Fallout: Equestria - Echoes of War

“And I think to myself: What a wonderful world.”

The cries of my newborn niece woke me from my dreamless sleep. A headache greeted me immediately, I rolled to check the clock and I let out a sigh. It was noon; I wasn’t exactly sure when I passed out, the last time I looked at the clock it was six thirty. I’d had trouble falling asleep every night since returning from the war a couple of days ago. I hadn’t planned on returning, even though I had the time off, but my mother insisted that I use the time to go home and meet my niece, Dewdrop.

I shared this house with my twin sister, Twister. Our home was in the middle of a street called Harmony Lane that ended in a culdesac. The houses here were nicer than my sister or I could afford. Fortunately for us, I was offered this house along with a spot for my family and me in a stable that was being built nearby for my service in the war. A Stable-tec representative came to me with the offer when I was in Hoofington just before I had a cybernetic installed where my front right leg used to be.

The incident that took my leg also took my father and older brother. It was three years ago now; It still haunted me. I did my best not to think about it.

They were the reason that I’d joined the war. Twister begged me not to go back, but I had to. I’d learned that once your hooves were used to kill it would stick with you. I spent my recovery with Twister in our new house, and when I was ready I returned to the war.

“Can someone check on Dewdrop?” Twister asked, “I just got out of the shower.”

I rolled off the bed. “I got her,” I called then stretched. I left my room and turned down the hall. My mom had arrived yesterday; I could hear her watching the news as I trotted to my niece's room. “What’s got my silly filly so upset,” I said after opening the door. Yes, I said it in baby talk, something that I’d only done when I was alone with the newborn. I made my way to the side of the pink crib and looked down at Dewdrop. She was an earth pony like the rest of our family, save for Twister who was, somehow, a unicorn. I smiled down at the little Cyan foal with a silver mane. She looked up at me with wide eyes before smiling. A warmness that I hadn’t felt in a while filled my heart.

I could tell that she wanted to be picked up, I reached in for her but froze. My eyes were locked on the hoof at the end of my cybernetic leg. The hoof concealed a blade that I could release at a moment's notice. Sometimes the blade would shoot out when I was first getting used to the new leg. Thankfully, no pony got hurt and I was able to learn how to control it after some time. However, I was still worried that the blade would shoot out while I was holding Dewdrop. I still hadn’t held my niece.

“You won't hurt her,” Twister said bringing me out of my thoughts. I turned to see her trotting up to me.

“I–I know, but what if…”

“You won't.” She cut me off, “You’ve had that thing for long enough that I’m confident that you won’t hurt her.” She nudged me, “Give it a try.”

I reached in again and wrapped my flesh and blood leg around the foal, I froze again when I brought the mechanical one closer to her.

“I can't,” I said, ears drooping.

“Here, let me help.” Twisters hoarn glowed followed by a glow forming around Dewdrop. I left the foal from the crib and held her, thankful for Twister’s support.

After holding my niece for a time I began to smell something fierce. “I think she has a present for you, sis,” I said, smiling.

Twister floated Dewdrop over to the changing table. “I’ll take care of her, Can you go and ask Mom if she wants to go out for hamburgers soon? I’m starving.” My stomach growled it’s agreement. I found my mom sitting on the couch as she watched the news. She looked tired, I was surprised that she was able to get the time off work to come here. Cloudy Sky was one of Pinkie Pie's personal assistants, I figured she’d be too busy, she’d buried herself in her work when my father and brother were killed. Twister and I were both surprised when she told us she was on her way.

“Morning, Mom,” I said, She turned toward me and smiled. Cloudy Sky had a gray coat with a very curly Yellow mane.

“Good to see that you’re finally awake.” She laughed, “I almost thought you were going to sleep the day away.”

“Sorry about that. It’s been nice getting to sleep in my own bed, but I’ve been having a hard time falling asleep. It’s just a bit too comfortable after sleeping on a cot for so long. I’m sure I’ll get used to it in a couple of days.”

“Get all the rest you can, sweetie. You’ve more than earned it.”

“Twister wanted to know if you wanted to go out for hamburgers here in a little while,” I said, before yawning and heading straight for the coffee maker.

“I’d love to,” Mom replied.

As I stood there waiting for the coffee pot to do its thing I noticed that My bottle of Wild Pegasus was empty. I sighed, I’d have to pick up some more while we were out. I normally didn’t go through whiskey this fast, but it had been a while since I’d last had some so I indulged myself a little, probably too much, judging by the headache that I’d woken up with. I poured myself a cup of coffee as Twister carried Dewdrop into the living room, she set the foal down on the floor and then sat next to her.

It was nice getting to spend time with the family that I had left. I looked forward to getting to spend more time with them once this war was finally over.

“How are things going at work, Mom?” Twister asked, “Anything exciting you can tell us about?”

“Well, there is, but I’m not supposed to tell anypony about it.”

“C’mon, mom. I’m sure Pinkie wouldn’t mind if you told your daughters.”

“I guess you’ll hear about it later on today anyway, I guess I'll let you in on what’s about to happen.” Twister and my full attention were now on our mom, we stared at her, waiting. “There's going to be a Raid on The Four Stars HQ in Manhattan.” She said, “Pinkie believes that there are a lot of zebra sympathizers there and that they need to be taken into custody before they can do further harm.”

My eyes widened at the news while Twister gasped, covering her mouth with a hoof. “Do you know what time the raid is going to happen?” I asked, taking a sip of my black coffee.

Mom looked at the clock on the wall behind the television then said: “It should be happening very soon if it hasn’t started already.”

“Hopefully no innocent ponies get hurt.” Twister said, “There’s probably plenty of ponies that work for Four Stars that aren’t Zebra Sympathizers. What’ll happen to them?’

“They’ll be taken in for questioning, if they are ignorant of any wrongdoings then they’ll be released. The ponies that Pinkie sent are highly trained. It’s unlikely that anypony that’s innocent will be hurt by MOM officers.”

“Ok,” Twister said, clearly worried.

“Don’t worry, Dear. I’m sure that we’ll hear about it on the news soon. There's no reason to worry about it too much. Let's just enjoy the time we have together before Winterbreeze and I have to go back to our jobs.

“It’s Winterstorm now, Mom.” I reminded her. I hadn’t gone by my birth name in years. Before I lost my leg, I went by Winterstorm when I was at war and Winterbreeze when I was at home. Ever since I’d received my reward for serving my country I’d been unable to go by anything other than Winterstorm. I was still the same Ice blue mare with matching eyes and a white mane, but I couldn’t be Winterbreeze, not with the hole in my right ear, scar across my eye, and cybernetic leg. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to go by that name again.

My mom didn’t understand, but she nodded her apology.

“Oh,” Mom said, hopping off the couch, “I need to use you’re terminal for a moment. I promised Pinkie that I’d speak with her after I got here.”

“It’s in the office,” Twister said, “Just be careful not to delete the novel I’m working on. I’m almost finished with it.”

“I will, dear, thank you.” Cloudy Sky briskly trotted away. I took my coffee and relocated to the couch. I took another sip before sitting in on the nearby table. I didn’t pay attention to the TV, instead, I looked out the window. It was a beautiful day, the sun shone brightly in the sky and there wasn’t that many clouds in the sky. I enjoyed days like this, it made me want to go out for a walk through the forest out back and enjoy nature. It had been way too long since I’d trotted through nature without fear of being shot by Zebra snipers.

Everypony in the military agreed that it was weird how they held their riffles, I did as well, but I also spent time trying to learn how to do the same. If I wanted to, I could now rear up on my hind legs and hold a rifle in my front hooves. I hadn’t had the chance to do so in battle, though.

I shook my head. I was home, not on the battlefield. There was no reason to be dwelling on battle right now. Dewdropped let out a happy coo and I looked at her. There were more important things that should be on my mind right now. I smiled as my sister tickled her daughter. It was a shame that Dewdrop’s father didn’t want to be a part of this. He was missing out on the cutest little filly that I’d ever seen.

What a piece of shit, If I ever saw him again, id make sure he got an up-close look at the back of my hoof.

After a while, Mom returned and sat back down on the couch. What was left of our family sat there as we watched Twister help Dewdrop learn how to stand on four hooves. The filly was enveloped by her mother's magic to help support her, It would still be some time before she could do it on her own. I couldn’t help but smile, maybe I should leave the war behind me, I’d already earned a pension to support me for the rest of my life and lost so much to it in the the process. Watching the news member of my family standing with a proud smile and so much life ahead of her I realized that I wanted to be there for as much of it as I could. I’d have to return, but when my tour came to an end I planned to return home and be with my family.

The sounds of sirens evicted me from my joyous fantasies.

“What’s going on?” Twister asked.

“It’s just a drill,” Mom said.

The stallion on the tv went silent I noticed. I shushed them and pointed at the TV. The news pony stood there for a moment, listening to a pony that was off-screen. After a moment he started to stammer before taking a breath and saying: “It would seem that… that Cloudsdale was hit by a mega spell just moments ago.” The stallion gave an audible gulp before continuing. “After that, it seems another Megaspell went off from within Manhattan. It… this is it, every pony.” The stallion stared at the camera for a moment, “Sweet Celestia.” before burying his face in his hooves. The signal cut off after that, being replaced with a screen that had an image of a buffalo above the words:

PLEASE STAND BY

I wasted no time, Leaping off the couch I said: “We need to head to the Stable!”

“Shouldn’t we back a–a bag or something?” Twister asked as she swaddled Dewdrop in a blanket before lifting her in her magic.

“No,” I answered as I galloped around the couch to the door.” The representative I spoke to told me our needs would be provided for inside the stable. All we need to do is get there as soon as we can.”

My family moved to stand behind me, afterward, I opened the door and found chaos. Ponies were galloping off in every direction. About half of the ponies living on Harmony land had a place in the statable, but not all of them. Some had been wealthy enough to purchase one of these nice houses. I was sure that they thought they could buy their way into the stable if anything happened. Well, it was happening now and I was certain that no amount of bits would save anypony now if they didn’t have a spot within the confines of a stable.

The world was ending and it was taking the value assigned to bits along with it. They were doomed.

I galloped through the door, my heart beating as rapidly as it had when I’d first experienced combat. I reached the sidewalk then turned right and followed it down the road. As I galloped for my life I made sure to glance behind me to make sure my family was still with me.
A vertibuck flew above us, when I looked up at it I saw that clouds were moving across the sky, probably to make it harder for the Zebras to target. It didn’t take long for us to reach a dirt path that led to the right as the road turned to the right. I waited for Mom and Dewdrop to catch up before following the dirt path, it led us into the forest before leading us up a hill. At the top of the hill was a crowd of ponies that waited before a gate where a unicorn mare stood levitating a clipboard and pencil in front of her. On either side of her was a pony in power armor, each of them equipped with a minigun.

We stood at the back of the line, there were three groups of ponies ahead of us. It didn’t take long for our turn to arrive, but as we trotted forward a group of ponies pushed their way in front of us.

“Get back,” I told Mom and Twister as the mare at the head of the group started to yell at the pony with the clipboard.

“Let us in!” She barked frantically. “You can’t just leave us out here to die.”

“I’m sorry,” The Stable-tec mare began, “if–if you’re not on the list then you can’t enter the Stable.”

“Bull shit! You have plenty of room for us in there. My brother helped build that stable, he said you could hold all of us if you wanted to. Let! Us! IN!”

I watched as one of the power-armored ponies stepped forward, their minigun spinning.

“Step back!” She ordered. I could tell that there was a mare within that armor, even if her voice was deeper than normal. “If you do not comply you will be moved. You don’t want that. This will be your only warning.”

The crowd didn’t back down, instead, their demands increased. Their shouts grew as I ushered my family to keep backing up. This was going to end badly, I didn’t want a stray bullet to hit anypony that I cared about. I thought I saw one of the ponies pull a gun. Before I had a chance to make sure the power-armored pony opened fire on the crowd. Most of them scattered while those at the front were shredded by the on-coming bullets.

After a too short moment, the gunfire ceased along with the shouting. The path ahead was now clear, only we’d have to step over the bloody remains of the ponies that had just been mowed down. “Close you’re eyes and follow the sound of my voice,” I said. I carefully lead my family over the corpses of equestrian citizens to the mare with the clipboard.

“N–name?” She asked, shakily.

“Winterstorm,” I answered. “My family and I have spots in the stable, for my service in the Equestrian military.”

The mare scanned the Clipboard for a moment. “Here you are,” she said then stepped aside. “Follow Spring Showers,” she gestured to the mare waiting not too far behind her. “She’ll take you to where you need to go.”

She stepped aside and we galloped past. Spring Showers waved for us to follow her. We did so, she led us quickly as we ascendant the rest of the way of the hill. She took us to a large hole in the ground where a group of ponies stood.

“Wait here for just a moment, if you please.” she gestured to the hole in the ground. “There will be a platform that will rise, just stand on it and it will lower you down to the vault. Once you are down there you’ll go through processing into the Stable.”

“Thank you!” we said in unison. Spring Showers nodded at us before galloping back down toward the gate. I hoped that she’d be ok.

It wasn’t long before the metal plating opened up, a few precious moments later the platform was there, ready to lower a new batch of ponies. We joined the group of ponies as we moved to stand on the platform. A Stream of panicked ponies galloped up the hill and joined us on the platform. The inflow was halted by some ponies wearing vault barding each of them had a pistol holstered on one of their front legs.

“I need to go with my kids,” Cried a mare that was being held back by two stallions, “Please, just let me go down with them.”

“You’ll have to wait here for a moment, ma’am.” Said one of the stallions. “The platform will return for the next batch after it takes this group down. You’ll only be away from them for a couple of minutes.”

“There’s room for one more!” somepony yelled from the platform after that a buzzer went off followed by the sounds of metal moving beneath us as the platform began to slightly shake.

“It can only support a certain amount of weight safely, and we’ve been going over that limit every time we send ponies down. I’m sorry but you’ll have to wait and go down with the next batch.”

She continued to try to push past the stallions holding her back, but she’d lost the fervor she’d started with. She looked at three little ponies that still hadn’t received their cutiemarks, tears leaking from her eyes. “It’ll be ok,” She told them, “Mommy will be right behind you, wait for me by the door and I’ll find you when I get down there.”

The platform began its descent into the ground, I could hear the children crying and calling out for their mother. Surely they could have let one more pony onto the platform, it wouldn’t have hurt anything. When the plat from had sunken low enough the hole the metal covering closed, taking the sunlight and leaving us with the artificial lights that were built into the walls.

It wasn’t long after the metal covering had closed before the world was shaken. A balefire bomb had fallen. That mother wouldn’t be able to join her children in the stable.

More earthquakes continued to hit us as we descended into the depths of Equis, and more megaspells must have been hitting the area, but I didn’t know why the Zebras would send that much power this way. I figured they’d send that kind of ordinance at Canterlot to take out the princesses. It didn’t matter though, in the long run, all it would take to devastate any part of Equestria was just one mega spell. I stopped counting the earthquakes after three. Every pony was silent as we continued to descend, save for the sounds of children crying.

A stable pony waited at the bottom to greet us when the platform came to a stop. We waited as the fence ahead of us began to roll, automatically, out of the way. We started to leave the platform in a single file line as instructed by the mare. I was sixth in the row, Mom, Twister, and Dewdrop were right behind me. We followed the line as the pony in front led us up a set of stairs through the open stable door. We stopped when we reached the end of another line of ponies that was at the end of the catwalk past the stable door.

The stable ponies performed their jobs well, no doubt they spent much time rehearsing this process in preparation for an apocalyptic scenario. There were surely ponies that thought such training would go unused, unfortunately, those ponies were wrong. The world had ended and now these stable ponies had to shepherd us panicked ponies to safety in every stable built across Equestria.

I found my seat at the front of the line after a short wait, I was handed a stable uniform and instructed to put it on, along with. One was also provided to my Mother and Sister. Once we were dressed a gray mare with a forest green mane wearing a lab coat came up to us, asking us to follow her into the stable.

“You’re first stop will be our state-of-the-art decontamination pods. Once you are through with that you’ll be taken to our atrium where you will wait for orientation.” It was odd to hear how cheerful the mare sounded, I wouldn’t expect to find a cheerful pony anywhere in the world this soon after the apocalypse. She’s probably faking it, I thought to myself as we followed the mare, The cheerfulness is probably an act to help reassure ponies that they were safe and everything would be alright now that they were safe within the stable. The act didn’t do much for me, but I was sure it had a positive influence on other ponies.

“How are you doing?” I asked Twister, slowing my pace slightly so I could walk behind her and Dewdrop.

She stammered slightly, “Rattled,” She took a breath, “I just can’t believe it happened. Anything could have been better than… this.”

“I know, all of this should have never happened,” I said, trying and failing to reassure her.

“Equestria went a whole millennium without war, I just don’t know why it all had to happen in the first place. Why couldn’t peace talks have happened when this all first started, this could have all been avoided.”

“I know, Twister, I know. I wish things could have been different too, but we’re still alive. Dewdrop still has a chance to grow up and live her life.”

“Yeah, but… but I’d rather she would have gotten a chance to grow up playing in beneath the warmth of the sunlight.”

It saddened me to think that so many foals would spend the rest of their lives inside of these stables; I wasn’t sure when they would open up and allow the ponies they protected back out into the world, but I figured the next couple of generations would live their life without feeling the warmth of the sun. As we followed the mare I wondered what life would look like down here. It would take most of us time to adjust to it while ponies born into this way of life would have an easier time living here. After a time I was sure they’d get tired of hearing us talk about life outside the stable, life back in our day. That was the way it always went, the young wouldn’t be interested in what life was like for their ancestors, even if it was a life spent primarily outside the stable. Only a curious few, captivated by tales of the world outside the stable, would lobby for the opening of the Stable the moment it became safe to do so. I hadn’t the slightest idea what they would find out there when they eventually left the stable; I was certain, however, that the Equestria they found wouldn’t be the same that was now destroyed.

“Here we are,” The mare said, taking me out of my thoughts. “If you’ll please step inside. One of the doctors will give you a quick check-up before moving on to decontamination. After that, you’ll be taken to the Atrium where you’ll await orientation.”

We thanked the mare before entering the medical room that she’d taken us to. The three of us stood there for a moment before one of the doctors gestured toward three newly vacant seats. The doctor waited as we each took a seat, Dewdrop was, somehow, asleep. My family sat there as the doctors quickly fussed about us, checking our vitals and asking questions about any health issues that our ancestors had. It was a fairly brisk process, once we were cleared a new stable pony came to escort us to decontamination. Before we left a Dark gray mare with a black mane that had maroon tips galloped up to me.

“You’ll want to take this before you go ahead,” She levitated a cup that held an orange liquid.

“What is it?” I asked, “Why am I the only one who has to take it?”

“It’s because you have a cybernetic,” She answered, “It could cause issues with the pods, even if you removed it before entering,”

I could take it off, but since that wouldn’t change anything I took the cup and drank it. It tasted like expired milk, it took considerable effort to get it down. Once that was over we followed the stable pony as he led us deeper into the stable to a room with a sign that read: DECONTAMINATION ROOM 4.

“This way, please.” The stallion said and we followed into a room where two rows of pods lined the walls on either side of the room. There was no color in this room, only the dull gray of metal. He led us to three pods at the end of the room, there was an audible hiss coming from tubes that were connected at the top of the pods, the tubes led into the roof of the room. I notice Twister begin to shiver, the room was colder than the rest of the Stable had been so far. At the end of the room was another stallion in a lab coat with thick-rimmed glasses. He smiled at the tree of us before thanking then dismissing the pony that led us here. As the pony galloped away and saw that more ponies were being led into the room. The pony at the head of the next group being led in was grey with a purple straight mane. She stared blankly ahead, she must be in shock. I hoped that there were ponies here that could treat a pony suffering from shock. The earth pony's blue eyes fixed on me, unblinking and void of any visible emotion. a shiver went down my spine and I turned away. She’d need a lot of help, I hoped she’d be able to get it here.

“Hello there,” The stallion said once a pony was standing before each of the pods in the room. “Now, I know that you’ve all been through a considerable amount of turmoil, but I assure you that you are all safe now, there’s no further need for concern for your safety. All that’s left now is you’re decontamination, after that’s completed you’ll go through orientation and be welcomed further into the Stable.” He pointed at the pods, “If you’d step into these pods and stand on you’re hind legs, as best you can, we’ll get the decontamination started. It will only be a moment and then you’ll be on your way.

All of us did as he asked. I turned and stepped into the pod at the end of the row to my left, Twister and Dewdrop took the one across from me, and Mom entered the one next to hers. Once where were all in the pods as the stallion had instructed the doors above the pods lowered and hissed as they sealed us inside. I looked ahead at Twister, she held her daughter in her front legs, and Dewdrop was still asleep. I waited in the pod for a couple of moments before a cool breeze started to be pumped into the pod, blowing my mane and sending a chill through me. The cool air continued to blow as an automated voice began to speak. “Decontamination complete.” I let out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding.

The door didn’t open, colder air began to flow into the pod. The automatic voice continued, “In three… two… one…” Things got even colder, it became hard to move. I tried to move one of my legs, but it remained still. I looked through the window in the door at my sister. Her eyes were closed, she looked like she was deep in sleep. My eyelids started to feel heavy, I tried to keep them open but, they closed and I was in darkness…

…

“Manual ovaries, activated.” Said the Automatic voice. I slowly felt a sensation return to me. It took some effort to open my eyes, but when I did I saw Twiste, still holding Dewdrop, and my mother in the two pods across from me. My entire body felt stiff, I couldn’t move my flesh and blood front hoof very much, but the cybernetic responded to my commands. I used it to try pushing the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. Across from me, I saw Twister and Mom begin to stir in their pods. I wasn’t sure what had happened, all I wanted now was to be out of this thing and to be warm.

Two ponies came into view suddenly, one wore a white, full body, enviro-suit. The other was a grotesque unicorn, she had cutiemarks stitched all over her hide, like some sort of quilt. A Few looked fresh, most looked slightly decayed and a few looked like they’d rot away before too long. They stood in front of Twister’s pod.

“That’s the one,” The pony in the enviro-suit said, pointing at my sister’s pod.

“Better crack it open, then.” The patchwork unicorn said, almost cheerful.

A moment later there was a loud hiss followed by the door to Twister’s pod opening. As the door opened I listened as Twister began to cough. “Wh–what happened?” she asked.

“Everything’s going to be alright,” said the suited pony, “Just, hand the foal over to me for a moment.” The pony reached for Dewdrop, who had started to stir.

“No,” Twister said as the pony set her hooves on the foal, “I’ve got her.”

“Let go of the filly, I won’t ask again.” The patchwork unicorn floated out a knife. I began to pound on the door to my pound with my cybernetic leg.

“I’m not letting you take Dewdrop!” Twister said, trying her best to keep ahold of her daughter. Less than a second later the knife the unicorn was levitating shot forward and buried itself in Twister’s right eye with an audible squelch. Her head thumped against the back of her pod, and her legs fell, lifelessly, to her side as the pony took hold of Dewdrop. I continued to pound on the glass with my cybernetic leg, in vain.

The pony took Dewdrop away, I watched as they left then fixed a hateful glare at the patchwork unicorn. The unicorn’s magic enveloped the knife before removing it from my sister's eye. It then moved to her cutiemark and began to carve. I looked away as she carved Twister’s cutimark from her hide.

“Put ‘em back on ice,” She said, “We don’t need ‘em.”

Cold air washed over me, I opened my eyes and resumed trying to kick the door open, but it wouldn’t even crack. The patchwork unicorn looked at me for a moment then smiled. “Nighty night,” she said before trotting away.

A moment later my eyes closed and I was in darkness once again.

…

Sensation returned to me once again. I faintly heard the automatic voice, but I couldn’t make it out from the hiss of air that escaped from my pod. My eyes slowly opened as the door opened. I looked about, mine was the only one opening. I tried to lower myself onto my front hooves, I held myself for a moment before collapsing to the ground, rolling away from my pod, and coming to lay at the bottom of Twisters. I tried to get up, I needed to make sure that She was alright, even though I knew that she was dead. That knife had burrowed deep into her eye socket, there was no surviving that. Yet, there was an instinctual drive to get to her, to hold her in my hooves.

I couldn’t get up, the only part of me that would do what I wanted was the one part of me that was artificial. My head hurt tremendously, it felt like I’d spent a whole night drinking the strongest liquors that were at hoof. Exhaustion washed over me, I struggled to keep my eyes open. I didn’t want to pass out, not after getting out of that pod. My mom was still in her pod, I needed to get her out, I needed to get to Twister, I needed to figure out where Dewdrop had been taken, and I nee–needed… to…

…

My eyes opened, and I found myself standing in darkness with what looked to be stars all around me. Looking down at the floor I found nothing, only more stars. I was dead, there was no other explanation. I’d escaped that pod only to get a couple of feet from it before dying. I wanted to cry. Tears began to fill my eyes, but before they fell I heard the sound of somepony else crying. They sounded… familiar. Turning toward the sob I decided to find the pony; I wasn’t sure why, I just felt like the right thing for me to do. What else was there for me, now that I was dead and gone?

The cries grew louder as I trotted toward the. They really did sound familiar, but I wasn’t able to figure out who the sobs might belong to. It wasn’t like I invested time memorizing the sounds of anypony’s crying, though, I was sure, I’d feel like an idiot when I found the pony that was producing these sounds. And I was right, I felt like one of the biggest idiots in all of Equestria. The pony I’d heard crying was Twister.

She lay on the ground before me, face buried in her front hooves, crying. Tears returned to my eyes as I looked down at my twin sister.

“Twister?” I asked, slowly stepping forward. “It’s me, Twister. Winter.” She looked up from where she was crying.

“Winter? Is that you?” She scrambled to her hooves before galloping up to me, giving me the tight hug I thought I’d ever been given. I hugged her back, she felt cold.

“It’s me, Sis,” I assured her, rubbing my front right hoof through her mane, only the hoof wasn’t the metallic one that I’d grown used to. It was organic, the hoof I’d been born with, the hoof I’d lost, along with two other members of my, now shrinking, family.

“What are you doing here, Winter?” Twister asked, not releasing me from her embrace. “You feel so… warm”

“Twiter, you feel cold. Ice cold.” She released me, “Where are we?”

“The Ever After, I think.”

“How? I haven’t died yet, have I?” I wasn’t sure if I was being honest with myself. “I only just now got out of the pod and passed out.”

“I don’t know, The last thing I remember was… seeing that knife fly at me. After that, things got… weird.” She took a breath and stared at me for a moment. “Look, Winter. If you’re not dead then you can rescue Dewdrop from those ponies.”

I looked at my sister, looked at the anguish in her eyes.

“Please, Winter.” She said, eyes watering, “You must find Dewdrop. Who knows what those ponies are doing with her? You’re the only family she has.”

“That’s not true,” I said, remembering that Mom was still in her pod when I’d blacked out. “There’s still Mom, she’s still in her pod. I’ll get her out, if I wake up, that is.”

“You will, Winter. I felt how warm you were when we hugged, you’re still alive, I promise.”

“OK, Twister. I promise that I’ll rescue her, I won’t stop until I do. You have my word.”

Twister smiled at me, “Thank you, Winterbreeze.” She used my birth name, but I didn’t correct her. “I love you, please, be careful out there it looks pretty–”

“What is this?” Bellowed a voice from behind me, it seemed to echo around us. Twister’s eyes widened as she crouched down. I turned to see where the voice had originated.

Behind me stood the skeleton of an alicorn. The small white pin-prick flames that floated in the hollows where her eyes should be peered down at me, with contempt. She was tall, taller than even Celestia herself. Her bony wings were outstretched. An ancient cloak of unknowable age was draped over her; a hood of sorts rested on her head concealing her mane, if she had one. I’d of lost control of my bowls, if I’d come face to face with the Alicorn of Death in the real world. I couldn’t say a thing as the Alicorn seemed to glare at me, it felt like she was staring into my soul.

I began to step back only to stop when I didn’t bump into Twister, I turned to look behind me and found that my twin was gone. When I returned my sight to the alicorn I found her closer, leaning down and looking me in the eye. She was cold, even colder than Twister had been. I could feel it without touching her. “Wh–what do you want?” I asked in fear.

“You do not belong here.” She said, “You. Must. Leave!”

I stammered, but nothing came out. I fell to the ground, covering my eyes in my hooves and wishing that I’d wake up. Hoofsteps echoed as the Alicorn walked toward me. All I could do was beg that I’d wake up. The hoofsteps echoed around me as I prayed…

…

My eyes shot open, and I found myself back in the stable. It had only been a nightmare, one scary enough for me to wake up in a cold sweat. The alicorn was gone. My heart pounded in my ears as I lay on the ground, breathing heavily. It took me a moment to get my breathing and heart rate under control. Now that I felt, somewhat, calm I stood up. I looked around the room, just to make sure that the creature wasn’t hiding somewhere. It was just a dream! I told my shelf, shaking my head. Something did catch my eye, however. There was another pod open. Somepony else had woken up.

All the other pods remained closed. It looked like none of the pods had a way to open them. Looking around for a way to open them I saw an active terminal at the end of the room. I galloped up to it. There were a couple of menus to choose from, I selected the prompt that read: CRYO-POD CONTROL. The terminal loaded for a moment before displaying a list of numbered pods. I turned to check the number on Mom’s pod before selecting pod three. It asked me if I wanted to open the pod and then gave me a prompt: Y/N. I hit Y and a warning message flashed on the screen, It read:

Warning! Attempting to open this pod prematurely could result in the death of the current occupant. Would you like to continue?

Y/N

My hoof hovered over the Y key. My pod opened without killing me, but would it do the same for her? I stood there for a long time, thinking. A tear rolled down my cheek as I pressed the N key. I turned off the terminal after that. I walked to my mother’s pod and stood up to look at her through the window. I placed a hoof on it and said: “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll find Dewdrop and I’ll get you out of there. I won’t be long, I promise.”

I left the Cryopod room, leaving droplets of tears behind me.

The door shut behind me as I stood in the hallway. No pony seemed to be around, it looked like the Stable was deserted. The only being the buzz from the lights above.

“Hello?” I called, my voice echoing through the hall, “Is any pony here?” There was no response. Where is everypony? I asked myself as I walked down the hall that we’d been led down. I found the med bay where we’d received our check-up. I could still taste the drink that unicorn had me drink. It was one of the nastiest things I think I’d ever had in my mouth. Silence greeted me as the door to the med bay slid open before me. Really, where was every pony? Surely I’d have come across somepony by now. I walked through the med room and stopped when I saw the skeleton of a pony that was out of sight when I’d first entered. The pones were still wearing the Stable suit and lab coat that I’d seen them where when I’d come through, only, the labcoat was now stained with blood.

Something bad had happened while We were in those pods. By the looks of it, it happened a long time ago. I could only hope that whatever happened to these ponies didn’t occur at the same time that Dewdrop was taken. It was a lot to hope for. But something could have happened to these ponies long before Dewdrop was taken. I wanted to find out for sure. An Overmare ran every stable, I remembered from a pamphlet that the Stable-Tec representative had given me. I’d exhausted the Hostpital’s Daring Doo collection so the Pamphlet was the last thing that I read before being discharged. The Overmare’s terminal should have some answers to what had happened here. Besides, I’d need to find a way to open the Stable door and the Overmare’s office was the best place to find a way to do so.

There were more pony skeletons as I made my way through the stable. Fortunately, it didn’t take me too long to find the Overmare’s office. I’d found the Atrium that the stable ponies had promised. It was no longer as nice as they’d said it was. The trees and the grass were long dead along with the corpses scattered around. A stairway at the end of the atrium led up to an upper balcony where I found another set of stairs past a door that was labeled: Overmare’s Office.

Inside, the office was still nice, save for the skeleton of the Overmare hunched over the desk at the other end of the room. There were posters with the Stable Buck giving a salute, his blond mane, seemingly, blowing in the wind behind him. I trotted over to the desk, The bones crumbled to the floor as I tried to reach for the terminal, I hadn’t wanted to disturb them out of respect for the dead. Even if they’d stuck my family and me in those pods without our consent. The terminal was off, luckily it turned on when I pressed the, ON, button at the base of the screen. I don’t know what I would have done if it had been broken. The terminal took a while to warm up, I sat in the Overmare’s chair as random green text flashed across the black background.

Finally, it stopped warming up and I started to explore its contents. Not long after I came across a message from Stable-Tec for the Overmare’s ears only. My mane bristled, nothing was more exciting than learning something that was supposed to be secret. Every pony in a stable that wasn’t in a Cryo Pod was, clearly, dead. I guessed that made me Overmare since I was the only living thing moving around in this metal tomb. I selected the message and an Audio recording began to play.

“Hello! My name is Scootalloo, there's a good chance you’ve heard of me from some of my performances, or as the founder of Red Racer.

“That hardly matters now though. If you’re hearing this then I’m afraid the worst has happened. Uhh.”

There was a short pause in the recording, I did know who Scootaloo was before the war. She wasn’t the best flyer out there, but she would always give an awesome performance whenever she was a part of an event. When I was younger, around the time that I got my cutiemark, I’d watch her and wish that I was a pegasus, wish that I could be as awesome as her, or Rainbow Dash. I was an earthpony, and eventually, I’d have to accept that I wouldn’t be able to fly like them; that hasn’t happened quite yet, however.

“Sorry, I’ve recorded so many of these things that I’ve lost count. There may be three of us vice presidents at Stable Tech, but I seem to be the only one who’s able to record these messages. That’s not important though, what is important is the mission of your stable. I’m sure you have questions about why your stable is Stable 0 when there is already a Stable 0 here at the Stable tech HQ. Well, there are actually multiple Stable 0’s all across Equestria; The closest to you is one to the northeast of where you are now.

“There’s a very, very good reason for this. Your stable will be housing ponies that will be placed in cryogenic stasis. I’d bet the first thing you think of when you hear Cryogenic Stasis is Luna and Celestia, well they should be… safely… tucked away in Stable 1. Now, as to why there are multiple Stable 0s. The simple truth is that the Zebras will expect the princesses to be in it, inside one of the cryogenic pods. You and I know that they are, more or less, immortal so, there would be no reason to freeze them. However, the ponies that you do have inside the pods are ponies that we here at Stable-Tec deem to be suitable to guide the reconstruction of Equestria!

“You have politicians that are selfless, or, selfless enough to show genuine concealer for the ‘small folk,’ as the aristoponies would say. Alongside them are some of the best doctors and military ponies that we thought would be essential in rebuilding Equestria.”

“Now, it’s your job to monitor their pods, to make sure that they all remain stable throughout the years to come. I’m afraid… afraid that we don’t know how long it will take for things outside the stable to get to a point where you can, more or less, leave the Stable safely. It could take some time before your sensors inform you that conditions outside are safe enough to wake the ponies from their long slumber.

“You’ve been chosen as the first Overstallion of this stable for your loyalty to Stable-tec and Equestria itself. There’s a very strong chance that you’re stable house the future of Equestria, I trust that you’ll be able to protect them until the time comes that they are needed.”

“On behalf of every pony in Equestria, I want to thank you. You are doing us, all of us, a great service. May you find harmony in your future…”

I sat there for a moment, processing what I’d just heard. I was a somepony who chose to help rebuild Equestria. I couldn’t believe it. There were a few ponies that had spent time in the military and deserved to be here more than I did. Most of the ponies that came to mind were the surviving members of, ‘Mackintosh’s marauders,’ One of them would have been better suited for a pod here than I. They had years more experience than I did. All I amounted to was another Grunt that had acquired a small amount of fame within my hometown. There must have been some mistake made along the chain of command at Stable-Tec. It was too late to correct it now though.

After processing that information, or trying to at least, I started to navigate the menus on the Overmare’s terminal until I found her personal logs; most of them were corrupt. I was able to read the final one, through the date on it was corrupt so, I wasn’t sure how old it was. Judging by the skeletons I’d come across, it was old enough.

I can’t believe it, but there is a group of ponies trying to break into the Stable! I’ve stationed guards at the stable door, they should be well equipped enough to handle anypony if they (though I think it impossible) can open the Stable Door.

Aside from this disturbance, everything is running normally; I expect that these would-be invaders will depart when they find that they are unable to open the door without the proper clearance. All we have to do is wait.

These ponies have provided me wist an opportunity to assess our Guard ponies' threat response. So far, they haven’t disappointed. I’m sure our gerd would be able to handle the outsiders if they were to, somehow, break into the stable. Again, an occurrence such as that is extremely unlikely so there is nothing to…

They got it! Sweet Celestia, they got in! I don’t know how, I just received word that the Stable door was opened. They’d need a pip-buck with the correct authorizations to be able to open the stable door from the outside. I’m making this report before I go to join the defense. We should be able to rebuff these attackers before they do too much damage.

It was clear that they were unable to stop the invaders from making their way into the Stable. I probed the Overmare’s terminal further until I found the door controls. Selecting it, I found that the door was still unlocked. At the bottom of the page was a prompt labeled: Stable Door Operation Records. I selected it and found that it had only been opened twice since it was sealed. Again, the exact dates were corrupt, but it did tell me how long it had been since each of the openings. The first happened about sixty years ago, probably when the Overmare’s final log had been typed. The second was only a year ago, That must have been when the patchwork unicorn came in. So, I’d spent another year in the pod After Dewdrop was foalnapped. I promised my sister that I’d find her, nothing would stop me save for death.

There was nothing more I needed from the Terminal. The door was still unlocked so I should be able to open it when got there. Backing away from the desk I stumbled over something that wasn’t the Overmare’s skeleton. I looked down and found one of those Pip-buck things the stable ponies who were ushering us in were wearing. I stared at it for a moment before picking it up. It slipped off the foreleg of the skeleton with ease, its clasp was undone. She won’t be needing it anymore, I thong, placing it on my left foreleg.

A wall of text flashed across my vision as soon as I sealed the clasp. I fell back on my haunches as the text continued to flow. After a moment it stopped, before saying: Eyes Forward Sparkle is now active. I could now see a small compas with a few red dots on it, they moved as I looked around the room. This would come in handy, anything could be waiting for me outside this Stable, It will be very helpful to know when a threat was close by and what direction they might be in.

This device did more than just that, there were a few dials and buttons; I’d have to spend some time playing with it when I got a chance. I thought about exploring it now but decided against it. There’d be time to tinker with the pip-buck while I was searching for my niece.

I was about to leave when I thought it might be a good idea to check the Overmare’s desk. There was a pretty good chance that she had a weapon in there, probably a pistol, but I’d take whatever I could get. A weapon was better than no weapon. True, I had my hoof blade, but it was a surprise I saved to finish off opponents or a last line of defense. Luck was with me though. In the top drawer, I found a 9MM pistol with a box of ammo. I took the pistol and ammo box out of the drawer and set it on the desk before searching the other drawers.

Nothing else.

Surly the Overmare had some saddle bags around here somewhere, a holster at the least. Looking around my eyes landed on a door to the left of where I was standing. The door led me to the Overmare’s bedroom. The room was, surprisingly, small for what you’d expect an Overmare to have. There was a bed that was, somehow, still neatly made. A closet that only held Stable uniforms. There was a small trunk at the end of the bed. Inside I found just what I was hoping for: saddle bags and a holster for the 9MM. There was also a well-used notebook. Looking at it I guessed it was her own private diary.

I grabbed it as well. The mare was long dead, she wouldn’t mind if I read it, though, I wasn’t sure when I’d get around to doing that.

After raiding the bedroom, I put the pistol in the holster that was strapped to my left foreleg before stuffing the box of ammo in my new saddlebags. Before I left the office I took one last look at the skeleton of the Stable 0’s final overmare. Sadness washed over me as I thought about how she’d be forgotten in history, the same as the other stable ponies that had died during that first attack.

The red bars moved around as I left the Overmare’s office. They didn’t belong to a pony, they moved around too sporadically for that. No, they belonged to something else. Possibly some creatures that had made their way inside after the stable’s initial breach. I wasn’t worried, though. The 9mm would be able to take care of most things I came across, but not all. There was always a bigger threat out there.

Not long after leaving the office, I came across one of the creatures that these read bars belonged to. I smiled, it was only a roach. A big roach, bigger than any bug I’d ever seen, but still a roach. There was no need to waste ammo on it, my hoof blade would be enough to take care of it. The roach froze in place before turning towards me as I galloped at it. It let screeched before scuttling toward me. Unsheathed my hoof-blade at the last moment then slammed it down on the roach. It let out a final dying scree before falling limp, my blade piercing its back, pinning it to the ground.

Huzzah, I’ve now successfully killed a bug. Every pony might as well surrender to me now!

Three more of the big roaches fell victim to my mighty hoof-blade before I found myself I found the Stable Door.

It was closed, the catwalk that I’d crossed when I’d entered now retracted. A few skeletons were laying on the floor around me, each of them lying next to a pistol. I took the time to remove the magazines and place them in my saddle bag before walking up to the stable door controls. There was an in-input on it that matched a cable on my pip-buck

Raising my foreleg, I bit down on the cable. It extended from my pip-buck as I pulled it away; I plugged it into the controls. More text flashed across my vision before I was met with a prompt

Open the Stable Door

Y/N

I hit Y. There was an earsplitting screech of metal as a mechanism lowered from the sealing. Sirens went off as the mechanism extended an arm that moved to take hold of a nub on the Stable door. Air hissed as the door was pulled free from the wall, afterward it rolled to the right on a track as a catwalk extended from where I stood. The screeching stopped leaving the sound of air hissing from the mechanism.

I unhooked the cable and let it retract into my pip-buck before trotting across the catwalk. The air grew colder as I peered down at the large, gear-shaped, platform that had taken my family and me down here. My breath was visible.

All I had to do now was stand on the platform and let it take me back to the outside world.

What would I find out there? Ponies, of course. There was no doubt that some ponies survived the blasts without being safely tucked away in the bowls of a stable. After all, a group of them had attacked this stable and managed to kill everypony inside. I started to wonder why they didn’t just those of us that were inside the pods, but I figured we were dead as far as they were concerned; we couldn’t interfere with their invasion of the Stable. There are more than just pony survivors out there. I’d already come across gigantic roaches. Other creatures out there must have undergone significant changes since the megaspells fell. Anything could be out there, waiting for any unsuspecting pony to leave their stable just to become prey.

Well, becoming food for some mutated monstrosity wasn’t part of my agenda. No, my niece was out there, somewhere. I intended to find her, to rescue her. There was also my sister’s killer, the grotesque mare, covered in stolen cutie-marks. She’d suffer, I’d make sure of that.

Thoughts of revenge flooded my mind as I made my way down the stairs and onto the platform. It seemed to sense that somepony was standing on it, the gate behind me closed followed by more screeching metal. The platform began to rise, slowly. I waited, my goals were set in stone. I’d find Dewdrop and I’d make the patchwork unicorn suffer for killing my sister. There were only two ponies on Equiss that I cared for now. Metal groaned above me as the platform rose. I looked up, bright light hit my eyes.

I’d rescue Dewdrop and find a way to get my Mom out of her pod, safely. The only other option for me was to die trying…