Chapter 3: Whinnyapolis

"Welcome to Whinnyapolis: City of Flour and Sawdust"

The next morning, I was shaken awake by Vex. As I look around our campsite, I noticed that the fire pit had vanished completely and our saddlebags were packed up and ready for departure. I magically rolled up the bedroll Vex had given me as the Changeling dug some apples out of one of the bags. He floated one over to me as I tied the bedroll to my saddlebag.

"Thanks," I said between bites. "You know, for helping me. It means a lot."

Vex smiled. "Oh, think nothing of it. You needed help, and I'm one of the only civilized people in the Wasteland. Oh! That reminds me! I have something for you..."

Vex whirled around as he floated his saddlebag over. After about a minute of digging around, a book came floating out of his pack, wrapped in his green magic. It was gray with a black pony skull on the front. The title, though somewhat faded, read: 'The Wasteland Survival Guide by Ditzy Doo'. I took the book in my magic and levitated it over.

"Oh, and you'll be needing this, too," said Vex. He reached behind a rock and pulled out what looked like clothes. It was made with what looked like a tough material of some sort. "This barding will help protect you in the Wasteland," Vex said. "I used your armor to re-enforce it. Hope you don't mind." My jousting armor! I had completely forgotten that I was wearing it through the ordeal with the hellhounds and the wound on my leg. I floated it over and looked at it. It looked as if he had taken the armor and fused it to the material on both sides.

"What is this material?" I asked as I put the armor on.

"Radigator hide," replied Vex.

I froze. "W-what? Hide? As in, animal skin, hide?"

Vex nodded. "Yep. I lifted it from the raiders. Don't worry. It isn't pony skin. It's from radigators."

I resumed putting the barding on. "What's a 'radigator'?"

"Well, the Wasteland Survival Guide says that they are irradiated alligators. I have yet to finish the book. The only section I read was about hostile creatures and where they are located."

I floated my copy over to him. "Well, here. Finish it first."

Vex laughed as he pushed the book back towards me. "No, it's quite alright. You keep that. Besides, I have my own copy." He patted his saddlebag.

I flipped open the book and looked at the Table of Contents. The first chapter caught my eye: Origin of the Wasteland. I flipped to the page and was about to start reading when Vex poked me. I looked up and saw Vex was wearing his saddlebag.

"What?" I asked.

"C'mon. We're leaving. Grab your stuff." He nodded at my saddlebag.

"Where are we going?" i asked as I picked up my stuff.

"To Canterlot. That's were you need to go right?" he asked. I nodded in reply. "Well, then. That's our destination. There's a small city just south of here that we can make a pit stop in before we head to Canterlot."

"Do you know where to go?" I asked.

"Nope! But I'm pretty sure that something in the city will clue us in on where we need to got."

It had taken about a day to get down the mountain with no problems. As we trekked downwards, I decided to pass the time by reading the book Vex had given me. As I read it, I learned more about what had befallen Equestria.

I gave a small gasp at what I had read on the page.

Vex must have heard me because he gave me a concerned look. "What's wrong?"

I looked up at him. "I know what happened here. What happened to Equestria."

He gave a start. "W-what? You know what happened?"

I nodded solemnly. "I'll read it aloud to you as we walk. Deal?"

Vex nodded. "Deal," he said. "I want to know what created such a desolate place."

So, as we walked, I read him the story of the Wasteland.

" '240 years ago, Equestria was much different than it was today. It was a land of peace and harmony where everypony was friends and no one lived in fear. But then, a war broke out, the likes of which ponykind has not seen before nor since. Equestria had gone to war with the Zebras. But for a while, it was just a political standoff. But the catalyst was the massacre at Littlehorn, where the children in Princess Luna's school were killed by zebras. Battles raged and ponies died. It got so bad that Princess Celestia abdicated the throne to her younger sister, Princess Luna. Princess Luna created a group of 6 Ministries to assist her. Each Ministry was lead by one of six of the Elements of Harmony.

There was Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, who lead the Ministry of Arcane Sciences, AKA the Ministry of Magic, MoAS/MoM. They help develop magical weaponry for the war. Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, led the Ministry of Awesome or the MoA. Nopony is really sure what the MoA did, except for the big, white towers that dot the landscape. Applejack, Element of Honesty, was in charge of the Ministry of Wartime Technology, or MoWT. They developed almost all weapons and invented the Steel Ranger suit. Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness, lead the Ministry of Peace, or MoP. They were the doctors and nurses who helped the injured. Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter, led the Ministry of Morale, or MoM. Their job was to keep everypony happy while the war raged on. And lastly, Rarity, Element of Generosity, was the head of the Ministry of Image. They were the ones who made the war propaganda.

But, their combined efforts were not enough. On what is now known as 'The Last Day', the zebras launched megaspells and detonated Balefire bombs everywhere. The onslaught only lasted a few hours. The first city to go was Cloudsdayle, which led the pegasi to abandon the war effort. The next cities to be hit were Manehatten, Splendid Valley (Maripony), Fillydelphia, and Canterlot. Canterlot got the worst of it. When the megaspells fell, the Princesses put up a shield to protect the city from the missile blasts. But a Balefire bomb was detonated in the city while the shield was up. The magic bubble filled up with pink gas. It was so thick you couldn't even see the castle. The Pink Cloud, as it's called is still there today, while not nearly as potent. The fates of the Princesses and of the Elements of Harmony remain unknown.

But there were some who survived the apocalypse, be it in a couple different ways. The way most survived was in the Stables. Vast, underground buildings built by Stable-Tec, founded by three fillies I knew as the Cutie Mark Crusaders: Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. The built around 100 Stables all around Equestria. Many ponies were able to escape the horrors if the megaspells in these Stables. But most weren't that lucky. Most perished in the fires, and those who didn't were turned into ghouls, like me.

For the next 200 years, ponies would leave the Stables, only to be greeted by the hells of the Wasteland. Some lost their minds and became Raiders, while others established settlements. But most either died from the radiation or the monsters that had been mutated by the radiation. And that is how the Wasteland began, and how it has been for the past 200 years.' "

I closed the book and stuck it in my saddlebag as Vex sat in a stunned silence. We had stopped some time ago to set up camp. We had made it to an outcrop on the mountain when night had begun to fall. We now sat around a campfire, in complete silence, save for distant gunfire and screaming that came from the city.

"That's horrible," Vex said as he wiped tears from his eyes. I then noticed that I had been crying too. I wiped my eyes as Vex walked over to the edge of the outcrop, sat down, and looked towards the city. I walked over at sat beside him. Vex turned and looked at me with his big, blue eyes. In his eyes, I saw something. Fear.

"What do you think we'll find in there?" Vex asked as he turned back towards the city. "What do we do?"

I leaned back, pondering his questions. "Well," I began slowly. "I don't know what we'll find down there, but I do know that you won't be alone." I put my foreleg around him, in a sort of side hug. "As for what we do? Well, I say that as we make our way towards Canterlot, we try and help whoever we can. Just because most ponies go around and kill for the fun of it doesn't mean we have to as well. And you're scared." Vex turned and looked at me. "I can see it. In you eyes, you're absolutely terrified. And guess what? So am I. I'm scared of dying, scared of the city below, scared for my home. But we need to have courage. We need to hang out to that, if nothing else. We need to have the courage do what's right. Courage isn't a matter of not being frightened, you know. It's being afraid and doing what you have to anyway."

Vex turned and wrapped his forelegs around me in a hug. "Thanks," he said. "I needed that."

I returned the embrace. "You're welcome, Vex."

Vex broke away and trotted back to the fire. He pulled out his bedroll, and laid it out to sit on. As he sat down, I spoke up.

"Hey Vex? I'll take the night watch tonight."

Vex looked like we wanted to argue, but I quickly shot him a look that told him I wouldn't have it. He reluctantly slid into his bedroll as I trotted over and set up mine in a similar fashion to the way he had his. I leaned back against the mountainside as Vex drifted off to sleep. But after a couple hours, I began dozing off, but a loud growl sent a shot of adrenaline running through me. I sat up quickly and floated Vex's gun over in my magic. As I looked around a similar growl rang out. I looked over at Vex to make sure he was still asleep when I saw his mouth open and close slowly. As it closed, a third growl rang out. I then realized that it wasn't an animal growling, but Vex snoring.

After the discovery, I was finally able to relax again, albeit more than a little disgruntled. I managed to stay awake for about 3 more hours when sleep finally overtook me.

I woke up the next morning and found that Vex was still asleep. Still miffed about last night, I picked up an apple in my magic and threw it at Vex's sleeping form. It bonked off his head, waking him up.

"Ow! What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his head.

"That's for your snoring giving me a damn near heart attack," I replied.

"Oh. Heh heh. Sorry. I should have warned you."

" 's ok. Now come on. We have a city to get to."

It was noon by the time we reached the road leading into the city. Or, at least I assume it was noon, but it was hard to tell through the cloud cover that seemed to block out the sky everywhere. As we walked down the road towards the city, we saw a billboard that had a faded picture of a pink pony with an even pinker, curly mane. It said: 'Welcome to Whinnyapolis!'

We had reached the outskirts of the city when the skeletons started showing up. At first, it was just a couple here and there but as we walked deeper into the city, passed the toppled towers and scorched buildings, they began showing up more and more. Charred remains lay everywhere. But there was something off-putting about the city. It almost felt as if we were being watched. We turned down a street of houses when we saw a pony lying on the ground. She was a light blue earth pony, with a two-tone, green and pink mane. She was covered in bruises, cuts and scars. We ran over to her, but when we got their, she immediately curled up into a ball, hiding her head.

"Pl-pl-please... n-no more!" she whimpered.

I looked at Vex and nodded at the mare. He nodded in reply. He trotted over to her and kneeled next to her.

"It's ok," he said in a soft tone. "We're not here to hurt you. We are here to help. Here..." Vex reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a healing potion. The mare looked up with blue eyes when she heard the rustling. He held the potion out to her, which she snatched and downed greedily. When she had finished, she looked up at the pair of us.

"Thank you. Um... wh-who are you?"

"We're friends," i said. I offered her a hoof to help her up. "What happened to you?" I asked.

She opened her mouth to reply but her pupils shrank into pinpricks before she could reply. She pointed behind us. "Th-THEM!" She turned and ran into a nearby building. We whirled around to see three ponies walking up to us. The leader was a dark red unicorn, with a brown mane and red eyes. In his magic, which matched his eyes, he held two gleaming swords, grinning insanely all the while. Flanking him on one side was a yellow earth pony mare with a green mane, who was holding a pistol in her mouth. On his other side walked a giant muscular black earth pony stallion. My guess was his weapons were his hooves.

Vex's eyes narrowed as he pulled out his gun and aimed it at them. I stood back some, and leaned over to Vex. "Who are they," I whispered.

"Raiders," growled Vex. "You might want to arm yourself."

i glanced around and saw a charred tree standing in front of one of the buildings. I grabbed a thick looking branch that had fallen in my magic and floated it over to me. The trio stopped a couple yards away.

"Who are you?" Vex called.

The red pony's grin widened. "I might ask you the same thing, insect. But since you asked first, I shall humor you. I am Bloody Corpse. These are my associates, Golded Flower, or Flowey for short, and Boulder." He gestured first to the yellow mare, and then to the black stallion. "Now, down to business. Where's the girl?"

"You aren't going to ask our names?" Vex called out.

Bloody's eyes narrowed slightly. "No, because I don't care who are. Now where's the girl?"

"What girl?"

Bloody scowled. "Don't play dumb with me, insect. I saw you and Shiny over here talking to her. Now where did she go?"

"No idea."

Bloody's scowl deepened as he raised an eyebrow. "Alright then. Since you supposedly don't know where she went, you are of no use to me." He turned to his 'associates'. "Kill the bug," he said. "but leave the girl unharmed. She'll fetch for a pretty price in Fillydelphia." As soon as he closed his mouth, Flowey and Boulder charged at us.

Flowey dived at Vex, causing the both of them to drop their guns. As Boulder ran at me, I braced myself for the hit. Boulder leapt at me, as if to pile-drive me into the ground. But, right at the last second, I sidestepped around him. He skidded along the rough ground, face first. I whirled around, and using the branch, wholloped him as hard as I could over the head with the stick. To my dismay, the stick broke in half upon contact. Boulder rose up and sped around, snarling at me. His mouth was bloody, and as I looked at the ground behind him, I could see a decent number of small, yellowed teeth.

I glanced around to try and find something to use to defend myself, when a giant wall of black filled my vision. I went flying back as his hoof connected with my face. I landed on my back with a hard thud. I looked over and saw Vex and Flowey at a standoff, guns pointed at each other. I reached out with my magic, grabbed Flowey's gun, and yanked it out of her mouth. Both Vex's and Flowey's eyes widened in surprise, but Vex quickly recovered. He fired one shot at Flowey. The green bolt hit Flowey, turning into a glowing dust of the same green. I felt the the ground begin to shake. I looked up and saw Boulder lumbering towards me, with a gummy, bloody snarl on his face. I quickly floated the gun in front of me and... did nothing. I realized I didn't know how to fire it.

Vex must have seen me because he called out to me, "Pull the trigger! The small tab thing on the handle! Aim and pull it!"

Following his instructions, I pointed the gun at Boulder's head, closed my eyes, and pulled. Multiple times.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

4 shots rang out across the street. When I opened my eyes, I saw Boulder standing in front of me, a far-away look in his eyes. His forehead had a giant hole in it, that was bleeding profusely. He swayed to left and right a little, before promptly tipping to the right, his eyes glazing over.

Bloody Corpse stood a ways away, mouth agape, eyes burning in fury. He looked at me and his jaw snapped shut, turning into a snarl that could've curdled milk. He pointed one of his swords at me.

"YOU KILLED MY STRONGEST RAIDER!!" he roared.

He went to charge but Vex flew over and landed beside me, gun pointed at Bloody. I followed in suit. Bloody stopped, glaring. He began backing away slowly. "I'll get you. Both of you. You're gonna make me rich, Shiny, but as payback for killing Boulder, I'll make your life miserable. And you, Insect. I'll make you regret coming here." With that, he turned and galloped away. I went to chase after him ,but Vex put a hoof in front of me and shook his head. "No. Let him go. We need to go and see if that mare is ok." He turned and walked towards the building the mare had hidden in. We got to the door, and on the front was a faded 11. He raised a hoof and knocked.

"Miss? It's us, the ponies who tried to help before the raiders interrupted. Are you in here?"

The door creaked open, revealing a blue eye looking through the crack. I leaned in front and waved. The door opened slowly, revealing the mare we had saved earlier. She gestured for us to come inside. We followed her in, as the door closed behind us. The hall was dimly lit, as we walked down it towards a door at the end. But before we could go in, she turned left, towards a small closet. She opened the door and walked inside. She turned to the right, knelt down, and opened a small hatch in the floor. She climbed down the ladder into the floor as Vex and I stood there and watched. She stuck a hoof out of the hole and waved us down. I pushed Vex forward, silently telling him to go first. He climbed down with me right behind. When we got to the bottom, we were met with an incredible sight. Under the street, maybe even the entire city, was a small underground town. The blue mare watched us from a distance, a small smile on her face.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"Welcome to Underground Whinnyapolis," said the mare.

Footnote: Level Up.
Perk Attained: Courage I -- You have begun to put aside your fears for the benefit of others. +5 experience every time you level up this perk.

Author's Note

Well, that was longer than normal. So... Underground Whinnyapolis, eh? New things! Yay! I will hopefully have the next chapter out some point this weekend.