My well manicured hooves smash the hated terminal to pieces. LIES! They threw their war heroes away. They threw my Blueberry away. I don’t know how long I’ve been screaming this time. Eventually, it will pass. It has too. Right now I only know that 70 years ago someone broke in the stable and stole my filly, they murdered my war hero, and if they could get in, I can get out.

My hooves ache from pounding against unyielding metal, but I barely feel it over the thrumming pulse of my own heartbeat. Focus. I need to focus. I stumble through the darkened hallways, emergency lights flickering overhead, casting eerie shadows across the lifeless pods. There has to be a way out. I refuse to die buried in this steel coffin, surrounded by ghosts and broken promises.

A sudden hiss breaks the oppressive silence, and I wheel around, heart lurching into my throat. Steam billows from a rusted pipe overhead, and I nearly collapse in relief, then laugh at the absurdity. Get it together, Last. You're made of sterner stuff than this. Blueberry always said I was the strong one.

Drawing a steadying breath, I propel myself forward, methodically checking each room, each corridor. Offices, cafeteria, dormitories - all the same story of decay and neglect. But as I round the corner to the Atrium, my eyes catch on a tiny red light blinking beneath layers of grime. An access panel, its edges curled with age, but the screen miraculously still aglow. With trembling hooves, I wipe away the years of filth caked across its surface to read the words that could damn me or deliver me:

“EMERGENCY EXIT: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY]”

"This room is closer, I think, no, I know I'm closer to the way in, the way back out.” I can hear the rustling of a breeze… no, not a breeze… something skittering in the shadows. Something else that got inside, and yet more proof of a way out? But what could it be? “What in Tartarus could have survived out there and found its way in here?"

I catch glances in the shaddows… wild dogs? No… too many legs. “Giant cockroaches? Luna’s holy flank…”

I recoil in disgust as one of the creatures skitters into the dim light. It's unmistakably a roach, but grotesquely enlarged, its carapace glistening a sickly green. Its antennae twitch as it senses my presence, and I swear I can see a malevolent intelligence in its compound eyes. There's a whole swarm of them, crawling out from the cracks and crevices of the decrepit room. The clicking of their leg joints echoes off the metal walls, a chitinous chorus heralding this new, twisted reality. I feel a surge of revulsion, followed swiftly by a spark of hysteria. Seriously? After everything I've been through, after all I've lost, I'm going to have to contend with overgrown bugs? A slightly unhinged laugh bubbles up in my throat. But as more and more of the roaches emerge, the severity of the situation sinks in. There are dozens of them, each one the size of a pony's fetlock, and they're moving with a clear purpose. Towards me. I cast my eyes around the room, searching for something, anything I can use as a weapon. A length of pipe, a shard of metal, even a damn mop - I'll take what I can get. Because one thing's for certain: I didn't survive a goddamn apocalypse to end up as roach chow. I spot a fire extinguisher mounted on the far wall, caked in grime but hopefully still functional. If I can just get to it... "Alright, you overgrown vermin," I mutter, feeling a flicker of my old determination sparking to life. "You want a piece of me? Let's dance." I take a deep breath, steel myself, and charge forward into the chittering swarm.

Author's Note

Getting back into this one. Still short chapters, but I'm trying to keep them dramatically paced...