The Alpha-Omega Hotel had long since lost the hospitality it once claimed to be known for, standing tall over Fillydelphia as a symbol of... Well, it wasn't completely wrecked, which made it luxurious by Fillydelphia standards. Stern came to a casually graceful landing on the rooftop of the building just as one of the Pinkie Pie balloons was lifting off. The fur on her back stood up seeing the massive misshapen head rise into the air, they were far more disturbing than the ponies in the basket beneath who scanned the area with a mounted anti-machine rifle. Occasionally one would slip from the basket and turn into a mess on the ground, Stern remembered the one that burst open after hitting the corner of a rooftop high above the street, causing a brief shower of gore.

Passing by one of the alicorns that wandered the halls of the hotel, Stern made her way back to her office to assign schedules. Patrol routes would need to be updated, border guard shifts were going to be rotating and with a few Talons sick this week, there would be gaps in the border guard. Everyone would be positioned on the walls to minimize the gaps. At least the Talons were competent at their jobs enough to be able to handle training each other. With Steel Rangers making life difficult outside the wall of Fillydelphia, Stern felt the constant paranoia of an armored assault taking place. With Red Eye's surveillance drones buzzing around the city, it was impossible to use any radio transmission as the Ministry of Morale broadcast was too much interference. In place of a real communications network, Stern set up light beacons facing inward in case of that. A green beacon put a section of the city on high alert and called in a small group of Talons on standby, amber called Talons off their patrol routes in a nearby section of the city, a red beacon alerted all Talons. If one section of the wall flashed a red beacon, the entire wall would go on high alert.

Stern's head throbbed painfully as she looked over the computer screen, splashes of green illumination burning her eyes even in the lit room. The digital copy of the schedule was then sent to the Talon server set up in the building as well as transcribed onto a chalkboard in the common areas, and finally onto paper for record keeping. Checking the clock, Stern growled, she was already needed at the gate and had no time to visit the hospital or the gym because that time was spent yelling at Wicked Slit. In spite of her own policies banning alcohol in Fillydelphia, Stern wondered if a stiff drink was what she needed on days like this. She settled for tiny bit of med-x to fix the pain in her cerebellum. She closed her eyes for just a minute, resting her head on her desk while two Talons walked by complaining about the unfortunate alignment of their schedules causing them to be on patrol the morning after a long night of wall duty.

With an audible groan Stern shouted down the hall, "Find someone to switch with and write it on the board!" it was not a good fix, but as long as it kept the Talons alert she'd take a quick fix. She needed to organize better, maybe set up a rotating set of patrols. From her desk, Stern pulled an old Ministry of Peace textbook from a stack of many 'Hooves and Horns: Medical Treatment for Ponies' she flipped to the pages regarding battlefield undernourishment and dietary needs. A chapter explaining how to keep yourself from dying when the rations ran out, the edges of the page had grayed significantly such that if the book were closed one could easily point out where that chapter sat.

Stern read through it countless times before, but this was the first time she'd opened the book since coming to Fillydelphia. It was just a battlefield manual and didn't have the most in-depth information, it explained things like scavenging and which plants were safe to eat. Most all of the plants outside, if there were still plants to be found, were mutated. Most of the chapter had been rendered obsolete by 200 years' passage. The last time she'd read this book, she was trying to help keep the slaves from starving to death in droves, and if that filly from earlier was any indication, it was going to start happening again soon. Her work on manual soil purification was largely bypassed by the discovery of a Ministry of Morale warehouse underneath the Fun Farm amusement park. Stern shut the book and put it back into the desk drawer - she was needed at the gate. Exiting her office, Stern passed by the remains of a poster that read 'We Must Do Better!' a personal touch she brought to the office long ago.

Antimachine rifle hanging from her side, Stern left her office and made her way out of the Alpha-Omega Hotel. On the way up the stairs, she was stopped by one of... Them. Stern's face kept stiff as the thing stood a few steps above her, using the placement to stare down it's nose at her. "Griffon Stern." it addressed in a singular voice, unable to use telepathy to get into the head of a non-pony. "Red Eye requests your presence."

With a quiet exhale, Stern turns to head back down the stairs to Red Eye's suite, the alicorn shuffles past her and outstretches it's wings. "We shall lead you."

"I know where Red Eye's room is." Stern replies, unwilling to escalate the situation by shoving past the alicorn. Just one minute alone with one of these things and she'd rip it apart. The genocidal hivemind monsters couldn't even afford to not be rude at every opportunity? Stern just knew she was going to be having another 'mowing alicorns down with a rain of plasma' dream tonight.

Just as expected, she was lead downstairs right to Red Eye's door. "Here is Red Eye's office." It announces to no one's real surprise. Stern rolls her eyes and enters to find Red Eye sitting in a poorly-lit room looking over Fillydelphia through a massive window that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, he turns to look back at Stern as she walks in. From this angle, one wouldn't be able he had a computer jammed into his skull. She sometimes wondered what all he could see with that eye.

"You'll never guess who's come to visit us, Stern." Red Eye says with an almost giddy tone, his forehooves tapping together in front of his chest.

"Who?"

"The Stabledweller is in Fillydelphia now." he says, "The unicorn I told you I'd need." Stern became uneasy, she knew Red Eye's plan to oust the Goddess. Any talk of that made her nervous because her choices were between 'definitely will kill you' Unity and 'probably won't kill you' Red Eye. To leave Red Eye was to choose death, so it seemed.

"What about the pegasus?" Stern asks, trying to gauge how close judgement day was, once he'd ascended Stern would just have to trust that he wouldn't go all Unity 2 on the world after what she imagined was either an alicorn war or some kind of peaceful alicorn orgy.

Red Eye smiled menacingly, he wasn't all that menacing for a pony but the power he held did the work of making him feared and respected. "All in good time, Stern." he says, "Now, you'll recognize the Stabledweller immediately, your orders are to keep her alive. I have a proposition to make." Red Eye then turns to Stern with a serious look, "No one outside of us is to know of our arrangements, not the slavers, not your Talons. Word of me wanting to speak with her is not to reach any alicorn, it would draw too much suspicion from the Goddess and possibly ruin everything. You alone are to keep her from dying here."

"Understood."

Red Eye's smile returns, "I trust in your skills to take care of this for me. Now, she's at the gates."

Stern nods, turning to leave and get back to the gates.

Stern perched on the catwalks above the Fillydelphia plaza entrance. Ponies in chains shuffled in, egged on by the slavers with sharp prods, whips, or blunt instruments. They all looked to be a forlorn group - heads hung low, hooves dragging on the ground, fearful glances up at the Talons on duty. All of them, save for one abnormally short mare who held no traits of ever being a slave. Her clean and vibrant coat hadn't drained of color from years of neglect and misery, she looked around observantly and without fear of meeting the gaze of a slaver. Stern then noticed the Pipbuck with a tired sigh, this was clearly the Stabledweller.

Once all the slaves had been herded into the plaza, it was time for Stern to give them her classic speech, to give them their options and allow them to choose their sentencing.

Stern listened closely as Red Eye's speech played on the loudspeakers. His smooth voice punctuated by the angry shout of one of the slavers, "Make yourselves presentable, you worthless mules!" it was a rule to never interrupt Red Eye's speeches. He was the one thing standing between the Goddess and her plans... He was also helping her with a promise of more alicorns. It was this or death, griffons wouldn't rally behind her unless she could afford to pay them, and she couldn't afford an army. Stern shifted, aiming down the scope of her antimachine rifle.

THOOM

The slaver was instantly reduced to a splatter of crimson gore by a bullet designed to destroy power armor. Stern scowled as the slaves and slavers alike cowered under her gaze. The entirety of Red Eye's speech was allowed to finish with a silent audience before Stern spoke once more, "You do not interrupt while Red Eye is talking!"

Stern turned to face the crowd, "My name is Stern." she says, looking down on them all, "And this is my town."

Like usual, nopony volunteered to join the Stable Recovery Teams or fight in the pit. It was probably for the best, they all looked a sorry sight, especially the stabledweller.

"Post them up in the Fun Farm." Stern says, turning to one of the slavers who stiffened to attention under her gaze.

"Y-yes ma'am." the dark gray mare replies before forcing herself to put on a tough face to address the new ponies. Stern watched them as they were shuffled out of the plaza and towards the remains of a theme park. It always got on Stern's nerves for one reason or another that the area was still identifiable as a theme park, the burdened slaver wanted the remains of the past removed while the young medic felt sad at the ironic juxtaposition of the old and new purpose of the same installations.

A few griffons passed by overhead, on patrol near the wall. They were especially vigilant during days like this where new slaves were brought in, just in case there was any runners to shoot at.

Stern watched as the last of the ponies filed out of the plaza, just enough time for her to have a personal thought about the raiders and other miscreants held in the fun farm - some of these terrible ponies had at least earned their spot here.

With a graceful silence, Stern landed atop one of the buildings within the theme park, giving her a view of what used to be a bumper carts rink that now served as a holding pen. A little gray mare could be seen wandering. Aside from two smalltime troublemakers in that pen, it was decently safe, and if any of the stories about her exploits were to be believed then the stabledweller could handle them.

On the ground directly below were the ponies kept in the petting zoo. There needed to be a serious conversation about the rations given out, it was known that starving slaves didn't work. Moving down the slope of the rooftop onto a catwalk that lead into the building, Stern looked down on the ponies and then around to the quartermaster of this area, Whiplash, as he took roll of those arriving back from their latest shift.

Whiplash jumped while his fur stood on end, seeing that the griffon had silently come up behind him. The slaver backpedalled a step before speaking up, "Stern? What do you want?" his attitude becoming shy and anxious.

"Where is the kitchen?"

A moment of confused silence hung between Stern and Whiplash, "The... Kitchen?" the slaver asks, seeming to hold back that he knew more.

"Where do they make the food?" Stern asks, her eyes narrowing impatiently. "You're getting an inspection."

"It's, uhh..." Whiplash gestured his head across the petting zoo enclosure to the far end, "They're next door." The petting zoo housed a fairly large concessions stand and was next to what was once the mass kitchen at the theme park. Poor planning, it seemed, to have the two so close to eachother.

Stern left, letting Whiplash ease up without her menacing presence and tendency to jump to violent solutions. Entering the adjacent kitchen, Stern saw the watered down oatmeal being prepared far before the cooks realized she was there. Even in her heavy armor, Stern tended to not be noticed by ponies until she was right behind them, whether that was of her own stealth or the slavers' lack of awareness was up for debate. Her first question came to surface, "What is this?"

"Oatmeal." one of the cooks replied plainly, setting the stovetop to simmer the huge pot.

"Just oatmeal? Where's the supplementals outlined for the kitchen?"

"The whats?" The slaver turned to face Stern now, almost annoyed with her questioning.

"You can't feed them just oatmeal. Where's the mushroom farm and the cilantro we were supposed to be growing." Stern grumbled with a clear frustration, her headache coming back, she knew if she started screaming again her head would be pounding for the rest of the day.

There was a lack of response, prompting Stern to grip the bridge of her beak, "We went over this already, I turned the old freezer into a mushroom farm. They provide protein and help clear out radiation so the slaves scavenging in the crater can actually survive more than three months. The cilantro does the same and makes it taste better." she spoke to a continued silence and her own growing frustration.

Stern drummed her talons on the countertop, "My head is killing me right now, so if you want to keep being alive you'll find my guidebook and follow the instructions on farming mushrooms for consumption."

The two cooks talked amongst themselves briefly, anxiously, before Stern continued talking, "Finding new slaves is difficult and dangerous outside of Fillydelphia. I take attrition rates seriously and I don't appreciate you not following the dietary plan." Stern took a deep breath, her headache returned, "Show me the freezer."

Stepping away from the stove, the mare and the stallion lead Stern to a large metal door further back in the kitchen. Behind it sat shelves lined with soil-filled bins of faintly glowing mushrooms in a cool, humid room. Wasteland mushrooms were hardy and required little care other than making sure they didn't dry out. The cooks entered the room with Stern, curiously looking around at the fungi.

"You two forgot about this, didn't you?"

The mare admitted first, "Sorry Stern..."

"They should have been harvested earlier, but you can still cook these. I assume the herb garden is dead?"

"How do we, uh... Cook them?" the stallion asks, trying not to set her off.

Stern spent the next half hour showing the ponies how to harvest and cook the mushrooms they'd forgotten about. It was better than just screaming her head off at them. They seemed astounded by the idea of doing something more than just boiling oat rations. It saddened Stern that everyone around her seemed amazed by mundane survival skills such as food prep.

Everypony seemed to like it as they passed out filled metal bowls of the hearty meal she'd forced them to make. Finally the line began to shorten as ponies split off to go to work or catch some sleep before they were needed again. Then along comes that green filly from before, waiting patiently at the back of the line. Stern set aside a little extra for the tiny pony, realizing it was a stallion after a squeaky, muffled "Thank you."

Though Stern was too tired to yell at the cooks, she left them with a simple reminder, "Your job is to feed them. If I catch you fucking up again I will not hesitate to feed you to the Talons." Would she follow through with that? They weren't likely to try finding out. On Stern's exit of the Fun Farm, she came across an unpleasant sight.

"Give it over, runt." one voice called, just beyond her line of sight but well within the range of her hearing.

"You don't need it, you're going to the pit tomorrow." a second cackled, followed by a short scuffle and some laughter.

It wasn't any of her business to be intervening directly with the slaves, she was already overstepping just by being so involved with the slavers but without her micromanaging, they'd all run Fillydelphia into the ground.

Stern took two steps towards the outside before a nagging feeling weighed on her mind, something she hadn't dealt with in over a decade - guilt. She forced another step before a squeaky outcry of "No!" pulled her back with a strangely unseen force. Order, she needed to keep order in this town. With a valid reason on her mind, Stern turned tail and followed the voices she'd picked up on echoing through the petting zoo.

Author's Note

New item obtained:
Stern's Mushroom Risotto
+10 HP
-15 rads