Original, unaltered chapter.

Q: What the Wasteland ever give to me?
A: And what did you give to the Wasteland?

One’d think my life was fine. I had good grades, I looked good; I managed to catch the eye of many stallions and I had a wonderful partner. Recently I turned eighteen and I couldn’t believe that this time had come. Finally I was an adult, although I’d still have to go to school for a few years, just like in the pre-war Equestria. That was a good time. However, it started to change, due to the tests associated with my ritual of adulthood.

I was just sitting at the history lesson for my age group. In accordance with laws and customs of Stable 69, our teacher, Mrs. Heartbottom, had to finish our preparation process and officially end the history lessons by repetition of all the facts we learned over the course of education. I have to shamefully admit that I had fallen asleep in the middle of the lesson and I’d probably sleep tight had Mrs. Heartbottom not notice that. She woke me up by knocking her hoof against my desk and told me to walk to the centre of the class like a little filly, to tell the class about the basic rules of life in Stable 69.

“So, Sparkplug… Tell us, what is the Law of Fertility,” she said harshly.

I swallowed hard and looked at the students. Coldbrew, my partner, looked at me calmly and what I saw in his gaze was the same pang of joke and lewdness that made me so soft every night since we reached the age of consent. It filled me with courage, just like the fact that we were supposed to spend night in his room after school.

Blushing slightly, I started to talk, “The Law of Fertility says that everyone who reaches the Age of Consent has to pass the Fertility Test.”

I gave Coldbrew a stealth look. He was just talking with one of his friends, but the memory of our test was still vivid. Not even six months had passed, but after that period the second part of the test would come.

“During the Fertility Test, the stallion has to impregnate the mare and if they do that and after the initial period a pregnancy is confirmed, it means they passed the test. If they fail, they both undergo preventive euthanasia,” I recited. Now I was calm, happy that Coldbrew was my partner.

I remembered that the initial genetic tests were very promising and my parents were happy that they could apply for the right to pair me with him. I liked him since the first day and we got very close, especially after my parents left me.

“Now, tell us what’s the origin of the Law of Fertility?”

This time I didn’t stutter, getting straight to the point. “The Law of Fertility was established after the closing of Stable 69 when its population stabilised. Due to the administrative errors and chaos of the dying country, only ten stallions and nine-hundred ninety mares were locked in Stable 69. It was created to accelerate the natural course of evolution and to prepare better to conditions after the Stable’s opening, when the highest fertility will bring the rapid repopulation after it opens, no matter when that happens.”

Cold looked at me again. He had so beautiful, almond-yellow eyes, pretty rare among the Stable ponies.

After a while, I continued, “The Law of Fertility also regulates the DNA banks, storing the data on who is related to who to decrease the risk of genetic diseases. The Law doesn’t involve ponies working in Technical and Medical positions, as well as Overmare/Overstallion. The Law is to be abolished if the population of young ponies drops below an optimal number, meaning that we didn’t reach the proper genetic preparation level yet. Everything is supervised by the medical personnel and the Overmare, with the help of the central computer, H.A.C.”

“That’s enough, Sparkplug. You’ve learned well. Try not to sleep during my classes again, though.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I sat back at my desk, sending Coldbrew a warm smile. I didn’t know yet that the repetition of the law will soon lead to hard times.

***

I stood in front of the mirror in my flat. It was rather large, but I was allowed to keep it after my parents’ death. I looked into the pane of silver-line glass and I couldn’t help but wonder. I only recently hit a growth spurt, but everyone were always saying that I looked pretty nice. I just had a bath and my mane and tail barely had time to dry, but I could brush them nevertheless. I liked my peach-coloured coat and navy blue mane. I dreamed about the day when I give birth so we could bring our baby up together.

I wanted to be clean and nice-smelling as today was supposed to be the last check-up, finishing the second part of the test. It was a big day and Coldbrew really wanted to see doctor Safe Life examine me. I guess he was getting mentally ready to become a father; I always found it amusing, but it also caused my heart to flutter and my soul to warm up. Perhaps aside from a successful pairing, we managed to fall in love with each other. That was… good.

We went across the corridors of Stable 69. I had been released off my duties today. One could say that repairing of personal terminals wasn’t a very ambitious task, but I felt really well and I regretted not going to work today a bit. There were so many ponies having problems with their terminals… Unfortunately, Stable-Tec hadn’t given us the best personal equipment and frequent repairs were a must.

Cold was just checking out the mailbox of his PipColt. I didn’t have such a problem – the only messages I was receiving were either work-related or from Coldbrew.

We ate a good diner in the canteen at the atrium level. Coldbrew decided to make use of his hard-earned food stamps to make it romantic. He looked so happy. I was nervous, but I was trying not to show that. Although I believed I’d soon receive special stamps for pregnant mares, there was still a grim thought at the back of my head that soon it’d end being so good. Generally, according to the law, it wouldn’t be bad. It simply wouldn’t… I was slightly scared of that, but… Well, it had to go that way. The Stable has to function… I started to pray in my mind for everything to work.

Cold was talking to me. At first I didn’t understand a word due to stress, but then I realised he was showing me something on his PipColt. A lot of text, often badly-formatted, but each entry bore a date. A diary.

“Buckare said that thanks to your firewall-resetting algorithm it’d be possible to break in everywhere. Would you believe he broke into our lovely doctor’s terminal just yesterday? He downloaded the patients’ data and her personal notes, but he says it’s just the tip of an iceberg.”

I couldn’t believe his words. Covering the screen of his PipColt with my hoof, I looked deep into his eyes. He had been excited, but now I saw anxiety and wonder in them.

“Buckfare keeps getting arrested, Coldbrew… And since he rewrites my programs to break the law, you have to stop talking to him. That’s evil. I don’t want us to be the part of it.”

He looked at me with a mix of sadness, shock, and disappointment. After a moment, he turned off the text app of his PipColt. Smiling at me despite his confusion, he kissed me gently. I immediately stopped being angry. He knew well how to calm me down and always found a way to use it.

***

I couldn’t catch my breath. His wings slammed against my sides as he pushed me towards the locker. Bliss flown across my body as I waited for Coldbrew’s climax. Streams of hot water from the shower ran down the wall and the floor tiles, steam teasing my nostrils and warming my legs. I felt hot and I wasn’t sure whether it was because of love we’d just made or the water itself.

He knew we shouldn’t have had sex before the test in order not to mess up the results, but we just couldn’t stop ourselves from indulging into a short moment of pleasure. My love soon moaned and embraced me, his loins quivering. His warmth flown into me. I turned my head and kissed him gently, still panting as if after running a marathon.

“Doctor Safe Life will yell at us,” I whispered.

“She can yell all she wants…”

After a while, he got off of me and started to wipe sweat from his feathers. My lovely pegasus was unusually rebellious and cocky. According to H.A.C., it was the effect of gene selection and that my dear was a born leader. The adults kept laughing that with his behaviour, those were actually genes of a dissident rather than a leader.

We quickly cleaned the showers and left the bathroom before someone would come and catch us red-hoofed.

That was the last time we were so close.

***

Doctor Safe Life wasn’t happy. She said that we were very irresponsible, but at this stage, the results of the examination were unlikely to be distorted. I could see Coldbrew staring at her, but I couldn’t blame him. He was a stallion, he was interested in mares and our dear doctor had a reputation of a harlot. She was a lean unicorn with purple coat with darker patches and beetroot-coloured mane. Even though I wasn’t much into mares I always though she looked pretty sexy in a labcoat.

I was lying on the table when she collected the smear and a blood sample. The stinging sensation seemed far away when Coldbrew was standing by my side, proud and smiling. I hissed when I felt the first needle and he kissed my horn soothingly.

“That’s, among other things, why you can’t do that before the examination. You’re now sensitive like hell,” the doctor said. She slapped me, as if she was teasing me, causing me to jump. Cold only smiled, stifling a chuckle. The examination continued when Doctor Safe Life kept feeding the samples to the machine.

I was still on the table, but Coldbrew hugged me, laying his head down on mine. He liked to do that as our manes were intertwined then, the navy blue of mine and the white of his hair. He kept saying that it was like a pre-war sky we could see in the pictures and movies in the library.

“Coldbrew? How will we name him?” I asked him, love in my eyes. He gave me an amused look.

“How do you know it’ll be a colt?” he asked, smiling. His eyes were shining, little sparks hiding in them. I gave him a short and proper kiss.

“I have a feeling.”

Doctor Safe Life moved awkwardly on her armchair and muttered something, staring at the machine.

“What’s going on? Some mechanical failure?” I asked. The doctor turned back and looked at us, her green eyes full of sadness. Her horn shone and she showed us a piece of printed paper from the machine. At the end of a very long list I could see two words: “Result: Negative”.

My heart nearly stood still as I felt my world was over. Negative? How? But my initial results were so good before we started… Same with Coldbrew.

“That must be an error! Do the test once again! Maybe it’s because of the sex earlier? It distorted the results after all!” Coldbrew stood on all four, yelling at the unicorn mare. I loved him for his faith.

“Unfortunately, Coldbrew… The result is correct. I checked it twice… Listen… I’m really sorry.” She put her hoof on my love’s arm, but he pushed it away with a strong swing of his wing.

“NO! IT CAN’T BE TRUE! DO THE TEST AGAIN!” he yelled, full of anger and despair. I knew he was fighting with himself, trying not to cry. I stood up and walked to him, trying to hug him, calm him down. He pushed me away with his wings. It felt like a stab to the heart.

“Coldbrew…”

“Coldbrew, calm down.” Safe Life moved away from him, apparently afraid of his fit of rage. He was almost boiling, so unlike his name.

“CALM DOWN!? IT’S NOT YOU WHO’S GONNA BE KILLED, FOR FUCK’S SAKE!” He completely lost his mind. I couldn’t understand what was going on. I wanted him to calm down. If it was all over, I wanted him to pass away with me in peace.

“You’re medical personnel! You don’t care about laws! You sentenced us to death!”

With the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of doctor Safe Life pushing some key on her terminal. A second later, two earth ponies clad in security’s armours ran into the office.

“Calm down and surrender!” the stallion demanded.

That was enough. Panicked, Coldbrew took off as high as the ceiling let him and tried to attack him. The guard swung his head, hitting Cold’s stomach and knocking the wind out of him. The security mare didn’t wait long, grabbing a collapsible baton and striking his side. My love hit the floor, screaming in pain. His wing bent at a weird angle as he started to thrash on the tiles, like a struck fly. Scared, I tried to run to him, but an earth pony stood between us and glared at me.

“Stand by the wall and no one gets hurt. You have to calm down!”

I stood still, struck by his voice. The security meant authority. They were in charge of enforcing law and taking care of our safety. I gave up and sat down, covering my face with my hooves and crying. Doctor Safe Life was taking care of Cold, trying to fix his sprained wing. My heart was racing, my head hurt, and my vision darkened. I don’t remember exactly when I passed out.

***

I woke up on some hard tiles. It was dark. Was I already dead? Was that how afterlife looked like?

“Goddesses…”

Yeah. Coldbrew believed in them; I just believed they existed, not that they were true goddesses…

Who said that!? Startled, I stood on my hooves and it turned out darkness wasn’t as impenetrable as I thought. The white screen of PipColt 3000 was still shining on my leg and I could see a similar, yellow screen in the darkness nearby. Coldbrew’s display was yellow! The pegasus was lying in the dimness, calling goddesses in his sleep.

I stood up and turned on the torch of my PipColt. Coldbrew was lying next to me on the metal floor, slightly dirty but typical for the Stable. We were still alive. My love’s wing was stretched and fixed like that. It didn’t look like it was broken, but it was covered in plaster anyway.

Crying, I started to poke him. I couldn’t understand what was going on. Where were we? Why it was dark there? Why were we still alive?

Cold finally woke up. As he regained consciousness, the pain came back. He gritted his teeth and hissed, looking at his wing. The beautiful little wing of my pegasus that patted me gently only a few hours ago. When he calmed down a bit, I hugged him. He didn’t want to stay like that and immediately turned on his torch, almost knocking me off of himself. My heart ached every time he was doing that. I wept quietly and only then he noticed me.

“Get up, Sparkplug! We’re alive! We’ll get out of here, somehow…”

The lights went on. The blinding shine and buzzing of the light bulbs caused us to cover our eyes, hissing in pain. A while later we heard the sound of iron door opening, as well as hoofsteps of a couple of ponies.

When our eyes got used to the light, we saw the Overmare and doctor Safe Life, assisted by two security ponies clad in full armours. The doctor levitated some plastic crate. She put it in front of us and gave us a sad look, focusing especially on Coldbrew’s wing.

“When we close the door behind you, you’ll take what is in this crate. That’s all you’ll get from us, then you’ll be on your own,” the Overmare said and glared at my love (her gaze could kill a dragon). “Try to hold your nerves. It may get useful…”

After that, they left. Safe Life put some pack on the crate and disappeared as quickly as the Overmare and her bodyguards. The door screeched and then I felt there was no way back for us. But… But what did it mean that we’d be on our own? I didn’t understand that back then. Just like the fact that we were still alive. A part of me wanted to scream to come back, to life. Another part wanted to die. Even if I did come back, what kind of life would that be? I imagined other ponies pointing their hooves at me because I had no child. I so wanted it to be a colt…

Coldbrew reacted faster than me, keeping it together and fighting numbness despite the incoming tears. He was stronger than me, both physically and mentally. He caught the lid of the crate with his teeth and opened it, throwing Safe Life’s pack on the ground.

“Weapons… Ammo… Some medicines… Some book. Containers with water, two sleeping bags, two pairs of saddlebags… Some food… Pocket knives…”

I looked at it over his fixed wing. He kept listing the contents of the crate.

“Coldbrew?” I asked quietly, approaching him. My stallion froze, looking inside the box. I trotted behind the crate to check what Safe Life had given us. It was a book too, a pocket edition. I levitated it and read the title. The Wasteland Survival Guide by Ditzy Doo… I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Where did Safe Life get it if we were closed in the Stable and isolated from the Wasteland. The Stable would never dare… How?

Coldbrew began to fill his saddlebags with the contents of the crate. I looked at him, surprised. Did the tables turn and now he got used to the fact that the unknown was awaiting us, while I couldn’t understand that? He shared the items more or less evenly between our bags, leaving the Safe Life’s guide to me. Then he gave me one of the guns from the crate.

“Take it. Hang the holthter on your chetht and put the magathine in,” he said, giving me a gun, holding it so the barrel was off to the side.

I embraced it with my magic and, just as he told me, I put the holster around my chest. Then I loaded the gun. The bullets were already in the magazine. Apart from that, I didn’t know anything about guns. I didn’t know how to clean them, put them apart, take care of them… I didn’t even shoot in my life, I just know how it was done. Coldbrew, on the other hoof, once wanted to join the security and then climb up the social ladder, hoping to become the next Overstallion. His cutie mark, a roll of parchment wrapped in blue ribbon—meaning the government papers—could say a lot about his leadership skills. That’s why he had been trained to use many weapons so he could become a guard.

I put the gun in the holster while he did the same and put the saddlebags on. Then he approached and kissed me.

“We can do this, Sparkplug. We have to,” he said, looking into my eyes. Without further ado, he put the second pair of saddlebags on me. I watched my cutie mark—a QR code—being covered by the leather pouches.

I was just going to ask him how we’d do this, but the speakers, hidden somewhere in the caves turned on, warning us. One of the walls raised, uncovering a dark cave, while the wall on the other side moved toward us, pushing us out of the room. We had no choice but to jump out ourselves, finding the path with the torches of our PipColts. It was cold; we were in cold rush and something was moving in the darkness. Immediately, I stood by Coldbrew’s side while he embraced me with his wing. Finally, he showed some compassion!

“Something is moving here, Coldbrew.”

I trembled. Perhaps my fear spoke to his stallion pride and ego, as he perked up and started to listen… while checking his holster.

“Chill out, it’s probably a rat…”

Then why are you looking at the gun? I thought, almost loudly. Nevertheless, I stayed close to him. Cold licked the tip of his wing and lifted it.

“Let’s follow the rush. The fresh air has to come from somewhere,” he ordered before we started to walk.

Long minutes spent in the stone surroundings of the cave were giving me creeps. Something kept tapping, screeching, hissing… There were so many sounds there, each scarier than the other. Nothing was like the Stable with it hum of the fans, occasional rustling of water, or sparking of a wire when insulating tape wore off. This place was different, frightening. Alien. I couldn’t focus on anything but following Coldbrew. I was so afraid that something was lurking in the shadows that I didn’t even dare to open the holster, scared that the sound would prompt some creature to attack.

Coldbrew was tense, his good wing perking up just like the broken one. I could smell his sweat. He was just as stressed as me, just trying not to lose it.

With a rustle, something touched my hind leg. Scared, I knocked into Cold, squealing. I must say he kept calm and didn’t shoot even once when the beacon of his torch fixed on the old, plastic six-pack of Sparkle Cola cans.

“Chill out, Sparkplug… It’s just rubbish…”

When the next time he stomped on something that cracked under his hooves, it wasn’t so good. It was some old, carious skeleton of a pegasus. Poor guy, he died here all alone…

We looked at it, fear grabbing our throats. It wasn’t normal. We had seen skeletons before in class, but they were whitened and most likely artificial, not yellowish, rotten, and decayed bones of an actual pony.

“We have to get outta here… Quick… I’m sick of this darkness,” Cold said, swallowing hard. We went forward unhurriedly. Nothing could be done for the old guy. We were advancing slowly, still not seeing anything further than our torches could reach, when I got an idea.

“Coldbrew, wait! We have PipColts!” I exclaimed. He rubbed his face with his hoof, showing his bafflement over not coming with it himself.

I turned on the mapping app of my PipColt and my heart warmed up a bit, seeing that the device had already managed to measure the cave complex sonographically and create the map of them. It got easier now, although Coldbrew took his gun and held it in his mouth, just in case. Guess my previous fit only worsened his stress.

Finally, we saw a lighter patch, adorned with something that looked like some weak diodes. When we carefully approached it, we found ourselves in a large room where we couldn’t see the ceiling. Or rather, as I quickly realised, there was no ceiling. It didn’t take me long to get that we weren’t locked anymore but that we were outside. A gust of cold wind brought air smelling completely different than in the Stable. The feeling was completely alien; I almost lost myself in it.

“Wow…”

Cold dropped the gun, staring at the sky, his mouth agape. He couldn’t understand what he was seeing. I looked with him, straight at the large, silvery, and round shield that must’ve been the moon. It was so beautiful, almost hypnotising. The stars around it were also blinking wonderfully. There were also darker patches in the sky. They must’ve been clouds, the former kingdom of pegasi, such as my love.

A stronger gust of cold air woke us up. We looked around. We were on a rather tall hill; somewhere below us, we could see the lights.

“Ponies? But… But nothing was supposed to have survived here…” Cold pondered. Without much thinking, he grabbed the gun and we trotted slowly in that direction. We didn’t expect to see something on the way, something strange enough for us to not realise what it was.

We stood in front of a concrete wall with twisted metal grating. The area behind it was full of dead trees and stone tables with some inscriptions of them. The entrance was nearby, adorned with two columns with a roof that had collapsed, covering the gate – now just a rusty metal bars. On the remains of the roof, there was a metal table saying, “Cloppingham Cemetery”.

“Cold… Is that a graveyard?” I asked unsurely. He looked around carefully and checked the compass of his PipColt. I also looked at mine – it didn’t tell me anything, but the map confirmed that the inscription on the table was indeed the place’s name.

We searched for a safe entrance, not keen on getting through dirty, old, and twisted bars of the fence. Soon, we found an asphalt road parallel to the wall, full of wrecks of pedal and self-driving carriages. I’ve never seen any of those before, but I remembered that they were quite popular soon before the great war and there were many of them.

While we were walking, we saw another skeleton, this time belonging to an earth pony. It was lying by the wall, its hooves spread, one of them cradling a large bottle labelled “Whiskey”. It was empty. The skeleton was wearing something that looked like remains of a suit. There was a green, leather wallet hanging from his neck. Inside, there was a metal badge saying, “Trottingham Police Department” and “Officer Pain” below that. My heart fluttered sadly. This policepony had to be here when the bombs fell. Was he drinking because he survived and wanted the pain to stop? Or was he drinking earlier and the bombs surprised him when he was drunk already?

Near his head there were large boxes of painkillers. On his chest there was a holster with a rather rusty submachine gun Cold immediately untied and hid in his saddlebags.

“Coldbrew!” I exclaimed, appalled by the blatant corpse looting. He looked at me, surprised, and one of his ears drooped.

“What!? He’s dead anyway. He won’t need it and we don’t know what awaits us here!” he replied harshly and I lowered my ears. He was right, but robbing a dead pony was… was bad. I looked to the side…

Near the hapless policepony there was a very old wooden board. “Pain Family Reunion”. Another pain… He came to a family reunion and when he got there, the world ended…

I wept. Tears were streaming down my face; I couldn’t stop them anymore. It was all weird, sick, not as what I had been told. I felt cheated, even though they cheated me about my death. Was it some test? Some sick exam one is not told about in order not to tamper with the outcome? Cold looked at me, surprised, and trotted to stand by my side and hug me with his good wing.

“There there, Sparkplug… I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have shouted. We’ll survive, somehow. We’re alive, that’s what matters. Remember how your parents died? You didn’t know what to do either, but you somehow survived. Now you’ll do well too. It’ll just be different.”

I finally calmed down. I was fed up with it all, but he was right. Life went on as usual.

***

Cemetery… Was it a cemetery? Cold didn’t know either… When we found the entrance, we walked inside, looking around unsurely.

Many of the stone tablets were broken or fallen; there were things that looked like stone beds in front of some of them, but most of them didn’t have them. There were also several bigger stone buildings there, resembling large doghouses from the pre-war photos we had in the Stable.

In the middle of the cemetery there was a big, stone arbour. We went there, thinking it was the best shelter. As we dropped out saddlebags inside, I looked at Coldbrew who opened his “Guide…” and read it quickly.

“Wait here, Sparkplug. We must get warm,” he told me and went off to check the neighbourhood.

He collected the old branches of dead trees and a lot of sticks. He tripped a few times in the darkness, but he came back soon, smiling.

“Look how much I got! We can light a fire! This guide is a good thing… It tells you everything.

I smiled despite a foul mood. He seemed to be happy as he knew what to do and because he finally could do something.

“Sparkplug, take the opener and open some canned food for us, okay? We need to save it, but we have to eat some supper. Tomorrow we’ll go towards those lights and see if it’s some civilisation.”

Now I was glad too. His optimism was infectious and now I knew what to do too. I reached to his saddlebags with my telekinesis and took two cans and a pocket knife. With an opener, I opened both of them and looked at Cold. He’d found a lighter somewhere and was just lighting dry wood on fire.

When it finally went ablaze, I felt the real warmth, first time since we left the Stable 69. I sat close to the fire, watching Cold putting some stones together to make a table. The stone blocks nearby, especially the broken ones, were ideal for that. I immediately understood that he made some imitation of an oven. We put the cans on the stones and waited, in tight embrace, until they cooked.

I don’t remember the last time cooked pea tasted so good to me. And when I last ate only as much… Slowly, I pictured life where the food would be scarce and we’d be on our own, without the Stable 69’s self-sufficiency.

After the meal, Cold took our sleeping bags and joined them together with the zippers so we could both sleep inside and warm ourselves with our bodies. I guess he was right. The past life had ended and I didn’t know why, but Coldbrew was with me and it was the only thing that mattered. When I lay down, hugging him, he kept reading something on his PipColt. He kissed the tip of my horn gently and let me sleep, saying that he had to look after the fire. I was tired as if I ran a marathon, so I agreed to his proposal. Soon, I drifted off into Princess Luna’s domain.

Author's Note

Footnote: Level up.

New perk: 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.

Notes:

I would like to thank KKat for creating this wonderful universe and for technical help which she provided. Special thanks go to Samey90 who provided the new translation to the story and to my editor, Luis. You guys are the best!