Why him? Granite Ash, a pony that had chased me across the wasteland, intent on killing me because I had escaped from his massacre of my stable, as well as escaped from captivity when his peons had gotten eaten by a Radigator. Why him? The only male pony I’d ever met who frequently used the word “cunt” to describe others around him that didn’t agree with him. Why him? I groaned as the two of us strode down the ruined road.

Frost had needed to rest after a long flight from the first collection. Aqua was still basically useless. Artemis couldn’t leave the cave today for Celestia knew what reason. Spike was Watcher, so he had to stay. So I was sent off with a stallion that had tried to kill me and threatened to rape me.

Granite Ash knew where to collect the next part of our Bomb. We’d be going to a place called “The Institute.” Sounded to me like a college or a lab or some other high society place. At least, back before the bombs dropped. From what I’d heard recently, The Institute was the last place anypony wanted to go. Robotic killing machines that didn’t discriminate between peaceful wanderer or psychotic raider. Designed to look like your best friend, or even your mother, father, sister or brother. Or worse... your husband, wife or pet.

The one good thing about this... he’d been stripped of his weapons and given a pistol instead. How he was going to use a pistol with his mouth... I wasn’t entirely sure, but at least he didn’t have the massive tubes of death he’d had before. Artemis had promised they’d be... friendlier... when we got back. This time, I had the advantage. I had Harbinger, and though Artemis had cautioned against using it on somepony, it was a good enough security blanket for me. If Granite did anything, I’d just use one of my weapons or Harbinger. Last resort though.

“So what are we out here for?” I asked and he looked over at me.

“You already collected the explosive itself. Now we need a primer, a trigger, a timer, and a casing.” He said and I groaned.

“So we’re getting....?” I trailed off so he could fill in the blank.

“If it’s still there, the timer. We need a big one so we have plenty of warning of when whoever it is sets it to get the hell away.”

“Ok. And if it’s not?”

“We improvise.” He said and I sighed as the two of us walked on. There was only one place with a timer big enough to alert us. Artemis had teleported us almost to our destination. He couldn’t send us much further or he’d have burnt his magic out badly. We crouched on the opposite side of the bridge behind some walls that had been erected. Just like she’d said, Ponyville was a ruin. I saw a statue in the middle of town strewn with bullet rounds. It looked like an Alicorn with a straight mane and tail. The horn had been snapped off though. I ignored where it was, looking away from the Goddess in shame. No Goddess should be treated that way.

“Yet my mother is one of those ‘goddesses’” Artemis said in my head and I blinked. I’d forgotten we were mentally connected.

“What do you mean?” I asked, silently.

“Story for later. Come back safe and I’ll tell ya.” He said and I smiled a little. He was worried, maybe more so because he couldn’t come to the rescue. We continued the walk in silence, heading towards the massive building behind the statue.

“Can you at least tell us where this Institute is?” I asked and I heard my Pip-buck ding. Looking down at it, I followed the indicator straight ahead. The entrance to the Institute was beneath the statue. We didn’t need to go in to the Institute though. Artemis had informed us before we left that the timer we needed would be in the Library. My heart ached for him that he couldn’t be here. At his home.

We walked passed the statue and I paused for a moment. There was a four-point Cutiemark engraved on the statue’s rump. “Artemis... whose cutie marks are those?” I asked as I fell into step next to Granite.

“Celestia’s, Luna’s, Cadance’s and... hers.” He said and I nodded. The other cutie mark was his moms. Twilight’s. Somepony had carved the Cutiemarks of all four Princesses into the rump of this statue and used the horn to carve a slash in her throat before jamming it somewhere else. After that, he went silent and I felt our connection weaken. He was sleeping. Nodding, I walked passed the statue and towards the Library. I silently swore I’d shoot whoever it was that had carved Twilight’s Cutie Mark into the statue. For Artemis.

Walking up to the Library, we pressed our backs against the walls beside the blown out door and peered inside. I immediately started practically retching. The entire place was covered in blood and gore. It looked like something had blown through here tearing things to shreds as it went and scattering body parts everywhere. Putting in a modified ear bloom and mouth piece, I contacted Little Pip directly. “What happened here?” I asked and I heard the camera on the ear bloom kick on.

“I have no idea. I went through there about a year back, but I didn’t do that. Keep your guard up Ruby.” Pip said and I nodded, taking out the ear bloom. Granite watched for my cue and I gulped the bile rising in the back of my throat before moving to step forward. Right into a squishy pile of... something. I was too grossed out already to look down and I really didn’t want to lose my lunch. Lifting my hoof, I swiped it away and set my hoof back down. Bile threatened again as I stepped further into the room. It wasn’t just spattered in blood and gore. The walls looked like a pool of blood had been dumped from above the Library to cover the entire place.

Body parts and insides were clinging to walls and dangling from long abandoned shelves. There was an eyeball skewered on the horn of the unicorn carving in the middle of the room, which looked almost pristine. Save for the evil looking grin on its face. “Keep your head low. This used to be Twilight Sparkle’s home, so it probably has all manner of defenses.” Granite said and I nodded as we split up to look, my magic moving body parts and insides aside while I looked for the trigger for the bomb. Granite just waded through like it was nothing.

“I’m going to check upstairs. Maybe it’s in a lock box or something up there.” I said and he sighed but nodded as I started up the steps. I did eventually hear him stop somewhere but didn’t really bother to look. I had to see if I could find this trigger. Getting to the top of the stairs, I pushed aside a couple of surprisingly intact raider corpses to find what I was looking for. A lock box. Wiping off the floor in front of it, and taking the extra measure of putting a folded blanket down to sit on, I set to work trying to pick the lock.

One ear quirked towards the chest as I listened to the tumblers fall around, my pick moving them into position to unlock the chest. Hearing a click, I smiled and pulled the chest open. “Ruby! We need to leave!” I heard shouted and looked over my shoulder as Granite rounded the top of the steps. “We need to...” he froze, staring at something above my head. I followed his gaze... and saw complete darkness.

Author's Note

Dun dun dun. What has happened to our dear Ruby? Find out next time, on Fallout Equestria: Blacklabel.

Also, give me ideas for what you THINK happened to her.