Fallout Equestria: Songs of Hope

Fallout Equestria: Songs of Hope

Chapter One: Awakening

I remember little.
Glimpses.

Distorted memories.

I remembered sounds of laughter that soon, turned to screams and sorrow
I remember seeing flashes of green fill up the sky, torn asunder as the land shook with rage.

Then....nothing.

The world had turned to darkness and I was alone, lost in an endless dream.

I couldn't even remember who I was. All that I had were a few memories and this endless expanse of darkness I was trapped in. I couldn't even remember how long it had been. Not like I haven’t tried to understand or remember more, but the more I try, the more frustrated I became. It’s as if the memories were there, but just out of hooves reach. Was this death? If so, I’d wish it'd at least had some scenery...or light for that matter. I couldn’t even see my own hooves and talking to yourself only entertains one for so long. The time finally came however for this dream to end...

My eyes opened to darkness, but it was not like the darkness from before. Here there was moonlight, shining with an eerie beauty through a small window. I appeared to be in a classroom of sorts, and everywhere was this light, pink mist. There wasn't much to see from where I was, so I tried to get up, but my entire body ached and was still asleep, it seemed. With great effort, I was able to lift my head. Observing the room more clearly, it was very old and resembled a classroom. Over time, my body eventually regained its strength, so slowly, I got to my hooves and began to walk around. There were a bunch of old and rotted desks, small enough for a filly to use. I decided to head towards the window to see if I could get more of a clue of where I was. What lay outside was a scene of utter devastation. One that would stay in my mind forever.

Outside lay a world that was eerie and foul. It was night, but there were no stars or a moon to be seen, the sky darkened with clouds that stretched across the entire horizon. Strands of moonlight filtered through cracks in the clouds, giving just enough light to give me a view of what was on the ground. I must’ve been a few stories up because the ground was quite a ways down. Closer to me though were piles of rubble and some destroyed buildings. I was able to make out what looked to be a sidewalk coming from the building, my gaze following it to a warped gate. The gate was the only entrance, with low stone walls jutting from each side and iron fences atop them. It wrapped around the building into a square of sorts. Outside the gate lay a twisted, gnarled forest with trees that were dark and covered in thorns and underbrush. The only path out of it was a small dirt road that extended from the gate.

Shock started to kick in, making me step backwards in hopes to escape what lay outside the window, "Where in Equestria...?"

Crunch!

Looking down to see what I had stepped on, I wasn't able to determine what it was, but I noticed a brown, semi-crushed object under my hoof. Alas, the pink mist made it a little hazy and hard to make out, so I leaned down a little closer. By the time I got close enough, I'd wished I hadn’t and fell back, startled. It was a small, pony skull. Sweet Luna, I had just stepped on the bones of a filly! I felt sick and went to the open window, but as I did, a breeze came in and I was filled with horror. The pink mist had cleared just enough to reveal dozens upon dozens of skeletons of young fillies.

".... No... No, no no...Luna, please no.."

Dropping to the floor, I tried to take in everything that was happening. Where the fuck was I?! What was going on?! As I lay there, dazed and confused in the dark, dead room, unearthly groans could be heard coming from somewhere outside the door. Was somepony still alive? Cautiously, I went towards the door and slowly cracked it open. It made a deafening creak and I immediately stopped.

The groaning also stopped.

A sense of dread and unease began to wash over me as everything became silent. Within moments, a hoofstep could be heard. Then another. Whoever was out there was heading towards the door. As they got closer, I started to step back, and a thought crossed my mind. What if they were the one who killed the ponies in this room?

As the hoofsteps could be heard right outside the door, I turned to look for somewhere to hide. Behind me sat a desk large enough for me to crawl under. In an instant, I was underneath the desk and keeping myself unnaturally still as the door opened up further. The footsteps stopped…

There was a small hole in the side of the desk, just next to my face. Slowly, I moved to peek through it. What I saw almost made me scream in fear and I had to bite down hard to suppress it. It wasn’t a pony.

Standing in the doorway was a creature that resembled a pony, but it was decomposed, with sharpened teeth and a hungry look on its face. It was horrifying. The creature looked around, sniffing the air with ferocity. Without realizing it, my back hoof knocked over a bottle. Instantly, it tensed up and turned its head to look in my direction, growling as it made its way towards the desk.

Panic set in at the realization of being trapped under the desk, with nowhere to run. If I jumped out now, it would catch me in a heartbeat. It was now right next to the hole, and I could smell its rancid breath. Within moments, its head began poking around the corner, sniffing the air more intently, its growling turning into a snarl. Just when I thought it was the end, there was a loud clanging sound outside the door, forcing the creature to immediately snap its body towards the sound, giving off a hellish roar. I could just make out a voice saying, “Oh, fuck me…” right before the creature dashed out of the room to give chase.

After a few tense moments, it dawned on me that I was holding my breath the whole time and let it all out at once. That was way too close. What was that thing? I decided that was a question for another time. For now, I needed to get out of this building and somewhere safe. No sound could be heard outside the door, so I slowly walked towards it and peeked into a hallway. Looking around, there was no sign of either the creature or the unfortunate soul that it was now chasing. Not wanting to stay here in case the creature decided to return, I entered the hallway and walked towards the right end, away from the direction in which they went. Carefully creeping through the hall, I could hear footsteps above me, so going up was not an option, which only left going down. Reaching the end of the hallway, I saw an open doorway with set of stairs to my left. The stairwell was dark and gloomy. Without a second thought, I walked down the stairs. Didn’t want to risk that thing coming down here for seconds. As I exited the stairwell to the floor below, I was surprised at how different it was.

The first thing I noticed was, unlike on the previous floor, the pinkish mist was now a fog. It was a lot thicker and a little harder to breath in. Second thing I noticed, was that the walls appeared to be melted. That was all I was able to see before I started hearing hoofsteps coming from stairwell above me. Panicking, I ran through the hallway and turned into the first room that was open and shut the door behind me. Locking the door, I backed myself into a desk across from the door and slid down, praying the door would hold. My heart beat louder and faster as the hoofsteps drew nearer and nearer. To my surprise, they didn’t stop at the door, but continued into the hallway until, eventually, the steps faded into silence. Sighing in relief, I looked around to see I was in another classroom, but unlike the one I awoke in, this one was devoid of skeletons.

With the moonlight trickling in through broken windows, the place felt oddly serene. Even with the faint moonlight, it was hard to make out everything in the room, but it was quiet enough for me to try and gather my thoughts. After taking one last look around, sensing no danger, I slumped my head back up against the desk. My mind was everywhere, trying to comprehend everything that had happened so far. Tilting my head back, I found myself looking up at another one of those creatures. It just smiled.

“Hello there!”

Fucking Nope! I bolted as fast as I could, but my legs were quite uncoordinated and I ended up ramming headfirst into the door, instantly blacking out.

...

I awoke later in a bed, wrapped up in sheets. “Well at least I'm dry now. What just happened?" Oh, my head was pounding, as if the Princesses themselves decided to have a rave on my head. I turned over to see the same creature from before sitting there watching and said, "Oh, you're awake!". I did what came as the bravest response I could come up with. I screamed.

"No! No! Not you again!"

It just looked at me in amusement. "Would you quit your panicking before you run into another door?"

Too late, I was already running, but this time I chose to hit a table.

For the third time in one day, I woke up. Seriously, could this day get any worse? This time, I was strapped down and there it was, with an annoyed expression. "You know, you’re a lot of trouble for a Pegasus. At least you didn't try flying out the window."

"Uuughhhhh," I was now having a really bad headache, but I was able to manage a few words, "…What is going on here....Where am I?"

It looked around a little bit, "I know it’s a little beat down, but this is the Nurse's office. I was in the middle of a lovely rest before you woke me up in the Science lab and went all nuts before deciding to try breaking a door down."

Ok, now I had a headache and was confused. Really bad combination. "...Nurse's Office.... Science lab?..." Oh, my head was just getting worse.

The creature's expression seemed to soften a little bit. “I’ll explain later, it seems your about to pass out again."

Damn thing was right. I could feel my eyes begin to haze and darken. As I drifted off into unconsciousness, it was saying, "I come here scavenging for clues and find an odd job. Amazing job, Silver Song."

…

It was around the afternoon when I woke up again. My headache was still there, but it wasn’t as bad as before. Good news is I finally got over waking up to see the creature watching me. After getting a better look, it seemed to resemble some sort of undead pony, although I couldn’t tell if it was actually undead or just really unlucky. Even though it was rotting, its coat shone with a faint silver color and that it was about my size. The one thing I couldn’t do was tell if it was a he or she. I tried to see what its cutie mark was, but the decomposition of the body seemed to have deformed it. It must’ve noticed me staring and asked, “I take it you’ve never seen a Ghoul before?”

Ghoul? Well, not much worse than calling it undead pony, I guess. “Not until now. Silver...Song, right? What’s a Ghoul? And more importantly, where am I?”

With a big sigh, Silver Song explained, “Never thought I’d ever have to explain this. Well, ponies like me are all over the wasteland of Equestria. After the Megaspells hit, any pony that couldn’t get to a Stable were either instantly killed, or managed to survive by hiding underground. Of those that survived, many became tainted by the radiation." He lifted one of his front hoofs up, looking at it in contemplation. "We don’t know why it happens, but we seem to be immortal at the cost of our physical appearance and for most, our sanity. There are two types of ghouls. The ones like me who still remember who we were and can accept our reality, and then there are Ferals who gave up, went insane or just couldn’t take it anymore. Their minds are practically gone, and they attack and eat any living creature that isn’t a Feral. Sometimes even us, for all the similarities we have. A lot of ponies out there will shoot us thinking we're all the same, but there are a few who accept us for who we are.”

Leaning back in the chair, it continued, “As for where you are, you are in the ruins of Luna’s Academy for Gifted Unicorns. Back before the war got real intense, this place was Luna’s prized possession, as little fillies would come all over Equestria to learn magic. There were more little unicorns here than there were at Celestia’s School.” Its face went dark as it continued, “That is, until the day a zebra convoy came by and set off a Pink Cloud bomb. Massacred the whole damn place!! I don’t know myself why the sons-a-bitches would do such a thing and I could care less, but you saw the skeletons around this place?” I nodded, shivering at the memory. “Well those are the poor fillies that were killed here. You are at the place that fully escalated the great war between Equestria and The Zebra Nation.” It nodded towards a window next to me. "Take a look for yourself". I turned my head to see a courtyard with two other buildings that were falling to ruin.

As I looked to the courtyard, a scene flashed through my head.

...

It was now cold. Even colder than the darkness I was suspended in. It was a clear day, with a mild wind. The ground was blanketed in snow and in the distance, mountain peaks stretched across the north. I was hiding in a forest outside the academy, but it wasn’t in ruins. The place was in perfect condition and an amazing sight to behold. It was divided into three rectangular buildings and were all in the shape of a ‘U’. Each building was constructed of white stone and were each four stories high. The central building though had a fifth floor near the center, that only seemed to be big enough for an office. Surrounding the academy was a brick wall that covered the southeast section, while a small hill range circled around the rest of it. In the center of the wall was an ornamental iron gate with an image of Princess Luna emblazoned on each side. Laying right in front of the gate was a stone walkway that went straight out for a mile or two through the forest, then later split into two dirt roads with one facing to the far north and one heading south towards Canterlot.

I was outside the gate watching the entrance when I heard something to my left along the road and turned to see a small convoy of two covered wagons rolling up. They looked beat up and had bullet holes all over the sides. It wasn’t a big convoy, but it wasn’t their size or bullet holes that worried me most. It was the fact they were all zebras. I had a memory about knowing of the fights within the Zebra Nation and the border skirmishes, but that they’ve never been this close before.

Before I could open my mouth, I heard a voice from the gate shout, “Halt! Identify yourself!”

I turned to see an older security guard accompanied by a younger guard. Don’t know how I knew, but I could tell he was a new recruit. While I couldn’t see the new recruits vest, on the lead stallion's vest, he had a name tag that said, “Black Stone". He had this hostile look on his face, which worried me. Did he know something about this or was he just more concerned? Either way, the convoy halted and one of the leading zebras, a stallion, approached.

As he began to approach, I noticed that he was limping a little. His entire front left leg was covered in blood-soaked gauze and he had a bandage wrapped around his head, covering his right eye. There were a few other wounds, but they seemed to have begun healing.

“Stop right there. Identify yourself and state your business!”

The zebra halted and began speaking, “I am Nuru. I speak for our tribe. We come seeking aid and shelter. Our village was attacked by the Caesar’s Elite guards, and we are all that managed to escape. Our chief is dead, and we have many injured. We ask you to please help us!”

I felt sorry for Nuru and his people, but it didn’t seem to change the look on Black Stone's face. He was still hostile as he stated, “I am afraid I cannot grant your request. We have an academy full of colts and fillies and I will not allow any possible conflict to occur within our walls. You need to turn around and leave.” As he said this, him and the newbie raised their rifles towards the convoy.

Ok, wait what? This needed to stop and fast. Both sides were shocked and surprised as I walked out in front of them. “Hey! Do you not see their wounds? These zebras can’t just turn back. They just said their village was destroyed and they are obviously exhausted from the trip. Lower your weapons now!”

Black Stone seemed to be slightly surprised at my sudden appearance, then became annoyed. “Don’t presume to tell me what to do! I don’t care if you're one of them damn Rangers, the safety of this academy is under my command. They need to turn around. We can’t risk them bringing any possible diseases or fights onto these grounds.”

I gave him a hard look as frustration and desperation kicked in. “Don’t forget that while the academy may be under your protection, all of Little Horn Valley lies under my authority. Which means I have just as much authority, if not more, over what goes on within these grounds as you do. They don’t have to go inside the campus grounds. They can set up their convoy outside the gates while they rest and take care of their wounded. I know you have plenty of medical supplies inside and plenty of food. I will not have them sent back, especially with winter approaching.”

Black Stone was unmoved. “Which is exactly why we can’t just be giving them out. During the winter, it’s not as easy getting supplies up here, so all of our medical supplies and food storage are what is needed to last the winter.”

I looked to Nuru. “How many of you are there and how many of you are wounded?”

Angry, Black Stone barked, “Hey! Don’t you ignore me! I said they…”

“Silence your blubbering idiocy right now or I will go straight up Goldenblood’s office and drag him out here to handle this! I know for certain that he will be very displeased with your unwarranted aggression and have you removed from your post. Do not speak out of turn again.”

That seemed to have some effect on Black Stone, as he instantly shut up. Although, the hostility on his face was still there.

Nervously, Nuru began to tell me about his convoy's status, “There are a total of fifteen of us. All of us bear wounds. Four of our mares and two of our stallions are on the verge of death. We have a few colts and fillies as well that need food and medical attention. We are almost out of food and won’t survive the trip back, let alone find a safe place to return to.” He was in tears at this point. “I beg of you! Please help what remains of my tribe!”

Concerned for the welfare of Nuru and his tribe, I turned to Black Stone. “This is worse than I thought. Go and get Goldenblood now. Quickly while there is still some time left to help their wounded! Even you would not condemn colts and fillies to the harsh winter without aid."

With his rifle slowly lowering, his expression softened. “No, I wouldn’t. However, I don’t know if we will have enough…"

Out of nowhere, a young zebra colt jumped out from the lead wagon with a knife in his mouth screaming, “You will help my mother now! I will not let her die out here!"

Surprised, Nuru turned to the young colt and yelled, “Akinyi, stop! Do not provoke th…” Before he could finish, there was a loud bang! and then silence. Right before our eyes, the filly stopped in his tracks. His look of defiance went to confusion as he looked down to see his chest start to turn red. As he looked back up to me, there was fear in his eyes, and he collapsed.

Nuru ran to the young colt screaming, “Akinyi!!”

Horrified, I turned to see the new recruit shaking with smoke coming from his rifle. I screamed at him, “You fool! What have you done?!” Black Stone immediately tackled him to the ground as I turned to see some of the zebras aiming their rifles at me and the guards…

…

As the memory began to fade, I could see Silver Song staring at me with a look of concern. “Are you ok? You’re not gonna pass out on me again, are you?”

Not wanting to worry him…her…I really needed to figure out what it is before I embarrassed myself, I shook my head and said, “No, no I’m ok for now.” What was that horrifying memory? What happened between now and then?

Softening it's gaze a little bit, it continued, “Good. Now it’s my turn to ask you some things. Since you now know this old stallion’s...” Thank you! “...name, why don’t you tell me who you are?”

“Oh right! My name is….” Wait? What was my name again? I tried to remember. “Uh… It’s... um...” Silver Song just sat there staring at me, waiting, “my name is…I can’t remember. I don’t know who I am! Why can’t I remember?! Who am I?!” I started to panic, and he got up, trotted over and tried to help me calm down.

“Whoa, whoa there now. Look, your head is probably still a little scrambled after all your games of High-Hooves with the furniture. Just relax and it’ll come back to you later.” After a few seconds, I believed him and started to relax. Maybe he’s right and it’ll come back later. But what if it didn’t? Shaking my head, I quickly dismissed the thought. I will remember!

Then he asked, “Ok, how about we change topics for now. Why don’t you tell me what you were doing in the Science Lab?”

“I…don’t know.” Great! I was nameless and clueless. Might as well be the lost cause of Equestria! “The only things I remember are some memories, or at least fragments of them, being trapped in total darkness before waking up in one of the rooms, trying not to get eaten and then knocking myself out after running from you earlier. I can’t remember anything else." After revisiting my past events, I felt lost. I didn’t know my name or what I was doing here. The only thing I had right now was that scene from earlier, but I kept it a secret. No need to make myself look crazier than I already am.

A worried look crossed his face. “Well, I'll take a look into that and see if I can come up with anything on why you are here. The thing that’s really bugging me is why you aren't dead yet or suffering the side effects of the Pink Cloud? Obviously, you’re not a ghoul like me, yet you are in perfect health, head trauma aside. Normally, anypony would be melting, having trouble breathing, losing unconsciousness or some other thing within minutes of breathing it in.”

Well, that sort of explains the pink mist everywhere. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t know anything. I wish I could tell you, but I’m still trying to figure out who I am, let alone what the Pink Cloud is.”

Silver Song seemed to be in deep thought as he stood there for a few moments before walking to the bed and taking off the straps around my legs. Sitting up, I stretched my legs and wings, while he turned and walked toward the door. Right before he walked out into the hallway, he turned back to me. “I'm going to go check on something in the main building, so just sit there and relax. I’ll be back around in a few hours. Don’t go wandering around the lower levels, it’s not safe down there.” Pointing to the hallway, he went on, “There’s a bathroom right across the hallway two doors to the left, if you need to wash up. This building seems to still have some water running. Since you seem to be doing fine with the Cloud, I figure some radiated water won’t do any harm.” A few seconds after he entered the hallway, he popped his head back in. “Oh, and please don’t go running into anything else. Or flying for that matter.”

I smiled a little. Ha-ha, very cute. Make fun of the clueless pegasus. As I heard him going down the stairs, I couldn’t help but think, what if I can’t remember who I was or what I was doing here? What if I can’t remember anything? I had too many questions and the one with any hope of having answers just left the room.

After a while, I began looking around the room. In the back of the room, there was an old picture of Princess Luna, along with a bunch of other ponies. For some reason, I figured it was a staff photo. They looked so happy. I had only a fraction of a memory, but it seemed I was there when this place was attacked. Yet, looking around me, that shouldn’t have been possible. The ruins alone look like they’ve been abandoned for at least a century. It didn’t make any sense! Now I was even more frustrated, but I had to calm down because it only made my headache worse. So, I decided to go across the hall and wash up. Upon entering the hallway, I noticed that it was really distorted. All the photos seemed to be melted into the wall and ruined beyond recognition. The stone walls seemed to be one big rock, even though it looks like they were once separate stones. I looked at the floor and thought that I would have melted into it, but it seemed sturdy.

I guess it became solid enough to walk on after all this time. As I entered the bathroom, I found a mirror and finally got a good look at myself. I had a dark red coat, and my mane and tail were a mix black and red. My ears were ripped, as the tops of them were missing. My wings seemed to have some tan, metallic edging along the span of the wing. It looked like it was once ornamental, but was now fused together. Good news is, it didn’t seem to cause any damage or affect the movement. I wondered if I could still fly. Figured I’d find out later once I felt better. On my flanks were my Cutie mark. It was 4 poker cards, all Jacks of each suite. Was I some sort of gambler? If so, boy did I suck.

Looking closer, I was surprised to notice my entire body was covered in tan stripes. Huh. I wonder why I had all these stripes painted on me. I looked like a zebra, except I had wings. “I should wash these off as soon as possible. Would be nice if there was a shower in here.”

After washing up, I looked out a thin window and could see some bright spots in the dark clouds above, so I figured it must have been daytime now.

“I wonder what's on the rest of the floor?”

As I started to wander the halls, I noticed all the doors seemed to be locked. They each had a glass panel that you could’ve been able to look into before, but I guess because of the Pink Cloud, the glass was distorted to the point it was like trying to look through a pinkish rock crystal. One door near the end of the hallway was cracked open. Above the door was a sign that read “Stairwell”.

Remembering Silver Song’s warning, I hesitated by the door. I wanted to just turn around and head back to the Nurse’s office, but something urged me to open the door the rest of the way. It made a soft groan as I nudged through the door into the stairwell. It seemed I was on the third floor of this building due to the stairs only leading down. That and there was a big, green “3” next to the door. As I started to head down, the steps seemed to compact every time I put my hoof down. It felt weird and like I might get sucked in, so I moved a little faster. When I got to the door on the second floor, I turned to see that the stairwell leading to the first floor was unnaturally dark.

“Yeah, screw that, this pony knows a death trap when he sees one.”

I thought I could hear some soft moaning down at the bottom, so I decided it’d be safer to avoid going any further down. I immediately opened the door and stepped into the second-floor hallway.

“Oh wow. And here I thought the third floor was bad.”

Greeting me in the hallway was a much weirder scene than up above. The walls seemed to be oozing pink gas from out of nowhere and looked like they would just melt into a puddle at any moment. If there were any pictures on the walls, they were now part of the wall and showed almost no trace of them ever being there. And the floor was just a little bit worse than the stairwell, but I didn’t seem to sink through to the first floor, so it seemed promising. Seriously, how in the name of Celestia was this building still standing? I noticed that unlike the floor above, most of the doors here were open and even though the doors were part of the floor and the ceiling, there were gaps big enough for me to fit through.

“I bet Silver Song is somewhere on this floor. I wonder which room he…” I stopped halfway through as I began to stare at a huge lump along the wall. "Oh, please don't let it be some pink gas bubble." As I looked closer, my curiosity changed to horror. The lump in the wall was a little filly melted into the wall, looking towards the end of the hall with fear in her eyes and a hoof stretched out as if calling to someone to help her.

Obviously, the help never came. I was beginning to feel sick, when suddenly I saw its eyes turn towards me. Dear Goddesses, this filly was still alive! I immediately heaved out anything that I had in my stomach all over the floor.

Crying, I yelled out, “WHY?! What the fuck is this? This can’t be happening. No, this is, it's just a dream.” I curled up on the floor, closed my eyes and put my hooves over my head repeating over and over, “It's just a dream, it's just a dream, it's just a dream…” when out of nowhere I heard Silver Song's voice.

“Hey! Are you ok? I told you not to come down here, you idiot!”

With tears still pouring from my eyes, I looked up to see him running over to me and I felt so grateful that he was there. “How? How can this world be so cruel?! This poor filly…” I couldn’t even finish, so I just kept crying. Silver Song just stood there with a sad look in his eyes. He stood there and waited until I could cry no more. Very carefully, he sat next to me. “This is just a small fraction of how fucked up Equestria has become. I didn’t want you to see this yet.”

Slowly, I looked at him as he continued, “This filly is just one of many who tried to escape the effects of the Pink Cloud. She’s not the only one like this in the academy either. There are a few more in the other buildings and there is one filly I can never bring myself to go near. I wish I had a gun on me right now so I could end their suffering. And trust me, it’s worse in Canterlot. There are hundreds of ponies who share the same fate. Most ponies today don’t even know about these poor souls because they can’t survive in the Pink Cloud. Even for ghouls like me, we try to avoid Canterlot. Its way thicker there than it is here.”

“And no pony has ever tried to help them?!”

“As I said, most ponies don’t even know they exist. Even if they did, you won't find any of them willing to help. They’re either too busy trying to survive on their own or because they will die within moments. Out here in the wasteland of Equestria, there is no kindness, no mercy and very little on helpful ponies.”

As I lay there, exhausted, I couldn’t help but look up into the poor filly’s eyes. They had a look of desperation and a deep sadness. It had been there a long time, unable to die and just wanted to finally find some peace.

“I promise you, I will find a way to end your suffering.”

As I looked up back towards Silver Song, I thought I caught a quick hint of regret in his eyes as he too, stared at the poor filly. As quickly as it appeared, it was gone and then something dawned on him. "Come with me". Slowly, I took one last glance at the poor filly. I could've sworn that it was looking at me with hope in its eyes, as if it heard me. Turning to follow Silver Song, I thought to myself, "If nobody else wants to help these fillies, then I will!" As I followed him into the stairwell, he started walking down towards the lower level. "Uuumm, I thought you said not to go down there because it was dangerous".

He just chuckled softly, which if you add the pink, ominous fog and the dark stairwell, was insanely creepy. "For you, yes. For me, it's different. However, you should be fine so long as you stick close to me and step very carefully. If you make any sudden moves or sounds, we will be in some really deep shit. And I mean ferocious, bloodthirsty, painfully agonizing shit." He looked straight into my eyes as he spoke, and his voice became serious, "You remember my talk about there being two different types of ghouls?" After nodding my head, he continued, "Well you haven't really gotten to know the other kind yet and down below are dozens of them. And fortunately for us, these ghouls can't smell fleshies, like you..." I felt both odd and insulted at the term "fleshies” but kept my thoughts to myself "...and so as long as we keep quiet, they won't notice us, even if they accidently bump into us. However, if you touch them first or make any sudden sounds, they will swarm over us until there's nothing left but our bones."

While I was listening, I began to sweat as the scene he described played out in my mind. A thought came to me. "Wait, you said they're extremely sensitive to sound, yet how come none of them came up here when I was...you know…” Now I was really embarrassed as I realized what I must've looked like earlier.

He had a big smirk on his face, or at least I think it was a smirk. His mouth was a little rotted, so I couldn't really tell what expression he was using. "You mean when you were all curled up like a little filly and screaming your feathery little head off.” I flinched and just wanted to die right there. “That was thanks to my quick thinking and because we were both lucky, I had a can next to me. As soon as I heard your yell, I noticed the ferals beginning to stir, so I kicked a nearby can in the opposite direction and managed to keep them busy until I got to you." Huh. So, these ferals really don't think at all.

"Still, I have a really bad feeling about this. What are we going to see?"

"Look, I don't know if you've realized it yet, but as I have said, this is the Wasteland. And I’m not planning on protecting you for long. You need to learn how to take care of yourself. If what I'm about to show you is what I think it is, you're going to need to learn fast. And you'll need to start taking risks. Otherwise, you'll end up some raider’s plaything before they hang you up as a decoration." Great, now I was more scared and even more confused.

"Raiders...what are raiders?"

As he lowered his head, he let out a small sigh of frustration. "Oh dear Celestia, it's like talking to a stable pony...Look, I’ll explain everything later, but we need to go now, or we will miss our chance."

Reluctantly, I gave in. "Fine, let's go." I had to admit, even though I was scared out of my wits as to what awaited us below, my curiosity was even stronger.

As we exited the stairway onto the first floor, I was surprised in what good shape it was in. The walls were still pink, but they seemed to have compacted under the pressure from the upper floors and appeared very sturdy. Though the hallway also seemed a few feet shorter as well. The Pink Cloud was a lot thicker here and it was hard to make out the end of the hallway because of how dense it was. Unlike the previous floors, there were no decorations. All the doors to the rooms were shattered and the entrances were just gaping holes. All except for one at the end of the hall. As we quietly walked through the hallway, I looked into one of the rooms where I could hear some shuffling noises. There were almost a dozen ghouls just wandering around aimlessly. I held my breath as I watched. I turned my head away from it and ended up staring right into the eyes of another ghoul! I froze, my body refusing to move even an inch. It just stood there, staring at me. I found it hard keeping my eyes locked on its eyes. Moments passed by and Silver Song could only just stand there and watch. I was getting to the point where I couldn’t hold my breath any longer, when it looked away and started moving past me.

I waited for Silver Song to give me the signal that it was safe to move. After a few more seconds, he nodded his head and silently mouthed, "You're good. Let's go"

I was so happy that I forgot I was holding my breath and without thinking, let out a loud "Whoo". My heart skipped a beat when all the shuffling around us stopped, and Silver Song looked past me in alarm. I turned around to see the previous feral stop and turn towards us. Suddenly, it let out this horrifying screech and began to charge towards me from the other end of the hall. I could hear other ferals joining in and coming out of the classrooms. Next thing that happened was Silver Song yelling, "Shit! Quickly, this way!" As I charged towards him, I could hear even more waking up and entering the hallway. Sweet Celestia, there must've been at least a hundred of them! Silver Song had the door open and was waiting for me.

"Hurry, they're almost upon you!"

I was just a few feet from the door when suddenly I was halted and felt a sharp pain in my leg. I turned swiftly to see a feral had sunk its teeth into one of my hind legs. Instinctively, I swiped my wing to the left and knocked the ghoul off, and letting it also take a good chunk out of my leg. As I turned around, I flapped my wings hard and used the momentum to do flip backwards, my other leg kicking out and snapping its head. As soon as I landed on my hooves, I winced in pain and buckled where the ghoul bit me. I looked up to see the other ferals only a few feet away and in an instant, I twisted my body, ignoring the pain and just flew right over Silver Song. As soon as I was in the room, he slammed the door shut and locked it. A second later, the door was being pounded by the many ferals trying to get in. It started to buckle under the weight of all the ferals and we both backed away, just waiting for it to break. Yet the door held. With a sigh of relief, we both fell to the ground, too shocked and exhausted to speak. So, we just sat there… waiting.

After a while, they gave up and the pounding stopped. We waited a little longer to make sure they were gone. After a few minutes, Silver Song was the first to speak. His voice was exasperated as he flopped on his side and looked right at me. “Do you have any idea how close I've come to dying today because of you? I count this as the third time today and I don't think my old heart can take a fourth.”

I started to apologize, but he raised his hoof to my face indicating that he didn't want to hear it. He slowly stood up and looked around the room before looking back to me and speaking again, “Look, I know this is all new to you, but you need to seriously get a grip and quickly learn about your surroundings." Slowly, his tone became serious and dark. He looked dead in my eyes as he continued, "We were lucky this time, in fact we were very fucking lucky that both of us came out of that unscathed. I have seen ponies ripped to pieces, friends fall around me like flies when we walked into a raider trap, and creatures so merciless you’ll think these ghouls were CUTE, FUZZY PETS!!" He practically screamed at that point. I just sat there dumbfounded. He was right, I almost got us killed. As it all began to sink in, he spoke more calmly, "You seem to understand now. This world isn’t like the one you’re used to. Not anymore."

"Wait. What? What do you mean it's not like I'm used to?” What he just said made no sense and the fact that I couldn't even recall anything of my past wasn’t helping at all. Did he know something about why I was here? I asked him.

"Hm. I don't know why you're here, but I did find something...both disturbing and amazing. I honestly don’t know how else to describe it and it still seems impossible. Remember how you were saying you woke up with fragmented memories?" I nodded. "Well, I think I might be able to explain a part of that, but I will need you to come into the next room..." Feeling dread at the thought of walking back out into that nightmare, he saw my look and quickly put my fears to rest. “Don't worry, we're not going back out into the hallway. There’s a door in here that leads straight into the old security room. And there’s no ferals in there either. C'mon! I’m starting to get antsy with my angry brethren just outside the door." He said that with a smile and I couldn’t help but smile with him. As I started to stand up, a sharp pain hit me and I remembered that I had a chunk of my leg missing from the earlier attack. "Gah! oooohh Celestia be damned!"

Sitting back down, Silver Song looked at me sympathetically. "I take back what I said being unscathed. How 'bout we fix that up before you bleed out?"

After applying some bandages he had from the Nurse’s office, I was able to stand up and walk a little easier. "Now it's gonna take a few days for that to fully heal, but you should be fine walking so long as you don’t go running or do anything excessive. C'mon..." he then pointed towards the left side of the room where a metal door stood cracked wide open, just big enough for a pony to squeeze in.

"That’s where we need to go." As we walked across the room, I looked around and saw that this used to be a meeting room. There was a large table in the center of the room surrounded by chairs. Hanging above the table were the remains of a crystal chandelier. I could just imagine what it once looked like and ponies sitting down discussing the day-to-day business of the academy. And I'd be standing in the corner of the room just listening as they would drone on. I stopped momentarily, feeling like it was more than just my imagination, then quickly brushed the thought away and continued following Silver Song. As we got to the door, he went inside stating, "Careful. Try not to get the bandages caught in the doorway. The metal is a little jagged in some places, so it might catch." He was right. I could feel the metal scraping against me, but it wasn’t sharp enough to penetrate the skin.

After getting to the other side, I noticed that this room was a lot bigger than the previous one. I saw two rows of metal lockers, back-to-back, in the center of the room. To the right, on the other side of the locker room, in the corner, was another door that had an exit sign above it. That one must lead outside. Along the rest of the wall were eight shower stalls. On the left side of the room was a wall with pictures and posters. In the corner opposite of us was a caged armory. It seemed in good condition, but the door had an electronic keypad lock, so I doubt we would be able to open it unless we found the key code. In the back of the room was the banner of Equestria, proudly displaying the two princesses and completely untouched by the pink mist and wear of time. The fabric shone as if it were alive, and I couldn't suppress my wonder. "Wow. It’s so beautiful." Silver Song looked from me to the banner and nodded his head in agreement. "That it is. They say that these banners were made from a rare fabric that used to exist thousands of years ago and that they can last forever. Only five banners of this quality were ever made. The rest were made by normal means." I stood there looking at it, taking in every detail. I didn't know if I would ever see this again. After a few moments, Silver Song tapped me on the shoulder and gestured his head towards one of the pictures next to the armory. "Over here."

As we got closer to the picture, he pointed at it saying, "Fourth row, seven from the left." As I looked closer, I saw that it was a photo of ponies all lined up. It must’ve been a staff photo because I could see Princess Luna in the middle. Ignoring that for the moment, I followed Silver Song's directions to find…

...Me?