There was pink everywhere. It burned and melted everything. I saw nothing but pink.

I was alone in the Cloud. No ground, no sky, nothing. I stood there not moving. I couldn't move, my legs weren't listening to me. Hours passed as I stood, then days, then years.

Slowly the Pink Cloud started to clear. I could see little glimpses through the Cloud. There was a door, a regular metal one.

There were gunshots and screaming coming from behind that door. A lot of screaming.

The cloud receded to the corners of my vision. Like a small reminder that it is always there. I was in a small room on the floor stuck looking at the door. It swung open and an armored Tunneler came out of it holding a gun.

He approached me saying something, but I couldn't understand a word. I was too focused on the barrel of the gun to pay attention to words.

The world stopped, the Tunneler stopped, the sounds stopped. It was just me and the barrel. I could see the bullet inside.

I sat like this for a long time. Suddenly, it all started to move slowly. The bullet started to move, there was a flash of light, intense pain and everything went white.

I sprung up covered in sweat looking around the room. It was as dark and as empty as when I fell asleep. But my heart was still pounding. The nightmares were getting worse.

I was already awake and there was no way I was going back to sleep. Not like I could after the nightmare. I needed to get going. Every minute I stayed in that closet the chances of me getting found out increased.

Standing up I spent a good minute stretching, then ate a carrot. I checked the battery on the goggles, it still had some juice left in it. It was going to be a long day.

Silently opening the door I checked the corridor, it was empty. I closed the door as quickly as possible and with all my possessions with me started moving to the next station. Hopefully, it wasn't taken by the Tunnelers yet. I wasn't sure if I could get through them.

The corridor was as always long and gray. Nothing special about this one, apart from some "Tunlrz" graffiti on the walls. It wasn't looking great for the next station.

With the thought of them already being one step ahead of me I continued on my not-so-merry way.

After some time in the sweet-sweet darkness of the utility tunnels, I saw the regular metal door leading to the station.

The thing was covered in scratch marks and the handle was blown off. They were in there. That was bad. But I didn't have any other way to go. It was either in there or back to Celestia and I did not want to go back to Celestia.

Carefully pulling the door open I snuck in. The place was trashed, benches turned over, tiles smashed, graffiti everywhere. There was a small barrel set on fire in the middle of the platform, three Tunnelers were sitting around it. They were talking, but I couldn't quite hear what they were saying.

I moved silently behind them heading to the underbelly of the station, I guessed that there'd be something like Gears' office on this station too. I was hoping for a terminal that would lead me somewhere, anywhere.

One of the ponies around the fire exploded with laughter.

"Hahahaha! Are you serious? Where did the Boss get so much shit? We've been starving for like a month and now out of nowhere he gets a shitload of new stuff and tells us to go apeshit?" asked a Tunneler, "That doesn't just happen, right?"

"I dunno, after Jester and Doc returned from their last run Boss got all excited an' shit. Didn't even explain why. They prolly just changed his mind or somthin'," answered the second.

"Does it even matter why he decided to let us loose? We got food, we got water, we got guns and we got new "recruits". Seems to me that it's working. Well, that and the fact that we get to play with those that refuse," finished the third with a chuckle that made me feel sick.

"Ah, shut up, you just like it because there were a lot of chicks in the last catch. I'd love to see your face when you have to deal with a buck!" jabbed the second one while I was painstakingly making my way from broken bench to broken bench.

The tiles were impossible to walk on without making a sound. The Tunnelers didn't seem to mind the noise as far as I could tell. If they did I assume there'd be a lot of lead flying my way.

"It's probably mice or something like that," one of them excused my poor sneaking. How nice of him.

"M-maybe it's a Jackalope?" another muttered, "I heard there're thousands of them in the forests."

"Pft! Jackalopes aren't real, are you stupid? I mean come on, dude! You're what, in your twenties - something like that - and you still believe in some hoax? That shit was debunked years ago..." I went out of earshot as one of them went off on a tangent.

I snuck my way to the door that led below, it got blown up too, so getting it open wasn't a problem. Whoever blew the door open didn't do a good job. It was mangled and a good portion of it was stuck in the floor. It wouldn't budge. The lower part was mangled hard and it looked like I just may squeeze through. I tried, but the saddle bags were in the way. Stuffing them in first I barely managed to squeeze my way past the door.

The place behind was identical to Celestia station. I knew where the office was. A flight down, a couple of turns and corners and there was yet another door in front of me. The same plain metal door as always.

Opening it, the office was a carbon copy of the one in Celestia Station. The same table and terminal, the same empty walls, everything was the same. The terminal was shining green light on the wall. The password was already put it, thankfully. I spent a few minutes checking what was on that thing. Notes, memos aaaaand a map of the metro. Bingo!.

I just needed to understand which station was which, since somepony wasn't good enough at their job to label them. That wasn't hard though. I spent enough time in there to somewhat understand what's what. The tunnels from Celestia station were long and winding, but the tunnels to Celestia were winding and long. It might seem the same, but it's really not.

In the end, I figured out where I was on that map. The station was near the center of town and there was some sort of building right above it.

But I couldn't wrap my head around this one thing with the map. There was this little bit right off the station, it didn't lead anywhere and unlike every other corridor this one was clearly added to the map after it was done, the newer part didn't have straight walls, they looked like a foal's drawings. And it was blocked by a wall with no door, that was strange too.

The map of the city looked promising, there were a few places that sparked my interest. Mainly the two gigantic buildings on the opposite sides of the city and what I assumed to be a factory of some sorts not that far from the center.

I searched the terminal for a few more minutes and, what do you know, there was a command to "unlock secret door", but it didn't work, not without an ID of some sort.

Now, the terminal belonged to the station's security chief and I assume that any sort of required ID would be on him. The spells hit on a workday, so the chief was probably working when it all went down. So, I just need to find him or what's left of him.

Thinking about it, if he survived the initial explosion than he died from radiation or the Tunnelers. His body would likely be in one of two places. In his office - where he wasn't - or on the platform somewhere.

I had a target in front of me. Find the body with the keycard, open the wall, find out what's behind it and deny that thing to the Tunnelers. I really didn't want them getting their hooves on any more government property. Plus, if I was the only one with access to the secret door, I could put something between me and the Tunnelers.

Getting out of the office I closed the door and went back to the platform. The Tunnelers were still there, sitting by the barrel and talking about something.

Looking around the station I found three potential places where the body could've been. On the rails or under one particularly broken bench. The third guess was that it was in the barrel, but it didn't smell like there was anything on that fire, so I ignored that possibility.

Checking the rails to the right of me there was nothing but some small pieces of debris. The left one was completely clean.

With the sides of the station checked there was only one place I could think of. There was one bench that I passed while going to the office that looked very different from others.

Getting to it would take some finesse though. The bench was stuck in a hole and one Tunneler was leaning on it. The others probably wouldn't see me if I did everything quickly enough.

It was two or three feet away from me and there were no benches to cover behind. If any of them turned they'd see me. Carefully I began sneaking to the hole. Getting closer to it, my theory was confirmed, I saw small patches of blood.

I was right over the hole. The body was inside, he was crushed by the bench. It looked like a unicorn bashed the poor security guard into the ground. I could barely tell that it was a pony. There was a little keycard poking out of a piece of the uniform. I hoped it was the right one.

Turning around silently I began sneaking back. The first few steps were nice and quiet. I was as silent and as quick as I possibly could've been, but my best just wasn't enough. I stepped on a dislodged tile and it broke with a loud crack.

"What was that? Checkers, go check that shit out, it's getting fucking annoying!" yelled one of them.

"Why do I have to get up?" said presumably Checkers.

"Because I'm too lazy to get up unless it's something serious," responded the one leaning on the bench.

I was trying to find somewhere to hide, but there was nothing close enough. Then I saw Checkers, she was a white unicorn with a strange black mane. The mane was, as her name implied, buzz-cut to look like a checkers board. Her mane wasn't the only eye-catching thing about her. She was covered with blood from hoof to horn. But the most bloodcurdling thing was her eyes, I can't find words to describe the sheer terror I felt when looking into those eyes. They were like the eyes of a doll, big and unmoving. And her maniacal grin only made it worse.

"Then get your ass up, we got a visitor!" she screamed to her friends while smiling madly at me.

I ran like hell to the office. The first door was flung open as far as it would go, then the second and then I was in the office right where the hidden room was supposed to be. I inserted the card into the terminal. Their screaming was getting closer. They still took their time. They were playing with me.

The terminal took its sweet time as well. It was scanning the card. I could hear them getting closer to the office door. Trying to hold the door shut with my magic I looked at the terminal. 60%. Damn it!

They started to bang on the door. 70%. This wasn't going fast enough. I held the door with all I had, but the three of them were trying to pry it open. 80%. I needed more time.

Think, Fritz, think! There's got to be something here. Table? No, the terminal's cables run through there. The lamp? No, it wouldn't do. The chair? That can work. Just need to do this and a little bit of that.

I set the chair up so that it would prevent the door from opening for a short while longer. 90%. Why was this taking so long? I could hear the chair start to break, the door was slowly opening.

100%.

I selected the "unlock secret door" option, pressed "yes" and the back wall of the room slid down. There was no time to look around first, I pulled the card out and the wall started to rise. I jumped in right as it closed.

I heard the chair break into splinters. The door flew off its hinges. But I wasn't there, gone just like magic.

"What the fuck was that!? H-He's not here!" the Tunnelers were in shock.

"Just like a fucking ghost! A second he was here and now he's not!" continued another one. I couldn't quite get which one, I could barely hear them.

"You're not that stupid, right? What kind of ghost hides from ponies?" I heard the voice of reason.

"The kind that wants to be left alone!" the first one said.

They continued to argue while I looked around the place I got stuck in. There was a set of elevator doors and a panel. The elevator seemed to be working fine. I pressed a button hoping to call it down, but with a sound of whirring motors, the whole room started to slowly go up.

The elevator ride lasted forever. The thing moved unbelievably slowly. But it gave me time to catch my breath after the encounter with the Tunnelers.

I finally had some time to think. Mostly about what happened to the Tunnelers to make them so aggressive. When they kind of kidnapped me they were a bit odd, yes, but they were nothing like now. What could've happened to them in a day or two that I was ahead of them?

Suddenly my thoughts were cut short as the elevator stopped and the doors in front of me opened into a big room of some sort. Right in front was a reception desk with a couple of old fashioned terminals. I got out of the elevator and looked around.

It was a foyer from the look of it. There were these huge windows leading outside and they were, strangely, intact. The place looked nice and expensive with red sofas and red-ish carpets covering most of the floor.

A terminal on the desk was turned on. Luckily there wasn't a password on it.

INITIALIZING STABLE-TEC(TM) BOOT AGENT v2.4.5
STRATUSBURG-CITY-HALL-TERMINAL/RECEPTION-DESK/2
THIS TERMINAL IS PROPERTY OF THE EQUESTRIAN GOVERNMENT.
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL TRYING TO ACCESS THIS TERMINAL WILL BE TAKEN FOR QUESTIONING.
WELCOME BACK, Velvet Lotus.

Entry 1. Loading...

The mayor just bought equipment for the building. This stuff is ancient. He didn't even hire anypony to install them. Had to spend some over-time yesterday getting it all set up. At least now we can work like any normal administration.

Entry 2. Loading...

Gloomy Shade is just confusing me. He couldn't get us normal terminals, I have no idea where he dug up this junk, but now he has all the money to build a main-whatever-it-was in the back. They have already begun construction.

Entry 3. Loading...

Finally, the mainframe room is done. No more loud working noises in the middle of the day. They just finished setting up the security for the room. They had to remove one of the windows to get the huge door into the building, so there's still some things that need fixing around here. I guess that means me and Moonlight will have to sit in the draft while they get the window back in place.

Entry 4. Loading...

Gramps from the second floor got stuck in the mainframe room today. Think his name's Astral, we don't talk often. Apparently, the mayor installed this security system that locks the room down if an alarm is triggered. And get this, he connected that system to ALL alarms in the building, including the fire one. As far as I understood it, Sky was doing something in there with his magic and that triggered the alarm. And that's only half of it! The doors only open with a special override key and a password. And the mayor didn't give it to anypony, he's the only one with the key! We had to wait for like three hours until Gloomy returned from his "walk". And he was then irritated that we interrupted his day. Sometimes I wonder how that pony got elected.

Entry 5. Loading...

Now nopony wants to go into the mainframe room. The mayor took the three hours Sky was locked in out of his paycheck. We talked the mayor into leaving a copy of that key in the building. Gramps has it now since he was the one to get locked in. And these pre-historic pieces of junk he got us are starting to fail, the second receptionist, Moonlight, already lost some of her files.

Entry 6. Loading... Data corrupted.

Please contact your local Stable-Tec technician for help.

Entry 7. Loading...

We got a new guy. Bolted Gadget, I think. He takes care of the IT problems around here. Already fixed the terminal for Summer Burn on the second floor. I don't really interact with him much, he spends most of his time in the mainframe room keeping an eye on things there. Nopony told him about the incident, obviously.

Entry 8. Loading... Data corrupted.

Please contact your local Stable-Tec technician for help.

Entry 9. Loading... Data corrupted.

Please contact your local Stable-Tec technician for help.

Entry 10. Loading...

If it wasn't for the decent paycheck I would be out of here! And even that paycheck is getting smaller every month. The mayor just installed a lift from the station below to the foyer because he didn't want to walk far when he was using the metro and he doesn't even use the metro that often! I don't think that text portrays this right, he built an elevator for himself, and only himself, so that he didn't have to "walk far"! The metro exit is right in front of the building, Celestia damn it! I swear this pony is worse than the zebras.

Entry 11. Loading...Data corrupted.

Please contact your local Stable-Tec technician for help.

TERMINAL SHUTTING DOWN
THANK YOU FOR USING STABLE-TEC(TM) TECHNOLOGY
STABLE-TEC. PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE.

I had to thank that mayor, his elevator practically saved me. Well, it's also the reason I got caught in the first place, so I really shouldn't thank him too much.

Knowing some of the story of the place I easily found the mainframe room. To the back of the reception and a bit to the left, there were giant closed bunker doors with a sign on them marking the mainframe. The doors themselves were as high as the ceiling and looked like they weighed a ton each. The alarm probably went off when the city got hit.

I also found the toilets and I'm ashamed to admit it, but I went into both looking for anything useful. And the worst part is that I found quite an assortment of stuff. Some pills labeled "mint-als" were thrown behind a toilet, a bottle of painkillers taped under a sink and some yellow tablets in a tray taped to the backside of a toilet lid. I was very impressed by how much stuff there was. With my new toilet loot, I returned to the foyer.

Back behind the reception desk, there was a second terminal and I needed to get my mind off of the things ponies hide in the toilets.

INITIALIZING STABLE-TEC(TM) BOOT AGENT v2.4.5
STRATUSBURG-CITY-HALL-TERMINAL/RECEPTION-DESK/1
THIS TERMINAL IS PROPERTY OF THE EQUESTRIAN GOVERNMENT.
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL TRYING TO ACCESS THIS TERMINAL WILL BE TAKEN FOR QUESTIONING.
WELCOME BACK, Moonlight Meadow.

Entry 1. Loading... Data corrupted.

Please contact your local Stable-Tec technician for help.

Entry 2. Loading... Data corrupted.

Please contact your local Stable-Tec technician for help.

Entry 3. Loading... Data corrupted.

Please contact your local Stable-Tec technician for help.

Entry 4. Loading... Data corrupted.

Please contact your local Stable-Tec technician for help.

Entry 5. Loading...

This cute stallion from the second floor keeps flirting with me. Summer Burn. Back in Filly, we don't have studs like him. I think I just need to play it cool.

Entry 6. Loading... Data corrupted.

Please contact your local Stable-Tec technician for help.

Entry 7. Loading... File damaged...

Today asljiia figahpaugsdiab aispdfuah21-7y4198hfo jha 91heh9dhae hd91hda me out!!! SAidhnoawbnduabv 19e871b hdsbaid 1u 0d01676&@77215VY !&(TYddh198y a9d18y--(*^@(hg91 hsauhd!!! We're going to the bar tonight!!! I ccantasoidwiy192yfdb i971g9dghadh(*Y@(GHd98h9

The second terminal wasn't as insightful as the first one.

With the foyer explored I went to search the rest of the first floor. The toilets were now empty and the mainframe still closed, so I walked around the floor looking for anything that would catch my eye, but there was nothing save two meeting rooms, which were empty. With the first floor explored I headed to the second floor.

The ladder was down the hallway and to the left. I trotted up to the second floor. It was an open floor with offices covering the walls. There were around ten offices, but only a few of them had name plaques on the doors. Taking up an entire side of the floor was the mayor's office. The door to it was locked. Some kind of electric lock, I didn't even know how to open a thing like this.

Well, there was only one office I was interested in, the one that belonged to the old pony that had the key to the mainframe. Other offices could wait.

I simply started walking from the closest room to me.

Clip Board, then Ember Skies, then Berry Muffin, then Summer Burn, I think that's the one the reception terminal mentioned.

Then there was Snow Lilly and finally Astral Sky, the EEA representative. Things were getting interesting. That was the pony I was looking for.

The door looked old, like one of those classical Manehattan doors with the top part having a glass window. I tried opening it and at first, it seemed locked, but after I shimmied the handle a bit the entire handle with the lock came out of the door. I dropped the lock on the floor.

Entering his office I looked around. It was quite small, with a terminal table in the middle, some bookshelves and a small wardrobe closer to the entrance.

The terminal table instantly attracted my attention. There were piles of papers on it covering almost the entire table and the terminal. I set on the chair and turned the terminal on. The password was written on a sticky note. It was "MagikRulz". The screen flickered green and I began reading.

INITIALIZING STABLE-TEC(TM) BOOT AGENT v2.4.5
STRATUSBURG-CITY-HALL-TERMINAL/OFFICES/ASTRAL_SKY
THIS TERMINAL IS PROPERTY OF THE EQUESTRIAN GOVERNMENT.
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL TRYING TO ACCESS THIS TERMINAL WILL BE TAKEN FOR QUESTIONING.
WELCOME BACK, Astral Sky.

Entry 1. Loading...

Gloomy brought us these terminals to use for the work, but the darn things are too technological for me. All these buttons and passwords are quite hard to remember. I much prefer my old paper. But if the mayor wants us to use these I guess I will give it a try.

Entry 2. Loading...

Forgot to use the terminal for a week or two. But I'll recap some things, so it'll be on here, just in case.

About two days ago a pony I used to work with, Crystal Spark, contacted me with a job. And a good well-paying side job at that. Said he works in the Ministry of Morale now, how some folks change, and they need a special set of spells developed for them. The funny thing is, they could have asked the Ministry of Arcane Technology or whatever that girl decided to call it, but they still prefer the ol' reliable me. Go figure.

Entry 3. Loading...

There are a lot of spells that MoM needs to do its thing as it turns out. I have already started work on the first spell and seeing as I am already done with most of my work for the next week or so I will be able to devote myself to magic. Thankfully, the city hall has that big open room on the first floor, I will need space for some of those spells.

Entry 4. Loading...

The work for this city is minimal, the mayor seems to do most of the things himself. Most ponies on the second floor have nothing to do. At least half of us have some side jobs. Talked to the veteran, Ember-something, can't remember right now, she is going crazy in these walls. She lost a wing in some battle with the zebras, was discharged and sent here. That has got to be tough on a pegasus.

But that's not the most important thing in this entry! I started a book with the spells I am making to keep it all in one place, the terminals just can not get the intricate details across. My old colleague came in to check on how things are going. We even managed to catch up a little. Turns out he has himself a family. Anyway, he was blown away at how fast I have been working, said the things I have done so far are great, but he will need to test them with an operative. He will bring one the next time he checks my progress.

Entry 5. Loading...

The mayor is having some building down on the first floor. Probably just renovating that big room. We also had a lot of new paperwork to do, so the office will be very busy for the next couple of days.

Entry 6. Loading... Data corrupted.

Please contact your local Stable-Tec technician for help.

Entry 7. Loading...

I have been working for the Equestrian government for as long as I can remember and it has always treated me right. Back in the EEA, I had everything a scholar needs, the short time I spent working for the army wasn't as good and peaceful, but at least it was work where I was treated right. I am thinking of going full-time for MoM. At least they know how to deal with an emergency.

At least the girls from reception talked that idiot into giving me the key. Sweet girls they are, it is a shame they work here.

NOTE TO SELF. Loading...

The key is in the robe. You know which one. Just don't mix the keys up.

The passcode for the door is automatically generated every hour. Can get it at the girls' terminals.

TERMINAL SHUTTING DOWN
THANK YOU FOR USING STABLE-TEC(TM) TECHNOLOGY
STABLE-TEC. PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE.

At least he left a note saying where the key was. Old ponies and their reminders. Now I just needed to find a robe with the key.

Opening the wardrobe, I was in awe of what Astral Sky had there. A set of EEA robes! It was my lucky day, I didn't bother putting on my robe back in Conterlot and now there was a clean set of them right in front of me. Going around naked was getting quite dangerous.

It may seem a little strange to want those robes, but those are the best clothes a pony can wish for. They are light, warm, have lots of pockets on the inside. Well, that and the enchantments on them. The EEA robes are a majestic combination of clothing and practical magic. They don't get wet, you can't burn them. I didn't know how well robes can protect from a knife or a bullet, but they weren't made for that, so I wasn't expecting too much out of these robes in that department.

Getting the robes out of the wardrobe I took a good look at them. They were perfect. I expected an old scholar to have a lot of little trinkets on his robes, but there was nothing in the robes except a small keycard in an inner chest pocket.

I quickly got into the robes and it felt good. The only thing bothering me was the high collar, never was a fan of it. It made turning your head a little harder. But besides the high collar, the robes were amazing.

I checked the room for any more pleasant surprises, but besides some weird old-timey gum there was nothing interesting. The gum tasted awful, just to be clear.

With the taste of old socks in my mouth, I got out of the office. The lock was still on the floor where I left it. The mainframe was next. Nopony has a set of bunker doors guarding a pantry, there was bound to be something good in there. The information on a mainframe alone could be useful. I was hoping for a good map of the city, maybe even a location of some place I could rest. And unless I got into that room its contents would forever remain a mystery.

Running down to the first floor and to the terminals again, I checked if I had missed anything. I didn't see any passcodes or passwords when I checked the terminal the first time. And to my amazement, there was a new option. The password was "42223224" and would be changed in twenty minutes. That should be enough to get in, learn whatever is in there and get out. If I could get it locked again afterwards that'd be amazing as well.

At the locked mainframe door, I inserted the key in the slot. There was a click and a small keypad opened. I put in the numbers, a light blinked green and the huge door started to slowly slide open. After a couple of seconds I could get a look inside.

The room was dark at first, but quickly the lights sprang back to life. It was a big space filled with all sorts of tech. Walls of some sort of banks or other kinds of storage, terminals on almost every wall and other things that I couldn't even begin to understand. There was a familiar smell though, a bad one. Like rotting eggs and vegetables, with some excrement thrown in there. Similar to that gut-wrenching station.

There was something in a corner covered up with a small blanket. The smell seemed to be coming from there, right under a wall-mounted terminal. I avoided that corner.

I walked away from the smell, the main terminal for the mainframe was at the back end of the room covering most of the wall. The thing was huge for a mainframe terminal, I've never seen a bigger one in my life, even the EEA one wasn't this gigantic.

When I was a few paces away from it the thing itself turned on, lights started flashing all around the room.

"WELCOME, Astral Sky," a computer voice exclaimed, "PLEASE MIND YOUR SPELLS."

INITIALIZING STABLE-TEC(TM) BOOT AGENT v4.2.1
STRATUSBURG-CITY-HALL-TERMINAL/MAINFRAME/EMPLOYEE/ASTRAL_SKY
THIS TERMINAL IS PROPERTY OF THE EQUESTRIAN GOVERNMENT.
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL TRYING TO ACCESS THIS TERMINAL WILL BE TAKEN FOR QUESTIONING.
WELCOME BACK, Astral Sky.

THE CONTENTS OF YOUR CELL HAVE BEEN ALTERED BY AN ADMIN. THERE IS A NOTE ATTACHED. Loading...

"There's no space left for this thing anywhere else, so I'm leaving it in your cell. Don't touch it, don't look at it, it's there until we can move it to a proper storage place."

OPEN CELL Yes/No

There was no other option available, so I typed in "yes", a couple of lights blinked here and there and I heard something pop open somewhere in the room.

"YOUR CELL HAS BEEN OPENED," the voice informed me.

Standing up from the terminal I went to check on what had opened. It was in one of those walls of technological stuff. A little metal cabinet was open right around the middle of that wall.

Inside were two things. A book with lots of little bookmarks and notes sticking out of it and a strange metal thing with some wires and crystals. I raised the book and quickly flipped through it. From the few things I understood it was the book, Astral Sky was writing, from first glance the topics seemed really complex. Nevertheless, the book went straight into my bag as reading material.

The second thing was different, I couldn't place what it was. Looking at it didn't help. It was a small curved strip of gunmetal with lots of small wires running along one side and some crystals at one end. The crystals were green and as soon as I picked it up they started to shimmer a little as though affected by my magic.

There was a small file still in the cabinet. It had "Authorized eyes only" written on it, but with no government, there are no authorized ponies, so I reasoned that I was as authorized as one could possibly be.

The file name was "M.A.I.F.O.S." or the "Magical Aid and Internal Focus Operating System" as the first few words in the file said. I spent some time carefully reading through the file.

The file itself was a summary of what the thing did. So after reading it I had a relative understanding of what the M.A.I.F.O.S. did. It was an old prototype for a system similar to the one in the Pip-Buck, that Stable-Tec thingy that they use in the Stables. The thing was primarily supposed to be used by unicorns to help them manage their spells. It added a display and a cross to the user's vision. The original version was supposed to do a lot of other things, but with the Pip-Buck's bigger housing the M.A.I.F.O.S. was shut down.

This prototype had a lot of functions. It could manage a unicorn's magic and catalog the spells the unicorn knows. It didn't have the inventory management of a Pip-Buck, probably just didn't have enough space to fit it in there. It could use the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system as well, although I don't know how it would do that. It could do a basic medical check, but nothing fancy, no auto-injectors either. And to add insult to injury, this thing was much more destructible than a Pip-Buck.

All in all, it was clear why the Pip-Buck was the thing used in Stables. I could still use this prototype, at least I'd be able to manage my spells better. I hoped it would help with casting under pressure.

With the decisions out of the way, I took the night-vision device off and put the M.A.I.F.O.S. on my head. For a second nothing happened. Then I felt a slight ping on my head and everything went green for a moment. When my vision cleared there was a small cross right at the point I was looking at. Then the rest of it kicked in, there were a lot of small things happening all at once. Scans, little check-ups, I think I even saw the spell search running.

I moved away from the cabinet and tried to walk around, it wasn't easy to get used to. All the things stayed right in the corners of my eyes and no matter how much I moved my head none of it would go away. Felt a little nauseous, to be honest, but it got a lot better after a minute or two.

Now I had taken everything I could from the mainframe room, at least for the moment. It seemed like every employee had their own storage cell in there. If I had to guess though the most interesting stuff was probably locked behind admin access.

After exiting the room I flung a stun spell at a fire alarm on the ceiling, it went off and locked the mainframe again. The alarm blared for a moment or two, but I quickly found a way to turn it off. Ripping the alarm off seemed to work great.

With the room securely locked and having no plans for the moment, I went back up to Astral Sky's office to spend some time reading the book and letting the headpiece run its diagnostics. It was trying to figure out all the things about me and that would take some time.

I was in that room for at least two or three hours because that darn thing couldn't figure out if copy-pasting was a spell or not. Which it is, by the way. Took me quite some time to learn that one. Very useful spell for an office environment.

While waiting for the check-up to finish I even managed to get what Astral Sky was talking about in his book. The finer points were still out of my reach, but the basic theory was down, mostly.

In the end, I even managed to somewhat learn a spell from the book. One of the first spells Astral wrote for MoM was a simple unlocking spell. It's supposed to just take apart a lock from the inside. Astral Sky mentioned that it wouldn't work on electronic locks or magical ones and probably wouldn't do much to regular good quality locks. This one he just made for ponies to grasp the concept.

With the studying done, for the time being, I sat looking out the window and eating an apple. I couldn't see much, there was something on the windows making it all wobbly outside. It was peaceful outside, no movement, no nothing. Almost didn't want to leave. But sooner or later the food would run out and I would have to move

I didn't even know where to move next. As I saw it, there were two ways for me to go, back down in the metro tunnels or try to get to the streets. None of those sounded pleasant. The metro was probably teeming with crazy killers and the streets were probably teeming with Jackalopes. So, both my options were bad.

After getting all my things sorted I decided that it was time to get going. First I would try to go outside, the Tunnelers were a lot more likely to kill me outright.

I stood in front of the large door on the first floor. It was an old wooden work, with intricate etchings covering the entire thing. The door badly contrasted with the modern mechanisms used to keep it locked. The metal parts were simply cut into the old thing to fit.

I tried the door, but it wouldn't budge. The thing was locked tight. Not thinking about the consequences I cast the unlocking spell. A bolt of small khaki lightning formed around my horn. It bounced right to the lock taking it apart piece by piece. After a second or two the locking mechanism simply fell off the door.

Right as I cast the spell a little message appeared in the upper left corner of my eye.

"Open Lock Lvl. 1 has been added to spell list"

It even gave new spells names. Neat.

The door was in front of me, slowly drifting open with nothing holding it in place. Pushing it a little further I went into the street. There was a strange wall of wobbly air surrounding the building, it looked like some advanced magic, so I assumed that it was what protected the building. I simply walked out of it without a thought, closing the door behind me.

It was early morning. Or late evening. I couldn't tell, the clouds were covering the entire sky.

Right before me was a little square that was supposed to have flowers and trees, but the trees were dead, some of them even uprooted by the blast, dead flowers littering the square.

I slowly left the city hall behind. The streets were empty, only trash rattling in the wind. It was weirdly tranquil, every little thing was at peace. There was a slow warm breeze washing over me. Even with the robe on, I could feel it going over my entire body.

I wondered around the square looking at the trees, or what was left of them. The place was weirdly tranquil, almost peaceful. I enjoyed the quiet moment while it lasted. After a minute or two I had to keep moving. Remembering the rough map of the city from the metro I picked a random direction and headed down the street.

Passing near an overturned kiosk I noticed that it was completely empty, not even a small pack of cakes. It was absolutely clean. It felt odd.

The street ahead was the same, unnaturally clean. Every other bit of the city had something small, a small bit of paper, a rotten flower, but there was nothing on this one. The short rural street didn't have any trees or grass, there were only patches of ground that were supposed to have vegetation.

A feeling of unease was starting to consume me. It wasn't normal. There just was this little something that was off.

A little message appeared at the edge of my vision.

"A powerful magical anomaly is in the area. Device may overheat. Caution advised" The M.A.I.F.O.S. was beginning to heat up.

I felt my skin crawl like some... thing was watching me. I heard a buzzing sound coming from behind. It became louder with every second. The sound was overpowering, like a swarm of flies, millions of them. I froze in place. A huge shadow was hanging over me. The buzzing was only getting worse. The M.A.I.F.O.S. started to give off a lot of heat.

"Anomaly interference. Device overheat. Auto shut-down engaged"

My vision went blurry for a second and when it returned the M.A.I.F.O.S. was turned off.

I heard a heavy stomp right behind me. Then another. Then six more. I could smell it. Like a wet dog.

Gathering all the bravery I had I raised my head and ran. I ran right between the giant spidery legs and for a second it even seemed like I was going to get away. Then I felt something massive swipe me off my legs. Like a giant pipe flying right into my side. I was flung across the street right into a set of stairs. I couldn't even grunt in pain. I couldn't do anything.

The giant thing slowly started moving. It got to me in just a couple of steps. There aren't enough words that I know to describe the pain I felt when it picked me up. Its giant teeth were ripping into me.

The monster started to move again. I still can't believe it, but it felt even worse. Every step it took, every slight movement of the head, I could feel it all. I couldn't think, breath, anything. Somewhere in the pain I lost consciousness.

A ringing in my ear woke me up. It felt bad. Everything that could hurt, did. I was still bleeding.

I felt the cold pavement on my face, the cold felt good.

"Medical Examination Status: Complete. Results: Critical Radiation Poisoning. Bleeding. Crippled Limbs. Concussion. Broken Ribs. Medical Intervention Required."

That didn't look good. It didn't feel good.

I could hear the spider standing right over me. Its hot breath was hitting me in the back of the head like a wet brick. It was sniffing me, trying to figure something out.

Suddenly it moved away raising its head. Something was clearly off. I could hear it trying to move silently, but with its size that wasn't an option. It was going around the room looking for something. There was something that the monster didn't like. The giant spider quickly spread its wings and took off. The buzzing split my head like a chisel.

Laying there bleeding, I thought that was it. That was how it would end. With me getting eaten by a giant flying spider or bleeding out. Not the death I hoped for, but there wasn't much I could do. I couldn't move anything, but everything still hurt like hell. I don't know how long I was lying there. Minutes? Maybe hours. Nothing but the gnawing pain.

Suddenly I heard a step and not the step of that monster. It was the sound of hoof to concrete. I knew the sound all too well. Then the steps got closer. I could feel a pony standing over me. They were huffing like they just ran a marathon.

"Let's get you out," she said simply, "The fly-der will be back soon."

With these words, she carefully placed me on her back. I could feel a wing brushing against my head. She slowly rose up and started to move out. Step by step she carried me out.

We were out of there before the spider came back. Avoiding certain death we headed for what I hoped was safety. After some walking, we stopped somewhere and she carefully put me down. Raising my head with a hoof she poured a potion down my throat. The pain started to lessen immediately. I felt the bleeding slow down. She poured another one. The warmth of healing magic spread through my body again. The pain felt like nothing compared to what it was seconds before. The bleeding stopped.

"There you go, all better. Now you just need to rest," she informed me, "We'll get moving in a bit, so try to relax for now."

I mumbled something between a "thank you" and a "yeah" and tried to relax. Everything was fine for now. With my life secure in the hooves of a stranger I dozed off to unconsciousness. There was no pain.

Getting back up was disgustingly difficult. My head rang like hell, every part of my body was aching and itching.

I opened my eyes. It was dark, I couldn't see a thing. Trying to get up to my hooves I collapsed back on the floor, my legs feeling like twigs.

"If you ever wanna heal those bones of yours, I'd advise you lay down for now," came somewhere from the darkness, " The wolf fly-der got you good. Those things got aggressive after the Megaspell. Lost a friend to one of them."

At the moment I wasn't even able to properly react to the term I heard. A wolf fly-der. A mix between a wolf, a spider and it flies. Sometimes I wonder how ponies survived long enough to build a country.

"T-thanks," I groaned, speaking wasn't easy, it felt like I had something stuck in my throat. She was lighting a small fire between us, every other second I could see the sparks from the flint.

"I'm Ember Skies by the way. Don't stare at the wing and we'll get along fine," she said as the fire lit up the room. Ember was a dark orange pegasus, she was wearing some fatigues and some sort of a gun mounted at her side. She pulled something out of a bag she was sitting next to and walked to me with it hanging from her mouth. I didn't recognize what it was exactly, it was a small orange packet with some words written on it, but with almost no light in the room I couldn't make it out.

"Now, it's been some time after the healing potions, I think it's time to deal with the rads. You really went out with no protection? I can't even imagine what you were running away from to go outside," Ember Skies quickly made me feel not only hurt but also extremely stupid, "Gulp it down in one shot. It tastes so bad you wouldn't want to drink again."

I did as I was told. The thing was orange and tasted like garbage mixed with dirty clothes, and the aftertaste was even worse.

"I didn't really consider it. Just wanted to get out of the metro. It's been a rough few days down there," I explained taking short pauses to catch my breath. It was hard to speak, but it seemed to take my mind off the pain.

"A rough few days, huh? You're telling me!" she responded jokingly, "It's been a rough month for me. Everything went to shit, a couple of ponies I knew died and I've been having the worst hair day for like a month in a row."

"Yeah, that does sound worse," I chuckled, "Crazy tunnel ponies don't seem all that scary now."

"Crazy tunnel ponies? Is that it? I've been surviving with a giant flying pony-eating spider right around the corner. Now that's hard," Ember responded with a smirk, "And now I have to do that and look after an injured idiot. Just my life I guess."

"Look after?" I tilted my head a little. I was already thankful for her saving me, but I didn't think that she'd help me any further.

"Well, I can't just save somepony and then just leave them to die here, can I? Plus it seems like you might have some useful skills," she explained, "You can do all that unicorny stuff with magic, right?"

"Depends on what you need, to be honest. If you need fireballs and infernos then I can't help you. But if you need other magical things, then I may be able to help," I answered plainly. Talking to another pony felt good.

"That's alright, there's always time to learn. Getting some firepower, pun intended, is important. There are lots of things that want to murder anything that they can get their hooves on nowadays," she wasn't taking pacifism as an answer. We talked for some time before she said that it was time for me to rest. Being in no state to argue I laid back down and closed my eyes to sleep. The fly-der got me hard, I needed the rest.

Note: S.P.E.C.I.A.L. determined.

S- 4

P- 7

E- 5

C- 6

I- 8

A- 4

L- 6

New Perks:

• EEA worker – you spent some time working for the Equestria Education Association. You've become smarter as a result. +1 Intelligence.
• Tunnel expert – the time you spent in the dark metro tunnels has changed you. You navigate tunnels with ease. The darkness of tunnels is now comforting to you.
• Novice Mage – you just begun your journey into the ways of magic, but you are determined to learn. +5 Magic
• Peaceful Nature – you prefer dealing with things the peaceful way, although you don't shy away from using force if needs be. +5 Speech

Effects:

• Crippled Legs – you suffered a hard blow to your legs! Ouch! Your movement is cut in half and you cannot run!
• Concussion – after that bonk over the head you can't really think or see straight. -4 Perception and -2 Intelligence.
• Advanced Radiation Poisoning – standing in the sun isn't as pleasant as it used to be. -2 Endurance and -1 Agility

Author's Note

Thanks for reading!