Windrunner blinked open her eyes, raising a hoof to wipe the sleep away. Her green eyes darted around as she sat up. Mist bloomed in front of her as she exhaled, flowing out in a cloud of translucent white.

The pegasus stood, shaking the light frost that gathered on her messy, blue mane. Pulling her hood over her head, she glanced left and right. The empty, dark halls, all the same. She heard the creaking of frosty metal above her, the flickering of a halogen stick lamp that refused to light.

Despite only having recently awoken she was active immediately, beginning to do a few stretches, checking her saddlebags to find the contents inside. A half-empty bottle of water. A sachet of preserved, dried vegetables. An empty can.

Windrunner’s stomach growled. She was hungry, but not enough to warrant wasting what little food she had. She would wait until she found more food to indulge in what little she had.

The trip began, Windrunner’s hoofsteps echoing around the flat, metal walls. She was used to walking. Most of her journey underground was walking. She viewed it not as a tiresome task but as an exciting journey forth, not knowing where she was going. Danger did excite her somewhat.

And so she walked, and with that, she reminisced about past events.

Three years ago, Equestria was plunged into a dark winter. Windrunner knew it all, she was there for it, all those years ago when the Sun and Moon went out. She was with them as her home, Cloudsdale, was lowered to the ground, to prevent the pegasi living there dying of hypothermia.

Windrunner forced herself to stop her gait, gritting her teeth in painful remembrance. Her home was destroyed. The clouds were torn apart, dispersed across Equestria to try and keep any leftover ground heat in.

Well, look where that effort went. Windrunner shook her head. It was a fruitless effort to cry over spilled milk when in the grand scope of things, it was a minor downfall and a very valiant effort to save Equestria, but in the end it was useless.

Windrunner looked up, ahead at her eventual target. She began walking again, letting her mind be almost lost in the rhythmic clopping of her hooves against the floor. It was comforting. She could get completely lost in the repetitive sound, like the ticking of a clock.

But she didn’t. Instead, she was partially alert, making sure there was no threat to herself. Every strange noise would have her right wing flick downwards towards the sheath containing her only form of self-defense: her knife. It was kept sharp on the metal walls, for she did not know when she would need to use it.

Every time she heard noises, she wouldn’t stop walking, keeping her gait rhythmic. It was mostly the sound of distant rending metal and the distant shout. Sound carries long distances in empty halls.

Eventually, she reached a new destination - a small crossroads that probably had a community in it before they froze to death. They had built a store room. Windrunner turned and walked into there, finally stopping her walk to pause and look around the nearly empty room. They probably took what they could and ran to bigger shelters when the cold got worse.

She opened the flap of her saddlebag, beginning to look through the few cardboard boxes left on the shelves, the shelves rattling noisily each time she pulled out a dusty cardboard box. She found very little. A half-empty bottle of water, a small nutrient bar, and a single short can of tomato paste. She treated herself to the nutrient bar, grateful for being able to satisfy her malnourishment for another day, and saved the rest for later.

Her ears perked up as she finished the bar, hearing hoofsteps from somewhere outside the store room. They were really close and approaching fast.

Windrunner was cornered in the store room. She had to find an alternate exit, and she usually knew what to do. Heading to her right, she drew her knife in her right wing and quietly pried open a vent grate before crawling inside the large space. She was able to crawl and easily rotate herself to pull the grate back into place just as a quadruped form entered the room.

They wore a hood over their face and only the hint of a cream colored muzzle poked out of the hood. The figure looked around the room, passing the boxes that Windrunner was just looting out of. They passed right by the vent grate, close enough that Windrunner could hear their breathing. Windrunner backed away slowly before hauling herself up a change in elevation, quietly crawling away from danger.

It was dark inside the tunnel, nearly impossible to see. She took a right, then a left, eventually pushing open a vent grate and hopping down from the roof to the floor.

Windrunner had found herself in an office room. Perfect! She searched the place. Desks with flipped and broken chairs littered around, in a semi-cubicle formation. There was one boxy computer sitting on the desk.

Drawing up a chair, Windrunner sat down at the terminal and flicked on the switch on the side. The screen lit up, and the operating system flickered to life. Green text flashed across the screen, spelling out, ‘SeallOS’ before the system booted up.

Welcome, Steel Wrench! It has been 493 days since last login.

The text disappeared after a few seconds, the user interface taking its turn to show. There were four separate folders to look at. There was a private file intended for the computer only. There was a public file, likely intended for the entire office. A telegram message, which when selected would play through the single, tinny speaker on the front of the boxy computer.

Windrunner decided to do a little snooping. Selecting the private file first, the empty screen space on the left filled with text.

Hello from Seall.

Welcome to your new SeallOS Terminal model Y600. Please consult your manual for information.

We hope you enjoy the use of our product,
Seall Corp.

Windrunner navigated to a later message. She’d seen the welcome message many times before, but she always checked it, hoping it was different. Next was the public message, and the short welcome message from Seall was replaced with a different set of text.

Hey guys,

So the commander finally got us the codes. Took him ages to do it. Here we are, I’ve made sure to use our internal cipher, so please refer to our chart for info.

Canterlot
%^}+
Ponyville
{]%#

Windrunner didn’t bother to read the rest. It was just garbage codes she couldn’t use. It listed most of the main city shelters, but there was no way to solve the code without the cipher chart mentioned. Windrunner took a cursory glance around the small room, her search not giving her any useful data.

She turned back to the terminal, selecting the audio message. The speaker crackled, and a quiet voice emitted from the grill in the front of the computer.

“This is Manehattan Shelter, calling in.

We need your help out here. Something exploded and killed our crew. We have fixed the fire, but our generator is busted and we are running on backup power. Please bring your crew here as soon as possible.”

The transmission ended abruptly. Windrunner shook her head, assuming that whoever got that message probably didn’t return, if the login date was anything to go by.

She flicked the switch, the screen going dark. She pushed back and stood, stretching quickly before shrinking back down, the cold reaching her again.

With that done, she saw not too much use left in the office. She picked out a few trinkets here and there, just some things like a screwdriver and a wrench. Then again, such tools could go a long way.

Now, for Windrunner, it was time to continue on her journey. She pushed open a door, greeted once again by cold halls. Choosing to go rightward, she shut the door behind her and continued her walk.

She was more aware this time. She knew somepony else was here and said pony would probably not be friendly. Her gait was quieter, as keeping her volume down was key.

But not all was right. Not long into her walk, she could hear hooves in front of her approaching around a nearby corner.

Windrunner glanced around. She needed to avoid this pony until she could assess their danger. Spotting a vent grate a bit further back, she quickly spread her wings and beat them once, grabbing onto the vent cover and pulling it off, the cover clattering to the ground loudly as she pulled herself into the vent.

The sound of hooves turned into a run as the pony sprinted towards the dropped vent. Windrunner peered over the edge, looking down the hole carefully.

The same pony from before approached the fallen grate and promptly then looked up. Windrunner ducked her head, hiding from view. The pony quickly ran off, their hoofsteps unsteady.

Windrunner dropped down quietly, using her wings to land with little noise. She continued in the direction she was heading, hoping to avoid danger rather than run face first into it.

It was thankfully quiet for the journey onward, Windrunner deciding to take a quick break once she reached her first proper location in a while. To her left was the remnants of a small community. To the right was a transit station. The MagicLev trains were implemented late into the colonization of the Underground and were soon deactivated to conserve what little power could be generated once the Shelters began to fail and the system began to collapse.

She decided to go to the MagicLev station. The first barrier was some turnstiles, easy to get over. The second would be the glass paneling, looking into the tunnel where the fast trains would go. The station extended to her left and right, and was pretty rudimentary and basic.

There wasn’t much to find here, so Windrunner turned back. Her ears perking upwards, she slowly crept through the desolate remains of the small town. Few lights still worked, lighting up small stands filled with rotten food, rusted trinkets, and other such items. The area seemed to be a shopping district.

Windrunner took flight in the medium-sized atrium, hovering in the middle. There was a second floor, glass and metal barriers preventing ponies from falling down. She flew onto the second floor, snapping her wings shut as soon as she landed, shivering.

Storefronts lined the walls, most of them shut with metal gates that would retract into the roof when the stores would open. There was probably a lot to be had inside, but they were locked shut unless you had the proper tools to make a break-in.

There was nothing really useful. Not even in the rubbish bins. Windrunner trotted up to the railing, leaning on it and looking over the atrium. It was quiet, and Windrunner got a moment to breathe in slowly, taking in the silence in a moment of mute serenity.

Then she noticed it. A shadowy figure. Looking at her with softly glowing yellow eyes. Windrunner locked eyes with the figure, who blinked once before darting behind the corner. There was a clatter and the sound of a pony crawling through the overhead vents.

Now was a time to be alert. The thumping of the pony roaming the vents sent chills through Windrunner’s fur, making it stand on end.

And then, it slowly faded. The mystery pony was making their escape. Windrunner let out a breath she was holding, the mist spreading out before her.

The pony seemed hesitant to get closer to Windrunner. Windrunner thought they must have been scared and that’s what caused them to dash off. She couldn’t have seen the pony well, so she couldn’t have told if it was the same one from before or not.

Once again shrugging it off for the time being, Windrunner hopped the railing, gliding down to the ground floor. Tucking her wings to her sides upon landing, she ran towards the MagicLev station and took a left at the intersection, running down the long hall.

She was starting to get spooked by the pony that kept following her. What did they want? Why are they following her so adamantly?

She gasped. What if they wanted to take what she had? She stopped running, her heart pumping. Talking a small sip of water, she let herself take a break for half a minute before continuing at a walk.

She needed to keep calm. Steeling herself was the only choice here. She couldn’t panic.

She sucked in a deep breath and let herself get lost in her walk again. It helped her stay calm, knowing that her walk was steady and even though she couldn’t see her goal, it was true.

It wasn’t long before she hit her next stop. It was a tall room, a simple air circulation vent. There was a low hum as it worked to circulate and purify the air, albeit at a slower rate. Windrunner noted the multiple ventilation shafts connecting to the room, and the giant turbine underneath a metal grate floor. It spun slowly.

Windrunner saw a simple control terminal in a control box to the side. She entered it and looked at the control. She smiled and pushed a button, making the air purification kick into second gear, performing at higher speed. It would serve to transfer any air from warmer areas to colder areas, and hopefully prevent any more permafrost.

The hum changed to a dull roar as the fan in the center spun faster, and a small breeze blew through the room. Windrunner exited the booth, hearing something peculiar.

There was a thumping noise that slowly got louder, and as she tried to discern what it was a hooded figure shot out of one of the open vents, squealing in surprise as they plummeted towards the ground, legs first.

Windrunner gasped as the pony landed, and there was a loud snap, followed by the pony crying out in a feminine tone. Windrunner couldn’t help but approach the figure and look at her.

She cringed. The pony had broken a hind leg, the appendage bending awkwardly. Windrunner grabbed the hood of the pony and yanked it back, rolling the hurt mare over and revealing her face.

Yellow, slitted eyes stared back at her, the pupils narrowing in fear. With the three legs she could use she scrambled backward, screaming in both fear and pain.

Windrunner could see her move her maw and with it came words. “D-don’t hurt me!” she cried, “Please!” She reached down to cradle the broken leg, the mare seething in pain.

Windrunner kept still, weighing her choices. She could threaten her, take her stuff and leave her to die… or she could help the mare. Surely she could make a makeshift splint.

The question was, what was the best decision?

Author's Note

And now we are faced with a choice.

Vote here. The vote will end when I think there are enough to determine a winner.
http://www.strawpoll.me/15430444