive Quest Perk Added: Cortexaphan Mutation (Rank 1): Cortexamine – An experimental drug given to you long ago has unlocked a unique power within you. When you go below 10% health your health begins to regenerate at a rate of 2% per minute and you can’t cripple a limb. Any negative effect of current crippled limbs while below 10% health are negated.

New Perk Added: Pinkie Pie Cheat – Screw the rules, you get a 3rd trait!

Audio Log #020:

No perks gained.

Audio Log #021:

No perks gained.

Audio Log #022:

No perks gained.

Audio Log #023:

No perks gained.

Quests completed:

Welcome to The Wasteland – √ Leave Ponyville Hospital
√ Check Ponyville for Survivors

Family Matters: Crowning Achievement – √ Find out if your mom made it to a stable.

Wasteland Justice – √ Kill Bedside Manner

Modern Magical Marvel – √ Retrieve a pipbuck from the Stable-Tec Outlet in Manehatten

Native Recordings – √ Listen to all the native recordings about your treatment

The Fate of The Dentist – √ Return to Minuette’s Dentist’s Office
√ Kill Lemon Hearts
√ Kill Twinkleshine
√ Kill Moondancer
√ Kill Minuette

Fixation – √ Retrieve FXR’s Pipbuck tag from the MWT Hub
√ Confront FXR

Vile Villain Vanquish – √ Kill Vial

Incomplete Quests:

Family Matters: Shoeshine – Find out if your sister made it into a stable.

Quests Failed:

My Precious – Keep The Recorder above 50% damage.

Author's Note

I realized that I never had this stuff earlier...so I thought I put it here.

Audio Log #001: Sanity Through Radiation

\**//CLICK\**//

Bark, bark barkbark bark.

Oh, sorry force of habit. I’ve been speaking in nothing but dog barks since long before the war. I was a construction worker and a tragic accident caused me to have brain damage. It is funny how now of all times I would regain my sanity. There is no more Equestria. It is all gone, burned to ash in a storm of heat and balefire. I heard the air raid sirens, saw the doctors panicking as they left their patients and rushed off to–to–oh, what were they called? I think Redheart called them “stables”–yes stables that sounds right. Anyways, being one of the most problematic and, admittedly at the time, one of the more insane ponies, I was left to die in my padded cell.

I did not however, as unlikely as it may seem, die of the lethal amount of radiation from the–the–megaspells. Instead I found clarity–sanity if you will. It is ironic that something as deadly as a steel beam to the back of the head proved to be the cure to my once lost sanity. Something even the best doctors in Equestria said was likely to never return. Well, Equestria is gone, so I suppose it is about time they were proved wrong.

My only regret is my sister Shoeshine isn’t around to see me well again. I hope she and mom made it to one of them stables.

I do have to say the plus side of having a fully functioning brain again is getting out of a straitjacket became surprisingly easy. Or do I have a an above average brain now? Am I even a pony anymore? Celestia dammit, I’m a construction worker not a physician.

Anyways, I escaped my cell easily enough as well, but that was thanks to the earthquakes caused by the megaspells weakening the walls. I'm not sure Ponyville Hospital can last much longer in this state. I should probably leave before it collapses on me.

Sorry, my mind still wanders, like it did when I was–was–bark raving mad. I’m glad that I found this recorder. I need somepony to talk to–something to talk to. Ok, maybe I should say somepony coherent. The other patients that aren't dead–the ones sort of like me–can be put onto 2 different categories: those making inequine snarls and eating the non-living corpses, and those who seemed stuck in the past–well the past of what was it? 3 days ago?

Well tomorrow, I think I’ll venture out of this broken hospital to explore the wasteland–the dying corpse that once was Equestria–that exists beyond these walls to see if there are anymore survivors. Anypony like me. I can't be the only sane one left, right?

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

This is an experimental story. It was inspired by the audio log quests in Borderlands 1, 2 and Pre-Sequal. It is however still set in the FoE universe. Let me know what you think.

Audio Log #005: **ERROR**

Audio Log #005: **ERROR**

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

**ERROR**FILE CORRUPT**ERROR**

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Audio Log #006: Image Problems

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

TEEeeEeeesting, teeEEesting 1, 2, 3.

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

EquuUUuuuuestriaaaaaAaaaan pranch toast on rye, Equestrian pranch toast on rye, is this thing working? I wish it indicated that. Design oversight? Gizmo was surprised they still made these. Wonder why?

I mentioned in my last log that this **tap** broke. Don’t know if it recorded.

Could have gotten this thing **tap**tap** fixed by Gizmo–he looked the type to know how to fix things.

Couldn’t though–

\**//SILENCE\**//

Not after how I left things. Not after I bit him. He is in the past. Like a lot of things I don’t wish to discuss–not now, not ever.

Not even to you–my only friend.

\**//SILENCE\**//

It's funny, I’m acting like you're a pony. Can I really be friends with a recorder?

\**//SILENCE\**//

Back to business. Mom is safe in the Ponyville stable–or I get Gizmo’s left hind hoof–but Shoey is still unknown. I recall one of her visitations–they were few and far between sadly– she said she got a new job at–at um–oh what is it? Don’t tell me I don’t remember! This is important! **thunk**

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

OoOOooOooh, thank LuUuuUUuuna it is still working. I feared for my fragile sanity for a second there.

**clearing throat**

Hmm? Am I catching a cold? Do I sound horse to you?

\**//SILENCE\**//

Oh right, not a pony–not gonna get an answer.

Anyways, I remembered what Shoe said. She got a job working for the Image of Ministry–no, no that isn’t it–I mixed it up in my head–my head has been pretty mixed up until recently, ok–I meant the Ministry of Image. She said it was in Canterlot. I’ll go there next.

Though from here there is a menacing looking pink shroud around the city. Wonder what that is about?

\**//SILENCE\**//

You know, I get the strange feeling that I’ve heard about that pink stuff. Dr. Cortex brought it up during one of our sessions–he talked–I–I barked–a lot.

He mentioned something about it from news about it during the war. Little–little something-or-other?

Come on brain!! **Smack**Smack**Smack** THINK!

**PPFFFFPHSSSFFFF** Peh! Peh! AK! Uck! Did a chunk of my mane just fall out?

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Audio Log #011: Imma Let You Finish, But–

\**//CLICK\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

**inequine wail**

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

**BANG**BOOM**BOOM**BANG**BZZT**

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

(unknown pony) **very raspy** FuuuuuUUUuuUuuUuuck, I’m out! Grab her before they resur–

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

ScrEEEeeeeeeeEEeewloose has actually responded well to the new treatment by our corporate overlords at Green-Med. Thyrorudin Glucotamine is the drug. It was developed for Wartime Stress Disorder, but Screwy proves it could be used help treat other mental illnesses.

I could have sworn she asked coherently for–

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

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(unknown pony) **very raspy** IiiiiiIIIiiiIIiiis she one of them?

(unknown pony 2) **very raspy** No way to be sure, but they were after her. They only attack those who are coherent.

(unknown pony) **very raspy** We take her to M–

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

–heeeeEEeEeer sister.

Progress? I can’t be sure, but I’m hopeful.

I asked if her supposed request could be fulfilled. Vail said it couldn’t be done. That no good son of a–

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

(Vial) –eeeEEeeEEep asking. It isn’t going to happen, Dr. Cortex.

Why not?

(Vial) You make the mistake of getting attached. She is nothing more than a test subject.

You can’t keep her away from family.

(Vial) That is where your wro–

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

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\**//STATIC\**//

(unknown pony 3) **very raspy** SheeeEEeeeEee isn't like us this leg isn't healing.

(unknown pony) **very raspy** All I know she wants her. It was her last order from the Ministry Mare of the Ministry o–

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

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\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

(Vial) –ooooOoOoOooOOorders, such primitive pieces of technology. Though, Dr. Cortex, if you intend to delete recordings, you really sh–

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

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\**//STATIC\**//

(unknown mare) NooOoOOOoOOoo, no, no! This part plays while she is unconscious. Wait a sec–

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

(unknown pony 4) **very raspy** YoooOOOoUUuUUuuuUuUu found her. So she–

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//STATIC\**//

**ERROR**REMAINDER CORRUPT**ERROR**

\**//STATIC\**//

\**//FEEDBACK\**//

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

A broken recorder, effected by Littlehorn agent, how well do you think it would record?

And those "native recordings" snippets are not in chronological order like they have been.

also another meme based chapter name. :derpytongue2:

Audio Log #013: This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

\**//CLICK\**//

Celestia damnit!

After being healed by radiation–still not sure how that is even possible–I was escorted by Minuette and her friends to the Ministry of Wartime Technology hub–apparently, that is the location of Stable 1.

The only thing is–the files have been deleted. I–

\**//SILENCE\**//

I– **sniffle**

\**//SILENCE\**//

I have no way of knowing if Shoey is ok. Finding her was the only thing I had left in the world.

CELESTIA DAMMIT! **thunk**thunk**crash**smash**thunk**thunk**Bzzt**

That was the only thing keeping myself–well sane.

The information is deleted. It is gone. What should I do now?

\**//EXTENDED SILENCE\**//

Wait.

“Files transferred to local device”? What the heck does that mean?!

(Minuette) **very raspy** It means the files were copied to another device. Probably a pipbuck.

Huh?

(Minuette) **very raspy** Sorry for barging in. Moondancer, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and I were scavenging next floor when we heard a noise–I suppose that was you.

So–

\**//SILENCE\**//

The files aren't gone?

(Minuette) **very raspy** As long as the terminal you wrecked wasn’t the one you were accessing. The next line should give you the pipbuck tag of who accessed it.

“FXR”? Who is that?

(Minuette) **very raspy** I don’t know. I’m sorry. I heard you could track them with that if you had your own pipbuck.

Where can I get one?

(Minuette) **very raspy** Normally they were reserved for the military during the war, but they were developed by Stable-Tech, so some went to stables as well. You might get lucky and find one at the Manehatten Outlet. Let's go back to the Dentist’s office. Get some rest. You can leave in the morning.

I’ll catch up.

**receding hoofsteps**

\**//SILENCE\**//

What happens if I don’t find if my sister survived or not? Will I become like those other resurrectors–except not resurrect when I die?

I wasn’t lying when I said it was the only thing keeping me sane.

On the other side of things, what if I do find out what happened to her? What then?

Live my life in this new equestria? I mean it was blown to tartarus, I doubt I’ll find a job when almost every pony is dead, dying, or different like me and Minuette.

What if when I find her, I don’t like the answer I find?

\**//CLICK\**//

Author's Note

I found away to continue the story...for a little while there I had writer's block...since technically finding the answer in Canterlot this time around would end the story.