Chapter 0:Opening Thoughts
Fallout Equestria: A Candle in the Dark
Chapter 0: Opening Thoughts
Searcher.
If somepony asked me to sum up my entire life into a single word that would be it.
My name is Candle Light, and I’m the Searcher of Stable 9.
Of course an entire life can’t be summed up in a single word…it’s too big! Too much stuff happens in a life for it all to fit in such a tiny thing…more stuff, in fact, has happened to me in the past few weeks than all the rest of my life combined! Which is kind of sad in retrospect…then again, I guess it’s a good thing I managed to experience so much lately, considering that my life’s going to end in a couple of minutes. Standing here with my friends, a noose around each of our necks, Glinda’s wings tied to her side…yeah, we’re all gonna die.
What’s that?...oh. Yeah, I guess it is kind of a dick move starting at the end of the story. But it’s kind of hard to pin down when my story started. Was it when I met my friends? When I left my Stable? When I was born? When Celestia was born?
Ok, yeah that might be a bit far back. How about we start…when everything ended.
The War.
A couple hundred years ago zebra’s and ponies started fighting a war. This war lasted long enough for those born at the start to fight at the end, and might have lasted even longer if not for the Megaspells. Giant…boom things of death, destruction, and occasionally reanimation. Everypony died (whether they stayed dead is another matter) except for those who had been lucky enough to fit into one of the who-known-how-many Stables built to sustain life after the end. Like my great great so many great grandparents had been, all the way back when Stable 5 had first been sealed.
Of course, what made Stable 5 so very different from so many other Stables is that we didn’t remain sealed. Every twenty years my people open the giant metal door and a single pony, the Searcher for that generation, goes out into the world to see if it was ready for us to return to it.
My name is Candle Light, and I’m the Searcher of Stable 9.
My parents of course were as proud as could be. After all each generation only has ONE Searcher, and I had been chosen! Picked at the age of ten and given a decade of special training (and treatment) to prepare me for my destiny. I had been trained in combat, both hoof-to-hoof and with weapon. First aid. Top of the line data-gathering spells and technologies. Diplomacy. Scavenging. Repair. I was ready! I was tough! I was the Search for Stable 9! As the big metal door closed behind me and I stepped out into the world I was ready. To. Take. It. ON!!!
I didn’t see the shovel until after it hit my face.
