Author's Note

Rewrote the chapter. Will be doing small edits to all current later chapters, but won't be 'rereleasing' them like I did for this one. If your interesting in waiting for those to be done, then feel free to read them after chapter 8 is released.

Chapter 1: The End

Fallout: Equestria

Echoes

Chapter 1: The End

Thunder rumbled across me. My heart slammed against my breast. Voices yelled out names, curses, and prayers. Hooves thudded in the dirt around my quivering body, and I could not move. The light ebbed, leaving shadows streaking across the wasteland before me until a single shadow loomed across everything I was.

I wanted to run, to move, to act, but my body stayed against my will. My magic had left me alone in the dark. Bullets snapped around me, and yet my feet stayed. The ground shook. A herd of ponies galloped all around me, but they did not see me and I could not call for them. I was alone.

Thunder, again, but not. Dark laughter split the earth, a great crack that came for me like lightning, and I tumbled forward into the void-

"Ruby Moon?"

My sense of smell was assaulted by a twisting blend of untarnished air and the sweet fragrance of fresh perfume. My closest friend pulled on my hoof, pulling me into the crowd of ponies walking through a street. I glanced back to see the La-ti-da Spa. Yes, that was it, this uncomfortable feeling I had. So many years of war had cast out my need to be pampered, the feeling now alien and unfamiliar. Now it was like a skin I wore to cover my- me. Hollow Shades had stayed the same. I had not. I had left my home behind.

"Clean up your face? Check." Meadowsweet pulled me further and giggled at my expense, but I could not fault her. I had needed a good scrub. "Now we stuff it. Let's go find some muffins!"

“Muffins?” I asked. It wasn’t that I didn’t want any. They were sure to be better than army rations, and my stomach agreed, though Meadow did not hear it; she had already started down the street, and I trotted to catch up.

“Of course. A new shop opened up-” she tapped her chin, “oh, three months ago, I think.”

“New? That’s uncommon.” The war didn’t incentivize small business.

“It is. Owner was a sailor out of Trottingham.” She watched me for my reaction, but I gave her none. I hadn’t much to say about sailors. “He saved up all his pay to start a shop when he got out, but Trots wasn’t to his liking anymore.”

Better to come here. The war had hardly touched Hollow Shades. No space for industry, no room for bases. The only changes to the old city were the power plant and the Ministry of Image building.

“Have you thought about what you will do after your time in the military is done?”

I stopped. She would always ask this, and I would always deflect. I was getting tired, though. Of the war and the question.

“I can’t until the war is done.”

She stopped ahead of me but did not turn. Ponies passed us by without a glance.

“Does it really have to be that way?”

Yes, I didn't say. I just took a deep breath, preparing my next words.

"Hello, Ruby."

I blinked at the pink pony before me. Meadow turned, glancing between myself and the newcomer she did not know.

I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath and it came out as a sigh. "Greetings, Starlight. This is Meadowsweet, a childhood friend of mine. Meadow, this is Starlight Glimmer, one of my fellow Battlemages."

My friend stepped up to her and offered a hoof, which Starlight met. "I work in the Ministry of Peace as a therapist, specializing in Wartime Stress Disorder." That drew a not-so-hidden cringe from Starlight, but I knew my friend was used to that. Soldiers didn't like to hear about WSD.

I wondered why she was here. The Battlemages typically didn't allow more than one of us on leave at once so the unit could remain active. "What brings you to Hollow Shades?"

She shrugged. "I remember you saying it was a nice spot to relax. Onyx Comet had a family issue in Trottingham and was given emergency leave. You were already gone and command didn't have any missions lined up until you returned, so they stood us down." She shrugged. "Here I am, seeing the sights."

Onyx Comet was one of the two stallions in our unit, and quite vocal about his wife and foals. I hoped for the family that it wasn't the worst.

Meadow chimed in, "What did you have planned, Starlight? We lived here when we were younger; we could show you the town."

She waved a hoof. "I wouldn't want to intrude. I'm just going to wander around for a day or so, visit whatever catches my eye."

Meadow curled her lip into a playful pout. "Only a day? Why leave so soon?"

"I'm going to visit a friend in the Crystal City before the end of the week. He's busy today, so I wanted a detour before then. The Crystal City isn't my cup of tea when I'm on my own, but I didn't want to wait around in Hoofington."

Meadowsweet took Starlights hoof in her own. “Then I insist you join us, at least for a snack. We’re on our way to muffins and I’d love to get to know you better.”

Starlight looked at me for help, but I only shrugged. I had never discovered how to say no to Meadowsweet.

We trotted further down Shady Plaza, toward the restaurants. Along the way, I silently listened to Meadowsweet inquire all about Starlight’s childhood. I didn’t know most of what Starlight told her, making me realize how little our unit really talked about our pasts. Meadowsweet showed no signs of slowing as we sat at a table. I noticed she ordered for all three of us, but I suspect Starlight was too distracted to realize.

She finally paused when three sets of three muffins came out. I saw mine were a choice of my favorites, and Starlight looked at the food in confusion.

“I’m sorry, when did we order? I don’t remember choosing these.” She tried to flag down the waiter, but Meadowsweet nudged Starlight’s plate toward her.

“Try them. I think you’ll like them,” Meadowsweet said with a smile.

Starlight glanced between my friend and me while floating up the first muffin and taking a small bite. Widened eyes refocusing on the treat and a second, larger bite revealed the truth.

“So the two of you have been part of the Battlemages since they were created?”

Starlight only nodded. We had seen the unit’s creation. Now we were among all that was left.

Meadowsweet held a muffin in her hoof and glanced at ours, both held in magic. “Six unicorns, using the full range of Equestrian magic to do battle. It’s pretty impressive.”

Starlight tilted her head. “I guess there are six of us now.”

The senses of a Ministry of Peace therapist were sharp, and when my friend looked at me I felt like a liar. Even if I just hadn’t told her yet. Starlight just finished her last muffin.

Meadowsweet set her muffin down and covered her mouth with a hoof. “What happened?”

Starlight and I exchanged a look. I said, “The details are classified.”

My friend raised an eyebrow at me. “There are no secrets in Hollow Shades, Ruby.”

I quickly answered her look. “What Starlight meant was that we consider Flashpoint part of the squad even if he technically isn’t. So he was our seventh. And that we recently had a casualty. So now we are back to six.”

Starlight’s eyes were a bit wide. “All we can tell you is that Nebula was killed.”

Meadowsweet reached out a hoof to each of us. With glistening tears in her eyes, she said, “May she go on with grace. Are you interested in talking more about it?”

Starlight held the offered hoof for just a moment before brushing it away. “The only thing to say is that I want the war to end. If I could, I’d go back and stop it from ever starting.”

I stared hard at her eyes. “Starlight.” She merely met mine and sighed.

“I know. Look, thank you for the meal, but I think I’ll go. You two are old friends and all, so enjoy your time together. I’ll go look for some souvenirs.” Starlight quickly waved and trotted away, not allowing any protest.

After watching her go, Meadow said, “She seems nice enough.”

“Starlight is one of the smartest unicorns I’ve ever met. Better than anypony I know at mixing spells together.”

Meadow’s shoulder bumped mine. “That doesn’t say anything about her personality. Is she a nice pony?”

I sighed. “I don’t think any of us can be called a ‘nice pony’ anymore. Even after ten years, Starlight doesn’t have any sense of moderation. It’s always all or nothing. Great for a soldier, but not quite for a civilian.”

Those words were sour. Was I any different anymore?

“At least you know she’ll stop at nothing to save Equestria. Are all of the Battlemages that way?”

I looked at my friend. “Too much so, perhaps.”

My friend waved to the waiter, and we both ordered tea. From the way she looked at me, I knew she didn’t like that I hadn’t mentioned Nebula before. Meadowsweet was always there to talk, but that became less and less of what I wanted as the war went on. I had discussed the hardships I faced during the first couple years freely. After joining the Battlemages and changing the way I did war, I wanted to share with her less and less. Soon I never offered to talk. I enjoyed our time but wanted it separate from my time at war.

“How are you holding up, Meadowsweet? How do you handle the war?” It wasn’t that I never asked. It was that she always answered the same way.

“I see the hardships so many have faced and I think of ponies I know, ponies like you, who face them every day. I hope and pray they survive them, and that I can help them move on.”

I looked hard into my cup of tea. The contrast of the dark liquid and white ceramic struck me as similar to what my friend and I had become.

"What happened with Nebula?"

There was no stopping it. "She was killed. A sniper; we had shields up but the round bypassed them, and she died instantly." I sighed, as resigned against Meadow's questions as I was to the death of a soldier. "We leveled the area, but I don't think-"

"How do you feel?"

"I- Her death was like Big Macintosh all over again. A part of the world that seems powerful and unchanging just gone. She was always vibrant, ready with a word for any moment. It's just silence without her."

"But?"

"It's like I'm numb. I've seen so much death. Caused so much death. Just... numb." Only one feeling remained.

She reached out a hoof. "You need to get away from that life-"

"They took him from me." Venom not meant for my friend.

"Ruby, what will you do when the war is over? What if it ended today?"

I don't know. Nothing would fill that void. My eyes looked for anything to distract me, and they found an older mare with two foals; a colt and a filly. They ran circles around her, jumping and playing. The colt stumbled but the filly caught him, leaving the mare with a smile on her face.

"I don't have anything else."

"Ruby Moon," she raised my head with a hoof and place her forehead against mine, nestled against my horn. I looked away from her piercing eyes. "You have to move on."

My violet eyes snapped to hers. "I miss him," I whimpered.

"I know. Let's go say hello... and goodbye, okay?"

v^V^v

The cold rain droned a beat upon my umbrella. I considered letting the rain land upon my face, hiding the tears that always fell.

“Meadow?”

“Yes, Ruby?”

“What do you think he would have done?”

She did not say anything. I sniffled, holding my eyes on his grave marker. Water flowed along weathered imperfections in the stone, slipping between the letters before flowing into the grass.

I lifted my hoof to my chest, digging it into my coat. “I feel a demon deep inside me. Every time I try to let it go it simply hides.”

“In your soul, I see a rainbow. I can see it in your tears as they fall,” she said, raising a gentle hoof to rest on my shoulder.

“Since he left me on my own I feel like I’ve been in the dark.”

Her hoof reached around me, pulling me close and holding me tight. “Then you are a rainbow in the dark.”

The world around me trembled. I felt a shiver cross Meadow’s body. An ache pulled at my horn, and I knew that something had happened.

In the shadow of cloud and rain, a flicker of light shined and grew. It was an evil light, an unsettling ray that dried my eyes and stopped my heart.

Green.

I knew what that was. It was the end of our world. The end of the world my brother had been taken from. The end of the world that I used to enjoy with Meadowsweet and my friends and family. That was a Megaspell. A violent, explosive megaspell. That was our death.

"Ruby? Is that-"

"Yes."

She gasped. "Oh no. No no no no, please no..."

I turned to her as a fresh bout of tears came from her puffy eyes. I didn't want to lose her, too. But I didn't have to. The wail of sirens sounded in the distance. Thoughts of my responsibilities in the case of such an attack never had a chance against the love I had for my friend.

"Meadow, we have to go." I kept my voice level. I needed to be strong for her.

"Go where?" she choked out.

"To Stable 45. We can make it. Hollow Shades wouldn't be a target, there's nothing here, but that just means they won't hit here first. We have to hurry!"

We started with a quick teleport. I took us to the closest point I knew to the stable entrance and flicked her flank with my tail, dropping the umbrella as we started to run. The rain had stopped, but the clouds were thickening. The only light was green and with every surge, I knew so much of Equestria was gone. We ran and ran, seeing other ponies all around us, panicked like Meadow was. I had to keep her beside me, get us to the stable. Keep her alive.

A few panicked minutes of running later, there it was: the door to the stable. Between us and it was a fence, with dozens of ponies, ponies I knew, trying to get in. The rifle and pistols pointed at them by the Stable-Tec security ponies held them back far better than the fence did. There was a single pony at the closed gate, calling out the warnings.

"The only ponies getting in are ponies with a Stable 45 pass. Anypony else should seek shelter elsewhere. No exceptions."

I pushed my way to the gate, making sure that Meadow stayed with me.

"We have passes! Let us in." I presented my pass, but Meadow was fumbling for hers with her hooves. I used my magic to pull out her pass, and held them up. The pony looked for a moment, then quickly opened the gate.

"Hurry up, we don't have a lot of time."

We ran past him, the guards with the guns parting to let us pass. I heard the gate slam shut. The pony yelled for the crowd to stay back. We stepped into the large doorway into the stable, the gear-shaped hole into the earth. Meadowsweet paused.

"Ruby, what about them?" She looked at the growing mob outside the fence. They looked more desperate every second. The security ponies starting waving their guns, pointing at the whichever pony pushed the hardest. This wasn't going to end well.

"They should be trying to hide somewhere else. They should have bought a stable pass. We can't help that. We have to move on. We have to get inside. Meadowsweet." She looked at me, the pleading look of everything she cared about being ripped from her hooves. "We have to go."

A star lit up, much closer than the fading light of the Fillydelphia megaspell. This one would reach us. The door technician knew that, too, and I heard the massive door creak and groan as it began to roll into place.

"Meadow!" I took a couple steps inside, motioning for her to follow. She slowly followed me, too slowly. "We have to get inside."

The door slid closer, Meadow stepping inside to avoid the massive piece of steel. I almost let out my breath- gunshots. She bolted out, her tail flicking the edge of the door just before it screeched into place.

I lunged at the door, pounding my hoof against the metal. I tried to push it back open, but it wouldn't budge. I grabbed it with my magic, the entire steel gear encompassed in a maroon glow. I heard a shout, but I ignored it as I heaved. The Door wouldn't budge, but that didn't stop me from pushing harder and harder. I couldn't lose Meadowsweet, I couldn't go on alone. The door creaked, and I flared my magic, pushing as hard as I could, but hydraulics engaged and locked the door into place.

I dropped the door and set for a different method. The teleportation spell came quickly, second nature as it was, and I -

Rocked, I fell to the ground. A burst of light and sound lashed out from my horn; the spell had collapsed and backfired. I didn’t think past the steel grating for several long seconds. Blinking, I lifted my head to see the giant gear. The door between Meadowsweet and me.

I quickly stood, trying to grasp for my magic, but I couldn't see for a moment. Perhaps some enchantment on the stable walls or some unicorn had counterspelled my teleport; either way, I couldn't stand and stumbled into a blue pony who caught me with a hoof. As my vision focused, I saw that he wasn't blue; his uniform was. I stood on my own, but the look on his face wasn't concerned.

"Open the door. My friend is out there." I looked at him with all of my building rage. Despite me swaying a bit, he stepped back, looking at the ponies beside him for help.

"So are six of my security ponies, but I can't open the door for them, either." I looked to the voice, seeing an older mare in a blue suit, the number 45 emblazoned on the chest. "It is sealed. And no pony, war hero or not, is going to open it. You have lost, just as we all have lost. But we must trot on."

I stared at her. I seethed. I clenched my jaw. I stared. She was right. I couldn't open the door for Meadowsweet. I couldn’t teleport out, probably due to some ward installed into the stable. I would never see my friend again. She might as well be dead. Like Sparks.

All at once I was tired. Every part of me was... Everything I had known. Everypony I had cared about. I dropped my head and stared at the steel floor grate. Dirt from outside had been dragged in. It was likely the only dirt we would see for the rest of our lives.

"Jump Shot, take her to her room. She's the last one." It didn't sound like a request, not that it mattered. An orange tail flicked my face. I lifted my head enough to see the uniformed earth pony mare.

"I'm Jump Shot. Just follow me."

I did as she asked, idly looking at the blank walls. They were nothing like the burning cities outside, with the ministry posters turning to cinders like the people they couldn’t protect; I couldn’t protect. The Stable walls were bare metal, with only an industrial light crystal for decoration.

We walked for a short time, but it might have been forever. Meadowsweet was gone. My family was gone. Equestria was gone. All I had done and it was still gone.

"Here is your room. You've got it all to yourself. I'll come by to check on you, but if you need anything you can use the intercom."

I hardly gave her a nod before I stepped in and shut the door. The room was white and stale. Four beds were made neat and tidy with fresh blue sheets, the only color in the room. I felt step after step pull me toward the nearest one. Falling upon it, my exhaustion departed me, leaving nothing inside. I was empty.

Tugging with my magic, I pulled out the only thing of value I had. My Twilight Sparkle statuette was everything I wasn't. Vibrant. Happy. Good. I set her down and stared at her.

The real Twilight was almost certainly dead. Canterlot, the Princesses; our world was over. What was I supposed to do in this stable? Rebuild? I know what balefire is. There won't be any cleansing of that.

Survive?

I didn't want to. Why should I?

Twilight began to shake.

I rushed to my hooves and stumbled on a stiff leg. Before I could muse on how long I had laid there my hair stood on end. The statuette fell to the ground, pushed by a gust of wind.

The floor trembled. Magical lightning danced across my coat. All around me, unstable magic burst from nothing. Sparks of light shot throughout the room, igniting the bed, the desk, even the air itself in a roar of flame. A white light grew from me, growing so bright I had to shut my eyes. I had no idea what was going on. This was no magic I was familiar with!

In a final, blinding flash, everything was gone.

v^V^v

Umph! The cold floor did not greet me kindly, nor did the darkness of the room. I did not know where I had been taken or what had happened. This new silence offered no answers.

I remained for a time. The end of the war and Equestria left my mind blank at first. The signs had been everywhere, the end inevitable. Our efforts were not enough to overcome our failures. Dear Luna, sweet Celestia, I could not believe it was all over. All gone.

Meadowsweet was not lost to me. She declined to enter the stable but there was nothing that could keep me inside. My earlier effort was an emotional flailing. This time nothing would stop my determination. I hadn’t lost the war. I was still alive. Meadowsweet was alive. My family in Hollow Shades would be safe. Everything will be fine.

Putting my hooves under me, I peered around the room. I had been wrong. There was light, a dim light from out the door and down the hall. It was not enough to light this room, but I could see the doorway and made my way to it, my hoofsteps echoing so loudly. The hall was hardly any brighter, though now I could see that the floor was covered in debris. I could see now that the light was still around another corner, though it lit the room beyond enough for me to make out details. I was still in a stable. Perhaps the same stable I had entered, though I know not how it could have changed so.

I know not how the silhouette of a skeleton could be sitting at the end of the hall.

I was no stranger to death. It was a part of my daily life. This, however, was beyond what I was prepared to see. A stable was meant to be a place of safety in the darkest of times yet here, before me, was fear and death.

I backed into the room and lit my horn. It was hard, far more trying than such a small spell should have been. My horn ached with the effort, allowing a new discomfort to spread across me; I was drained. I could not use my magic to defend myself for some hours. If whatever had killed the ponies in this stable remained then I would have to fight it the earth pony way.

Ashes. Blackened steel. I swept the light all around me, searching for anything- I caught a glint of purple. Stepping forward and nudging the object, ashes fell away revealing my Twilight.

This was the same stable. Stable 45. I hadn’t left at all. What had happened to me? I reached out and fished Twilight out of ashes, revealing her gleaming form. Not even a shake was needed. With her in hoof, I was reassured. Even as I slipped her back into my coat, I knew that everything will be fine.

Stepping into the hall, I went away from the light first. The hall was sparsely littered with pipbucks and the bones that had carried them, the look of them suggesting they had died moving, as I was, to the end of the hall. Once close enough for my light to pierce the dark, I saw that the door, an automatic one that slid out from the wall, had been blocked open by a desk. That desk, the skeletons on it, and the walls around it had been peppered with bullets. Peering into the room beyond the bones, a restroom, there were only more bones. Before turning away, I saw a ten-millimeter pistol on the ground. It was old and empty so I left it behind.

Turning around and walking down the hall toward the light, it was clear what had happened here. Ponies barricaded themselves in the restroom and other ponies charged them until their ammo was spent. Why was the question that remained, though I was beginning to believe when was more important to me.

At the end of the walkway, I realized, or recalled, that I had stepped into the main hall of the barracks- rather, the dormitory. The silhouette I saw before belonged to an earth pony skeleton sitting in the center of the passage, leaning on a fire extinguisher held in his hooves. Odd.

The light was to my right, coming from a device on the forehoof of another skeleton. The mare had set her pipbuck light on before she died. Perhaps the power had failed before their deaths? No; if the power was out then the air would be stale, probably unbreathable. They had turned the lights off. I approached and looked at the screen, hoping to find answers.

A blinking symbol in the corner indicated that the user, Jump Shot, was dead. Other indications showed more specific medical needs, such as starvation and dehydration. Jump Shot had watched this marvel of arcaneo technology tell her she was starving. Flipping the selector switches until I found something useful, I discovered an audio log and a number of files. I looked at the audio log titled, ‘End of the Game’. I hit play.

The speakers popped and crackled to life, reminding me how utterly silent the stable had been.

“-finally recording. Good.” Jump Shot's voice was different than it had been. It was older. Weaker. “I hope somepony actually listens to this somed-” she broke into a coughing fit, but even those were raspy and shallow.

“Damn. Everything, from the damn stable to the goddess damned war. Stupid megaspells go off, and I’m stuck inside this damn stable. ‘Marvel of modern technology,’ they said. ‘Safest place in Equestria,’ they said. They didn’t mention the recycled rations, the endless maintenance, or the banging on the door. The first few days of banging I could understand, but every few weeks they would bang on the doors again.”

That meant ponies survived. Meadowsweet survived. I needed no further proof.

“Of course, it didn’t matter. Damn Stable-Tec lied. The damn stable had all kinds of problems. Little problems that you wouldn’t think would be an issue. Too much oxygen in the air. Barely enough water production for the ponies to drink. Heat emitting light fixtures.” A bang sounded off from the speaker.

“Shut up. We can’t open the door anyway.” She sighed, then the recording ended with another pop.

She was right. Those did not seem enough to kill everypony in this stable. What worried me more was how she ended. They couldn’t open the door? I couldn’t teleport past the door, either. I’d rather not remove the door the hard way, but I wasn’t even sure if I could.

Opening up the most recent file, I saw a list.

Stove #2-5, 7, 8: Fire Damage. Irreparable.

Light Talisman Fixtures #17, 23, 25-29, 31-45, 54, 57: Fire Damage. Irreparable.

Autodoc #2: Fire Damage. Irreparable.

Water Talisman #1: Fire Damage. Irreparable.

Food Recycler #1-4: Fire Damage. Irreparable.

I didn’t have to read anymore. There was no longer any concern for my immediate danger. I could put a fire- wait, I was out of magic. With my energy, even my simple light could only give me a few feet of vision. I stepped away from Jump Shot and the shining screen of the pipbuck, looking down the hall and sighed.

“Starving is a terrible way to go.” I did not want to go the same way. I trotted around the nameless skeleton and tried to remember the path I had been led mere minutes before. I could not remember, but I didn’t need to; at the first crossroad, there were signs on the wall, directing ponies to their destinations. While ‘Exit’ was not one of them, ‘Foyer’ was, so I took that path.

My only company was the clip-clop of my hooves and the clink of the deck plates. Unlike the dormitory, the foyer was absent of the stable inhabitants or even evidence of their fate. As I was unable to light the room completely, I had to carry out the tedious task of circling the large room, checking each entrance for signs. At one point I came close enough to the center of the foyer to realize it had an open center and at least one other floor above. This might take some time.

Bang

I had just reached the second floor of the foyer when the silence was shattered. It was distant but unmistakable. Dynamite. Following the sound, I found my goal. A sign read ‘Stable Door’.

Bang

Still muffled but clearly in the direction I was headed. I doubt this was the banging Jump Shot had referred to. Moments later I turned a corner into a familiar open room with large machinery holding the gear-shaped door that had separated me from Meadowsweet. I thought of destroying it, melting it-

BANG

The gear, the floor, and even my teeth shook. No small amount of explosives were being used on that door. While Stable-Tec claimed it could withstand a hit from a balefire bomb, I had no idea what the outside of this door had been put through, or who was behind it now. I considered going back to recover the ten mil I saw before, but I remembered they were empty. I could only hope that whoever opened this door was friendly.

BANG

Flames flashed from points around the door, shooting dust and detritus around the gear. With a great shudder and the screech of scraping metal, the gear fell outward. Swirling fog shuffled in while the dust shuffled out. I let the light of my horn blink out and waited.

“Finally,” a stallion’s voice said, “thought we’d never get that door off.”

A figure appeared in the fog, but I could only tell that it was equine and clothed.

The figure spoke, “Looks like we aren’t gonna get a greeting. How much more dynamite do we have?”

“Plenty,” another stallion said. “Anypony inside?”

“No. Looks dead. I don’t think we’ll be having any fun.”

Fun?

The figure stepped closer and details began to show through. It wasn’t clothes he wore, but armor. Metal and spiked, and though there was red on it, I did not think it was painted. A sledgehammer was on his back with saw blades welded to it, their edges red with dried blood and rust. Another pony stepped through the dust, some sort of rifle slung to his back and a bag of dynamite dangling from his mouth.

There wasn’t going to be any friendly exchange with these ponies. I needed to leave. Backing away, I had to be slow. There wasn’t much sound to mask my steps, but at least it was-

Light filled the passage, shining from the horn of a third pony. I set my hooves and glared. So much for avoiding confrontation.

“Lookie here,” the lead stallion said. “We got ourselves a stable dweller.”

The second tilted his head and slipped his bag around his neck. “She ain’t wearing their outfits. Maybe she ain’t one?”

The light bobbed, and the voice of a mare came from the unicorn. “Just because they live in a stable doesn’t mean they have to wear the uniform. Besides, a coat that nice? No way she came from the wasteland.”

Wasteland. That word rang through my head.

The lead stallion waved a hoof before resting it on the haft of his hammer. “None of that matters. Don’t change what we’re here-”

I’d had enough. “What is that, exactly? Your reason for breaking in?”

He laughed and tapped his hammer. “Lookie here. She’s got a pretty mouth on her. Why don’t you come here, missy.”

I gave him a smile. “Yes, why don’t I come and let some of my blood rust those blades a bit more.”

He took a step toward me. “Oh, I’ve got other plans for you. A nice, plump, fresh pony like yourself has quite the place in my little group.”

My smile twisted and there was venom in my voice. “Plump?”

Several more figures appeared in the doorway, drawing a glance from the leader. He looked back at me and shrugged. “Come quietly and we’ll be nice.”

I turned and dashed around the corner.

He called out to me. “We won’t be so nice, now.” He lowered his voice, but I could still hear him clearly, “Be careful. She might not be the only one. Try to take them alive this time.”

Hearing yells of excitement and a rush of hooves, I sprinted down the hall, quickly returning to the foyer. I hadn’t seen a sign for the armory, so I had to make due with exactly nothing. A glance at the hall behind me and I saw six ponies with various weapons closing in, among them two unicorns lighting the way.

I went right, slamming the open buttons on two doors as I passed before reaching the corner and opening the third door. I peeked out and watched the light flood more and more of the foyer until the group entered. They gave the room a quick glance but turned my way.

Slinking back in the room, I heard quiet talk of keeping eyes open while they yelled insults and offers of deals at me. At least I could still hear their hoof steps, slowly coming toward me.

The room I had picked was a mane salon. There was a bench, several seats for patrons, and all the supplies one would need to spruce up a pony’s mane. Best of all, the floor was solid concrete, allowing me to walk silently over to the nearest supply cabinet and peruse the goods. I only had to keep an eye on the sharp edge of light, growing closer by the second. I pulled out a power clipper and a can of hairspray.

While I removed the cord from the clipper with my hooves, I saw the light dim as though one of the unicorns had entered one of the other rooms. The cord popped off, slapping the ground. Immediately, I threw the clipper out the door, bouncing it off the wall and out of sight.

“Grenade!” I called, and I heard rapid steps and panicked dives. One pony ran through the door and I kicked his knee. He fell and slid into the room, but a unicorn came in behind him. Having seen the light, I had floated up the hairspray to eye level and gave him a full spray in the face.

He stopped full and screamed, dropping his spell and his gun, before he fell to the floor, wiping at his eyes. His gun did not clatter on the deck, as I caught the weapon and quickly turned it to point out the door.

It was some kind of ramshackle misfit made of pipes and welded or bolted metal. I fired it blindly out the door while I looked back at the first pony that had entered. He was trying to stand, but I had caved in his knee and he didn’t seem to realize that. I suspected that could I see his eyes, they would be the bloodshot eyes of a very high pony.

Before he had a chance to do anything, I turned my new weapon around and fired twice into his head. The first round actually bounced off his skull and sparked on the wall, but the second penetrated and splattered the same wall. While I’d liked to have taken a proper weapon, it was good to know my enemies were equipped with garbage.

Feeling the ache in my horn, I grit my teeth. Damn whatever had happened to me. I was lucky these weren’t professionals.

Gunfire showered through the doorway, the stutter of shots telling me none of them had automatics. Several of the rounds struck the unicorn, cutting his screams short. I was learning a lot about these ponies.

The incoming fire stopped, replaced by rapid hoofsteps and an unintelligible yell. I backed away from the door, holding the pipe gun ahead and the spray can at my side.

A bloody-faced mare barreled into the room with a pool cue in her mouth. I only got one shot snapped off before she knocked my gun away, and I managed a good look at the sharpened end of that cue when she tried to stab me with it.

I floated the can between us, spraying at her despite the distance. While she swatted at the annoyance, I lined the pipe gun up with the pony barging in behind her, firing three times before I heard the gun click. It was enough to drop him to the floor, but it was my gun that clattered with him, not his.

The bloody-faced mare stomped the can into the ground and look at me with curled lips and eyes wide not with shock, but madness. If I were a poor, defenseless stable pony I would have been afraid. Instead, I floated my new gun an inch away from her temple and fired. She crumpled to the ground in the flickering light.

Flickering? The steady glow of unicorn light was gone, snuffed out when I shot the last pony in the door, but a new light was out in the hall, this one made of actual flame. Stepping over the bodies, I peeked into the hall.

There was the dynamite pony, sitting back with a flare in one hoof and a lit stick of dynamite in the other. His satchel of explosives was still around his neck, frighteningly close to that flare. His smile was from ear to ear, and there was a hint of caution in his eyes as he tossed the stick at me.

I dropped the gun and dashed at him, flicking the stick into the room behind me, far into the corner. He reached for another stick, but I closed him too quick, and he fell back to get away from me. He wasn’t fast enough, though, and I snatched the flare away from his grip and shoulder checked his face. I heard his head smack against the deck. My momentum had carried me over him, and I looked below me to see his dazed expression staring back.

BOOM

The blast swept over us, but my hooves held true. Dust was kicked up throughout the entire room, with the only light being from the flare I held. I put it mere hairs away from his neck, and he whimpered.

"Please don't kill me!"

"Oh, of course you beg for your life." I glared at him, trying to decide what to do with him.

Until his eyes darted down, looking in front of me. My head snapped up to see a pair of blood-rusted saw blades above me.

I heard a snarl as the weapon started coming down. Quick as I could I jumped to my left. I stumbled on the edge of the deck, rocked up by the buckling force of his blow. Setting my hooves, I felt bounce beside me but I couldn’t spare a glance at anything but this pony.

He met my eyes with his own. “I don’t know what a damn mare like you is doing in another dead stable, but when I’m done with you you’ll wish you were just bones and dust!”

He wrenched his bloody weapons from the mangled deck, leaving behind the headless body of the dynamite pony. Ah, that was what bounced - jump! I tucked my legs in, feeling the whisk of air against my hooves. I dashed past him, but a wild buck slammed into my flank and I tumbled into the railing. I kicked off the rail just before his weapon came down again on the buckled deck.

This time it could not hold out, and the shattered metal collapsed to the floor below. My magic took hold of a stick before the body of the dynamite pony fell with it.

We stared from across the gap, the flare still bright. I let it out of my mouth, floating it above me.

He chuckled. “I’m going to enjoy making you scream.”

I measured where I needed to jump. “I’m going to enjoy never seeing you again.”

Floating the stick up to the flare, I lit the fuse on the dynamite.

I then lowered both quickly to the floor below, shoving the flare into the neck of the body and stuffing the lit stick into the bag of dynamite.

In the new darkness, I jumped across the gap, landing on the deck of the hall. Ignoring the clamor, the oof, and the yell from behind me, I sprinted away. Down the hall, moments passed and I turned the corner, the remains of that damn door laying in the settled dust.

A boom, a roar; the stable rocked around me. The deck knocked my hooves from under me, and I tumbled in a heap. The only sound was a low wail, and all sight was a mud red haze. Pulling myself up, I knew only that a warmth teased from the red haze behind me, while a cool wisp from the grey haze ahead. I walked slowly, each step a cautious one.

I would get out of this stable.

The deck ended and that damn door began. At least it was a sign that I was closer. A few more steps and the wail began to fade. Another, and I stepped into the threshold of the stable doorway. My hooves went faster, the haze swirling around me as I pushed through until the haze ended and I stopped.

The overcast sky set a mellow and sad tone that befitted the world before me. Hollow Shades was filled with a thick low fog, and many of the smaller buildings were obscured. I could see the power plant had gained an eerie, light blue glow, and the Ministry of Image stood out as the only building not suffering from age. Enough rain filled the valley that I couldn’t see the mountains to the north or west.

There were no signs of life beyond the campfire a dozen steps ahead of me. I could not see my manor from here, but I suspected it would be the same. I wondered, for a moment, what hid in the fog. Perhaps it was more of these murderous ponies. Perhaps it was a horde of manticores who enjoy fine wine and pony flesh. Perhaps it was Meadowsweet.

A part of me hoped to find her, but nothing I had seen so far suggested that was likely, or that it would be a happy thing. The best I could hope for was that she had died long ago and surrounded by friends.

For me, I knew nothing of what I was about to face. I hoped that I had seen the very worst of ponies, and that everything would be brighter from here on out. Hope was always a fleeting thing, though, and I expected that everything I had done in my life might not be enough to prepare me for what horror Celestia’s Equestria had become.