Fallout Equestria: Magnum Opus

Chapters

Another day in paradise
Vaccination
Failure
A pocket of good
Ashes in the sand
Trotterton Reservoir
Missclick
Buffet and Thrill
Ain’t that a kick in the head
A fresh coat of paint
An unbeating tender heart
Marepoint Fort
Dead ahead

Another day in paradise

Chapter One: Another day in paradise

Ever since I was a filly, I had been taught balance.

It was the strongest force that ruled over this world. Harmony and Chaos, the magical and the mundane, even something as immutable as life and death. Balance ruled all, and it ruled equally. Nothing could truly be attained without something of equal value being offered in return. And if not given willingly, it would be swiftly taken by force.

I had been taught of the terrible things that transpired in the past, of a war waged with weapons of unimaginable power. And, of course, of the devastation that they left in their wake. But I was also taught everything I would need to know to make things right once more and restore the balance. For all the chaos created, order had risen to challenge it. And for each of the horrors that we knew lurked on the surface, a hero had been prepared.

Here, in stable 75, heroes were made.

Training started from the moment we could walk. And it was a brutal regime. Our bodies were pushed to their limits time and time again. Be it in strength, endurance, or agility, there was no test we couldn't clear. And as we got older, more and more facets were added to our training. Fully transforming us into shining gems of unmatched power and ability.

Once we were big enough to hold a firearm or our horns developed enough to cast spells beyond simple telekinesis, target practice and applied magic classes joined our schedules. All in an effort to turn each and every one of us into the future saviors of the surface.

Our progress was closely monitored by our beloved grown-ups, the ‘research team’, as they called themselves. Day and night we knew that they were watching our every movement, ensuring that we were at the peak of our abilities. It was one of the stable’s mantras, after all, ‘If you aren’t the best, ponies will die’. And that was why we trained hard, to be the very best. And I was the very best. I could run faster, jump higher, and shoot better than any of my peers. My magical prowess only matched by few if any, and, of course, my above-average intelligence helped greatly to stay at the top of any and all scoreboards.

There was a slight problem, however: I still didn’t have a cutie mark.

To say that a pony as old as me still not having a cutie mark was unusual would be an understatement. My flank was infamous for continuously baffling the researchers with its vehement refusal to produce a mark. For the last year or so the research team had started to become increasingly impatient, to the point where I had been ordered to report to the medical bay daily. Hey, you never knew! Maybe I’d get a cutie mark for getting my flank poked with a glass rod.

Stable 75’s empty hallways greeted me when the door to the fillies dorm opened. It was still too early for the stable’s shift from night to day mode, so the hallway was only illuminated by an eerie blue glow. I glanced back at all the fillies who still slept peacefully in their bunks, my own bunk calling out for me to return to its warm embrace.

Come on Black Light, you need to set the example. I thought. It would do the younger fillies no good if their role model were to just ignore her orders. While not having a cutie mark prevented me from graduating, it still gave me the unique responsibility of making sure all the fillies stayed in line. This was evidenced by the fact that I had one of those fancy leg computers that the researchers loved tapping at, a PipBuck, as they called it.

While it had basically everything I could need to help me in performing my special duties, from name lists to timetables and even maps of the stable, it was rather inconvenient to use. Whoever thought that a device that required you to stop in your tracks and lift it up to your face to read it was a good idea should’ve been fired.

In any case, today’s timetable had a small section at the top that was marked as only applying to me. It read the exact same thing it had read for over a year: ‘Report to the medical bay for checkup’.

I groggily made my way through the stable’s halls, the low humming of machinery and my own echoing hoofsteps were the only sounds that could be heard. It was as if I were spelunking through the guts of some colossal metal creature. But I didn’t feel frightened by it in the slightest, for this was no monster, it was just good ol’ stable 75. I loved my stable, and I knew it loved me back. Yet while I hated the thought, I knew that eventually the day would come when I’d have to leave it behind as a graduate. All I needed was for my damned flank picture to finally show up.

Not like I don’t want to get my cutie mark! I thought as I stormed angrily through the stable. It was unfair! Had I not done everything I could to get it? I tried all sorts of different activities and my unique talent still refused to appear. Between my white coat and brown mane, my bank flank did little to remedy my ‘average’ appearance. The only unique things about me were my red eyes. Well… that and my rather curious striped coat pattern, which was so faint that sometimes I was sure that the researchers were just saying it to make me feel better.

I turned my head to look at my flank furiously and saw my pristine white coat, still void of any talent. My brooding, however, would have to stop for the time being, for I had arrived at the entrance to the clinic. Three knocks reverberated off the steel door, which were shortly answered by the gruff voice of Quick Check.

“Black Light?” He asked.

“Yes,” I answered simply. I really wanted to ask who else could be knocking at the clinic door this early in the morning, but I knew better than to speak out of line.

The door slid open, revealing the stallion in question. A yellow earth pony who wore a lab coat over his stable 75 barding, his stare was that of a pony who had just woken up and hadn’t had the chance to drink their morning coffee yet. But he still gave me a warm smile and gestured for me to walk into the clinic.

Most ponies dreaded having to be here, since it usually involved being wounded or needing to get samples taken for study, neither of which were exactly comfortable experiences. I had once dreaded it, but after having to drag myself out of bed early day after day to come here I had become rather desensitized to it. The clinic itself wasn’t much to look at either, just a medium room with half a dozen empty medical beds near the far wall, and a long row of light blue cabinets stretched to the sides of the door. In the middle of the far wall, there was an adult door, the blue line along its middle marking it as such and forbidding entry to any of the younger ponies.

“How are you feeling today?” Quick Check asked, his eyes fixed on his PipBuck screen.

“I’m doing great, no cutie mark yet,” I deadpanned.

The earth pony muttered something as he took notes on his PipBuck.

“Good to know. Would you be a dear and stand over here, please,” He said, gesturing at a dark gray tile on the floor.

I walked onto the tile and turned to face the doctor again, watching as he opened a cabinet to retrieve some tools. It was a rather funny thing how, despite being at least two decades younger, I was almost as tall as him. He wasn’t even a short stallion, I was just a very tall filly.

“Okay, let’s see,” Quick Check said, donning a pair of round glasses and walking up to my side.

The stallion lifted a hoof and pressed it against my blank flank, pulling my coat aside enough to look at the skin beneath. I couldn’t stop my rear leg from twitching at the tickling sensation.

“No irritation, coat looks normal,” The doctor said aloud, “Do you feel any tenderness or pain?”

“No, nothing,” I answered, same as I had for years.

“No tingling sensation when you use magic?” The second question came.

I lit up my horn, keeping it wrapped in my crimson magic for a moment while I focused on my flank.

“Nothing,” I repeated, letting the magic fade.

Quick Check stepped back for a moment, taking notes on his PipBuck. I noticed how he had stuck several sticky notes to his screen, as if he didn’t have enough space to write inside the thing! At least it gave his PipBuck a more unique flair, as opposed to my plain and boring one.

“What’s wrong with me, doc?” I asked, my ears drooping.

The yellow stallion looked up from his screen and gave me a warm smile.

“Nothing is wrong with you, Black Light, you can’t choose when you get your cutie mark. I was a late bloomer too,” He explained, pulling up his lab coat to reveal his own cutie mark, a glass rod and a pair of tweezers in a cross shape, “The only thing that is for certain is that it will show up,”

“Yours is pretty cool, I hope mine is too,” I said, trying to smile.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” The stallion answered.

A loud whirring noise flooded the hallway outside as the stable woke up. The dim blue night lights powered down as the much brighter ‘daytime’ lights sprang to life, making both Quick Check and I wince.

“Guess I have to go wake up the fillies,” I said with a chuckle, “See you tomorrow, doc!”

“Off you go then! I need some coffee,” The yellow stallion answered, gesturing towards the hallway.

I checked my PipBuck to make sure I was on time for my first task of the day: rooster duty.

My hoofsteps were no longer alone as I briskly made my way through the stable, the adults had woken up as well. The sounds of hoofsteps and machinery resonated from behind the many observation mirrors that lined the roof of the hallway. I took a moment to look at my own reflection, confirming that I had, in fact, not gotten a cutie mark since leaving the clinic. I shook my head and kept moving towards the filly dorm, from which several complaining voices could be heard.

“Good morning fillies!” I said, hitting the doorframe with my hoof to call attention.

Two dozen groggy eyes struggled to focus on me as the fillies stumbled out of their bunks.

“Come on, you know the drill!” I ordered, trying not to sound too harsh, “Housekeeping and then breakfast!” I added, activating my PipBuck’s timer function.

I walked into the dorm, heading towards my bunk and getting to work on making my bed. The dorm was organized from oldest to youngest, starting right next to the door with my bunk. Below me was Light Show, the second eldest filly, who had already made her bed and was sitting obediently next to it.

“All done ma’am!” She said, lifting her forehoof in a mock salute.

“Good job,” I commended the smaller unicorn, patting her on the head.

Just a few minutes later, I was standing in the doorway once again, overlooking the dorm to ensure that everything was optimal. My PipBuck buzzed to inform me that five minutes had passed, right on time.

“Well done everypony, line up now,” I directed, watching the fillies form a line from eldest to youngest behind me.

With an approving nod, I led the ponies out of the dorm and into the hallway. It was my duty to lead the youngest stable-dwellers around and make sure that they always stayed in line, that was my very own Overmare-appointed task.

The mess hall was one of the two large rooms of the stable. It was, unsurprisingly, full of large tables capable of seating the entire non-adult population of the stable at once. The walls were lined with lever-activated food and drink dispensers, flanked by racks that held metal trays and glasses. I watched as the door on the other side of the hall slid open as well, revealing the off-yellow mane and steel earring of Gamma Ray, the oldest colt. Behind him marched all the other male ponies in the stable.

“Black Light,” He said, nodding.

“Good afternoon, sleepyhead,” I teased, pointing at the clock on the wall, which showed that he had been an entire eight seconds behind schedule.

He didn’t get to reply, however, because as soon as he opened his mouth the adult door in the middle of the wall on my left opened. From the doorway came Double Helix, wearing his pristine white lab coat.

“Good morning!” The researcher said, giving us a moment to chant it back at him, “Bon appetit,” He added, finally giving us permission to enter the mess hall.

The researcher took his spot next to the adult door, watching over us as we poured into the room like a herd of hungry fillies. I took a tray and a cup from one of the racks closest to me, filling it with water from a dispenser. The tray floated under the feed dispenser and was swiftly served a portion. I let out a disappointed sigh when I saw the green chips that poured from the plastic nozzle.

“Hey, I’ll trade you half my broccolis for half your daisies,” I told the filly standing next to me when I saw the yellow chips that had poured out of their dispenser.

“What? No way!” The filly, Beaker, squeaked back, “Daisies are the best!”

I gave her a hurt look.

“Aww come on, don’t be mean!” I said, causing her resolute gaze to falter.

“Geez, okay!” She said, holding out her tray.

I gave her a grin and lit up my horn, switching half my chips for half of hers. It wasn’t my fault that the feed nozzles didn’t say what flavor they had in them on any given day!

Breakfast went by without any issues, with everypony leaving their trays in their respective cleaning racks and forming back up behind their elders. We watched as Double Helix stepped forward, stomping the ground to quiet down the children’s chatter.

“Black Light, Gamma Ray, your timetables have been updated, take a moment to read them and take your groups to where you need to go,” He said.

I lifted my foreleg and eyed my PipBuck curiously, switching to the data screen and opening the timetable. Almost immediately I saw the change, one of the fillies under my tutelage had been added to the ‘full regimen’ name list. Guess they finally got big enough to handle target practice and sparring. I turned to look at the filly in question, a tiny black unicorn.

“Good news… uh,” I glanced at my PipBuck screen quickly, “Dot Product!”

The filly’s eyes went wide with shock.

“W- what?” She squeaked.

“Today you start target practice! Give her a cheer, fillies!” I exclaimed, clapping my forehooves. The other fillies followed suit, cheering for our newly promoted friend.

The young pony could only smile widely at the shower of praise that was being hurled at her. I smiled at the memory of when I had been promoted to start target practice. The elder filly at the time, Gradient, had given me a round of applause just like the one I had given Dot Product. With any luck, she’d be as good as I was. I glanced at Gamma Ray and saw a similar celebration happening on the colt’s side, they clearly had a promoted pony too.

“Okay fillies, line up!” I ordered.

Like a well-oiled machine, we walked from the mess hall to the education wing, where several classrooms stood side by side in a wide hallway. A large door at the end of the hall had a sign above it that read ‘library’. I had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the educational blocks of the timetable. Thanks to my flank’s stubborn refusal to develop a cutie mark, I was kind of… too old for several of the subjects. With only Magic theory and Mathematics still having new things for me to learn or at the very least practice. On the bad side, it was agonizingly boring to wait outside the classrooms while the other fillies took their classes. But on the bright side, it allowed me to spend my time at the library instead.

I walked into the library and took a nice look at the many bookshelves that lined the walls. giving a nod to Meridian, the stable librarian, I made my way to the only sections of the library that didn’t bore me to tears: History and magic. Ever since I could read, I had treasured the few free moments I had to learn all sorts of interesting things. My favorites being pre-war weapons manuals and the ancient history of magic. Sadly, I had already read all of the library’s limited selection, but some of the books here were just so good I could enjoy them as many times as I needed.

“Why hello beautiful~” I whispered, my eyes finally falling upon one of the best books in the library… or rather, the best magazine.

I wrapped the magazine in my magic, pulling it closer to my eyes. Anti-machine rifles: nowhere to hide now! The cover read, showing a lime green mare dressed in a military uniform lying on her side, cuddling with the magazine’s titular weapon. Oh what I would give to be that mare, just the thought of holding such a powerful weapon in my hooves made me feel a warm sensation in my chest.

Sitting on one of the reading couches that were placed between the bookshelves, I started to flip through the magazine. My imagination started going wild as I drank in all the detailed technical schematics and statistics. It was… beautiful, a brilliant confluence of power and elegance. I could almost feel it in my hooves, the impressive weight, the carefully calibrated sight… to think such a beautiful thing could exist was just incredible.

Time flew by as I shifted through the pages, with every schematic deepening my ecstasy. Expansive data sheets bombarded my eyes and imagination with the sheer might that the weapon was capable of. It must’ve felt so good to brace that stock against one’s shoulder, preparing to absorb its mighty recoil.

Just as I imagined the wonderful shock that would be sent through me if I fired one, however, a series of taps on my right shoulder brought me back to reality.

“Uhh, excuse me?” Meridian called, the mare’s purple muzzle just a short distance away from my face, “There’s a group of fillies waiting for you outside,” She added, pointing at the door.

I immediately sprung back onto my hooves, placing the magazine back in its place. Paying no mind to the librarian’s quizzical look, I marched out of the library and into a sea of fillies. A quick glance at my PipBuck allowed me to take a relaxed breath, however, we were still on schedule.

“Sorry for that! Fillies, line up!” I exclaimed, stomping on the floor. I had to work on not getting sidetracked.

Through the stable we marched, headed for the next stop in our schedule. Along the way, we found a small group of adults who were busy repairing a burst pipe in the wall. That’s been happening more often. I thought as I passed the lab coat-wearing ponies. It was understandable, of course, not even our beloved stable could stand the mighty blows of time forever.

The physical test chamber was one of the most unique rooms in the stable thanks to one distinct feature. Unlike the rest of the stable’s observation windows, the ones in this test chamber were completely transparent, and they stretched out along the middle of the room instead of being on the roof. The result was a large room that was split down the middle, with one of the halves being filled with scientific equipment and the other holding several rows of tightly-packed treadmills. Half a dozen researchers buzzed around their half of the room, with one of them walking towards the middle section of the large window.

The stallion was a light green unicorn that I had never seen before, he looked… young, very young, probably younger than me! But he still wore the white coats of the adults, so his flank probably held what mine still didn’t. Nonetheless, I couldn’t shake the suspicion that something wasn’t okay with him… probably because he was new.

“Hello, ponies!” The young stallion said, “I am Sample Array, and I will be conducting today’s physical training,” He added, his furrowed brow and careful tone betraying his memorized lines.

That was my cue to spring into action. I walked to the first treadmill and took my spot, with the other fillies falling in behind me and organizing themselves from oldest to youngest.

I have to admit, this thing is pretty neat. I thought as I plugged my PipBuck into my treadmill. I took a quick look around the room to see the other fillies wiggling into their monitoring harnesses, the long strands of cables going up into the roof and towards the other half of the room. Several displays now lit up with the vital signs of every filly in the room. I used to dread having to put all of that stuff on, but now that I had a PipBuck, I could simply plug it in and be done with it.

“Okay, warm up will be thirty minutes for ponies older than ten, fifteen for anypony younger,” Sample Array explained, making sure that everypony was on their treadmills before lifting his foreleg and tapping his PipBuck.

The treadmills started up, slowly at first, but quickly picking up the pace until we were trotting steadily. Seconds turned to minutes as the rhythmic clattering of our hooves filled the air. Once the warm-up was done, however, the real training started. Slowly but surely, the treadmills were brought up to maximum speed, forcing us into a full gallop. My heart started pounding harder, rising to a near-deafening volume as I ran. A loud banging sound made me lose my focus for a moment as I turned to see one of the fillies behind me had been thrown off their treadmill.

Focus! Black Light! Just half an hour left! I thought, bringing my eyes back to the timer on my treadmill. Sweat started to pour from my coat, the droplets flying off my form with every impact of my hooves against the treadmill. My breathing had become ragged, but I kept going. Inside my head, the only thing that I could hear over my pounding heart was the words that were inscribed on said heart.

Be efficient, be the best. I told myself.

Under any other circumstance, I would’ve said the mantra aloud, but I knew I needed every breath I could get. Already, I was starting to notice a dark ring closing in on my view.

If you are not the best, the ponies that are counting on us will die.

Another thump came from right beside me, followed quickly by two more. I knew better than to get distracted and risk falling, however, so I paid it no mind.

And if they die, it means you’re a failure.

Being a failure was a fate worse than death. No punishment could ever hope to compare to the crushing realization that we had failed those who needed us most. The poor surface ponies needed us, they needed me. And not just me, but the absolute pinnacle of me.

“Test end!” A voice shouted. It had probably been Sample Array, but my mind was too hazy to make it out.

The treadmill under my hooves slowly started to power down, letting me regain my breath. When the pace finally slowed to trotting speed, I looked around the room to see how my peers were faring. The second and third oldest fillies were doing about as well as me, clearly tired but still maintaining form. Most of the other ponies were wheezing heavily, completely exhausted yet pressing forward.

Five of the treadmills were empty, their occupants strewn about the test chamber where they had fallen. Four of them were the youngest among us, so it was to be expected that they wouldn’t be up to par yet. But I let out a disappointed sigh when I saw one of the older fillies on the floor as well.

“Good results for the most part,” Sample Array commented, finally slowing the treadmills to walking speed and then to a complete stop, “Especially you three,” He added, pointing at me and the other two eldest fillies.

“Damn… right!” Light Show shouted with what little breath she had left.

I puffed out my chest in pride, smiling broadly. The best of the best. I thought.

The rest of the morning was mostly uneventful, with the only thing of note being that I got lucky at lunch and managed to get a full plate of Daisy chips. A few minutes into our afternoon rest, however, I finally felt it, that… soothing warmth in my chest. Today was target practice day.

It was the best day of the week, no question about it. On no other day were we allowed in the shooting range and test chamber. Not just that, but today was specifically a shoot house day. I could barely contain the burning in my body as I imagined how I would at last get to wield my pistol once again. I watched my PipBuck clock like a hawk, feeling each agonizingly long second tick away as I waited for the time to finally come. It was so close now… I couldn’t stop my legs from shaking in anticipation.

“Fillies!” I shouted, jumping to my hooves so quickly that I nearly hit my head on the roof, “Line up for target practice! Right now!”

The ponies that were authorized for the exercise got up as well, falling in line next to the door. I counted them quickly, fourteen ponies, perfect-

“Uhhhh, Dot Product?” I asked, remembering that there should be fifteen fillies in the target practice group now.

“Oh! I- I’m sorry!” The young pony said, shyly walking to her spot at the end of the line.

“Don’t worry about it, just try to do your best today!” I answered cheerfully.

“Okay Miss B- Black Light,” The filly muttered.

I took my spot at the front of the line and opened the mess hall door, leading the ponies into the hallway beyond. The first stop was back at the classrooms to drop off all the fillies who were still too young to participate in the more demanding exercises. The second stop, however, would be the shooting gallery.

My hooves echoed off the metal floors as we made our way to the gallery, skipping joyfully as I did. There was just something so deeply entertaining about shooting a gun. The loud noise and seeing targets shatter just made me happy. I am a simple mare.

If only my simple-ness showed up on my flank, I thought, souring my mood slightly as I glared back at my still-blank flank. What was taking it so long? I was already years older than the next oldest filly in the stable! If only there was some way to-

My thoughts were quite literally knocked out of my head when I walked directly into a little colt, falling face-first onto the soft and welcoming steel grate floor of the stable. Apparently, Gamma Ray’s group had been faster in getting here.

“Watch where you’re going!” I told the colt, who shrank back. He was the youngest one in his group, after all.

“Hey! Be careful!” Gamma Ray shouted, walking to the back of the colt line and placing himself between me and the younger pony. I looked down at the colt, his head barely reaching my chin.

“I uhhh…” I started to say, trying to think of an explanation, “I was just checking his reflexes, you should’ve taught them to be on their guard in case of… ambushes! Yes! When you’re on the surface you’ll never know if the bush you just passed was truly a bush, or if it hid an ‘am’ within it,” I added, smiling smugly at the colt.

“That makes no sense!” The dark green unicorn said, staring daggers at me.

“It will… when you’re older,” I said simply, patting the angry colt on the head.

Gamma Ray’s eye twitched in anger, but before he could continue complaining he was forced into silence by the opening of the shooting range door. He gave me a death stare before quickly walking back to the front of his line and standing at attention.

“Welcome, children!” Came the dulcet voice of The Overmare when the door finished sliding upward.

Her voice was like a lightning strike for the gathered ponies. Chatter died down in an instant as we all straightened our stances and focused solely on the most important pony in the stable. Overmare Number Crunch did not ask for attention, it was implied by her very presence, it was only natural.

We marched into the shooting range in absolute silence. The Overmare carefully watched our every step, making sure nopony stepped out of line. Even under her gaze, however, I still couldn’t fully contain my excitement at finally getting to shoot again.

“Black Light, steady,” The Overmare commanded when I got close enough for her to hear my rapid breathing.

“Yes, Overmare,” I said, lowering my head slightly.

The range was divided into two sections, separated by a thick pane of bulletproof glass. The section we had walked into held our lockers and weapons, but the best part was what lay beyond the glass. A large open area made up the shooting gallery, which usually held our targets for practice. But today was a special day, today we were using live ammunition.

Instead of the usual blue targets being lined up at different ranges, today the gallery was dominated by a large structure, a shoot-house. It was made up of several different modules, all holding different rooms and hallways, none of which could be distinguished from the outside. I tried to picture what could possibly be waiting for me inside, after all, building the shoot-house was one of the few tasks that the researchers performed themselves.

“Arm up, my little ponies!” Number Crunch said, taking her place next to the door in the bulletproof glass.

A shiver went up my spine at the thought of shooting live ammunition. Sure, the practice weapons we had were fun to practice with, but you couldn’t compare a low-power magic bolt with simulated recoil to a good old ten-millimeter round. I did wish we had live rifle ammunition too, but I had nothing to complain about!

I walked up to my locker, wrapping the door with my magic and throwing it open so fast that I nearly ripped it off. A wide smile cracked my face when my eyes fell on my beloved pistol. The beautiful firearm was sitting inside my locker next to my maintenance equipment, shining in all its glory. Foregoing my horn, I took the gun in my hooves, feeling its weight and admiring the gorgeous finish.

Oh Ironshod, you absolute geniuses. If I ever had the chance to travel when I became a hero, I was heading directly to their nearest factory out of sheer respect.

“Today we will run the test in order from youngest to oldest, earth ponies and then unicorns, colts first!” The Overmare explained, touching a button on her PipBuck that made the display on her terminal light up with the day’s scoreboard.

A warm fuzzy feeling started to prick at me from within my chest, the electric buzz of the approaching exercise and of how great I would be today. The little pony in my head bounced in place excitedly, but I was forced to beat her excitement down when I recalled the order in which we would be running the house. I would, quite literally, be the last one to go.

The first colt stepped forward, the same one that I had run into outside the range. For safety, The Overmare held his weapon in her magic in front of the colt until he was inside the gallery. The magic fizzled out when the door closed, dropping the weapon onto the floor. I watched as the colt gingerly picked up the pistol and looked around, clearly confused as to what to do next.

“Test start!” The Overmare said, pressing a button on her terminal.

A loud buzzer blared inside the shooting gallery, making the colt jump and shoot blindly into the side of the house. He whipped his head around rapidly before turning to stare at Gamma Ray with a pleading look.

“Go into the house!” The older unicorn screamed, pointing at the metal door in the middle of the structure.

We stared at the colt as he complied, trying to get a glimpse at what was beyond the door. But it closed too quickly, sealing the young colt inside the structure and warding off our prying eyes before we could get a good look.

“Gamma Ray, I want you to teach that colt about firearm safety,” The Overmare commanded, not bothering to look at the unicorn in question to see his nod.

Nearly forty seconds passed before the buzzer sounded again, marking the end of the test. Judging by the muffled gunshots, there had been at least ten targets inside the house. However, given the pony’s inexperience, some of those sounds could very well be misses. The pony walked out of the house with his eyes open wide, his jaw so tight that it was a wonder how he managed to fire the weapon. The Overmare took the gun out of his mouth before fully opening the door, not commenting on his performance at all.

One by one all of the earth pony colts ran the test, I listened attentively to how many times they each fired their guns. Eight shots seemed to be the minimum. I could barely contain my excitement as I paced rapidly around the waiting area, all but salivating at the thought, nay, the need to have my turn.

“Black Light,” The Overmare warned. Nailing my hooves to the metal grate floor.

I buzzed in place, trying my damndest not to hyperventilate and upset The Overmare. It was hard, but I managed to stay in place enough to watch all of the colts run the test. Gamma Ray was the last to come out of the chamber, with a final time of twenty-one seconds.

“Beat that!” He taunted, grinning at me.

“Oh, you’ll see…” I muttered, straining to contain the burning fire in my chest.

My fillies started to run the test, with Dot Product walking towards the door. She gave me a pleading look but steeled herself and turned to face The Overmare. A thin, flickering telekinetic grasp formed around the pistol while the door closed.

“Test start!” The Overmare commanded, blasting the buzzer.

I saw Dot Product trot towards the shoot house. She looked considerably more relaxed than the youngest colt, walking up to the door and cautiously stepping inside. My memories of my very first day of target practice started to flood my mind, of just how excited I had been to try out a gun. That excitement had never truly left me, and every time there was a chance of shooting, especially with live ammunition, I was as giddy as a filly.

Almost a minute passed, with ten shots coming out of the house. Then eleven, and finally, one last shot sounded out. The buzzer went off, marking the end of the test. The door opened and Dot Product walked out of the house, her gaze cast low and a noticeable limp slowing her pace. A test failure, I realized, cringing slightly.

“Your performance is most disappointing,” The Overmare said, ripping the pistol out of the filly’s weak magic with her own.

“I- I’m sorry,” She said, her eyes welling with tears.

The Overmare walked over to the filly, a look of severity on her otherwise kind features.

“Dot Product, you don’t have to apologize to me,” She said, placing a hoof on the filly’s shoulder.

I know where this is going. I thought, a pit forming in my stomach.

“You need to apologize to them,” The Overmare finished, lifting her hoof from the sniffling filly and pointing it at the mural that was painted along the left wall of the shooting gallery.

I had seen it many times, but I couldn’t help but take another good look at it when The Overmare’s hoof pointed at it. It was rather simple, but no less inspiring. On the wall, there stood a small group of ponies, dressed in dirty rags and spiky makeshift armor. Every pony on the mural bore a terrified glance, eyes painted as if they were looking at somepony behind the viewer. Among the adults’ legs could be seen the cowering faces of fillies and colts, not much older than many of us.

“Who are those ponies, Dot Product?” The Overmare demanded.

“I- I…” The young pony sputtered.

“Who are they?” The Overmare repeated, her tone rising.

“They are t- the surface ponies,” Answered the filly, shrinking back and flattening her ears to the sides of her head.

“Stand upright when addressing me!” The Overmare ordered, making the shivering filly straighten herself, “Now, do you see how scared those surface ponies are?”

Tears started to stream down the young pony’s face, but she nodded at The Overmare nonetheless.

“Those very same ponies could have lost their beloved friends to the bandits that you were too ineffective to take out,” Said the older mare, “Do better next time,”

“Yes Miss N- Number-” Dot Product choked out.

“Yes, Overmare,” The Overmare corrected.

“Y- yes, O- Overmare,” said the filly, gaining a nod from the older mare.

“Continue the testing,” The Overmare ordered.

As one we stood back at attention, with the next filly entering the gallery. I walked up to Dot Product, who was still sniffling in a corner while the others watched the tests.

“Dot?” I asked, kneeling next to the young pony.

I got no reply, but I still placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get better with practice,” I told her, trying to make her feel better.

Two large teary eyes focused on me.

“R- really?” Dot Product asked.

“Yeah, don’t you worry,” I said, patting her tiny head.

I watched as the filly gave me a weak smile, and then we both stood back up to keep watch over the other fillies as they ran the test. I was slowly getting more and more excited as each pony entered the gallery, knowing that my turn drew ever closer.

At long last, my turn came. By this point the flames of excitement in my chest had reached critical mass, causing my entire body to shiver in anticipation. Yet despite how jittery I was, the pistol in my magic remained as steady as a surgeon’s scalpel.

The shooting gallery door closed behind me, finally allowing me to breathe as heavily as I wished without angering The Overmare. I took in several deep breaths, my breathing shaky from the emotion as my view shrunk down to encompass only the shoot house door. Everything around it seemingly fading into colored shapes.

“Test start,” Said The Overmare.

At the very instant of the buzzer’ blaring mark, I lunged forward as if I had been shot out of a cannon. The shoot house door never stood a chance when I all but phased through it like a living battering ram. Beyond the door, I was dropped into a section similar to a living room, dominated by a set of bullet-hole-riddled couches and a short coffee table.

Three light blue magical holograms were waiting for me inside, simulated to be in an idle stance. Before they had the chance to turn hostile, however, my pistol was raised and ready to bring forth my favorite song. I sent two bullets ripping through the first and second before they had a chance to get their ‘weapons’ out. The final hologram managed to produce a ghostly blue pistol and took aim at me. But it was in vain, since before it could even dream about shooting me I had already blasted half its simulated head off.

Three down, six more to go. I thought, giving the quickest of glances to my surroundings. And two ways out of here.

On instinct, I threw myself through the door on the right. I rolled on the ground before jumping back up to my hooves, gun at the ready. I saw blue and took the shot, sending my third round directly through a holographic head. I glanced around the metal crates that littered the mock warehouse and spotted a low blue shimmer coming from behind one of them. Seizing the opportunity, I bolted towards the crate and flipped around, smashing it with both my rear legs. The mighty buck sent the crate flying into another, sandwiching the hologram between them and destroying it.

That’s two more. I thought, smiling in pure bliss. Cackling like a filly with a new toy, I ran back to the door that I had entered this room through.

But I was forced to backstep into the warehouse when a series of light blue beams shot at me from the door I hadn’t opened. My mind raced to think of a plan. Of course, I could’ve just run out and gotten shot a few times by the non-lethal hologram. But the muted zapping sensation of the hologram’s “bullets” could never compare to the soul-crushing weight of The Overmare’s disappointed gaze. So I did the next best thing: I ran to the door and threw myself onto the floor.

Just as I expected, the hologram was aiming for where my chest would be. And the fraction of a second it took for it to realign its ghostly SMG was more than enough for me to plant a bullet firmly in its forehead while I slid into the room. With a quick kick, I was back on my hooves and ran through the doorway, finding a staircase that led upwards.

Not wanting to waste a single second, I crouched and jumped up the entire flight like a white and brown missile. A hologram had been waiting to shoot into the stairwell, the keyword being had. I whirled around to face the room and stared down the final hologram through the dissipating fragments of its late friend.

A gunshot and an electric crack filled the air as one. Thanks to sheer dumb luck, the hologram missed my shoulder by such a short distance that I felt the hairs of my coat standing on end. My opponent, however, wasn’t so lucky. The light blue magic that made up the pony’s figure shattered when my bullet punched a hole straight through the middle of its expressionless face.

Where’s the last one? I thought, alarmed. There were no other doors leading out of this large living room area. Where could-

My right ear twitched. Acting on pure instinct, my pistol whipped around to face the staircase’s landing and fired blindly.

The loud buzzer blaring once more proved my suspicions correct. I turned just in time to see the last sparks of the hologram dissipating on the floor.

“Ain’t nopony tricking Black Light!” I exclaimed with pride.

With a spring in my step and a -mostly- satiated thirst for gunfire, I made my way out of the shoot house. An absolutely minuscule hint of a smile was on The Overmare’s face, more than enough to make my chest puff out in pride.

“Excellent performance,” The older unicorn commented.

I nodded and made my way back to the lockers. But I took the chance to lean into Gamma Ray as I passed him.

“Consider yourself beaten,” I said, grinning at the colt’s anger.

After we had unloaded any bullets left in our guns and stowed them away in our lockers, we made our way back to our quarters to enjoy a short break. I was sad to leave my beloved pistol behind, but it was a safety precaution, no matter how ridiculous it seemed.

Why can’t I just carry it freely everywhere? I thought, huffing in annoyance.

I glanced at my PipBuck, checking the last remaining activity for the day: Hoof-to-hoof combat. The fire in my chest flared up at the promise of combat. While not as fun as shooting a gun, sparring was still pretty entertaining.

“All right fillies, form up!” I ordered, watching as my ponies lined up beside me.

Gamma Ray followed suit, making the colts line up in front of him.

“See you in a bit,” I told the green unicorn, “I hope we get picked,”

“It's a date,” He replied.

I cocked my head to the side, lifting an eyebrow.

“Yeah, that’s how days work,” I said, causing Gamma Ray to facehoof.

A few minutes later we were back in our quarters, enjoying our short respite before having to head out for sparring. The youngest fillies rejoined us after their afternoon classes, their break coinciding with ours. Everypony seemed pretty happy, all save for one of the fillies, who had their face buried in their pillow. I carefully approached the sobbing filly, clearing my throat to get her attention.

“Hey Dot, what’s wrong?” I asked her, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible.

The filly said nothing, instead, she stretched out her left foreleg. Several patches of her black coat had become even darker, and the smell of burnt coat left no question as to why. I remembered that she had been limping when she walked out of the shoot house, clearly, she’d been hit by one of the holograms. More like several of them. I thought when I counted five burn marks on her tiny leg.

“It hurts, a lot,” She mumbled, sniffling, “The others s- said it wouldn’t hurt,”

“That was just so you wouldn’t be so scared on your first run,” I offered, but it was clear that the filly wasn’t buying it.

She lifted her head from the pillow, boring into me with her tear-filled eyes. I noticed how two patches of fur on her face were also scorched, with one coming very close to hitting her left eye.

“The only thing I was scared of was disappointing Miss Number Crunch. B- but now I’m scared of those blue ghosts too,” She said, planting her head back into the pillow.

“The Overmare,” I corrected, “You shouldn’t worry so much, Dot. Nopony does well on their first try, you should be getting pumped for sparring!” I said, trying to pass some of my own excitement onto the filly.

“Do I have to go?” She asked.

“Well, yeah! What else would you do?” I said with a playful chuckle.

“I- I want to go see Mister Quick Check,” Dot Product whimpered, clutching her foreleg to her chest.

My heart faltered at the young pony’s sad display. She looked completely distraught. And the worst part of it all was that I really couldn’t do anything for her. Her little burns were nowhere near severe enough to justify skipping any activity, let alone her first sparring session.

“I’m sorry Dot,” I said, placing a hoof on her shoulder, “I can only take you to him after the sparring,”

“Will t- the sparring hurt?” The filly pleaded.

I bit my tongue, trying to think of a way to explain how the class worked.

“Not unless you’re really, really unlucky,” I told her.

“O- Okay,” She said, sniffling.

I gave her one last pat on the head before lifting my PipBuck to check on the time. Just a few more minutes left before we had to move.

“Fillies! Get your things in order, we need to get going in a bit!” I ordered.

Before my eyes, the dorm came to life with activity as fillies stowed away their few belongings and got up to form their line once more. The youngest fillies were the luckiest, since they still couldn’t participate in sparring they got to spend the rest of the day off until dinnertime. Fortunate from their perspective at least, sparring is almost as fun as shooting! I thought with a smile, but it quickly died when I glanced back over at Dot and saw that she hadn’t moved at all.

“Come on Dot, you have to come too.”

“Okay…” She muttered, dragging herself out of the bunk.

A few minutes later we arrived at the final destination for the day, the sparring room. In much the same way as the shooting exercise, today was a special occasion for sparring. Instead of the usual hoof-to-hoof combat lessons where we were taught techniques and drills, today we were fighting one-on-one.

A square ring of reinforced bulletproof glass dominated the room, surrounded by mats where the others could sit and watch. The ring in question wasn’t much to look at, just an elevated square platform with openings on two of its sides to allow the combatants inside. I glanced up and stared at the reflective glass that separated us from the researchers who were doubtlessly waiting to witness the fights. Only one researcher was present inside the room, standing to the side of the ring and looking at us.

“Hello again, fillies,” Sample Array said, welcoming us into the sparring room.

I eyed the stallion suspiciously as we took our positions on the mats to the right of the ring. I couldn’t shake the sensation that something wasn’t right with the way he looked at us. But nonetheless, we sat and waited for the eventual arrival of Gamma Ray and his colts. They arrived shortly after, sitting down on the opposite side of the room.

“Very well, now that you’re all here, we will begin with the selection,” Sample Array said, bringing up his PipBuck.

The sparring class worked very simply; since stable 75 had the same number of colts and fillies, one of each group was randomly selected and made to spar. The selection was completely random. Only one thing was guaranteed, that being that a filly would never fight another filly, in the same way as a colt would never fight another colt.

“Very well, let us begin the testing,” The researcher continued, “The rules are standardized. No directly lethal blows, matches will last one minute each. The first bout will be between Beaker and Deflection Plate, take your positions,” He concluded, gesturing to the filly and the colt respectively.

Lucky, they’re about the same age. I thought, looking on as the two ponies walked up to the openings on the side of the ring. And both earth ponies too.

“Fight!” Sample Array commanded, his PipBuck letting out a loud beep as its timer activated.

The ponies threw themselves at each other, with the sounds of hoof meeting flesh quickly filling the room. But I wasn’t worried about the fight, I knew that Beaker could put up more than enough of a fight. What I was worried about was Dot Product. I spotted the filly at the back of the room, staring with horrified eyes at the two brawling ponies inside the ring.

I scooted over to sit beside her, nudging her with my foreleg.

“Don’t worry, if you’re lucky you’ll get to spar with somepony your age,” I whispered to her.

“B- but I don’t know how to f- fight!” She said in a high-pitched voice.

“It’s not that hard, just shoot at them with magic!” I said, trying to be helpful.

Dot Product’s wide eyes focused on me for an instant before she answered, her voice barely a whisper.

“B- but Miss Black Light! I’ve never used my magic like that! I can barely move things around!” She squeaked, shaking even harder.

I bit my lip, thinking of a way to salvage this conversation before the filly became inconsolable.

“I uhh… new strategy! Listen to me, when you get in there you need to light up your horn to throw the colt off and rush them,” I explained, but Dot’s confused expression made me stop, “What?”

“What would ‘Light up your horn’ mean?” The filly asked.

“You know… like when you’re preparing to cast a spell and your horn starts glowing?” I answered, making sure that Sample Array was looking away before lighting up my horn as an example.

My magic simmered down and I gave another look at Sample Array, he hadn’t moved at all. I looked at the ring, where I saw Beaker throw her opponent into a wall with a suplex, leaving the colt to try and drag themselves back up.

“I don’t know any spells to do that with!” Dot shouted, making Sample Array’s ear twitch in our direction.

“Use telekinesis, try to wrap your own horn with it,” I offered.

The filly nodded and scrunched her face in concentration. A yellow glow enveloped her horn, shining brightly for a moment before it faded.

“Exactly! That should be enough to distract your opponent and give you time to get closer!” I said, smiling, “Just try to get on their back and wrap their neck with your forelegs,”

“O- okay, and t- then?” Dot Product asked, a more determined look on her face, even if the quiver in her voice was still apparent.

I spun in place and put both of my forehooves on the filly’s shoulders. Bringing my face close to her so I knew her eyes were focused on me and me alone. I spoke slowly and clearly.

“Then you squeeze tight and don’t let go until the other pony stops fighting.”

The filly gulped loudly and gave an uneasy nod.

“B- but what if I have to fight a larger colt?” Dot pleaded, shaking so hard that her stable suit’s zipper started to clatter.

“Do the same thing and you’ll do great, don’t worry!” I said, letting her go and returning to my sitting spot.

Once Beaker had beaten her opponent, the next five matches were rather uneventful. Only one filly had to be taken to Quick Check after getting hit in the face a little too hard. Light Show was up next, and she somehow lost despite facing off against a colt half her size. An ingenious kick was all it took to send her face-first into a swift knockout.

Where most researchers would’ve given us pointers and critiques, Sample Array simply looked on. His commentary sparse and without much weight.

I for my part tried to keep Dot calm with small talk, keeping her sight away from the more violent sparring matches. Internally, I was hoping that she would get paired with one of the younger colts. Despite my best efforts, however, I could see Dot becoming more and more tense as the matches went on.

Glancing towards the other side of the room, I saw that Gamma Ray was in a similar predicament with his own youngest pony. I hadn’t really paid much mind to Dot’s most favorable opponent until now. A tiny white earth pony colt, shorter than even the tiny unicorn that sat next to me. I smiled, Dot shouldn’t have much issue with him.

The other colts were a mixed bag, three of them -including the young white one- would be a somewhat fair fight. But the others got worse and worse as they got bigger and stronger. Her chances weren’t the best, but I wasn’t about to tell her that and ruin what little morale she had.

Four more matches went by, one of which was a brutal fight between one of the oldest fillies and the second youngest colt. I did my best to distract Dot from the beatdown by having her tell me about what they had learned that day in class.

Halfway through a riveting recount of how the ministries had been founded, a loud thud came from within the ring. The colt, battered and bruised, had collapsed under Axis’ mighty hooves just as the timeout buzzer sounded off.

“Excellent performance from you,” Sample Array commented, tilting his head towards the filly, “And you managed to stand until the end, good job,” He added gesturing towards the young colt.

I nudged Dot with a foreleg.

“See? He had to fight a much larger filly and still held out until the end!” I said, pointing at the colt that was currently being scooped up by an assistant researcher.

“She b- beat him to a pulp!” Dot replied, watching on in horror as the battered colt was taken away to the clinic.

“Because he clearly didn’t know the winning strategy!” I said quickly, trying to keep her calm.

“I- I want to… I want to go back to my room, Miss Black Light,” Dot said, hugging my leg tightly.

“I uhh-“ I started, but Sample Array’s voice cut through mine like a hot knife through butter.

“The next bout will be Dot Product-“ The stallion started, making my heart skip a beat, “- against Gamma Ray,” He finished.

Oh no.

I glanced down at Dot Product and saw that she was… laughing? Yes, the filly was giggling as she shook violently in my hooves.

“It’s a joke, right? I- It has to be a joke, haha,” She whimpered.

“Take your positions,” Sample Array ordered.

I watched as Gamma Ray uneasily made his way to the side of the ring. He didn’t seem happy with the arrangement at all.

“You have to go,” I told her, helping her stand up.

I was expecting a scream, a cry, maybe even an attempt to run away from the room. But Dot Product gave none of that. Instead, she stood shakily and made her way to the ring. Before stepping through the door, however, she gave me a determined nod.

This is going to hurt. I thought as I looked at the size difference between the fighters. The only hope was for Gamma Ray to try and be gentle.

“Fight!” Came the command, but the combatants stood in place. Neither willing to make the first move.

Sample Array opened their mouth, probably to demand that the fighting start once and for all, but Dot had already acted. She was facing away from me, but I saw the yellow glow of her magic reflecting off Gamma Ray’s confused eyes.

The filly let out a shout, causing Gamma Ray to flinch and backstep, probably expecting a magical attack. Dot Product instead launched herself at the larger colt, taking him by surprise just as I had expected. Two small black hooves wrapped around the colt’s neck as the filly squeezed with all her might.

Gamma Ray, for his part, quickly recovered from the shock and glared at the filly trying to strangle him. He crouched slightly before throwing himself back into the wall, slamming Dot against the clear glass of the ring’s wall. I watched as her tiny body was crushed under the considerable weight of Gamma Ray. A loud whooshing sound escaped the filly as her lungs deflated under the pressure. Her hooves, which had so adamantly clutched the colt’s neck, were thrown limply to the sides.

The older unicorn jumped forward, turning to look at Dot Product. The filly had collapsed onto the floor in a heap. A relieved gasp escaped my mouth when I saw that the filly was still conscious, as evidenced by her curling up into a ball and holding her head. Gamma Ray stood over her, looking down with unmistakable pity. Choked sobs started to come from the younger unicorn once she managed to get air back into her lungs.

“Continue,” Sample Array ordered.

“She’s not fighting anymore!” Gamma Ray shouted back.

“Irrelevant, continue the test,” Said the stallion.

The green colt looked down at the crying filly, his jaw clenching. He lifted a forehoof, but lowered it once again, shaking his head.

“Continue the test!” Sample Array commanded.

Gamma Ray said nothing, lowering his head.

Sample Array grumbled and tapped his PipBuck, forcing the timeout buzzer to sound off early.

“Incredibly disappointing, we expected much better from you, Gamma Ray,” The researcher said, causing the colt’s ears to droop, “What a waste, whatever, get out of the box!” He finished.

I was getting ready to console Dot Product when Sample Array announced who the next combatants would be.

“Next fight will be Black Light against Polar Coordinate,” He said.

I didn’t immediately recognize the name, which could only mean one thing…

The young white colt’s eyes were open so wide that they were hard to differentiate from his white coat. This was going to be very bad.

“Take your positions!” The researcher continued, sounding significantly more annoyed than he had previously.

I reluctantly got up, passing by a sniffling Dot who didn’t even give me a side glance. Gamma Ray stopped the white colt along the way, whispering something into his ear. I swallowed hard, trying to make the knot in my throat go away and allow me to breathe fully. I hated when this happened. Fighting somepony about my age was fun, and fighting someone a little younger was entertaining, but this? This was going to be awful.

“Remember, ponies, you never know what or who you’ll have to fight on the surface. There is no such thing as ‘testing the waters’ in a fight,” Sample Array said, his tone clearly revealing the real message behind his words: don’t hold back.

I looked down at Polar Coordinate, the colt’s glossy white coat seeming to shimmer as the pony shook. He looked so tiny that I could’ve easily missed him if I hadn’t been looking down. I need to end this as quickly as possible. I thought, trying to think of a strategy.

“Fight!” Sample Array ordered.

The buzzer went off.

At first, I was hesitant to make the first move, trying to think of the best way to approach this, but Polar Coordinate had other plans. The young colt gave a high-pitched scream and launched himself at me. Flailing forehooves desperately swinging to try and connect.

But my legs were longer. I jumped backward, swinging my right rear leg in a wide arc to catch the flying colt in the head. My blow struck true, sending the colt soaring into the wall. His small head crashed into the bulletproof glass, leaving a small red stain. I reluctantly went into a fighting stance, but the colt had to be knocked out.

A choked gasp escaped my mouth when I saw the small pony struggle back to their hooves. A small stream of blood started to fall from his forehead, staining his pristine white coat. I stared, dumbfounded, as the evidently not-unconscious colt stumbled towards me.

“Come on, just stay down,” I muttered, trying to keep my voice low enough for Sample Array to be unable to hear it.

Polar just glanced towards Gamma Ray and then focused his gaze back on me, giving another battle cry. I watched as the colt flung himself at me, this time keeping all his hooves on the ground. At the last second, he threw both his forehooves upward in an attempt to hit my face. While I could’ve probably just taken the hit with no issue, I had been ordered to take this fight seriously. My head moved slightly to the side, easily weaving out of the way while my own forehoof rose to strike at the colt’s temple.

Another direct hit. Polar once again was thrown to the floor, but he quickly got his hooves back underneath himself and threw a blind swipe at me. The attack missed completely, nearly causing Polar to trip and fall again. My horn flashed and discharged, firing a wave of magic toward the colt and pushing him back a considerable distance. The magical push made the colt stumble, but he managed to remain upright.

Okay, focus, Black Light, you need to end this as fast as possible. I thought, trying to think of a way to finish this poor excuse of a fight. I have to knock him out before I hurt him too badly. I decided, crouching slightly to prepare a roundhouse kick. Just jump and spin, straight to the head.

Polar had just barely finished shaking off his confusion from the push before already finding me jumping at him. I spun around in the air, my strong rear leg flying toward the colt’s head. But much to my surprise, Polar actually attempted to dodge the attack. Just as I started to unleash the kick, I saw the colt jump into the air, possibly hoping to jump over my hoof entirely.

A loud snapping sound resonated throughout the sparring room when my hoof connected with Polar’s foreleg. The blow made the smaller pony do a full spin in the air before collapsing onto the floor. As soon as his hooves connected with the floor, his right cannon bent into a right angle, almost as if it were made out of rubber. The colt gave a high-pitched squeal and collapsed completely, clutching his leg as tears streamed from his eyes.

Oh no. I thought.

I turned to look at Sample Array, who bore a mask of utmost seriousness. I watched, horrified, as the researcher pointed at the fallen colt. My gaze followed his hoof and saw that the young pony was still struggling to get back up. Clearly, I had beaten enough adrenaline into him for not even a horribly broken leg to keep the poor colt down.

Please stay down. I begged as I walked next to the small pony and lifted my forehoof. A full second passed, but Polar still tried to get up. I inhaled deeply and brought my hoof down. Hard. The colt’s head flew into the ring floor, letting out a loud thud. Immediately, the rest of his body went limp, knocked out at last.

Sample Array nodded and brought his PipBuck up to write something down. After a few moments, another researcher came into the room to retrieve the unconscious Polar. I stared as the bloodstained white colt was carried away on the stallion’s back, his broken leg flopping around like a broken doll’s.

“Excellent performance, Black Light,” Sample Array said, looking up from his screen, “As I said, you’ll never know who you’ll have to fight when on the surface,” He added, staring disappointedly at Gamma Ray.

I followed his gaze, looking at the green unicorn for the first time since I had climbed into the ring. He looked furious. Eyes cast low, jaw tight, and a throbbing vein in his neck, the colt looked absolutely irate.

“Now, the next-” Sample Array started, but to everyone’s shock, he was interrupted.

“Let me fight her,” Gamma Ray said, looking up and locking his white eyes with mine.

I was expecting Sample Array to reprimand the colt, interrupting a researcher was a horrible breach of conduct. But to my surprise, the light green stallion smiled and turned his head to look at the colt.

“I’m afraid that would be a breach of proper testing protocol,” The researcher, “But if you really want to-”

“Yes.”

“Very well then, I’ll allow it,” Sample Array confirmed, gesturing toward the ring.

Gamma Ray got up and walked to the opposite end of the ring, his eyes still boring into me with unfettered hatred. I did have to wonder why he was so angry, but it was more than likely the fact that I had gotten praised where his performance left much to be desired. Not like that was my fault! He just held back against Dot when he shouldn’t have!

“Take your positions,” Sample Array ordered, a hint of glee in his voice.

I stood tall at my end of the ring, with Gamma Ray doing the same on his side. A small heat shimmer appeared on his horn when he lit it to get warmed up. I couldn’t help but get excited at the prospect of finally fighting a powerful opponent, and my own horn lit up in a crimson glow to match his.

He was shorter than me, but just as muscular if not more. His larger frame was a lot wider than mine, but that could be used to my advantage by running around him. No, the real problem here was going to be his nigh-invisible magic. Gamma Ray had a very peculiar color of magic, a white so pale it was nearly invisible other than the heat distortion in the air whenever his magic coursed through it. This is going to be fun. I thought.

“Fight!” Came the order.

The instant the fight started, I put up a magical ward in front of me. I knew that I had made the right choice when I felt a strong magic beam colliding with it, I saw the heat shimmer of the magical attack bounce off and into the glass behind me. Before I could prepare a counterattack, however, I found my face colliding violently against a dark green hoof.

He was strong. My ears started ringing from the impact, but I managed to spot the second strike through my blurry daze fast enough to weave underneath it. I spun my neck around to headbutt the colt in the shoulder, shoving him away from me. To my shock, however, Gamma used the force of my shove to go into a roundhouse kick, hitting me in the temple just as I was intending to do with Polar Coordinate.

“Is that strong enough for you?” He demanded after landing, taking a combat stance and charging his horn again.

I shook my head and barely managed to jump out of the way of his magic beam, feeling the heat on my right side. The magic struck the glass directly, making minuscule cracks appear on the surface. A second beam fired at me before I had landed, forcing me to put up a ward once more. The magic clashed, sending me into the glass as if I had been kicked.

“Or do I have to break one of your legs too?” The colt shouted, running towards me.

Okay, he’s really angry. I realized, rolling out of the way of a stomp. I could feel my cheek swelling from the kicks, but the fire in my chest was burning brighter by the second. He may be angry about me following Sample Array’s orders, but that same anger was clouding his fighting. I need to capitalize on it.

“You were the one in the wrong for holding back! You know how sparring works!” I shouted back, jumping to my hooves.

Gamma Ray’s nostrils flared with anger as he fired another magic beam at me. This time, however, not only did I sidestep his attack, but I fired my own in return. The colt’s white eyes went wide as the crimson beam nearly hit him square in the head, his last-second dodge barely clearing the attack.

I lunged at him, trying to wrap my forehooves around his neck. The green unicorn jumped aside and brought up his right rear hoof to strike at my unprotected stomach. My lungs quickly deflated under the mighty blow. And I went flying into the glass that Gamma had damaged previously, deepening the cracks.

A beam flew at me, hitting my left foreleg. The scent of burning flesh struck my nostrils almost immediately. He’s clearly not holding back, I thought excitedly as I looked at my burnt forehoof, it wasn’t too bad at least. Another beam flew at me, which I couldn’t dodge without getting a long burn along my right shoulder. That damn invisible magic!

There wasn’t much I could do to dodge when I didn’t know what he was aiming at, and he had clearly shown it by aiming at my limbs rather than my chest and head. Well, you know what they say, the best defense is a strong offense! I thought, firing a beam of my own before he could get another one charged up. While I did miss, it was enough to keep him from letting his own beam loose.

I jumped towards the colt, managing to catch his head with one of my forehooves, but he weaved enough to minimize the impact. My forehoof came up to block a possible counterattack, but I realized that I had chosen poorly when I was sent sliding across the ring by a strong wave of magic. I suddenly found myself being tackled to the ground by the green unicorn. Two strong forehooves landed on either side of my head, pinning me in place as the colt glared at me.

“It’s their first fight, there was no need to go that far!” He said, drops of spit falling on my face from the infuriated pony’s mouth.

The instant his horn fired up I did the only thing I could think of: I twisted my head to the right and bit down on Gamma Ray’s leg, just under his fetlock. The colt screamed and fired his magic way too high, missing me entirely. I took the flinch to quickly plant my rear hooves on his stomach and kicked upwards with all my might.

Gamma Ray landed a good distance away from me, getting up as quickly as he could manage. I rose to my hooves as well, spitting out a bit of skin that had stuck to my teeth. My heart was thundering in my ears, and my chest was so warm that I considered ripping my stable barding off to try and cool down. The burning sensation in my legs from the effort, the throbbing pain where I had been hit, and even the slippery sensation under my left hoof from the blood I had lost were just… intoxicating.

The green unicorn didn’t immediately attack, clearly trying to get air back into his lungs from the kick he had received. I noticed that he was keeping his weight off the hoof I had bitten. But even then I doubted I would be able to hit him with a magical beam. My mind raced to try and form a strategy when I finally realized that he was standing too close to me. I knew what I could do.

You may be able to dodge beams, but what about fields? I thought, my mouth cracking into a wide grin as my horn lit up.

Gamma Ray immediately jumped to the side in an effort to dodge a possible beam, but it was his turn to choose poorly. My magic wrapped around the unicorn almost instantly, encasing him in an undulating bubble of crimson telekinesis. The colt’s eyes went wide when he realized what had happened.

And then I squeezed.

I felt a strong resistance under my magic, and I stared at the colt to see that his entire body was wrapped in the heat shimmer of his magic. He was pushing back against my telekinesis with his own! Gamma Ray’s jaw clenched as he shakily stood up, staring at me through the warping and distorted air. I chuckled at the challenge and poured more magic into the spell, crashing down on the colt with all my might. I couldn’t comprehend just how good the clash felt, the more magic I channeled through my horn the more I scratched that strange itch just below it. it was like the feeling of standing under hot water in a shower.

To my surprise, the unicorn in front of me actually managed to move his forehoof forward, taking a labored step towards me. His entire body shook under the strain of my telekinesis, but he still took another step. And a third. He was halfway to me, his eyes still boring into me with righteous fury.

Sweat poured down my face and my own jaw tightened as more and more magic was funneled through my horn. But I couldn’t stop him completely. He took two more steps, leaving him within striking distance. He had the upper hoof on me, I could feel it, I couldn’t move without breaking my focus on the telekinesis… but he clearly could. Gamma Ray’s right forehoof started to rise, heading towards my horn, I could do nothing but watch with concern as it drew ever closer. I knew that even the slightest impact on it would make my concentration disappear faster than my teeth would in the ensuing seconds. His hoof was so close that I could feel it tickling the magic wrapping my horn, just a little bit more and I would be finished.

With a deafening popping sound, however, the heat shimmer around his body disappeared. My magic crashed into the colt like a tidal wave, forcing him to wheeze out any air that could’ve been hiding in his lungs. His legs, which had miraculously managed to drag him towards me, were pressed flat against his underside from the tremendous telekinetic force.

I gave a victorious shout before slamming the colt into the ring floor as hard as I could, rattling the cracked glass around us. As if in a trance, I lifted him back up and sent him flying into the left side wall, then the right… then the floor again. By the last impact he had gone completely limp, his legs flailing around in my arcane grasp. With one final heave, I threw his unconscious body into the far wall, causing it to crack with a spiderweb-esque pattern.

“That’s enough!” Sample Array ordered, his eyes wide.

I collapsed to my knees, exhausted from the excessive magic use. Yeah, I’ll be needing some bounceback. I thought when my horn gave a painful throb.

“Absolutely astonishing performance from both of you,” Sample Array exclaimed, “These results are incredible,” He added.

The adult door opened once more, from which came Double Helix to retrieve Gamma Ray.

“Wait…” I said, still winded, “Let me take him, I have to see Quick Check too,”

“You sure you can carry him?” The stallion said, cocking his head.

I tentatively wrapped my magic around Gamma Ray, but my horn gave an agonizing throb directly into my brain. As if a red-hot nail had been driven through my skull. My eyes watered while I slowly dragged the unconscious colt closer and draped him over my back.

“I guess so,” Double Helix added.

“Come on Dot, let’s get you to Quick Check too,” I said, raising my voice so the young unicorn could hear me from outside the ring. The black filly’s ears shot up in alarm as her pinprick eyes focused on me, she looked completely terrified. A nervous nod was my only response.

Moments later I was standing in the clinic, with Quick Check carefully casting a healing spell on my burnt leg. Around me were several occupied beds, two of which held the still-unconscious forms of Polar Coordinate and Gamma Ray. Next to me sat Dot Product, who was nervously eating a lollipop that Quick Check had given her. I wonder what’s gotten into her. I thought, looking at the young pony. Her gaze immediately dropped when my eyes focused on her.

“Do you want an ice pack for your face?” The doctor asked.

“Nah, I’m fine,” I answered, my face did sting a little, but I didn’t want an ice pack. I always forgot to return them anyway!

“Very well then, this would be it, then,” He said, pointing at a small plastic jar that sat on a nearby tray, “Take one now, if your horn is still bothering you tomorrow morning I’ll give you another one,” He instructed before turning around to check on Gamma Ray.

Without giving it much thought, I wrapped the jar in my magic and took one of the small pink pills from inside. Bounceback was very special, I hadn’t even known about it until I had become the eldest filly. They were incredibly useful for fighting magical overexertion. And if I was being honest, the light sweet taste gave even daisy food chips a run for their bits.

I glanced over at Dot Product. I noticed she had finished her lollipop and was busy nervously gnawing at the stick. She hadn’t been hurt too badly, just a small bruise, but she was still incredibly fidgety.

“You okay, Dot?” I asked, concerned.

“Y- yeah, Miss Black Light, all- all good!” She squeaked back.

I smiled at the filly, leaning in closer to pat her head. She flinched and flattened her ears against her head, clearly still jumpy from her fight with Gamma Ray. I ruffled her mane slightly.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get better in no time!” I reassured her.

“Yes, I- I guess… at least today wasn't so b- bad,” She stuttered in response, glancing nervously at Polar Coordinate’s leg.

I gave a hearty laugh, hugging the filly. She cringed away slightly but couldn’t do much to escape my comforting embrace.

“That’s the spirit! See you at dinner!” I told her.

And so I set off through the halls of my home, skipping along the way. Today had been a good day. And with any luck, I would get daisies for dinner.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Meridian

Classification: Earth pony mare – 47 years of age – C-01796f M-B2AC88 E-0073CF

Cutie mark: Simple depiction of an undefined map

Meridian is a gentle and quiet mare with a propensity for understanding and creating maps. She was raised from a young age as an apprentice to replace stable 75’s archive keeper and librarian. Since her cutie mark didn’t give her any advantage in other roles, she fully took the job once she became an adult, replacing Rubber Stamp. Her predecessor now spends their time in the retirement wing, dropping in to help at the archive room occasionally.

She spends most of her time in the library as opposed to the archive room proper because her calm mannerisms are better fit for dealing with the subjects directly. This gentle demeanor when dealing with the subjects directly clashes with Overmare Number Crunch and her more abrasive approach. This gives Meridian yet another excuse to spend as little time as possible in the adult section of stable 75, only heading up for food and to sleep. Her own apprentice, a stallion named Paper Stack, handles the archives while she is performing her librarian duties.

Her genes were used in the creation of Gamma Ray and Sample Array. Unfortunately, only one of the two showed the correct level of intelligence to be included in the research team.

Author's Note

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1st Edition Version

Vaccination

Repetition makes perfection, this has always been clear.

Routines were important in stable 75, they guided us in every hour of every day. From our carefully timed eating breaks and activities to any individual tasks we were told to do. It gave life structure, for without it, our days would devolve into aimless meandering. But while our routines were strict and careful, I knew that the poor surface-dwellers had routines of their own. After all, surviving in the desolate hellscape that I had been taught about would easily be a full-time job.

Oh, those poor surface dwellers! Forced to coexist with terrible monsters and the horrors of the surface.

“Black Light!” Quick Check snapped, bringing me back to reality.

“I uhh… what?” I mumbled.

“Is your horn still hurting or not?” The doctor asked.

Truth be told, my horn was feeling great, barely even a bother. But then again, I should probably make extra sure that I’m at the top of my game.

“Oh yeah, it still hurts,” I said. It wasn’t a lie, lying was an evil pony thing. This was just a… preemptive health measure.

“Here you go,” Quick Check said, throwing me the jar of bounceback.

I tried to catch the jar with my magic, but in my sleepy haze, the spell wrapped around empty air. The jar continued along its journey, hitting me squarely on the nose.

“Owwww…” I whined, rubbing my nose with a forehoof.

My magic wrapped around it properly and lifted it up to my face. Where I absentmindedly popped one of the pills into my mouth and set the jar aside.

These pills are the best. I thought, chewing on the slightly strawberry-flavored medicine.

“That will be all then,” Quick Check said, writing down something on his PipBuck.

“See you later, doc!” I answered, starting towards the clinic door.

“Oh actually, I have an assignment for you,” Quick Check said before I could reach the hallway, “I noticed that Beaker Glass didn’t come by for a checkup yesterday. She took a hard hit to the shoulder, tell her to come by later,”

My PipBuck pinged in acknowledgment, its automatic task detection spell writing out the doctor’s order on my EFS.

“Will do!” I answered, smiling.

The wheel of stable 75 turned once more, lighting up the hallways with its artificial daylight as I made my way to the fillies' dorm. Today would be a slow day, nothing but classes I was too old to attend. At least it did give me a lot of time to spend in the library, not like I hadn’t read basically every book in it… several times.

I reached the dorm and opened the door to find the fillies already busy at work making their beds. It was rather amusing how they became a lot more efficient for a few days after sparring.

“Good morning Miss Black Light!” Light Show said, sitting next to her immaculately made bed like she did every day.

“Hey there!” I answered before lifting my voice to address all the fillies, “Get your saddlebags on, ponies!”

I walked up to my bunk and opened the small locker on the side that held my belongings. Since I couldn’t really take the same classes as the other fillies, I slipped on my saddlebags mostly out of habit. My PipBuck buzzed as its data tab updated with the contents of the bags, two pages of recycled paper, a recycled pencil, and a single daisy chip.

“Huh, when did I pick this up…?” I muttered aloud before eating the chip.

My right ear twitched in the silence that had befallen the room. I lowered my PipBuck and saw that the fillies had finished their housekeeping chores and stood silently next to me, waiting for instruction.

“Well! Off we go!” I exclaimed, standing tall and turning to face the door.

A quick check of my timetable laid out the day before us. Up first was history class, which, sadly, I had already finished years ago. But just because I couldn’t take the class it didn’t mean that my fillies couldn’t. And it was my duty as their elder to make sure they reached the classroom precisely when they had to.

We reached the mess hall just in time, being let in to eat once the colts arrived. I only got carrot chips, but I wasn’t feeling picky today so I didn’t really mind. The routine marked our every moment, as it had done every day, and as it would do for as long as we lived within our beloved stable 75.

I did have to wonder what my life would become once I graduated, however… once that structure disappeared. What would I find to fill my days once my PipBuck stopped updating its timetable? The little pony in my head sat on a large rock, holding one of their forehooves to their forehead to ponder the query.

Silly Black Light, remember what the research team told you, the surface is full of horrific dangers and ponies to help! There’s always going to be something to do! I thought, mentally kicking the rock out from under the pony.

Once I left the fillies at their classroom, I turned around and quickly made my way toward the library. Nothing like a good book to pass the time.

“Good morning Miss Meridian!” I chirped when I entered the room.

“Hello Black Light, do you need help with anything?” She asked, smiling warmly.

“Not really, but I’ll let you know if I need anything!” I answered, trotting towards the bookshelves.

I considered picking up the magazine from yesterday, but that one was better saved for special occasions. Instead, I walked towards the ‘miscellaneous’ section and headed for one of my other favorite books: ‘B. Marentine: Essentials of Alchemy, Revision by J. Marea”.

Ever since I could remember I had felt a… connection with alchemy. If I had to guess it was probably the more chaotic and experimental nature of it, after all, it was the predecessor to our current understanding of magic. Back in the ancient times when everything was new and colorful… and explosive. Truly it was night and day compared to the dull grays and greens of the technological age.

The book’s pages were rich with history and intricate alchemical matrixes, spanning centuries of unicorns experimenting on both their own magic and that of the world. Strange diagrams adorned with long-dead languages were flanked by the historian’s best guesses as to what they all meant. According to the foreword -which by this point I had all but memorized-, alchemy had been the result of trade with zebra shamans from beyond our shores. They had brought with them a special understanding of the inner workings of magic, which we wasted no time in applying and deepening.

And to think that so many centuries later those once fruitful relationships had turned into the engine of our world’s destruction. A simple exchange of texts and spices warped into an exchange of balefire and death. I guessed it did make sense. After all, nothing can be gained without something being offered up in return.

Finally, I came to the best page in the book, a full-page illustration of an ancient periodic table, the first one that was ever recorded. Of course, it had an impressive amount of inaccuracies, such as several elements that were actually alloys of real ones, and of course the complete lack of any elements of harmony. But those problems could be easily overlooked when you considered the absolutely beautiful art that accompanied it.

Beautifully stylized symbols and epigraphs written in gorgeous calligraphy were simply too awe-inspiring to care for something as minor as glaring scientific inaccuracies. It was rather funny, however, that gold and silver were on the top of the table, completely breaking the established order of the elements that were listed below. But given how the precious metals were represented by none other than the princesses’ cutie marks, it was also understandable.

The sun and the moon, two objects that were so real… yet so mystical at the same time. Meaning had been given to both in the shape of precious metals or magical components, even if in reality they could be simply described as tools that the princesses once used to make the day and night cycle happen.

The page next to the table included images of all the properties and uses of the different elements, which, yet again, were crowned by gold and silver. A collage of artifacts and ornaments adorned the page, as well as some specialized tools. But the thing that caught my eye the most was the picture of a smiling stallion, fully decked in exercise gear, holding out a large gold medal to the camera. The epigraph read ‘Gold is still used to this very day for competition prizes all over Equestria’.

If only you knew, Marea, if only you knew… I thought, disheartened at the thought that the highest prize I could receive down here were some kind words from The Overmare. Getting a medal must’ve felt so good, the ultimate praise possible. An entire glorious medallion made out of some of the most precious metals. Represented by Celestia’s cutie mark, no less, a veritable piece of divinity bestowed upon a pony who had completed a difficult test.

I closed the book and straightened my back, feeling the deep popping sounds that came from my spine. My PipBuck gave me some relief in the knowledge that the upcoming math exam was still a few minutes away. Reading to pass the time was a double-edged sword, but it was one that I knew how to wield.

If only I didn’t have to do that dumb test, I want to read more. I thought as I floated the book over to the bookcase. Wait… why not just ask for it? I realized, turning towards the front desk instead.

“Miss Meridian?” I asked, rousing the librarian from a light nap.

“I- uh… Black Light! Did you need anything?” She asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

The book landed on her desk with a loud thud, causing Meridian to jump in place.

“I want to take this book with me,” I explained.

She lifted the tome to her eyes and read the title.

“Why would you want to read this? You do know it’s just some made-up pseudoscience, right?” She asked, raising an eyebrow, “Why don’t you study something more enriching? Like magic?” Added the librarian, pointing at my horn.

I gave the librarian a toothy grin before answering.

“I just like it a lot!”

“Whatever you wish,” The pony muttered, “I’d tell you to bring it back in two days, but I’m certain nopony else will want to read that nonsense,”

I ignored Meridian’s criticisms and scooped up my book. There was no use in discussing such high concepts with a pony who clearly had a severely limited vision. When I went to put the book inside my saddlebag, however, I noticed a small white jar inside of it.

Oh, Quick Check is going to be angry. I thought, staring at the bounceback jar. To be fair it wasn’t that much of an issue, I just had to return it the next time I went to the clinic. With any luck, the doctor wouldn’t even realize it was missing. Surely not even a pony who has worked a job for their entire life could possibly have a list of everything in their work area! It wasn’t stealing, it was just an honest mistake. I reassured myself as I placed the book into the saddlebag.

“Thanks, Miss Meridian!” I said with a grin.

“You’re welcome,” The mare responded, readjusting her sitting to try and return to her nap.

I walked out of the library and stood in the empty hallway for a few minutes. Not having anything to do was just the worst feeling, it made me feel so… empty. As if I were a husk of a living creature instead of a complex pony full of life. Merely the demented ramblings of some higher being who, just like me, had nothing better to do with its precious time.

The sounds of fillies flooding the hallway brought me out of my ruminating, plastering a practiced smile on my face. I would be lying if I said I was nervous about the upcoming exam, something that could clearly not be said for the rest of the fillies. But just as with everything else in stable 75, you couldn’t escape the routine.

“Beaker!” I called out when I spotted the filly among the group.

The smaller pony’s eyes went wide at the mention of her name, but she relaxed when she realized it had been me who called her.

“Yes, Miss Black Light?” She asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“How’s your shoulder? Quick Check told me to ask you about it. You got hit yesterday, right?” I asked.

The filly’s face went several shades whiter at my words.

“I’m f- fine,” She stuttered, lifting her right forehoof off the ground nervously.

“He knows you got hit, Beaker, why are you so jumpy?” I pressed, raising an eyebrow.

The younger pony bit her lip, but eventually, she couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“I tripped and hit my shoulder against the wall, it was my fault,” She blurted out.

So that’s why she didn’t want to talk about it. I realized. she hadn’t gotten hit, she’d just made a mistake. Granted, it was a stupid mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. Stable 75 didn’t take kindly to mistakes.

“Quick Check didn’t sound angry, he just wanted to make sure your shoulder was okay,” I reassured her, earning a nod.

“O- okay, I’ll go see him after the math exam,” She answered.

My PipBuck pinged in acknowledgment, displaying a ‘task complete’ message over my EFS. I loved this thing.

Noises came from within the classroom as it was reorganized into the exam format. I hope these fillies eventually become as calm as me. I thought, smirking as I looked around at the increasingly nervous ponies around me. Then again, I’m almost too smart for these tests!

At last, the door slid open to reveal none other than The Overmare, immediately casting a veil of silence over the chattering fillies. She took a moment to stare at all the young ponies before finally addressing us.

“Listen my dear little ponies, your next assignment will be a math exam,” She stated, “You will have one hour to complete it, best of luck, fillies” She added, stepping aside to let us into the room.

The Overmare sat down at her desk, in front of the large whiteboard that dominated the far wall of the room. And from there she observed as we made our way to our assigned desks.

I sat at my desk, wrapped the pen that had been left for me in the crimson glow of my telekinesis, and waited. As soon as The Overmare gave the order, I would flip my exam over and take in the complex problems that awaited me. This was going to be a breeze!

“Test start!” Said the overmare, starting her PipBuck timer.

With a crimson flash, I flipped the page over, knowing that the art of mathematics was not something foreign to me, and that I wouldn’t have any problems with passing this exam. I contemplated the black text on the page, taking in the complex arithmetic calculations that had been asked of me, and that I could easily complete.

Concentrate, you can do this. I told myself, and it was true as well. For every single year up to now, I had been at the top of my class in math, no other filly had ever come close to my grades.

I could still recall my first time taking an exam as if it had been yesterday, the nervousness, the confidence, and, of course, the knowledge that no problem could escape my grasp.

Once more I pondered over the problem before me, the one sentence that would define if my intellect was still above that of the other fillies. I hadn’t been taught much history, but I did know about the hundreds of brilliant ponies that had poured their intellect into the fine and precise art of mathematics. Truly, it was a thing of beauty, how seemingly esoteric and wholly alien concepts could merge with an idea as grounded and tangible as the apple.

“If you had seven apples, and your friend gave you four more, how many apples would you have?” I read to myself, whispering the words just barely loud enough for my own ears to hear. I felt every word as it passed through my lips, the warm feeling of friendship and the sweet taste of apples wrapping around each other to create a wholly unique sensation.

To think something as complex as math could be whittled down to a simple interaction between friends, to a gift, given from one pony to another. It was… beautiful, really. However, there was a saddening undertone to the problem, for it had clearly been created in the days before the megaspells dropped. At what other time could a pony have simply given something as valuable as an apple to somepony else without as much as a promise that the valuable food would someday be repaid?

Apples were a rare luxury in stable 75, only one was given to the best of the best at the end of every year. And to think at some point a pony could’ve had as many as seven apples! Not just that, but other ponies could have so many that they gave them away as gifts instead of prizes… unthinkable!

“Only ten minutes left, children,” The Overmare said, knocking me out of my ponderation.

It seemed that my thinking had taken up a substantial portion of the exam time, but it was nothing to worry about. After all, during my visualization of pre-war Equestria, I had come across the answer to the query that had been set upon me.

‘Onety-one’ I wrote proudly, grinning at how quickly I had reached the result. While I did feel slightly disheartened to know that the highest praise I would get for my excellent display of mathematical skill would be a good grade, I knew that it was just the way things were.

I strutted proudly out of the exam room, ready to enjoy my well-deserved free time. While heading back to the dorm would’ve been ideal, I couldn’t abandon my fillies. The library, however, was the second-best option.

Meridian was, once again, napping in her chair. There was no point in waking the older mare up, however, since the only thing I was looking for was a nice cushy couch to drop my flank on.

I opened the book once more, flipping through its pages absentmindedly. Gold is such a beautiful metal, I wish I had something made of gold. I thought, imagining how important such an item would make me look. No longer would I be a simple white pony with a brown mane, I’d have something bright and odd that really made me pop out from the crowd.

Maybe a headband… or maybe even a large collar or some bracelets for my rear legs, yeah, that sounds nice. I thought, looking back at the legs in question and trying to imagine what the accessories would look like. The best part is that it would draw eyes away from my blank fla-

The world exploded into colors and shapes as my head slammed against the roof in my ecstatic jubilee. A loud banging sound came from the front desk, probably Meridian being roused from sleep by a filly body slamming into the ceiling. But I paid her no mind as I shook my head to try and get my eyes to focus again and make sure I hadn’t just imagined it.

“Yesssss!” I shouted, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

Right there, where I had expected to see nothing but my white coat, stood the most beautiful cutie mark I had ever seen. The combined alchemical symbols of gold and silver were now plastered on my flank. A simple depiction of a sun with a crescent moon coming out of its side.

Gold and silver, the sun and the moon… it was as if the world had heard my plea for a prize and had given it to me in the only way it could! The balance was perfect, black mark over white coat, effort and skill for silver and gold. It was so beautiful that my eyes could do nothing but weep tears of joy.

“Is everything okay?” Meridian shouted, having stood back up after falling from her chair.

“It’s better than okay! Look!” I exclaimed, pointing at my flank when the librarian peeked into the aisle.

“Oh my!” The mare said, a smile parting her features, “Finally!” She said, walking over to hug me.

“I have to tell The Overmare!” I shouted, breaking free from Meridian’s embrace.

I stuffed the book back into my saddlebag and ran out of the library, diving for the exam room like a white missile.

“Overmare!” I shouted as I flew through the door, “Overmare Number Crunch!”

“Black Light! What is the meaning of this?” The Overmare demanded with a bellow. Standing up from behind her desk to glare at me.

But I was far, far too happy for even her raised voice to put a dent in my joy. I said nothing, instead simply turning to the side and letting my flank do the talking.

Almost instantly, the older mare’s face warped from anger and frustration to a joy so radiant it could almost match my own. Glistening eyes and an enormous grin gave her an appearance that was so unlike The Overmare that one could’ve easily thought she was an impostor.

“Fillies! Classes for today are over, you all pass!” The Overmare announced, “We shall be celebrating Black Light’s graduation, at long last!”

My heart skipped a beat, I just couldn’t believe that the time had finally come. I had waited so long and now it was finally here.

“We will celebrate in the mess hall, everypony must be there in half an hour!” The Overmare continued, rushing into an adult door on the far wall of the classroom.

Once the oppressive presence of The Overmare had left the room, the fillies wasted no time in fully exploding with joy. They chanted my name and piled onto me, leaving me crushed under an immense group hug. We rushed out of the classroom and galloped down the hallways, eventually reaching our dorm.

“Thanks, girls! I’m going to be a hero!” I shouted at the top of my lungs when we had gathered in the room.

More cheers erupted from the crowd. It wasn’t every day that a new hero of the surface graduated from stable 75. But this time it wasn’t just a hero… it was me. It was my turn to walk up those steps and finally fulfill my mission.

“Does that mean that I’m going to be in charge of the fillies now?” Light Show asked once the cheering had died down.

“Yup! By tomorrow you’ll have your very own PipBuck!” I said with a grin, lifting my own to show her.

“Oh yeah!” She exclaimed excitedly.

We shared a laugh and finished getting our dorm in order to head towards the party. I stared longingly at my bunk, the same one that would serve Light Show tonight, just as it had served Gradient Bar before me. An endless cycle of bedding cycling as we grew older and graduated.

“Okay fillies, line up!” I ordered, possibly for the last time.

The young ponies jumped into place faster than they ever had before, clearly excited to go to the party. My party. I skipped along with them as we paraded through the halls. Several researchers were walking along us as well, more than I had ever seen before. They didn’t say much, however, merely limiting themselves to stare at my cutie mark.

And why wouldn’t they? It was stunningly beautiful, not to mention how clear its meaning was: gold and silver, the signs of the sun and the moon, silver and gold. It was my talent, nay, my destiny to be the very best at any time of day!

The mess hall had been converted into a true party room. Recycled paper confetti rained from the sides of a large banner that read my name. Bowls of daisy chips adorned all the tables, my favorite.

Gamma Ray and the colts arrived shortly after, any sense of rivalry between us forgotten in the sheer joy that flooded the room.

“Took you long enough!” He teased.

“It sure did!” I answered, immediately diving back into my daisy chip bowl.

Moments later the adult door opened once more to reveal The Overmare, an enormous, juicy and delectable apple held firmly in her magical grasp. Despite the chaotic celebration, The Overmare’s presence was still more than enough to get us all to quiet down.

“Fillies and colts, I want you all to give a round of applause to the latest hero of the surface, Black Light!” She stated.

A thunderous applause flooded the room, from fillies, colts, and adults alike. The Overmare raised a hoof to quiet us down again.

“It is not every day that a filly, nay, a mare graduates from between your ranks, let alone one as promising as Black Light,” The older mare continued, I couldn’t help but puff out my chest at the notion of being called an adult, “Her performance has been impeccable, and I hope she can serve as a template to create more excellent future graduates, give her a cheer!”

More applause followed her words, nearly as deafening as the thunder of my heart in my ears.

“Now we shall see her off! To go join all previous graduates in their epic quest to bring balance back to the surface!” The Overmare finished, floating the apple toward me.

I gracefully took it within my own magical grasp, bringing it ever so closer to my mouth. The room had fallen completely silent and I could feel the chills of dozens of eyes on me.

A loud, echoing crunch sounded out as my teeth broke through the crisp fruit’s skin, marking the start of the rest of my life. Cheers erupted once more from the gathered ponies.

“Thanks everypony!” I managed to shout over the celebrating ponies.

A while later, once I had eaten more daisy chips than I had in my whole life, the party was finally starting to die down slightly. I was in the middle of my… twentieth? Thirtieth? Bowl of daisy chips when I felt a series of taps on my leg. I turned to see none other than Dot Product, looking up at me with wide eyes.

“Hey there, Dot!” I said cheerfully,” drawing a smile from the filly.

“H- Hey Miss Black Light,” She mumbled, “I h- hope you have a good time saving the p- ponies of the surface,”

The little filly’s words tugged at my memory. Many years ago I had been in her hooves, saying the same words to Gradient just before she had left for the surface. Thanks to her I knew exactly what to tell the filly in front of me now.

“Thanks, Dot,” I said, smiling sincerely, “I’ll make sure to find you out there when you graduate too!”

“Y- you will?” She asked, her ears perking up.

I nodded, making a serious face.

“I promise,” I added.

Two small black forelegs wrapped around my left leg, pulling it into a hug.

“I’ll miss you!” She said, her voice barely a whisper.

I’ll miss you too, Dot. I wanted to say, but the words just didn’t seem to leave my throat. I decided to simply hug her back, holding the small pony in my hooves for a moment.

“Black Light?” The voice of The Overmare came from behind me.

I turned to look at the older mare, she was standing in the open adult door. The same eerie smile from before plastered on her usually serious features.

“It’s time,” She said.

I nodded and stood to address my fillies and the colts for the last time in a long while.

“Bye everypony, keep training hard! I can’t wait for you to join me and all the other heroes up on the surface!” I exclaimed excitedly, getting one last round of applause in exchange. I turned and took a deep breath before stepping into the adult section of the stable.

Truth be told, the adult section was not so different from the stable I had grown up in. The layout was nearly identical, with the only difference being the transparent floor that allowed the researchers to keep an eye on us. You could see everything from up here, they must really care about us to keep that close of an eye!

The Overmare guided me through a series of hallways and rooms, full to bursting with strange laboratory machines. One thing stood out as strange, however, and it was the sheer number of researchers. I had always assumed them to be a dozen at most, but as I made my way through this alien part of the stable I could see a dozen new faces in every room.

Finally, we took one last turn and came face to face with a closed door. My eyes drifted downwards through the transparent floor and I immediately realized where we were. We were standing above the entrance to the clinic, so, logically, this had to be the adult clinic!

The door opened to reveal none other than Quick Check, standing tall in his lab coat.

“Black Light! Here at last!” He said with a smile that was just a little bit too wide, “Sorry that I missed your party, but I had to get everything ready for you up here, come, come!” He added, gesturing to the inside of the clinic.

The Overmare and I walked into the room, which was nearly identical to the one below. The main difference was that where the clinic I knew had many different beds, this one had a single one in the middle of the room. The entirety of the walls were covered in drawers and shelves holding all manner of tools and machines.

“Get on the bed, please” Quick Check ordered, “We just need to run some final tests and then you’ll be ready to go,”

“Sure thing, doc!” I chirped before launching myself onto the bed.

The Overmare and Quick Check shared a look before the former gave a nod.

“I leave this to you, I have to go make sure the others don’t get too rowdy,” She said before leaving the room.

Quick Check walked up to me, a book held less than a hoof’s length from his eyes. I heard pages flip rapidly as the stallion focused on my flank.

“Do you feel any difference in the area?” He asked.

“No, not really, but I finally got my cutie mark! Isn’t it cool?” I exclaimed happily.

“Yes, yes, but are you certain you don’t feel anything strange? Like a pricking sensation?” He said, his eyes still focused on his book.

I went silent for a moment, focusing on my flanks.

“No, it feels the same as it always has,” I said, drawing a sigh from the doctor.

Quick Check pulled back and started to flip through his book again.

“Clearly symbological, but no clear symbol…” He mumbled.

“Oh, I know what it is!” I exclaimed, making the stallion raise an eyebrow, “It’s the alchemical symbols for gold and silver!” I explained proudly.

The doctor’s expression softened. He gave an understanding nod and then took a second book out of a nearby shelf, flipping through both at the same time. After a few moments, however, he let out a frustrated groan and lifted his leg to tap at his PipBuck.

“Okay then, just one thing left here!” He said, floating out a wide array of flasks and tools from the drawers around him.

“And then what happens?” I asked, almost jumping in anticipation.

“And then you’ll get your vaccines, and go be a hero,” He reassured me, an awkward smile warping his face, “now, get ready, this will hurt a bit,” He added, floating out a strange cylindrical tool.

I did my best to ‘get ready’, but I couldn’t help but yelp when the cylinder was pressed into my back. The metal bit into my coat, its edge easily slicing through it and cutting a round chunk out. However, almost as fast as the pain had appeared, it went away under the magic that poured out of Quick Check’s horn.

“Good, good,” The stallion said, dropping the small piece of muscle into a flask and quickly pouring the contents of another into it.

“What is that for?” I asked, watching as the bloody chunk bubbled inside the flask.

“Just some final samples, we won’t see you again, after all!” Quick Check said.

“Aww, don’t say that! I’ll definitely come back to visit!” I reassured him.

Quick Check grunted in response, floating a second tool off a nearby tray, this one was substantially longer and thinner than the one before. I felt something wet press against my back, just over my kidney.

“That was some anesthetic, you’ll just feel a prick,” The doctor explained as he floated the large tool over my back.

Just like he said, I felt a sharp stab on my back, barely even a prick. The tool was inside for a few seconds before pulling back out. Another surge of healing magic closed the small hole as if it had never been there before the stallion deposited a bloody mass into one of the smaller flasks.

“Just one more!” Quick Check said, putting the long tool inside a bag.

I braced myself for another painful sample, but was pleasantly surprised when Quick Check produced a pair of scissors instead. The doctor walked up to my face and snipped off a small lock of my mane, letting it fall into a test tube. Without saying a word, he turned and took all of the samples towards a small fridge in the wall.

A loud knocking sound came from the other side of the door, causing me to jump slightly,

“Allele?” Quick Check asked.

“Yeah,” A voice answered from the other side.

“It’s open, come on in,”

The door opened fully to reveal an old earth pony mare. Or well… old wasn’t exactly the right word for her, ancient would’ve been more fitting. Deep wrinkles covered her face, and what wisps of mane still remained on her head had turned as white as my coat. I had never seen this pony before.

“This is the new one?” The mare asked, pointing at me.

“Yep, I don’t have anything close to hers in the manual,” Quick Check answered.

I wonder what they’re talking about. I thought as the two ponies talked in their strange scientific language. My mind wandered over the different tools that were around the clinic, wondering when I’d finally go to the surface to start being a hero! I should probably look for some of the other graduates as soon as I get there. Whichever way they may have gone.

A hoof pressing against my flank brought my attention back to the two researchers.

“-unseparated symbols,” Quick Check was saying, “But the books have next to nothing on monochromatism,” He added.

“If you ask me, I’d say it looks more like a glyph-“ The old mare started, but she quickly fell silent, “Nevermind, we’ll have time to discuss it later, we shouldn’t keep her!” She said, breaking her silence once more.

I immediately perked up at her words.

“Fair enough,” Quick Check stated, turning to smile at me, “Are you ready to be a hero?” He asked.

“I’ve been ready for years!” I said, puffing out my chest in pride.

Quick Check let out a chuckle before walking towards the door, which Allele was holding open.

“Stay right there, we’ll give you your vaccines and then you’ll be ready!” He said right before the door closed.

I could barely keep myself still. It finally happened, I was going to make it. All my training, all my hard work, all my existence had been building up to this moment. I couldn’t have been more ready, my mind was quick, my legs strong, and my senses sharp. The burning feeling in my chest was so extreme that I was sure it would melt through my stable barding at any second.

Before I got the chance to bounce off the bed, however, the door slid open once more.

“Hello,” Said Sample Array, walking into the clinic with a cart.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end at the sight of the stallion, but they quickly calmed down. He’s part of the research team, and the research team only want what’s best for us and the surface. I reassured myself. The cart that the unicorn was pushing held a large bottle and a syringe. I hated syringes.

But it was necessary, I had gone through far worse than a vaccine to get here.

“You won’t feel a thing!” The unicorn said, taking the needle out of its protective casing.

I watched as Sample Array took the bottle in their magic, reading the peeling label for a bit before placing the syringe within it and filling it with a thick green liquid.

“Hey, why does the bottle have a skull and crossbones?” I asked, pointing at a part of the bottle where the white label had peeled off, revealing a red label underneath.

“That’s because it’s… uh… very, very deadly to viruses and bacteria!” The green unicorn said with a nervous tone, turning the bottle so that I couldn’t see the label anymore.

I guess that makes sense. I thought to myself, trying to take a deep breath to calm myself down.

Sample Array walked up to my side and took my right forehoof in his magic, aiming the syringe at the veins in my knee. I hadn’t ever gotten a vaccine there, usually they went into my shoulder. I had to look away to avoid passing out, but the sensation still felt horrible, as if a burning sludge were making its way through my veins. Almost immediately, I felt sick to my stomach and tasted something coppery in my mouth, what a strange vaccine.

“It shouldn’t take longer than ten seconds,” The unicorn said as they replaced the syringe on the cart, but their voice sounded distant and distorted.

Oh, good. I thought, my inner voice feeling sluggish, as if I had just woken up. Just have to count to… ten, let’s see… one… two… uhh… what was the third one? Was it four? The thought echoed around my mind as my vision collapsed into darkness.

Slowly, consciousness seeped back into my mind. I knew not how long I had been unconscious for, but I could feel that my barding and saddlebags had been removed. My mouth felt pasty and dry, and my head throbbed painfully, what happened? I tried to move, but my limbs felt frozen and sluggish.

“-Should do it, if you damage the cutie mark we’ll get a sharper one and try again on the other side,” A voice said somewhere to my left.

“That would be all, I’ll take the samples to the main freezer when I’m done,” Another voice, deeper-pitched, answered from my right.

I heard a door open and close. I tried to open my eyes but I could barely manage to crack them open enough to be blinded by a bright light. Warm air hit my right flank, somepony’s breath, I guessed. What was going on?

“Okay so let’s see…” The pony said, a stallion, I realized now that my ears were working better.

The sound of pages being turned reached my ears as the stallion continued to talk to himself.

“Make an incision above the area…”

An incision?! I thought, alarmed. Straining against my frozen limbs, I desperately tried to move. Who is that? Where am I?

I must’ve managed to twitch, because the pony next to me fell silent after giving an alarmed yelp. I continued to struggle, but couldn’t manage to move. The low buzzing of telekinesis reached my ears when something cold was pressed against my snout, just under my nostrils.

The sudden sensation shocked me, flooding my body with cold as if a bucket of icy water had been poured on me. My eyes finally opened fully, blinding me with the bright white light that hung from the ceiling. They quickly refocused on the small glass pane that had been held against my snout, probably to check if I had been breathing.

“What the-?” The stallion’s voice asked.

I forced my head to the side and saw the recoiling face of Sample Array.

“You!” I shouted, quite a difficult task considering my jaw wasn’t responding yet.

The unicorn’s eyes shrank to pinpricks as they panickedly scanned the room. A flash of telekinesis erupted from his horn and a scalpel floated off the tray that had been left by my bedside.

I managed to heave myself off the bed mere instants before the scalpel sank into the spot where my throat had been. What little air I had been able to draw into my lungs was quickly knocked out when I hit the floor, forcing me to cough.

I knew there was something fishy about that bastard! I thought, rolling away from the bed when the stallion in question swung the scalpel blindly at me. My legs sluggishly tried to lift my body off the floor, but I was forced to roll again when the scalpel flew at me.

A snapping sound escaped from the medical tool when it hit the floor, sending the deadly edge flying out of the stallion’s magic field. My own horn sputtered and sparked when I tried to channel magic through it, leaving me with nothing but a headache. Sample Array threw his broken weapon to the side and quickly replaced it with a bonesaw, glaring at me with murderous intent.

The saw swung in an arch towards me. My foreleg dragged itself up just in time to catch the tool. It hurt, but it wasn’t a serious injury. The pain, however, injected warmth back into my legs. I flicked the saw aside, completely ripping it out of the unicorn’s magic.

I whirled on the ground and placed both my rear hooves on the side of the bed that separated me from my opponent. With a groan, I sent it flying into the stallion. Slowly, I struggled back to my hooves, but the green pony remained under the medical bed.

Something was wrong with me. My vision was blurred and my ears were ringing. I could feel my heart thundering in my head, but its rhythm was off.

I quickly glanced around the room I was in, trying to spot any other hostiles. For now, I was alone. The glance had also revealed two things: In the first place, I was still in the stable’s adult clinic, In second place, I should’ve really thought twice about moving my eyes around so quickly.

“Owwwww,” I whined, holding my throbbing head in my hooves.

As if my own foolish actions hadn’t made my headache bad enough, an incredibly loud alarm started blaring from the hallway. Was the stable under attack? I turned to look at Sample Array, watching as his right forehoof pulled away from his PipBuck.

“Damn it!” I shouted when I realized that he had probably signaled his co-conspirators.

I jumped at the pinned stallion, launching myself into the air. A loud banging sound came from the unicorn’s head when the dropkick connected, whipping his skull into the floor. That should keep him out of commission.

He couldn’t have been alone, I need to find the other baddies before they hurt one of the fillies! I thought, the pieces of the puzzle slowly falling into place. I knew this stallion seemed off from the first second! I had to tell The Overmare right away.

I looked around the room again, spotting a familiar pair of saddlebags that sat on a neatly folded set of stable barding. With practiced ease I slipped back into my clothes, my hooves still slightly sluggish.

My ears picked up the thundering of hooves outside the door, too heavy to be one of the researchers. I looked around for anything I could use as a weapon. Glancing over the tool-covered trays before letting out a triumphant chuckle when I found the perfect weapon.

The door started to slide open just as my magic finished wrapping around a steel tray that had been left next to my near-autopsy bed. I quickly threw away the many, differently-sized scalpels that were littering the tray and brought the metal rectangle to bear in front of me.

I didn’t immediately attack, after all, I didn’t know if this was a researcher that had come to see what the problem was!

My eyes went wide at the sight beyond the door. A pony stood before me, completely covered in black and blue armor. Their head was protected by a helmet, its visor concealing the features beneath. The only exposed part of the pony was the mouth, which was holding onto a ten-millimeter pistol.

On reflex, I swung the tray at the pony before they could take a shot. Their gun and several teeth went flying to the side with a loud gong sound.

The pony collapsed to the side, bringing both forehooves up to hold their broken jaw. Their misery didn’t last long, however, because in a single motion I replaced my tray with their discarded pistol. A single shot rang out, right between the helmet and the neck of the armor suit.

This had to be some kind of cue, there was no other explanation. Where had this strange pony gotten that armor? And why were they attacking me?

“Think Black Light, think!” I said aloud, my mind fighting against its own slowness.

I’ve got to Tell the Overmare, I hope she’s safe. I decided it was the best course of action. Whenever something wrong happens, we are to tell The Overmare. But where is she?

I walked up to the open clinic door and peeked outside, trying to see if there was anypony out there. Maybe I could find a researcher and get some help! I just had to-

A gunshot rang out from the hallway, followed by a searing pain in my right ear. My head whipped back into the clinic as quickly as I could, avoiding a second shot entirely. There were more of these ponies out there, at least one more. My mind raced to formulate a strategy.

Being a unicorn, I could easily blindfire down the hallway to make whoever was shooting at me take cover. But what if they had hostages? I couldn’t just hope for the best! I didn’t have enough time to think about it fully, I’d just have to trust my gut.

The gun flew out of the door, drawing fire from the unseen enemy that missed completely. I quickly whipped the pistol to the side and downwards, firing twice. I hoped the shots would bite into the grate floor instead of bouncing into a possible hostage, and that the sound alone would make the shooter take cover. I jumped out of the clinic and launched down the hallway, running away from the shooter. Several shots rang out behind me, but none connected.

I blindly ran through the alien adult stable. While some parts were essentially a one-to-one copy of the stable I was used to, many hallways and rooms were completely foreign. There was no sign of the many researchers I had passed on my way to the clinic. Could they have been taken hostage by that armored pony and their associates?

Eventually, I came to a small room with only one other staircase leading out of it… and up. Many lockers lined the walls, filled with yellow rubbery suits held firmly in plastic bags. A single sign hung from the staircase, reading ‘entrance’.

I turned to look back at the hallway from which I had come. Three black figures turned the corner behind me, guns at the ready. I fired twice at the first pony. Both bullets hit, but they did little other than slow the charging enemy down. I, on the other hoof, was very much not armored, a fact that was swiftly brought to the front of my mind when the attacking ponies opened fire.

There was only one way out of here: up the staircase. With the sound of bullets ricocheting off the walls and steel steps around me. My rear right leg suddenly started to feel sluggish, with a muted feeling of pain coming from halfway up my thigh. Of course I would be unlucky enough to get a muscle cramp while getting shot at!

The stairs ended in a large room. A large machine hung from the ceiling, pointed towards the cogwheel-shaped door of the stable.

Okay, you’re going to get out there, find the others, and come back here to save everypony! I thought, the plan falling into place now that my head was clearer. All I had to do was open this damn door.

I gritted my teeth, fired up my horn, and wrapped the entire bulk of the door in a crimson haze. I grunted loudly, clenching my teeth in effort as I pulled on the door with all my arcane might. A loud hissing sound came from the door as a yellow alarm light started to flash above it. My neck started hurting from the magical strain, but the door barely budged. Who designed this damned thing?

The sound of hoofsteps forced me to rethink my strategy, looking around the room for something I could use to try and pry the door open. My eyes finally fell on a small console that flanked the door, and I wrapped my magic around it instead. If I could pull it out of the floor I could use it like a makeshift crowbar. Right before I started pulling, however, I noticed the large red label reading ‘Door controls’ that was on the top of the console.

“Perfect!” I said aloud, switching my focus from using the console as a crowbar to figuring out the controls. There! A large green button that said ‘open’ was swiftly crushed under my hoof.

After a loud buzzer noise, the device in the middle of the room started to extend towards the stable door just as the three impostors reached the top of the staircase. I quickly brought my pistol up to bear and let off two shots, forcing them to retreat down the stairwell and take cover.

The door was slow. Painfully slow. Bullets ripped past me, pelting the wall near me with holes. I jumped to the side to avoid becoming a pony-shaped strainer, but quickly got back up on my hooves and shot back several times. I had to keep them out of the room as long as possible. They definitely knew I didn’t have much ammunition left.

Movement drew my eyes to the stairway, so I moved my gun on instinct and fired off a shot at the figure. A cacophony of noise came from the stairwell, I had either hit a weak spot or the pony had tripped in the shock of the shot. I took aim at a second figure, but the gun didn’t let out its wonderful song, instead giving me a dry click.

I turned around desperately to look at the door. It had finally inched open enough to maybe let a pony though. Before the imposters realized that I had run out of ammo, I threw myself at the crack in the door, barely fitting through. I started to drag myself through the opening, my back pressed hard against the edge of the door frame and my chest touching the rough steel of the door. The cogwheel shape kept turning, for a moment, I worried that it could crush me, but the sounds of gunfire blasted that worry out of my mind.

The door suddenly came to a stop. What the- I started to think, but the plate of steel started to move again… in the opposite direction. I doubled my efforts to drag myself through the gate as the rapidly closing door slowly started to press on my chest. Just… a little further…

“Gha!” I exclaimed as I finally slipped free of the stable door.

My heart was beating loudly in my ears, but even over its thundering drumming, I could hear the colossal door closing completely. Had they given up on killing me? Or had they decided that it wasn’t worth it to risk losing more of their wretched numbers? Either way, it didn’t matter, I had to get help as quickly as possible.

That, of course, would imply getting out of… wherever I am. I looked around the darkness, trying to see if there was anything I could make out. The darkness was absolute, for all I knew I could’ve actually died and become stuck somewhere in-between.

The inky void of darkness pressed down on me like barding that was too tight. My breaths became shakier as the adrenaline from my escape started to wear off, filling me with shivers and cold. My right rear leg was still terribly cramped, an intense burning feeling that went straight through it.

I just need some kind of… light! I thought, triumphantly, after remembering that I had a computer strapped to my foreleg.

I brought the device up to my face, its monochrome screen lighting up when it detected the movement. The dim green glow pierced the darkness tentatively, but the screen didn’t have enough strength to reveal anything other than the leg it was attached to. A window popped up on the screen, showing a limping pony with their rear right leg wrapped in bandages and a sad face.

What a dramatic diagnosis program, I’m not even hurt that bad. I thought with a chuckle while I flipped through the options menu.

At last, I found the ‘flashlight’ option and turned it on. Like a green sun, the light dawned in the strange space I had come into. The first rays of light struck the surfaces around me: concrete, twisted rebar, and rusted pipes. Some kind of basement, I realized.

Another notification brought my attention back to the PipBuck screen, where I saw a message reading ‘Discovered: Red school of Baltimare’. The tag marked itself on my map screen, it then dawned on me that I had no idea where I was supposed to go. My top priority had to be rescuing all the ponies in the stable, but I had no idea how I could do any of that!

“Okay Black Light, you can do this…” I told myself, listening to the ominous echo of my voice in the damp basement, “First thing’s first, you need to get out of here,”

My PipBuck pinged yet again, detecting the verbal task the moment it left my lips. The line of text on my EFS read ‘find a way out of the basement’. It was simple, but it helped greatly with calming my breathing.

I raised my foreleg, pouring my green light on my surroundings to try and get a better look. The derelict remains of several machines lay directly in front of the immense stable door, possibly generators or some kind of water pumps. The door itself was essentially identical to how it looked from the inside, with the only difference being the large yellow ‘75’ that was painted on its center.

Directly across from the stable door, I spotted a series of metal bars that didn’t look like pipes or like wreckage. A closer inspection revealed it to be the railing of a staircase, the rusted steps leading up into the darkness, outside of my light’s range. It was a rather daunting perspective… going up into the dark and away from my beloved stable. But what else was I to do other than charge towards the surface and finally fulfill my destiny?

“Let’s do this!” I exclaimed, resolute.

The second I tried to take a step forward, however, my rear legs slipped back, sending me tumbling onto the floor once more. I got up again and shook my head, apparently I had been standing in a puddle of some black liquid, probably sewage or something equally disgusting. But I wasn’t going to let a small slip-up put me down! I was going to do this!

I walked towards the staircase and started to make my way up the steps, hoping that the ancient structure didn’t collapse beneath me. The heads of rust-encrusted bolts taunted my every step, would they disintegrate as soon as my hoof fell upon their step, or would they hold fast and allow me to continue my advance to the surface? Truly there was no way to know until I finally committed and not only planted my hoof firmly on the poorly maintained surface of the ancient steps, but actually took the leap of faith needed to rest my prodigious weight upon them as well. Be it fortune, be it fate, but as I continued to press on, the stairs held fast until I had finally reached the top.

The light that poured from my PipBuck lit up the metal rectangle of a door. It wasn’t a sliding door, like the ones I was used to in the stable, but a hinged door like I had seen in historical pictures. I gave the knob a twist with my magic, just in case. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t budge, the thick layer of rust on the doorframe holding it firmly in place. For my second attempt, I wrapped the entire door in my telekinesis, grunting with effort while I tried to pull it free of its hinges.

I didn’t start all out, not wanting to put much pressure on the platform beneath me. Slowly I started to increase the pressure, and a bead of sweat fell down the side of my face while my magic intensified.

With a mighty creaking sound, the door finally tore off the wall, flying off into the darkness below from the excess force. A clang came from the depths as the door collided with something metallic, most likely the stable door.

The now-doorless doorway opened into a small room. Some natural light poured into it from a doorway on the opposite wall. It appeared to be some sort of storage area, judging by the rows of boxes labeled ‘storage’ that stood on rusty storage racks around me.

I walked up to one of the boxes, pulling it out of the rack and taking a look inside. A couple bottles of Moke glue were all I found. Why use an entire box to store a few bottles of glue? That’s pretty wasteful. I thought, looking into the next box over. My sight was met by three small black devices, red and yellow wires came out of them, with a spiral antenna poking out from the ‘top’. Why was this in a schoolhouse? I wondered, but it didn’t matter, I had to focus.

The door leading out of the storage room led me into a lobby area. A large U-shaped desk dominated the room, with a closed door on each side. Directly across from the desk, stood the remains of a double door that may have once been made out of glass. The entrance to the school. As soon as my gaze passed over the doorway, my PipBuck’s compass pinged and marked it with a light blue arrow, confirming that the door that led into the sunlight outside was, in fact, the exit.

Sunlight bled into the building through the shattered crystal, lighting up the hundreds of dust particles that had been stirred up by me for the first time in who knew how long. However, aside from the thick layer of dust that coated the furniture and the glass shards that had fallen onto the floor when the door broke, the room was remarkably well-preserved. I walked out and into the lobby proper, taking in the benches that were placed on the sides of the front door, and the long-dead potted plants that still sat in their pots on the desk. The glass shards on the floor reflected the light further into the building, showering the roof and walls with minuscule dots of brightness.

I knew that I should get to work immediately on finding the other graduates, but I’d be damned if the steel jaws of curiosity hadn’t locked themselves around my head and turned it towards the interior of the building. After all, what was just a few minutes of exploration in the grand scheme of things?

The door on the left of the desk was already slightly open, sliding completely open with only the smallest of pushes. Behind it was revealed a simple hallway, with doors numbered from one to four on either side. At the end of the hallway stood a fifth door, which was completely ajar.

I walked up to the door curiously, poking my head inside. The room beyond was a spitting image of a stable 75 classroom, with identical desks and layout to boot. A large blackboard hung on the far wall, with the faded remains of an ancient class still somewhat distinguishable on it.

“The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell…” I read aloud, the rest of the board was completely illegible.

The only thing of note in the classroom were the discarded saddlebags that lay beside each desk. Some were completely undisturbed, others had clearly been kicked aside in a hurry. Out of curiosity, I opened one, finding nothing but a pencil and a clear plastic bag with some unrecognizable sludge inside, maybe it had been food at some point.

I didn’t see a point in going into the other classrooms, not like there would be anything of note in them anyway. Instead, I made my way back towards the lobby and turned to face the other door. This time, however, I noticed something behind the desk that I hadn’t seen before. A small pit formed in my stomach when my eyes fell upon the skeleton that was draped on an overturned office chair. The remains of what may have once been a colorful shirt rested among the bones, with a small plastic pin that read ‘Miss P’ still attached to it.

Like all the other colts and fillies of stable 75, I had been shown photos of dead and grievously wounded ponies in an effort to prepare me for my duties as a surface hero, but this was… vile. To see a lifeless body was one thing, in some cases, you could almost think that the pony was just sleeping despite their injuries. Or in other cases a pony that had clearly died in the line of duty from all manner of weapons. But to see a completely degraded skeleton however, especially one that seemed to have just died while doing their job as a receptionist, felt deeply wrong.

I averted my gaze, unable to bear the sight any longer, my eyes tried to focus on anything other than the bleak scene behind the desk, eventually falling on the crimson puddle that was starting to accumulate underneath me.

Huh, that must be the sludge I stepped in outside the stable. I thought, staring at the dark red trail that had been left in my wake as I walked through the room. Some of it almost looked like droplets-

That’s blood, isn’t it? I thought, the little pony in my head facehoofed. Indeed, on my right rear leg, which I had foalishly believed to simply be cramped, I saw a small hole that was currently in the process of bleeding profusely. The sight of the wound seemed to remind my body that it was supposed to be feeling pain, sending me to my knees in an instant.

I was forced to lift the leg off the ground when the pain got too great to stand. Somehow, the lack of strain seemed to worsen the wound, making blood pour out of it at an even faster rate. With every beat of my heart, blood splattered the floor around me, covering the long-abandoned tiles in a fresh coat of crimson. It was ironic, really, that I had started my journey injured and with nothing but an empty pistol and myself for defense.

Should probably stop reflecting on the floor and focus on not bleeding out. I told myself, shaking my head. I looked around desperately for anything I could use to stop the bleeding, giving a tentative glance at the skeleton’s bow next to me. This was a school where fillies studied, there had to be some kind of first aid kit. Wait a second… I thought, glancing at the door with the classrooms. If the classrooms are similar to the ones in the stables, shouldn’t the bathrooms be the same too?

Hoping that the school had a bathroom, I dragged myself through the other door and was met by another hallway that led to a staircase. I looked at the other doors that lined the walls, seeing a maintenance closet, a teacher’s room, and…

“Bingo!” I exclaimed when my eyes read the ‘bathroom’ sign.

I stumbled into the small room and tried to wave my PipBuck light around the darkness. This was no easy task, considering I had to balance myself on just two legs. But it paid off when I spotted the first aid box. It was hung on the wall where it had been in the stable’s bathroom. The only difference being that it was a light yellow color as opposed to the stable’s plain white.

My crimson magic wrapped around the metal box, opening the lid with such desperation that I nearly ripped the entire thing off the wall. One of the rusty screws that held the box against the wall gave way under the force, leaving the container hanging from a single point. I lifted my PipBuck to light up the inside of the box, trying to find anything of use.

A roll of bandages was the first thing I saw in the box, and it was all I needed to see. I took out the roll with my magic, ripping it out of its spot so quickly that several items went flying out of the box alongside it.

There we go. I thought as I finished wrapping my leg with the thin fabric. The magic that had been woven into the bandage immediately got to work on alleviating my pain, almost letting me set my leg down again.

I looked around the floor for the items I had sent flying, but all I could find was a small metallic object. I picked it up in my magic, bringing it up to my eyes to see it better. One of those little mane pins, I realized. There was also a single bottle cap, with another two still inside the first aid box. Who in their right mind would just chuck garbage into a first-aid kit?

“Okay, let’s get going, I need to find the other graduates,” I said out loud, making sure my PipBuck picked it up.

The text appeared in my EFS. I doubted I could forget it, even if I tried, but it would still serve as a reminder. All I needed now was a direction. I looked back at the hallway, noticing how I could easily make out my tracks among the drops of blood. I hadn’t noticed any tracks leading out of the school, so this dust was probably new.

I tried to think of who I could look for rather than where. Sunbeam had been the last graduate before me, but he had been gone for several months now, there was no way to know what direction he had gone in. Or… I realized, looking at the open front door, is there?

Slowly but surely, I limped my way towards the entrance to the school, peeking into the cracked street outside. A long, single-story housing building stretched out to either side in front of the school, as far as I could see.

A ceiling of thick clouds hung above me, bringing back memories of the pictures I had seen in history books. Pictures of cities in the clouds, buzzing with pegasi. I looked up and wondered if there were any pegasi up there. Would they look at us? Observing and examining in the same way the researchers had done with me and the other fillies? From a certain point of view, it was a comforting thought.

Not everything was comforting, however, an eerie veil of silence hung over my surroundings, gone was the low hum of the stable’s ventilation ducts and the buzzing of lights, replaced instead by a horrid stillness. An intense feeling of paranoia flared up inside me as I stared into the empty street, it felt too quiet, it felt… wrong.

I stepped through the shattered glass of the front door and walked into the emptiness that lay before me. Not even a hint of a breeze was blowing outside, the entire world seemingly frozen in time. By all means it felt as if I had walked into a photograph from the past.

The clouds above took on a new sensation now that I was in the open. No longer was it a ceiling, instead, it was as if a curtain of sadness had been drawn over Celestia’s sun. And there too, time was stagnant, with even the clouds seeming to be frozen in the sky. I stepped forward once more, stepping onto a few shards of glass that were sprinkled on the ground outside the schoolhouse. I winced at how loud the sound was in the dreadful silence of the street.

“Come on Sunbeam… where did you go?” I asked out loud, looking to either side of the deserted street. My voice echoed back to me ominously.

There didn’t seem to be any indication that a pony had gone through this street for centuries, let alone months! A glance at my EFS compass revealed that the street ran from east to west, but that was all the information I could get from it. My wounded leg forced me to sit on my haunches, letting me concentrate. My PipBuck pinged, informing me that I had, in fact, gotten out of the schoolhouse.

If the others didn’t go east or west, what direction could they have gone in? I thought. We had been sent up here to serve as heroes for the poor, defenseless surface-dwellers, meaning that everypony before me probably headed straight towards trouble. But there seemed to be no trouble here, or anything at all, for that matter.

That was when a realization struck me like a freight train, I did know what direction trouble was in! Whenever things went wrong, ponies said that things had ‘gone south’. Something about that direction was clearly associated with chaos and mischief, perhaps the maregnetic field of our beloved world concentrated all the trouble in that one singular direction. Why else would it always be referred to as an omen of bad luck?

It was so obvious that I couldn’t believe it had taken me so long to realize. Emboldened by my intelligence, I turned around to face the school once more, seeing the path that led around it.

“I will be back as soon as I find help!” I proudly announced, my gaze fixed on the spot where I knew my stable lay. And I was off to adventure!

The streets of Baltimare were… unnerving, to say the least. Something about the vast emptiness felt terribly wrong, and worst of all, I could all but swear that I wasn’t alone here. Be it the ominous dark depths of broken windows, or the empty alleyways, I couldn’t shake the sensation that at any given moment I would turn around to spot something just barely slipping out of my sight.

I knew it was nothing to worry about, my empty EFS was all I needed to be certain of my loneliness. But while the isolation remained, the silence did not. Not two blocks away from the schoolhouse, my PipBuck started to let out the most grating clicking noise I had ever heard. I lifted the screen to my eyes to try and find what it was trying to tell me, but there was no warning window, no message at all.

What’s wrong with this thing? I wondered, whipping my leg down and hitting the machine against the sidewalk. The noise persisted. If there was one thing that you could be certain of with Stable-tec it was that their products were hardy. I stared intently at my EFS, trying to figure out what was making that damned sound.

“What is it? What do you-” I asked the device, but just as I did I spun around enough for my compass to display the eastern direction. There was a single blue bar on it, pointing at one of the abandoned single-story houses. My gaze hardened and focused on the building.

I cautiously approached it, listening carefully for any sound from the inside. My forehoof fell on the door steps, pulling me closer to the door. I held my breath and placed my ear as close to the door as I dared, but heard nothing.

“Show yourself!” I said, pulling out my pistol and cocking it. The gun had no ammo, sure, but the sound may be enough.

No reply. I watched as the bar in my EFS moved slightly, clearly whatever was in there had heard me. But the lack of an answer could mean that they were waiting to ambush me. Not wanting to give them the chance to get ready, I took a couple of steps back and crouched, taking a deep breath.

I flew at the door like a bullet, hitting it with my full body weight. The ancient wooden door exploded inwards along with me. I lit up my horn, charging a magical beam, but I couldn’t spot a target. My eyes scanned the area where the blue bar was pointing at, finding nothing.

“I can see you!” I shouted at the bar.

The room I had come into was some kind of living room, as could be clearly seen from the furniture. I followed my EFS and came to look at the kitchen, which was connected to the living room with a counter. Whatever was in there was definitely hidden behind that counter.

I took a step forward, but a feeling like an ice pick stabbing into my back made the hairs on my neck stand on end. On instinct, I threw myself to the side and fired my horn into the counter. The thin wood gave way immediately, sending the crimson beam directly through the piece of furniture.

A cacophony of noise came from the kitchen, proving that there had been something there. And not just that, but the wood had been thin enough to allow them to shoot at me through it! My horn fired up again, sending three more beams into the counter. The sound of pots and plates falling finally stopped, sinking the house back into silence.

I walked up to the kitchen cautiously, keeping my horn lit and ready. A strange smell reached my nostrils, a peppery, sour scent. Just for good measure, I shot another beam through the counter, adding a fifth scorch mark to the brown wood. There was no noise this time, and my EFS was quick to confirm that the bar was no longer there.

On the other side of the counter I saw multiple metal pots covering the floor, probably kicked aside by whatever had been hiding there. But where I expected to see a bandit or some other dangerous creature, I saw a strange brown mass. A mess of twisted legs and scorched wings made up the form of an almost unidentifiable creature. Clearly, it was some kind of giant bug.

I crouched next to the creature, trying to get a better look at it.

“Wow… that’s one ugly-” I started, but was forced to jump back when the creature twitched.

I screamed and fired at the creature, hitting it with four beams. As soon as the last one hit, the entire bug let out a crimson glow before disintegrating into a pile of ash.

“Showed him,” I huffed.

I looked around the house for a bit, trying to spot anything that could be of use. However I did find it odd how the nearly-intact house hadn’t been looted. The kitchen especially held all manner of rotten food and cooking utensils, completely undisturbed. The incessant clicking of my PipBuck did little to alleviate the feeling of unease as it echoed through the empty building.

After checking the cupboards I finally found the door to the house’s pantry. A foul smell seeped into the air from behind the door, something had probably died in there. Just to be sure, I charged up my horn and turned on my PipBuck light, putting a hoof on the door to open it.

With a grunt, I pushed the door open, revealing the inside of the pantry. It immediately became apparent what the source of the smell was. The floor was covered in a puddle of black sludge. In the middle of the puddle was a small animal carcass, about the size of my head, firmly held in a rat trap. My horn powered down now that I knew there wasn’t a threat.

And to think a rat could come to its end so long after the trap had been set. I thought, pulling my gaze away from the trap and towards the racks on the walls. Oh yeah.

I smiled when my eyes fell on the rows of what seemed to be food cans in the pantry. They would probably pale in comparison to stable food, but a quick check revealed that they were still centuries away from becoming inedible. I still need to find ammunition. I thought as I moved my empty pistol out of the way to fit a can of tomatoes into my bags. With any luck I should be able to find some ammo before needing to use the thing. Not like it would be needed anytime soon with how deserted everything looked.

My PipBuck’s clicking eventually came to a stop once I crossed into a more destroyed area. The effect was almost instantaneous, gone was the sensation of wrongness and of being observed. Melted away by the picked-clean ruins of the streets of Baltimare, now this was what I expected of the surface, not eerie deserted houses.

“Shouldn’t be much longer before I find somepony, I need to find anypony that needs help,” I said out loud, getting a confirmatory ping from my PipBuck.

A sound made my right ear twitch. It wasn’t my PipBuck clicking, it was a different sound. Gunshots! I realized, whipping my head around to look in the direction of the noise. Conflict! Here I come!

Over rubble and cracked pavement I ran, slowing down only when I was certain that the fight was taking place just one street over. The house that separated me from the battle was almost completely destroyed, but it would serve as cover. My EFS finally picked up on the combatants.

Two clusters of blue bars appeared on my compass, one on each side of the ruined house before me. I walked up the remains of a staircase and got as close as I dared to the edge of the collapsed wall, peeking out to take in the scene.

Closest to me, on the left, I saw a large pile of rubble behind which were seven figures, all draped in deep blue robes with reinforced patches of armor. All of them except one. In the middle of the group stood a large stallion. An incredibly bright yellow mane poured out from under a golden headband, flowing down and onto a bulky chestpiece like a cascade of gold. I felt my jaw dropping at the mere sight of him.

Something about the pony’s armor stuck out to me, possibly the color, but I couldn’t help but focus on it. The boxy outline, the scratched up logo on the chest… A steel ranger! I realized.I remembered reading about those some years ago. But this suit of armor was rather… incomplete, from what I could recall the steel ranger armor was supposed to cover the entire soldier from hoof to head. Yet the stallion before me wore only the chest piece, leaving his legs and head unprotected.

Well even if he doesn’t have the whole thing on, it’s probably some damn good armor. I thought, admiring the white finish that had been applied to the metal. But that didn’t answer any of my questions. Who were these ponies? And who were they shooting at?

“Sir! The supply caravan is gone!” One of the robed ponies told the tall stallion.

“No matter, we will follow them to Junkyard,” Said the armored pony.

Another one of the robed ponies crawled closer to their leader, speaking just barely loud enough for me to catch the words.

“We have them outnumbered, sir, should we advance?” One of the robed ponies said.

“I am aware,” The large stallion said, his voice drowning out the other pony’s, “There is no need for us to attack, if they are truly that desperate for the supplies, they will come to us,”

Desperate for supplies…? Just who were they fighting?! I raised my head over the wall to try and get a good look at their opponents. And my heart dropped.

Oh no… was the only thing I could think of when I finally caught a glimpse of the others. Hiding behind a twisted scrap heap was a group of five ponies dressed in dirty rags. They looked starved and frightened, firing with weapons that seemed closer to scrap heaps than actual guns.

One thing was clear to me, they looked nearly identical to the ponies in the shooting gallery mural. They had to be the surface ponies. But if those were the surface ponies, then who were the others? I looked back at the group that was underneath me, they were clearly too well-dressed to be the defenseless surface ponies that I was meant to protect. Nopony could dress that well in this horrible wasteland without something sinister being involved.

I recalled what the ponies had said, pieces of the puzzle falling into place. Whoever the robed ponies were had clearly separated the poor surface-dwellers from their supplies and were planning on killing them when they tried to fight back! And it doesn’t help that they’re hopelessly outgunned. I thought, watching as the robed ponies returned fire with their well-maintained guns.

My PipBuck seemed to ping in agreement, marking the surface dweller group as my objective. They need my help.

“Remember, we want to capture them, not kill,” The leader said, keeping their head down as the surface ponies gave another valiant attempt at recovering their supplies from these tyrants.

Capture? It was worse than I thought, not only were these finely-dressed miscreants trying to take their things, but they also wanted to enslave them! A burning pit of rage lit up in my chest.

My mind raced to form some sort of strategy, I was heavily outnumbered. But I noticed that they seemed to depend on their leader a little too much. I needed a plan, and I needed it now!

“They’re moving!” One of the ponies next to the armored stallion said, poking her head out from the rubble and hiding it quickly when a couple of gunshots rang out.

“Wait until they get closer, then we’ll do as we practiced,” Instructed the leader.

Not on my watch!

I waited until I heard the surface dwellers start firing again, planning on using their gunfire as a distraction. Immediately, I started to feel that buzz inside me, as if I were standing in the shooting gallery. My body was ablaze with energy, my heart slowly becoming more and more deafening.

In a clearly practiced motion, the robed ponies organized themselves into a V-shaped formation with their leader at the rear. A good formation to defend their leader from the approaching ponies, but a terrible formation to protect him from any attack from the rear.

I lept from the ruined house, rolling onto the cracked remains of the sidewalk. Like a spring I bounced back to my hooves and charged the armored stallion. You’re mine! I thought triumphantly as I closed the gap.

“Sir!” One of the robed ponies shouted, turning their battle-saddle to take aim at me. But I was too fast.

A bullet fired from a unicorn’s revolver flew past me, but I was already making my way up the debris pile. I launched at the blonde stallion like a white missile, aiming at his exposed neck with the only weapon I had available. His eyes went wide and he opened his mouth to shout something, but he quickly found himself unable to speak when my horn’s tip pierced his neck. A spurt of blood flew out of the wound, covering my face and the stallion’s once-immaculate robes. But I didn’t relent, pushing harder and harder. My horn broke out of my opponent through the stallion’s cheek, but even then I didn’t stop. Dragging the stallion’s body along with me up the last stretch of the rubble pile.

Many gunshots sounded out from the recovering robed ponies, but by the time they managed to aim at me, I was already jumping over the edge of the rubble pile. I rolled down the debris along with the lifeless body of the armored stallion, ripping my horn free of his neck as we fell. Bullets flew past me, missing me by sheer dumb luck. But my luck wouldn’t last much longer, not unless-

A second set of gunshots came from further down the street, causing the robed ponies that had charged after me to collapse. I peeked over the fallen Stallion to see that the surface dwellers had charged the rubble pile, capitalizing on the chaos from my attack.

I can’t let those defenseless ponies do the fighting for me! I thought as I quickly looked over the armored stallion’s body for any weapons. My eyes fell on a revolver that still sat in its holster and I grinned as I pulled it free. Now I was in business.

“For the surface!” Was my battle cry as I ran back up the debris mountain.

A shocked pony met my gaze as soon as I broke the crest, trying to aim his battle-saddle at me, but I was faster. A loud shot rang out from the revolver, blasting the pony’s head apart. An instant of shock hit me at the sight of the damage. This thing was powerful.

A wicked grin split my face as I jumped onto another robed pony, crashing into them with my full weight. We collapsed onto the floor, but I was quick to get up and raise my revolver. Three opponents, way too much for even me to aim at properly before getting lit up. Fighting against my instincts, I begrudgingly fired up my PipBuck’s assisted targeting spell.

SATS immediately took charge of my magic, speeding up my perception to a point where time seemed to stand still. All the more time to feel just how wrong this damned spell was. Where was the fun in letting a machine aim for you? Whatever, it would have to do. I selected my targets and released the spell, feeling it whip my weapon around and quickly send a shot into each of the robed pony’s foreheads. With how close I was to them there was no chance of missing. But even still, I hated using SATS.

I now stood proudly over the last remaining pony, the one I had tackled to the floor, my hoof firmly planted on their chest. I need to say something inspiring for the surface ponies… But what? I thought, before the ideal words came to me, hopefully the rather slow-looking surface ponies would be able to grasp their meaning.

“In your blind pursuit of possible slaves, you became yourselves slaves to your own lack of rear vision!” I told the robed earth pony.

“Get off me you insane bastard!” The pony screamed, clearly missing the point.

I pulled the trigger, sending one last oppressor of the surface-dwellers to the afterlife. Blood, brain matter, and bone fragments splattered the floor and rubble around the pony. I had to admit, I was impressed with this revolver, from the frightening power to the beautiful engravings.

“Drop the gun!” Somepony shouted from above me.

An audible harrumph left my mouth at the demand, I had literally just gotten the gun! I turned my head to look at one of the surface dwellers. The stallion looked even more sad and pathetic up close, extremely malnourished and dressed in what could barely be considered a harness. A strange contraption was strapped to the pony’s side, attached to his battle saddle. Some kind of rifle, I realized, no doubt assembled from parts taken out of at least four other weapons.

The pony’s right eye was concealed by a crude eyepatch which, while succeeding in covering the eye, did little to cover the hideous scar that took up half his face. His dirty red coat stuck out among the grayish rubble, drawing even more attention to him.

With absolute care, I unloaded the last bullet from the revolver and left the gun and ammunition on a nearby rock. I then turned to look at the stallion again, where I noticed that two of his friends had joined him. One of them was a mare, her yellow mane held in a messy bun by a piece of electric wire. The other was a deep blue stallion, who seemed significantly less battle-ready than his companions.

“I mean you no harm,” I explained, talking slowly so that their surface-dwelling minds could understand me, “I want to help you get your stuff back!”

The stallion that was aiming the strange rifle at me shook his head in confusion, obviously shocked as to how I had grasped the situation so quickly. I slowly rose to my hooves, giving the ponies a wide smile.

“Whut?” The eyepatch-wearing stallion asked, somehow managing to raise an eyebrow despite only having one.

I sighed at the need to explain myself further, but I wanted these poor ponies to trust me, after all.

“I overheard these miscreants saying that they were going to follow the supply caravan to a place called the junkyard, those were your supplies, right?” I asked, trying to be helpful.

The stallion that had asked for clarification cocked their head to the side and raised an eyebrow. Eventually, he turned around and raised his voice.

“Uhh, boss? We ‘ave a problem,” He said.

“What is it now?” A stallion’s voice asked from behind the pile.

The sound of hooves climbing up the rubble brought my attention to the side of the red stallion. A dirty orange mane held in place firmly by a red bandana appeared from behind the rocks. By the time the pony finally came to a stop atop the debris pile, all the others had fallen silent. He wore a blueish vest, held against his chest by a long bandolier. His left foreleg had a leather bracer that was so thick I nearly confused it for a PipBuck. He eyes me up and down, raising an eyebrow at my discarded weapon and ammo.

“Are you insane?” He asked.

“Oh don’t worry, I am completely sane!” I said, tilting my head a little to try and shake off a chunk of pony flesh that was still impaled on my horn.

“O… kay?” The stallion replied, looking at his companions.

“The point is, have no fear, I will help you for as long as I live, have no fear while Black Light is here!” I puffed out my chest with pride at finally being able to be a hero. I had been planning these phrases for years now.

The bandana-wearing looked behind him for a moment at the bodies that covered the debris. He looked back at me, his dirty orange mane falling over his eyes. After a moment of consideration, he gestured for his companions to stand down.

“You got any more weapons on ya?” He asked, keeping his green eyes on me.

“A ten-millimeter pistol in my left saddle bag, but it has no ammo,” I answered. For an instant, I thought about taking the gun out of the saddle bag myself, but drawing a weapon with no ammunition in front of a pony aiming a gun at me didn’t sound like a great idea.

“Burning, go check,” The stallion ordered.

A fifth pony poked her head out from behind the leader,

The mare that stood to the leader’s right, who I assumed was called Burning, slowly made her way towards me. She was pretty short, her head barely reaching above my haunches, and her coat was a pale yellow. Her deceptively strong jaw bit onto my saddlebags, pulling them open.

“Yep, she’s tellin’ the truth,” Burning confirmed after checking the gun within the bag.

“Okay then how’s this sound, if you give me that little bullet you left next to your revolver I’ll let you keep your guns,” The leader stated.

Immediately I wrapped the tiny bronze object in my magic and threw it at the stallion, grinning. He appeared suspicious, but quickly relaxed his expression.

“Well then,” He continued, seemingly surprised by my cooperation, “Name’s Double Cross, pleasure to have ya on board!” He grinned at me, showing that he had a couple of missing teeth.

Less than a day on the surface and I’m already helping ponies! This has to be some kind of record! I thought, making a mental note to ask the other graduates when I met them how long it had taken them to find ponies to help. Surely they were nowhere near as good as me!

“She’s my second in command, Burning,” Double Cross explained, gesturing towards the mare who had just searched my saddle bag, “These two are my muscle, Shrapnel and Barbed Wire ,” He added, pointing at the eye patch-wearing pony and at the mare with yellow mane in turn.

“And I’m Pot, the cook,” Finished the stallion that stood on Double Cross’ left. That would explain his large cooking pot cutie mark. The blue stallion had a bit of an odd inflection in his voice, almost as if he were singing the words instead of just speaking.

“Pleasure to meet you!” I said happily.

“Just stay out of the way and follow us… Or something,” The stallion said, lifting his hoof to point at the horizon, “We need to move if we want to get to them, especially if they’re really headed for Junkyard,”

I nodded, trying my damnedest to keep myself from exploding into a joyful screech. I still couldn’t believe it, I was actually on the surface, just like I was supposed to!

“Move it, ponies!” Double Cross boomed. And we were off

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Tempered Jubilee

Classification: Female unicorn – 27 years of age – C355E3B-MD0F0C0-EFF7F7F

Cutie mark: a bar of differentially tempered metal

Tempered Jubilee was a joyful and energetic mare who served under Temperance’s command. Having grown up in the downtown ruins of Baltimare, she always saw the virtues as the ponies who had allowed her parents and her to live peacefully. This admiration became devotion once she was old enough to join up with the followers of virtues.

Her seemingly endless patience and cool-headedness were the driving factors behind getting assigned to Temperance. The stallion in question chose her specifically to journey with him not just for their aligned worldview, but also for her impeccable aim with her pistol.

Tempered Jubilee passed away during a gunfight in the eastern Baltimare ruins, a skirmish that would take the lives of her, six other followers of the virtues, and Temperance himself.

Author's Note

Failure

I gleefully skipped alongside my new companions. Shrapnel, the stallion with the eyepatch, grumbled something under his breath about me staying closer. Clearly, he hadn’t realized that the roles of protection and protectee were the other way around! I couldn’t fault his enthusiasm, however, every time I slowed down to look at anything he bumped into me with his rifle, reminding me to keep moving.

We had been walking for the better part of two hours, carefully following the trail left by the cart. I counted five sets of tracks around it. As long as I have more bullets than there are bad ponies, everything should be okay! I thought.

After the skirmish against the strange robe-wearing ponies, the surface-dwellers had replaced some of their crude scrap weaponry for shiny and well-maintained rifles and pistols. As well as filling some of their saddlebags with medical supplies, food, and bottle caps, which I now knew served as currency in the wasteland.

“Aye, Black Light, was it?” The stallion trailing me asked.

“That’s me,” I said, stopping to stare at a boulder that had fallen on the sidewalk.

A cold object was pressed against my flank, pushing me forward. I turned to see an annoyed-looking Shrapnel. Understanding the gesture, I got up and kept moving.

“So where exactly did ya come from? ‘Cause you seem awfully clean and… uh… well-fed,” The stallion continued. He tilted his head slightly to look at my ribcage, which, unlike his, wasn’t visible through my coat, a confused expression plastered on his face. It was rather amazing how a pony with a single eye could still convey so much expression.

I was even more amazed by what he had said, however. I was wearing my stable barding, with its big yellow ‘75’ clear in view.

“I’m from stable 75!” I explained, showing off the number, “You know… heroes of the surface? Defenders of the defenseless? Never heard of us?”

“Can’t say ah have,” Came the disappointing reply, “But tah be fair we never really stick around one place enough tah hear stuffs, and we don’t got no radio,” The earth pony explained.

Oh, well that makes sense, I doubt these surface ponies have any way of spreading news quickly. I thought, understanding the situation a little bit more. That would be a little bit of a problem, my plan kind of hinged on capitalizing on the goodwill garnered by the other graduates. But if what Shrapnel said was true, there wouldn’t be that much goodwill among the smaller groups, and that was if I could even track the others down!

“No radio?” I asked, maybe they had some other way of spreading information.

“Nah, we used to have one, but ol’ Shrapnel here blew it up,” The mare who was walking next to me, Barbed Wire, interjected, “By accident” She added, giving Shrapnel a disappointed glance as she said the last word.

“Aw come on, Ah just thought it was a-” The stallion started, but he was cut off by the mare once more.

“You? Thinking? Now that’s hilarious!” She all but shouted, busting into another fit of laughter.

A frustrated grunt came from the red stallion, but he remained quiet. The conversation about the radio, however, had tugged at my memory. I glanced at my PipBuck for a moment and opened up the data menus, trying my hardest to remember what I had read in the instruction manual.

“I think there’s a radio in here,” I commented.

“Ya can fiddle with that thing later!” Shrapnel ordered, jamming my back with his rifle barrel again.

“Okay, okay!” I said, getting back up. No need to be so pushy!

That was when the dark blue stallion in the back spoke up, Pot, I remembered.

“That’s an impressive piece of gear,” He said with his odd singsongy voice, “I’ve never seen one myself. They’re called PipBucks, right?”

Now that was a good sign, PipBucks were exclusively stable technology. If he knew what a PipBuck was, he could have some information on the others. But then again, he didn’t say anything when I talked about my stable specifically.

“Yeah, that’s right, have you heard of them?” I asked, showing off the device.

“Aye, they’re from those stable-tec places, right?” He answered.

“Exactly, every adult in my stable has one,” I explained.

Shrapnel leaned in again, raising his eyebrow.

“This stable place sure seems nice,” He commented, “Ah’m surprised it’s still around,”

“What? why?” I asked.

“Probably the steel rangers, if they knew there was a big group of ponies strutting around with pre-war tech they would’ve probably attacked it,” Pot explained.

That would partially explain why they didn’t know about my stable, perhaps the others simply avoided saying where it was to keep these steel rangers away. I was surprised to know that the steel rangers were still a thing, I had assumed they disappeared just like everything else did after the war. Seems like the wasteland has warped them into something more akin to a raider group, that could be a problem.

“Wait a second, wasn’t that stallion I killed earlier wearing steel ranger armor?” I asked, remembering the blonde leader of the robed ponies.

Now it was Double Cross’ turn to laugh. I turned back around to look at the group leader, wondering what could be so funny.

“That was no steel ranger, that was Temperance. Why’d you think we didn’t shoot you on the spot?” He said.

“So he was with some other group?” I inquired.

“With? He was one of their leaders,” Double Cross answered, chuckling to himself, “He and the other six call themselves the Virtues, nasty lot. They want everypony to live under their rule, whether they like it or not,”

Huh… that’s strange. I would imagine that a consistent stream of strong graduates would’ve kept any oppressors at bay. But the fact that it was apparently not the case was… troubling, to say the least. Maybe they tried to stop it, but had to flee… or maybe they…

I shook my head to try and clear out the bad thoughts, I couldn’t let anything lower my morale! The other graduates were definitely alive, and either hiding to gather strength or actively resisting these Virtue ponies. I had to do my part as well!

“Tell me more about them,” I demanded, “If they truly are as unjust as you say, then I must do everything in my power to restore true justice!” I lifted my forehoof triumphantly for added effect.

Double Cross looked at me with a raised eyebrow, but nonetheless, he continued to explain.

“I don’t know much other than them being a bunch of nutcases in robes, they take whatever they want in the name of ‘keeping everypony safe’. They have seven leaders… or, well, I guess they just have six now that you took out Temperance,”

No wonder they trust me! I killed one of the evilest ponies in the wasteland right in front of their eyes! I thought, ecstatic, I was already one step closer to bringing justice back to the wasteland!

We continued walking, making our way out of the ruins and into the open wasteland. Buildings were replaced by dry shrubs and rocks, the cracked sidewalks giving way to tightly packed dirt. It was a shocking change, going from the comfort of being surrounded by walls to the vulnerability of being out in the open.

The darkness didn’t help in the slightest. And even less considering there wasn’t much of a warning, the clouds went from dirty gray to slightly orange, and then rapidly to black. Back in the stable, ‘nighttime’ just meant that the bright white light of the halls was replaced by a softer blue light. Out here, it seemed to be pitch-black darkness.

“It’s getting awfully dark, I can turn on my PipBuck light if you want,” I offered to my companions.

“No, it’ll draw too much attention,” Double Cross responded, “But it is getting dark, we should stop for the night,”

“Are you sure, Cross? If they know we’re after them they’ll just take a short breather and keep going,” Burning commented, walking forward to stand side-by-side with Double Cross.

“They will, but the tracks will still be there. If they keep going they’ll be exhausted by the time we catch up,” The leader answered, stopping to point at a small semicircle rock formation, “We’ll make camp there,”

We walked to the rock formation, where I had the privilege of watching the group set up their camp. The first object to come out of the saddlebags was a lamp, which Burning placed in the center of the campsite. She turned it on, but dimmed it to the point where it was just bright enough to see, but not so bright as to let anyone on the other side of the rocks see the glow. The others started to take several things out of their own saddle bags, canteens, and empty tin cans and quickly gathered in front of Pot.

I hadn’t really noticed how large the saddle bags that Pot had been carrying were until I saw him produce some kind of portable stove from its seemingly bottomless depths. Atop the stove, he then set down his namesake, a decently sized cast iron pot. Bedrolls were unfurled around the lamp as Pot stirred the soup, all covered in the same strange aluminum-esque coating. I eyed one of the rolls curiously, noticing that the metallic sheen was painted on.

“What’s with the paint job?” I asked, picking up a flake of paint that had fallen off a bedroll.

“What, this?” Barbed wire asked, gesturing towards the silvery bedding, “It’s camouflage, but we won’t be needing it for some time,”

Shining silver metal doesn’t exactly sound stealthy. These poor surface ponies truly had reverted to a nearly tribal point, they didn’t even know how to hide properly! I really had my work cut out for me with trying to make this place just and civilized again.

The sound of metal whining brought my attention to Pot, who had just finished opening two tin cans. Some dark red sludge went into the large cooking pot, along with a canteen’s worth of water. That definitely doesn’t look like food chips. I thought, disheartened.

“Anypony up for some music?” Shrapnel asked, lifting a strange wooden flute.

I looked at the instrument curiously, somehow feeling drawn to it. It looked as if it had been carved out of a single piece of wood, separated into three sections and wrapped in some white material. An intricately carved snake head could be seen on the end. With every small movement that Shrapnel made the flute filled the air with a low whistling.

“I swear to Celestia, if you blow that thing again I will blow your brains out,” Barbed Wire answered, shooting the eyepatch-wearing stallion a death glare.

“Aye, fair enough,” He answered, setting down the object, “Ah need more practice anyway,”

“I think you’d need an entire lifetime to make that thing not sound awful,” Barbed Wire stated, laughing to herself.

Shrapnel put the flute back in his backpack. I couldn’t help but feel sad about it, I was really curious as to what it sounded like. Gotta wait for a chance to get him to play it.

“This soup is almost done, get your cans ready,” Said Pot, who had been absentmindedly stirring the mixture up to this point.

I looked around as the others dug around in their saddlebags, eventually producing five tin cans. My lack of can was quickly solved by picking up one of the containers that Pot had discarded when he started to cook. The cook in question dug into his own saddlebags, producing a pair of tongs.

“Boss?” He said to Double Cross, who gave him his can.

The dark blue stallion took the empty tin can with the tongs and dipped it into the pot. One by one, the other ponies and I passed our cans to the cook, who dutifully filled each one with the off-red mixture before giving them back. I would be lying, however, if I said I didn’t stare with mistrust at the bubbling substance in my can instead of digging in like all the others did.

“It’s just tomato and carrot soup, nothing weird there,” Pot said with an almost insulted tone, before taking a sip from his own can.

Once more I pondered the container in my hooves, feeling the heat radiating from the rusty metal. It wasn’t that I wasn’t hungry, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t have preferred some daisy chips. Tentatively I raised the can to my lips and took a sip of the hot mixture.

Oh my goodness. I thought as I desperately gulped down the entire can, it was… delicious. I drank the entirety of the delectable broth, ignoring the slight burns it gave my mouth. The standard rations from the stable, which I had once considered the pinnacle of flavor, now felt like a hazy memory of my time before entering the world of exquisiteness that this scrumptious mixture afforded. Completely overflowing my mouth with the divine mixture of taste that this stallion had produced from seemingly corporeal ingredients. In a frenzy, my horn lit up and started to painstakingly collect every last dollop of the mouth-watering soup, shoving it directly onto my tongue in a delirious fever. Once my body finally stopped shaking from the transcendent experience, I looked up to see four and a half pairs of eyes fixed on me with extremely concerned expressions.

“You uhh… you want a bit more?” Pot asked, clearing his throat and looking down nervously.
A couple of minutes later we were all sitting around the lamp, having finished the ambrosial concoction that Pot had insisted ‘Wasn’t that good’, and cleaned our cans with a bit of sand and water. Not that mine had needed much cleaning after my horn had finished ripping every last morsel of flavor off the metal.

Burning had lowered the lamp a bit more, leaving the campsite in near-darkness, but we could still see enough to make out each other’s faces. Double Cross sat closest to the lamp, cleaning out his pistol with meticulous care. I sat by his side, admiring his work. Despite his cleaning tools being of less than acceptable quality, the effect was evident when compared to the weapons that his companions were touting.

I wondered why they hadn’t thrown away their makeshift weapons now that they had the evidently better-quality ones that the robed ponies had been wielding. But after seeing the care with which they maintained their weapons, the answer became clear. Much like me, they had favorite guns. My heart ached at the loss of my beloved pistol, but at least now I had a beautiful revolver to try and fill that hole. I took out my own weapons as well, setting the pistol and revolver down beside me. The latter of the two drew my attention almost immediately. Not that there was anything wrong with a normal ten-millimeter pistol, the revolver was just shockingly beautiful.

It was incredibly ornate, engravings covered the firearm in complex patterns of black and gold. It almost seemed to dance in the light of the lamp, beckoning me to take it and use its incredible power. I recalled how it had blasted the evil ponies apart, smiling at the thought of such a powerful weapon. The gun’s mouth-grip was made out of some dark red wood, polished to perfection, on it there was a depiction of two cups pouring liquid into each other, with a simple line of text.

“In balance, all becomes clear,” I read aloud, drawing the attention of Double Cross.

“That’s the revolver you took from Temperance, right?” He inquired.

“Yeah, it’s beautiful!” I said, passing my hoof tenderly over the barrel’s engravings.

“Sure it looks pretty, but looks aren’t everything,” The stallion chuckled.

I gave him a hurt look, how could he say such an insensitive thing about a gun? Of course, the engravings provided no real tactical advantage, but just the knowledge of the gun being so beautiful was more than enough to make me want to cherish it all the more. The weapon in my hooves seemed to vibrate in agreement.

A whistling sound drew my attention to Barbed Wire, who was lying on her back some distance away from the lamp. The tune she was whistling sounded oddly familiar, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint how. She kept running her forehoof over her left flank, where a long white scar crossed over her concertina cutie mark, cutting it in half. Most likely the aftermath of a terrible wound.

“What happened to your leg?” I asked, trying to sound as respectful as possible.

The purple mare raised an eyebrow and looked down at her flank for an instant.

“I don’t like to talk about it,” She said, finally, taking her hoof off her flank and turning over to face away from me.

Touchy subject I see. I thought, making a mental note to try and get the story out of her someday.

I turned over to look at Shrapnel, who had just come back to the camp after going around the rocks to go to the bathroom. I chuckled slightly at how strange the thought of doing one's business out in the open was. The eyepatch-wearing stallion walked up to Pot, who was busy organizing whatever loot they had gotten from the robed ponies.

“Aye Pot, can ah ‘ave a swig o’ that weird booze we got?” He asked the cook.

“It’s not booze you idiot, they’re healing potions” Pot replied, rolling his eyes.

Shrapnel stood quietly for a moment before speaking up again.

“Do they got any alcohol in ‘em?”

If looks could kill, that stallion would’ve keeled over the second Pot looked up from his saddlebag.

“Fair, fair,” Shrapnel said before walking away.

Pot ignored the stallion, focusing on wrapping the pink potions in rags and carefully storing them in his cooking pot.

“Those aren’t going anywhere,” He said, proudly, “Hope we won’t need them tomorrow,”

“Nah” Barbed Wire said, looking up from her spot, “We have this menace with us!” She finished, gesturing towards me.

“I was wondering about that, actually, where did you learn to shoot like that?” Pot asked, cocking his head at me.

I gave him a smile before responding, puffing out my chest.

“Down in stable 75 we are taught how to shoot as soon as we can pick up a gun! And we run shooting exercises every couple of days, I was the best in my class!” I explained.

“So there’s just a factory o’ supersoldiers sittin’ underground?” Shrapnel asked, lifting his only eyebrow.

“Yup!” I said cheerfully.

“Huh… ain’t that a thing,” The stallion mumbled, staring back at the way we came.

Pot finally finished storing all of the supplies and got up to stretch his legs. He took a second to get a bedroll from the pile of saddlebags before walking closer to the lamp and unrolling it on the ground, lying down on the silvery bedding.

“Oh hey shrapnel, what happened to your eye?” I asked, not contempt to go to sleep without learning at least one story from my new companions.

“Ah got into a fight,” The stallion mumbled, kicking the floor.

“No you didn’t,” Barbed Wire said, interrupting the stallion before turning around to face me, “He got a little too touchy with a waitress and got an icepick shoved in his eye”

Shrapnel looked down and muttered something unintelligible.

“Ah didn’t even mean to, ah just fell,” He said, staring at Barbed Wire angrily.

“Yeah, because you were half-blind on booze!” The mare retorted, “And now you’re literally half-blind,”

Barbed Wire and Pot gave a hearty laugh, with Double Cross just letting out a low chuckle. Shrapnel lowered his head, but raised it again when I walked up to him and placed my hoof on his shoulder.

“For what it’s worth, I think it makes you look cool,” I said.

“Aye, thanks, Black Light,” He said, giving me a smile full of crooked teeth.

We sat around in silence for a while longer before Burning finally came down from the spot on top of the rocks where she had been keeping guard. She wiggled out of her battle saddle and went to grab her own bedroll, stretching it out next to Pot’s. Instead of lying down, however, she turned around to face away from the sleeping cook.

In a single, lightning-fast motion, the mare gave the stallion a kick in the ribs. Pot went flying into the air from the shock, screaming in terror before landing on his hooves. I had to give it to him, his acrobatics were impeccable.

“Gha! What is wrong with you?” He exclaimed, looking around with unfocused eyes.

“Nothing, you were just too comfortable,” The mare answered, drawing a chuckle from the other ponies.

I looked at Burning for a moment, trying to get a good view of her flank. The other surface-dwellers' cutie marks had been relatively easy to see. Shrapnel’s was a depiction of an exploding grenade, and Barbed Wire’s remaining one showed a concertina. Pot’s was, unsurprisingly, a pot. Double Cross’ cutie mark was a simple black rose. The flower did compliment the stallion’s more refined demeanor when compared with his companions. But Burning’s? Hers was still a mystery. She was the only one in the group whose strange harness-like barding covered both of her cutie marks. Maybe it’s something fire-related. I thought. It made sense, but it didn’t explain why she would go out of her way to cover them.

“So, who’s takin’ the second watch?” Burning asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“Ah will, y’all get some sleep” Shrapnel offered, getting up and walking towards his weapons.

Once the stallion had strapped his battle saddle onto himself, he turned to look at me and pointed to the sleeping roll he had just vacated.

“Ya can use mine to sleep until ah’m finished with mah guard,” The eyepatch-wearing stallion said, smiling at me before heading up the rockpile to keep guard.

“Good night,” Pot grumbled before reaching out to turn the lamp completely off.

“Sleep tight!” I answered, completing the phrase.

“Uhhh… thanks?” Pot muttered.

The night was uneventful, but I couldn’t say I was a big fan of sleeping on the ground. Once Shrapnel’s guard had ended I thought I’d get to sleep on the next vacant bedroll, but the others seemed far less keen on lending theirs. Yet time went on, and night slowly turned into day, flooding the wasteland with what little light could break through the thick clouds above. It took a surprisingly short time for the group to pack up their camping gear, rolling up their bedding and stowing away any items they had taken out.

“Hey, Pot?” I asked the dark blue earth pony as he struggled to fit his cooking pot back into his saddlebag.

I saw a shiver go up the stallion’s spine at the sound of my voice.

“Need anything?” He asked cautiously.

“I just wanted to say that I can carry some of your things for you. My saddlebags are almost empty and yours look really heavy,” I said with a smile.

“I prefer to keep my stuff on me,” He answered, not lifting his gaze to meet mine.

“Okay, let me know if you change your mind!” I answered cheerfully, I couldn’t blame him for not trusting me with his stuff, he did meet me yesterday, after all.

I looked at the rest of the group, seeing that they were all ready to move out. Double Cross stood some distance away, staring at the horizon. A soft breeze blew the leader’s mane and bandana back as he plotted our route.

“We should be in Junkyard by tomorrow morning,” Double Cross said, “I don’t see any other campsites, so we either set up too far away from them, or they kept going through the night,”

“I doubt even they would keep going that long, but we still need to pick up the pace,” Burning said, walking up to Double Cross.

We set off at once, keeping the same trot we had kept the day before. However, this time I noticed the difference between me and my companions a lot more. We took a lot more breaks than we had the previous day, all ordered by Double Cross, who insisted that we had to ‘preserve our strength’.

Not too far from where we had set up camp, we came across an empty ration packet, proving that the robed ponies had at the very least stopped for a rest the previous night. This only bolstered our resolve to keep going, trudging through the wasteland with our gaze beset on reclaiming our supplies.

The deserted wasteland was inescapable, cracked soil stretched out in almost every direction, yet all the openness only made me feel… exposed. At least back when ruins littered my surroundings there was a slight sensation of comfort, but here? There was nothing out here. The crushing silence didn’t help either, everypony was so focused on marching on that they left little room for small talk.

What the silence did give me, however, was a glimpse of… something behind the group. It wasn’t large enough to be a pony, but I could never get enough of a look to be sure.

“I think something’s following us,” I told Double Cross during one of our rest stops, looking over my shoulder at the wasteland. There was nothing there, but I could’ve sworn I had seen something dipping just behind the pile of rocks that we had passed a while back. Whatever it was, it had stayed outside the range of my EFS.

The stallion looked back as well, but he let out a single chuckle.

“It’s probably a bug or something. There’s not much out here, not yet at least…” He stated, I was going to ask what he meant, but before I got the chance to do it he straightened out and addressed the group, “We keep moving, now!”

I started along with the rest of the group, staying on my guard for any creatures or other groups that we may find. Yet it seemed like nothing lived here, or at least that’s what my EFS said. I tried fiddling with my PipBuck radio a bit, but all I could find was static and a single channel that played some grating marching music. All in all, this was starting to be rather… uneventful. I itched for something to do other than follow blindly behind the guide of wagon tracks.

“So I was wondering,” I started, desperately trying to break the silence that had befallen the group, “Why are you all traveling together?”

“We uhh… you see…” Barbed Wire stuttered, but she was interrupted by Double Cross.

“Burning, Pot, and I used to live in Fillydelphia, had to leave after a drought,” The stallion explained, “We joined up with these two to uhh… settle a score,” He added, gesturing to Barbed Wire and Shrapnel.

“Have you been to a lot of settlements?” I asked, hopeful at the prospect of having somepony to point me in the right direction once the task at hoof had been finished.

“We’ve been around quite a bit, but most ponies don’t trust us- er strangers, I mean,” Double Cross explained.

“That makes sense, they’re probably scared of raiders and the like,” I commented.

Double Cross fell completely silent for a few seconds before speaking again.

“Yeah, that’s why it’s important to be around ponies you trust. Nopony lasts long in Baltimare on their own,”

I nodded in understanding and continued dutifully marching along, trying to think of some method of making my good intentions clear to any settlement I came across. A clear option would be to just outright say it, but what raider would come out and say that they were up to no good? Nopony would ever believe it without my innate ability to judge character on sight.

Guess I’ll just need to let word of my exploits reach them before me. What an excellent idea! All I really needed was some big flashy exploits that ponies could talk about. Hopefully, this junkyard place held some glory in store for me. With any luck, those virtue ponies would try to take the residents hostage! That would be a perfect opportunity.

At around noon we took the longest break of the day, finding a crashed sky carriage to rest under. The vehicle had been picked completely clean of anything that could hold even a sliver of usefulness. I even noticed how the largest pieces of the wreck had had large squares of metal cut out of them. What remained resembled the picked-clean carcass of an enormous beast. A beast whose bones now served as our shelter.

Lunch was a simple affair, our last two cans of tomato soup went into the pot. That didn’t make it any less delicious, however, and I once again ate every last drop.

“I could eat this stuff for the rest of my life!” I told Pot, who once again lowered his head.

“Yer outta luck, then,” Shrapnel interjected, pouring a hoofful of sand into his can, “Those were our last two cans o’ the stuff,”

My heart shattered.

“Please, tell me he’s joking” I cried out, jumping towards Pot and grabbing him by the shoulders.

The stallion’s pupils shrank to pinpricks as he tried to jump away, but he was way too slow to get away from my aching heart.

“D- don’t worry, mushroom soup is j- just as good, I- I swear!” The cook blurted out.

I let go of the stallion, who promptly collapsed into a heap. I’ve got no choice but to believe him, he is the cook, after all.

We kept moving as soon as we could. I had to give it to these surface ponies, they had some impressive stamina. I had no doubts that my legs could carry me with no issue for days on end, but I wasn’t expecting these ponies to be able to go on for so long without any complaints. Then again, they had been robbed of their hard-earned supplies, which were probably the driving force behind this seemingly endless desert hunt. But even the vast openness of the wasteland slowly started to retreat, as a massive figure appeared on the horizon. I racked my memory for what little details I could recall of my geography class, estimating that we must be nearing the tail end of the Foal Mountains.

However, no matter how much ground we covered, I was still certain that whatever that thing I had sensed behind us was still there. Of course, none of the others seemed to have picked up on it, but I couldn’t shake the sensation no matter how hard I tried. At the very least I could always rely on my EFS to let me know if anything was actually there. Unless whatever it is knows the range of a PipBuck’s EFS. I thought, but that was a ridiculous notion.

“We will make camp in that cave there,” Double Cross said, pointing at a small rock formation that opened up in the increasingly rocky terrain. Daylight was already starting to fade as night took hold.

“Are ya sure, boss?” Shrapnel asked, “Bit of a bad spot if anythin’ comes in the night,”

Double Cross nodded, turning to face the eyepatch-wearing stallion.

“You have those landmines with you, right?” He asked.

At his words, Shrapnel’s single eye sparkled so brightly that I could’ve easily mistaken him for a stable 75 filly who had just gotten their cutie mark. With a wide and cooked grin, the stallion produced two flat yellow disks from his saddle bag.

“Mah favorite alarm clocks,” He said with a grin.

Shrapnel and Barbed wire made their way into the cave first, weapons ready and mouths on the triggers. A bright flashlight was strapped to Shrapnel’s rifle, illuminating the inside of the cave as he trudged through the dirt. My EFS insisted that the cave was, in fact, empty, but it wouldn’t hurt to be extra sure. The cave itself wasn’t too deep, merely a short drop into an open area within.

“That ain’t good…” Shrapnel said as soon as everypony was inside the vaulted chamber within the cave. I followed the beam of light that poured out of his flashlight to try and figure out what he was talking about.

The wall of the cave was covered in markings. Deep grooves that had been carved into the dirt and white scars covered the large boulders that made up the formation. This wasn’t a natural cave, something had carved out this chamber intentionally.

“It’s abandoned, there’s no stuff in the back,” Double Cross said, pointing his own flashlight around the room and showing that it was, in fact, completely empty.

“Aye, fair enough,” Shrapnel conceded, “But Ah’m still gonna put these up,” He added, dropping his saddlebags onto the floor and taking both of the landmines out.

“Yeah, try to put them somewhere where we won’t step on them when we switch guards,” The leader said. I wondered if that warning was simply a preemptive measure, or if some accident had happened in the group’s past.

I was expecting the camp to be similar to the one we had set up the previous night, but I was pleasantly surprised when Bruning set the lamp to maximum power. The warm glow of the light filled the cave and bathed us in warmth. Warmer still was Pot’s cooking pot, which was quickly filled with the contents of several water canteens, as well as some canned mushrooms.

“Hah!” Shrapnel exclaimed after leaning in to smell the mixture, “Good thing we found those two-” He continued, but he was cut off by Double Cross, who quickly whipped his face around towards the stallion.

“Traders! Which we traded with,” He clarified.

“Uh yeah… that,” Shrapnel said, giving me a strange look.

“Good to know that there’s ponies out there still willing to trade,” I commented, smiling.

Truth be told, I was expecting the mushroom soup to pale in comparison to the tomato and carrot goodness that I had experienced before. What with its odd gray color and its smell of dirt. But once again my taste buds were enraptured by the mind-melting flavors that Pot had managed to conjure from such simple ingredients. My own watering mouth only added to the torrent of delectability that I gleefully guzzled, mixing with the unbelievably flavorful soup.

“You were right!” I whimpered, breathing heavily, “It really is better than tomato soup,”

Pot was too busy staring at me with a concerned expression to register my compliment, his own can of soup all but forgotten in his hooves. I paid him no mind, however, completely focused on the food. The only thing I could complain about was that I didn’t get to eat another portion.

“We need to rest,” Burning said, standing up and stretching, “I’ll take the first watch, who’ll do the next one?”

“I’ll do it,” Double Cross said, receiving a nod of confirmation before the mare set off towards the entrance of the cave.

The remaining surface-dwellers started to set up their shining bedrolls around the lamp, placing them in a circle around the light source. I grabbed Burning’s bedroll and unfurled it as well. I need to get one of these for my own. I thought. My thinking was halted when I noticed that Pot had finished cleaning his cooking equipment. My mouth instantly started watering again at the mere memory of the soup. I walked over to him and tapped his shoulder to try and get his attention.

“I- I don’t have any more soup, I swear,” He exclaimed.

I gave a hearty laugh at the cook’s outburst, the sound echoing slightly throughout the cave.

“Don’t worry, I can wait,” I said, playfully hitting his shoulder.
Pot let out a groan and lifted a forehoof to rub the shoulder I had hit, turning his head to face me directly.

“Well, then what do you want?” He asked.

“I just wanted to know how you became such an excellent cook,” I said with a smile, sitting down next to the earth pony.

“You- you really think I’m that good?” Pot asked, raising an eyebrow.

I looked at him with a wide-eyed stare, shocked at how he could possibly doubt his skills.

“Are you kidding? Your soup is so good I could kiss you!” I exclaimed, hugging the earth pony stallion.

The beads of sweat that had been forming on the cook’s forehead started dropping slowly as I felt him shiver in my hooves. Clearly, he wasn’t used to being shown affection, poor thing!

“T- thanks,” He said, trying to get my hooves off his neck.

“Can’t wait to try what other delicious feasts you can prepare!” I said, finally letting the stallion go. Almost immediately he got to his hooves and took a couple of steps away from me.

“Sure,” He muttered.

That was all I needed to hear. Nothing that tomorrow held could possibly be bad enough to sour the promise of more delectable food. The cook in question reached out and dimmed the light, just as he had done the night before. However, despite how tired I was, I couldn’t sleep. The excitement for what awaited tomorrow was simply too great.

What wondrous adventures awaited beyond the crack of dawn? Peril, danger, panger, ponies threw those words around frequently in the glorious legends of old as if they were tennis balls. Well, I was going to crush those balls! No threat was too great for Black Light to face!

They must know their leader is dead, there’s no way that we’ll recover those supplies without a fight. I thought, excited, the warmth of impending combat filling my body and making my horn buzz in anticipation. Not just that, but I’d also get to see my very first settlement. True, the name didn’t exactly conjure images of pristine buildings and marble palaces, but the wasteland was a harsh place.

I twisted and turned on the ground for what seemed like two hours before a low light started to approach the group from the entrance to the cave. In my feverish battle-ready state, I nearly reached out for my revolver with my magic before remembering that I had no ammunition. Not that it was needed, anyway, since the light drew closer and revealed itself to be a flashlight attached to Burning’s battle saddle.

“Pst, Cross,” She whispered, poking the stallion.

I watched as the sleeping figure shook his head and got up groggily. Burning must have a soft spot for him, anypony else would’ve gotten a strong kick. I thought.

“Is it my turn already?” He asked.

“Yeah, and we need to talk, come on,” The mare said, helping him up.

Huh, I wonder what they want to talk about. I wondered as I watched the two ponies making their way further and further away from the camp. Could it be some sort of strategy for the attack tomorrow? No, it couldn’t be, they would share that with the rest of the group… But then what? I could always just go and listen to them, not like I was going to be sleeping anytime soon.

No! That won’t do! I reprimanded myself. Eavesdropping was something evil ponies did, not me… but then again, I really wanted to know what they had to sneak away from the group to discuss. Maybe I could go outside to get some fresh air and just so happen to listen to them talking. I smirked at the plan, it was just too perfect.

Very slowly I rose to my hooves and started walking towards the cave entrance, where I spotted the two ponies sitting next to each other. The smaller silhouette, who I assumed to be Burning, passed a canteen to Double Cross. I crouched behind a portion of the cave where I would be completely cloaked in shadows and listen attentively to the conversation.

“Are you sure?” Burning asked.

“Yes, tomorrow we’ll get the things that we need to get Bluebeard off our flanks, and we’ll never have to worry about anything again,” Double Cross answered, taking another swig of the canteen, “Besides, if we’re lucky, our problem might just sort itself out,” He added, passing the canteen back to Burning.

I wonder who this Bluebeard pony is. I thought. Judging by what Double Cross had said, they were somepony that he had a debt to. He had said that they traded with some ponies for food, perhaps the supplies that had been stolen were trading goods, and this Bluebeard pony was the leader of a trader group. Oh, those dastardly virtues! They really were throwing wrenches into every single small business that tried to keep their head above the water in the wasteland. I had to stop them!

“And if it doesn’t? I mean I can’t say I’ve ever known a pony who fits the description ‘loose cannon’ better,” Burning said, bringing me back down to the conversation I was eaves- listening to. Eavesdropping was an evil pony thing, I just happened to be standing here and hearing them talk.

But as for what she had said, what did she mean by that? Perhaps this Bluebeard pony wasn’t as organized as I’d expect from a trade group leader. Then again, this was the wasteland, organization was just too much to ask for from these poor ponies.

“If it doesn’t then I will take care of it myself after we get the supplies,” Double Cross answered, stomping on the ground, “I don’t think we’ll be able to get the stuff without her, call it a hunch, but my gut has never let us down before,”

Oh my, were they talking about me? Did he really think I was going to be that important tomorrow? I thought, grinning. I also wondered what this ‘problem’ they were talking about could be? Perhaps it was the remaining robed ponies that had taken the wagon to the junkyard, not that they would be much of a problem assuming Double Cross gave me some ammo for the fight.

The mere thought of getting to fire Temperance’s revolver made the buzzing in my body deepen. My knees weakened under the imagined sensation of firing that beautiful firearm again, feeling the recoil against my magic… seeing the evil ponies keel over under my righteous onslaught… Focus! Black Light! I told myself to try and reel in my mind. I may need to get back to the campsite soon, and the last thing I wanted was for my wobbly knees to make me trip onto one of Shrapnel’s land mines.

“Maybe you’re right…” Burning said, helping me break free from the fantasies that entrapped my thoughts, “And once we pay him off, what’s next? We can’t keep going forever,”

“When we pay him off and become free to roam again, we can leave this horrible place,” Double Cross said, “Trust me, it’s all going to work out,” He added, cutting through Burning’s silence.

The mare seemed to think for a moment before letting out a sigh and speaking.

“I trust you, Cross,” She said.

“I know you do, Fillies,” The stallion retorted.

I watched as Burning got up to her hooves and kicked the stallion in the side, making him wheeze.

“I told you not to use that name,” She said, irate.

Double Cross let out a hearty chuckle at the mare’s outburst. I knew it! Nopony could possibly be named Burning! I thought. Clearly ‘Burning’ was a nickname she had chosen for herself. I was left to wonder however about why she’d go so far to conceal her identity. Covered cutie mark, nickname, what was next? Perhaps her mane was actually a different color!

“It does make you give some strong kicks, I tell you that!” He said before both ponies joined together in a laughing fit.

“You’re a bastard, Cross,” The mare said, still chuckling.

“Guilty as charged,” The stallion replied, giving her a bow, “Go get some sleep, you’ll need it for tomorrow,”

My eyes widened at Double Cross’ words. I turned tail and started walking back into the cave as quickly as my legs could carry me without making much noise. Silently praying that I wouldn’t trip or walk over one of the other sleeping ponies. I fumbled around in the dark until I found the spot I had been lying in and dropped onto it, closing my eyes and trying my best to stay completely motionless. I heard as Burning walked over to me and gave me a kick in the leg. Making use of my award-worthy acting skills, I ‘woke up’ and stared at her with half-closed eyes, mumbling something that I hoped was incomprehensible.

“Sleep somewhere else, I want the warm spot,” She said, dragging her bedroll over.

Stumbling slightly I dragged myself to the side, flopping down onto the dirt with a heavy thud. Fortunately, after some time I finally managed to calm down enough for my drowsiness to take me away and into the wonderful land of dreams. Just as had happened on my first night on the surface, the deep darkness of night gave way to the muffled glow of the sun when dawn broke. Unlike the first time, however, the group of surface-dwellers didn’t put their camping supplies into their saddlebags, instead opting to leave them all in a neat pile.

“Shrapnel, put the landmines closer to the supplies, we don’t want anypony digging through our stuff while we’re away,” Double Cross ordered, getting an affirmative nod from the red stallion, “Make sure your guns are loaded,” He added, directed at the group this time.

Barbed Wide topped off an SMG magazine before passing the rest of the nine-millimeter bullets over to Pot, who put them away after making sure his new pistol’s magazines were full. Burning and Shrapnel’s battle-saddle mounted rifles used a larger caliber, but I didn’t get a close enough look to make out which one specifically. Double Cross topped off his own battle saddle, slinging his bandolier across his chest with the rest of his ammunition. I eyed the .454 rounds with an expression that I really hoped didn’t come off as malicious intent.

“If a fight breaks out, I’ll give you some,” He said, noticing my staring.

My ears drooped at his words. I guess he still doesn’t trust me completely. I thought. It made sense, he had said that ponies in the wasteland weren’t too trusting. But I couldn't be too sad, after all, I was certain that there would be a fight.

We slowly crawled out of the cave, where I realized just how close to the settlement we had actually made our camp. I expected it to still be quite some distance away, but I couldn’t help but be shocked when we went around the cave and were met by a frequently used road. The path led into what could only be described as a fortress nestled inside a horseshoe-shaped hill formation. A large wall of carriages and odd-shaped metal plates surrounded the settlement on the only side that stone didn’t, hiding its interior from the wasteland. A veritable sea of smaller scrap heaps littered the surrounding area like large, rusted, pimples.

“Move in a line, keep your mouths off your triggers,” Double Cross ordered. Given the groans that the others let out, I assumed the suggestion was mainly aimed at me.

As we drew closer, I spotted several figures moving around the top part of the scrap wall. Five ponies in total, one of which was a unicorn. None had their weapons bared, but I knew that could change in a matter of seconds. At any second one of the ponies could take a shot at us out of suspicion!

The thought of a gunfight breaking out lit a fire in my chest. My breathing became more labored as the heat spread throughout my body. I tried to take a deep breath, but the buzzing was too intense for it to be anything other than shallow. My heart was already beating rapidly, like a constant drum in the back of my head.

“Who goes there?” One of the ponies shouted from atop the wall.

“We are traders!” Double Cross shouted back.

“Traders?” The pony atop the wall said, “I don’t see no trade goods with you! And no brahmin either!”

What’s a brahmin? I wondered.

“We have our goods in our saddlebags, our pack brahmin was killed!” Double Cross offered. The lying didn’t sit well with me, but given the circumstances I guessed it was justified. And it wasn’t me doing the lying either.

The ponies on top of the wall pulled back for a moment and talked among themselves. I couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying, but they sounded serious. My eyes drifted across the immense door of the settlement, made from welded-together plates of metal. I was amazed by my EFS’ ability to scan the inside of the settlement even through the thick metal wall. There were a lot of blue bars on my compass, way too many to count.

My eyes were drawn back to the top of the wall when the pony peeked out again, this time there was a second pony with them. For an instant, I had genuinely thought that they would open the door to let us in. That thought was quickly dissipated when I realized that the new pony had their face concealed by a blue cloak.

“They are raiders!” The pony shouted

“Ah, shit! Get down!” Double Cross shouted before drawing his pistol. The gun sang, giving the head of the pony that he had been talking to a brand new hole in the forehead.

I dove behind cover almost as quickly as the bullets started to rain from the top of the wall. Shrapnel peeked out and took a potshot with his rifle. A loud thump came from somewhere behind my makeshift barricade to indicate that he had shot true.

We had been split up, Shrapnel and Pot were hiding next to me behind an overturned sky carriage, while Double Cross, Burning, and Barbed Wire had taken refuge behind a larger pile of scrap. A two-pony-wide gap separated the two refuges, a veritable no-mare’s land. The guns fell silent after that initial barrage, but I could all but sense the sights that were fixed on our hiding spots.

“Throw your weapons away and nopony gets hurt!” A voice shouted from above the wall.

None of my companions appeared particularly inclined to meet these ponies’ unreasonable demands. It was only a matter of time before one of them managed to hit somepony while they had us pinned. But they probably weren’t counting on one thing: my horn.

“Pst, Double Cross, throw me some ammo!” I shouted at the stallion, who was currently pressing his entire body against a large piece of metal.

He looked down at the bandolier that hung across his chest with a conflicted expression. He didn’t get to make a choice, however, before a burst of gunfire forced him to press himself against the barricade harder. None of the shots connected, but a few had come terribly close to hitting the group’s leader.

“Okay!” The bandana-wearing stallion shouted, puffing out his chest towards me. I wondered what he was trying to do until I realized that he was offering his ammo belt.

“Take it!” He commended, and I obeyed.

Six cartridges flew across the gap, wrapped in the crimson glow of my telekinesis. As each bullet found its place in the cylinder with a metallic click, so too did my heart flood my ears with its thundering beat. A deep shiver ran down my spine and I began huffing with excitement at finally getting to fire the gun again. And I could shoot it completely guilt-free, because these ponies were clearly robed-pony accomplices.

I spun the weapon around in the air for no purpose other than to admire it. The golden engravings showered my eyes with their beautiful, entrancing reflections. Moving as quickly as I could, I poked my head out from behind the carriage, hiding it almost immediately. Bullets ripped around me, but they did little other than bite into the metal I was hiding behind. A wicked grin split my face as I turned to look at Pot. Now I know where they’re standing.

My eyes scanned the area around us, falling on a piece of scrap metal that was nestled between Pot’s rear legs. I pointed at it and spoke up, just loud enough for him to hear me.

“When I tell you, grab that piece of metal and throw it away from us” I instructed, getting a silent nod in response.

“Now!” I said, poking my head out the side of the carriage to capitalize on the split-second distraction that the scrap metal would offer.

Temperance’s revolver sang its beautiful song, making my teeth clatter slightly from the sheer power of the shockwave. This was no ordinary weapon, this was a work of art. Its parts moved with a precision so perfect that I could feel my eyes start to water by its sheer beauty. Sadly, I had to hide my head too quickly to really appreciate the effect. I would have to be contempt with just the sound of splattering pony to confirm my kill. Only two guards remained now, including a unicorn, and the virtue pony.

I looked over at Double Cross and saw that he was talking quickly with Barbed Wire and Burning. Before I could ask him what he was planning, however, all three peeked out from behind the scrap heap at once and pelted the spot where the earth pony guard stood. The sheer volume of fire was enough for one of the shots to find an opening. As was clearly revealed when a loud metallic thump was heard from the other side of the wall.

“All right, we just need to-” Barbed Wire started, but she was forced to the floor when a bullet ripped through her right shoulder.

Credit where credit was due, the mare managed to remain behind the rather small cover despite her injury. Double Cross turned to look at Barbed Wire, pulling out a bandage from his saddlebag and throwing it at her.

“I’ll live!” The mare said, grabbing the bandage.

The stallion tried to say something, but his voice was quickly drowned in the sound of rapid gunfire. I dared to take a peek and saw what had happened. The last remaining guard, the unicorn, had picked up the weapons of their fallen comrades, and was currently firing them all blindly while they hid behind the battlements. I smirked when I realized that the desperate tactic had only made her a bigger target.

“What’re ya thinkin’?” Shrapnel asked, a concerned look on his face.

“This!” I shouted, jumping out from behind the overturned carriage and into the messy hailstorm of blind fire.

Before my hooves had touched the ground, I went into SATS. My perception slowed to a crawl as the spell took hold, letting me aim for the single part of their body that the last guard had not only carelessly left exposed, but also clearly marked by using it to channel magic. I took aim at the tip of the unicorn’s horn, finally letting the spell run its course and watching as the revolver once again graced my senses with its entrancing song. The world returned to its normal speed, and a piercing shriek came from atop the wall as the off-green magic that held the weapons up imploded. A now-hornless unicorn lurched upwards, grabbing their forehead-stump with both forehooves. In their violent thrashing, however, they overshot and sent themselves flying off the wall.

As the mare fell, I saw a chance to fire the revolver again and took it. The gun spun in my magic before letting out a third powerful blast, hitting the falling pony directly in the head. A large red stain appeared on the wall moments before the rest of the pony hit the ground with a thump.

“Wicked shot!” Shrapnel said, patting me on the back as he too walked out of the carriage’s cover.

The others walked into the open as well, keeping their weapons trained on the wall. I opened Temperance’s revolver and took out the three spent cartridges, shooting an inquisitive look at Double Cross. He raised an eyebrow at me but eventually realized what I meant. One nod of confirmation and three ner bullets floated into place in my revolver.

We approached the gate cautiously, with the gate itself being made similarly to the rest of the wall. Several large plates that were held together by screws and poorly-done welds rose up in two vaguely square doors. Double Cross took one glance at it and immediately turned to face Shrapnel.

“Do you have anything to blow this up?” He asked.

Before the eyepatch-wearing stallion could respond I jumped into the conversation, having spotted an opening to earn more of Double Cross’ trust.

“Wait, I can open it!” I exclaimed.

Both stallions turned to stare at me with inquisitive looks.

“Uhhh, ya sure? Because I gots a grenade for it,” Shrapnel said, sounding almost disappointed.

“Let her have a go at it, save that thing for a better moment,” Burning said as she helped Barbed Wire wrap her shoulder in bandages. They weren’t magical, but they would have to do.

I waited for Double Cross to give me a confirmation nod before I shifted my attention to the gate, firing up my horn.

“ Open it fast, there’s definitely some of them in there, they’re going to riddle us with bullets if you open it too slowly,” Double Cross warned.

“I’m counting on them being there, don’t worry,” I said with a wide grin, “I’m going to blow the door into them, get ready,” I added, making sure everypony took more favorable positions around me before letting my magic loose.

The spell I was planning would be cast in two stages, both nothing greater than simple telekinesis. My magic was strong, but even I couldn’t cast multiple different spells at once. Power surged through my horn and shot at the door, wrapping around the entirety of the gate, crushing and pulling throughout its surface. Rusted screws and poorly done welds gave way as the entire object creaked and groaned. But I made sure that every piece remained mostly in the same place.

Making sure to hold the gate in one piece, I cast the second telekinesis spell just a hoof’s distance in front of the door. More magic poured out of me, collecting into a nearly solid crimson field in front of the door. By this point, the strain was starting to crush my head as if it were in a vice, but the spell was ready.

My head throbbed painfully from the effort, but I willed the first field to start moving as if I were trying to open the door normally. Hoping that the movement would lure any would-be ambusher into abandoning their cover to take aim. And finally, with a laugh, I sprung the trap.

The field that was holding the door together dissipated. Chunks of metal started to fall down, but they didn’t get far. I stopped pouring magic into the second field as well, causing it to implode on itself. A deafening cracking sound came from the magic before a crimson shockwave exploded onto the door fragments. Chunks of scrap metal went flying into the settlement with the force of a gigantic shotgun blast.

Part of the wave washed over us as well, pressing us into the ground slightly. But that was nothing compared to what happened to one of the robed ponies who had been standing behind the door. I thought I saw them aiming at the gate before they were ripped into mincemeat by the flying shrapnel. Further inside, the other two robed ponies threw themselves back behind their cover as they were pelted by the sharpened scrap and blood from their former evil colleague.

“Go! Go!” Double Cross shouted, firing blindly into the settlement.

We charged into what was clearly the town’s main area, where a couple of barricades had been erected to protect the town’s defenders. Or in this case, the cowardly robed ponies. With the tables turned, now it was us who had them pinned. We didn’t push fully into the settlement, however, cautious of any possible ambush.

Shrapnel’s rifle sang, with the bullet biting into one of the opposing ponies' exposed leg. A yelp came from behind the barricade before being drowned out by the roar of Barbed Wire’s SMG. Some of the shots must’ve punched through the defense, because the pony dropped to the ground with another scream. Just for good measure, however, I took aim and fired at its head, splattering the ground behind them.

We carefully approached the last remaining barricade. My EFS still marked the last pony as being right in front of me. They had nowhere to go, the instant we saw them they would be doomed. If they’re smart, they’ll realize that evil isn’t the way and they’ll surrender. I thought, keeping my eyes bolted on the barricade. Either that or they’ll try to-

A battle cry came from the rusty barrels that the last pony was hiding behind. And behind the challenging roar came a revolver encased in an orange magical glow. The last pony had been an unicorn.

Time slowed to a crawl when I saw the floating gun, almost as if I had entered SATS again. Four shots whizzed past me before I managed to raise my own revolver and fire. My aim was precise, blasting the gun apart before it could fire again.

“F- fuck…” A stallion said from behind me.

I whirled around and saw that the virtue’s aim hadn’t been as bad as I thought. Shrapnel was on the floor, a dark red liquid pouring from under his mane. The stallion’s single eye was wide with shock, but completely unmoving.

If you are not the best, the ponies that are counting on us will die.

All sound around me faded into nothing, all save for the thundering of my heart.

And if they die, it means you’re a failure.

Before my mind even managed to formulate a plan I had already sprung into action. This robed pony had killed one of the innocent surface-dwellers who were under my protection, and that was unforgivable. I let out an incomprehensible battle cry as I closed the distance in an instant, not giving the pony enough time to do anything other than scream.

My entire body slammed into the barrels, denting them as the barricade disassembled. Among the exploding cover, I spotted my target: a robe-wearing coward, barely older than a filly. The mare landed on her back, being thrown onto the floor by one of the barrels.

“You!” I bellowed.

The mare, whose cloak had fallen back to reveal a terrified light pink face, desperately tried to drag herself away. I slammed into the robed pony like a bag of bricks, tackling the young mare to the floor. Her horn lit up, but whatever she was planning to do with it was quite literally slammed out of her when I brought down my forehoof on her horn. The zap of magic dissipating sent a tickle up my leg. Before she got the chance to try anything else, my hoof struck again, hitting her squarely in the muzzle. All I could see was the image of Shrapnel being caught by this pony-shaped monster’s bullets.

I felt the mare throw her hooves up to try and cover her face, nothing that a quick telekinesis spell couldn’t prevent. Another hit landed on the pony’s face, sending a tooth flying to the side. Again and again my forehooves fell on the mare’s face, making it let out several wet crunching sounds. I could feel the pony thrashing violently against my telekinetic field, but I wouldn’t let go, I couldn’t let go.

“I am not a failure!” I shouted at the bloodied mess that was once a pony’s face. She didn’t give me any reply.

With one final bellowing shout I stabbed into the mare’s bloodied neck with my horn. I pulled with all my might, lifting her now-lifeless body off the floor and craning my neck to send her flying through the air. The pony landed among the remains of the barricade from which she had taken my friend’s life.

Almost lost my cool. I thought, slightly disappointed in myself.

I turned around to look at the rest of the group, hoping that nopony else had been wounded by that monster. All I got in return was four pairs of horrified eyes. Poor things! They were probably reeling from the loss of their friend! I ran towards them and looked at the fallen stallion, lowering my head in respect. A single tear fell from my eye, landing on Shrapnel’s lifeless head.

“We can’t let his death be in vain, we have to get those supplies!” I said, trying to sound confident.

“Y- yeah,” Double Cross said, clearly still shaken from Shrapnel’s death.

Burning flinched and jumped away from me when I got back up to my hooves. Her bulging eyes locked on my horn. I realized that the blood on it was probably reminding her of Shrapnel, so I shook my head to try and throw some of it off.

I looked around the area to make sure that no other miscreants were in the area. According to my EFS, there were two or three ponies in each of the huts around us. The biggest hut was a large marble building with a strange object on its roof. A large marble hoof, I realized, the building had clearly once been the base of a statue.

The other huts were constructed in a similar manner to the wall. I carefully scanned each of the windows with my revolver at the ready, making sure that nopony made any foalish decisions.

“Come on, we need to move,” Double Cross said, seeming to have regained his composure, “We’ll split into two groups. Wire and Pot, you two go search the huts here for anything useful. Burning and I will go directly to try and get the supplies,” He explained.

“Which group do I go with?” I asked, cocking my head.

Burning shot a concerned look at Double Cross, and the stallion responded with a resolute nod.

“You’re with me, let’s move out before anypony gets any ideas,” He ordered.

I nodded in understanding. There would be time for mourning later. I watched as Burning took the ammunition from Shrapnel’s battle-saddle and two metal apples from his saddlebag.

Double Cross, Burning, and I made our way to the back of the settlement. There, built into a cave in the rock wall, stood the largest structure I had seen. An empty cart was parked outside the building, almost as if placed there intentionally to mock me.

“If I were a betting mare, I’d say that big hut there is where they keep the goods,” Burning said,

“Yeah, but stay on your guard, you never know when-“ Double Cross started, but he was swiftly interrupted by the demented screams of a pony.

I barely had enough time to register the rusty knife in the mare’s mouth before my horn had already drawn Temperance’s revolver and fired at her. Just one shot, and the top of the charging pony became a fine red mist. You bastards won’t be killing any more innocents. I thought, furious.

The lifeless body of the would-be attacker had just finished collapsing onto the dirt by the time Double Cross and Burning turned around. The stallion took a look at the knife the mare had been brandishing and then looked at me.

“We never know when something like that might happen,” He finished, “Thanks,”

“I wouldn’t let anything happen to the ponies I was sent to protect!” I said, stomping the ground for emphasis, “Can I get some more ammunition?” I added, much more sheepishly.

The stallion’s eyes went wide before he answered.

“Y- yes! Take as much as you need,” He stuttered.

“Thanks!” I answered, wrapping ten rounds in my magic.

With my revolver reloaded and the additional ammo stored safely Inside my saddlebags, we finally turned to face the large hut’s door. Burning took the lead, pressing her ear against a large piece of scrap for a moment before turning to face Double Cross and I.

“There’s definitely ponies in there,” She said, keeping her voice as low as possible.

“Yes,” I confirmed, looking at my EFS compass, “Five of them”

I double-checked just to be sure, but there was no chance of there being any more ponies in there since there were no other buildings behind it. That didn’t make me feel any better about moving into another possible ambush. What if the cave twists and turns enough to throw off my EFS? There could be a whole army of bad ponies in there! I thought anxiously.

“How’d you-“ Burning asked, but she fell silent once more when I lifted my PipBuck, “Oh,”

“What’s the plan?” I whispered at Double Cross.

The stallion’s gaze hardened for a moment as he stopped to think. The slightest hint of a smile then graced his face when an idea undoubtedly spawned within his mind.

“Here’s the plan,” He explained, “Burning, you will buck the door open, then Black Light and I will rush in to take out the ponies. Or at the very least force them to take cover,”

“I like the idea,” Burning said, a strange grin on her face.

“Wait, why don’t I just bust the door down with my magic?” I asked, giving Double Cross a confused glance.

“I uhhh… b- because they could see the magic and be o- on their guard,” He explained.

“Oh! You’re right,” I whispered back. The stallion let out a sigh of relief, clearly from clearing up any possible misunderstanding of his brilliant plan.

Burning took point, walking up to the door and pressing her ear against it again.

“They’re still talking, we can take them by surprise,” She said, getting nods from both me and Double Cross.

Despite the crushing failure of Shrapnel’s death, I couldn’t help but feel the burning of imminent combat in my body. You won’t fail this time, Black Light, you are going to run in there first and take out those bastards! I burned the positions of the five blue EFS bars onto my memory.

“On my mark,” Burning whispered, turning around to face away from the door, “One… Two… and three!“

The mare bucked hard against the door, both of her rear hooves connecting with the rusted metal. But as soon as the door shot open I realized that something was terribly wrong. An almost invisible string was tied to the door. Burning’s mighty buck made it go completely taunt and then go flying into the hut along with the door, a tiny ring of metal attached to the other end.

“Fillies, no!” Double Cross shouted, but it was too late.

Chunks of gore went flying everywhere as the grenade bouquet detonated, sending me flying amidst a hailstorm of Burning’s remains. Both of my ears popped, making my head spin wildly as I soared through the air. I came to a stop when my head slammed into the wall of another hut, filling my vision with distorted shapes.

Through my ringing ears and blurred vision, I could barely make out the shape of Double Cross, who was firing into the hut’s ruined entrance. I tilted my head to the side, where I saw that Burning had landed next to me. Or well… Burning’s front half.

I watched helplessly as several bullets ripped through Double Cross, sending the stallion to his knees. He turned back to look towards me and what was left of Burning, a single tear rolling down his cheek.

A muffled scream came from the inside of the hut. I looked up once more to see a large brown stallion charging out of the building with a sledgehammer. Double Cross tried to fire at him, but his wounds had made him slow. The hammer swung in a wide arc, catching Double Cross in the temple. The stallion’s neck seemed to turn into rubber under the intense blow. With a desperate groan, I tried to light up my horn, maybe he wasn’t dead yet, I had to do something.

My magic misfired, driving another spike of pain through my skull. I tried again, getting a shower of red sparks to pour out of my horn. It was too late, the larger stallion brought the hammer down on Double Cross again, splitting the bandana-wearing pony’s head clean open.

No! No! Not him too!

Finally, my horn managed to ignite. Crimson beams of pure magical energy flew out of it towards the large stallion, I was too shocked to even think of a spell to cast. And I missed. I never miss.

However, my effort wasn’t in vain, for the sudden attack had been enough to make the earth pony retreat back into the hut. I started to shake. And not the good kind of shaking, this was different… The cold tendrils of terror had worked their way into my heart, holding it in place and not letting my blood move. I dragged a hoof upward, feeling as if it were wrapped in a lead boot.

Come on Black Light! You have to get out of here before you die too! I screamed at myself internally. Another hoof went forward, slowly dragging me away from the pair of corpses that littered the street. The corpses of the ponies that I hadn’t been able to save. I scooped up Temperance’s revolver off the ground, for all the good it had done.

Get to the others, keep them safe! One more step, I was slowly breaking through the molasses that had wrapped my limbs.

The large marble building came into view, Pot and Barbed Wire were already there, looking at me with concerned expressions. They had definitely heard the explosion. Pot reached me first, placing a hoof on my shoulder and saying something. My ears were still ringing too much to make out the words.

“What happened?” Barbed Wire shouted, but her words were hazy, as if she were talking from a long distance away.

“Cross and Burning… dead,” I finally managed to let out.

“What? How?” Pot demanded, shaking me vigorously.

“I-“ I started to say, but Barbed Wire interrupted me with a horrified scream.

“Get down!” She shouted, throwing herself to the ground.

I stood still, unable to move. Slowly, I turned around to look at what had spooked Barbed Wire so much. I saw the stallion with the hammer that had killed Double Cross aiming at us with a battle saddle. Just what was attached to it was anypony’s guess, a mess of wires and metallic parts hung from his side. The end of the device was glowing with an ominous green color. My eyes slowly closed, accepting my fate.

“Get down you idiot!” Pot shouted, somehow managing to tackle me to the ground.

The impact with the ground forced all the air out of my lungs. As I regained my breath, I looked up to see Barbed Wire peeking out of her cover to fire at the attacking stallion. A barrage ripped out from her SMG, but it was quickly answered by a blinding green beam that struck her directly in the chest. The force of the impact sent her reeling backwards, disintegrating before my very eyes into a shower of sparks and ashes.

Life flooded back into me. One of the surface ponies had just lost their lives to save me. That wouldn’t do, that wouldn’t do at all! I could feel the weights that had piled on my shoulders with the deaths of my companions fall away. Cowering in fear wasn’t what a hero did, a hero stood tall in the face of adversity.

There would be time to feel sorry for the dead. But that could only come once I had taken care of the living.

“Pot! Run!” I shouted.

Temperance’s revolver flew out and fired blindly at the stallion. I could only get two shots off, neither of which managed to pierce the pony’s reinforced barding. As if that weren’t enough, several of the settlers ran out of their huts, armed with knives and a variety of tools. I can’t take them all. I realized, that I had only one option.

I turned tail and ran, ran as fast as I could.

My heart’s pounding matched my hoof’s unsteady beats on the ground as I desperately tried to escape this terrible place. This was all wrong, I was supposed to be better, I was supposed to be the best. Another green beam flew past me, nearly hitting Pot, who was running in front of me. The energy blasted the ground, scorching and cracking it where the gun had hit.

I didn’t even know where we were running to, my only thoughts were to get away from the crazy pony with a big gun. I turned my head to look at our pursuer and saw that they had climbed onto the junkyard’s wall, still aiming the terrible weapon at us. Another beam flew out of the cannon, barely missing me.

But I realized that the beam had struck true when I turned around and saw that Pot was rolling on the ground in a mess of limbs. A mess of limbs that was one leg short.

The stallion collapsed onto his side, screaming bloody murder. His front right leg had been reduced to charred bone and carbonized flesh from halfway down his thigh all the way to his hoof. I didn’t think, I just acted, wrapping the pony in my magic and draping him over my back. I recognized where we were, the cave where we had set up camp last night was straight ahead.

With a screaming and kicking stallion on my back, I set off towards the campsite, running as fast as my hooves could carry me. Another beam struck the sand next to me, turning the area into spiky glass. I was almost there, I just had to make it a little further.

That was when a horrible sensation struck me, as if I had felt the reaper’s call. Overcome with this strange feeling, I wrapped Pot in my telekinesis and heaved him as hard as I could towards the cave. The earth pony sailed through the air, desperately trying to turn so he could absorb the impact. But I never saw if he managed it or not. My whole body was set alight, every nerve screaming in agony as a beam struck me directly in the back. My vision filled with green light and the scent of charred flesh completely invaded my senses.

I fell to the floor, increasing my torment as my freshly charred flesh rubbed against the rough sand below. I stared at the sky with a partially molten eye, a single tear trying its damndest to push its way out of my destroyed tear duct. Why had I ever thought that any of this was a good idea? I wasn’t a hero, I wasn’t anypony. All I was going to be was a charred corpse on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere.

No. I thought, gritting my calcinated teeth.

My right forehoof dragged forward, the cold agony seeping into my bones as I dragged myself over the sand. My coat had turned black as coal, but I still pushed my left forehoof forward, dragging me a small distance forward. I was almost to the cave entrance, just a little longer. My vision blurred, my ears rang, and my breathing was becoming more ragged with every breath. But I kept dragging myself to the cave, I had to at least make sure that Pot wasn’t dead before I could die.

One of my charred hooves reached over the edge of the small hill that marked the cave entrance. I tried to reach it with my other forehoof, but my body had apparently decided that it had taken enough abuse. I tried to move my forehoof again, receiving nothing but the numbing cold of the wind.

Something wrapped around my forehoof. I glanced up and made out what I supposed to be another pony, dragging me into the cave. The moment my torso passed over the edge I rolled the rest of the way down. By this point, the only sensation I could feel was the cold, the terrible, terrible cold.

I turned to look at the blurry dark blue figure that I assumed to be Pot. His foreleg was completely gone, with a constant flow of blood seeping out of it. He flopped onto his side, breathing heavily.

“Can’t… reach…” He struggled to speak, “Potions,” he said, weakly lifting a hoof to point at the entrance to the cave.

I understood what he was saying, but I couldn’t do anything about it. All I could do now was wait for my end.

No no no! I roared.

My horn fired up, aiming at Pot. I closed my eyes in one last desperate attempt to focus before the magic discharged. And with a massive surge of arcane energy, I blacked out.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Tumble Weed

Classification: Male earth pony – 37 years of age – CFFBA00-MCC7722-E806AEC

Cutie Mark: A tumbleweed

Tumble Weed was a wandering trader that operated in the eastern Baltimare region. Unlike most other traders, he preferred to roam alone with nopony but his brahmin and his guitar for company. This was a rare occurrence in the wasteland, as lone wanderers rarely lasted long.

Despite his unorthodox approach to traveling, Tumble Weed always had a spot to hunker down or a friendly settlement ready to take him in for a night or two. All of these hidden and safe locations were written down on his hoof-drawn map, an object that was all but legendary in the trader’s guild thanks to the sheer amount of information it contained.

Sadly, both Tumble Weed and his map would never be seen again after the trader decided to travel to the recently abandoned Junkyard. Those who knew him said that he liked to rest in a cave near the settlement, but when other wanderers passed through the area to check all they found was collapsed rubble.

Author's Note

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A pocket of good

A solitary drop of light fell through an endless darkness. I couldn’t see where it had come from, nor could I see where it was headed. For all I knew, it could just be a static speck held in place by its shaded surroundings. But that couldn’t be, I could clearly see that the ‘top’ of the light was stretched upward like a water droplet. That could only mean that it was falling.

But falling towards where?

The pressing question was answered when the drop hit a shiny surface. Ripples formed from where the light had struck, just like a drop hitting calm water. The light itself seemed to dissipate into barely noticeable smoke under the surface. Somehow, the minuscule light made me realize that the darkness around me was spinning. There was no point of reference for me to make the assertion fully, but I could just tell that I was stationary while the endless black nothingness spun.

Another drop appeared in the darkness, larger than the first. It, too, dropped into the liquid below, disturbing the surface further. The vague smoke became thicker.

There was nothing here, nothing that could possibly be blamed for the disruption of the inky darkness. Yet the light still fell like white ink, dissolving into the liquid below in an almost taunting fashion.

A third drop. The smoke under the liquid’s surface had become bright enough to illuminate the vague figure of something that was beneath it. But it was not yet bright enough to make it clear. Not much more than a shape, a suggestion of form, rounded yet somewhat angular.

As more drops fell, the figure in the water became clearer. Before long I could finally make out the shape of ears and a single, white horn. A unicorn.

The unicorn’s coat was white, the same as its horn. I thought that perhaps the white light was painting the pony’s colors, but I disregarded the notion when I noticed that a light brown mane barely concealed the pony’s eyes.

I knew that pony.

Memories poured into my mind as if a dam had exploded. The unicorn was me. I was Black Light, the hero of the surface! I raised my hooves and saw my reflection… or was it a copy? Do the same underneath the water.

Where am I? I thought, the question echoing throughout the dark space I was in as if I had shouted it inside a cave.

The drops of light were replaced by a continuous stream. Slowly bringing me more and more into focus. I moved my head from side to side, seeing my reflection do the same.

Where am I? I asked again, feeling the words echo back at me.

Was this some kind of dream? A vision? Or was I truly dead? I really hoped it wasn’t the latter. If this was the afterlife then I was going to be bored out of my mind. No, this had to be a dream of some sort.

My reflection moved on its own, pulling aside her mane and revealing my eyes. Only they weren’t my eyes at all. What I saw under the water were two orbs of glistening gold, focusing directly on me. The irises held a kaleidoscope of prismatic hues that spun wildly around. And the pupil was of a black so deep that it made the darkness around me look blindingly bright by comparison.

That’s dumb… my eyes are red! I thought, rather annoyed at the vision's inaccuracy, I’m out of here!

The light that was pouring into the water suddenly grew blindingly bright. And with it, came the pain.

My entire body was in a state of complete agony. As if my entire coat had been violently pulled off and I had been made to roll over broken glass. The only part of my body that didn’t hurt was my… mouth?

A soft, slightly warm and rather fruity liquid was pouring into my mouth. It’s radiance slowly crept into my stomach, spreading its goodness around. My eyes fluttered open, finding a vaguely pony-shaped blur.

More sensations came to me as my senses were mended. Mainly pain, of course, but to it I could also add the garbled mess of noise that my ears were picking up on. The fruity concoction that I was drinking suddenly halted. I watched as the dark blue blob in front of me shifted around before jamming something into my mouth. A bottle, I realized.

The soothing mixture started flowing into me again, this time spreading the warmth into my eyes and face. Slowly but surely, the image of Pot came into focus, crouched over me and holding a potion to my mouth. My coat started to itch horribly, but it was a welcome change compared to the agony I had felt moments ago.

“Come on!” Pot said, looking around with clear anxiety.

I started to gulp the potion down actively, causing the stallion’s eyes to light up.

“Yes! Get up!” He said, his voice a mixture of desperation and relief.

I finished the potion and rubbed my forelegs together, seeing that underneath the scorched surface there was still some white. Whether it had been the potion forcing it to regrow or just my luck preventing it from being fully destroyed, I couldn’t help but be happy. Sure, it may be an uninteresting color, but it was better than no coat at all! I looked back, seeing that my stable barding was essentially destroyed. My saddlebags, however, were mostly untouched. Stable-Tec reinforced fabric was no joke… if only they had made the barding out of the same material.

My eyes focused on the blue stallion, who was glancing at the cave entrance with an uneasy expression. His right foreleg was gone, only the tip of his charred humerus poked out of the burnt stump on his shoulder. A field of thick crimson magic was wrapped around the leg like a rubber band, acting as a tourniquet. He was very clearly in extreme pain.

“Was that…?” I asked, my throat feeling sore. My hoof weakly rose to point at the two empty bottles next to the stallion.

“Yeah, both of them… you’re welcome,” He said, looking at his stump, “But you need to get out of here before they come finish us off,”

The memories of the disastrous attempt at recovering the supplies came back to me. I lowered my head when the images of the ponies I had failed flashed in my mind.

Can it, Black Light, Pot needs you. I reprimanded myself.

“W- we need to get out of here…” I said, shaking my head in an effort to clear it, “Do you know anywhere we can go?”

Pot moved his burnt stump slightly, wincing with pain. A single tear rolled down his right eye as his jaw tightened.

“With this leg? The only place I’ll be reaching anytime soon is Celestia’s gates,” He sighed, “As for you, I don’t know, do whatever you want,” The stallion added, waving his remaining forehoof dismissively.

“What? No! I won’t let another surface dweller die!” I said, stomping on the ground. My coat didn’t like the rapid movement, pulling painfully along my joints.

Pot’s expression hardened into a furious frown.

“Cut the crap, lass. I don’t know who you work for or what you want, but you’re free now. Go back to whoever sent you to kill Temperance, get your caps, and move on!” The stallion shouted.

His words hit me like a kick to the face.

“What are you talking abou-” I started, but the blue earth pony didn’t let me finish.

“You can drop the fucking ‘helpless filly’ act,” Pot said, stopping for a moment to press on his stump with his other forehoof and hissing in pain, “You saved me, I saved you. We’re even, get lost,” He finished.

“I am not leaving you here to die,” I answered.

“Then we’re both going to die here! My best bet is getting to that damned medical center, and I am not getting there on just three legs,” The stallion huffed.

I perked up at his words.

“Medical center?” I asked, “Where’s that?”

Pot tilted his head, staring at me with a look of absolute bewilderment.

“MareStar medical, there’s a group of crazy ponies holed up there that help whoever needs them,” He said weakly.

“If that’s true then all we need to do is get you there!” I answered, keeping my eyes focused on him.

The stallion considered me for a moment. My eyes did not move away from his, I had to show him that I was as serious as could be.

“The place is a day’s trip east of here, we’ll never make it… I’ll never make it,” He said, cautiously.

“We’ll see about that!” I exclaimed, “Stay here, I'll go see what I can salvage from the campsite,” I instructed.

The blue earth pony looked directly at me for a couple of seconds before speaking.

“Drat, I was just thinking about going out for a walk,” He said, wincing.

I stared at the stallion with concern, putting a hoof on his shoulder. Hopefully he wasn’t actually serious about walking.

“I mean it, if you move around too much you’ll hurt yourself more,” I explained.

The earth pony remained silent, staring at me with a deadpan expression. I could only hope that he understood how serious his injury was.

I got up and walked deeper into the cave, hobbling slightly to try and spare myself from the odd feeling of my skin being pulled tightly around my limbs. Speed was of the essence, I had to get the supplies before any of those Junkyard ponies decided to come see if there was anything of value here.

A thick veil of guilt fell over me when I reached the campsite. Pot had already dragged his saddlebags out to the entrance, but the others’ packs still remained. I doubted that even I could take all this with me, I’d have to make sure to only carry what I needed.

But what would become of the rest? Would it sit here, undisturbed, as a testament to my failure until somepony else stumbled across them? I could only hope that whoever did find them could give them the use I was unable to provide.

Two bedrolls were fastened to my sides, tied together by a single strap. I filled my saddlebags with mostly food, but I gathered some other items as well, mainly as memoirs of the ponies I had failed. I took a set of barding from Burning’s saddlebags and a spare bandana from Double Cross’. Barbed Wire’s pack didn’t have anything useful other than a small knife.

I guess I’ll have to learn how to play this myself. I thought as I put Shrapnel’s strange flute into my saddlebags as well.

Pot raised his head to look at me when I emerged from the cave’s interior.

“Do you have everything you need in your saddlebags?” I asked, pointing at the pack on the floor.

“Y- yeah… are you really taking me with you?” The stallion asked. I noticed how he sounded more vulnerable than before, as if he had finally realized that I was serious about helping him.

“Of course I am, I need to get you to that medical center,” I stated, stomping the ground.

I had to get us out of here, and I had to do it fast. I wrapped Pot’s saddlebags with my magic and draped it over my own. The weight was considerable, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I had to adjust it slightly to balance the weight of the cast iron cooking pot better.

“Are you going to help me walk?” Pot asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“No, too slow,” I answered, “We need get out of here as fast as we can,”

“Then what- whoa!” The stallion started to say before I wrapped his entire body in my telekinesis.

I floated the pony as close to my horn as possible, holding him up in the same position that he had been lying in. While carrying him in my magic wouldn’t be much of a problem, the added weight of both our saddlebags and the sleeping rolls would drag me down significantly. Come on Black Light, you have trained all your life to be a hero, you can do this! I yelled at myself mentally.

“Okay, I need to take Pot to the medical center in the east,” I said, starting towards the entrance of the cave. My PipBuck pinged in acknowledgment, placing a marker on my compass that pointed in the right direction. I didn’t actually need it since the compass already had the cardinal directions on it, but it would serve as a reminder.

“Uhhh, what?” The stallion asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” I answered.

We set off immediately. My legs settled into a steady canter. I could’ve probably galloped for some time, even under the large weight on my back, but I decided to err on the side of caution and not risk an injury. Quick Check was far, far away. If I got hurt, we wouldn’t be making it out of here.

The first hour was a mad dash to the east. Even my impressive physical prowess couldn’t keep up this pace for much longer under so much strain. I would need to rest soon, and the final nail came in the form of something sticky dripping onto my face. Up to this point, I had all but ignored the pony I was levitating in front of me, contempt to just focus on carrying him. But the drop of blood brought his well-being to the forefront of my concerns.

“Are you okay?” I asked the stallion, setting him down on the dirt.

“N- not really…” He said weakly.

My eyes went up and down the stallion, quickly spotting the problem. The tourniquet spell I had cast on his leg had worn off. The wound slowly oozed blood onto the dirt, staining it in a deep crimson. That’s not good, I thought, proud of my first aid knowledge, I can’t spare the magic to reapply the spell, I need something else…

“Wait, I got it!” I said, lifting my foreleg and looking at the tattered and burnt remains of my stable barding. It wouldn’t do me much good in its current state anyway.

I tore off the barding sleeve, ripping a long strap off the side along with it. Pot let out a pained hiss when I tied the fabric around his stump. The once blue cloth quickly became caked with blood, but the bleeding seemed to be contained. For now, at least.

“Come on, we need to keep moving,” I told the stallion, hoisting him back up in my magic. My horn throbbed painfully with the strain, the spell sputtering.

I need to… keep going. I thought, rummaging through my saddlebag and taking out the jar of Bounceback. One of the pink pills floated into my mouth and immediately took the edge off my throbbing headache, letting me wrap the stallion in my magic once again.

The eastern ruins of Baltimare appeared over the horizon at about… some time, I guess. There was no easy way to gauge the passage of time without looking at my PipBuck. And I knew that if I stopped to check it I wouldn’t be able to keep going for quite some time. The only other way of telling how long I had been running would’ve been my stomach crying out for sustenance, but that, too, was absent.

That was concerning. If there was one thing stronger than my body, it was my appetite. The healing potions probably did something to me, I thought, trying to keep myself calm. But that was not the only strange feeling I was experiencing. My legs felt heavy, and it definitely wasn’t because of the extra weight or the magical strain. It felt as if I had run thrice the distance. This wasn’t helped by the fact that, despite us being very clearly alone, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were in danger. As if I could just sense that something would be popping out to attack us at any second. My eyes darted to my EFS compass every couple of seconds, expecting to see it alight with blue bars, but it remained empty.

My horn’s constant throbbing didn’t help in the slightest. Every third step of my gait was punctuated by a shock of pain directly from its tip to the base, stabbing itself into my skull like a barbed arrowhead. I wouldn’t be able to continue much further at this rate, let alone at this speed.

“I need… to rest,” I told Pot, nearly out of breath.

The stallion could only let out a soft groan as a reply. As carefully as I could manage, I set the stallion down on the ground beside me. It turned out that I couldn’t manage much, however, as my magic imploded around him when he was still some distance off the ground. The blue earth pony dropped to the ground with a wheezing sound, but he didn’t let out even the slightest grunt.

“Sorry!” I said, earning a weak sound in response that I took to mean ‘It’s okay, I know you’re doing everything you can,’

I dug through Pot’s saddle bags, taking out the first piece of food I found in it. It was a small can of rice and beans, simply labeled with black letters over a white background. I wasn’t actually hungry, but I still opened it with the help of Barbed Wire’s knife.

“Here, eat,” I told the blue stallion, floating the can over to him.

Pot looked at me with an expression halfway between asleep and angry. I wondered what could be wrong with him for a moment before it finally hit me.

“Oh, sorry,” I apologized, floating the can up to his mouth. He couldn’t exactly hold onto it with just one hoof.

The stallion gulped down several times before nudging the can aside with his forehoof. He looked at me with concern.

“You look exhausted, eat the rest,” He said, his voice still weak.

I floated the can towards me. The brown paste inside looked less than appetizing. I tried to pour some of it into my mouth, but the smell of food hit my stomach in all the wrong ways. The can was placed on the ground just in time to avoid me dropping it when I turned around to vomit. My stomach emptied itself onto the dirt, flooding my mouth with the disgusting taste of its contents.

“Black Light? Are you okay?” Pot asked, dragging himself closer.

“Y- yeah, don’t move so much,” I answered, gesturing for him to stay back.

Once my stomach settled, I turned around to look at Pot again. He looked very concerned, that’s no good, he shouldn’t worry about me. Put on a brave face, Black Light! I reprimanded myself.

“I’m not hungry!” I said, trying to sound cheerful, “You take it,” I added, floating the can up to the stallion.

Pot didn’t complain. He simply ate the rest of the food, only stopping to ask for a sip of water from his canteen. I considered taking a swig as well, but my stomach lurched ominously at the thought.

You’re just tired, Black Light, I told myself. My eyes once more wearily scanned the horizon and my compass, but there was nothing there, and maybe a little paranoid.

“You’re… a lot faster than I thought. I think we’ll be there before nightfall,” Pot said, clutching his bandaged stump.

The improvised bandage was completely soaked, but still holding. I ripped off my barding’s left sleeve as well, trying it over the bloodstained fabric.

A ping from my PipBuck drew my attention, and I flicked the device on to stare at the status screen. The pony in the middle of the tab had their head held low with a frowning face. That seems pretty accurate, I thought, sympathizing with the little blue mare. I did wonder what it was trying to tell me though, all the status bars on it were at least two-thirds full!

“Okay, we need to keep moving,” I told the stallion once I had regained my breath. I wouldn’t be able to levitate him for much longer without burning my horn out, but I had to at least give it a shot.

“Are you sure?” Pot asked, “I think I can walk a bit if you help me,”

I shook my head. That would be way too slow. Instead, I wrapped the stallion in my telekinesis and draped him over my back. I felt my spine give out a series of deep cracks when my magic dissipated, balancing the stallion on top of the two sleeping rolls. The weight was considerable. I took a tentative step forward, trying to gauge the best way of moving on.

Walking would probably be the safest bet. And it would be faster than helping Pot limp his way forward. But that didn’t mean that my back would be happy with carrying all this weight. Regardless, I dutifully made my way forward toward the east, keeping my eyes peeled for anything that popped up in the distance. This was not an easy task when my guts decided to start sending sharp pangs of pain through me, it wasn’t hunger… no… this was something else. I felt as if my midsection had been run through with knives that were now digging their way deeper into my flesh with each heavily laden step.

Hours later, my hooves felt like they were on the edge of splitting open. My legs burned as if I had been running for an entire day. My head throbbed painfully despite me not using any magic since I’d stopped levitating Pot. The best way I could describe the feeling inside of me was that it felt as if my intestines had become a snake that was now painfully constricting around my other organs. The only saving grace of the entire trip was that we hadn’t encountered anypony out here. I doubted even I could fend off attackers with how exhausted I was.

But it had paid off. From the seemingly endless horizon a large building surrounded by smaller ruins had appeared. I hoped that it was the medical center, but even if it wasn’t it would at the very least provide a nice spot to rest.

“H- hey Pot… is that the place?” I asked, turning to the side so Pot would be facing the large building.

The stallion said nothing.

Worry gripped my heart as I took the stallion off my back. The concern managed to dull the sharp pain that erupted from my horn from the strain. I placed Pot on the ground and raised a hoof to his face, feeling an extremely weak breath escaping from his nostrils.

“Come on, wake up,” I mumbled, shaking the stallion’s shoulder.

I couldn’t risk waltzing into the ruins without being certain that it was a safe place, what if it was full of raiders? I just needed Pot to wake up and tell me. Come on… come on… I thought as my shaking became harsher. The blue earth pony drew in a deep breath, fluttering his right eye open. It had an ugly yellow color, but it still turned to focus on me.

“Yes!” I exclaimed, “Please, Pot, is that the medical center?” I asked, pointing at the building in the distance.

The stallion stared for a moment before opening his mouth, but no sound came. Instead, he nodded weakly and closed his eyes again. Okay Black Light, time to shine, I thought, standing up and draping Pot over my back. My PipBuck updated its task detection spell and moved the marker to sit in the direction of the ruins

With a groan, I tried to walk as quickly as possible toward the medical center. The distance seemed to stretch out in front of me. Every step forward only gave me the sensation of moving away from my destination. But onwards I pressed, I had to get help, and I had to get it now.

Despite the seemingly endless distance, I did manage to make some progress. The ruined buildings were now close enough that I could see a few ponies walking near them. Much like Junkyard, the medical center was surrounded by some kind of protective wall. This one was substantially less impressive than the scrap metal fortifications I had seen before, however. It was just some mismatched chain link fences that were placed in between the ruins of houses.

My EFS compass started to light up with blue bars as we drew closer. I looked directly in the direction of some of them, seeing that we were being aimed at by several ponies. The idea of having guns pointed at me was not a fun one, but I had to trust that Pot had been honest about the ponies here being able to help.

“Stop where you are!” Somepony shouted at me when I reached the fence.

“Please! He needs help!” I shouted back, noticing that the pony who had shouted at me was a stallion with a shotgun attached to a battle saddle.

“Are you armed?” The stallion shouted back, turning to stare at somepony that I couldn’t see, “Go get Care, I’ll check them,” He said.

I saw a red mare run from behind the ruined house she had been standing behind and towards the large building. The stallion caught my attention again, keeping his shotgun aimed at my head.

“Are you armed?” He repeated, but my exhaustion had already caught up with me.

The comforting embrace of the rough, cracked road beneath rose to meet me. Or at least that’s what I thought when I collapsed onto it.

My perception became muddled and irrational. I felt the weight of Pot being lifted off my back, along with the saddlebags and sleeping rolls. Magic wrapped around me and hoisted me onto a stretcher. Flashes of light and blurs of color were the only thing my eyes could see despite being wide open. A bright blue blur appeared in my vision, probably my PipBuck informing me of something.

I was brought into a building of some sort. The Pony-shaped blobs swarmed around me, poking my body with a wide array of items. For a moment, I almost felt like I was back in the stable 75 clinic, being tested on by Quick Check. I wondered what had become of the stallion, hopefully he had survived the impostors.

My heart throbbed painfully at the realization that I was nowhere closer to helping my stable. I was nowhere closer to helping anypony, for that matter. That’s a lie, Black Light, you helped Pot. I told myself. But had I really? For all I knew he could already be dead.

“-Hear me?” One of the blurs asked me, waving a light in my eyes.

My eyes closed from the strain, shying away from the light.

“I’m… fine…” I managed to say, waving my hoof at the pony to get them to leave me alone.

“No obvious injuries, likely overexertion. Leave her in observation,” A voice said from… somewhere.

I was moved for a moment before finally being taken off the stretcher and onto some kind of cot. The bedding engulfed me like the jaws of an awaiting predator, sinking its teeth of relaxation into my flesh. Comfort seeped into my aching bones as I drifted off slowly into the land of dreams.

My dreams, however, would afford no rest. Time and time again I was back in Junkyard, seeing the ponies I had failed to protect die in front of me. There was nothing I could do, just as there had been nothing I could’ve done before.

I could feel my body being moved around even through the warping veil of sleep… or at least what I assumed to be sleep. Small shots of pain went up my foreleg as something was pushed into it, and my body suddenly got colder when the few remaining scraps of my barding were removed. I didn’t know what had been done to me, but what I did know is that I got better. Sure, the pain was still there, but at least the fog that had enveloped my brain was rapidly losing strength. I couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but judging by my lack of hunger, it couldn’t have been longer than an hour or two.

More sensations returned, voices. Somepony was talking next to me, and my right forehoof was being held up, possibly by magic. The muffled sounds of clicking let me know right away what was going on: they were fiddling with my PipBuck.

I cracked an eye open and immediately spotted a light blue unicorn stallion. He was sitting next to my bed, with both of his forehooves busy with my PipBuck’s many buttons. I tried to speak, but my mouth was horribly dry. Instead, I shifted in place as much as I could, seeing the pony’s eyes go wide. The stallion opened his mouth to say something, but he went silent after a door opened somewhere in the room.

“Tourniquet? Didn’t Bleeding Heart specifically tell you that you were not allowed to come in here?” Another stallion’s voice said, I couldn’t see who it was considering the position my head was in.

“All the more reason why I had to come,” The stallion next to me answered, letting go of my foreleg, “And with good reason, when were you planning to tell me about this?” He asked. Something about his voice was just so… soothing, probably the clear way he pronounced every word.

“We were waiting until she recovered, we know nothing about her,” The newcomer said, his voice taking on a slightly more defensive tone, “Knowing you, you’d just ask to chop her leg off to get that fancy computer thing,”

“I find the implication insulting, you should watch your tone,” The blue stallion said, standing back up, “She’s awake, by the way,” He added before leaving.

Almost as soon as he had left my view, the newcomer stepped into his place. He was a light brown earth pony, slightly short. He was dressed in a stained lab coat that sported so many patches it could easily classify as armor.

“You really are awake,” He said, sounding almost… surprised? “Give me a second,” They added, digging through their lab coat pockets. While they did so, I tried my best to lift my chest off the bed so that I could look at them better.

The short brown stallion had a yellowish mane that appeared to have been cut by a rather untalented manedresser, but it did the job of not falling into his eyes well enough. His lab coat was surprisingly white, with only moderate stains along the sleeves on his forelegs. It didn’t take him very long to find what they were looking for, a clipboard and a pen.

“I need to ask you some questions, you can choose to not answer them,” He said before clearing his throat, “What is your name?”

“Black Light,” I answered.

I heard the scratching of the pen on the clipboard.

“How old are you?” He asked.

I went silent for a moment, trying to recall just how long I had been around. We didn’t really celebrate birthdays in stable 75, that tradition was mostly relegated to anecdotes in the history books. But I had to be around… uhhh…

“I… don’t know?” I offered. To my surprise, the stallion simply nodded.

“In that case, can you tell me approximately how long ago you got your cutie mark?” He inquired.

“Oh! I got it less than a week ago!” I answered, grinning.

This time I did get a reaction from the stallion. His right eyebrow shot all the way up as he looked at me.

“You do know how long a week is, right?” He asked, confused.

“Four- no! Seven days!” I answered, grinning.

“Okay…” He said, taking the pen in his mouth again and writing on the clipboard, “And how are you feeling?”

“I’m just tired… and my stomach hurts,” I answered slowly.

“That’s to be expected, you were well on your way to becoming a ghoul with how much radiation you had soaked up,” The stallion said.

“W- what?” I asked, confused.

The brown stallion let out a sigh.

“Nothing, we took care of the problem, you should be recovered by tomorrow at the latest,” He said, dropping the clipboard back into his coat pocket, “Oh, and… if you feel sick… please use the garbage can,” He added, pointing at a small metal bucket that was next to my cot.

The stallion left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts and my aching joints. I tried to think of where to go next to pass the time, but all my brain could muster was a deep need to sleep. More time slipped away, but I couldn’t exactly tell how much. Perhaps a couple of hours… yes… that sounded about right. Slowly, gently, I cracked an eye open. The room looked the exact same as the last time I had seen it. I was lying in a cot that was pressed on the right side, next to the closed entrance door. Something had woken me up, but I couldn't quite put my hoof on what.

My confusion was swiftly dispelled when a low knock came from the door. That’s probably it.

“I’m awake…?” I answered, not sure as to what exactly I should say.

Slowly, the door crept open to reveal the light blue face of Tourniquet. The stallion was dressed in an immaculate light brown lab coat.

“Good morning,” He said with his clear, soothing voice, “Are you feeling well?”

I took a moment to move around slightly, smiling when I realized I had no pain… other than my legs feeling stiff of course.

“Yep!” I chirped.

The light blue stallion smiled at me before speaking again.

“Wonderful! Would you mind accompanying me to my office? There are… some things I need to ask you,” He said.

“Uhhh… sure?” I answered, turning to get off the cot.

“Wait you have a-” The stallion shouted, but it was too late.

My left foreleg suddenly caught on something, giving me a sharp spike of pain. A small shout escaped my mouth and my eyes watered slightly. I turned around and saw what had happened. My left foreleg had once had a tube stuck in it, a tube which I had very violently ripped out of myself with my sudden movement.

“Ouch,” Was all I managed to say.

The unicorn stallion grimaced, but he quickly straightened himself out.

“Don’t worry about that, for now just follow me… and try not to break anything along the way,” He said, shaking his head slightly.

My coat stood on end at the image of a disappointed adult in a lab coat.

“I’m s- sorry,” I muttered, looking at the floor.

“I said there was no problem, now come,” The stallion said, his voice a mixture of confusion and frustration.

“Yes, sir” I answered, keeping my head low.

The stallion’s eyebrow went up so high that it nearly met his black mane, but he turned around and walked out of the room, gesturing for me to follow him.

Marching out of the grimy room I was met by a mostly empty hallway. An effort had clearly been made to keep it as clean as possible. The effort had, understandably, failed miserably. Cracked floor tiles and stained walls didn’t help to sell the idea of an aseptic hospital.

There were doors lining the hallway, most were empty, but some held sleeping ponies in them. At least seven patients, a surprising amount, considering how minimal the accommodations seemed to be. If what Pot had said was true, however, then it made sense that there would be sick or injured ponies here, it may not be much, but it was the best the surface had.

I followed diligently behind the blue unicorn stallion. I tried craning my head to the side slightly in an attempt to see his cutie mark, but I was unsuccessful. With a name as specific as ‘Tourniquet’ there wasn’t really much of a doubt as to what his mark probably was.

Not much further, we stopped in front of a door marked with a large number ‘21’, it was the second to last door in the hallway. I looked at the end of the hallway and saw nothing other than a closed curtain and an empty garbage bin with an open door that led to a small storage closet. The sound of jangling keys brought my attention back to the moment as the blue unicorn opened the door, stepping aside once he had entered to let me walk into the room as well.

The interior was surprisingly clean, a medical bed rested on the left wall, covered in piles of neatly organized books and papers. A large wooden desk commanded the middle of the room, behind which the stallion sat. The walls were much cleaner than those of the hallway outside, still covered in weathered posters showing anatomical diagrams. A surprisingly well-maintained terminal sat neatly off to one side of the pony’s desk.

“So… Black Light,” Tourniquet started, reading off the terminal monitor, “Is it okay if I call you Miss Light?” He asked.

“Y- yeah,” I answered, feeling increasingly nervous about the lab coat-wearing pony’s presence.

The stallion adjusted his sitting, wrapping his magic around something within his lab coat and bringing it up to his eye. It was a simple chain holding what at first I thought to be a monocle like the ones fancy ponies wore in photographs. After looking at it more carefully, however, I realized that it was actually just half of a set of glasses that had been carefully turned into a monocle.

“Fantastic,” He said, “Well, Miss Light, I have to say, I did not expect you to be such an intriguing mare when you were first brought in. Truth be told, I believed you to be just another outlaw, down on her luck,”

I found the implication highly concerning. How could my heroic self dissolve into the backdrop of savagery? It was madness!

“You thought I was a raider?” I asked, incredulous.

Tourniquet looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

“To be fair, you did show up here dressed in rags and covered with grime, carrying a half-dead stallion on your back. You being an outlaw was a natural assumption to make,” He explained, “But regardless, it became quickly apparent that you are no ordinary wastelander,”

My nervousness had slowly started to disappear under the stallion’s kinder tone, letting me relax slightly.

“Well, I’m glad that was sorted out. What was it that changed your mind about me?” I asked, curious as to what his reasoning had been. I have to keep whatever happened in mind for the next time somepony thinks I’m a raider.

“I was fully prepared to ignore you and let the other doctors here give you their charity. I may disagree with their practices, but I am a guest here, questioning my hosts is not a wise choice,” The stallion said, tapping his forehooves together over the desk, “No, what made me suspicious was the fact that the others specifically forbade me from seeing you,”

A hazy memory from earlier resurfaced in my mind.

“You came into my room and started tapping at my PipBuck,” I recalled.

“Indeed, but we will get back to that in just a second, I have other questions that need answering first,” The blue unicorn said, levitating a small metal box out from behind his desk and setting it on top of it, “I hope you don’t mind, but we took the liberty of going through your belongings, it’s a security measure, no ill-intent,”

“It’s fine,” I said. I knew better than to question ponies in lab coats.

Tourniquet smiled at me and opened the box, taking out my saddlebags and setting them down on his desk.

“For starters, these bags are of exceedingly high quality, little to no wear, and they have the stable-tec logo,” The stallion said, “Inside it we also found these,” He added, floating out Temperance’s revolver and my ten-millimeter pistol.

The guns were set down on the desk next to my saddlebags very carefully. Tourniquet took a look at them and spoke up once more.

“I trust that you know how rare Ironshod firearms are in Baltimare… let alone ones with this level of preservation,“ He said, keeping his eyes fixed on me, “Are they yours?”

I considered his words carefully. Truth be told neither of them were mine, I had taken both from their previous owners. But then again… I had taken them and used them, so they were technically mine.

“Yes, they are,” I answered.

Tourniquet adjusted his monocle again.

“Looking at this logically, I shouldn’t believe you. Your bags have no maintenance tools to keep these guns this well preserved, and you have no ammunition for one of them. Not to mention that the saddlebags are the only thing you or your friend were wearing that wasn’t held together by a couple of strings,” He started, “If you asked me, I’d say you killed somepony and stole the saddlebags, the guns, and that PipBuck from them,”

I was about to open my mouth in protest, but I kept it closed when I realized that the stallion was not done talking.

“This was, of course, disproven when I actually got to look at your PipBuck. You see, I know quite a bit about the things, and one important detail about them is that the only way to properly attach or detach them is with a PipBuck key,” He said, tapping on the desk with one of his forehooves, “That key, however, was not in your saddlebags either. So I’ll ask you this, where did you get these things?” He finished, staring at me.

He definitely doesn’t seem like a bad pony, in fact, he said he was distrustful because he thought I was a raider, that’s all! I thought, trying to gauge whether or not I should tell the stallion about my stable. If he didn’t immediately realize where I was from then chances were that he didn’t know about it.

“I got the PipBuck and the saddlebags from my stable,” I answered, “Stable 75,”

Tourniquet looked at me with disappointment.

“This is a serious matter,” He stated.

“I am serious,” I replied, “Mister Sprocket attached the PipBuck to me when I became the eldest filly. The gun I took from a bad pony that tried to kill me when I escaped,” I added, trying to show that I was being honest.

The unicorn stallion let out a sigh and adjusted his position. His forehoof started tapping even faster on the desk as he thought.

“How long ago did you leave your stable?” He asked, adjusting his monocle.

“The same day I got my cutie mark, less than a week ago,” I said.

My words immediately made the stallion’s eyebrow shoot up.

“An exceedingly late bloomer, I see,” He commented. I wanted to interrupt and explain that I hadn’t been that late, but he kept talking before I could, “But where exactly is this supposed stable?”

I racked my memory trying to recall what the place above my stable was called, my PipBuck had marked it as… wait, my PipBuck.

“I have the location here on my map!” I exclaimed, lifting the device.

“Well, what is it?” The unicorn stallion asked, growing slightly more impatient.

I lifted the device to my face and started flicking through the menus, trying to find the map function. Just as the green screen flicked to the map of Baltimare, however, many frantic knocks sounded off the door behind me.

Tourniquet let out a disappointed sigh before standing up and walking around the desk towards the door. I turned around to look at the door as the unicorn stallion opened it.

A short unicorn mare stood at the doorway. Her light blue mane was tied in a messy bun, keeping it out of her eyes. A pair of glasses sat on her muzzle, the right side was scratched and stained, and the left side had no lens to speak of. She probably can’t see anything through those. I thought.

“Tourniquet! Who gave you permission to take my patients out of their rooms?” She demanded. Her glare quickly softened when her eyes fell on me, “Miss Light, I apologize for my… associate, would you mind coming with me? The stallion you brought with you is awake,” She said.

The mention of Pot being awake immediately dispelled any other thought from my mind. I jumped off the chair I was sitting in and skipped over to the mare.

“He is? Can I see him?” I squeaked.

“Yes, yes, come with me,” She said, raising an eyebrow at my reaction. Her gaze hardened as she looked behind me, however, glaring at Tourniquet, “I will talk with you, later,”

The mare led me out of the office and back down the hallway. Her rapid movement made the torn bottom part of her lab coat flutter slightly, revealing her cutie mark. I was expecting some kind of medicine-related mark, but the mare’s flank held a helix of thorny vines instead. I wonder what that means. I thought, staring at the cutie mark.

“Please tell me you didn’t tell him where you came from,” The mysterious mare said when we had walked some distance away from the other doctor’s office.

“I- what?” I asked, my attention being drawn away from trying to decipher her cutie mark.

“Tourniquet, the stallion you were talking to, did he ask where you’re from?” The mare insisted.

“Oh! Yeah, he did, but I didn’t get to tell him where,” I answered, confused as to why the mare was asking these questions.

“Good, you shouldn’t tell him,” She answered, stopping in her tracks and turning around to face me, stretching out a forehoof, “My name is Bleeding Heart, I’m the pony in charge of this place,” She stated.

I sat on my haunches, shaking her forehoof energetically.

“Pleasure to meet you! I’m Black Light, hero of the surface!” I said, grinning.

The mare raised an eyebrow and kept her eyes fixed on me for an instant before speaking.

“Okay… In any case, I need some information about the stallion you brought in with you,” She said, taking out a clipboard.

“Oh! Sure!” I answered, cocking my head to the side.

“What can you tell me about him? What is his name?” She asked.

“His name is Pot, met him a few days ago. I… don’t really know much about him other than he came from Phillydelphia,” I admitted.

The name ‘Phillydephia’ seemed to make the doctor shudder slightly, it was barely perceptible, but I picked up on it nonetheless. Her expression quickly returned to the warm smile she had held before as she talked again.

“It's okay if you don’t want to answer this but… how exactly did he get hurt like that?” She asked, cocking her head slightly. Her horn lit up for a moment to adjust her glasses, making me jump in surprise.

That was odd, why am I so nervous? I thought, confused. I shook my head slightly before answering the mare’s question.

“A bad stallion shot him with a really big magical energy gun,” I tried to explain.

Bleeding Heart’s expression changed, going from inquisitive to confused and then finally softening with… realization?

“How… How old are you?” She asked, her voice becoming significantly softer.

I lifted my forehoof to my chin to think.

“That’s the second time I’ve been asked that! I don’t know exactly…” I answered, but then I remembered what I had been asked by the other doctor earlier, “Oh! But I got my cutie mark about a week ago!” I added.

Bleeding Heart’s eyes widened, and she nodded in understanding. She sat on the floor in front of me and carefully put her forehooves on my shoulders.

“Listen to me, sweetie, we are taking good care of your friend,” She said, her voice filling me with comfort, “I need you to stay where I can see you, okay?”

“Yeah, okay!” I said, excited, “Are we going to go see Pot now?”

Bleeding Heart smiled at me.

“Yes, come with me,”

I followed closely behind the nice mare. Eventually, we reached the end of the hallway, coming into a large room that may have once been the center’s reception area. Rows of chairs had been pushed against the walls to free up the middle portion of the floor. There were a few ponies walking around, carrying trays with either sickly-looking fruits or medical supplies. None seemed too shocked by my presence… or like they had noticed me at all.

“So uhh… why don’t you trust Tourniquet? He seems nice,” I asked the mare.

She sighed, but still replied with her soft voice.

“He is from a certain group of ponies, call themselves Steel Rangers. You wouldn’t know, given how he conveniently didn’t wear his little medallion today,” Bleeding Heart explained, “They are obsessed with pre-war technology, and will do anything to get their hooves on it. That’s why I told Tourniquet that he couldn’t see you as soon as I saw that computer on your leg,”

I looked at my PipBuck for a moment. Something about what the mare said was.. strange, however.

“Wait, how do you know that I got this from my stable?” I asked, not really concerned as much as hopeful that I had finally found somepony that knew about it.

“Stable?” Bleeding Heart asked, cocking her head.

Damn it.

“Oh, sorry, I thought you knew,” I muttered.

“I don’t know where you’re from, but I know you’re not from around here,” She answered, still keeping the same soft tone from before.

“How?” I wondered.

Bleeding Heart threw her head back in laughter for a moment.

“Have you looked in a mirror? Nopony in the Baltimare wasteland has a physique like that,” She explained.

That makes sense. I thought as I looked at the ponies around us with renewed attention. Visible ribs, sunken eyes, and thin legs. They all looked hungry and ill, nothing like me.

“In any case, you really shouldn’t tell Tourniquet where you came from, if the ponies there have pre-war technology, the Steel Rangers will swoop in like a hungry dragon,” Bleeding Heart added.

The mare’s words sparked an idea in my mind. If the Steel Rangers like pre-war technology so much, maybe I can set up a trade with them and get them to help my stable! I smiled at the genius plan. All I had to do was talk to Tourniquet about it!

We made our way to the other end of the lobby, where a closed elevator door sat covered in warning tape. Bleeding Heart kept walking, reaching a spiral staircase that stood next to the dysfunctional machine.

The first floor of the building was pretty much the same as the ground floor: Dirty, old, and dark. The only difference was that the rooms were much larger, with a single bed in the middle. A few ponies walked up and down the hallway, pushing carts with medical supplies around. Bleeding Heart stopped in front of one of the doors, pushing it open slightly.

“He’s still a little sleepy, try not to talk too fast,” She said, stepping aside to let me through.

“Okay, okay,” I said, walking past the orange mare.

A single bed stood in the middle of the room, where Pot was resting. His head was turned to the other side of the room. I cleared my throat, trying to draw his attention to myself.

“Black Light?” Pot asked, turning to look at me. His face immediately lit up at my presence, “You’re still here?”

“Of course I am! I’m not just going to leave you,” I said with a smile.

The blue earth pony’s smile slowly vanished as he lowered his gaze in… shame? Repentance?

“I’m sorry for what I said, I wasn’t feeling well,” The stallion admitted, “I can’t believe you actually brought me here,”

I walked up to the side of his bed, noticing the RadAway that hung by his side. He flinched away slightly at my approach.

“Of course I did, I swore that I’d take care of you,” I said, chuckling, “How are you feeling now?” I asked.

The stallion raised their right foreleg… or what remained of it. A crudely cut yellow plastic cap had been placed over the stump, barely longer than my hoof.

“I’ve been better. But at least I won’t be dying…” He said, chuckling to himself before continuing, “I don’t think I have much of an option other than staying here for a while, I can’t really travel like this,” He stated, looking down at his stump.

I looked at the stallion. He seemed so weak… but he had made it, all thanks to me. A smile stretched out over my face. Still, I hadn’t been able to save them all, I had to be better!

“I’m… I’m sorry about your friends,” I admitted, lowering my head.

“Don’t be, if anything I should apologize to you for dragging you along,” The blue pony said.

“Wouldn’t that make us… even?” I wondered, raising a hoof to my chin.

Pot raised an eyebrow for a moment.

“I guess…?” He muttered.

“Yay!” I squeaked, hugging the blue earth pony.

The stallion flinched away slightly and then let out a pained yelp.

“Oh! Sorry, sorry!” I said after I realized that I had squeezed his stump.

“Maybe we should let him rest,” Bleeding Heart’s voice said from behind me.

I turned around to look at the mare, who stared at Pot with a kind smile.

“Somepony will come to assist you soon, don’t worry,” She told the stallion before staring at me, “Would you like something to eat?”

The word ‘eat’ resurrected my stomach with staggering speed, making it roar like a starved beast.

“Please!” I chirped, skipping out of the room.

We made our way back to the lobby, where I noticed that a small group of newcomers had arrived. There were four in total, all wearing ragged leathery clothing that was so crudely made it nearly looked like a cavepony costume. All of them had some sort of injury, with the worst one being an old stallion whose head was almost completely wrapped in bandages. Next to him sat an equally old mare, who had a bandage wrapped around her left rear leg. I wonder what happened to them? I thought. The other two ponies were nearly identical. Twins, I realized. They didn’t appear to be in much pain, but both sported bandages on their forelegs.

I wanted to ask what had happened to them, but Bleeding Heart cleared her throat and gestured for me to keep walking. I followed the mare up to the front desk, where a short stallion approached with a raised eyebrow.

“Spoons, can you get us something to eat?” Bleeding Heart asked the stallion.

“Aye sure,” The pony answered, crouching behind the desk and pulling out a tray with some sickly-looking apples.

The fruits didn’t look very appealing, but my hunger had been reawakened. I chomped into one and had to force back the urge to vomit. It was as if the apple had been filled with a barely-sweetened brown sludge. My stomach started to turn so quickly that it almost reminded me of the stable’s washing machines. But nonetheless, I swallowed.

“It’s not the best, but starving is worse,” Spoons said.

Bleeding Heart lifted the apple to her eyes for a moment before taking a small bite.

“This is a lot worse than usual, is the orchard malfunctioning again?” She asked the red stallion.

“I… don’t know actually, everything looked okay when I picked them this morning,” Spoons answered.

The mare adjusted her glasses and looked at the apple again, contemplating the sickly fruit. My growling stomach left me with no room for contemplation, however, and I quickly devoured the rest of the apple. Don’t puke don’t puke don’t puke. I told myself internally as I battled my stomach’s protests.

“No! Spit that out!” The mare demanded, her eyes going wide.

I tried to spit the apple out, but I had already swallowed.

“I’m s- sorry Miss Heart,” I said, scared that I had antagonized the doctor.

Her concerned glare quickly melted away into a more understanding, softer look.

“It’s okay, you didn’t do anything wrong,” She said, “Sorry that you had to eat that, it probably tasted terrible,”

I shivered slightly at the memory of the apple.

“Yeah, it kinda did,” I admitted.

“I’ll go down to check on it later, we won’t last long if all we can eat is this slop,” Bleeding Heart told Spoons, leaving her apple back on the tray.

“Do you need any help?” I offered, hoping to make myself useful.

Bleeding Heart gave me a concerned look for a moment.

“I don’t see why not, stay here where mister Spoons can see you, I’ll be right back,” She finally said, smiling. She turned to face the stallion, who gave her a nod in affirmation.

The ponies here are surprisingly nice. I thought, happy to know that there were some pockets of good out here. Not just that, but a seemingly functional settlement. I watched as Bleeding Heart walked away from the lobby, leaving me sitting next to the front desk.

“Mister… Spoons, is it?” I asked, looking at the short stallion, “Can I go sit over there?” I added, pointing at the chairs where the new group of ponies was sitting.

“I- uhh… sure?” The stallion answered.

“Thanks!” I chirped, springing to my hooves.

I approached the sitting ponies, intent on hearing whatever they were talking about. But I quickly realized that they weren’t talking at all, rather they were all sitting around a radio.

“- The bee, of course, doesn’t care, and flies anyway… Or at least that’s what the voices tell me, there hasn’t been a bee out here for centuries!” A heavily distorted voice said from the speaker before being overtaken by a low-bass ticking sound, as if a massive clock were sitting right next to the microphone, “And that right there marks ten in the morning, you ponies know what that means?” The voice asked.

The next couple of seconds were nothing but an incomprehensible cacophony of noises. Among them I could only pick up the sounds of gunfire and a looped mare scream.

“This is… ten A-M whispers, with your host, DJ No-Neigh!” The mysterious pony said, or at least that’s what I thought he said. The sheer number of modulation effects on his voice made it nearly indecipherable, “The voices… they speak to me…”

Something about the way the pony said those words made a chill run down my spine. The eerie ethereal music in the background didn’t help at all. A much deeper voice started to talk again, crushing the music like a sledgehammer.

“I hear that a witch approaches the castle, tricking the knights in shining armor to let her through. But they couldn’t see that her words were poison,” The deeper-voiced stallion stated, his voice quivering as if in a trance, “From the rubble emerge none but the witch and a hideous automaton!” The voice added.

“What is that pony talking about?” I asked aloud, hoping that one of the wounded ponies could shine some light on what I had just heard.

“The radio?” The old mare said, turning around to look at me, “Nopony knows, it’s just some insane stallion that rambles into a microphone all day,”

I considered the radio again, listening to the strange music that played from it.

“Is that the only source of news you have?” I asked, curiously.

The old mare gave a hearty laugh before answering.

“Heavens no! I’d hardly call that news anyway. No, there’s this other stallion, DJ pon3, he actually knows what happens out here… No-Neigh just barges into the radio waves and drowns out the news with his babble,” She explained, smiling.

“Curl, don’t speak to her,” The old stallion said, glaring at me.

Hostile. I noted, taking a step back.

Fortunately, the tension was broken when Bleeding Heart returned to the lobby. The mare was now sporting a set of utility saddlebags loaded with tools. She walked up to me quickly and gave me a smile before speaking.

“I’ve got everything I need, would you mind coming along with me?” She said.

“Yeah, sure!” I answered, still not entirely sure why she allowed me to accompany her.

The mare smiled, but her gaze quickly hardened as she focused on something behind me. Once again I had that strange sensation in the back of my neck, as if I were in danger. The floor beneath my feet quaked as monstrous hoofsteps sent shockwaves through the lobby floor.

I turned around to try and spot the origin of the noises, only to be met with a towering wall of steel and machinery. It suddenly dawned on me that Temperance had, in fact, only been wearing some plates taken from a suit of power armor, because the machine standing before me now was, in a word, monstrous.

The pony was nearly a full head taller than me, completely encased within a full suit of power armor. Two scope-esque eyes bored into me with inscrutable emotion, the only movement at all that I could see from the armor was an incredibly large weapon hanging from its side, whose ammunition selector was shifting around menacingly. I immediately recognized the shape of the barrel, it was an Ironshod-52 automatic grenade launcher. If it weren’t for it being aimed directly at me, I would’ve immediately thrown myself at it just to get a good look at the weapon.

“Is this one bothering you, Heart?” The distorted voice of the pony inside the armor asked. While the armor’s design was pretty stallion-esque, I wasn’t sure whether or not the user was a mare or a stallion.

In fact, other than the sigil of the steel rangers, the armor bore no markings at all. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was the right pauldron, which was a lot more rounded than its left counterpart. Taken from a different model, I assumed.

“I have told you several times to not come in here with your weapons on!” Bleeding Heart shouted at the armored pony. It was almost comical to see the orange mare standing up to a pony encased in a multi-ton weapons platform that towered over her.

“And we have told you several times to stop letting raiders in here unless you plan on getting stabbed. Yet here we are,” Came the garbled reply.

The kind mare sighed in frustration before glaring at the steel ranger again.

“You will let me run my medical center in whatever way I see fit.” She stated, “Why are you even here? Shouldn’t you be at your guard posts?” She asked the pony, sounding particularly annoyed.

“We were called down by Doctor Tourniquet,” The armored pony said.

We? I thought, but the question was quickly answered when I craned my neck around the imposing figure and saw a second steel ranger that had just come into the medical center. The pony’s armor appeared significantly more battle-worn than the one with the grenade launcher, but no less imposing. The weapon on its sides were a pair of machine guns, glistening ominously in the unsteady lights.

The newcomer walked up to me and Bleeding Heart, staring at me for a moment before speaking.

“Are you Miss Light?” They asked.

“I uhh… yeah?” I stuttered, not expecting the question.

“Doctor Tourniquet told us to bring you along as well,” The weathered ranger said.

Bleeding Heart stomped forward and placed herself between me and the armored pony.

“I’m afraid that won’t be happening, she is helping me at the moment” The doctor answered, “I’ll send her to him after we’re finished,”

“Very well,” The ranger stated before stomping off. I wasn’t able to tell whether or not they were angry through the filter on the helmet.

My eyes were immediately drawn to the two armored ponies’ backs. That armor is beautiful, I thought, silently hoping that I’d someday get to wear a set… or at least look at one without the wearer being hostile.

“Those two are good for protection, but their manners could use some serious work,” Bleeding Heart said, lowering her head.

So that’s why they’re here. I had to wonder how bad things had to be to require weaponry like that to protect a medical center. Using an automatic grenade launcher to take out what could at most be a starving pony with a pipe pistol just sounded like egregious overkill.

“In any case, come with me, I don’t want Tourniquet singling you out for any more questioning,” The mare added, turning around and walking off.

I hurriedly followed her, skipping slightly as I did.

“Why do you think mister Tourniquet wants to know where my stable is so much?” I wondered as we walked through the hospital.

“I’ve told you, the ponies he works with are obsessed with technology,” The mare answered, “Don’t worry, just stay near me,”

I smiled at her words, she seemed like she really cared for me. Not even just me, but my whole stable as well. Speaking of…

“Have you really never heard about stable 75?” I asked, curious.

“To be honest, given your impressive health I can’t really doubt that you came from a place like that,” She commented, “But it is strange that I haven’t heard of anypony else,”

“Yeah, I haven’t had much luck with that either,” I mumbled.

The mare adjusted her glasses with her magic slightly before her ears perked up.

“Actually come to think of it… I do remember the radio saying something about a pony coming out of a hole a few days ago, could that be one of yours?” She asked.

A few days… No, that had to have been me.

“Probably me if anything,” I said. The knowledge that there was some kind of radio system and still there was nopony who had even heard of stable 75 was slowly shifting from strange to concerning, “There should be dozens of us by now, normally we get two graduates every year,”

What could’ve happened to all those graduates? There had to be thousands of them by now. I thought, but my thoughts revealed a troubling realization. Perhaps they have been hiding the fact that they’re from stable 75 entirely… but why?

“Graduates?” Bleeding Heart asked.

“Yes, in my stable we are trained from birth to be the strongest, fastest, and bestest fighters ever!” I explained, “My aim is impeccable, top of my class!” I added, puffing my chest out in pride.

Bleeding Heart looked at me with a look of profound concern.

“I imagine that there were adults supervising at least?” She said, almost in a plea.

“Oh yeah! The adults looked over us all the time, making sure that we were the best,” I said, grinning.

The doctor went silent, her gaze cast low.

“That is… concerning, to say the least,” She muttered before stopping in place, “We’re here,” She added

We had reached the end of the hallway, where we were met by a large metal door that led to a descending staircase. The stairwell was completely dark, forcing Bleeding Heart to attach a flashlight to her lab coat. I just flicked on my PipBuck light and followed the mare.

“That machine on your leg is full of tricks,” The mare commented.

“Yeah, just wish I knew what most of it did!” I answered, chuckling. I should take some time to see what else is in there. I thought, glancing down at the shining device.

I noticed that the stairwell was wrapped around a large hole with a hooffull of cables hanging inside. Bleeding Heart noticed me staring and was quick to explain.

“This orchard was put here to feed the center’s patients and staff, that elevator was used to bring the fruit up. It’s broken now, but the orchard doesn’t produce enough food for us to need it anyway,” She said as we finally reached a door at the bottom of the stairs.

The door opened into a rather strange scene. I had been expecting a dark and cramped environment, not… this. A large vaulted chamber opened up in front of us, almost as large as my stable’s atrium.

Several sickly-looking trees were spread throughout the room, basking in a bright yellow light that came from lamps hanging above each one. The entire scene looked like it had been taken directly out of a history book’s pictures. Only instead of large trees with thick foliage and large red apples, these had only a couple of leaves sticking adamantly to thin, frail branches. The fruits themselves looked more like large raisins than apples. No wonder they were so bad, it’s a miracle they even managed to grow.

Three or four metal baskets stood under each tree, possibly to catch the apples during harvest. An odd design choice, but from what I could recall from my history lessons it was just because ponies had always harvested their apples that way.

“These lights are always going out, never seen one explode though,” Bleeding Heart said aloud, opening her saddlebag and producing a large yellow light bulb.

I noticed what she was talking about, one of the trees had an empty light bulb holder hanging limply above it. Somehow, it looked even more sickly than the others.

“So this is where you get all your food?” I asked, looking at the orchard curiously.

“Yeah, if it were working properly it could easily deal with all the ponies in the medical center and even have some left over for trade,” Bleeding heart explained as she replaced the light bulb.

Something about the mare’s words stuck out as strange to me, but I couldn’t exactly pinpoint what. That’s when it hit me, why was she telling me all this?

“Shouldn’t you keep this uh… as a secret?” I asked, confused.

“You seem like a good pony, and if the ponies in this stable place are anything like you, I think it’s important that we have a good relationship,” She explained, “Now comes the hard part,” She added, walking towards a console that was hidden in a wall panel on the far side of the orchard.

“Is that why you had to come here yourself?” I asked, watching as the mare’s hooves danced over the console’s keyboard.

“Yes, I’m the only one who can use this. I just need to…” She said, but something on the screen made her slowly go quiet.

“Is everything all right?” I asked, confused as to the sudden silence.

Bleeding Heart adjusted her glasses and started furiously typing away at the terminal.

“Yeah… it’s just strange… for some reason, the output has been set at minimum,” She explained, not taking her eyes off the terminal.

“What does that mean?” I asked, raising a hoof to my chin.

“Oh! Sorry,” Bleeding Heart answered, “Basically somepony has told the machine to make the apples worse, I don’t know-“ She started, but her head whipped to the side after hearing something.

I followed her gaze and spotted a metal vent. Something was scraping on the metal on the other side. The doctor and I exchanged looks before I walked closer to investigate. My EFS showed a single blue bar coming from the vent, something was skittering behind it.

Before I could move or say anything, the vent exploded with a mass of hair and legs. The creature charged directly at us, a massive rat.

“Stay back!” I shouted at Bleeding Heart, stepping into the rat’s way as I lit up my-

Something’s wrong.

A shower of sparks flew out of my horn instead of the magical energy beam I wanted.

Fortunately, I managed to throw my forelegs up before the rat made contact. The creature clawed and bit into my legs for a moment before I could kick it off.

My horn flared up again, shooting another rain of sparks that poured onto the floor. The rat, for their part, got back to their feet and squealed at me.

“What is wrong with this thing?!” I shouted, crossing my eyes to try and look at my horn.

“You have a-“ Bleeding Heart shouted from behind me, but I stopped paying attention to her words when I saw the rat charge me again.

Okay, magic may be out, but I still have a horn! I thought as I angled my head towards the rat and jumped into its charge. The creature jumped as well, swinging its little claws wildly, but it was in vain. The tip of my horn struck true, right under the rat’s jaw. I felt my horn rip through the skin and the muscle before it struck something hard.

One final, wheezing squeak escaped the creature’s maw before it went limp, completely impaled on my horn. I whipped my head to the side and threw the dead creature into one of the trees.

“Are you alright?” Bleeding Heart demanded, trotting up to me.

“Yup, just a rat!” I chirped back, smiling.

The mare looked at my face and horn for a moment, concerned.

“You should really go get yourself cleaned up, who knows what diseases that thing could’ve had,” She stated.

“But what if there’s more rats?” I asked, shooting a concerned glance at the open vent.

Bleeding Heart looked at the vent as well before walking up to it and pushing one of the metal baskets closer to cover it up.

“There, I’ll be fine,” She said with a kind smile, “Spoons should be able to give you some water,”

“Yeah, okay, but I’ll be right back!” I answered before turning to face the staircase again.

I flew up the staircase two steps at a time, not feeling entirely confident in leaving Bleeding Heart alone. What if the rats push the basket aside? I guess she could defend herself with magic, assuming her horn actually works, unlike mine. I thought as I kept walking up, what was wrong with my horn? It didn’t hurt or feel strange, in fact, it felt as if it wasn’t there at all!

My thoughts were quite literally knocked out of my head when I slammed into a hard surface, and my sight exploded into lights and shapes for a moment before I managed to focus on what I had ran into.

“Watch where you’re going,” The garbled voice of a steel ranger said.

The imposing, steel-clad figure took up almost all of the stairwell, towering over me from the steps higher above.

“Why are you covered in blood?” The ranger demanded, followed swiftly by the echoing sound of their grenade machine gun cocking, “Where is Bleeding Heart?”

Oh no.

“S- she’s down in the orchard, she’s completely fine! I just killed a rat and was heading up to get cleaned!” I explained, hoping that the ranger believed me.

The armored pony went completely quiet. I couldn’t help but hear some muffled mumbling coming from within the helmet, as if the pony were speaking but the sound wasn’t getting out. Before I could ask, however, they spoke up once more.

“I will go check that you’re telling the truth and guard Bleeding Heart until the repairs are complete,” They said, remaining completely still, “You will clean yourself and then head to Tourniquet’s office, understood?”

“Uhh… yeah, sure!” I answered, confused about the request. I was slightly concerned about the arrangement, but then again, if I had to leave Bleeding Heart alone with somepony it would definitely be one as clearly capable as a steel ranger.

The armored pony stepped aside to let me keep going up the stairs. Eventually, I came back to the hallway, where I calmly made my way back to the lobby. The family of four was no longer sitting around the radio, they’d probably gotten whatever they were there for. I walked up to the front desk, where Spoons widened his eyes in shock at my blood-covered face.

“Hello Mister Spoons!” I said with a grin, “Miss Bleeding Heart sent me here to ask for some water to clean my face,”

“I… uh… what?” The stallion sputtered.

“I had to kill a rat in the basement, could I have some water?” I repeated.

The stallion turned to look behind himself for a moment before looking at me again.

“There’s a pot back here where we clean bandages, use that,” He said, pointing at a door that was directly behind the desk, “It’s not too dirty, just make sure not to drink it,” He added quickly.

I nodded and made my way around the desk, walking into the small room that was behind it. It was clearly some kind of washing area, judging by the piles of dishes and clothing. A large metal vat stood atop a counter, full of brownish water.

I stepped in front of the vat and noticed that a small mirror had been hung above it. I quickly realized why the doctors had been so shocked at me, my mane and horn were completely caked with blood. Several stains covered my face as well, like brownish-red freckles. But what really caught my attention was the base of my horn.

“So that’s why it didn’t work,” I said to myself.

The base of my horn was covered by a ring of metal with a single blue stone in the middle, a magic nullifier. I brought my hoof up to touch the ring, unable to move it in the slightest. I guess it makes sense, probably a security measure. I reasoned, looking at the odd accessory.

I carefully cleaned my face and mane as much as I was able to, something that inexplicably caused my PipBuck to start making those annoying clicking sounds again. Truth be told, I was merely stalling for time, Bleeding Heart’s repeated warnings about Tourniquet were still clear in my mind. But I couldn’t stall forever, cleaning off some blood wasn’t an excuse that could buy me much time.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were here,” A stallion’s voice said from the doorway.

I turned to see the same brown stallion that had talked to me when I woke up. He was carrying a strange set of saddlebags that were full of bloodied bandages. The sight of the doctor immediately gave me an idea on how I could stall for some extra time. If I wait enough then Bleeding Heart will come back up and know what to do! I thought with a grin.

“I was about to go looking for a doctor, actually,” I said, smiling at the stallion, “I’d like to visit my friend again, could you take me to him?”

The doctor grabbed his saddlebags with his mouth and pulled them off his haunches, setting them down next to the vat.

“I don’t see why not,” He said, “Just give me a second to get these cleaned up,” He added, gesturing at the bandages.

I watched as the pony stepped forward and sat next to the vat, carefully unfurling the bloodied bandages and slowly working them into the water, rubbing as much of the blood off as he could.

“So… I don’t think I caught your name before,” I said, trying to break the silence.

“Hmm? Oh, my name’s Intensive Care,” The stallion answered.

“That’s a nice name, where are you from?” I asked, smiling.

The stallion chuckled slightly as he unrolled another bandage.

“I’m from right here, nice place, isn’t it?” He answered.

Ohhh that makes sense, there are researchers here after all. I thought, thinking about my stable, it was remarkably similar. All foals did come from laboratories, after all, the research team said so, and they never lied!

“It’s lovely,” I replied, smiling, “I did want to ask though, how much do Pot and I owe you ponies?” I added, realizing that with all the work these ponies were doing it was only natural that they’d need payment of some kind.

Care chuckled slightly before answering.

“We don’t charge for our services, that’s Bleeding Heart’s first rule. We accept donations and help, but we never outright demand it,”

I took a moment to think about it, it was something really noble, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps it wasn’t the best approach considering the state of the wasteland.

“Don’t evil ponies take advantage of you?” I questioned. After all, it would be very easy for me and Pot to just up and leave after getting medicine and food.

“Many do, but it’s a mutually beneficial thing, we help them, and they don’t mess with us and keep others from doing it too.” He said.

“And how do you get enough supplies for everypony?” I wondered, looking at the bandages.

“Our resources are stretched a little thin, we’ve been diluting our healing potions and RadAway a lot lately. But there’s always scavengers and traders that come along, and many of our former patients stick around to help,” The stallion explained as he worked more bandages into the vat.

The stallion finished washing the last bandage and set them all off to the side so they could dry. He dried off his forehooves and gave me a smile.

“So don’t worry about paying us back if you don’t have anything to spare. Come on, let's go see your friend,” He said.

I nodded and followed behind the stallion as he made his way out of the small room and back into the lobby. We walked up the stairs and towards Pot’s room, where the doctor opened the door to let me in while he stood outside.

“Don’t bother him too much though, he needs to rest,” He said.

“Yeah, okay,” I agreed, stepping into the room.

Pot was surprised to see me again, as evidenced by his confused stare when I walked into the room.

“Did something happen?” He asked, eyeing me curiously.

“Oh no, no,” I reassured him, “Just wanted to make sure you were okay,” I added.

“Yeah… I’m fine,” The stallion said, wincing slightly as he adjusted his position, “In fact, I think I know what I want to do next,” He admitted.

“Oh? And what would that be?” I asked.

“There’s this place where me and the others holed up one time, Bretton Farms, I think the name was. As soon as I can walk again, I’ll try to get there,” The stallion said, rubbing his stump absentmindedly, “Assuming I can walk again, that is,” He added in a whisper.

“There has to be something the ponies here can do for you,” I answered, looking into the wounded stallion’s eyes, “And if not, then I’d gladly carry you to wherever that place is, it's the least I can do,” I promised.

The blue stallion looked up at me, his face one of confusion.

“Why are you so nice to me? You don’t even know who I am, do you have any idea of what kind of pony you could be helping?” He demanded, his tone picking up.

“Yeah,” I stated, stomping the floor, “I’m helping Pot, a cook from the surface who just lost his friends and his leg.” I stated, “Not just that, but those things happened specifically because I was too ineffective to stop it. It will not happen again, and I will help you reach that farm.”

Pot raised an eyebrow.

“You’re one strange pony, lass,” The stallion answered.

I was going to reply, but my attention was brought to the door when I heard a strange noise. A series of deep thumping sounds… the hooffalls of a steel ranger! I got up to my hooves and turned around just in time for a series of knocks to sound off the door. The sounds weren’t loud enough to be a steel ranger’s armored hoof, however. Sparks flew out of my horn as I instinctively tried to open the door with my magic, forgetting that I had a nullification ring on.

It didn’t matter, however, as another pony’s magical glow enveloped the doorknob and opened it, revealing a… particular set of sky-blue eyes.

“Miss Light…” Tourniquet said, boring into me with his gaze.

“Oh, hey there!” I answered, smiling, “Is… there a problem?” I asked when I realized that the pony’s serious expression was probably due to some bad news.

“I don’t know… is there?” The stallion asked, not looking away from me.

I wonder what’s got him so worried.

“Not… that I know of…?” I offered, cocking my head to the side.

Tourniquet stared at me in silence for several seconds, almost as if he were thinking about each word I had just said individually. I could all but see the cogs turning inside his head. I guess even doctors on the surface struggle sometimes.

“I believe you will be surprised to know that Miss Bleeding Heart has just died,” The stallion said.

The news hit me like a sack of bricks. How could she be dead? I had just seen her!

“B- but how?” I demanded.

“I was hoping you would know about that,” The unicorn said, his clear tone taking on a slight edge.

I took a step back as if I had been struck. This couldn’t be. I was supposed to be the hero, I couldn’t just dissolve into the savagery of the surface. This had to be a set-up… or something.

“She was alive when I left the orchard, and I ran into one of your rangers on my way up-“ I started, but the stallion cut me off before I could continue.

“Yes, Knight Star. They reached the orchard and found the door sealed with Bleeding Heart pounding on it from the inside,” Tourniquet said.

I fell onto my haunches. How? When? Had I accidentally closed the door behind me? No! It couldn’t be, I didn’t know the password. But then again… what if it had been motion-activated or something? No, it had to have been somepony else… it just couldn’t be me.

“I swear by Celestia’s sun that I did not kill Bleeding Heart,” Was all I managed to say.

“I know you didn’t,” Tourniquet answered after a short pause.

“You… you don’t?” I asked, confused.

“You don’t strike me as the type of pony who uses traps and the like, more of an up-close kind of mare,” He commented, adjusting his monocle, “However, you probably understand that the ponies of the medical center don’t see it that way,”

My ears drooped.

“What am I going to do…?” I whined, holding my head in my forehooves. I just couldn’t stop failing, could I? First Pot’s friends, now Bleeding Heart… I just couldn’t win. This isn’t how it was supposed to go, I was supposed to save these poor defenseless ponies, not stand by as they were killed!

But then why have I only messed things up? i asked myself. I didn’t want an answer, truth be told all I wanted was to crawl into a ditch and die. Was this the reason why the other graduates disappeared? Had they all been struck down by this cruel, uncaring land?

No, shut up. I thought, beating the moping pony in my head out of my sight. If you failed then you need to improve, you are the best, but you have to be better. I reprimanded myself.

“What can I do?” I repeated, reinvigorated by my thoughts.

Tourniquet smiled at me before responding.

“I’ll tell you what you can do, but we must discuss it in my office,” The stallion said, “Knight Star will remain here and guard your friend while we chat, is that okay?” He asked.

I was about to ask why Pot may need protection, but the doctor’s words echoed in my head, ‘The ponies of the medical center don’t see it that way’. Yes, protection for pot was probably for the best.

The doctor led me through the hospital at a breakneck speed, with the other steel ranger staying close by. Many of the ponies in the lobby gave me a disgusted look, but they didn’t speak up.

We made it to Tourniquet’s office, where he ordered the steel ranger to stand guard at the door as he walked inside, gesturing for me to follow.

“Very well, Miss Light, I believe I have a proposal that may interest a mare in your… peculiar circumstances,” The stallion said, flicking his terminal on, “My offer is very simple, I ensure that you and your wounded friend are protected while he recovers, and in exchange… you give me the location of your stable,”

I raised an eyebrow at the stallion.

“You mean it?” I asked.

“Yes, of course,” The unicorn said, his voice flooding me with calmness.

“One of the last things Bleeding Heart said to me was that I shouldn’t tell you where my stable is,” I said, hoping that the stallion could offer something that would make me trust him.

He took a moment to rest back in his chair. I could see those many cogs inside his head turning like a well-wound clock.

“I believe I have an idea,” He said at last, smiling softly, “An exchange, if you may. I will reveal to you the exact location of the Baltimare Steel Ranger headquarters. An equivalent exchange, wouldn’t you think?”

That did sound like a good trade. But something about the offer tugged at my memory. An old, faded image popped into my mind, of me being a little filly and reading one of the many comic books that were kept in the Stable 75 library. The hero of that book had been given a similar offer, but he had seen through the villain’s ruse.

I stared at Tourniquet. Sure, the monocle and slicked-back mane gave him a slight villainous look, but he couldn’t actually be evil, could he? He was planning on helping me and Pot!

Then again, better to be safe than sorry. I thought, trying to recall exactly what the hero in the comic had said.

“And how do I know you gave me the right directions?” I asked, remembering the lines, “You could just send me out into the middle of nowhere after I told you what I know,”

Tourniquet’s eyes went slightly wider for an instant, but they quickly softened as his smile grew wider.

“Clever girl,” The unicorn commented, “You are correct, you’d have no way to know. However, unlike the late Bleeding Heart, I do know what ponies to put my trust in. Here’s my final offer, I will tell you the location of the Steel Ranger headquarters, and you will travel there and deliver the location of your stable to them, does it seem fair now?”

The stallion’s baby blue eyes bore into me like focused lightning. His offer did feel fair now, after all, if the location of his headquarters were well-known, he wouldn’t have used it for trading.

“Yeah, that sounds fair…” I started, but just as the stallion stretched out their foreleg to shake my hoof, I continued talking, “B- but I want to be able to take Pot with me,” I stated.

Tourniquet considered his hoof for a moment, but eventually, he nodded and stretched it out once again.

“Deal, you shall depart as soon as he has been cared for. You will sleep beside him and I’ll have one of the rangers guard the room,” He said.

I shook his hoof excitedly, but my mood was soured when the full implications of the unicorn’s words hit me. The ponies of the medical center no longer trusted me.

Something about my face must’ve betrayed my thoughts, because Tourniquet gave a chuckle as another grin parted his face.

“Worry not about your image, I am certain that once the doctors cool down and actually take the time to check Bleeding Heart’s body they’ll understand that it was nothing but an unfortunate accident,” He said.

I smiled, this stallion was not bad after all! If only Bleeding Heart had been able to see it, perhaps they could’ve been friends. But alas, for now at least I would have to trust him and lay low.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Stethoscope

Classification: Earth pony mare – 37 years of age – C-9b9b93 M-d1a7ac E-4d5359

Cutie mark: A stethoscope

Stethoscope was a nurse at the MareStar medical center in the Baltimare wasteland. Her medical skills were not the best, but she complemented them with her excellent patient care. Ponies at the medical center often remarked that ‘Her smile could heal just as well as any potion’.

After the Steel Rangers took over the medical center and put a stop to their free care policy, Stethoscope was given the option to either improve her medical knowledge or leave the center. Not feeling comfortable with the Ranger’s new policy of selecting who they provided care for, Stethoscope took the second option and left the center, setting up her own small clinic in the Baltimare suburbs.

Author's Note

Ashes in the sand

“So what you’re saying is… you lied to him?” Pot said, raising an eyebrow at me.

“I didn’t lie to him! I just… didn’t tell him the whole truth!” I retorted as we made our way through the wasteland.

Pot winced slightly as his new leg connected with the ground.

“That’s… that’s still a lie, Black Light,” He said.

“No it isn’t! I told him that I would head to where he sent me as soon as I could!” I explained. it was true! I wasn’t a liar, lying is an evil pony thing! “And I will only be free to do so after I make sure you’re safe and sound!” I added.

“Maybe, but then you insisted on coming with me to the farm,” Pot answered. “Instead of… you know… heading there as soon as you could, like you said you would,”

I chuckled, he just didn’t get it. My promise to see him to the Bretton Farms had been made before I agreed to go to the Steel Ranger HQ, so it took priority.

“I have to make sure you’re okay first, I promised,” I answered. “And you’re looking a lot better,” I added, smiling.

“That’s nice, I guess… but this thing hurts like a bitch,” The stallion said, wincing again as his prosthetic met the ground again.

Scribe Tourniquet had kept his word, ordering for one of the doctors to attach a prosthetic to Pot’s leg-stump. The leg in question was of dubious quality, not much more than some rebar with a joint at the middle and a single snow boot stuck to one end. But it was a significant improvement over not having a leg at all. In order to walk, the stallion had to throw his shoulder forward and whip it back to make the leg go forward and bend. It wasn’t ideal by any stretch of the imagination, something made painfully obvious by the grunts that Pot was making with every step. But it had at least ‘given him some dignity back’, as the stallion himself had said.

We had left the medical center early in the morning at Pot’s request. He didn’t feel comfortable with Tourniquet’s hospitality, or at least that had been his explanation. I guess I couldn’t judge him too harshly, he clearly wasn’t used to that level of… civility.

I couldn’t help but feel that he was somewhat right about the unnecessary detour, however. This little trip would take us at least a full day to get there and a few hours for me to get back. The only thing that truly pushed me to go along with Pot was the need to ensure his safety. That, and the promise of seeing a new settlement.

Bretton Farms. Pot hadn’t told me much about the place other than he and his friends had rested there for some time when they first made their way to Baltimare from Fillydelphia. Judging by the name, I doubted it would be much more than a small farming settlement. But who knew? maybe one of the previous graduates had made their way over there.

The thought of the other graduates left a rather strange taste in my mouth… or, well… my mind’s mouth. What was up with the lack of heroes? I had justified it to myself as the others simply hiding that they had come from stable 75, but why would they do such a thing? And even if that were the case, why were they not doing anything to stop these virtue ponies?

I racked my brain for an answer, any answer, but all I could think of was a blank. Unless… What if the virtues are a recent development? I thought. That had to be it! the graduates had probably traveled far away from Baltimare looking for problems to solve! Maybe they had all gone to Fillydelphia to fight the slavers.

Whatever the case may be, there seemed to be no sign of them out here whatsoever. Or I just had to keep looking.

“You know, I expected there to be more buildings out here,” I said, staring out at the empty wasteland around us. “Or at least a road,”

Pot gave a pained chuckle.

“We’re not actually in Baltimare proper, the city is a lot further west. And there is a road somewhere around here, but it’s not exactly safe,” He answered. “Not unless you’re in a big enough caravan… or don’t care about your life,”

“The small houses where I found you and Double Cross, were those the city?” I asked, curious.

“No, no, that was the suburbs, the real city is even further away,” He replied, wincing again.

“Huh, I wonder what that’s like,” I answered.

“It’s supposed to be pretty nice actually, I wouldn’t know, since it’s basically the heart of virtue territory,” Pot said with a dry chuckle. “Other than that, you have the docks and the western ruins, and all the awful things that lurk there.”

I really wanted to know more, but I could tell by the strain in the stallion’s voice that he shouldn’t be focusing on anything other than continuing forward. I decided to remain quiet, there would always be some other time to ask him about it.

My mind wandered as we walked with only the vaguest direction. I had originally had my doubts about whether or not Pot actually knew where we were going, but those were disproven as we reached some landmarks he recognized. They were nothing but strange stones on the horizon, but he still knew them.

Slowly but surely, I lost myself to the tedium, and resolved to simply focus on putting one hoof in front of the other.

The sound of Pot’s heavy breathing brought my attention back to the present. We had been walking for several hours now, and despite our slow pace, we had put quite some distance behind us.

“Do you need to rest?” I asked the stallion. I wasn’t tired myself, but the sweat pouring from his brow and his labored breathing made it clear that he was tired and in pain.

“Yeah let’s… let’s rest here,” Pot said, all but collapsing onto the ground.

We had come to the edge of a dry riverbed. There was nothing but cracked earth in every direction, punctuated solely by a small collapsed hut. It was almost peaceful, I could easily imagine the river being full of fresh water, ideal to splash around in. The shores would be teeming with life, painted by nature in a wide palette of greens, dotted with shrubs and flowers. Ponies of all kinds would rest on the rocks or swim around in the water, not a care in the world. Truly, a beautiful place to rest.

But, sadly, the fantasy burned away to reveal the scarred gray dirt, burned by weapons of years gone by. What a tragedy!

“You okay, lass?” Pot asked, staring at me.

“Yeah I was just… thinking of what this place must’ve looked like before… you know,” I answered.

“Hmm, can’t say I’ve ever thought about it,” The blue stallion said, looking out at the scene. “To be honest, I can’t even imagine what it may have looked like,” He added.

“Beautiful,” I said wistfully. “I’ve seen pictures,” I added when I noticed that Pot had raised an eyebrow at me.

“Aye, fair,” He replied, shrugging.

A loud series of clattering sounds came from the stallion’s saddlebags when he dropped onto his side, letting out a deep sigh. He brought his foreleg up to rub the shoulder that was attached to the crude prosthetic, wincing slightly as he did.

“Does it hurt?” I asked, sitting down next to him.

“What gave it away, Sherclop?” He answered.

I remained silent and considered the stallion for a moment, unsure as to what to say. He seemed to be annoyed at me wanting to go along with him, despite his clear inability to defend himself or run away if need be. The earth pony took a moment to catch his breath before turning around to search for something in his saddlebags.

“Need any help with that?” I asked when I noticed that he was having trouble keeping it open.

“No, I’m fine,” He snapped back, with just the slightest quiver in his voice.

Eventually, he managed to bring out a box of potato chips, setting it down on the floor next to him. He looked at the box for a moment, then at his prosthetic leg, before finally sighing and turning to look at me.

“Can you open this?” He asked, pointing at the box.

“Uhh… sure?” I answered, confused as to why he didn’t do it himself.

The answer became clear when I floated the box to me and saw that it had a weird tab that had to be pulled in order to open it. Due to how the tab was positioned, a pony would have to hold it up to their face with both forelegs to bite onto the tab. Wow, this is some terrible design. Guess ponies had all their hooves in pre-war Equestria huh? I thought, smiling slightly as I opened the box.

“Huh, none of them are broken,” I said as I looked at the perfectly ordered yellow squares.

“Yeah, they’re basically rocks,” Pot answered, smiling slightly,

I took out a couple of the chips and handed the box back to Pot. The taste was… a taste, for sure. I was pretty certain that if I took out the reclaimed paper from my saddlebag and ate it it would probably taste exactly the same, if not better. But it was something to eat at least.

“So uh… do you know anypony where we’re going?” I asked the blue stallion, trying to make some small talk to hopefully get him to not think about his leg.

“Not really, just this one mare that let us sleep next to her hut, Sun… Cloud? Or something? Can’t remember,” He answered, shoving another chip into his mouth. Something about his tone sounded strange, but I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it.

“You can ask for her name again when we get there!” I chirped, trying to cheer the stallion up.

“Yeah… sure,” He answered, taking a swig of his water canteen with an almost melancholic look in his eye. “She had such a lovely voice… she sang that night, for the whole town,”

“Now you’re making me want to get there even faster!” I said with a chuckle. “But you really need to catch your bre-”

My mouth slammed shut and my eyes darted to the bottom left of my view, as several blue bars appeared on my EFS.

“Is something wrong?” Pot asked, giving me a concerned look.

“Something is coming from that way,” I answered, pointing in the direction that the bars were showing me.

Pot raised his foreleg, taking his pistol out of the holster that was attached to it and aiming it towards where I was pointing. I drew Temperance’s revolver as well, not raising it completely. Maybe they were just a group of friendly wanderers!

“Who goes there?” I shouted.

There was no answer. Instead, I watched as the bars on my EFS came to a standstill. That could mean one of two things, either they were actually standing still… or they were approaching head-on. My right ear twitched. I could hear stepping sounds, but they were way too soft to be ponies.

I instinctively raised my gun, aiming it at the bars. The other side of the riverbed had several large boulders that were concealing whatever was approaching. The dry shrubs that dotted the rocks weren’t helping either. Something caught my eye, however, fast, large, and hairy.

“They’re trying to surround us,” I whispered to Pot when I saw some of the bars break off from the main group and spread out to the sides, still hidden by the rocks.

“C- can you see them?” The stallion asked shakily.

“No, but my PipBuck can,” I answered.

Wait, that’s it! I thought, grinning. With a thought, I fired up my SATS spell.

Out of the several overlapping bars on my EFS, only two were visible enough to be targeted by SATS. The first one was nothing but an indescribable object peeking out from behind a boulder, maybe a leg or a tail? But the second was almost completely visible to the spell through a group of dry bushes, outlining the creature with a blue glow. A large wolf stared back at us, crouched and ready to charge. There had to be at least ten of them.

“They’re wolves!” I shouted at Pot after disabling the targeting spell.

My sudden outburst startled the animals, causing them to run out of their cover. The very instant that a head appeared from behind the boulders I flicked Temperance's revolver and blasted it into a fine red mist. A second wolf jumped out from behind the first, directly into the path of my second bullet. But this wasn’t good, I only had four more shots, and there were a lot more targets than I had bullets.

Pot fired at the third before I had the chance to. Three shots rang out, but only two connected, making the wolf trip onto the floor with a pained whine before trying to drag itself back to the boulders. The blue stallion took aim properly and put the animal out of its misery with a fourth shot. Pot tried to fire again, but his gun let out a loud clanging sound and spat out an entire, unfired bullet with the force of a hoof throw.

My attention was immediately brought away from the strange malfunction and back towards the wolves that were trying to surround us on the right side. Temperance’s revolver flipped around and let out its beautiful song once more, nailing the first animal directly through the right shoulder. Now missing most of its vital organs, the creature dropped to the floor, making the one that was trailing it trip and fall as well. It got up quickly, however, but decided to turn tail and run instead of pressing the attack. I stared at Temperance’s revolver with newfound adoration, not only was it beautiful, but it was frightening as well.

I took a couple of steps to be closer to Pot, who had fallen over in the chaos and was struggling to get back up. The stallion looked up at me with… admiration?

The pride that flooded into me at the sight of the pony I had to protect made a wide grin split my face. I looked up to see that the wolves had regrouped among the boulders. Could they be preparing for another attack? It didn’t matter, the window was more than enough for me to reload.

“Come on!” I shouted, taking a shot blindly at the rocks.

Whether it was my challenge or the sound of the revolver, the wolves didn’t attack. I watched as they slowly retreated further and further into the boulders before finally slipping away from my EFS range. I didn’t let up, not certain as to whether or not they had truly left. But there was no further signal on my EFS, they were truly gone.

“We’re safe,” I said, reloading Temperance’s revolver. I was out of ammo other than the six rounds in the gun. I looked longingly at the six bullets in the cylinder, itching to fire them at something.

“My aim is garbage next to yours,” Pot commented, sitting on the floor and fiddling with his pistol.

“It’s all in the training,” I explained, helping him up. “If my aim is good enough then you surface ponies shouldn’t need to shoot at all,”

The stallion shook his head before sighing.

“You’re insane,” He said.

I looked at him, confused, but I guessed he probably couldn’t comprehend my motives. It would be no use to explain it to him, because he never would. Not that it mattered, anyway, considering that it wasn’t my job to teach. I was supposed to get rid of the bad ponies so the good ponies could be free! Sure, I had partially failed once, but I was going to make sure it didn’t happen again. Hopefully, the ponies of Bretton Farms would be able to provide me with more ammunition, I could fight without guns, but it would put me at a significant disadvantage.

“How much further until we get there?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Right before nightfall, at most,” He answered, strapping his saddlebags back onto his flanks.

He took a long look at the dead wolves that lay around us before turning to look at me.

“You wouldn’t happen to have salt in your saddlebags, would you?” He asked.

“Uhh, no?” I answered, confused, “Why?”

“Nothing just… doesn’t feel right to leave all this meat around,” The stallion replied, crouching next to one of the headless wolves.

I looked at the pony for a moment, trying to comprehend the implication. Eating another creature was not really something I had ever considered as a possibility. In some sort of way, it did make sense, canned food could only get you so far, after all. But still, that was a whole other creature right there.

How would you even go about it? I thought as I looked at one of the wolf carcasses. I guess you just… do what they do?

“I can probably carry one of them for later… If you want, of course,” I offered.

“Yeah that’s a good idea, do you think you can carry that one?” He asked, pointing at the largest carcass. It was a gray-furred wolf, the one I had shot first.

I replied by wrapping the carcass in my magic and draping it over my back. The stump that once held its head immediately poured blood over my side, staining my coat. I had an idea for that, however. With a flash of magic, I ripped off what little remained of my stable barding, the yellow 75 barely recognizable as numbers anymore.

“You served me well,” I told the tattered clothing item as I carefully wrapped the stump of the wolf’s neck with the fabric. It quickly became caked with blood, but it was enough for it to stop pouring out of the carcass.

“Are you sure you can handle that?” Pot asked, looking at me with concern.

“Pot, I carried you halfway across the wasteland,” I replied with a chuckle.

The stallion let out a short chuckle of his own.

“Fair enough,” He said. “Let’s keep moving, if I stop for too long I won’t be able to keep going,” He added, looking down at his crude prosthetic leg.

I nodded, stretching and taking a few steps to check if the weight on my back was well spread out. It was a little annoying, but nothing I couldn’t deal with!

We walked slowly but surely into the horizon, taking short breaks to let Pot rest. At one of these stops, I watched in a mix of horror and fascination as the stallion disassembled his gun and put it back together, repairing the firing mechanism as he did… if that mismatched box of springs could even be called a firing mechanism. In fact, after seeing what the inner workings of the gun looked like, I had become convinced that the way it worked was by making the bullets fire themselves just to get away from it.

The slow pace was absolutely killing me on the inside, as if a thorny branch had been shoved into my chest and was being torn out with agonizing slowness. My leg muscles burned, but it wasn’t the pain of carrying weight, nor was it the pain of radiation poisoning. It was the strain of in-action. I wished for nothing more than for something… anything, to happen. Even if it meant coming across some mutated monster, or rushing into a shootout… I could really use a good shootout, even if my ammunition was nearly depleted.

I tried making small talk with Pot, but he was too focused on throwing his shoulder forward and withstanding the pain to really answer with anything longer than a couple of words. The wasteland didn’t provide anything to distract me either, only endless plains of cracked soil. If it weren’t for the mountains being to our left instead of straight ahead, I may have thought that we were headed back to Junkyard.

I winced at the memories that flooded my mind. That had been an unfortunate start to my journey, but I couldn’t let it weigh me down. I’ll find more ponies to save, and settlements to help! I thought, kicking the awful memories into the back of my head. I needed to keep my mind clear on the task at hoof.

That was much easier said than done, considering the task at hoof consisted mostly of looking straight ahead and walking at an agonizingly slow pace.

We had been walking for several hours now. The day had burned out above our heads, painting the cloud ceiling of the wasteland with the oranges and yellows of the sun’s final stand before the darkness. It was only then that Pot decided to break the silence himself.

“Something’s wrong,” He said, stopping in his tracks.

“What is it?” I asked, following his sight and spotting several columns of smoke coming from further ahead. “Isn’t that the town?”

“That’s not cooking fire smoke,” He said, sitting on his haunches and letting out a deep, pained sigh.

“Are you sure?” I asked, not really sure what cooking smoke looked like, “Do you think something happened to them?”

“I… I hope not,” The stallion said, almost in a whisper.

“Come on, we need to get there, now!” I exclaimed, wrapping Pot in the crimson glow of my telekinesis.

“Hey hey hey wait!” Pot protested, but I was already running.

The mere suggestion that there may be trouble ahead injected energy into my legs, sending me flying across the wasteland and leaving a dust cloud in my wake. Despite carrying enough weight to topple a grown stallion, I kept charging as if I were carrying nothing at all. I can’t fail again, move! Faster! I told myself.

At last, we reached the town in a flurry of dust and limbs. I set Pot down behind a rock as softly as I could manage and unclipped my saddlebag from underneath me. With a jump, I flew out of the heavily laden packs and rolled onto the ground, revolver at the ready.

We had stopped a short distance away from the town… or rather, what remained of it. Several burned husks of buildings were strewn about what may have once been a central gathering area. There were four in total, all burnt.

The building furthest from us appeared to have suffered the least amount of damage, as in it had only partially collapsed as opposed to being reduced to a few blackened, smoking sticks. It was also the largest one by far, and judging by the scraps of red paint that still clung to its walls, it must’ve been a barn at some point.

My eyes darted across the ruins, trying to spot anything that could possibly be dangerous. When nothing immediately stood out to me, my eyes flashed over my EFS compass and then returned to the horizon, confirming that there was nothing in the area.

What I did notice, however, was that there were more than just four buildings. In between the burnt husks of the buildings lay the collapsed remains of scrap metal huts. Those must’ve been built after the war. I realized, only post-war surface dwellers would build their homes out of junk, after all.

“What happened here?” I said aloud, keeping my gun trained on the ruins.

Pot stumbled out from behind the rock and walked up to my side, pondering the destruction.

“I- I don’t know,” He said, his voice but a whisper.

I stared at our surroundings intently, confirming what my EFS already told me: this place was barren. Pot didn’t say a word, instead, he silently made his way toward one of the burnt houses. I walked up close to him, with the only sound in the area being the sparkling of my magic and the low hum of the blowing wind. My chest ached painfully as the rising heat of impending combat was viciously snuffed out by the nothingness that the breeze carried. The only thing worse than no fighting was no fighting after expecting a fight.

Temperance’s revolver flew back into its holster on my foreleg as I caught up with the blue stallion. He was staring directly at the burnt house he had been walking towards, his eyes slightly damp.

“What a waste,” He said, kicking a piece of burnt wood away.

I realized that this house was probably the one where the mare he had talked about before lived.

“Do you think she’s still alive? I don’t see any bodies,” I offered.

“I… I don’t think so…” The stallion answered. “We… should check if there’s anything left, go check those huts over there,” He said, shooing me off with a forehoof that pointed at one of the destroyed buildings on the other side of the town. His voice had trembled slightly as he spoke, but it didn’t break.

“Okay, okay…” I answered, raising an eyebrow at the stallion’s strange shift in tone.

Slowly I made my way back towards the hut he had pointed at. It looked very small, couldn’t have been larger than a bathroom back in my stable. But it was clear from what remained of the interior structure that it had once been divided into three separate sections.

I walked into the central one, feeling the burnt wood crunch under my hooves. That must’ve been the kitchen. I realized when I looked at the division to the left and spotted a red oven. The paint had bubbled and cracked in the fire, but in some parts, the color could still be seen. Broken plates and assorted cooking utensils lay among the remains of a small table and some chairs.

My magic started to tear and crunch at the wood that I assumed had once been cupboards, but there was nothing there other than severely burnt vegetables. I smiled when I ripped a plank out of the pile and revealed the blackened metal exterior of a can. My happiness disappeared quickly, however, when I pulled the can out and saw that it had already been opened, with the inside full of some blackened seeds.

Out of pure curiosity, I popped one of the less burnt seeds into my mouth, enjoying the toasted flavor.

“Not bad,” I said to myself, carefully separating the completely carbonized seeds from the rest and dropping them into my saddlebags. My PipBuck pinged in acknowledgment, marking the new item as ‘Roasted almonds’.

Slightly reinvigorated by the food, I turned to face the other side of the destroyed hut, where one of the walls was still standing. I spotted a half-destroyed dresser resting against the wall. Maybe something in there survived the fire…

A small object went flying when I walked into the division, causing me to jump slightly. A closer look revealed that it was a small blackened spring. Not just that, but several other springs lay around a large pile of ashes in the middle of the room. I wonder what this could’ve been… Maybe some kind of trampoline? But why would it be inside the house? I wondered as I threw open the door of the dresser.

Either my magic was too strong, or the fire had weakened the furniture too much. Whatever the case may be, the result was the same, a loud crack and a door flying off to the side. I didn’t pay it much mind, however, because my attention was immediately brought to the contents of the dresser.

Unsurprisingly, most of it was black and gray ash. A glint caught my eye, leading to my magic pulling out a single bottle cap. The sudden movement made the unstable pile of ashes shift and crumple away, revealing something truly interesting.

“What do we have here?” I said aloud as I wrapped my magic around the only piece of clothing that wasn’t a charred mess.

A nearly pristine, dark blue jumpsuit floated out of the dresser, seemingly untouched by the flames. A small stripe of yellowish white wrapped around each leg, and a thicker one went around the midsection. Whatever the stripe was made of let off a colorful sheen under my magic’s glow, drawing attention to it. Now this would make me hard to miss! I thought triumphantly, floating the jumpsuit closer to me. It reminded me of the costumes that comic book heroes wore, with the only difference being the clearly utilitarian purpose of it. Instead of a tight suit meant to display the wearer’s muscle, this one was loose and covered in pockets. It didn’t matter too much, I could always modify it later… Perhaps a cape…

The secret to the garment’s seeming indifference to the flames that had consumed its peers was revealed when I got a closer look at the tag on the inside of the collar. It was a fire-retardant factory uniform. I’m gonna look great in this! I thought excitedly as I slipped into the jumpsuit. It was clearly made for a rather large stallion, but a simple adjustment with the strap that went across my back and rolling up the sleeves slightly helped me fit into it. I slipped my holster back over my left leg and rolled up the right-side sleeve more so it would leave my PipBuck uncovered. The sleeve quickly rolled itself back down, but I adjusted it better and managed to make it stay up by tucking it underneath my PipBuck.

My gaze moved towards the darkening horizon, noticing that something was sticking out of the ground a short distance beyond the house. Curious, I walked out of the burnt remains and towards the small object, where I noticed that there were many more just like it spread around the ash-covered earth. I drew closer and saw that it was actually the stem of a plant, cut near the base and burnt to a crisp. I looked out into the horizon again and saw thousands of stems pointed at the skies. It made sense, I guessed, this was a farm after all.

Some distance away from the farm stood the collapsed remains of a large metal tube. A silo, I realized, recognizing the corrugated metal from the pictures I had seen back in the stable. Next to it I could just barely spot the twisted and blackened remains of some trees. This place had been completely destroyed, what a waste.

I turned back towards the town to see if Pot had found anything. Concern immediately flooded into my mind as I drew my revolver again. Where is he? I thought as my eyes scanned the horizon. My concern was unfounded, however, since not a second later I spotted the stallion. His blue coat stood out against the brown of the dirt and the blackened husks of the town’s buildings.

“Pot! Find anything?” I shouted at him. The stallion turned for an instant to look at me, but he quickly lowered his gaze.

What’s up with him? I thought as I walked closer. He was looking down into a pit that had been crudely dug into the ground next to one of the huts. I reached his side and noticed that the dirt under his head was slightly damp. The stallion turned away from me, but it was pointless, I could tell that he had been crying.

I looked at the pit in front of us, trying to see what he was sad about, what could-

Oh.

Charred ribs, small glistening baubles, scraps of burnt fabric, and most damningly of all, blackened skulls. Several bodies had been burnt here. And not just ponies, several of the skeletons were way too big to be ponies.

“They burned them with the animals…” Pot explained. “Savages,” He added, shaking his head.

The bones were truly an awful sight, but I knew from experience that if we had come across the bloated bodies of the inhabitants Pot wouldn’t have been able to keep his cool. Ghostly visions of the pictures I had been shown in the stable flashed through my mind, truly some revolting stuff. But it was all part of my training, and it was things I needed to be used to seeing so that the poor surface dwellers didn’t have to.

“Who did this?” I asked, putting my hoof on the stallion’s shoulder, trying to console him.

Pot shivered slightly and pulled away from my touch, letting my hoof fall back down to the ground.

“Could’ve been anypony,” He muttered, raising his head to stare at the horizon. “But out here? I’m pretty sure I know exactly who did this,”

“Tell me who,” I demanded.

“Only ponies that burn settlements like this are Redeye’s slavers. Bastards probably took anypony that was healthy and killed everypony else,” He spat, keeping his gaze fixed on the burnt corpses.

“Where can I find him?” I asked, slowly becoming enraged at the situation.

“I don’t know, somewhere in Fillydelphia I guess…” He said, not really giving me much.

“I need to know more if I want to stop them, Pot, what else do you know?” I demanded, stomping on the ground.

Pot said nothing, his gaze remained fixed on the horizon.

“Are you listening to me? I have to save them!” I shouted, getting even more impatient.

Again, the stallion remained silent.

“Pot-” I started, but the blue earth pony cut me off.

“Can ye just shut up for a moment? All ye do is talk and talk and talk! Shut the fuck up and let me think!” He exploded, slipping deeper into his singsongy accent.

“I just wanted to-”

“To what?! To say something stupid? Please just… stop,” He continued, slowly lowering his volume, he took a deep breath and looked at me again. “I won’t tell you anything about Redeye because I know you’ll want to throw yourself directly at him like an idiot! You are one mare, you can’t fight an army of slavers no matter how well you can shoot! They’ll chew you up and spit you out before you even got a look at him,” He said, his voice feeling a lot more measured.

My mouth slammed shut as the stallion’s words struck me like bullets. He doubted me, he doubted my abilities. But I couldn’t deny that he was right, I was only one mare, and I hadn’t been able to fight off a couple of guards before. What chance could I have against an army of slavers? Not to mention that I was essentially unarmed. It would be suicide to try and do anything.

Slavers… I thought, infuriated, How were they even allowed to keep existing? Just what had all the other graduates been doing? There’s a huge slaver empire right next to our stable, and an oppressive regime on the other! The opportunities to do good all but threw themselves at us! Was the world truly so dangerous that it simply chewed them up like food chips?

It made no sense! I haven’t faced any challenge I couldn’t overcome-

My thinking was cut off by a memory. A memory of explosions, disintegrating mares, and the horrible scent of my burned flesh. It did make sense, this wasn’t a training exercise. A single mistake out here could very well mark anypony’s end. I sat on my haunches, looking down at the ground.

Could it be true? Could they all have failed? No! It couldn’t be, we were the best of the best! They had to be out there somewhere, perhaps they were fighting for justice somewhere else in the city. I had only seen the outskirts, after all. I had to go find them, get weapons, get allies, and then free my stable from those impostors! Yes, once I did that I could lead a crusade against this Redeye bastard and mount his head on a spike for all slavers to see!

I got back up, ready to give Pot a piece of my mind. Before I could, however, all the hairs on my neck stood on point. I had spotted a white light out the corner of my eye. Was that a flash…?

My ears flattened immediately as a bullet flew right past me, less than a hoof’s distance from my head. The gunshot echoed across the empty wasteland, making Pot jump in place.

“Get down!” I shouted, tackling the stallion to the ground.

I looked around quickly to try and find cover. My body acted faster than I could even think, picking up Pot in my magic and jumping towards a boulder, moving as erratically as I could. Another shot flew past, just barely missing me.

Temperance’s revolver flew out of its holster, but it was mostly out of habit, there was no way I’d hit somepony from so far away. Hopefully, the boulder would be enough to conceal both Pot and me, but I knew I couldn't count on it. Pot drew his own gun, a terrified expression on his face.

“Any ideas?” I shouted at the stallion, who spat his gun into his forehooves to answer.

“What do you think?” He shouted back, looking at me with a pair of terrified eyes. “Can’t even see the bastard!”

“They’re somewhere behind us, let me think!” I shouted back. The stallion nodded and placed his gun back into his mouth.

My mind raced to try and craft some sort of strategy for getting out of here. The biggest hurdle was the fact that Pot couldn’t exactly run, and wrapping him in a bright red telekinetic glow in front of a sniper wouldn’t be the brightest idea. The complete lack of cover didn’t help at all either, we were wide open! Perhaps if we got to the ruined silo we’d have more luck, but it was way too far.

I glanced down at my EFS, spotting two blue bars next to me. One was clearly Pot, but the other was not… it couldn’t be the sniper, not unless they had somehow-

Pot let out a panicked grunt around his pistol’s grip, he took aim and started shooting at… the sky?

My gaze turned skyward and spotted a winged figure flying in circles to avoid my companion’s bullets. Something about it was strange, as it seemed to be holding its rifle in its forehooves instead of attached to their sides. I couldn’t really know for sure, since the darkening sky had reduced our attacker to a blurry black shape.

The strange creature corkscrewed around Pot’s shots and fired back, forcing the stallion and I to throw ourselves to the sides. Bullets struck the stone, showering us in rock fragments and dust. I rolled back up to my hooves and aimed into the sky to see… nothing?

“Where are you…?” I mumbled aloud.

I noticed that the cloud ceiling was significantly closer to the ground today, an ideal cover for a flying bastard to take potshots at us.

Right on cue, the flying bastard in question barreled out from the cloud layer, letting out several shots. I jumped aside the instant I saw the black figure among the clouds, barely dodging the barrage of gunfire. Before I could retaliate, however, it disappeared back into the clouds.

“The clouds are too thick, I can’t see him!” I shouted at Pot, who mumbled something in response. I couldn’t really catch any words around his pistol’s grip.

My EFS wasn’t much help either, considering it didn’t really track vertically nearly as well as it tracked on flat terrain. The bar was swinging wildly back and forth along my compass, never staying put enough for me to anticipate the attack. I fired up SATS and managed to get a lock on whatever my enemy was, but they were moving way too fast to waste a bullet. This was getting concerning.

I’m thinking too hard, I have to trust myself! my mind shouted at me. I took a deep breath, trying to clear my head for a moment. My eyes stopped scanning the clouds, instead focusing on a spot directly above us. Come on…

There! A dark shape broke through the cloud layer somewhere to my right, sticking out in my peripheral vision like a shining beacon. Temperance’s revolver spun around and fired thrice. The winged creature spun around in the air just as I started firing, making my first two shots miss, the third, however, connected. A loud squawking sound escaped from the enemy before it rapidly pulled back up into the cloud bank. A griffin, I realized, no pegasus would make a sound like that.

The sound of blood raining onto the ground almost broke my focus on the clouds… almost.

My senses were razor sharp, I could hear each drop of blood as it fell onto the dirt around us, slowly turning it into mud. The dripping sounds joined my thundering heart as it tried to beat out of my chest. Show yourself! I thought, trying to will the griffin to pop back out.

The request was answered with several gunshots flying out from the clouds. None of them hit anywhere near me and Pot, but they did have one effect. The cloud bank was disturbed ever so slightly as the griffin flapped their wings to compensate for the recoil.

Got you. I thought as I fired at the spot from where the bullets were coming.

The gunfire immediately went quiet before a dark figure fell to the ground among a shower of feathers. Just for good measure, I aimed and fired twice more at the falling griffin. More feathers went flying, but no other movement came from them.

A distant thump sound came from further away, the dark sky making it difficult to find the fallen enemy. I spotted a bundled-up figure some distance away from the rock we were hiding behind, it was unmoving. I stayed hidden behind the rock for a moment, wanting to make absolutely sure that they were dead. The fire in my chest slowly started to dim, the heat escaping through my coat like an overworked terminal. I let out a shaky sigh as the rush of adrenaline slowly ran its course, finally leaving my legs with a deep shake.

Pot let out a deep sigh, holstering his pistol and holding his head with his good hoof. He took a moment to catch his breath before speaking.

“A Redeye scout, we need to get out of here, we’ll have a lot more to deal with when they don’t report back,” Pot stated, turning to face in the direction we had come in.

“We can rest in that building we passed a while back,” I offered, recalling a small fenced compound we had spotted shortly after the encounter with the wolves.

“The power station?” Pot asked, getting a nod from me in confirmation. “I don’t think we’ll reach it before night finishes setting in… and I’d rather not risk waltzing into a bandit hideout in the dark,” He added, looking at the sky.

“We don’t have much of a choice unless you want to sleep out here. You start heading back, I’ll go check to see if that griffin had anything useful on them. We should be safe to go to the station, this thing will let me know if anything’s hiding in it,” I said, raising my right foreleg to show him my PipBuck.

“Okay, don’t take too long, the faster we’re out of here, the better,” The stallion agreed. “I’ll leave your saddlebags where you left them,” He added before walking off.

I walked towards the fallen attacker, noticing the mostly circular pattern in which their feathers had fallen. In the center of the circle lay the griffon themselves, limbs twisted into unnatural angles from the force of the impact.

He didn’t have much on him other than several bullet holes. Whatever their gun had been, it was nowhere to be found, all I could find was a bandolier full of ammo that neither Pot nor I could make any use of. Some kind of radio was strapped to one of the griffin’s claws. I considered taking it, but there was a good chance that it could be used to track us down. The last thing I needed was something to mark me as a target as I trudged through the wastes.

Maybe I can use these for something. I thought, taking the bullets and dropping them into my saddlebags. The metallic clinking sound that the brass casings made as they waterfalled into the bag made me chuckle slightly. If only they were the right caliber… I thought, feeling my ears droop slightly.

I met back up with Pot and we set off through the wasteland, trying to put as much distance between us and the destroyed town as we could. The jaws of darkness closed around us rapidly. It was almost impressive how deep it was, I guess it was understandable since there were no stars or moon to even give a hint of light. I switched on my PipBuck flashlight, but its pale green glow could barely pierce the fathomless dark. Truly, we were walking blind.

Fortunately for us, my PipBuck was not laden with the biological limitations of eyes. The machine guided us under the inky sea of the starless sky toward our destination like a rope in a deep cave. Pot was exhausted, but I was still fine. I did offer to carry him on my back, but he refused.

“It should be just up ahead,” I said after checking my map and turning off my light. “Stay here while I check if there’s anypony there,”

“Okay,” The stallion whispered back from somewhere on my left. “Take my gun, I still have ammo,”

I looked at the stallion for a second, staring at the grip that poked out of his leg holster.

“I’m fine, thanks,” I said, trying my damndest to not retch at the idea.

I slipped out of my saddlebags again, crouching and starting my approach. Temperance’s revolver slowly slid out of its holster, held firmly in my mouth. Lighting my horn will just put a target on my forehead. I reasoned. Not that it really mattered anyway, as the gun was empty. The feeling of being armed yet not being actually able to use the weapon was… disturbing. But with any luck, the sight of the gun alone would give me a big enough window to use my horn.

Step by step I made my way closer to the point on my compass. In the darkness I couldn’t even make out the building itself, forcing me to go very slowly. The last thing I wanted was to hit the chain link fence and alert anypony in the station to my presence. It proved to be a good call when my revolver clinked slightly against the fence. The noise made me wince, but it was nowhere near loud enough to be heard from inside the station. My gaze went to my EFS compass, showing that it was completely clear. I turned around and spotted nothing other than the single blue bar that pointed in Pot’s direction.

With a relieved sigh, I holstered my revolver again. I made my way back to the stallion and picked up my saddle bags.

“Is it clear?” He asked.

“Yeah, unless it has a basement there should be nothing in there,” I confirmed.

We had to go around the compound for a bit before we found a hole in the fence, but we finally found a segment that had fallen over. When we got to the building itself, however, another problem arose. The door was locked.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me,” Pot said, pushing the metal door as hard as he could, but it didn’t budge. “If this hasn’t been opened yet then it’s either broken or way too difficult,” He added, pointing at the lock.

I considered the round steel dome with a keyhole, it didn’t look broken, not that I’d know what a broken lock looked like.

“Can you pick it?” I asked, looking at the blue earth pony.

Pot let out a sigh.

“No, Burning was our lockpick, and I don’t even have a bobby pin to try,” He said, his ears drooping.

I was not planning on sleeping out here.

“Step aside, I’ll pick it,” I said, gently nudging Pot away from the door.

“Wait, you know how to pick locks?” The stallion asked, confused.

“Sure, how hard could it be?” I asked with a chuckle, lighting up my horn.

“I’m… pretty sure that’s not a good idea-” Pot started, but I cut him off quickly.

“Trust me,” I said.

My magic poured out of my horn, lighting up a small segment of the door. It was a simple metal door with a lock just underneath the knob. I focused on the lock, slowly spreading my arcane tendrils into the mechanism. Okay… so if I…

Power surged through my horn like a bolt of crimson lightning. The feeble lock never stood a chance! Springs, pins, and other assorted parts went flying out of the door under the extreme pressure of my magic. The shock of the arcane explosion swung the door open and slammed it into the wall on the inside of the building. By some miracle, the hinges survived the impact.

“There! I got it!” I exclaimed before skipping into the dark room.

“You’re insane!” Pot shouted at me. “You could’ve lost an eye with one of those pieces!”

“Well, I didn’t!” I replied, laughing.

The pale glow of my PipBuck was just enough to let me see Pot’s flabbergasted expression.

It only took a minute to look around the station and confirm that there was, in fact, no basement. We were all alone in a room occupied by nothing other than some broken consoles.

Pot set up his burner and Burning’s lamp in the middle of the steel grate floor. I, for my part, unfurled both of our bedrolls on the far side of the building, as far away from the door as I could. Our saddlebags were piled onto it to make sure it remained shut through the night… or at least that any attempt to open it would cause a lot of noise. The blue stallion set his pot down over the burner, pouring a few drops of a thick golden liquid into it.

I made my way to one of the desks, seeing that the terminals on the desks were not like the one Tourniquet had back at the medical center. These were a lot less round, flimsier, even. The plastic casing was grainy and partially missing, but it seemed like it had decayed naturally instead of any sort of impact. The screen was covered in so many white bubbles that I doubted I could even see anything on it if I were to get it to turn on. My attention was brought to the desk itself, a simple metal table with a pair of drawers. I opened the top one, spotting a familiar sight.

Memory orbs. Two crystal spheres sat within the drawer. Back in the stable we had been made to use them during training. Vistas of battlefields and autopsies flashed through my memory at the sight of the orbs, nearly making me drop one as I picked it up with my trembling hooves.

“I wonder what’s in these…” I said to myself.

“Put those down!” Pot shouted from behind me.

I turned around and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“They’re memory orbs, what’s wrong with them?” I asked.

“I’ve seen what those things do to unicorns, you’re lucky you didn’t try to pick it up with your magic,” The stallion said, clearly agitated.

“What do you mean? They take you into the memory and let you experience it,” I explained. It was pretty understandable that an earth pony wouldn’t know what they were, after all.

“Yeah, then your ears start bleeding and you never wake up again, I’ve seen it happen,” The stallion said.

I looked down at the orb in my hooves, turning it over. Hmm, I wonder what that’s all about… The orb looked pretty much identical to the ones we had at the stable. Could the surface have done something to them? I spun the orb around in front of me, where I spotted a small inscription on the bottom. Two ‘F’s were carved into the sphere, a logo of some sort.

“Hmm, strange,” I muttered, dropping the orb back into the drawer.

There wasn’t anything else inside of it other than a single bobby pin and some bottle caps. I put the pin in my mane for safekeeping.

“We should eat the wolf first, it won’t stay good forever,” Pot said, his cooking pot finally getting hot enough.

“Good point,” I agreed, wrapping the carcass in my magic.

I considered the wolf for a moment. How were we supposed to eat this thing? Eating plants was simple, you grabbed the plant and just bit into it. It was quick and easy, same with basically every packaged food I had seen so far! But this thing? I had no idea.

I can’t just do what any other animal would do… Or can I…? I thought, focusing on one of the wolf’s hind legs. The thigh wasn’t really dirty, it was the paw itself that had a layer of dry mud on it. Maybe other animals do have a point, I thought as I lifted the carcass to my mouth.

It was… chewy, to say the least, and extremely tough. But the taste wasn’t that bad, my neck muscles strained as I pulled a chunk of the juicy flesh off the wolf’s thigh bone. Eh, I’ve eaten better things, I thought as I swallowed the chunk of meat. The sensation of finally eating ignited my appetite fully despite the barley-palatable meal. I ripped another chunk off, chewing it for a few seconds and really squeezing all the juiciness out of it. This bite didn’t have as much hair on it as the previous one, letting me fully enjoy the taste.

“Hey Pot, you want some?” I asked after swallowing.

The stallion was sitting next to his cooking pot, facing away from me. He turned his head with a raised eyebrow before jumping up so high he nearly hit the roof.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YE DOIN’?” He shouted, his strange accent flaring up significantly.

I looked up at him with a piece of the stringy meat still in my mouth.

“Eatinf,” I answered.

Pot’s face went through a wide array of emotions before my eyes. Desperation, hopelessness, and, finally, absolute confusion.

“You’re supposed to skin it and cook it before you eat it!” He said at last. “Or at the very least wash the damn thing!”

I swallowed the chunk of meat in my mouth, not intending to waste food. The action made the blue on Pot’s face turn to cyan as he retched.

“Well how was I supposed to know?” I demanded, dropping the bloodied carcass. “Animals don’t do any of that, they just… eat the thing and that’s it!”

“Yes, animals do that!” Pot shouted back. “We’re not wild animals, Black Light, we’re ponies!”

“It was an honest mistake!” I offered.

Pot facehoofed at my response.

“Okay, whatever, give me that,” He said, gesturing to the carcass.

“I knew it!” I exclaimed victoriously. “You do want some!”

“No you idiot I’m going to cook it properly!” Pot shouted back.

Oh yeah, that makes sense too. I thought, levitating the wolf over to the stallion.

“I swear if you get sick from that I’m not even going to bother with burying you,” The stallion muttered.

“Well, other animals don’t die when they eat it!” I huffed.

“Just… shut up,” Pot said, his tone almost desperate.

The cooked meat tasted significantly better than the raw thing. I dug into the strips that Pot had cut from the wolf and cooked with the same gusto as I would’ve dug into a plate of daisy chips. Despite the lack of spices, which according to Pot would make the meat taste even better, the meal was still delicious.

“This is so much better than raw,” I said while I chewed on a particularly tough piece of meat.

“You know I’m genuinely starting to believe that you crawled out of a hole in the ground,” Pot answered, keeping his gaze on his own meat.

I looked up at him, confused.

“Starting to?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.

“Well, I’m sorry if it didn’t sound like a believable story!” He exclaimed rather defensively. “Baltimare is a shithole, It's pretty hard to believe some crazy pony that claims to want the best for you,”

That makes sense… but why didn’t any of the previous graduates make a better name for our stable? Or a name at all, for that matter. I wondered, staring into the stallion’s green eyes.

“But after seeing you genuinely try to help at the medical center and helping me out… I’m believing you,” He explained. “... And also because you have no clue how to survive out here, you wouldn’t last a day, let alone years,” He added.

“Is this because I tried to eat the-?”

“Yes it’s because you tried to eat the wolf raw,” Pot answered before I even finished asking the question.

I let out a laugh at the stallion’s concerns.

“Hey, at least I have you to keep me on track! And to make some spectacular food!” I exclaimed, walking up to the stallion and giving him a big hug.

Almost immediately the stallion’s body tensed up. I could feel the muscles under his coat vibrate like coils. Clearly, he still wasn’t used to physical affection, but I was sure that eventually, he would come to accept it.

That moment had clearly not come yet, as the stallion coughed and made his best effort to push me off. Not that he had even a sliver of a chance of making me budge, but I relented nonetheless. The very instant my hooves unwrapped from around him, the stallion scooted quite some distance away from me before raising his hoof to press against his prosthetic shoulder.

“Oh!” I said when I realized what the problem was. “Did I squeeze you too hard?”

“N- no it’s… never mind,” He stuttered. “Are- are you done with the food?” He asked, pointing at the few strips of meat that were left in the pot.

“Oh yeah, I’ll eat it,” I said, walking up to the pot and levitating out the remains of the meal.

I ate the rest of the meat, feeling extremely full. Funny how it had been a very long time since I had felt completely stuffed. The memory was hazy, but I somewhat remembered when one of the older fillies back in the stable had gotten sick right as we were sitting down to eat. Among the chaos, I grabbed her bowl and ate a double portion. A smile parted my face at the memory. I wonder where she may be now?

I noticed that Pot had gone quiet, and I looked over at him to notice that he was holding something in his forehooves. It looked like some kind of beret, dark green in color, a round golden emblem was sewn onto the front of the hat.

“What’s that?” I asked.

The stallion shivered for a moment before stashing the hat back into his saddlebags.

“It’s nothing, just a hat I found at the farm,” He said, his tone cutting. “We should sleep, wouldn’t want to waste too much daylight,” He added.

That’s weird… why so defensive? I wondered. He looked s if the destroyed farm has really affected him, I didn’t want to press him too much.

“Aren’t you going to clean the pot?” I asked, trying to change the subject as fast as I could.

The stallion had emptied some of his water into the bottom of the pot, letting it simmer slightly.

“I’m not going out there just to clean it, I’ll do it in the morning,” The stallion explained. “This should stop the fat from sticking to the bottom too much,”

The stallion set the pot aside and turned back towards the back of the building, where he slipped into his bedroll. I walked over and slipped into my own. Or, rather, the bedroll I had taken from Double Cross. It was pretty cold, but I knew it would warm up quickly.

“Speaking of tomorrow… where are we heading?” I asked the stallion.

“I am heading back to the medical center, I suppose. Are you sure you want to head up to the Steel Rangers?” Pot asked while he fiddled with the lamp’s knob.

“Yeah, I am, I need their help,” I answered

“I can’t stop you, but you need to be really careful with them. They’ll kill you if they feel like it would benefit them,” The earth pony explained.

I was, understandably, taken aback by his words. The rangers had seemed like nothing but paragons of peace. Sure, Tourniquet had a sudden mood change, but given how it was after he found out that Bleeding Heart had died? It could be excused.

“Why do you hate them so much?” I asked, curious.

Pot opened his mouth immediately, but remained silent for a couple of seconds, as if he were thinking about it.

“Because they only care about themselves and their technology, and they don’t care how many ponies they have to hurt to get it,” The stallion said.

“Tourniquet seemed rather concerned about the medical center working like it should,” I retorted.

“He probably had some ulterior motive, they always have an ulterior motive,” Pot said.

“Maybe, maybe, but right now it’s the best shot I have,” I stated.

The stallion huffed and turned around to face away from me, turning off the lamp between us before he did. His mistrust of the Rangers just sounded so irrational. The only explanation for his hatred of them must be that he had some bad experiences.

I stayed there in silence for a while before bringing my PipBuck up to my face. I switched through the many screens, looking at the map, then at my items, and finally at my tasks. There wasn’t much to do with this thing, but I wasn’t tired enough to sleep yet. It seemed like Pot was restless too, as he kept turning over and adjusting his position.

“Okay listen,” The stallion said, making my ear twitch. “I can’t let you kill yourself by messing up with the Steel Rangers… and I’m sure you won’t last a day out here on your own,”

I opened my mouth to protest, but to be fair, he was telling the truth. If it hadn’t been for him I would’ve used that trapped memory orb, or gotten sick from the raw meat…

“I owe you for saving my life, so I’ll try my best to help you out too,” He continued. “Besides, worst case scenario, at least my leg won’t hurt so damn much,” He added with a dry chuckle.

“What do you mean? You think it’ll heal more?” I wondered.

“No, Black Light, I mean that if anything goes wrong we are both going to get blasted to oblivion,” Pot deadpanned.

I chuckled at his words. Nah, that won’t happen. I thought, smirking, I could probably deal with a couple of steel Rangers! How hard could it be? I was still confused by Pot’s mistrust of the Rangers, but the fact that he was willing to put it aside just to make sure I was alright could only mean that he didn’t hate them that much. With any luck, a good experience with them would probably help him get over his mistrust!

“I bet we’ll be fine!” I chirped.

“Just.. sleep,” He answered.

I turned around and crawled deeper into my bedroll, excited that I could continue to keep Pot safe. Despite my chest burning with excitement at the prospect of seeing more Steel Rangers, I had to swallow it back down and screw my eyes shut. Wouldn’t do me any good to be sleepy tomorrow, after all.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Bretton Tea

Classification: Earth pony stallion – 251 years of age – C-83B865 M-EEC038 E-4AC509

Cutie mark: A tea bag

Bretton Tea was the oldest member of the Bretton family, whose history in the wasteland began almost as soon as the wasteland itself did, as he was ghoulified by the balefire bombs that were dropped on Fillydelphia during his escape from the city. He made it back to his family farm, which was thankfully spared from the destruction.

Over the next centuries, Bretton Tea remained sane by maintaining the farm. This was until a group of traders passed by the farm, where they took note of the expertly maintained buildings. On a different trip, they approached the farm and were welcomed with open hooves by the old ghoul. Tired from their travels, the traders decided to settle down with the old ghoul and help him work the farm, turning the budding settlement into an attractive trading outpost.

Bretton Tea was a kind stallion who liked treating others as if they were his grandchildren, he was a skilled carpenter, farmer, blacksmith, and gunslinger. He passed away during the destruction of Bretton Farms, brought upon them by Redeye’s slavers.

Author's Note

Trotterton Reservoir

An infallible plan

“Your turn,” Gradient’s raspy voice said after she carefully set the pistol down on the table in front of me.

I looked down at the strange metal contraption, not entirely sure of what to do with it. Gradient had taught me the steps over and over all morning, but I couldn’t help but be nervous at the prospect.

“C- can’t I just use my horn?” I squeaked, looking up at the older filly.

Gradient looked down at me and gave me a kind smile. Her multicolored hair fell over her eyes as it tended to do, forcing the young pony to blow it aside.

“Not yet, Light, you need to get used to aiming and to the recoil before you can use it with your magic properly,” She explained. “Besides, it doesn’t hurt to know what to do if anything happens to your horn,”

I took in a shocked breath.

“S- something could happen to my h-horn?” I asked with a shaky voice as I dropped to my haunches. My forehooves shot upwards to cover it, as if expecting an attack...

“You never know for sure,” Gradient said, chuckling at my distress. “But for now, you need to do this,” She added, gesturing at the gun.

I swallowed and tentatively took a step closer to the table. On it lay an empty pistol with a full magazine resting upright beside it.

“Like I told you, pick it up,” Gradient guided me.

I shakily took the angled pistol grip into my mouth.

“Magazine,” She continued.

The gun in my mouth slid over the magazine on the table, slowly inserting it into the weapon. I gave it a slight tap on the bottom with the table like I had seen Gradient do before.

“Now pull the slide back, aim, and bite,” The mare finished.

I raised a shaky forehoof and pulled the slide back, feeling it slam back into place. The weapon’s sights rested just under my right eye, a series of small metal pieces that were shaking about as hard as I was. The muscles in my jaw were starting to ache from me holding them as still as I could.

“Take a deep breath and keep it steady,” Gradient said, putting her forehoof on my shoulder.

My eyes focused on the glowing blue target in front of me, sitting a third of the way down the range. My nostrils flared as I tried my best to follow Gradient’s advice and breathe.

Come on, Black Light, you have to do this! I thought, trying to steel myself. But what if it hurts? This thing could rip my teeth out! How would I eat then? My mind answered, breaking down any nerve I could’ve built.

“You’re running out of time,” Gradient warned, her voice taking on a sterner tone.

I took another shaky breath through my nose and shook my head slightly. If they thought I couldn’t deal with it then they wouldn’t have added me to target practice, I thought, gaining just a little more determination.

The sights steadied ever so slightly.

Do it, hold the thing steady and take the shot.

My neck muscles ached from holding the position for so long. I relaxed them slightly, watching as the pistol got even steadier. I could actually aim it now! The sights aligned with the center of the target in front of me.

And I fired.

Even through my earplugs, the gun was loud, but the sound was nothing compared to the sensation. The gun fired, sending a shockwave through my mouth, down my neck, and into my chest, where it all but set me ablaze. My heart, which had already been beating against my ribs like a drum, seemed to double its pace, thundering like a cannon.

Sweet Celestia… I get it.

“There you go!” Gradient exclaimed. “Go again!”

And so I did, every shot sending those electrifying shockwaves down my spine. By the fourth shot, I could keep the pistol perfectly steady, sending round after round into the target. Of course, I didn’t hit it dead center, but it was pretty close.

Sadly, my ammunition ran out, and I had to carefully place the firearm back on the table. Gradient gave me a grin and opened her mouth to speak.

“You did pretty go-“

“Can I do it again?” I asked, cutting her off mid-sentence.

Gradient raised an eyebrow and looked down at the pistol on the table.

“Yeah, sure,” She said, chuckling.

My eyes fluttered open, revealing the dimly lit ceiling of the power station. I turned my head to the side and saw the vague silhouette of Pot resting in his bedroll. Judging by the soft snoring coming from the stallion, he was still asleep. A soft breeze made my right ear twitch, drawing my attention towards the power station door.

It appeared I had damaged it enough to have it hang slightly loose. And my impeccable lockpicking had left a hoof-sized hole on the side of the door where sunlight was bleeding into the building.

I dragged myself out of my sleeping bag and rolled it up, attaching it to the side of my saddlebag. Temperance’s revolver flew out of its holster and lined up in front of me.

“Bang,” I said, shooting an imaginary foe.

Curiously, I floated the gun up to my mouth and bit onto the grip, giving it a feel. It was a little bit too big for me to hold comfortably, but even then it was an exceptionally comfortable gun to hold. My chest warmed up slightly at the thought of how the recoil must feel going down my neck and into my body.

The sounds of shuffling fabric brought my attention to Pot, who had started to toss around in his sleeping bag. The stallion’s foreleg kicked out weakly under the silvery cover.

Is he dreaming? I wondered, looking at the stallion’s grimacing face.

Before I could make a move, the stallion jerked upright. His green eyes opened wide as his took in a choked breath. His left leg shot up to hold his stump as he winced.

“Pot! Are you okay?” I exclaimed, shocked at his sudden outburst.

The stallion’s ears perked up towards me.

“Yeah, yeah… just a bad dream- What the…?” He said, clutching his stump. “Where’s my leg?”

I watched as he frantically patted down his sleeping roll before letting out a relieved sigh and pulling out the missing prosthetic.

“I loosened it up a bit to sleep, it must’ve slid off,” He explained.

“Maybe you should take it off to sleep,” I offered.

The stallion furrowed his brow for a moment.

“Yeah, I guess I could,” He said, crawling out of the bedroll.

We packed our stuff and got ready to set out for the Trotterton reservoir, despite the earth pony’s insistence, I made sure to be the one carrying most of the weight. Pot complained about not being allowed to carry his own supplies in case we were forced to split up, but he eventually relented and agreed that he shouldn’t add more weight to his wounded leg. He walked over to the remains of the wolf, dragging it outside and setting it down next to the door when we left.

“We’re not taking that?” I asked, looking at the carcass.

“No, but that’s just the scraps, I cut the last pieces of meat off earlier this morning,” He explained, glancing back at the cooking pot that was hanging off the side of my saddlebags.

“Wait, you woke up early? Why didn’t you wake me up?” I asked curiously.

“It was still pitch black out here, I didn’t want to bother you,” He answered, “Must’ve been super early in the morning too, I couldn’t sleep,”

I stared at the stallion with concern. His tired green eyes focused on me and he brushed me off with his forehoof.

“I’m fine, we need to get going while we still have sunlight,” He stated, stretching his back and rising to his hooves.

I gave him a nod and said nothing further, there would be time for talking while we walked.

We set out towards the Trotterton reservoir, following the pointer that Doctor Tourniquet had given me. It became quickly apparent that we were heading directly into the city. Ghostly silhouettes of skyscrapers could be made out in the fog bank that obscured them. They were like black columns that held up the sky, monoliths that still bore vestiges of magnificence from a long-gone time.

For the time being, however, we were approaching the suburbs once more. The areas we had been in before must’ve been the very furthest outskirts of town, as could be clearly gleaned by the increased presence of commercial buildings. A parade of fast food restaurants, bit-stores, and clothes outlets. The stores had been so thoroughly looted that the only way to even tell what they had once been was to read the faded names on the front.

“Huh, why do all the stores have that symbol on them?” I wondered.

“Hmm?” Pot asked, looking at me.

“That,” I answered pointing with a forehoof at the stylized double Fs that were emblazoned onto the storefronts. “It’s the same one that was on those memory orbs at the power station,”

“Oh, that’s the FlimFlam industries logo,” The blue stallion explained, “Easiest way to know when to avoid something,”

“Why’s that?” I wondered.

“Because their stuff is garbage. Food cans are rotten, guns and tools break constantly, you can’t even use their clothes as bandages because it's all plastic,” Pot answered, “Most of the time the stuff you pick up here isn’t even worth the effort of carrying it with you,”

I considered what Pot had said. By all means it made no sense, were the ponies who lived here before the megaspells just so fabulously wealthy that they decided to use disposable clothes and tools? No, that couldn’t be it, the houses around me looked rough at the very least, and downright deplorable at worst. While many were nothing more than piles of rubble and twisted metal roofs, nothing about them gave any indication that the houses had been of anything resembling good quality, even in their hayday.

One of the things Pot had listed stood out to me, however, focusing my thoughts on it instead of the world around me.

“They made guns?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Aye,” Pot said, stopping for a moment and offering me his leg-holster. “Take a look,”

I eyed the wooden grip curiously before wrapping it in my magic. The weapon floated out of its holster and came to a stop in front of my eyes.

“What the fuck,” I said.

The gun was… atrocious. A mess of parts that didn’t fit together properly attached to a crudely made wooden grip. My magic tentatively reached around the gun, carefully searching for moving parts. Much to my dismay, every part of the gun was a moving part, as evidenced by how the inner workings of the abominable contraption rattled within my crimson glow.

“Aww, it’s not that bad,” Pot said, taking the gun from my magic and replacing it in his holster.

“It really is,” I answered, wincing at the mere memory of the weapon. “I have to find you a better gun,”

Pot snorted before replying.

“Yeah right, as if good guns just sprouted out of the ground. Good luck with that,” He said, chuckling.

“That’s the second time somepony has said that good weapons are hard to find! Can’t any of you just say why?” I demanded, stomping the ground.

The stallion’s jovial tone disappeared after my outburst, with him taking a step to the side to put some distance between us. He cleared his throat before answering, keeping his voice calm.

“Okay, so these FlimFlam ponies? I don’t really know what they did, but whatever it was it drove basically every other company out of Baltimare. If you find a good weapon… or a good anything for that matter, you’re probably looking at something that somepony brought from outside.”

“Huh… but why?” I demanded, “It makes no sense!”

“I don’t know, nopony does, whatever happened here before the megaspells is just… gone,” Pot answered, gazing out toward the horizon. “Sure, if you ever leave Baltimare you might be able to piece things back together somewhat. But here? You’re not getting anything other than disappointment out of these ruins,”

I grunted in frustration, kicking at the floor. Why couldn’t I just… know stuff from before the war? Throughout my years in the stable, I had always wondered what the surface was like, but even more than that I had always wondered what things were like before the war. The thought that I might not be able to find it was… terrible, to say the least.

Pot suddenly stopped in his tracks, pulling his prosthetic leg off the ground and wincing.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“My right forehoof… itches?” The stallion said, staring down at his leg.

I looked at the prosthetic for a few seconds, furrowing my brow.

“But you… don’t have a right forehoof anymore?” I said, keeping my eyes focused on the blue stallion’s fake leg.

“No, I meant like…” Pot started, but he shook his head and sat on the floor. “Never mind. My leg hurts, okay?” He added.

“Ohhh, I see,” I answered. “Do you want me to carry you?”

Pot glared at me with an unamused expression.

“Why are you so opposed to the idea? It's not like I can’t deal with it!” I exclaimed.

“It’s not that! I just… I don’t know!” Pot answered, wincing as he took another step forward. Just the slightest hint of red on his cheeks.

Okay, that’s enough.

“I can tell that you’re hurting, I’ll carry you until you feel better,” I stated, stomping on the ground.

“I already told you I don’t-”

“I wasn’t asking,” I said, cutting his protest off. “Come here,” I added, wrapping the stallion in my magic.

“Put me down you fucking hornhead!” He shouted as I spun him around slightly to align him with my back better.

“Just stay still!” I shouted back, finally setting the blue earth pony down across my spine with his legs hanging off to either side of me.

“Hmph! Fine! But only a little while!” Pot relented.

To be perfectly honest, the stallion was heavy, and having to carry all our equipment on top of that was almost too much. Almost. I kept pushing forward. Sure, I was barely able to maintain a walking pace, but it was better than the painful crawl from before.

Sweat poured from my brow as I marched through the wastes. The sun was cooking me alive, and being completely covered in saddlebags and Pot was not helping it one bit. The stallion, for his part, had remained adamant in staying as attentive as possible to our surroundings, but eventually he had slumped over me and wrapped his foreleg around my neck. He’s probably exhausted, poor thing. I thought, trying to take my own mind off just how good it would be to follow his example and drop onto the floor to sleep.

I walked through the destroyed streets, keeping my gaze low to avoid distractions. Every so often I would hear my PipBuck start to click ominously, but I couldn’t stop to check it without collapsing from the weight on my back. We may need some of that rad stuff later, I thought.

“I need to get some RadAway,” I said aloud, knowing that I would probably forget by the time we reached a settlement.

My PipBuck’s task detector picked up my words and wrote it out on my EFS. Pot shook slightly on my back, my voice had probably woken him up.

“What was that?” He asked groggily.

“Nothing, just making a note for later,” I explained.

The stallion said nothing, he simply went right back to sleep.

I walked for what felt like hours, the small houses and piles of rubble around me slowly fused together into an indistinguishable brown mess that eventually spread out into an open area. The sudden change in scenery made me look around curiously, realizing that I had come to a plaza of sorts that was populated entirely by ruined coffee shops and derelict food trucks. Dead trees crowned each corner of the star-shaped opening in the urban landscape.

I wonder what this must’ve looked like before the war… probably green and lovely, ideal to just run around and have a good time. I thought, looking at the blackened benches that were perfectly positioned under the trees to catch their shade. As my eyes passed over the scene, I suddenly realized that there were two blue bars approaching from the left side of the plaza. That can’t be good.

My eyes darted around for a hiding spot. I was way too tired to fight anything right now, my best hope would be to catch my breath quickly enough. Perfect! I thought when I spotted a half-melted food truck on the side of the plaza. With any luck, they would just be a pair of wild animals.

I threw myself into the open rear door of the improvised hiding spot, falling onto the floor in a heap of saddlebags and pony. Pot gasped as the sleep was knocked out of him, but I quickly covered his mouth with a hoof.

“There’s something heading this way, stay quiet,” I whispered to him.

The food truck had been picked clean by this point, but the bar itself would conceal us well enough. The large opening on the side where a barista may have once served customers became my makeshift barricade as I peeked out into the plaza. The bars had drawn closer, but they were still not in sight. They’re still the same distance apart, I doubt they’re animals.

“They could be ponies,” I whispered to Pot. “Get your gun ready, just in case,”

I watched as the stallion unholstered his pistol before peeking slowly over the counter to look at the plaza. The two bars pointed at the very corner of one of the ruined buildings. Fighting against my impulses, I lowered my head. I was burning to see who or what was approaching, but my pale white coat and light brown mane would definitely not blend into the gray of the smoothie stand.

While my eyes couldn’t satiate my curiosity, my ears were doing their best attempt. In the distance, I could pick up the sounds of metal clanging against the street. Either heavy boots, or…

“I think they’re steel rangers,” I whispered to Pot.

Immediately after I said that, the stallion went pale.

“We’re dead…” He muttered after his gun fell from his mouth.

“What? No we’re not!” I answered, trying to calm him down.

“They know we’re here, Black Light!” He exclaimed back to me, his voice getting dangerously loud.

“No they-” I said, but then it hit me.

‘The MWT-45 power armor allows the brave soldier to see their enemies through walls, nothing can hide from a steel ranger!’ I recalled from one of the magazines that I had read in the stable. From what I could gather, that could only mean that they had some form of X-Ray vision! Which means…

Indeed, the two bars were completely still, and the steel-clad hoofsteps were getting closer. The noise stopped just a short distance away from the truck. My heart seized when I heard a series of clicking noises. The rangers were readying their weapons.

“Wait!” I shouted. “We’re not bandits!”

“That’s exactly what a bandit would say!” The garbled voice of one of the steel rangers responded. “Give me one good reason to not blast your sorry flanks into the clouds,”

“I am a friend!” I offered.

Booming laughter came from the other side of the counter.

“That was a good one…” The ranger said. “Splash two bandits,” They added.

“Wait wait wait! I know Scribe Tourniquet!” I shouted, hoping silently that they would hear me before shooting. Either that, or confuse them enough to think of a proper way to take them out without getting both myself and Pot killed in the process.

But how? No matter how hard I thought about it, I just couldn’t think of anything I could do. Maybe if I had the proper weaponry with me… but an empty gun and Pot’s abominable firearm? There wasn’t much I could hope to do.

Silence befell the plaza. The only sound I could hear was Pot’s panicked breathing and the thundering of my heart. It wasn’t the good kind of thundering either, the one where my veins would fill with life at the prospect of a fight, it was beating out of fear at the odds stacked in front of me.

“Tourniquet?” One of the rangers asked.

“Yes! Unicorn stallion, wears a monocle!” I shouted back.

More silence, but they hadn’t started shooting at us yet, so it couldn’t be that bad… right?

“Walk out of the truck. If we see a gun, you’re dead,” The armored pony said.

Pot gulped loudly, but he dropped the pistol onto the floor. I holstered Temperance’s revolver, having no intention of leaving it in the truck. We got up slowly and looked out into the plaza.

Two steel rangers stood side by side in front of us like towering masses of steel. The one on the right drew my attention right away with the bright orange stars that had been painted all over its armor. MWT-51, I realized when I took account of the slit visor on the helmet and the chestpiece’s rounded profile. A three-barreled Gatling gun hung off their right side, with an impressively sized ammunition box on the opposite side as a counterweight. Trying my best to ignore the weapon, I looked over to the other ranger. This one was in a standard suit of MWT-45, with no paint or flair, letting me admire the armor and the heavy combat shotguns on its sides properly.

However, the sight of the rangers did not fill me with the usual sense of wonder, definitely caused by the knowledge that they fully intended to kill us. Instead, I was filled with a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach, punctuated by ghostly visages of myself and Pot being gunned down. My windpipe felt as if it were being crushed by a vice, forcing me to strain every muscle in my chest to pry my lungs open and fill them with air. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t take my eyes off their weapons for too long before being reeled back to their muzzles, waiting for them to light up at any second.

I had nothing, I was exposed, had no ammunition, and had no spells in my arsenal that could take even one of them out. Wouldn’t help that I was standing right in front of them, the second my horn lit up I would get blasted into thin paste. This… might be it… I realized as a cold chill ran down my spine, filling my blood with ice crystals and leaving my heart aching as it desperately tried to move it around my body.

“How do you know Tourniquet?” The ranger on the right, the one with the stars, asked me.

“I met him at the MareStar Medical center,” I responded, desperately trying to keep my voice from breaking, “He is the one who sent me here,”

The rangers stood quietly for a moment. I could hear muted mumbling coming from inside those glassy-eyed helmets, but not a single word came from either armored pony. My mind raced to remember what Tourniquet had said to me, dragging the stallion’s words out from my memory.

“I uhh… excélsior!” I shouted, finally recalling what the code word was. “That’s the password!”

My words seemed to have an immediate effect on the rangers, with the one covered in orange stars taking a small step back and the other one relaxing their posture slightly.

“That is the password…” The orange-starred ranger boomed. “Where is your escort?”

My mouth opened to ask what they meant, but Pot interrupted me before I could make a sound.

“I’m her escort,” He stated, puffing out his chest slightly. I looked at him in confusion, but he shot me a warning glance.

Both steel rangers stared at him for several seconds before the unpainted one spoke.

“You? You don’t even look like you could handle her in a fight, let alone anypony that wanted to attack her!”

This conversation was going bad way too quickly, I had to do something to gain their trust, at least for a moment. My lack of an escort was clearly what was concerning them, I needed to find a way for them to believe that I didn’t need one… Either that, or tell them that I had one but lost it, that would probably be easier to believe.

So all I had to do was… lie?

No, lying is an evil pony thing! I thought, But maybe if I tell the truth in a certain way…

“There were six of us, we lost five members near Junkyard,” I explained. Clearly it wasn’t an ideal excuse, but maybe a little bit of lyi- misdirection would be enough.

“There were reports of a big shootout going down around that area, sir,” The ranger on the left commented, turning to look at who I assumed to be their star-covered superior.

“All the more reason why it makes no sense to send us a VIP with just a hooffull of mercs instead of a proper knight escort,” The pony with the orange stars stated.

“I don’t question my orders,” I said, stomping on the ground, I was feeling slightly reinvigorated at having convinced one of the two rangers. It’s not lying if the statement is true, right?

The rangers considered me for a moment. Had they believed me? Or would they just shoot me on the spot?

“Very well, I think I know why you were sent here… but just in case, there’s one thing I need you to do,” The ranger with the stars said, pointing a steel-clad hoof at my PipBuck. “Turn that thing’s light on,”

“Uhhh sure?” I said, sitting on my haunches and flipping through the device’s options for a bit.

In the light of the day, the pale green lamp didn’t really glow in any significant way. But the bulb itself did change from dark to bright.

“Hmm,” The armored pony said. “You will accompany us on our current mission, and we will escort you to headquarters when it has been completed,” They added.

“Sir, shouldn’t we call for another patrol? Or send them to headquarters alone?” Said the undecorated ranger.

“Time is of the essence for our mission, and there is no safer place around this area than our immediate vicinity,” The other one replied. “We will complete the mission while escorting them, and that is final. Understood?” He demanded.

“Sir, yes sir!” Replied their subordinate.

The star-covered ranger gestured for Pot to follow before turning around and starting on their way down the ruined street. The stallion in question took a moment to jump back into the truck and pick up his pistol before leaning in to whisper at me.

“You’re completely insane, why did you lie to them?”

“I just told the truth, none of that was a lie,” I whispered back, winking at him.

Pot stared at me, completely bewildered. Perhaps some day he’ll be able to understand me, but until then, he’d be wise to just follow my lead.

With one ranger on either side of me and Pot, we made our way through the ruined suburbs of Baltimare. Our steel-clad guardians continuously scanned the buildings around us, staying alert. This was strange to me, I had expected this to be their territory, why were they so on edge?

“What are your names?” I asked the rangers, trying to cut the veil of tension that surrounded us.

“I am Knight Branch, and this is Paladin Klondike,” The undecorated ranger answered. “What about you?”

Knights and Paladins… Guess that must be their hierarchy. I thought, remembering how the Knight had referred to the Paladin as ‘sir’.

“I’m Black Light, and his name is Pot,” I said, pointing to both myself and at the blue stallion.

“Hah, well I hope you help us reveal what we need!” Branch said, chuckling slightly. The modulation on their voice made what could have sounded like a friendly quip turn into something almost threatening.

I gave a nervous laugh in response to the… joke?

“So, I was wondering, where did you get one of those things?” The knight asked me, pointing at my PipBuck. They had pulled back slightly to walk closer to me.

“Oh! From my stable!” I answered, the ranger’s more relaxed words were slowly making my nervousness simmer down.

“Branch, eyes forward,” Klondike said. “You can read her report once we get to the base.”

“Yes, sir,” The ranger said, stepping away from me.

The silence of the streets were only filled with the echoing sounds of the steel ranger’s hooves clanging against the cracked street. I took the time to get a good look at their armor. Branch was the closest one to me, and I took my sweet time tracing every plate, every delicately measured articulation, and even the built-in battle saddle. It was truly a beautiful piece of equipment, I could only imagine the euphoria that I would get if I were piloting it. I did have to wonder just who the pony inside it was. The armor was clearly modeled after a stallion, but there was no way to know for certain whether the pony within was a mare or not.

I couldn’t help but notice that the armor was pretty silent, or at least Branch’s was. Klondike’s armor seemed to be letting out a constant whirring noise, like a ceiling fan, where the only noises coming from Branch’s was the creaking of joints and sliding sound of hydraulics beneath the plates. I recalled reading about how the MWT-51 had an on-board life support system, but I wasn’t expecting it to be as loud as it was. Then again, the thunderous, booming hoofsteps didn’t leave much room for stealth.

After some time, Paladin Klondike stopped in his tracks, raising a forehoof to bring the entire group to a halt. He stood in silence for a moment, lowering his armored hoof. Both rangers looked at eachother, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t hear anything other than muffled mumbling coming from within those helmets. The silence dragged on for an uncomfortably long time, but eventually Klondike turned to me and Pot.

“You two will remain here next to me, is that clear?” He asked.

Pot and I nodded in unison. I had to wonder about just what the ranger was planning.

“Good, go ahead, Branch,” Klondike said.

“Sir, yes sir!” The other ranger responded, cocking her shotguns.

Branch started further down the street, turning the corner and staring at a large, horseshoe-shaped building that sat in fron of them. A hotel, I realized, and I also realized that there were several bars on my EFS pointing directly at it.

“I am Knight Cinnamon Branch of the Steel Rangers,” The armored pony bellowed. “Identify yourselves!” They added, striking a battle stance.

A hailstorm of gunfire erupted out of the hotel room as half a dozen windows flew open to reveal armed ponies. Several rounds ricocheted off Branch’s armor before the ranger returned fire, blasting two of the assailants out of the windows with their twin shotguns.I watched as the rest of the attackers withdrew into the building.

“Get back here you cowards!” Branch shouted at the hotel.

A magical flash drew my attention to one of the windows, where I spotted a bottle wrapped in blue telekinesis. A lit rag poked out of it, making it obvious that it was some kind of firebomb.

“Branch! Look out!” I shouted.

My concern was quickly proven to be unnecessary, however, as the bottle flew at through the air and shattered on impact, sending shards of glass and lit fuel in every direction. Beanch straightened themselves out and stared at the hotel building, completely unbothered by the flames that were engulfing their entire front half. The ranger threw their armored head back and let out a booming laugh before bolting for the hotel door. How a pony hidden under that much steel could move with any level of agility was beyond me, the ministry of technology truly was as magical as any of the others.

The door exploded in a rain of splinters, clearly there had been some kind of gun set up as a trap behind it, but whatever it was it didn’t do anything other than ricochet off Branch’s helmet. The armored pony looked around for a moment before launching off to the side, out of view from the door.

Klondike, for his part, spread his legs out slightly. The gatling gun on his side started spinning, but after a moment, it let out a mechanical clicking sound as the barrels locked in place, he then very carefully angled his body and started to fire into the walls of the hotel, one shot at a time.

His aim was impeccable, snuffing out the blue bars on my EFS like they were measly flies. For a moment I was concerned about him accidentally shooting Branch, but I doubted their power armor would take too much damage from a single round in the back, let alone anything lethal. The reasoning for why the rangers had split up was not obvious to me, Branch was armed with shorter weapons that made it easier to maneuver indoors, whereas the massive gun hanging off Klondike’s side would make the cramped interior of the hotel into a disadvantage.

Only two bars remained. There was screaming and what sounded like pistol fire for a moment before the bars suddenly fused into a single one. I stared at the hotel, puzzled as to what Branch could be doing.

A loud crashing sound came from the building, and I looked up to see a section of the wall exploding into a shower of dust. Branch ran out of the building through the rubble like a pony-shaped wrecking ball, and draped on their helmet and chest were the bloodied remains of a bandit. They had slammed them through the wall.

Branch soared through the air for a moment before slamming down on the floor below. Their opponent’s body flopped onto the floor like a rubber puppet, but judging by the choked wheezing sounds that it was making, they were still alive.

“Found you,” Branch said, firing one of their shotguns.

The point-blank shot turned the top of the pony’s head into red mist.

“Sweet Celestia!” Pot shouted, clearly horrified at the ranger for wasting ammo on a pony that would most certainly die soon.

“That is how you deal with bandits, steel ranger style!” Branch said, striking a pose.

“No, it is not.” Klondike said, turning the corner and walking up to his companion. “You were needlessly brutal. And that stunt could have damaged your armor,” He added.

“B- but I-“ Branch stuttered, but the other ranger was not finished.

“Do not let it happen again,” The orange-starred pony stated. “Or I will have your armor taken from you again. Permanently, this time,”

“Sir, yes sir,” Said Branch, kicking at the floor.

The star-covered ranger let out a strange thumping sound, as if he had struck his microphone with his muzzle, before falling completely silent. The pair stared at each other, with Branch’s head lowering further with every passing moment. Once they had reached an agreement, Klondike turned to look at me and Pot again.

“Branch will watch over you for a moment,” Klondike said before starting on his way towards the hotel before Pot or I could reply.

I looked over Branch’s armor while we waited, noticing a couple new shiny scratches. I couldn’t deny that that power armor was impressive.

“That jump was pretty cool,” I said.

The steel ranger lifted their head and stared at me for a moment before replying.

“Heh… thanks,” They said.

Around half an hour later, Klondike walked back out of the ruined hotel, carrying two pairs of saddlebags across his back, clearly stuffed full of many different items. He stared at Banch for a moment and once again seemed to talk to them through those muffled mumbles.

“You two wil come with us now,” He stated, boring into me with his slit-visor.

I nodded in agreeance and fell in line behind the ranger, taking a moment to make sure Pot was still following us. The blue stallion shot a distrustful glance at the armored ponies, but he didn’t say anything. I did have to wonder about why he was so mistrustful. The only thing the rangers had done so far was point their guns at us with reasonable suspicion and then taken out a bandit camp! There wasn’t any reason to not believe that they had our best interests in mind.

That did, however, raise the question of just how those evil ponies had made it all the way out here… perhaps- Why don’t I just ask them? I thought, looking at our heavily armored guards. Klondike would probably brush me off, but Branch seemed to be a lot more open to dialogue than her star-spangled superior.

“So hey, I waas wondering,” I started, walking up to the undercorated ranger. “Isn’t this supposed to be your territory? How’d those ponies set up an ambush like that? Don’t you have patrols going around?”

Knight Branch looked over at Klondike for a few seconds before speaking, probably waiting to see if the ranger had any objection to my question.

“This is our territory. Those ponies were slavers that were trying to sneak past us from Fillydelphia.

“Does that happen often?” I wondered.

“No,” Klondike boomed. “They never make it past us, and if they do, we catch them on their way out,”

“Ohhhh,” I said, nodding in understanding. “How do you know if they’re trying to sneak past though?”

Knight Branch cocked their head to the side and chuckled softly before replying.

“Well that’s pretty simple, we-”

“Branch…” Klondike warned.

“Yes, sir, sorry sir,” The undecorated ranger ammeneded, lowering their head.

I was confused about the interruption, but I intelligently guessed that Klondike probably had his own reasons to not divulge what could very well be closely-guarded Steel Ranger secrets. Branch, being under his command, had no choice but to obey his commands.

We kept walking for a while in absolute silence, eventually coming face to face with the entrance to the park. A large metal archway marked the entrance, with the words ‘Trotterton Reservoir’ carved in bronze atop it.

A steel ranger walked up to us from behind a sandbag barricade that had been erected besides the archway. This one bore a deep blue stripe across their right pauldron, perhaps some rank mark?

“Who are those two?” The guard asked, gesturing towards me and Pot.

Klondike mumbled something, but the other ranger tapped the side of their helmet with a forehoof.

“My comms are shot,” They stated.

The star-covered ranger sighed so loudly that I could hear it even through his helmet.

“She’s a VIP from scribe tourniquet, code excélsior… and he’s what’s left of her escort,” Klondike stated.

The armored gatekeeper took at me and then at Pot, nodding slightly.

“Well then, he has to stay out here,” The guard replied, pointing at Pot.

“What?” I exclaimed, causing all the rangers to look at me, “Why?” I asked, hoping I hadn’t irritated them too much.

“Outsiders aren’t allowed on the premises. And you won’t need his protection while you’re with us, anyway,” Knight Branch offered.

I looked at the blue stallion. He looked terrified, but he managed to give the slightest nod.

“T- that sounds fair…I’ll just wait for you out here,” Pot muttered.

“That will not be necessary,” Klondike spoke up, “If you have already been paid, get lost,”

Pot gulped and then nodded vigorously before standing up and giving me a determined stare. He won’t go far, I bet he’ll set up camp out of sight to wait for me. I thought, smiling at the earth pony.

The steel rangers led me into the park, which was essentially a smaller version of the deserted wasteland that surrounded Baltimare. As far as I could tell, the only difference was that the park still bore the cracked remains of walkways and benches. A small building sat in the middle, next to a dry lakebed. Judging by the large balcony and the immense window frames, it had probably been some sort of restaurant at one point. A faded sign stood next to the front door that read ´Strudels and brews’, this had definitely been a restaurant before.

In the present, however, it had been converted into an improvised communication hub. Two armored steel rangers walked around the ground floor, with a third standing guard on the roof. Among the towering steel-clad ponies walked four others in red cloaks, operating the rows of equipment that covered what had once been a counter.

“Welcome back, Branch!” One of the red-cloaked ponies said, walking up to us. The ranger bowed her head in acknowledgement.

She was an old unicorn mare. Her brown mane was streaked with gray, but her blue eyes still held vigor in them. I noticed that unlike the other robed ponies, she had a large metal medal hanging from her neck. The mare took a few steps closer and then stopped in her tracks when she noticed me.

“Who are you?” She inquired.

“I am Black Light, I’m friends with scribe Tourniquet,” I answered, practicing my introduction several times today was definitely helping me not stutter.

The mare stared inquisitively at Klondike, who gave her a nod before speaking.

“Excélsior,” He stated.

I noticed how the scribe mare’s brow furrowed and relaxed repeatedly before she finally looked at me with renewed intrigue.

“Well, I am head scribe Bolt,” The mare said, offering her hoof for me to shake, “The elder is not here, but she will be back soon to listen to whatever you’ve got to say. In the meantime, protocol demands that we take you in temporarily,” She added with a matter-of-fact tone.

“Nice to meet you,” I answered, shaking her hoof.

The booming hoofsteps of paladin Klondike drew closer as the ranger cleared their throat.

“Shall Branch and I return to our posts?” He asked.

“No, you two are to monitor our guest until the elder gets back,” Bolt stated.

“Yes ma’am,” Both the rangers said.

“Come, you must be tired from your travels,” The scribe said, gesturing for me to follow her deeper into the building.

The back of the restaurant was… strange. I was expecting some sort of storage room or kitchen, and, granted, it was there. But the strange part was the large stairwell that went down into the depths. I stared at it for a moment before following scribe Bolt down. The very edge of the stairwell was strange, on one side it had a series of holes, while on the other it had a series of matching studs. A sliding entrance? Clearly, this basement could be hidden from sight, what a peculiar thing.

We walked down the stairs for a long time, at this point we had to be way underground. Where were we going? The booming hoofsteps of Klondike and Branch followed behind us like a stalking mechanical beast.

I had been wondering just where the actual base was, considering that I doubted the entirety of the steel rangers could be a dozen ponies! The answer was revealed at the bottom of the stairs, where a monstrous blast door opened to reveal a bunker. The roof was relatively low, but still more than tall enough to let the armored ponies walk around underneath it. We made our way deeper into the facility, eventually coming to a large open room that apparently served as the armory. Or at least that was my best guess judging by the racks of weapons that covered the right side wall and the multiple crane-esque contraptions that held various suits of power armor.

“I can’t wait to get out of this thing, the sun was killing me up there!” Branch said, walking to the left side and towards a row of open suits of power armor. The ranger raised their forehooves and removed their helmet. A short, light blue mane poured out of it, slightly damp with what I assumed to be sweat. It looked as if they had cut their mane by randomly snipping at it with scissors.

The pony placed their helmet on a hook on the wall, next to a long row of other helmets. Beneath the hangers was a long series of drawers that reminded me of the ones in stable 75’s clinic.

Branch took a step back and suddenly went stiff. Their armor let out a loud hiss and opened along the back, spreading apart like petals on a mechanical flower. Both rear legs split open to reveal the pony’s light green coat underneath. A mare, I realized when she arched her back to pull her forelegs out of the armor. She was wearing a strange kind of harness, covered in what I assumed to be attachment points for her armor while still leaving her legs exposed.

“Phew, I need to patch up my cooling system,” Branch said, turning toward the row of drawers. I wonder what her cutie mark is, I thought as I watched the mare’s covered flank.

Klondike walked up beside her and removed their own helmet, leaving the orange star-covered headpiece hanging on the hook next to Branch’s.

The stallion’s face immediately grabbed my attention. There was a massive scar that went from the middle of his right cheek all the way to the end of his muzzle, it’s whitish color standing out against the stallion’s indigo coat. His mane showed signs of having been black at some point, but if the wrinkles around the stallion’s eyes were any indicator of his age, it could be assumed that the gray streaks in his mane was not its natural color.

His face was fixed in a seemingly permanent scowl, with deep wrinkles accentuating his furrowed eyebrows. Everything about this pony commanded attention and respect. He walked around his armor and took the saddlebags he had taken from the slavers off, slinging them over his back instead.

“You should take better care of your equipment, Branch,” He reprimanded the green mare. He clearly didn’t need the power armor’s amplifier for his voice to rattle a pony’s bones.

“Sir, yes sir!” The mare responded, holding her forehoof up in a salute.

I felt a hood tapping my shoulder. Scribe Bolt was trying to get my attention.

“Oh sorry I just… wanted to see the armor,” I explained, offering her a sincere smile.

The mare looked over at Klondike as he pulled himself out of his suit of armor.

“They really are amazing, aren’t they?” The older unicorn said, her serious tone dimming slightly.

“Yeah, especially the older models,” I answered, smiling slightly at having chipped away slightly at the mare’s seriousness. Could I be finally earning their trust?

“I know! The newer ones may be easier to repair, but they don’t have that same intimidation value,” She said, chuckling slightly. Her expression quickly soured, however, and after shaking her head slightly she spoke again, “We uh… we need to take you to one of the holding areas while we wait for the elder,”

I raised an eyebrow at the strange shift in tone, hoping that I hadn’t accidentally upset her somehow. Thinking quickly, I thought of a way to gain her trust again.

“Can I make myself useful while we wait?” I wondered. Perhaps helping around a bit would help them see that I meant no harm.

Scribe Bolt looked at me for a moment, as if weighing her options. Eventually, her eyes came to rest on my PipBuck.

“Do you know how to use that thing?” She asked.

I raised my leg and stared at the device, unsure as to what she could mean.

“Well… yeah? I’ve had it for years now,” I replied.

“Then you might be able to help us out a bit while we wait…” She continued, her eyes focusing on the ground as if she were thinking. Her gaze quickly focused on me again, however, and she straightened herself out, “Yes, you could help us, but I will have to ask you to leave your weapons here and put this on,” She said, floating out a small ring from one of the drawers behind me.

Again with the anti magic rings? I thought, fighting with all my might to avoid rolling my eyes.

“Sure!” I said, grinning.

I took my guns out and carefully set them down on one of the many empty racks around us before bowing my head and letting the scribe slide the ring on my horn. The odd sensation of my magic being cut off was still just as uncomfortable as it had been before, but I couldn’t blame them for the security measure. I couldn’t help but feel slightly insulted when I noticed that both Klondike and Branch had slipped on leg-holsters with pistols. How come they get to carry a weapon? I pouted internally.

“All ready? Come with me,” Scribe Bolt said, gesturing for me to follow her further into the facility.

Immediately outside the atrium-esque room that we had come into was the rest of the bunker. A series of wide hallways that were flanked by dozens of doors. Some had sleeping cots, others had tables and chairs, I even saw a few that had a mechanic’s shop! It was incredible. The entire place looked like a miniature city populated solely by steel rangers. Do you still call them steel rangers if they’re not wearing the armor? I wondered as we passed a pair of scribes.

I was amazed at just how well this place seemed to function. I had been expecting the surface to be nothing more than a lawless wasteland, but it seemed to still have some pockets of properly civilized ponies around. The medical center had already been a surprise, but even that had only been a couple of civilized ponies clinging desperately onto what little they could salvage. This, however, was a fully functional society, ordered and secured.

My presence seemed to be a strange occurrence, something that I quickly noticed when I saw the many eyes that immediately became fixed on me as we walked down the hallways. Off to the side, one of the many doors slid open, revealing a little colt.

“Branch! You’re back!” They chirped, bouncing in place.

Their mane was a light brown, similar to mine, and his coat was a pale green. He rushed out of the room and stopped in his tracks to look at me with a confused stare.

“Who’s that, Branch?” The young pony asked, cocking his head at the light green mare.

The knight chuckled slightly before walking up to the colt and ruffling their mane.

“Don’t worry about it, kid,” The mare answered, “Go do your chores or something,”

“B- but you said you’d take me shooting when you got back!” The colt pouted.

Paladin Klondike cleared his throat, drawing attention to his unamused expression. Knight Branch chuckled nervously before responding.

“I’ve uhh… got something I need to do first,” She said, looking at me, “But I’ll take you shooting right after, I promise!”

“Fiiiiine,” The colt said, rolling his eyes before turning around and dragging his hooves back into the room he had come out of.

I couldn’t help but smile at the exchange. These ponies really had built a paradise down here, they could train with weapons, they were organized and civil. And they definitely have some sort of lab here if they have young ponies running around. I thought, slightly confused as to why they let the young ones wander among the adults like that. One would imagine that the little colts and fillies would be kept in a more secure part of the bunker. Then again, the entire bunker was probably about as safe as it could get.

My stomach grumbled in frustration, pulling me out of my thoughts. I shook my head slightly and looked at the two rangers that were accompanying me with a pleading expression.

“Could I eat something before we keep going?” I asked.

Knight Branch looked at me with an expression that was halfway between a grimace and a nervous smile before replying.

“I uhh… maybe-” She started, looking over at Scribe Bolt.

The unicorn raised a forehoof to their chin to think for a moment before speaking up.

“I don’t see why not,” She replied. “Twenty minutes, I will go look for you later,”

Branch smiled and looked at Klondike.

“You coming?” She asked.

“No,” The paladin replied. “I need to go make my report,”

Branch nodded silently and turned around to look at me.

“Come on then!” She said, gesturing forward with her head. “Follow me,” She added.

I walked behind the green mare for a few minutes, through the twisting and winding corridors of the bunker. This place was way bigger than I imagined, even if most of the halls and rooms were empty, there were still a lot of rangers down here.

“Where do you get your food from?” I asked Branch, realizing that all of these ponies had to eat somehow.

“We uhh… trade for it, yeah,” The mare replied. “There’s a lot of small farmsteads around these parts, we keep them safe from slavers and monsters, they give us food in exchange,” She explained.

“So all your food comes from outside? What happens if the farms get destroyed?” I wondered.

“Ah! That’s the beauty of this bunker!” Branch stated, “It might not be as fancy as one of those Stable Tec stables, but it has a massive canning machine! We have enough food to last us a couple months, more than enough to- Ahem… I mean,” The mare interrupted herself, clearing her throat and looking around nervously.

“It wouldn’t be an issue, not at all,” She added, looking at me nervously. “You uhh… you didn’t hear any of that,”

I raised an eyebrow at the mare, but I was reminded of how Klondike had reprimanded her before. I nodded, passing a forehoof over my mouth.

“I won’t say a word!” I chirped, watching as Branch gave a relieved sigh.

We kept walking for a little bit until we reached a large open room with many long tables. Branch walked to the far end of the room, where a bored-looking unicorn stood behind a bar. The mare cleared her throat, tearing the unicorn’s attention away from the terminal he had been pouring over.

“Two servings, please,” The green mare said. “Knight Cinnamon Branch,”

“Two?” The unicorn asked, raising his gaze to look at us, his brow relaxed when he noticed me standing behind Branch, however. “Ah, I see,” They commented before leaning over to the side and pulling a drawer open.

Two brownish-green bars were floated out from underneath the bar, held by small metal trays.

“Aww… no actual food?” Branch pouted.

“It’s way too early for that,” The unicorn replied. “Leftover cake or nothing,” He added, giving Branch a tired stare.

I looked down at the ‘leftover cake’, as the stallion had called them. To be completely fair, they just looked like a really big food chip from Stable 75.

“Okay, fine,” The mare answered, her ears drooping slightly.

Branch scooped up her tray and balanced it over her flanks, gesturing for one of the nearby tables with her head.

“Wanna sit over here?” She asked.

“Sure!” I said, grabbing my tray with my magic and turning around to-

I turned my head back around, my eyes falling on my tray, which hadn’t moved in the slightest. I cleared my throat nervously and chuckled, walking back up to the bar and scooping it up in my forehooves. I hate these rings. I thought, crossing my eyes to try and look at my horn.

I walked over to the table, balancing the tray as carefully as I could. I noticed that Branch had gotten a pair of water cups and set them out on the table.

As soon as I sat down, my stomach growled for attention. The bar on my tray looked fairly good, but the taste was just excellent. Sure, it didn’t hold a candle to Pot’s cooking, but it came pretty close. The texture, on the other hoof… was… soggy.

“So… uhh…” Branch said, staring at me with a mixture of curiosity and concern as I wolfed down the food. “You said you were from a stable?” She asked.

“Yup! Stable 75, have you heard of it?” I asked, almost pleadingly.

“Can’t say I have,” The green mare responded.

Damn it.

“Well, it’s a really nice stable, if you know any ponies who can shoot really really well, they’re probably from there!” I chirped, hoping that perhaps she could point me in the right direction.

After all, if the other graduates had all decided to hide the fact that they were from stable 75, then they would only be known for their fighting prowess!

“As far as I know, all the best shooters in Baltimare were trained right here!” Branch chuckled, taking a bite out of her food bar.

Damn it!

I sighed deeply, looking down at the last remaining bite of my food. I perked up quickly, however, wouldn't want to come off as rude, after all.

“You trained here?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, started as soon as Klondike took me in,” She replied, pushing her food bar away after only taking a couple bites. When she noticed my eyes following the tray, she slid it over to me instead.

“Thanks!” I said, dragging the tray closer to me, these things were good.

I finished my own bar and then quickly got to work on the second one, gulping it down with some water before looking at Branch again.

“So Klondike recruited you?” I wondered.

“Kind of…” Branch said, her gaze hardening as she took a sip from her cup. “He… he rescued me when I was a little filly, after that, I just had to join the rangers…” She explained.

“Oh…” I answered, slightly taken aback by the mare’s shift in tone.

“Hey, it worked out in the end!” Branch said, chuckling. “I got some cool armor out of it,”

I chuckled along with her, looking up wistfully as I thought about her gorgeous armor. Oh what I wouldn’t give to wear one of those…

“I bet you feel like you could take on anything in there!” I said, smiling.

“You have no idea!” The green mare answered. “But it has gotten me into trouble sometimes…” She added sheepishly.

I thought back to when Klondike had threatened her with taking her armor away after the hotel fight.

“What do you mean?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.

“Well, sometimes I get a little too carried away and bite off more than I can chew,” Branch explained. “Klondike never goes through with his threats though, except for one time…”

I shoved the last bit of food into my mouth and started chewing, gesturing for the mare to keep talking.

“So… on one of our first missions together we had to get an engine part from a factory,” She explained, gesturing with her hooves as she spoke. “We had the part, but some scavengers had us pinned down,”

“I doubt they were too much for you two to deal with… right?” I asked after swallowing.

“Oh no, these weren’t normal scavengers,” Branch replied, getting more into recounting the story. “They all had rocket launchers… heh, if you get to look at Klondike’s left thigh you might just see a scar from that fight,”

I set the trays aside and took a sip of water, paying as much attention as I could to the mare.

“In any case, Klondike told me that he would distract them while I ran away with the part… but I wasn’t just gonna leave him there to die!” The green earth pony said.

“What did you do?” I asked, my eyes sparkling as I imagined the scene.

“I ran out the back of the building, but then walked around it and flanked the scavengers from the right!” Branch responded, using her hooves to explain her movements. “I caught them completely off guard and managed to save Klondike,”

This mare was awesome, but something about her story wasn’t adding up.

“Wait so… why did you say it got you into trouble?” I asked, raising an eyebrow again.

Branch threw her head back and chuckled before replying.

“Klondike was furious!” She said, still fighting against her laughter. “He must’ve yelled at me for an hour straight about ‘disobeying orders’ and ‘risking the entire mission’ as if he really thought I would let him die!” The mare added.

I put my forehoof on her shoulder, suddenly concerned over the punishment she had received.

“Well, if it means anything, I think you made the right choice,” I said simply.

Branch gave me a confused look.

“Thanks?” She offered.

“You’re welcome!” I chirped.

I looked down at my water cup again, feeling reinvigorated by the knowledge that there were heroic ponies like Branch in this awful wasteland, even if she hadn’t come from my stable.

“Hey uhh…” I started tentatively. “Do you- uhhh… do you think there’s any chance of me being able to join you guys?” I asked.

Branch smiled at me before speaking.

“Maybe if we ask Bolt she’ll…” She trailed off, but her expression soured. “Actually I uhh… I don’t think you’ll be able to…” She managed, almost as if she were choking the words out.

“What? Why?” I asked, confused.

“I’ll uhh… I’ll let her tell you that herself…” The green mare responded, her tone strained.

Guess she isn’t allowed to tell me that either. I thought, slightly annoyed at the secrecy. But hey, they hadn’t done anything bad to me yet, they seemed like perfectly reasonable, level-headed ponies!

“Fair enough, I guess,” I relented.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Spark Plug

Classification: Unicorn stallion – 23 years of age – C-8ecae6 M-03254c E-cd3700

Cutie mark: A spark plug

Spark Plug was a trainee scribe for the Baltimare chapter of the Steel Rangers, he decided to join after being recruited by an elderly scribe to assist him with research, as the old stallion’s eyes weren’t as sharp as they used to whereas Plug’s could still see with perfect ease. After that short experience, he decided to put his ability to read to good use and joined up with the Steel Rangers, where he excelled in cataloging and transcribing documents.

While very smart and gifted with a promising future, he and many other scribes would tragically perish in a freak accident involving the Steel Ranger headquarters’s turret security system.

Author's Note

Missclick

The steel ranger bunker was, in a word, amazing. After talking with Branch some more, I eventually convinced her to give me a short tour. There were almost a hundred ponies living here, neatly organized into groups which all had their specific tasks. The steel ranger said that she didn’t know exactly what this place had been before the war, as she had been too young by the time she had been brought here.

“The scribes have run some tests on the walls though, and they say that this place could probably survive anything other than a direct hit from a balefire bomb!” The mare said, chuckling softly.

We had been walking around the upper level of the bunker for almost an hour, and had finally reached the mess hall where he had set out once again. Several of the rangers had settled in to eat while we had been gone, but the one that stood out to me the most was Scribe Bolt, whose red cloak drew my attention almost immediately.

“Where have you two been?” She asked, her voice taking on just a little bit of a harsh tone.

“I showed her around the dorms while we waited for you,” Branch stated, straightening herself out as if she had been addressing Klondike.

Bolt sighed softly, but quickly shook her head and looked at me.

“We just got a message from our leader saying that she’ll be here later than we expected,” The mare explained. “Whatever you were sent here to tell us is for her ears only, so you’ll have to stay here for a little longer while we wait,” She finished.

“I mean… I don’t really have a problem with that!” I answered, smiling. “You said that there was something you wanted me to help with while we waited? I’d love to help out,” I added.

Scribe Bolt brought a forehoof up to her chin to think for a moment, muttering something under her breath. She eventually looked down at my PipBuck, where her eyes let out an odd glint, as if she had just gotten an idea.

“Yes, that is true, we have something-” She started.

“Great! I’ll do it!” I shot back, not even giving her the time to explain what exactly they needed me to do. Not that it would make much of a difference anyway, I was Black Light, hero of the surface! No challenge was too great for me of all ponies.

Scribe Bolt, on the other hoof, didn’t seem to take my interruption too kindly. She raised an eyebrow and glared at me for an instant before speaking again.

“As I was saying… We have an issue that your PipBuck might be the solution to, come with me,” The unicorn stated, turning to start heading out of the mess hall.

Branch cleared her throat, loosening her stance a little.

“What should I do, ma’am?” She asked.

“You should take a shower, immediately,” Bolt replied, grimacing slightly when she turned to look at the light green mare.

Branch dropped her gaze bashfully, rubbing at her right leg with her left forehoof.

“Yes ma’am,” She said, keeping her gaze on the floor.

Bolt looked at me again, but she said nothing. She turned around and started to walk down the hallway, clearly expecting me to follow her. I took a step forward, but I was stopped in place by one of Branch’s forehooves.

“I- In case I don’t see you for a while, it was nice to meet you…” She said, quickly biting her tongue after the last word had left her mouth.

I raised an eyebrow at the mare, grinning.

“It was nice to meet you too!” I chirped. “I’ll come find you as soon as I can,” I added.

Branch smiled at me, but her gaze remained on the floor. Huh… I wonder what’s got her so bummed out. Bolt’s words hadn’t been that harsh, but the mare still looked completely defeated.

I followed the scribe for a while, immediately noticing that she was significantly less enthusiastic about me being in the bunker than Branch had been. All my attempts to start a conversation were swiftly shot down with a grunt or a one-word response as she led me through the facility.

“Here we are,” Bolt said once we arrived at a steel door that opened into a stairway.

“Lead the way!” I chirped back, getting a raised eyebrow from the mare.

As we descended, I noticed how the sounds of the bustling bunker above us slowly gave way to an eerie silence as we made our way into a clearly uninhabited section of the facility.

I didn’t know what I was expecting to find, but I was definitely underwhelmed by what was at the end of the stairs. The stairwell twisted around and back into a large hallway identical to the one above. The only difference was that this one had a large magical shield that separated this end of the hallway from the rest. I noticed how the magic warped and distorted the hallway beyond.

“What is this?” I asked aloud.

“This is what I think you can help us with, your PipBuck might be able to help us shut down the shield,” Bolt explained, pointing at a console on the wall that had a strange port on it.

I sat down in front of the barrier, listening to its ominous hum.

“I need to keep working,” Bolt said. “Do you have any idea how to connect your PipBuck to it?” She asked.

“Not really…” I admitted.

Bolt shook her head slightly and sighed.

“Very well, let’s head back up-” She said, but I cut her off.

“B- but I think I can still get through!” I said.

The older unicorn was clearly irritated by my interruption, but she raised an eyebrow and looked at me.

“How, exactly?” She inquired.

“Well…” I answered, turning to stare at the undulating magical barrier that separated me from the rest of the deserted hallway.

Think, Black Light, what are you dealing with here? I thought, considering the barrier. Clearly it had to be some sort of machine, there was no way any unicorn was casting this. That was, of course, assuming it wasn’t some sort of undead unicorn who was casting it from beyond the grave. In any case, there had been a class about magical barriers back in the stable that I racked my brain to try and recall.

It had been more of a magical ability test than a proper class, but it had revolved around getting through a magical shield. I chuckled at the memory of one of the other fillies who had only gotten their head through the barrier and passed out as the shield strangled them. But the memories had helped me realize exactly what it was that I needed to do. Focus, get more information. I told myself.

“Have you tried shooting it?” I asked.

Bolt looked at me for a long while, her face completely unamused.

“Is that supposed to be another joke?” She asked.

“No, I need to know how strong the barrier is,” I replied, sounding as official as possible.

“I see,” The mare said, taking a look at the barrier, “Some of the rangers tried shooting at it with a magical energy rifle and a minigun,”

“Okay, and did the barrier react in any way?” I asked.

“It warped slightly when we hit it with the rifle, but it didn’t flicker or anything,” Bolt explained.

Hmm, if high-powered magic managed to distort the field then it’s not an absorption shield. What was I supposed to do about this? I thought, trying my best to recall my magic training. It wasn’t my fault that my cutie mark had taken so long to appear! If it had shown up on time I would’ve been sent to the surface with the training fresh in my mind!

“Okay I think I have an idea, but I’m going to need my horn,” I said, looking at the mare.

“Aren’t you going to use your PipBuck?” The older unicorn asked, cocking her head.

I considered the mare. If I didn’t even try to use my PipBuck to open it she might think I’m no use at all!

“Yeah, but I want to test the barrier first,” I explained.

Bolt looked at my horn for a moment before lighting her own horn up with telekinesis.

“Fine, but don’t do anything stupid,” She said, making a point to show off a pistol that had been hidden in her robes up to this point while she stared at me.

As if I’d ever do anything stupid! I thought, trying to make sure my annoyance didn’t show on my face.

A tingling sensation started as my magic returned to me when the older unicorn removed the anti-magic ring from my horn. I couldn’t help but chuckle. Just for fun, I lit up my horn to feel that soothing sensation of-

In less time than it would’ve taken me to blink, I found myself staring down the barrel of a gun held firmly in Bolt’s magic. There was no time for a reaction, just a split-second movement from the mare. Her gaze was fixed on my horn.

I quickly let the magic dissipate and sat on my haunches, throwing my forehooves into the air.

“I’m sorry!” I exclaimed, listening to my heart beat loudly in my ears. Much to my surprise, the cold chill that ran up my spine as I looked at the gun started to morph into a pleasant warmth in my chest. Could I take her down if I tried? She was too far away for me to slap the gun away before she could shoot me, but perhaps dodging was-

No, Black Light! You want her to trust you! I reprimanded myself.

Bolt held the pistol up for a few seconds before slowly putting it back into her leg-holster.

“Do not do anything stupid, tell me exactly what spell you’re going to cast and when,” She stated.

“Okay, okay!” I blurted out, still struggling to kick down the heat in my chest, “I’m going to cast a focused telekinesis spell to feel out the shield… thing,” I tried.

“Go ahead,” The mare said, keeping her gaze firmly fixed on my horn.

I turned around to stare at the barrier, still trying to rein in my nerves. My horn fired up, focusing my magic on the middle of the barrier. I didn’t know where the shield projector was, so the middle was the safest bet. A small dot of magic appeared on the warping surface, pressing against it. If you concentrate enough power on a small enough surface…

I started to steadily apply more magic against the barrier. My horn surged with power as the arcane energy coursed through it, making its crimson glow brighter and brighter. A thin strand of light connected my horn with the barrier as I started panting from the effort. But it was having some sort of effect, as I noticed that the barrier started to bend inwards.

At the sign of progress, I gritted my teeth and poured more magic into the arcane wall. It started to bend more under the strain, deforming as it tried to keep my minuscule needle of pure magic at bay. Come on! I thought, hoping that my fury would give my horn the last little push it needed.

With a shower of crimson and pink sparks, my magic beam pierced the barrier. The magic screen around it immediately straightened back out, bouncing back into the straight sheet form it had before. Now comes the hard part, I thought, panting heavily.

“Sweet Celestia…” Bolt muttered behind me.

“Just… stay quiet,” I said, trying my damndest not to lose my focus.

Instead of focusing my magic on a small dot, I focused on the spot where it was passing through the barrier. Sweat poured from my brow as I slowly pushed against the edges of the opening. The minuscule hole widened slightly in response to my efforts.

I smiled when the barrier parted enough for me to finally put my hoof into it, pulling with both magic and raw strength. Almost there… I thought when I could finally fit my other forehoof into the opening.

My forelegs burned with effort as I pulled the barrier open bit by bit, I just had to get it wide enough to fit through! My horn was throbbing painfully from the abuse, but I was so close now. Come on Black Light! They’ll trust you for sure after this!

With a defiant cry, I gave the barrier one last pull. And I jumped forward with all the speed my rear legs could muster. The hole was just barely wide enough for me to pass through as my magic collapsed. And my rear hooves narrowly avoided getting caught as the barrier slammed back into place behind me. I had done it.

“I’ll shut it down from this side!” I shouted at the scribe on the other side of the barrier.

I watched as Bolt raised her hoof to the side of her head before shaking it. What does that mean? Some sort of salute? I wondered. Nevermind that! I need to find a way to turn this thing off. Just in case, I nodded at the mare through the barrier and turned around to look down the hallway.

The hall was remarkably similar to the hallway above, with the key difference being that this one had clearly not been used for a very long time. A thick layer of dust coated every surface, from the walls to the floor. Cups, carts, trays, and notepads littered the floor, punctuated with desiccated skeletons that still wore stained lab coats. I noticed that there was a large gray ‘3’ painted on the wall at the end of the hall.

That’s dumb, this is the second floor, not the third! I thought, Unless they counted the bar on the surface as floor one… but why would they do that? I wondered as I walked down the hallway.

Blast doors were shut tight on either side, with red warning lights flashing above each one. The glow drew my attention to them, but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to pull one of them open with how hard my horn was hurting after the shield…

Oh! Bounceback! I thought, smiling as I brought the pills out of my saddlebags. I popped one into my mouth and chewed on it absentmindedly as I approached the doors. The first door to my left gave me a pleasant surprise in the form of sliding open with no resistance.

The room on the other side was… strange. Six red tubes stretched down from the incredibly tall ceiling, ending about a pony’s height above the ground. What is all this? I wondered as I walked closer. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the pillars were not actually red. They were made of glass, and within them swirled a strange red fluid, almost goo-like. On the walls of the room stood six terminals, connected to each of the pillars with a thick blue wire bundle.

“I wonder…” I said as I slowly brought my forehoof to the nearest terminal’s power button.

The terminal buzzed to life, reading out a series of options.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

MoI stasis containment, low clearance - site 3

Internal communication

Stasis status

“What does this mean?” I wondered, flicking through the options, “Stasis?” I said, turning around to stare at the pillars.

Could those be living things? I selected the middle option on the terminal.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

MoI stasis containment, low clearance - site 3

Stasis status:

Catastrophic failure on pods 1 - 6, subjects irrecuperable.

That makes sense. I thought, looking at the red sludge inside the pillars. If this had been sitting here for centuries then it was no surprise that the pods had failed. But I did have to wonder just what had been in them.

“MoI…” I read out loud, “What is that?” I said.

It was the strangest thing… I could swear that I had heard about it before, I just couldn’t remember it for the life of me. Maybe something from pre-war history class? No… maybe something from chemistry, that had to be it. I had never been any good at chemistry anyway.

The terminal let out a loud beeping sound that brought my attention back to the screen, where all I could see were the words “System reboot starting…” The room seemed to come to life around me. Loud machinery started to churn somewhere down the hallway, and the vents around the room blew out a hefty amount of dust before slowing to a gentle breeze. Several lines of words scrolled past on the monitor too fast for me to read.

I poked my head back out into the hallway and turned to look at the magic barrier. Scribe Bolt was still standing there, I waved at her with a forehoof and smiled. The old mare opened and closed her mouth a few times, furrowing her brow.

“I’m trying to disable the shield!” I shouted at her.

The mare made the same gesture that she had made before, pointing at her temple and shaking her head. Oh, so it is some kind of salute. I realized, returning the same gesture. The mare looked at me with confusion. There will be time for talking when I get that barrier down… now how could I-

A loud thumping sound came from further down the hall, making my horn fire up and instinctively send a wave of telekinesis toward my empty holster. I turned around and stared at the closed doors that lay in front of me. What was that? I wondered, it sounded like something hitting a window, but what could it have been?

I walked slowly towards the door, firing up my horn preemptively in case I needed to fry something. Another thumping sound came from within the room, sending an ominous chill down my spine.

“Sweet Celestia!” I exclaimed when the door opened.

The room inside had only a single pillar in its center, but instead of red sludge, this one held a brain.

I watched in silent horror as the organ bobbed inside the pillar, noticing the mess of wires that was stuck into its bottom part. Was this what was supposed to be inside the pillars in the other room? What was this place?

“Anger.” A robotic, monotone voice boomed from within the pillar, “Took you long enough,”

My horn fired on instinct, sending a beam directly into the glass of the tube. Fortunately for the brain within, however, the glass was heavily reinforced to the point where my magic bounced off and struck the wall instead.

“Surprise. What are you doing?” The voice droned again.

“What am I doing? You’re a brain in a jar!” I exclaimed.

“No shit, Sherclop,” The brain answered, bobbing within its container.

I walked into the room, staring at the strange device. One of the wires that hung below the organ twisted and turned to face me. I noticed how the tip was flat and held a single red light, could it be a sensor?

“Surprise. Wait a minute… you’re not a technician, you’re Stable-Tec,” The brain said. “What happened?”

The brain’s words left me slightly stupefied, what was it talking about? I wasn’t Stable-Tec, that was a whole company, not a single pony! Perhaps all the time in stasis had damaged it?

“I… what? No I’m not!” I sputtered, not entirely sure as to what I should respond to the accusation.

“I can see your PipBuck. Are you some kind of new strategy? Where is Chat and that other insufferable stallion?” The brain demanded.

Oh, it’s completely mad. I realized, causing my ears to droop slightly.

“Who are you talking about?” I asked, cocking my head.

The organ in the tube bobbed slightly in the bluish liquid that contained it for a moment.

“Angry. Okay Chat, I’ll play along with whatever this is,” The brain said, “Who are you? Why are you here?”

I smiled despite the rather peculiar circumstances, thinking of just how to present myself. Even if this brain was demented, I could still make use of the situation to practice my heroic introduction!

“I am Black Light, hero of the surface,” I stated, “I am here to help the steel rangers so I can get them to help me out later,” I finished, smiling at the brain.

“As if the Ministry of Technology would ever raid an MoI facility, you are a terrible liar,” The brain said, bobbing in what I could only assume to be annoyance. “Okay then, miss spy, if you really are raiding this place, why don’t you let me out of here?”

I raised an eyebrow at the brain’s strange words. What could it be talking about? Why does he keep bringing up this ‘MoI’? I wondered, recalling that I had read it on the terminal in the other room. And why is it calling me a liar? It doesn’t even know me! I had to right this wrong, after all, it did look like it was imprisoned.

“Uhhh, sure?... How do I do that?” I asked.

The brain fell silent for a while, I could all but see the sparks flying out of it as it thought about my words. It wasn’t that hard of a question… was it?

“There’s a terminal on the wall next to you, it should have the option to release me,” The mechanical voice of the brain said.

I turned and found that there was, in fact, a terminal sitting beside me. I pressed the power button and watched as the screen flickered to life, revealing a lock screen.

“It's… uhhh… asking for a password?” I said.

“Of course it is asking for a password, it is a high-security containment terminal,” The brain answered. “Press the slash key and access the administrator login screen,”

I stopped for a moment before turning to look at the brain.

“The what key?” I asked.

My only reply was the brain floating forward and hitting itself repeatedly against the edge of the jar. Is it trying to say something? I wondered as I listened to the odd-sounding impacts.

Time seemed to fly as the floating brain meticulously guided me through opening this “administrator login window”. At some points, it went as far as to dictate the words letter by letter so that I could write them properly. But at last, I managed to reach the fabled screen, where I was met by a wall of numbers and words.

“Huh? What is this?” I asked, confused, “You said I’d have to put in a password!”

“Angry. Yes, you need to put in the correct password from those options,” the brain explained.

Ohhh I guess that makes sense as added security, if you already know the password then all you need to do is pick it! I thought. My eyes passed over all the words that were spread out on the screen. Aha! It has to be this one! I thought before selecting the word ‘PASSWORD’.

“Angry. Be careful with it, if you fail it three times I’m never getting out of here,” The brain complained.

“Okay! Okay!” I exclaimed back, looking for a different word.

‘ASSUMING’ was not the password either.

“Please go back to the main screen and try again,” The floating brain pleaded.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this!” I said, smiling.

Almost an hour later, I was still standing in front of the terminal. My rear leg was starting to cramp up, but I was so close! I had to be! The brain hadn’t been of much use ever since it decided to start talking about food or something. I simply ignored it for the time being while I focused on the task at hoof.

“Surprise. Terminals have only three tries across all models. How in Celestia’s name did you manage to get it wrong twenty-seven consecutive times?” The brain wailed.

“Well, maybe just one had the three-try thing!” I answered, selecting another one of the options.

‘DELIVERY’ was not the password either.

“Anger. The password is strudels, like the name of the restaurant directly above this facility,” The brain said.

“That’s dumb, why would they set the password as-” I started, but I fell silent when I read what the last option was.

‘STRUDELS’ was the password.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

MoI stasis containment, high clearance - site 3

Stable-Tec PipBuck detected, creating preliminary profile…

Internal communication

Stasis status

Security

“Okay… what do I pick here?” I asked before realizing that the brain probably couldn’t read the screen from inside its container, “Security, right?”

“No wait, not that one,” The brain said, but I had already opened the option.

The screen only read ‘security system malfunction’. Hmm, it doesn’t look like it’s- Oh wait! That probably controls the shield! I smiled as I recalled the single infallible method for making programs work when they were failing.

I turned it off, and then back on again.

“Angry. Please return to the previous screen,” the brain demanded.

I followed their directions, opening the stasis option screen instead. The screen refreshed.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

MoI stasis containment, high clearance - site 3

Stasis status:
Inactive, subject live

Detainee:
Narrative Lampshade

Vitals:
High stress

Transfer subject

Terminate

“It doesn’t say ‘free’ here,” I told the brain, “Does ‘terminate’ do the same thing?”

“Fear. Do not select that one,” The brain… Narrative Lampshade, I guess? Said.

I nodded in understanding and selected the transfer subject option. Almost immediately, the pillar that held Narrative started to shake and retract into the ceiling.

“Surprise. You actually did it?” The brain said as the strange machine whirred and pumped the liquid out of the pillar, sucking the floating brain up with it, “You have to go to the end of the hall to the left,” It added before finally disappearing into the ceiling.

My ears were split as an alarm started blaring from the hallway. A cacophony of claxons and flashing red lights. I peeked out of the room and took a glance down the hallway, I smiled when I realized that the barrier was gone, but my mood was soured when I saw that the unicorn scribe was nowhere to be found either. Maybe she went to get more ponies to come down. My PipBuck pinged suddenly, flashing a “driver download initiated” alert on my EFS.

I sat on my haunches and brought the machine up to read the screen, where I found a small message on my data tab that was titled ‘Parole officer Light, Temp. pass” The message itself was nothing but a strange line of letters and numbers. Huh, must be some broken code thing. I thought as I closed the message.

Something caught my eye the instant I walked into the hallway, however. Movement.

From the ceiling now hung several contraptions, clearly mechanical. They had dropped down from hatches on the ceiling. Three thick barrels pointed forward from within the armored plating that protected them while a single red sensor talisman could be seen from behind a thick dome of reinforced glass. The way they just… looked at me was incredibly eerie. This was only worsened when I moved slightly from side to side and noticed that they were all tracking me.

They’re not really shooting, though. I thought, trying to remember if the turrets had been there when I initially made my way down here. I couldn’t remember exactly, but I was sure that I would’ve taken mental note of them if they had been there. Then again, they were covered in dust and partially hidden in the darkness, there was a chance that they had simply not been moving before. Yeah, that had to be it.

My hooves echoed off the walls as I made my way into the hallway and walked towards the end, avoiding the skeletons that were strewn about and trying my best to avoid looking at the turrets. I gave a tentative glance towards the stairwell I had come down from, but the rangers were still not there.

I got to the end of the hallway, where I was forced to stop and think. Something that was not easy to do when the alarms were blaring as loudly as they were.

Did the brain mean their left or my left? I wondered, raising my left hoof to look at it. Oh! Silly Black Light, brains don’t have left or right sides! I chuckled at the confusion before setting my hoof back down and making my way down the left side.

The hallway had only one door at the end of it, with a sign reading ‘mobile containment unit depository’. It slid open as I approached, revealing a large vaulted room. Lines of strange machines hung from the ceiling, connected with the same glass pipes as I had seen outside. The fluid within them appeared to be yellowish and opaque as opposed to the clear one that had been in the brain’s room.

I jumped in shock as the alarm suddenly cut off entirely, leaving the room in absolute silence. The many turrets that hung from the ceiling slowly retracted back into their hatches on the roof. So that’s why I hadn’t seen them… I thought, but why did they even drop?

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud whirring sound coming from the many machines that filled the room. I watched in awe as the sludge in the tubes started to flow, sluggishly moving under the power of whatever was making the noise. Pumps, I realized.

One of the tubes suddenly started to fill with a much clearer liquid, and not a minute later I saw the floating form of the brain from before start to float down the glass pipe.

“Fear. What is the meaning of this? What happened here?” The brain demanded, its sensor talisman tentacle thingy pressing itself against the glass of the tube.

I waved at it with a hoof.

“What am I supposed to do here exactly?” I asked.

“Fear. What happened here? Where is everypony? Why does this place look abandoned?” The brain demanded unhelpfully.

“That’s because it has been abandoned, now tell me what I need to do!” I said, stomping the floor.

The brain continued to spout nonsensical gibberish. I rolled my eyes and started to look around the room for anything that might be useful. It’s a mobile containment unit place, there’s gotta be mobile uni- Oh! I thought as my eyes passed over a series of machines with the text ‘mobile unit holding bay’ written on their sides. There were four in total, with three having a bright red light on the top that I assumed meant nothing good. The fourth, however, had a much nicer green light on top of it.

Now I just need to find a control panel or something smart like that. I thought, looking at the machine for a moment before spotting a big flashing button on its side. Bingo.

I confidently walked up to the device and hit the button. I was met with a terminal screen flashing to life with the message ‘no sample detected’ Maybe not so bingo. I thought.

“Hang in there a little more!” I told the brain, “I mean, not like you can really go anywhere,” I added sheepishly.

The brain didn’t seem to mind, as it was currently stuck in a cycle of repeating ‘Fear. No.’ And ‘Anger. No.” Poor thing, I doubt being that insane is any fun. I thought.

I looked at the room around me, trying to spot anything that could be of use to move the brain around. There had to be a-

“Oh! There we go!” I chirped happily as I noticed a small control panel in the middle of the room that was labeled ‘sample distribution’.

I took a long stare at the control panel, trying to figure out how to operate it. The little pony in my head sat on her haunches and brought a hoof up to her chin to think. I followed suit, sitting in front of the panel and looking at the many buttons that covered its surface. It did kind of remind me of the room’s own layout, with a symbol placed where the panel itself was and different buttons that corresponded to the machines around me… could it be…?

I hit the button that somewhat looked like it was in the same spot as the brain. As soon as I did, the holding bay with the green light started to whirr. Smiling at how easily I had figured it out, I hit the button that looked like a smaller version of the machine.

The brain started to slowly float through the glass tubes, getting dragged along as it continued to spout nonsensical gibberish. I watched in awe as the organ sunk into the holding bay before the machine buzzed to life.

My ears went flat against the sides of my head when a noise that I could only describe as a pony screaming at the top of their lungs through a metal fan started to come from the machine. I took a step back, confused. Had I done something wrong?

The holding bay whirred ominously before the door slowly pulled open, revealing… a horrible sight.

“Sweet Celestia!” I shouted as I backpedaled.

Before me stood a machine. But not one like the terminals or generators I had seen. Riding on black tank tracks was a metal box colored gray and green, shaped in a vague approximation of a large pony’s frame. Two corrugated black tubes spread out from where the pony’s neck would’ve been, each tipped with a metal claw. But by far the most shocking part of the thing that stood in the open doors was the large dome that sat where its head would’ve been… and the brain floating within. It looked identical to the brain that I had just seen flow into the machine, or at least I thought it was the same brain. Is there any way to tell one brain from another? I wondered.

I noticed that a steel plate had been bolted on the front of the jar’s edge, which read ‘Narrative Lampshade’ on it. Yeah, that’s the same brain. I thought, proud of my power of deduction.

“Fear. That was awful.” The monotone voice of the brain said, I noticed how a small yellow light next to the dome lit up with every word it said.

“Hey! At least you can move now… I think,” I said, cocking my head to the side.

The machine rolled out of the holding bay, stopping just outside the doors and turning in a circle. It then stretched out its claws, opening and closing them before spinning the “arms” around.

“This body is in decent condition,” It said.

I was forced to look away, the way the brain bobbed inside its container was just… terrible.

“Well uhh… you’re welcome!” I said, keeping my eyes away from the floating organ, “I gotta get out of here,”

“I…” The brain answered, seemingly getting stuck on what it wanted to say, “I will go with you,” It said at last.

“Good! I’m sure the rangers will be happy to meet you,” I answered. It was true, after all, if they loved technology as much as everypony said then maybe they would find this… brain thing more interesting than horrifying.

I poked my way out into the hallway I had come in through, finding it to still be deserted. That was definitely concerning, why hadn’t the Rangers come down yet?

Cautiously, I walked out into the hallway. The turrets were gone, and while that gave me some comfort, it also gave me an eerie sensation in my stomach. Something about knowing that there were multiple turrets hiding just out of sight was far from comforting, even if they hadn’t shot at me in all the time I had spent down here. The brain-machine whirred softly as it rolled up behind me.

I watched with silent curiosity as the robot approached the staircase’s steps and simply dragged itself up, molding the shape of its tracks slightly to fit the steps. The stairs themselves were unnerving, but it wasn’t truly the stairs… it was the silence.

Before there had been an undeniable buzz of activity in the bunker, but now it was… quiet… too quiet.

The reason why everything was deathly quiet became horribly clear as soon as I reached the top of the stairs.

Strewn about the floor and still smoking were the bodies of the steel rangers. Scribes, knights, and paladins were lying on the steel grate, their bodies covered in scorch marks from magical energy weapon fire.

I walked down the hallway in absolute silence. The bodies were everywhere. Who had done this? And where were they hiding? I could only see dead steel rangers here, if there had been an attack I’d imagine that some of the attackers would be mixed in among the bodies. To murder so many ponies in such a short time was absolute madness, and to leave without a trace was even more impressive.

My jaw tightened when my leg brushed up against one of the fallen knights. They’re still warm. I realized with a sinking sensation in my gut. I eyed the orange stallion, but their face was locked in a grimace, eyes wide open. Their chest was not moving, and I couldn’t hear any breathing. They were most certainly dead, but they had been alive very recently.

“Fear. What in Celestia’s name happened here?” The robot buzzed as it finished making its way up the stairs.

“I’m… not sure,” I answered, “They were all alive when I went down there,”

“Fear. Why are there so many of them? And why are they wearing those robes? Where are the MoI employees?” The brain asked.

“You keep going on about this ‘MoI’ thing, what’s up with that?” I countered, trying to find something else to focus on other than the carnage around me.

The robot stopped in the middle of the hallway. I eyed it curiously as it… looked at me? It didn’t really have eyes per se. I guess it… ominously stood there?

“I need to get some things clear because I am completely lost,” The machine buzzed. “Who are you? What are you doing here? And where did you come from?”

I sighed in annoyance as I whirled around to face the robot.

“I told you like five minutes ago!” I huffed. “My name is Black Light, I’m here to help the steel rangers, and I’m from stable 75!”

“Anger. That makes no-“ The brain started, but its words seemed to get caught on its… speaker? “Fear. From where?” It asked.

“Stable 75, have you heard about it?” I answered, silently hoping that I had finally met somepony who knew about my stable.

“Fear. Stable as in a Stable-Tec stable?” The brain asked.

I cocked my head to the side and watched as the brain bobbed inside the jar.

“Yes, Stable-Tec stable 75,” I confirmed.

The robot extended its claw leg to the side and pressed it against the wall as if it were trying to support itself.

“That can’t be. What year is it?” The brain demanded.

“I… don’t know,” I answered, annoyed, “We’ll figure it out later, be quiet, I need to make sure there’s nothing dangerous here,”

Yet no matter where I looked, the only thing I could see was more dead rangers. How could-

No… I thought, my mouth agape in silent horror as I recognized one of the figures hunched over in a corner. It was Knight Branch, burnt nearly to a crisp. But the worst part was what she was holding. Clutched between her scorched hooves was the limp form of the little colt that I had seen before.

A choked gasp escaped my mouth when I saw the unmoving form of Klondike lying beside her, completely covered in scorch marks. Judging from the position, he had fallen protecting her and the colt from something.

I opened my mouth to cry out, but said nothing. My concern for Pot was slowly being replaced by an awful sensation of helplessness. If somepony or something had broken in here and killed every steel ranger in the area then was there really any chance that Pot had made it?

I came across a sealed doorway, with a pair of dead ponies lying by its side. I walked up to the console, which immediately linked up to my PipBuck. Letting out a drawn-out hiss, the door slid open to reveal another group of bodies on the other side. One of them was nearly unrecognizable, nearly, that is, were it not for the medal that hung around its mangled neck. Scribe Bolt… I realized.

I bit back on the grimace that was forming on my face, there would be time to think about this later, for now, I had to go find Pot. Nothing else matters right now. I told myself.

We reached the top of the stairs. I noticed that a surprising number of rangers had died here. Probably trying to reach their armor I theorized as I stared at a mare who had died while trying to get into a suit of power armor… or at least I stared at half of her, considering her hindquarters had been shot off her body completely. I sheepishly walked up to the gun drawer where my weapons had been stashed, deciding not to take anything other than what was mine.

My anxiety was starting to reach a fever pitch by now. Why was there no ambush? There was no way whoever attacked the rangers had simply vanished into thin air… was there?

There! I thought as my EFS finally picked up a signal. A single, lonely blue bar now adorned my compass somewhere south of where I was. Recalling what the building looked like from outside I realized it had to be outside. Could it be Pot?

I rushed through the door and into the now-deserted ground floor of the restaurant. After confirming that it was, indeed, empty, I ran out the front door.

“Black L- ack!” Pot exclaimed as I ran directly into him.

Both me and the stallion went flying onto the ground, falling into a heap of limbs. My lower lip had split where I had hit Pot’s nose, but the sheer relief was doing wonders to dull the pain.

“Pot! You’re okay!” I shouted, hugging the stallion tightly.

The blue earth pony made some kind of wheezing sound, but didn’t say anything. Not that he needed to, all that mattered was that I hadn’t failed to keep him safe. I let the stallion go and watched as he gasped for air loudly.

“What… what happened?” He asked, still struggling to breathe.

“I was hoping you could tell me,” I admitted, “everything was going fine, and then… they all died,”

“I believe it is very obvious that the turrets were responsible,” The brain commented as it finally reached the exterior.

“Black Light what the fuck is that?” Pot demanded, jumping away from the robot.

“Anger. You aren’t much of a sight yourself,” The brain replied.

I stepped between the pair to try and avoid any confrontation, but it seemed like something else had caught the robot’s attention.

It lumbered forward into the dirt outside, staring at the horizon. One of the machine’s claws extended and dug into the earth, lifting some of it and letting it go. The clawfull of dirt turned into a brown cloud before completely dissipating back into the surrounding floor.

“Fear. So it happened after all,” The brain said.

Pot stared at the machine, confused.

“Uhh, what happened in there? I was out here with the guard and he just ran into the base,” The stallion asked.

“He said it was the turrets, but they weren’t active when we went down there,” I answered, gesturing at the brain bot. “And they didn’t shoot at us either,”

The machine whirled around to “stare” at me again.

“That is because I am tagged as a prisoner. And when you opened the terminal it registered you as my parole officer,” The brain stated, pointing at itself and then at me with its metallic claw.

“Okay you need to start saying stuff that makes sense,” Pot demanded, looking at me. “And uhh… what even are you?” He asked, staring at the machine with a concerned stare. I watched as the blue stallion took a couple of steps to place himself between me and the machine.

“I am Narrative Lampshade, literary critic and professor of literature,” The machine replied, making a gesture that may have been a bow if he had a neck that could move… or a neck at all.

Pot stared at me with a look that was halfway between confusion and concern.

“And what are you?” The blue earth pony asked.

“Anger. I am a pegasus,” Responded the brain. “Sadness. Or at least I was,”

“What happened to you?” Pot asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Replied the machine.

“Black Light, where did you find this… thing?” Pot asked, turning to look at me.

“I rescued him from the basement… but then all the rangers died… they’re all dead, Pot…” I muttered, still reeling from what I had just seen.

A hoof was pressed against my shoulder, snapping me out of my little lapse. I looked over to see Pot standing next to me.

“Don’t worry about it right now, we just need to get out of here and we’ll figure it out later,” He said, soothing my nerves.

I sat on my haunches, staring out into the distance.

“You’re right, but I'm not sure about where… I was hoping to get the rangers to help, or at least get some heavy weapons from them!” I complained.

“We can head back to the medical center for now,” Pot said before he sighed deeply, pressing a hoof against his shoulder, “Assuming I can make it,” He added.

“You are injured?” The brain bot asked Pot.

“That’s none of your business,” Answered the cook.

The machine turned to the side and whirred silently before opening a panel on its side. A mess of machinery, pipes and gears was hidden underneath the thick metal plate.

“On the bottom there are four round knobs, take one out,” It commanded.

I wrapped one of the small objects in my magic, turning it counterclockwise and pulling out a cylindrical object. A syringe, I realized.

“Is that… Med-x?” Pot asked, eyeing the syringe curiously.

“Yes, it is, don’t use it all at once,” Narrative Lampshade answered.

I took the black cap off the syringe and levitated the medicine onto Pot’s hoof, who stared at it with concern.

“I’ve seen what this stuff does to ponies, not pretty. But… I really need it,” He muttered before taking the syringe in his mouth and stabbing it into his leg stump. Less than half the contents were injected, but the blue stallion let out a deep sigh of relief.

The earth pony offered me the half-full syringe.

“Please, take it until I need some again… just in case,”

I took the small object in my magic once more and looked at the port from where I had taken it out.

“Fear. I’d rather not, just put the plug back and keep the syringe. It should have a cap to protect the needle.” The brain buzzed.

Fair enough. I thought as I screwed the cap back into the port on his side. I eyed the syringe curiously and saw that it did, in fact, have a telescopic plastic cap that extended to cover the needle. Now this is some good design. The syringe dropped into my saddlebag.

“Thanks for that…” Pot said, looking at the robot. “Here’s hoping you won’t need it anytime soon,”

“Fear. Hopefully not,” The machine responded.

“Why do you speak like that?” Pot inquired, getting up to his hooves.

“The device in my brain filters my speech through an emotion detector, made interrogation easier,” Answered Narrative Lampshade. “I wanted to say, if it’s weapons you are after, I might know where to look,”

“Oh? Where?” I demanded, my heart fluttering at the thought of new weapons.

“Double hoof park, I overheard some of my captors talking about it often,” Lampshade responded. “I’m fairly certain there was some kind of arsenal there, and if it had defenses even remotely similar to this facility, then it should still be defended,”

“Captors?” Pot inquired.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” The machine buzzed.

“Okay, okay,” Pot said, eyeing the robot suspiciously.

I took a deep breath and stretched my legs a bit. Sure, I didn’t find anyone to help me, but at least now I had some weapons to get. If they were pre-war then they had to be powerful.

I eyed the brain bot curiously, trying to gauge what was going on inside that jar. I had to admit that his… forwardness in helping me was slightly suspicious, but that could easily be chalked up to gratitude for his freedom. In any case, we had a ways to go, and we weren’t getting any younger.

If there was one thing I would never get used to in the Baltimare wasteland, it had to be the nighttime. We had been taught many things in Stable 75 that didn’t really make sense, navigation by stars was definitely one of them. Of course, under normal circumstances, it might have been a useful skill, but the sky being locked behind a permanent cloud ceiling made seeing the stars a difficult task.

To be fair, the clouds make seeing anything at night a difficult task. I thought as my eyes looked out into the inky void that sat just outside the ruined house where we had chosen to stop for the night. The door had been mostly intact, and the only other entrance to the small building had been a broken window. I found myself staring at the window, almost drawn to it, just a black square in the wall that seemed to swallow any light that Burning’s lamp or my PipBuck could cast into it. In a way it was as if the wasteland itself was staring into the building, stalking us.

I shook my head and turned around to look at my two companions, who were sitting across from one another with the lamp in the middle. Or well… Pot was sitting, the brain in the jar was just kind of awkwardly bobbing inside its little dome. I supposed that his strange robot body didn’t have any way of sitting, which was understandable, considering his legs wouldn’t really get tired since he didn’t have any.

“Do you not know anything else?” The brain droned. I supposed that he was looking at Pot, but I couldn’t tell for sure… or if he could even see at all. “Two centuries is a long time but was nothing passed down?” He continued.

“I already told you, I wasn’t really taught about anything that happened before the war… or anything at all for that matter,” Pot answered.

The brain bobbed in place for a moment before speaking again.

“You said you were from a stable, what do you know about the war?” It said in its flat monotone voice.

“Wait, you’re from a stable?” I asked Pot, noticing that the robot was still facing him. Truth be told, I hadn’t been paying attention to their conversation, but I was certain I would’ve heard something like that.

The earth pony raised an eyebrow and eyed me oddly.

“No…?” He said.

“Anger. I was talking to you,” The brain bot said, rotating ever so slightly to face me directly.

“Oh!” I said, chuckling nervously, “Yeah! The war! It was uhh… war-y,” I added. Truth be told, I hadn’t really been paying much attention in history class. But could you really blame me? All those ponies were long dead!

A small cloud of crimson spurted from the side of the floating brain, turning the blueish liquid that filled it ever so slightly red.

“Never mind.” The robot said, “Surely I will find somepony out here that can tell me what happened,”

“Maybe at this hoof park thing!” I chirped, trying to cheer him up.

“Sadness. I doubt it, but it’s worth a try. Truth be told I don’t know what to do other than follow you, but you seem to be as clueless as I am,” The robot replied.

A deafening silence fell over the house, to the point where I could nearly hear the buzzing of the lamp in front of us. The quiet did make me realize that I was exhausted, and I slowly started to drift into sleep.

I shook my head slightly to fend off sleep for a little while longer, and I noticed Pot do the same. The stallion seemed to not be satisfied with just a head shake, and stood up to stand next to the lamp.

“Okay, this is going to sound mean, but I don’t trust you enough to fall asleep around you,” He said, pointing at Narrative.

“I cannot blame you,” The robot replied. “This body can’t hurt anypony even if I try, but I realize that my words alone aren’t much to go on,”

Pot raised an eyebrow and shot a glance at the darkness beyond the window.

“We can take turns watching him,” I offered, looking at the blue stallion.

“Guess we’ll have to,” Pot agreed. “But I have no clue where we could drop him off… the wasteland is going to chew him up,”

“Not like I could leave anyway,” The robot droned.

“What do you mean?” Pot asked, raising an eyebrow.

One of Narrative’s claws extended to point at me.

“She is registered as my parole officer, I cannot willingly remove myself from her presence,” He stated.

Pot huffed in annoyance.

“We’ll find a way to send you on your way,” The stallion said, looking around for a moment before spotting a mostly intact chair leg that was sticking out of a pile of scrap. “But for now, I’m going to lock your track with this,” He added, walking over and picking up the metal stick.

“If it will make you feel better, go ahead,” Narrative replied. “This body’s claws cannot reach the back of the tracks, put it there to ensure I can’t escape,” It added.

I considered the brain. Truth be told I didn’t fully trust it either, but no evildoer would willingly tell us how to keep him restrained. Of course, he could just be lying, but at least from what I had seen so far his claws really didn’t reach that far back.

Pot took the metal chair leg in his mouth and made his way behind the robot, passing it through a hole in its right side tracks. He took a couple of steps back to admire his work before speaking up again.

“Try moving around,” He ordered.

“Sure,” Narrative responded.

The machine moved forward, only managing to turn right, as the track that had the leg stuck in it was properly jammed. The leg itself bent slightly, but it held. Narrative tried to reverse, but wherever Pot had stuck the metal bar ensured that he couldn’t move backward either… unless you count moving around in circles as movement, that is.

I chuckled softly at the machine’s silly movements. But the jovial tone disappeared just as quickly as it had come when I thought back to the bunker that we had left behind, full to the brim with dead rangers.

In retrospect, I probably should have taken the time to look around for anything good. There was no doubt that there had to be good weapons there, not to mention the dozens of suits of power armor. Yet something about the eerie silence had scared me off.

“Hey, you good, lass?” Pot asked, sitting next to me.

“Should I have buried them?” I asked, keeping my eyes low.

“The Rangers?” Pot asked. “It would have taken way too long, if what you told me about how many were down there is true,” He added.

“Yeah… but maybe I could have buried Branch…” I muttered.

“Don’t worry about it too much, that bunker will be tomb enough for them…” The stallion said.

In a way, I guessed it did make sense. It was underground and relatively peaceful. Though I doubted most of those ponies would have liked having a ruined building serve as their headstone. At least I didn’t have to worry about their rest being disturbed, since nopony else knew that they were there… nopony except…

“Their leader is still out there…” I realized, whispering my thoughts out loud.

“What?” Pot asked.

“Scribe Bolt… she said that their leader was delayed,” I said. “Whoever they are… they’re going to come back to… that,”

The stallion looked shocked, but he quickly gathered himself.

“You didn’t leave anything that could lead them to you back there, right?” He asked, his voice taking on a slightly darker tone.

“N- no… why?” I replied, confused.

Pot let out a sigh of relief before answering.

“Just asking. You might have not had anything to do with their deaths, but if their leader knew that you had been the last pony to see them all alive well…” He started, grimacing slightly. “Let’s just say that being hunted by a vengeful Steel Ranger leader doesn’t sound like fun…”

I looked at the stallion.

“I could probably just tell them that I had nothing to do with it,” I said, giving him a half-hearted smile.

“You could try, but saying ‘I didn’t do it’ is pretty much the go-to for when you get confronted for killing somepony-“ He started before coughing loudly. “O- or at least that’s what I’d imagine the go-to is,” He added quickly.

Yeah, he’s got a point… I thought, letting my gaze drift.

“…Thanks, Pot…” I said, leaning to the side and resting my head on his shoulder.

I felt him tense up almost immediately, as if I had been charged with electricity. For a split second, I felt like I should pull back, but I stayed put when I felt him slowly reach around me with his good foreleg, wrapping me in a careful hug.

“Angry. Can you two shut up? I want to sleep,” Narrative droned, crossing his claw-arms in front of him.

“You need to sleep?” Pot asked, taking the opportunity to take his leg off my shoulder.

“Angry. In case you haven’t noticed, my actual brain is inside this thing,” Narrative said, pointing at the bobbing organ inside the jar. “And it needs rest, please shut up,”

“Sheesh, sorry,” Pot answered, rolling his eyes before looking at me. “Get some rest, I’ll make sure this thing doesn’t try anything and wake you up in a while,”

“Okay… thanks…” I said, smiling.

I walked over to my bedroll and shimmied my way inside, trying to shoo the day’s events out of my mind. It wasn’t my fault anyway… I reassured myself, but something about the words made them ring hollow. Had my messing around with that terminal done anything to trigger the turrets? No, it couldn’t have, I just used it to free Narrative.

The brain… thing itself was also beyond strange. I was finding it hard to believe that it had truly been a brain from before the war, especially with how well it had responded to the ruined world around us. Could it be that reality had simply not sunk in yet? Whatever the case may be I still couldn’t help but trust him… even if the appearance was a little offputting.

As for where we would go next… this second facility sounded interesting. Especially since it was pre-war equipment. Sure, I could just go back to the destroyed Steel Ranger bunker and get weapons from there… but I didn’t feel like going back there. I had to keep moving forward, and keep my eyes on the horizon.

I’m going to find somepony out here who can help me save my stable, even if it’s the last thing I do! I told myself, resolute.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Idle Chat

Classification: Pegasus stallion – Pre war – C-6abfcc M-dc09226 E-1f5562

Cutie mark: A simple depiction of a dialogue bubble

Idle Chat was a Ministry of Image interrogator who lived in Baltimare before the war. As part of his duties, he was tasked with the "reduction of sensitive materials", this involved simple things like keeping tabs on newspapers, academic papers, and advertisements to ensure that the image of the government remained untouched.

Highly professional and calculating, he was known within the ministry for his sometimes odd methods of psychological manipulation, which, while bordering on illegal, always remained within the confines of the law. His ability to get information from those imprisoned under him gave him the nickname "earthicorn", for despite being an earth pony, his ability to read minds bordered on the arcane. He was not fond of this nickname.

Idle Chat passed away on the day the bombs dropped, being trapped within the MoI bunker where he worked alongside his coworkers. Not willing to give the order to execute the prisoners, he commanded for all the brains to be kept in stasis, hoping that when the pods eventually failed they would simply pass away.

Author's Note

I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but this month has not been kind to me. Regardless, I tried my best to bring the best work I could to you guys, and I promise the next one will be better!

Buffet and Thrill

“So how exactly do you know about this place?” Pot asked before letting out a loud yawn. “It doesn’t sound like something these ‘Ministry of Image’ ponies would tell a prisoner…” He added, his baggy eyes focusing on the shiny dome of the robot that marched in front of them.

Narrative Lampshade had remained mostly silent since we set out this morning… other than the irrational gibberish he had started spouting at the top of his lungs the moment he woke up.

Wait… does that expression even work? I wondered, looking at the machine that held the pony’s brain. He doesn’t actually have any lungs… I guess he shouted it at the top of his… speakers?

Whatever the case may be, he had started flailing his claws around in a frenzy upon first waking up, making me hit my head against the wall in shock. He had calmed down when he saw Pot aiming his pistol at him, but the surprise had still been pretty significant. Much to my disappointment, Pot had lied to me and decided to let me sleep almost all the night through. I told him that it was a silly thing to do, since now he was extremely tired, but he said that he didn’t trust ‘that thing’ enough to sleep around yet.

At least I felt refreshed, the sleep had done wonders to help me put the horrors of the previous day behind me. Once we had gotten Narrative to calm down, the brain apologized and we set out toward Double Hoof Park with him at the lead about an hour ago, but he had remained completely silent ever since.

“During one of my interrogation sessions, they discussed moving me to the ‘Double Hoof location’” The machine replied, using its claws to add air quotes to the last words for emphasis.

Speaking to Narrative was pretty strange, his voice being a constant, droning monotone made it incredibly difficult to understand his tone. Pot seemed to be faring a little better than I was, but at the same time, Narrative had a little difficulty understanding some of the things Pot said. I hadn’t really noticed the dark blue earth pony’s accent all that much if at all, but something about it sent the robot for a spin.

I chuckled, it was like a triangle, I understood Pot better, who understood Narrative better, who then understood me better. We really were the best of friends! Even if I had only met one of them yesterday and known the other for a few days!

“That doesn’t really explain how you know about this weapon thing,” Pot added, cocking his head to the side.

“Anger. Let me finish,” Narrative replied, making Pot frown. “From what I heard before the stasis took hold, they couldn’t move me because they had recently sent a large shipment of artifacts to that location,”

“Wait… So you don’t actually know if there’s any weapons there? An artifact could literally be anything!” Pot said, his tone slowly rising.

“Anger. It is a secret government facility, not a museum, there are very few things it could be other than some sort of weapon,” Narrative stated, his volume and cadence hadn’t changed at all, but his body’s emotion filter had made it clear that he was getting angry.

Pot stopped in place completely, looking at me with an exasperated expression.

“Black Light we can’t be following this… thing around blindly, we’re probably just walking out into the wastes to die!” He said, stomping the street.

“Anger. I didn’t force either of you to follow me, you did that yourselves,” Narrative continued. “I have been in stasis for at least a century, you have lived your entire life in this place. Honestly, it’s a wonder why you even thought that following me would be a good idea,”

Pot whirled around to look at me, his green eyes wide as if he had just come across a great realization.

“That’s true, why are we followin’ this bloody thing around, Black Light?” He demanded, his accent slowly creeping into his angry voice.

I took a concerned look at Narrative, but there didn’t seem to be a single drop of blood anywhere on him. Clearly Pot’s sleep deprivation was starting to get the better of him, if only he had listened to me and let me take the second watch!

“Because he knows where I could find something to help my stable…” I answered. “I don’t think he’s lying to us, I did set him free, after all,” I added, turning to look into the sensor talisman on the front of Narrative’s front plate.

“I am not lying, but I will not promise that there will be anything useful there,” He admitted. “Sad. Truth be told, I just don’t know where else to go,”

I walked up to the machine and placed a forehoof on the spot where one of his claws started, it was about as close to a shoulder as I could find.

“It’s okay, even if there’s nothing there we’ll just keep going until we find something…” I said, trying to be reassuring as my gaze scanned the ruined suburbs around us. “There’s got to be something that… Hey… what’s that?” I wondered, raising my other forehoof to point at the strange sign I had spotted.

There was a large sign that poked out from above the ruined houses that stretched out around us. It was bright yellow, even after all the years that had passed since it had been built. But the thing that drew my attention the most was the words that were printed on it: ‘Golden Stable’.

“Is that a stable?” I wondered aloud, cocking my head to the side.

“Stable?” Narrative repeated, looking out in the same direction I was. One of his claws extended forward and started rubbing the front edge of his brain jar, as if he were scratching his chin.

Pot grunted loudly, making me whip my head back around to look at him. The stallion did not look happy in the slightest.

“Oh no, you’re not going to sidetrack us again,” He stated, stomping the floor for emphasis. “We are goin’ to keep heading to the park, and then we’re headin’ straight for the closest bloody settlement so I can stop walking on this thing!” He shouted, raising his prosthetic leg for me to see.

I took a long look at it and grimaced. No wonder he was in such an angry mood, that leg was probably killing him! I smiled when an idea sparked in my mind.

“I mean… if your leg hurts I can carry-“

“No ya fucking won’t! Just… ugh!” He retorted, cutting me off.

Narrative turned to look at me for a moment before speaking.

“I cannot see the sign clearly, does it say Golden Stable?” He asked.

“I uhh… yeah, why?” I replied, a cautious smile splitting my face, “Is it a stable? Do you know it?”

“It’s a restaurant, but if we’re that close to it then I think we took a wrong turn,” The machine replied.

Pot dropped to his haunches and threw his good forehoof into the air. The prosthetic hoof raised slightly, but he couldn’t bring it up higher than his shoulder.

“Well that’s just bloody perfect!” He shouted. “How do you take a ‘wrong turn’ in the middle of the fucking wasteland? There’s like five buildings around here that aren’t completely ruined!”

“Anger. Well I’m sorry, why don’t you try remembering directions after your brain is frozen in a jar for a century or two?” Narrative replied.

Pot opened his mouth to say something else in response, but he closed it again and instead shook his head. His good forehoof shot up and started to rub his temple in frustration.

“Okay, let’s all calm down…” I started, trying to put myself between Pot and Narrative. “I say we should go check out this stable place and then we can keep going,”

“Black Light-” Pot started, but he was interrupted by Narrative, who moved closer to me and spoke.

“I agree, I need to get my bearings,” The robot stated. “There is no stable there, don’t get your hopes up,”

“But then why would they call it a golden stable? It's confusing!” I pouted.

Pot rolled his eyes and sighed deeply.

“Fine! Let’s go get sidetracked again, whatever,” He relented, having finally seen that I was right.

We made our way down another ruined street. If I was being honest, the wasteland was slowly killing me with just how drab and boring it was. Most of the buildings around me seemed to just merge together into a brownish-gray mass of uninteresting nothingness. Even the few buildings that looked like they might have something interesting in them held naught but a hoofful of bottlecaps and ancient, ruined clothes. It simply looked as if some uncaring goddess had painted the world with a thick layer of rubble and dirt.

On the other hoof, however, the uninteresting landscape all but forced my eyes to stare at the golden sign ahead. It was as if the entire area were trying to guide me toward the one interesting thing that was in it. All that knowledge did was bolster my resolve to go there, however, anything would do to break the monotony of the trip.

We rounded a corner and came face to face with the Golden Stable. It was remarkably well-preserved, the red paint on the bricks that made up the front was still mostly intact, save for the occasional graffiti. The roof had evidently seen better days, but most of the tiles were still attached to it, even if most of them were cracked.

The building’s name had once stood above the door, but most of the yellow letters had fallen off over the years. Fortunately, however, the silhouettes of the fallen letters were still visible enough to make out the words: ‘Golden Stable: Buffet and Thrill’

“This looks promising!” I said, hopping in place excitedly.

“I don’t need to go inside, I think I remember the path from here,” Narrative Lampshade retorted, getting closer to me. “Its due west, we should get there in an hour,”

“You heard the tin can, we can keep moving,” Pot said, his brow still furrowed from the earlier discussion.

“B- but…” I stuttered, looking at the building’s weathered wooden door. “Come on… just a little look around, how long could it take?” I pleaded.

Pot rolled his eyes.

“Fine. We look around, and then we leave,” He stated, stomping on the floor. “Ten minutes, tops,”

“Yessss!” I said, walking up to the door and pushing it open.

The inside of the restaurant was in significantly worse shape than the exterior. Where I had expected to see a kitchen and tables I was met instead by a wide open area where one or several walls appeared to have been knocked down. Three tables stood in the middle, covered in empty cans and an unlit lantern. Bedrolls were strewn about near the walls, many of them being so filthy that the original color had been completely lost.

Something on the tables drew my attention, a single white box with bright blue letters reading ‘Fancy Buck snack cake’ was on it. I smirked and walked closer, scooping the food up in my magic and smiling wider when I noticed that the box appeared to be full. I tore it open and took out the contents, finding the snack cake, perfectly preserved and still safe within its plastic wrapper.

“This is a campsite, we need to get out of here,” Pot said when he walked into the building behind me. “Like… right now,” He added, his voice shaky.

“But there’s nopony here, why would they abandon their stuff like this?” I wondered.

“Fear. That probably means that they are not far, we should leave,” Narrative said.

I stuffed the snack cake into my saddlebags and turned around to look at my companions. I really wanted to explore some more, but they had a point, we should probably leave. The revolver hanging off my leg felt uncomfortably light without ammunition.

“I think we should check to see if there’s any guns here,” I said. “I’m all out, and neither of us can use the rifle rounds I took off that griffon,”

“Well I think we need to get as far away from here as possible!” Pot shouted back.

“Pot! Think about it, if they didn’t leave any guns behind then they probably left something that we can sell for ammo !” I offered, trying to convince him to let me explore.

I knew there had to be a stable down here, I could feel it in my bones. All I had to do was-

“Oh no…” I said when my eyes passed over my EFS.

“Oh for fucks sake, what is it now?” Pot said, his anger melting away into desperation.

I looked at the open door, then back down at my EFS.

“Ponies are coming,” I said, looking around the restaurant for a spot to hide. “There!” I shouted, pointing at a doorway that opened into a descending staircase.

“Fear. We will corner ourselves,” Narrative stated.

“Fucking…” Pot said, looking towards the door. “Screw it, let’s go!” He added, darting towards the stairs.

We all but tumbled into the basement, it was incredibly dark, leading to me slamming my shin into something that was on the floor. I bit my tongue to avoid screaming out, and looked back at my two companions. The only light that could be seen was a faint blue glow coming from Narrative’s brain jar after I used a flash of magic to shut the door at the top of the stairs.

I switched on my PipBuck light, but Pot was quick to put a hoof over it and shake his head. I wondered why he was so opposed to letting me see what was down here, but I decided to turn the light off to keep him calm.

“Are you two okay?” I whispered.

“Shut up, Black Light,” Pot whispered back, covering my mouth with a forehoof.

In the silence, my ears twitched around as they picked up the sounds of many, many sets of hooves coming into the building above. My eyes focused on what little light bled into the basement from the staircase.

As my eyes adapted to the darkness, I started to make out what was around us. It was some sort of storage area, with large metal tables strewn about with empty metal boxes stacked on top of them. Pot moved my head to look into his eyes and silently gestured towards the back of the basement with his head.

I nodded in understanding and we slowly crawled deeper into the darkness, pulling further away from the staircase. Something curious happened above, however. The ponies who had just entered the upper floor were arguing… or at least it sounded like arguing. Their voices were raised and violent, with multiple of them stomping the floor.

“I’m going to go listen closer,” I told Pot.

The stallion started shaking his head vigorously, but I smiled to let him know that everything was going to be okay. I tried to scoot closer to the stairs, but I found myself unable to move when Pot placed his forehoof on my shoulder and pulled me back.

Why’s he so angsty? I wondered. It’s not like I’m gonna run up there and start kicking ponies!

“It’ll be okay,” I whispered to him, using some magic to pry his hoof off my shoulder.

The stallion grabbed his head with his good hoof and started shaking his head from side to side. I wondered what had gotten into him, but it could wait until after I had figured out what was going on upstairs.

Very carefully, I crawled over to the staircase and went up a couple of steps. I had been correct, the ponies were arguing. But about what? I went a couple of steps higher, swiveling my ears to try and make out what the ponies were saying.

“-Talk to me like that!” A voice shouted, a mare.

“I left it right here you jackass!” A stallion replied.

My eyes darted to the bottom of my view, counting the blue bars on my EFS compass. It didn’t look good, despite my PipBuck not tracking vertically with any degree of accuracy, I counted at least a dozen bars.

“You spend half the day high on dash, dipshit, you probably ate it and don’t remember!” Another mare added.

“I did not!” The stallion from before barked. “You probably ate it, didn’t you?” He demanded.

“I’ll bite your other eye out so you can take a look in my stomach!” A mare shouted back.

I heard the distinctive sound of a gun cocking, followed quickly by multiple others. Nothing but the sparkling sounds of unicorn magic filled the tense silence that befell the upper floor. My heart started to beat a little faster, that familiar warmth starting to creep into my chest at the prospect of an impending firefight. Almost on reflex, I slipped out of my saddlebags, letting them drop to the floor behind me.

“Empty your saddlebags on the floor!” The stallion who had shouted earlier ordered.

“Or what? Gonna shoot me?” The mare replied.

A single gunshot rang out, making me jump in surprise.

The last thing I heard before a hailstorm of gunfire broke out was the dull thump of a body hitting the floor. More thumps came from upstairs, but not all of them were from ponies dying, as most of the bars on my EFS remained where they had been.

I needed some of that, but I only managed to get up two steps before I was yanked back by my tail. My muzzle slammed into the stairs, filling my eyes with stars. I lifted my head and shook it slightly before looking back and staring at the culprit.

Pot was standing below me, my tail firmly held in his mouth. He spat it out and looked at me with a furrowed brow.

“You don’t have a weapon!” He said, his voice dangerously loud. “Let them kill each other!”

I looked at the stallion for a moment, the burning in my veins reaching a fever pitch. He was right, I didn’t have any ammunition…

But he has…

A wide smile parted my face when my eyes darted down to Pot’s pistol grip. It wasn’t exactly a good weapon, but it was better than nothing. The stallion recoiled back slightly when he saw my horn light up, but whatever he had been expecting, it wasn’t for me to wrap my telekinesis around his weapon.

“Gimmie this for a sec!” I squeaked as I pulled the gun out of his leg holster.

“Wait no!” The stallion shouted, but it was too late.

With the rickety gun held as firmly as I dared in my magic, I launched myself up the stairs and slammed into the door, ripping the hinges off the doorframe. I didn’t step out of the stairwell, knowing that the walls around me would provide some much-needed cover.

The scene in front of me was pure chaos. Upturned tables and bodies dotted the floor, and multiple ponies dressed in rags had taken positions on either side of the room from where they were shooting at each other from behind piles of rubble and what little remained of the restaurant’s walls. Two bars on the right, four bars on the left, one ahead. I counted. Movement on my right drew my attention.

An orange earth pony mare with bloodshot eyes turned around to look at me and started to whip her body around to try and aim her battle saddle rifle at me. I let out a chuckle. Internally I had been dreading the thought of these ponies not being aggressive and having to explain what we had been doing here peacefully. But they had pointed a weapon at me, so they were clearly not good!

Pot’s gun fired at… something… I didn’t really know where the bullet had gone, but I shot thrice more before the mare could finish lining up her rifle. One of the bullets just so happened to hit her in the side of the head, splattering a stallion that had been hiding in the rubble next to her.

The pony lit up their horn and spun a pistol around to aim at me. Not trusting Pot’s gun, I dispelled the telekinesis and instead focused it on the other unicorn’s gun, preventing him from aiming as I charged out of the stairs. Bullets flew around me from the other side of the restaurant as another one of the evil bandits opened fire.

The unicorn stallion threw his forehooves up to try and grab me as I slammed into him, tackling him to the ground with me in a rather violent hug. I swung my head at his, slamming our horns together. Both spells backfired, sending a shot of electricity down my spine that almost made my legs cramp up. Out of the corner of my eye, however, I noticed that the magic holding the stallion’s pistol had imploded.

Gotcha! I thought gleefully as I twisted my head to bite onto the gun’s mouth-grip before the stallion could recover. I pressed the barrel of the gun against his forehead and fired, nearly hitting the foreleg I had wrapped around his head in the process.

“Who the fuck is that?” One of the raiders on the other side of the restaurant shouted.

“She’s probably the bastard that ate my snack cake!” A stallion shouted.

The sheer ridiculousness of what I had just heard almost made me lose my focus, but I was forced to pay attention again when a large red earth pony launched at me from behind a half-collapsed wall, armed with a rusty combat knife. He looked beyond furious, but I was forced to throw myself to the floor when I saw a large gun float out from behind him and open fire at me.

I rolled to the side, putting the charging stallion in between me and the shooter. I had to applaud the raider for their ability to not shoot their friend in the back, but it wouldn’t mean much once I killed both. With a grunt, I reared up to face the stallion-

My right rear leg went limp when I tried to put my weight on it, leading to me doing little other than messing up my balance.

“Ough!” I wheezed when the pony slammed into me.

I barely got my foreleg up to catch the blade with my hoof. It bit into the horn, but it was nowhere near sharp enough to reach the softer tissue underneath. The pony tried to tear the blade out, but it had gotten stuck enough for him to just move my hoof around slightly. He had me pinned on the floor, something that I realized when I tried to kick him off of me only to fail in landing a hit.

The stallion’s nostrils blew hot air onto my face as he furiously bit onto the knife grip, he was so close that I could almost count all the popped veins in his eyes… Wait… that’s it! I thought with a loud cackle.

I used the hoof that had the knife stuck in it to push the stallion up, pulling his head a little further away from mine. As soon as I could move my neck freely, I angled my forehead properly and then let my foreleg go limp, causing the stallion to slam his head down onto me. My horn jammed directly into his right eye, hitting something hard inside the pony’s head.

The stallion screamed and tried to pull himself off, but I wrapped my other forehoof around the back of his head and pressed him against my horn even harder. With a muted crunch, my horn sank about a hoof’s length into the pony’s head, pressing his muzzle against my forehead. I closed my eyes to avoid getting any blood in them and shook my head around, feeling the stallion start twitching before he eventually went limp.

“What the fuck is that?” A pony shouted before at least two different guns opened fire… but they weren’t shooting at me.

“Fear. Stop shooting” Narrative’s voice cried out.

I shoved the stallion off and wiped my eyes clean with a forehoof, raising my gaze to watch as Narrative Lampshade flailed his claws around to try and cover his brain jar as bullets ricocheted off his body. My eyes focused on the two ponies that were shooting at him, a unicorn mare with a rifle, and a stallion with a pistol. I raised my right forehoof and focused on the knife that was still stuck in it, yanking it out with my magic and throwing it at the mare as hard as I could.

We weren’t too far apart, but the knife was not made for throwing. The weapon flipped around in mid-air and slammed into the mare’s chest with the flat of the blade, bouncing off without doing any damage. The mare looked at me, then at Narrative, and then at her gun.

“Fuck this,” She said, running out of the restaurant.

“Wait!” The stallion shouted, spitting his gun out and rushing out behind the mare. But I wasn’t going to let both of them get away.

My magic wrapped around the falling pistol, whipping it around and firing into the stallion as he ran. He kept running, however, and then slammed into the wall beside the door, leaving a blood splatter on it before collapsing to the ground. I got up shakily, my heartbeat feeling off… as if it were muffled, despite being inside my head.

“Unstable emotion. Nightmare. No. Can’t be,” Narrative droned, spinning in a slow circle. “Nightmare. Wake up,” He added, clutching his brain jar with his claws.

“Hey… calm down…” I said, my tongue feeling as if it were too big for my mouth.

“Nightmare. Wake up. Luna. Help,” The machine continued before suddenly falling silent and going limp.

I looked at him for a moment, not entirely sure why. Had he just been talking? Whatever the case, my attention was drawn to the stairs behind him, from where a figure emerged.

“-Throw me down the bloody stairs?” Said the new pony, a stallion.

His coat was dark blue, and one of his forelegs was made out of metal. What an odd-looking raider... Wait, no, I knew that stallion…

“Pan?” I wondered.

“Black Light! This bastard threw me down the stairs to rush up behind you, what happened?” The stallion asked.

“One of them got away…” I said, feeling a little lightheaded as I turned to look at the door. “Stay with Narrative, I’ll go… I’ll go hunt her down… I’ll… I need to…” I added, staggering slightly when I tried to walk forward.

The earth pony rushed past me and sat down on the floor, putting himself between me and the door. I furrowed my brow, not understanding why he was being so annoying. Could he be defending the raider? No… It couldn’t be…

The pistol floated up and aimed at his head. Pot’s green eyes opened wide and focused on the gun as he brought his non-metal forehoof up.

“H- hey, calm down…” He said cautiously. “You’ve got some holes in you, lass…” He added, pointing at me.

I looked down to try and see what he was talking about-

“Oh…” I said, flopping to my haunches.

There were two holes on my left rear leg, and another two on my belly. My white coat had become caked in blood, especially the leg. So that’s why I couldn’t jump. I thought. A slight chill started to creep into me, making me shiver slightly. The gun dropped out of my magic, clattering onto the floor.

Pot walked forward, gently lowering me to the floor.

“Stay awake,” He said… or at least that’s what I could get out of the muffled mess that my ears caught.

I watched as the stallion started checking the bodies around us, feeling my breath get shallower as my legs lost sensation. I wondered what he could be looking for… Maybe a better gun, he could really use one.

“Hey!” Pot shouted, shaking my head.

When did he get there? I wondered. He had just been digging around for a gun, how did he get so close?

“You’re… soft…” I mumbled, nuzzling the stallion’s chest as he cradled my head.

“Can ya help me ya damn tin can?” Pot shouted at somepony I couldn’t see. Tin Can was an odd name, who’d name their child after a tin can?

That’s when the realization hit me, this was Pot, my cook friend.

“Mushroom!” I said, understanding what he was asking.

“What?” He asked, looking at me with profound bewilderment.

The stallion groaned. Guess we’re out of mushroom soup… bummer.

I watched as he bit onto a pink bottle, ripping the cap off and spitting it onto the floor. It was probably some kind of juice, or maybe even some sauce! I hadn’t even realized how hungry I was, but Pot was always there for me. He was a great friend, and great friends deserved hugs!

“Stop trying to grab me ya daft bastard!” The stallion shouted, shaking my weak forehooves off his shoulders.

Wait… why were my foehooves weak? They were supposed to be strong, the strongest in the wasteland! The hero of the stable couldn’t be weak… No… not the stable… What was I the hero of again?

Something was jammed into my belly, but I didn’t pay it any mind, as I was too focused on trying to remember. If it’s not the stable… then what was it? Up-top Land? No, that sounds silly, only a child would fall for that. Maybe it was uhhh… The world? No, couldn’t be… what then…

“Owwww…” I whined, trying to rub my belly. It was hurting pretty bad, maybe I had eaten something I shouldn’t have?

No, that couldn’t be it. Pot gave me all my food, and he wouldn’t let me eat anything bad! Where even was that stallion? Hadn’t he just been-

Oh, he’s holding my head… I realized. Wait, why? What is he doing? I wondered, looking at the blue earth pony.

I was laying on my back, with my head held against his chest while he pressed his good forehoof into my belly. I looked closer and saw that he was holding a bottle against my red coat. Wait a minute… my coat wasn’t supposed to be red.

“What…? I asked weakly.

Pot threw the empty bottle to the side and started to rip up some barding with his teeth. I watched in silent amazement as he tore long strips of fabric from it before reaching for another bottle and biting at the cap. He struggled with it for a moment, with the bottle sliding out of his lone forehoof, until he simply groaned and slammed it against the floor.

The neck of the bottle shattered, spilling some weird-smelling liquid next to me. Pot picked it back up and then dumped the rest of the contents onto the fabric he had just torn up. Once it was soaked, he got to work on wrapping it around my belly. A bandage, I realized.

And that other bottle was a healing potion! I realized as my brain slowly started to work again. I shook my head slightly and stared at him while he wrapped more bandages around my rear leg. I had been shot… but how? I was sure I had rolled out of the way of the bandits.

“Was I… too slow?” I mumbled, holding a bloodied forehoof up to my eyes.

“Black Light? Is the potion working?” Pot asked, taking my forehoof and pressing it against his chest.

“I- yes…” I said, looking down at my belly and focusing on the odd glow that came out of the spots where I had been shot.

“Thank Celestia these bastards had a potion on them,” Pot said, looking around the restaurant for a moment before focusing on me again. “What the fuck were you thinking?” He asked.

“I thought… I could get them all…” I said weakly, offering him a smile.

Pot sighed deeply, holding his head in frustration.

“We are not getting sidetracked again, got it?” He stated. “Your luck is going to run out, and I’d rather not get killed because of it,”

My ears drooped at his words. The last thing I wanted was for him to not feel safe around me. Could I really have made him lose faith in me? No, it couldn't be. I had to find a way to get him to trust me again. Maybe if I killed the one bandit that had gotten away! Then I could-

Three bars… I noticed.

“Pot… One got away…” I said, still not strong enough to stand up-

No! Get up right now! I shouted at myself internally.

I flailed my hooves around to try and roll onto my side, but Pot pushed me back down.

“Leave it, they’re gone,” He said, furrowing his brow.

“No… there!” I shouted, flailing my legs at the third bar on my EFS.

The stallion looked at the wall I was pointing at before whipping their head back to me.

“Stay here…” He muttered, taking his gun out of his leg holster. Apparently, he had picked it back up after coming up the stairs.

“No… wait…” I said, trying to get up again only to have the earth pony push me back onto the floor.

“Stay. Here,” He stated, looking at me with concern, “I’ll go scare them off,”

Despite my protests, the stallion got up and slowly walked towards the front door. I struggled to get up, but my heart felt weak, and it couldn’t send enough strength to my legs to get me up.

Pot walked outside just as I managed to flop onto my side, but I was too tired to keep moving. Why was I so tired? I was supposed to be able to run for hours, yet here I was, struggling to get off the floor. The sound of my own wheezing breath was incredibly distracting, a constant reminder of my own weakness. I closed my mouth, intent on not giving the world the luxury of listening to me gasp for air.

But the wheezing continued.

What the…? I wondered, until I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.

The stallion I had shot point-blank in the head was shakily getting back up. He breathed in deeply and then coughed onto the floor, with a spurt of blood shooting out of the bullet wound in his head. He slowly turned until he was facing me and furrowed his brow.

“You… shot me…” He slurred, dragging himself closer to me.

A flash of panic ran down my spine as the stallion approached, but that strange feeling of exhaustion didn’t let me do anything other than weakly drag myself away. I couldn’t even muster up any magic, but at least it seemed the stallion couldn’t do it either.

He got closer. I tried to kick at him with my right rear leg, but the two bullet holes in it only made me wince in pain as soon as I tried to move it. The pain didn’t last long, however, because the stallion climbed on top of me and shoved both his twitchy forehooves up to my throat.

I raised my own forehooves, but it felt as if his grip were made of steel. No matter how hard I pulled on his legs, my forelegs just couldn’t muster enough strength to break his chokehold. Fight… Back…! I roared in my mind, resorting to hitting the stallion in the face. But my hooves were too weak.

My vision started to blur. The stallion above me grit their teeth and growled like a wild animal, a thick drop of blood dripping from the hole in their head and onto my face. A black ring started to close around the edges of my vision, blurring my EFS compass as it did. Fight…! Please…! I tried, my forehoof slipping off the stallion’s forelegs.

Bang!

The stallion above me went limp, felled by a second shot to the head. I tried to push him off again, but couldn’t get him to budge.

“Black Light!” Pot exclaimed from the doorway, his pistol falling to the floor.

The earth pony rushed over to my side and pushed the dead unicorn off my chest. Panting with effort, the stallion reached down and hugged me.

“I- I’m sorry, I thought you meant outside-” Pot said, his voice shaky.

I coughed slightly to clear my throat.

“Its… Fine… Thank you,” I said, smiling.

He seemed less angry at me now, that was definitely a good thing. I adjusted my position slightly to avoid getting stabbed in the side by his prosthetic leg, feeling how the strength slowly returned to my body.

“Does it hurt?” He asked, looking at me with concern.

I glanced down at myself. To be honest, I was in a lot of pain, it was only tolerable because I wasn’t moving at all. I didn’t want to tell him that, however, I couldn’t show weakness, I had to be his protector.

“N- no…” I said, trying to sound as strong as possible.

Pot sighed and turned to look at Narrative, who hadn’t moved at all since going limp.

“We could ask him for some MedX…” He said absentmindedly. “What happened to him?”

I looked at the robot as well. Both of his claws were extended and hung limply in front of his chassis. The braincase above had lost its blue glow, but the brain inside remained intact. The jar itself had a round white spot where a bullet had hit it that kind of looked like a flower, but it didn’t seem to have pierced it. Several bullet holes dotted the left shoulder and front plate from where he had taken a few hits in the fight.

“I don’t know… He just rushed out and got shot… then he went limp,” I offered.

“He said something about wandering range before pushing me down the stairs and rushing up behind you,” Pot said.

“Good thing he did…” I replied weakly. “If he hadn’t I would’ve… Would’ve…”

“You’re okay,” Pot said, interrupting me.

I hung my head slightly in his grasp before replying.

“Yeah… Just tired…” I muttered.

Pot chuckled softly.

“Aye, healing potions will do that to you if you don’t drink them,” The stallion said. “You can rest a bit, I’ll check to see if there’s anything useful on these bastards,” He added.

“Yeah…” I said weakly before fading off to sleep.

My dreams were uneasy and wild, full of beheaded ponies that desperately wanted to steal my head for their own. While normally I wouldn’t have let myself be intimidated by a pony who had been so careless as to lose their head, these were different, these were strong.

They were too strong, my blows did nothing, my magic bounced off their bloodied coats, and when they grabbed me, I could do nothing but scream as they pulled and twisted to try and steal my head.

I shot upright, sitting on the floor of the restaurant. Pot, who had been sitting nearby, jumped into the air in shock. He recovered and rushed over to me.

“Black Light!” He exclaimed, “Are you okay?”

“I- yeah…” I muttered, but after taking a deep breath, I realized that my legs felt strong. “Yeah!” I exclaimed, more excited.

I got up, a task that felt almost laughably easy compared to earlier. My rear right leg was still sore, but it was nowhere near the agony I had felt before. I giggled, flexing one of my forehooves and feeling that wonderful burn in my muscles again.

“Hey, take it easy, you’ll hurt yourself,” Pot chided.

“Nah, I’m fine, that little nap did wonders!” I said, smiling.

The stallion raised an eyebrow.

“Little nap?” He asked, incredulous.

I cocked my head to the side, but then I noticed a couple of things. For starters, I had been lying on a bedroll. Pot’s bedroll sat a short distance away, already rolled up. One of the tables had been put upright again and was covered with an assortment of horrible-looking guns and other random items. I turned towards the door and saw that it had been covered with Narrative Lampshade, who had a rope tied to his front plate and between his tracks to keep him from moving.

“How long was I asleep for?” I asked, rubbing my head.

“Since yesterday afternoon, it’s morning now,” Pot explained, walking back to where he had been sitting. “I put that thing in front of the door so it wouldn’t open,”

The stallion went back to slowly stirring a bowl he was holding on his lap. I walked over closer to try and see what he was doing, finding a strange yellowish cream inside the bowl.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Breakfast,” The stallion said with a smile.

The mere mention of Pot’s cooking made my stomach growl in anticipation. I walked over a little closer and sat next to him, waiting patiently.

After a few more minutes of stirring, Pot grabbed a second bowl and poured half the mixture into it, passing it over to me. I took the bowl in my magic and eyed the paste, it smelled sweet, making my mouth water slightly.

I took a… Sip? Bite? I slurped up a little bit of the mixture and almost fell onto my back from the sheer creamy deliciousness that my tongue was assailed by. I raised the bowl higher, all but pouring the mixture into my mouth. It was just… delicious.

“This is so good!” I said, licking the bowl.

Pot stared at me with a slightly concerned expression as he carefully lifted his spoon from his own bowl, drinking some of the mixture.

“Glad you liked it, my mother used to make it for me…” He said, his ears drooping slightly.

Touchy subject… I realized. I looked down at the bowl and then back at Pot, smiling.

“It tastes amazing, what’s in it?” I asked, trying to change the subject somewhat.

“Eggs and sugar, I’m actually surprised these ponies had some,” Pot replied smiling.

“Eggs?” I asked, “Like those that come in little boxes?” I remembered seeing a researcher eating some one time, he had said that they weren’t good for fillies and refused to give me any.

“Uhhh no…?” The stallion replied. “I’m pretty sure those are pre-war,”

“Wait then how were they still good?” I asked, looking down at my empty bowl.

“These were fresh eggs, don’t worry,” Pot reassured me, “You’re thinking about Yum Yum’s,”

I cocked my head to the side in confusion.

“Yum what?” I asked.

Narrative Lampshade let out a loud blaring sound, making me whip my head around to look at him. The blue light had returned to his brain jar.

"Happy. Creamy and dreamy, they’re always a hit. For many or one, Yum Yum's a perfect fit. Spicy, tangy, and oh so fine. Grab a dozen and taste the divine," The machine stated.

“Uhhh… What?” Pot asked.

“The jingle from the radio, I used to love Yum Yum’s,” Narrative explained.

I got up, smiling at the robot.

“Narrative! You’re all right!” I chirped.

I ran over to the machine and wrapped my forelegs around him in a big hug.

“Yes, I appear to have taken minor damage,” The robot droned. “And my body sedated me, what happened?” He demanded.

“I uhh… There was a-” I started, but Pot cut me off.

“Nothing, you just hit a wall and shut down, so we stopped for the night,” The stallion stated, shooting me a warning glance.

“Yeah, what he said,” I offered with a smile.

“My sincerest apologies, then,” Narrative said. “Shall we continue towards the park?”

I looked at Pot with a pleading expression. The stallion looked at me and sighed.

“If you feel like you can take it, then let’s go,” He said, “We should look through the stuff I found to see what we should take,” He added, pointing towards the table where he had laid out all our loot.

We took some time to look over the small arsenal of atrocious guns that had been laid out. I quickly realized why Pot hadn’t replaced his pistol with a better gun: there was no better gun. The only thing I could find even remotely useful was a bolt action rifle that looked as if it had been made with a lead pipe and a street sign. One of the battle saddles had been modified for bolt action weapons, sporting a second lever to be able to use the gun, but it was too small for Pot to wear. I took the rifle for myself, sliding it across my back.

There was one other rifle, it looked semi-automatic, and I recalled a unicorn mare using it. Whatever it may have been, the gun had broken when she threw it away. None of the other guns could really be used to repair it either… a pity.

As for ammunition, I had twenty-three shots for the rifle, and Pot scrounged up fifty bullets for his pistol. The bullets may have not been any caliber I could recognize, but they were all more or less the same size. So while we couldn’t take all the guns with us, we could still make use of the bullets. The other thing that would definitely be useful was the four apple-shaped grenades one of the bandits had been carrying in a box labeled ‘explosives, do not touch’.

The raiders had had a lot of food on them, fresh food too, much to Pot’s surprise. Small pieces of cheese and hardtack, stowed neatly away in pieces of cloth. Almost half a dozen eggs and a rather odd-looking piece of meat as well, all things that were stuffed into the new saddlebags that Pot instructed me on how to make.

Sure, he couldn’t do much with just one leg, but I still had my horn. And through a series of knots and loops, we managed to attach several of the bandit’s saddlebags onto Narrative’s chassis. I would never say it, of course, but I appreciated no longer being burdened with carrying all our supplies.

We set out towards the east after lunch, which wasn’t much more than some of the cheese. Pot had insisted on eating all our fresh food first. The cook’s small burner had run out of gas, however, so we couldn’t cook the meat.

“Hopefully I’ll find somewhere to refill the gas bottle before this goes bad,” Pot commented as he stuffed the cloth-wrapped meat into one of the many new pockets lining Narrative’s sides.

My leg still hurt, but it was bearable. I slowly limped behind Narrative as he led us down the ruined streets. Despite the silence, I couldn’t help but look around nervously and glance at my EFS compass every couple minutes. That last mare had gotten away… How could I have let her get away? She was definitely going to come back to bite me in the flank, I could feel it in my bones.

I looked back to scan the ruins we had already passed, absentmindedly grabbing my rifle with my magic. Pot, who was walking behind me, raised an eyebrow and looked back as well before turning to look at me again.

“You good?” The stallion asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah… yeah…” I said, shaking my head softly and looking forward again.

We eventually came to the edge of the park. It looked pretty much identical to the Trotterton reservoir, that is to say, it was a wide open patch of scorched dirt. Unlike the other park, however, this one had no buildings in it. Either that, or whatever buildings were here had been completely destroyed. We had come to one of the edges of the park, where a fence separated us from the park proper.

I noticed that the ground was covered in holes of various sizes, some looked like I could poke my head into them, but others looked as if an entire pony could fall inside. Pot noticed them too and stopped in his tracks, pressing his face against the bars of the fence to stare into the park.

“I don’t like those holes,” He muttered before turning to look at me. “Does your leg terminal thing see anything in there?”

I stared at my EFS compass, but there was nothing there. The holes were slightly disturbing in a way I couldn’t really put into words.

“Are you sure this is the place, Narrative?” I wondered, turning to look at the robot.

“Yes, this is Double Hoof Park,” He replied. “But I’m not sure where the facility could be hidden,”

I sat on my haunches and considered the park. The lack of any buildings was throwing me off, but it couldn’t be that well hidden.

“Black Light…” Pot said, sitting next to me and putting a foreleg on my shoulder. “I really think we should keep going, remember what happened yesterday,”

“Wait, let me focus,” I responded, raising a foreleg.

There was something about the holes that stuck out to me. They weren’t artificial, something had very deliberately dug them, but there was a pattern to them. Small holes were closer to the outside of the park, with the openings getting progressively larger as they drew closer to the center. Everywhere except for…

“There!” I exclaimed, pointing at a spot near some broken benches.

Pot followed my hoof, but quickly cocked his head to the side in confusion.

“What’s over there?” He asked.

“Look at the holes. There’s holes everywhere else in the park, but not there,” I explained. “Whatever made the holes avoided that spot,”

“I’m more worried about what made the holes in the first place,” The stallion replied. “We should leave,” He repeated.

“Aww come on, my EFS says its clear. Just a quick peek,” I pleaded.

Pot looked at me with a distraught expression.

“No, Black Light, we’ve been through this yesterday,” He said, stomping the ground softly. “And this definitely doesn’t look safe,” He added, pointing into the park.

“Well uhh… I’m going in anyway!” I stated, huffing.

“What?” Pot said, staggering back as if I had hit him.

My resolve faltered for a moment, but I checked the EFS again and reassured myself that it was clear.

“I’m going to go check if there’s anything there, you can stay here if you want. I can’t pass up the chance of getting something that could help my stable,” I said, keeping my tone stern.

The stallion furrowed his brow. And looked at Narrative pleadingly.

“I physically cannot leave her side, no matter how much I’d like to,” He said.

“See? Narrative trusts me, why don’t you?” I asked.

“You’re an asshole,” He announced. “Fine, let's go,” He added between gritted teeth.

I smiled at my charisma. He had been surprisingly easy to convince. Guess he wasn’t that opposed to exploring this place after all, I thought gleefully.

We made our way to the entrance of the park, where a large gate had once stood. The gate lay on the ground inside the park, bent out of shape as if it had been kicked off its hinges by a mighty buck. A simple depiction of a leg ending in two hooves could be seen on it, with the words ‘Double Hoof Park’ engraved on the metal below.

“Fear. Are you certain your PipBuck doesn’t detect anything?” The robot asked. “These holes have been dug by a large predator, even my terrible sensor talisman can pick up on the claw marks,” He added.

I looked at one of the holes and realized that he was correct. Long claw marks could be seen around the edges of the holes where some creature had torn up the earth. Despite this, my EFS vehemently refused to show any bars other than Pot and Narrative’s.

“Yeah, it’s all clear, they’re probably old,” I said.

“Or whatever made them just left to get food or something and is about to come back to find us snooping about…” Pot interjected. “But its not like that has ever happened to us, right, Black Light?”

I chuckled at the stallion’s joke.

“We don’t even know if those bandits were looking for food!” I pouted.

“No, I mean… Nevermind…” Pot grumbled.

We reached the clear spot in the middle of the park, but I ran into a bit of a problem… There was nothing here. No building ruins, no conveniently placed hole, nothing other than plain dirt.

“Well would you look at that, there’s nothing here,” Pot announced, “Please, let's get out of here,”

“No… there has to be something here…” I said, looking at the plain dirt.

Pot threw his head back and screamed into the clouds. I whipped my head to look at him, worried that he might have gotten hurt. He lowered his head again and looked directly at me, his green eyes alight with anger.

“Okay that is it,” He shouted, “You are not going to drag me across the wasteland and into a grave, Black Light!”

The stallion started to pace around me as he continued ranting.

“Ever since I bloody met you you’ve done nothing but throw yourself into the most dangerous place you can find. I can see that you don’t give a single fuck about your own life, but I care about mine!” He stated, stopping in place to stomp the ground with his good forehoof. “You said you cared about keeping me safe… well this ain’t it!”

“Pot I-” I started, but the earth pony was not done.

“Shut the fuck up! If you really want me to be safe then you are going to help me get to the closest settlement, and then you’re going to grab your little talking coffee machine and fuck off somewhere far away from me, got it?” He said, the veins in his neck becoming clear from the strain of yelling so much.

My ears drooped. I didn’t like making adults angry, but what hurt the most was knowing that he didn’t trust me to keep him safe. Why? Had I not bested every single challenge so far?

“Fear. You might want to stop shouting,” Narrative stated.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that, all-knowing tin can?” Pot shouted back.

“Fear. There is a large creature approaching,” The robot responded, raising a claw to point at something in the distance.

I followed the claw and saw what he was talking about. A pair of bright yellow eyes were looking at us from inside one of the nearby tunnels.

“Oh for fucks sake!” Pot exclaimed before the monster erupted from the hole.

At first, I had assumed it to be some kind of tentacled abomination, but when it came into the light I realized that the tentacles were only some kind of tumorous growth on the top of its snout. A snout that was full of monstrous jagged teeth.

The monster’s fur was dark purple and spotty, with most of its body being completely hairless and covered in festering red sores. Two long forelegs ended in flat-tipped claws, and the rear legs were stubby, yet impressively muscular. Its head whipped around to focus on Pot before letting out an earth-shaking roar and charging at the stallion.

My new pipe rifle floated up beside me and fired almost by reflex. While the sight was nowhere near accurate, the creature was so big that the bullet still struck true. Not that it did much, as the wound was simply lost among the sea of bright red sores on the creature’s left shoulder.

It clearly felt it, however, as it changed targets almost immediately and started to charge at me instead. I shot again, sending two more bullets into the monster, but they didn’t even seem to slow it down.

“Pot! Run!” I shouted as the creature drew closer to me.

The monster leaped into the air, bringing both of its immense forelegs over its head as if it intended to crush me. Thinking quickly, I charged towards it, rolling in between its rear legs just before it slammed down, narrowly avoiding the hit.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Narrative fleeing as far away as he could. Pot was standing next to him, digging through one of the saddlebags that were strapped to the machine’s side. What in Celestia’s name is he up to? I wondered, but the monster forced me to stare at it again when it let out a guttural roar.

It clawed at the spot I had just been in viciously in frustration, using those large, flat claws as shovels to tear dirt away from the ground for a moment before turning towards me and focusing its large yellow eyes on me. If only my gun could shoot straight, then I could… Wait, that’s it! I thought.

I slipped into SATS, feeling the world slow down to a crawl around me. I looked at the creature in front of me, which the spell labeled as ‘Maulwurf’, and tried to focus on those bright yellow eyes. Much to my dismay, the rifle I had taken from the bandits was too terrible for even SATS to make it shoot with anything resembling accuracy. It was still worth a shot, however.

Two shots rang out once the spell ran its course. The first one went flying right past the monster, had it had ears, I probably would’ve shot it off. The second one came surprisingly close to the eye, but it still missed, bouncing off the creature’s forehead instead and leaving a long wound along it.

With a roar, the monster charged me again, swinging its left paw in a wide arc. I jumped back to avoid the hit, but my wounded leg cried out in anguish as soon as I landed, making me collapse to my knees. Stunned as I was, I had no hope of even thinking about dodging the monster’s backhand.

The creature’s leg smacked into me with the strength of a small explosion, sending me flying into the air. I flew for a moment before slamming into the dirt a little further away and bouncing a couple times. The weak knots that held the bandages around my rear leg became undone by the impact, making them slip off and onto the floor.

I shook my head and looked at the monster as it rushed me again. I rolled out of the way, leaving my blood-soaked bandages behind on the dirt as I did. The monster slammed its claws into the dirt, nearly hitting me with the left one. I tried to get up, but my rear leg couldn’t do much more than send shots of pain up my side.

The monster, however, seemed to have lost all interest in me. The many wormlike growths on its nose had all moved to point at the bandage on the ground in between its claws. I used one of my forelegs to drag myself a short distance away from the monster.

What the- I thought before the creature lowered its head and took a deep sniff of the bandages. Its eyes rolled up into the back of its skull, turning nearly completely white as it grumbled before going into a frenzy. Its claws slammed into the ground over and over, tearing the bandage to sheds with its jagged teeth as it tore long grooves in the dirt.

My eyes nervously glanced down at my wounded leg, which had already started bleeding again. As soon as that thing realized where the blood had come from, I was going to be mincemeat.

An odd sound came from the spot where the monster was digging, bringing my attention back to it as I continued to try and drag myself away. A large flat rock had appeared at the bottom of the hole. No… not a rock… cement!

Whatever it may have been, the sudden scrape of its claws against a hard surface seemed to snap the monster out of its frenzy. Its massive head turned to look at me, pieces of the torn bandages still stuck between its teeth. My blood seemed to freeze solid as the monster opened its mouth wide, it could easily bite me in half, was this truly how I was going to go?

No! I roared internally, firing up my horn and forcing the monster’s jaw to stay open. It held, but it was a losing battle, this thing’s mouth was unbelievably strong, even stronger than my magic. I tried to think of a way to slip out of this, but nothing came to me.

The monster started flailing at its own mouth with its claws, apparently thinking that something had gotten stuck inside of it. As long as it didn’t think to skewer me with them, then maybe I could-

Something landed on my chest, I glanced down and spotted a loop of rope, the same rope that Pot had used to tie up Narrative the previous day.

“Black Light! Hold on!” Pot shouted before throwing something else at me.

I watched the object fly through the air for a moment before realizing what it was: the three grenades we had taken from the bandits, tied together in a bouquet. The explosives landed next to me, where I noticed that all three of them had had their stems pulled. Realization dawned on me immediately and I craned my head around to bite onto the rope.

“Now!” Pot barked, biting onto the rope and yanking it back.

The other end of the rope had been fastened around Narrative’s chassis, who rushed away from the monster as fast as he could, dragging me away. My magic collapsed under the strain of the beast’s mouth, but I was already too far for it to hit me. The rope slipped out of my mouth, but I was more than far enough to look at the monster as it roared once more.

All three grenades went off at once, cutting the monster’s roar short. The entire section of the park that hadn’t been dug into shook, cracking along the middle. The creature whined in pain as the earth opened wide, tumbling into the sinkhole.

I cackled, my heart fluttering at the victory.

“How do you like them apples?” I shouted at the creature.

Pot and Narrative came up to where I lied on the ground, with the earth pony looking at the hole with a wide smile.

“I can’t believe that worked!” He said, chuckling nervously.

“Yeah! I was sure I was going to-” I started, but I was cut short by the ground beneath us letting out a horrible rumbling sound.

Pot’s eyes went wide with alarm as he looked at the hole where the monster had fallen into. I followed his gaze and saw that the cracks had widened, and were heading directly for us.

“Pot!” Was the last thing I could say before the ground collapsed, sending me tumbling through dirt and debris into Celestia knew where.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Patch Collage

Classification: Unicorn mare – 19 years of age – C-7ed6c2 M-8e7797 E-1d057e

Cutie mark: a piece of fabric with two different colored patches

Patch Collage was part of a small group of recovering drug addicts who lived in a Golden Stable in baltimare, she had joined the group to fuel her dash addiction, which had broken her relationship with her family. The group took her in with open hooves, and while recovery was a long road, wrought with mood swings and relapses, they had managed to remain clean enough to set up a small trade route between some local settlements.

This changed after the group’s encounter with the Witch of Baltimare, which resulted in all of them dying, save for Patch Collage, who cast down her weapon and ran away, swearing to herself that she would go completely clean and bring her life around after the sheer horror that the Witch had made her experience.

After some time wandering the wastes, she made her way back to her family’s farmstead and lived out the rest of her life with them, never touching any sort of drug again.

Author's Note

Ain’t that a kick in the head

My leg hurt.

To be fair, my entire body hurt. But my leg was hurting especially badly.

I had landed in a heap of dirt and rubble, where my lower half was swiftly buried by the falling dirt. My head throbbed almost as painfully as my wounded rear leg, but at least I could still move it around.

Slowly, I brought my PipBuck up to my face, where the bright screen made my eyes hurt. The little pony in the middle looked a lot worse for wear, limping around and covered in bandages. My foreleg fell back down to the dirt that covered my lower half, too tired to stay up. I sighed deeply, looking around the pile.

The first thing I spotted was the monster. It had fallen before most of the rubble had, meaning that it was almost completely buried. But I could still spot the claws of its right forelimb sticking out near me. A little further down the pile, I spotted the head of the monster, with its large yellow eyes closed shut.

Next, I noticed the shiny dome of Narrative Lampshade’s brain jar. It looked intact despite having taken quite the tumble. Only his back half seemed to have been covered in dirt, but I doubted he would have much trouble digging himself out.

There was one pony who I couldn’t spot, however.

“Pot?” I called out weakly.

My left ear twitched slightly towards a soft rustling noise, which I followed to spot the blue earth pony in question. He was lying on his side on the other side of the dirt pile as the monster. There was barely any dirt on him, but his prosthetic leg was missing.

No… not missing… broken.

The yellow plastic sleeve was still attached to his stump, but only a hoof’s length of the metal below was still there, the rest had been snapped off and was nowhere to be seen. The stallion mumbled something weakly, raising his head.

“Black… Light?” He asked, opening his eyes and scanning his surroundings.

The stallion winced and brought his left forehoof to his stump, clutching it for a moment before looking up again. His green eyes were wide with panic, but they relaxed when he saw me only to immediately fill with concern when he noticed that my bottom half was missing. Limping on his three good legs, the earth pony worked his way up the dirt pile and came to a stop next to me.

“Are you okay?” He asked, looking around and spotting Narrative.

“Yeah… Just pinned here…” I replied, wincing slightly when I moved around to gesture at the dirt.

Pot looked down at his broken prosthetic before pawing at the dirt around me weakly with his good leg and shaking his head.

“I can’t get you out of there, can you move at all?” He asked.

“N- no…” I muttered, keeping my voice low. I would’ve at least tried to move around, but the pain in my leg was just too much to deal with.

The stallion looked around again, I could all but see the gears turning inside his head as he tried to think of a way to get me out. Eventually, he turned back to look at Narrative.

“If I can wake him up we might be able to get you out of there using those ropes,” He said, pointing at some of the ropes that had fallen down alongside us.

“Good idea,” I said, nodding.

I watched as Pot made his way down the dirt pile. It was significantly easier than when he had climbed up to reach me, as all he needed to do was slide down towards the fallen machine. He stopped just off the side of Narrative, where he cocked his head and scrunched his face in concentration.

“Do I just…?” He said aloud before lying down and using his forehoof to knock on the brain jar as if it were a door.

A small cloud of dirt was kicked into the air as something within Narrative’s chassis whirred to life, spewing air from a vent on his back. The soft blue light returned to his jar as he finished reactivating.

“Fear. Where am I? Where is the monster?” He asked with his droning, monotone voice.

“Thing’s dead, and we fell down the hole behind it,” Pot replied. “Black Light and you are stuck in the dirt,” He added, gesturing to the rear half of Narrative’s chassis with his head.

“What happened to your leg?” The robot asked.

“Shit if I know, probably somewhere under all the dirt,” Pot answered, looking around for a moment before focusing on Narrative again. “I need you to help me dig Black Light out, can you move?” He stated.

Narrative let out a whirring sound that slowly started getting louder. I couldn’t really see what he was doing from my vantage point, but I could feel the dirt around me vibrating.

“I cannot move,” The machine said. Even through the flat monotone of his synthesized voice, I could still feel the disappointment.

Pot looked at Narrative for a moment before pointing at the ropes that were still tied around him with his chin.

“I can use those to help you, think it’ll work?” He said.

Narrative stretched out a claw and grabbed onto a piece of the rope, giving it a tentative tug before throwing it at Pot.

“It is worth an attempt, but I doubt you’ll be able to do much with just three legs,” The machine droned.

“Better than nothing,” The earth pony replied with a chuckle.

Pot leaned down and bit onto the rope, pulling it along with him until it became taut. Unable to speak or gesture with his hooves, he looked back at Narrative and nodded.

“Pull,” The machine stated.

And Pot did just that, throwing his entire weight forward on the rope. At first, nothing happened, the dirt around me simply vibrated as it had done before while Narrative’s motors screeched. But then the brainbot’s chassis started to drag itself out of the dirt slowly. The earth pony stallion tucked his front leg, rearing up and pushing forward even harder, keeping the rope firmly in his mouth. If only there was a way I could help them! I thought.

Wait a minute…

My horn surged with power, wrapping a red glow around the rope and adding my own arcane might to the effort. The distance was too great to put any real strength into the spell, but any little help would go a long way. Pot started to let out a loud groan as he pulled with all his might, but it was almost done! He just had to hold on a little longer and-

“Ough!” The stallion shouted, launching himself forward when Narrative finally popped out of the dirt like a particularly stubborn mechanical carrot.

“Pot! Are you okay?” I asked when I saw the stallion curl up on the ground a short distance away from Narrative.

“Yesh…” He mumbled, holding his forehoof up to his mouth. “I fink I broke a toof,” He added.

“Joy. I am free,” Narrative said, moving down the dirt pile until he was next to Pot before patting his head with one of his claws.

The stallion grumbled something before pointing at me with his forehoof.

“Yes, of course,” The robot replied, turning towards me.

His tracks were surprisingly adept at moving through dirt, letting him climb it with ease. Once he reached me, one of his claws twisted around to grab the rope Pot had been tugging on and offering it to me. My horn lit up and wrapped the rope around my barrel, keeping it firmly tucked under my front shoulders as if it were a harness.

“Say something if I start hurting you,” Narrative stated before heading back down the pile.

I held onto the rope with as much strength as I could muster, feeling it get tighter when the robot finally started pulling. A quick shot of pain ran through my leg, but I still popped out of the dirt with significantly more ease than Narrative had.

As soon as I was free, I looked down at my leg and noticed that the bullet holes that had become exposed when the bandage slipped off earlier were full of dirt. I lowered a forehoof to try and clean it out a bit, but even the slightest touch made me wince in pain.

“That doesn’t look good,” Pot said, having dragged himself closer to us. “At least it’s not bleeding,”

“Yours looks worse…” I said, chuckling weakly as I pointed at his missing front leg.

The stallion balanced himself on his rear legs and stretched his foreleg towards me, pressing it against my forehead.

“You’ve got a fever, we need to get you some healing supplies,” He stated before turning around. “We can come back to grab our stuff later,”

Narrative rolled forward and put a claw on Pot’s shoulder, drawing the earth pony’s attention.

“Use me as support, you cannot walk,” He said.

“We… we don’t have any weapons…” I mumbled, trying to climb up to my hooves.

Pot furrowed his brow for a moment to think before looking up at the dirt pile.

“I think I saw where my gun landed, I’ll go get it,” He said, gesturing to Narrative with his head. “Think you can get me up there?”

“Yes, hold on,” The robot droned before slowly starting to climb up the hill. The three-legged stallion limped beside him, using the robot’s large chassis as support.

I wanted to drop to my haunches, but my rear leg hurt way too much to let me sit down, so I resorted to simply shifting as much of my weight off that leg as I could. It wasn’t a perfect solution, because now my injured belly muscles started to hurt. I looked to the side, feeling tears start to well in my eyes, and noticed that the dirt looked fairly soft.

With a loud grunt, I flopped onto my side, keeping my wounded leg off the ground. My wounds stopped hurting as badly once I got the chance to relax, the stabbing pain turning into a muted throbbing.

I don’t know for how long I lay there, but it couldn’t have been long, as Pot quickly reappeared and shook my shoulder. I half-opened my eyes and looked at the stallion, giving him my best attempt at a smile. His gun was in his holster again, and it looked incredibly dirty. I wouldn’t trust that thing to fire normally, let alone now.

“Come on, there has to be a medical box somewhere,” Pot said before turning to look at Narrative. “Help her up,”

The machine approached and stretched its claws forward, wrapping them around the upper half of my forelegs. With the added strength, I rose back to my hooves and tried to keep myself upright.

“Fear. I hope we don’t have to fight anything,” Narrative commented.

I let out a loud chuckle, feeling my belly hurt slightly from the sudden movement.

“Please! You have Black Light with you… The hero of the surface!” I exclaimed, feeling slightly woozy.

“You’re in no shape to fight, lass…” Pot muttered.

I rolled my eyes, shrugging off his silly concern before pointing forward with a foreleg.

“To victory!” I stated, taking a step forward and nearly collapsing onto the floor.

We made our way out of the room we had fallen into very slowly. There was no real way to know what this place even was, as the dirt had buried any furniture that might have given us a clue. At most, I could spot a couple of counters on the very edges of the room, but that was all.

We reached a large blast door, identical to the ones back at the Steel Ranger headquarters. Much like those doors, these slid open as soon as Pot pressed the button that sat next to it.

“Power’s still on…” He commented.

“Fear. That means the security system might be online, proceed with caution,” Narrative suggested.

I very cautiously stumbled forward and promptly flopped onto the floor beyond the door, hitting my muzzle against the steel grate and whimpering slightly.

“Black Light!” Pot shouted.

“I’m fiiiiine,” I groaned, noticing the clear lack of turrets shooting at me. “No turrets!” I added with a soft chuckle as I struggled back to my hooves.

My companions rolled into the dark hallway along with me, looking around. Once I managed to get up, I switched on my PipBuck light, driving back the darkness with its glow.

“Interesting…” I said, pointing at the ceiling.

The turrets were deployed, but they appeared to be inactive. I looked a little further down the hall and spotted a second turret that appeared to be frozen mid-deployment, the sliding cover that hid it was open, but the gun itself hadn’t dropped yet. To be honest, I preferred them being completely still over the ones in the Steel Ranger headquarters following me around eerily.

“What is this place…?” Pot asked.

“I do not know, but there has to be a medical box nearby,” Narrative droned.

According to my EFS compass, north lay down the hallway to our right. If bad things were in the South, that could only mean that good things were in the north! It was obvious!

“Let’s try this way,” I said, gesturing down the hallway.

“Do you know where the medical boxes are?” Pot asked Narrative.

“Sadness. No, but they are probably in the main hallways so they are easily accessible,” The machine replied.

Pot nodded and furrowed his brow, looking down the hallway ahead.

We started walking north, keeping our eyes… and sensors I guess… peeled for the nice yellow of a medical box. Not opening every single door in the hallway to check what was inside was killing me, but the dirt-stuffed bullet wound in my leg was literally killing me. There would be time to look for the weapon Narrative had talked about after I was healed.

The derelict turrets hanging from the ceiling stood like ominous gargoyles, flanking us on either side at regular intervals interchanged with the weak white emergency lights that let us see where we were going. A cold shiver ran down my spine when I realized that if they were to come online, we would have no chance of escape. For a split second, I thought that maybe we could run into one of the rooms, but that was quickly dashed when I remembered that there were turrets inside the rooms as well back at the Steel Ranger base.

Eventually, we came to a smaller connecting hallway that branched out from the left of the one we were walking down. I poked my head around the corner and realized that it connected to another large hallway like the one we were in. Apparently this facility was shaped like a set of stairs.

What really caught my eye, however, was the yellow box in the middle of the hall.

“Oh thank Celestia,” Pot exclaimed, limping towards the medical box.

It was open, which made sense, why would anypony lock a first aid kit? Inside of it we found a single pink healing potion and several rolls of enchanted bandages. I took them in my magic and untied the dirty bandages around my barrel, but before I could put the new bandage on, I was stopped by Pot.

“Take off the jumpsuit so we can make sure the wounds are clean,” He said.

I did as he asked, sitting on the ground and opening the jumpsuit along the front, undoing the straps that held it against my body. My white coat was caked in blood, especially around the wounds. The bullet holes in question looked red and swollen, the ones on my belly being the most affected. They didn’t hurt, at least… despite looking like they really, really should.

“And that’s why you’re supposed to drink potions…” Pot mumbled, grimacing at the pinkish color of my swollen wounds. “But they look clean at least,” He added.

The stallion crouched down to look at my injured leg. The bullet holes on that one looked significantly worse, a deep red color that was starting to turn white around the edges of the wounds, which appeared to be packed full of dirt from the fall. It looked ghastly, and if his horrified face was anything to go by, I would say Pot agreed.

“We need to clean this…” Pot said, looking around for a moment until he spotted Narrative’s claws. “Hey uh… can you help me out a little?” He asked the machine.

“With what?” Narrative droned.

“I need you to hold this open so I can get the dirt out,” The stallion explained, gesturing towards my leg.

Narrative approached carefully and fell silent for a moment, as if he were deep in thought.

“Sad. My sensor is not good enough to see the wound,” The robot said.

“Hmmm…” Pot grumbled. “Wait! I know! give me your claw,” He added.

The brain bot stood silently for a moment before tentatively raising one of its claws. Pot balanced himself on his rear legs and wrapped his foreleg around the metal limb, moving it closer to my leg.

“I’ll move it into place, then I want you to open it very slowly…” The earth pony explained, trying his damndest to put Narrative’s claw into place.

I winced slightly when the cold metal touched the edges of the bullet hole. There’s the pain I was expecting, and sweet Celestia did it feel horrible.

“Okay now open it, very slowly…” Pot said, and the machine complied, slowly pulling the wound open.

A thick drop of nearly-black liquid started to ooze down my leg. Pot let go of Narrative’s claw and instead tucked the healing potion into his elbow, raising it to take the cap off with his teeth. Very carefully, the stallion took the bottle into his mouth and drew closer to the open wound, looking into my eyes with a little bit of guilt.

This is going to hurt, isn’t it? I thought.

It did, in fact, hurt horribly. The pinkish fluid dripped into the wound and immediately started to burn as if a red-hot iron had been pressed against my flesh. Brownish foam started to spew down my thigh as the potion tried its damndest to force the dirt out and heal me. My jaw clenched down so hard that my head started hurting when Pot moved the potion up to the other bullet hole, prying it open with Narrative’s claw before dripping some of the potion into it.

As soon as the foaming stopped, he pulled the robot’s claw away and gave me a roll of enchanted bandages. With my eyes slowly filling with tears, I wrapped the pink cloth around my leg, enjoying the soothing warmth of the healing spell that was woven into them. Pot offered me the rest of the potion, which I took in my magic and floated up to my lips before stopping for a moment and looking at him.

“Do you need any?” I asked.

“Wh-? No, I’ve just got a few bruises,” The earth pony replied.

I nodded and brought the bottle up, downing the entire thing in just three vigorous gulps. Unlike with my leg, the potion went down with impressive ease, spreading its healing warmth from my belly to all my legs. Yeah, these things were definitely meant for drinking.

The potion started to work its magic, returning the strength to my legs with impressive speed. I jumped up to my hooves, feeling as the enchanted bandages worked even faster while under the effects of the potion. I started chuckling at the almost overwhelming tickling sensation that spread over my coat, as if a colony of ants was crawling all over me.

“Oh that is good,” I chirped, bouncing in place to test out my hind leg.

“D- don’t jump around so much!” Pot chided.

I turned to ask him why he had gotten so angry, but I noticed that he was looking directly at one of the deactivated turrets that hung from the ceiling.

“Sorry…” I muttered, my ears drooping.

The earth pony rolled his eyes, but his gaze softened when they landed on my hind leg. I looked back and spotted two pinkish scars where the wounds had been. Looking a little lower, I spotted two other scars on my underbelly.

“Huh… I thought healing potions didn’t cause scarring,” I said, looking back.

“They’re… not supposed to…” Pot responded, looking defeated. “That only happens if you apply the potion directly instead of drinking it,” He explained.

“Oh, that makes sense,” I said. To be honest, it didn’t make that much sense, but now that I was feeling better I had to show Pot that I was back to being the hero of the surface that he knew me to be!

Pot looked down the hallway we had just come from and then back to me.

“We should go see if we dropped anything when we fell,” He said, furrowing his brow slightly. “And maybe see if we can find a way out of here,” He added.

“Good call, I dropped my rifle,” I said.

To be honest, that thing was already barely functional before getting buried in dirt, by now it was probably little more than a useless metal stick. Still, better to have a stick than no weapon at all!

We made our way back to the place where we had fallen at a much speedier pace, as I could carry Pot with a lot more ease than Narrative. I did find it odd to see just how much dirt we had tracked into the hallway, it almost looked as if we had started shoveling it out of the room! I had probably just been too delirious to notice before, it wasn’t like-

“Why is there so much dirt out here…?” Pot asked cautiously.

Okay, so it is weird…

“What do you think-” I started, but I was interrupted by Narrative Lampshade.

“Fear. The creature is still alive,” He stated.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood upright as my eyes darted down the half-dark hallway in front of us. There was nothing in it, but the dirt trail disappeared into the darkness beyond. How had that thing survived the explosions? Let alone the fall and being buried alive?

“Screw exploring this place, we need to get out of here,” Pot said. “Let's see if we can climb back out,” He added, pointing at the open door.

I nodded and started on my way towards it, poking my head in to make sure the monster wasn’t inside. Just as Narrative had said, the dirt pile looked significantly smaller, and the creature was nowhere to be seen. I noticed that it had moved some items around when it left, with the most eye-catching one being Pot’s cooking pot, which he quickly limped over to.

“Oh thank Celestia!” He said, clutching the pot to his chest with his good foreleg as if it were an infant.

I walked into the room a little further, having spotted what I thought to be my rifle. My intrigued expression quickly melted away into a frown when I got closer and noticed that it was nothing but a piece of rebar. Purely out of curiosity, I gave it a decent pull with my magic.

Hmm… it’s probably got some concrete stuck to the bottom… I thought, looking at how stuck the bar was. When I looked up into the hole, however, I didn’t see any rebar sticking out. That was weird, how had this ended up here if it hadn’t been torn from the ceiling? Curious, I yanked on the metal with as much strength as I could, pulling out none other than Pot’s prosthetic leg.

“Hey Pot, check this out!” I said, holding the leg up for him to see.

The stallion, who had just finished tying his pot onto Narrative’s back, looked up to me and smiled softly before limping my way.

“It snapped in half, I don’t think I’ll be able to fix it…” He muttered. “But hey, at least I have it,” He added.

I smiled at him and lifted my eyes towards the hole in the roof, trying to find any way of climbing out of here. A slight pang of despair struck my heart when I noticed that there wasn’t any clear way out. There was no pipe or piece of debris that we could attach a rope to, not even a conveniently yellow-colored ledge for me to climb up.

“This isn’t good,” Pot said, staring up as well. He had probably come to the same conclusion as me.

“Fear. Perhaps we can find an exit similar to the one in the other facility, we just have to try and avoid that monster,” Narrative added.

“Yeah… I’m not liking our chances,” Pot stated. “Especially not if this thing is all we have for defense,” He added, gesturing towards the gun in his holster.

I nodded in agreement, giving the room one last look. By sheer luck, I spotted something else in the dirt sticking out next to Narrative’s treads. A wide smile parted my face when I recognized it as the stock of my rifle. With a quick red flash, the weapon flew out of the dirt with a small dust cloud.

I turned it over a couple of times, trying to shake as much of the dirt out of it as I could. There was no way this thing could shoot, but knowing that I had a gun made me feel a little safer. I opened my mouth to say something to Pot, but I slammed it shut when a loud scraping sound reached my ears from the hallway. Crouching down into a battle stance, I brought the rifle up to aim at the door. Pot limped over to Narrative, hiding behind him and pulling his pistol out of its holster.

We waited for a moment, hearing more scraping sounds, but they didn’t seem to be getting any closer. Tentatively, I took a few steps up to the door and poked my head outside. The monster was nowhere to be seen, but I could clearly hear it scratching the metal walls of the facility with its claws.

“We need to get away from it,” I whispered back.

Pot tapped my shoulder to draw my attention, and I turned around to see him shaking his head silently.

“If we stay here it might come back,” I explained. “Get on Narrative’s back…” I added.

The earth pony furrowed his brow in concentration, nodding at me, but keeping a concerned look. He took a few steps back and slowly climbed onto the robot, using the saddlebags that covered its back as support.

I stepped out of the room and stared into the hallway where the sounds were coming from, keeping my gun trained on the dim light ahead. As my eyes adjusted, I managed to spot the vague figure of the monster, scratching the wall a little further down the hallway. Apparently the grenades had injured it, or at least that was the sensation I got from the long streaks of blood that I spotted on the floor. It smelled… wrong. Instead of the usual metallic smell of blood, this black ooze smelled of rot and decay.

What the…? I thought when my eyes fell to my EFS compass. The blue bar that pointed at the monster was flicking on and off, as if it couldn’t make up its mind on whether the creature was alive or not.

I gestured with a forehoof for my companions to move, and then immediately winced when I heard just how loud Narrative’s treads were. The monster didn’t seem to mind, but then again, with how close those grenades had gone off it would be a miracle if it could still hear at all.

The robot rolled past me and started back down the hallway we had already explored earlier. We just needed to get a little further away from-

“Fuck!” Pot shouted as a loud thumping sound echoed down the hallway, making me jump. I turned around with wide eyes to try and see what happened. I spotted the earth pony stallion on his back next to Narrative.

“Anger. How did you fall?” The robot droned.

“I’m missing a fucking hoof you jackass,” Pot shouted back, but he raised his good forehoof to shut his mouth when he realized how loud he had shouted.

The scratching stopped, replaced by a loud roar. I turned to look at the monster and saw that the EFS bar was now clear, marking the beast as it started to draw closer.

“Run!” I shouted, raising my rifle and pulling the trigger.

I had to give the rifle some credit. While it looked absolutely atrocious, it still managed to fire despite having gotten buried. The bullet flew into the hallway, sparking off the wall as it missed the monster entirely. I pulled the trigger again, but the gun didn’t fire.

“Shit!” I exclaimed.

The monster replied with a loud roar before it started barreling towards us. I turned around and started running. Narrative was already getting away, with Pot hanging on for dear life onto his back, but there was no way we were going to get away.

Come on come on… weren’t there rooms with smaller doors in that hallway? I thought, racing to formulate a plan.

My hooves clattered on the ground as I fell into a gallop, zooming past Narrative and reaching the connecting hallway where the medical box had been. I smirked when I saw that there was a door next to the box. While the ones in the main hallway were large enough for the monster to get through, there was no way it could get through this one!

I launched at it and smacked the button so hard that it made my hoof hurt. The door started to rise slowly, too slowly. I reached down with my forehooves and grabbed onto the edge of the door, forcing it open faster before turning back to look at Narrative. The robot barreled towards me with the monster following close behind… too close.

With my rifle firmly grasped in my magic, I stepped out into the hallway and ran at the approaching creature. Narrative darted past me, hopefully heading directly for the open door. I, on the other hoof, roared at the charging monster and swung the rifle around like a baseball bat. The beast raised a claw to swipe at me, but I was faster, smacking it in the side of the head as I threw myself aside.

It wasn’t a strong hit by any measure, but added to the creature’s missed swipe, it was more than enough to have it miss the door. The floor shook violently as the monster slammed into the wall. A loud cracking sound escaped its right shoulder, followed by an ear-piercing screech.

Without losing a beat, the beast swung its left claw back to strike at me again. I rolled under it, almost breaking out into laughter at how easily I could run around this thing when all my legs worked. My horn surged with arcane energy, firing a beam into the monster’s face. It didn’t do any noticeable damage, but it was enough to stun it for long enough for me to roll into the room that Narrative had just gone into.

“Missed me!” I shouted, cackling as I turned around to look at the beast.

The monster slammed into the door opening, trying to force itself inside but getting stuck at the shoulders. It roared at me before turning to the side and shoving its left claw into the room, scratching up at the floor and walls around the door. It wasn’t anywhere near me, however, only making me laugh harder.

“Black Light get away from that thing!” Pot shouted from behind me.

“Aww it’s okay! It can’t reach…” I started, turning around to face Pot. “Woah…” I gasped when I noticed how big the room we were in was.

Judging by the size of the door, I had assumed that it would be some kind of storage closet, but that couldn’t be any further from the truth. What I had in front of me was a long, wide, and tall hallway that was separated from me by a glass panel. The section me and my friends were in was populated by desks with terminals on them, while the hall beyond the glass was some sort of shooting range with bright blue targets like the ones back at my stable. For a split second, I considered checking the terminals, but something inside the shooting range drew my attention.

In the middle bay sat a strange contraption that looked somewhere between a reloading bench and a robotic arm that held a metal box. I eyed it curiously and noticed that there was a barrel sticking out the front of the box.

“Ohhhhh that looks good!” I squeaked.

“We have bigger problems!” Pot shouted, pointing at the monster as it kept trying to force itself into the room.

The doorframe was starting to bend slightly, but I noticed how the beast was starting to slow down. If I were to guess, I’d say the broken shoulder was starting to catch up to it as the rush of hunting us waned. Still, better to be safe than sorry.

“Gimmie,” I stated as I pulled Pot’s gun out of his holster, the stallion barely managed to open his mouth to protest before I pulled the trigger.

Surprisingly, the gun fired, shaking violently in my magical grasp. The lone bullet flew towards the doorframe, hitting the monster in the underside of its left shoulder. With a low grumble, the claw slowly retreated back into the hallway as the creature limped away.

I chucked Pot his pistol back, beaming at him.

“Thank you!” I chirped.

“You need to stop taking my gun whenever you feel like it,” The earth pony grumbled before putting the weapon back in his holster. He sounded legitimately hurt, but I was sure he understood that my aim was much better than his.

“Fear. Do you think that thing will stay away?” Narrative asked.

“It can’t get in here anyways, and it got banged up pretty bad when it hit the wall,” I said, trying to impart some calm onto the robot. “I think we should be safe for a while,” I added with a smile.

“Well, we might as well see what’s in here, maybe there’s something we can use against that thing,” Pot stated, his posture relaxing ever so slightly.

The earth pony walked up to one of the desks, tapping the power button on the terminal that sat atop it and watching the screen come to life. I was much more interested in what sat inside the shooting area, however. A quick glance revealed the spot where one of the glass panels opened like a door, allowing passage into the shooting gallery proper.

“There is definitely some kind of weapon in here,” I said, looking back to see Narrative following behind me.

“Be careful, there might be alarms,” The robot droned.

I pulled the door open and walked into the bay, walking around the machine to try and figure out how it worked. There was a large lever on the back of the machine that read ‘release’ in bright red letters.

Well it’s not ‘open’, but it should work too… right? I wondered as my magic wrapped around the lever.

To my immense delight, the metal box split open along the middle to reveal-

“What the fuck is that?” I exclaimed out loud.

With silent horror, I levitated the gun out of its brace, holding it up to my face. I didn’t dare to touch it with my hooves, so it bobbed within my magic as I tried to make sense of what I was looking at.

The barrel, stock, and trigger section seemed to have been taken directly off the standard equestrian army rifle, but the receiver was very evidently that of a magical disintegration rifle, complete with an energy cell attached to the underside. The worst part about the mismatched pieces was that it was dreadfully intentional, all the parts had been slightly modified to fit together perfectly. Orange streaks ran down the sides of the rifle, clearly cosmetic as they didn’t seem to serve any other purpose.

“What does this thing even shoot?” I wondered aloud.

“What is wrong with it?” Narrative asked, rolling closer to get a better look.

“This is a normal gun barrel, there’s no focusing lens,” I explained, pointing at the rifle’s barrel. “You can’t shoot an energy beam out of a tube, it has to be focused!”

I turned the gun around to take a look down the barrel, holding it up to the light so I could see better. Yup, no energy weapon components in there.

“Why don’t you shoot it?” Narrative asked.

I looked at the robot, trying to think of a smart reply. But I realized that he did have a point, I could just pull the trigger and see what happened. I levitated the gun up to my eye, lining up the sights and aiming at one of the targets that stood further down the range. I didn’t bother to aim too much, since this thing was probably as inaccurate as the other rifle I had. I squeezed the trigger very carefully, keeping the gun steady.

Bang!

The gun recoiled back hard, nearly launching itself out of my magical grasp. I squeaked in alarm at the sudden jerk, since I had expected the light recoil of an energy weapon, I hadn’t put much strength into holding the gun. To my surprise, a bullet casing flew out of the weapon from… somewhere.

“It seems to be working,” Narrative commented.

“What the…?” I wondered as I turned the gun around to try and find the ejection port.

It was nowhere to be found, no matter where I looked, all I could see was the smooth surface of the disintegration rifle receiver. The gun dropped into my hooves, and I was immediately surprised by how much it weighed. I had thought it was a little heavy when I was levitating it, but now that I held it myself, it was definitely heavier than it should be.

I ran my forehooves along the side of the weapon, hoping to find the ejection port. What I found instead was even more interesting, however. On the same spot that a normal rifle would have a magazine release button, the gun had a barely noticeable indentation. It made no sense, of course, since magical energy weapons didn’t have those.

Curious, I pressed the tip of my hoof into the indentation, feeling it click inside the weapon before a section of the receiver fell out. I jumped in surprise, grabbing the rest of the gun with my magic so I could land on all four of my hooves before looking at the fallen piece. It was mostly rectangular, with the bottom part slightly rounded so that it could fit inside the bottom of the gun.

My left ear twitched as Pot stomped into the room, apparently the gunshot had drawn his attention.

“What are you two doing?” He demanded.

“I’m just… trying to figure out what this thing is,” I said, floating the gun up for him to see.

The stallion raised an eyebrow and walked up to me, picking up the weapon and looking it over.

“Clearly it’s a… it’s a uhhh…” He said after taking the gun out of my magical grasp. “What is this thing?” He wondered, bewildered.

“I don’t know,” I said, scooping up the small piece that had dropped out of the gun and bringing it up to my eyes.

The metal box was odd, but its function became abundantly clear when I looked at the top. It was a magazine… Why did a magical energy weapon have a magazine? I turned it over, seeing that it still held four bullets.

“It’s got a magazine… but it also has the energy cell on the bottom?” I stated, looking at the gun again.

Pot stared at the weapon, running his hoof over it with cautious intrigue.

“What’s this?” He asked aloud, touching something under the weapon’s barrel.

In less time than I could blink, the stallion and the gun disappeared. Before I could even open my mouth to say anything, I heard Pot scream in alarm and suddenly become visible again, having dropped the gun to the floor.

“What did you do?” I demanded.

“I just pressed the button down here,” Pot explained, pointing at another small indentation on the underside of the gun’s barrel.

I took the weapon with my magic and brought it close, pressing the button with my telekinesis. Just like before, the gun disappeared completely. I could still see the crimson bubble of magic that held it, and I could still feel it floating there. But I couldn’t see it at all.

“That’s interesting…” I muttered as I moved the gun around in my magic.

Moving something that I couldn’t see was quite the challenge, but it allowed me to see that the invisibility was not total. When the weapon moved, I could just barely make out its silhouette, as if it were warping the air around it.

“I’ve never seen anything like it…” Pot said, his green eyes fixed on the empty magical field.

This is amazing, why wasn’t this in every gun- I thought, but my train of thought was interrupted by the gun letting out an electrical whirring sound before flickering out of invisibility.

I watched as the energy cell attached to the bottom of the gun fell out of its socket, letting out smoke. The outer casing looked cracked and burnt, with the cell itself looking as if it had been inflated like a balloon.

“This thing’s toast,” Pot commented, picking up the broken cell.

“Yeah… is there another one?” I asked nopony in particular. I was curious as to how long the effect would last on a new power cell.

Pot looked around the shooting gallery for a moment before gesturing at one of the other bays with his head. There was a large metal cabinet standing in the next one over.

“There might be more ammo in that box there,” He said.

I walked into the other bay, keeping the gun close to me. As I drew closer, I realized that the cabinet was on wheels, meaning that it had probably been rolled into this room from elsewhere. With any luck, if it did have ammo in it, there was a chance that I could find a large stash.

Setting the gun down on top of the cabinet, I opened the first drawer and was met with nothing more than files and notepads. I took one out and quickly flipped through it, but it had nowhere near enough pictures to be even remotely interesting.

The second drawer, on the other hoof, made a wide grin split my face. The entire drawer was dominated by a large egg carton-esque piece of metal that held several rows of energy cells. I chuckled happily as I took a new cell out and slotted it into the gun’s socket.

“Did you find any?” Pot asked, limping his way closer to me.

“Yeah!” I chirped, excited to test the gun again.

Without skipping a beat, I pressed the button under the barrel and watched the gun disappear.

One… Two… Three… I wonder who made this thing? I thought, losing count of how long it had been since I pressed the button. Five? Six? How long does it take to think? Probably like five seconds… and five plus three is uhhh… seven?

The fun flickered back into reality, dropping the ruined power cell to the floor.

“Fifteen seconds!” I proudly announced.

Pot looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

“That was barely ten seconds,” He said.

“Y- yeah! That’s what I said,” I retorted, smiling.

“No, you said-” Pot started, but he cut himself off when he heard roaring coming from the other room.

I looked at the open door, then at the gun in my magic, and then finally at Pot.

“I know exactly how to test this thing out!” I exclaimed.

“If it gets that thing off our backs, go ahead,” Narrative stated.

I chuckled and launched myself out of the room, running towards the door that the monster was clawing at. The prospect of finally shooting a good gun had relit that fire in my chest. My heart beat louder and louder as I stood proudly in front of the door and held up the strange-looking rifle.

Narrative and Pot followed a little further behind, staying at a decent distance from me and the beast. Just before I pulled the trigger, however, a thought passed through my mind.

No… I’m doing this properly. I thought as I floated the gun closer to me.

Lacking a battle-saddle, I instead sat on my haunches and raised my forelegs, placing the stock against my right shoulder and supporting the weapon with my left forehoof. I noticed that the button that turned the gun invisible was surprisingly easy to press while holding the gun up.

I lined up the sights with the monster’s shoulder, licking my lips in anticipation before slowly squeezing the trigger with my right forehoof.

Bang!

A sizable hole opened up on the creature’s shoulder as the bullet ripped through it. Two more shots rang out, hitting the monster’s side and making it let out a choked wail. Every shot sent shockwaves through my body both figuratively and literally. The beast collapsed to the floor, wheezing heavily.

I dropped back down to stand on all four hooves, taking the gun in my magic once more. Carefully, I approached the monster until I was as close to it as I could before floating the gun through the door and pressing it against the side of the monster’s skull.

Before I could pull the trigger, however, the beast lunged forward, barely missing my head with its enormous claw before retreating into the hallway and scurrying off. The fire beating through my heart slowly started to simmer down as I caught my breath. The sudden shock of the attack had taken the edge off my excitement.

“Fantastic, now you pissed it off,” Pot said, rolling his eyes.

I whirled around to look at the stallion.

“Both its arms are wounded now,” I explained. “If the blood loss doesn’t kill it, it still won't be able to do much,” I added, smiling.

“That is by far the most logical thing I’ve heard you say,” Narrative droned. “But we should find a way to get rid of that thing for good.” He added.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I relented. “I’ll go grab the extra energy cells from the cabinet,”

I looked at the rifle, my ears drooping slightly when I realized that it was empty. Not wanting to get demotivated, I lifted my head and looked into the shooting gallery area again.

“Go get that stuff, I’ll check the desks around here,” Pot said before walking up to one of the many tables.

I made my way back to the machine where the gun was being held, where I noticed that I had missed a drawer when I had grabbed the gun before. Curious, I opened it with my magic and immediately felt my heart skip a beat.

Three beautiful magazines stood before my very eyes, all shaped in the same weird way as the empty one inside the gun. They looked like they were the same size, but just to be sure, I took one of the magazines out and slid it into the gun, seeing that the machining was so precise that you could just barely see where the gun ended and the bottom of the magazine began.

Six shots… I counted, looking at the other two magazines in the machine. Eighteen shots total… I can work with that.

Both of the extra magazines went into my right saddlebag, with the empty one floating into my left side bag. The sound of the empty metal box hitting the pistol that I had kept in there since I left my stable made me remember that I had to keep my eyes peeled for bullets. The new rifle appeared to be .22, and I still had to find more .454 for my revolver.

I gave the other bays a quick once-over to make sure I hadn’t missed anything before walking back out into the room with all the desks. Pot was sitting behind one of the terminals, the green glow of the screen washing over him as he very slowly tapped the keys with his lone forehoof. He looked up from the terminal and focused on me instead, raising an eyebrow.

“Find anything?” He asked.

“More ammo and not much else,” I replied. “How about you?”

The stallion sighed deeply and tapped at the keyboard a couple times.

“Nothing, really, just some test logs about that gun you found. Apparently, it was a prototype infiltrator rifle, they couldn’t get it to stop burning power cells though,” The stallion explained, “Last log on this thing is an evacuation order, makes sense that we haven’t seen any skeletons down here,” He added.

I sat on my haunches. Yeah, that was weird, the other bunker had been full of skeletons and looked as if it had been in chaos. This one just looked as if it had been carefully evacuated, with all the objects on the desks having been left unbothered for centuries.

“Fear. Do those logs have dates?” Narrative asked, moving closer to Pot.

The earth pony furrowed his brow and looked at the screen again.

“No…?” He replied. “I don’t know how to use these,” He added, tapping at the keyboard randomly.

“Fair enough,” Narrative relented.

“Why do you ask?” Pot said.

“No reason, really.” The machine droned. “Just curious as to just how long it has been,”

Pot looked at the bobbing brain with a mixture of concern and pity, but he said nothing, instead turning his head to look at me.

“In any case, we should really get out of here,” The stallion said.

“Aww but don’t you want to see what else is in here?” I asked, almost jumping in excitement.

“No, no I don’t,” Pot replied, rolling his eyes. “I want to get out of here and fuck off to the first town I can find,” He added, slowly raising his tone.

My ears drooped slightly, I really wanted to explore this place. But the more I thought about it, the more Pot seemed to have a point. This was no place for an injured surface dweller down here.

“Can’t we at least look for some more ammunition?” I asked. “There has to be a stockpile somewhere,” I added, looking up and towards the door.

“You already have enough bullets, and I’d rather not have that monster breathing down our necks while we’re digging around,” Said the earth pony.

I huffed loudly.

“That’s so unfair! We could find cool stuff down here!” I pouted, crossing my forelegs.

“Maybe, I don’t want to risk my life looking for it,” Pot stated, stomping on the desk with his forehoof.

“I agree with Pot, we should leave while we can,” Narrative stated. “The sentry guns being inactive was a stroke of good luck, but we don’t know what could reactivate them,”

I grumbled, rolling my eyes.

“Well I’m going to go check some of the other rooms, you two can do whatever you want,” I said, furrowing my brow.

Pot staggered back, as if I had struck him.

“You’re unbelievable…” He muttered. “I can’t even tell you to go get yourself killed because he can’t get away from you,” He added, shooting a worried glance at Narrative.

I smiled smugly.

“Soooooo… does that mean we’re exploring?” I asked, cocking my head to the side and wiggling my eyebrows at the earth pony.

Pot gave me a hard glare, keeping his brow furrowed. My smile didn’t falter, however, causing the stallion to sigh with dejection.

“Okay, how’s this, we’ll look for the way out of here, and you can check any rooms we find along the way,” He offered.

I considered his words. Depending on how lucky we were in guessing the direction of the exit, I might get to explore a sizeable chunk of the facility. It wouldn’t be the same as carefully going room by room checking stuff, but it was acceptable.

“Okay, that sounds good,” I said, nodding.

“Anger. You are going to get us all killed,” Narrative protested.

“Whaaaaat? Nah, nothing bad will happen to you two while I’m around! I’m the hero of the surface!” I said with a wide smile. “Come on, let’s go explore!” I added, heading towards the door.

“Let’s go find the exit, you mean,” Pot stated, his tone stern.

“Yeah yeah whatever,” I agreed, itching to go see what else could be down here.

We walked out of the shooting gallery room we had been hiding in. I kept my rifle up, scanning both sides of the hallway for any sign of the monster. A quick glance at my EFS confirmed that it was nowhere near us… or it was dead. I looked at the floor, seeing a trail of blood heading back down the hallway we had come.

“We should head the other way,” Pot said, pointing at the furthest hallway from the one the monster had disappeared down.

“I agree,” Narrative stated.

Both of my companions looked at me with pleading stares. Or well… Pot did, Narrative just kind of bobbed silently in his brain jar thing.

“Yeah, sure,” I agreed, nodding.

Pot let out a relieved sigh and then started limping his way down the hall, glancing back to make sure I was following. I walked behind the stallion until we reached the other main hallway. It looked almost identical to the one we had walked down on the other side of the connecting one where the shooting range had been. I jumped along happily until I reached one of the many doors that lined the walls.

“Let’s see what we have in here~” I said with a smug grin, pressing the button next to the door.

My grin melted away into a frown when the door refused to open. I pushed the button again, but the door refused to open, much to my dismay.

“What’s wrong with this one?” I asked aloud, hitting the button again.

Pot cleared his throat, drawing my attention back to him.

“Leave it, let’s keep going,” He said, gesturing down the hallway.

“Fiiiine,” I relented.

Not wanting to be disheartened, I rushed past the stallion and stopped in front of the next door. I smacked the button on it, but once again it refused to open. I groaned, hitting the button as hard as I could.

“Oh come on!” I exclaimed. “Why did the one in the room we fell into open on the first try?”

“If I were to make an educated guess, I’d say the emergency lock on these doors only allows them to be opened from inside the rooms,” Narrative explained.

“But that’s so dumb! What if you forgot something inside while you’re evacuating?” I asked, pouting.

“Then you leave it, you’re supposed to leave as quickly as possible,” The robot responded.

I huffed in annoyance and walked up to the third door, hitting the button and finding that it also didn’t want to open. I looked down the hallway in frustration, looking at all the doors that I wouldn’t be able to open. As I did, however, I spotted a large figure in the middle of the hall.

“Hey, what’s that?” I chirped, darting towards it.

“Black Light, wait! It could be dangerous!” Pot said from behind me, trying to keep his volume under control.

I ignored him, walking closer to the figure as an odd feeling of deja vu washed over me. As I drew closer, I realized where the feeling was coming from. The machine in the middle of the hall was a spitting image of Narrative’s robot body, with the main difference being that the brain jar at the front was filled with some dark red sludge instead of a brain. Pot and Narrative caught up with me while I examined the robot.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It looks like you, Narrative,” Pot said. “Only like… more dead,”

Narrative got closer to the derelict machine, poking it with one of his claws.

“Sad. I hope they had their mind wiped before getting put in there. Dying alone in an abandoned bunker sounds like an awful way to go,” He droned.

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“What do you mean ‘mind wipe’?” I asked.

“Sad. Brainbots use real pony brains as their central processor, usually, they are donated brains that have anything important wiped from them to maximize their utility,” Narrative explained.

“Why didn’t they wipe you?” Pot asked, cocking his head to the side.

“I was kept as a prisoner, but getting my mind wiped was a common threat during interrogation,” Narrative said, He remained silent for a couple seconds before pulling on the other brainbot’s claw almost absentmindedly. “Actually, I have a question, is this robot colored like me?”

I looked at it with a little more attention. While Narrative was mostly colored with dull yellow and some black accents, this brain bot looked to just be a uniform dark gray.

“No, they’re different,” Pot said. “Why?”

“Happy. Can you see the sensor talisman on the front?” Narrative asked.

“Yeah? Its green,” I said, leaning over the front of the derelict machine and spotting the small round object.

“Happy. Excellent, do you have a knife on you?” The robot asked. “This is a servant brainbot, its sensor is way better than mine,” He added.

I smiled widely as I levitated Barbed Wire’s combat knife out of my saddlebags, poking the tip of the knife into the edge of the sensor and popping it out. There was a long braid of wires attached to the back of the device, and something about the way it hung made it almost feel like I had just popped somepony’s eye out of its socket.

“Disconnect it carefully,” Narrative said.

My magic flared up, wrapping around the dangling talisman and giving it a solid tug. The wires went taunt and remained firmly attached. I poured a little more magic into the spell, slowly prying it loose until it eventually popped free.

“Got it!” I squeaked, dropping the talisman into one of the saddlebags that were tied to Narrative’s sides.

We kept going for a short while, with me getting progressively more frustrated at every door that refused to open. One of the doors in the hall, however, was different from the rest. It seemed to be made out of some sort of ballistic glass, with a black net-like texture on it. What really caught my attention, however, was the big sign on top of the door that read ‘Security’. My heart did a small somersault at the sight, could this be where the ammo was kept? My excitement was mostly dashed when I hit the button on the side of the door and saw it refuse to move.

“Oh no, not this one!” I exclaimed, wrapping the door in my magic and yanking on it with all my might.

“Fear. Stop, you might trip an alarm,” Narrative exclaimed.

“B- but…” I pouted, almost feeling like I could cry.

I pressed my face into the glass, seeing that there were two cases with brand new 10mm pistols inside. And that was without mentioning the long line of magazines that were underneath them. I was practically salivating at the sight, and this damn door was in the way!

With a frustrated grunt, I pulled out my rifle and took aim at the door’s lock.

“Wait-!” Pot shouted, but it was too late.

Three shots rang out, all three ricocheting off the lock and hitting the walls and ceiling. I turned around and bucked the door as hard as I could, yelling out in frustration. Almost as soon as I had started shouting, I felt a hoof wrap around my face, holding my muzzle shut. I stared with widened eyes at pot as he held my head, he looked absolutely mortified.

“Shut the fuck up, you’re gonna make that thing come back!” He chided.

I wasn’t going to take that, not when I couldn’t open that damn door. My horn surged, blasting Pot off me and onto the floor. He let out a pained grunt when he fell, immediately snapping me out of my frenzy.

“Oh sweet Celestia! Are you okay?” I asked, crouching down next to the fallen stallion.

“Y- yeah I just-” He started, but he fell silent when a loud roar boomed from down the hallway.

I looked up and managed to make out the vague figure of the beast, standing in the half-darkness of the emergency lights. I looked down at Pot, using a quick flash of magic to pull him back onto his hooves.

“Get away from here, both of you, I have an idea,” I said, smirking as I gave the security door a mischievous grin.

Pot looked at me with concern, but he nodded and looked at Narrative. The machine said nothing, instead he simply stretched out a claw and let Pot rest some of his weight on him, limping further down the hallway. I nodded and turned to face down the monster, bringing my rifle up to take aim.

The beast was very clearly injured. It was keeping all of its weight off it’s right forelimb, and its left one wasn’t doing too much better. Thick streams of blood poured down its left side from the multiple times I had shot it. Its eyes, however, still looked as hideous as they had the first time I had seen it.

Wanting to make absolutely sure that I had its undivided attention, I took aim and fired. The bullet flew exactly where I wanted it to, opening a long gash on the side of the monster’s eye. It gave an ear-splitting screech before charging right at me. Such a simple mind… I thought, smirking.

As the creature approached, I slowly took a few steps towards the security gate, making sure that I was standing right up against it. Come on… just a little further… I thought.

“Come on you ugly bastard!” I shouted at the monster.

It seemed to work, as it picked up the pace slightly. Just before it reached me, the monster lept slightly into the air and swung its wounded left forelimb at me. It was a sluggish, pathetic attempt at a strike. And one I dodged with ease, dropping onto the floor and letting the claw fly directly into the security gate I had been standing in front of.

“Missed me!” I shouted.

I let go of my rifle, dropping it softly on the floor, before turning my head upward and firing a magic beam into the beast’s face. I quickly wrapped my telekinesis around the gun and rolled to the side, avoiding the creature’s downward swipe, which also struck the security door.

“Come on, are you even trying to hit me?” I asked with a chuckle.

With a roar, the monster threw its entire body at me, trying to hit me with its jaws instead of its claw. I sidestepped the attack, watching the hairless creature soar past me and belly flop onto the floor. Just for good measure, I darted forward and gave it a quick kick on the swollen, dislocated right shoulder.

My ears drooped when the beast let out an incredibly loud screech, clutching at its wounded shoulder with its other claw. I opened my mouth for another quip, but I shut it when I suddenly saw the monster whirl around. I dodged almost on instinct, throwing myself at the ground as the creature spun into what I could only describe as a roundhouse kick. The muscular and deformed leg soared over me, brushing past my ears before slamming into the middle of the door, sending it flying into the security room.

“Ha! Missed me agai-” I started to say, but I was cut off by the screaming of alarm claxons.

The world seemed to stand still for a moment as all the turrets in the hallway suddenly buzzed to life, their sensors lighting up in with an aggressive red glow.

“Fuck-” I managed to say before a hailstorm of energy beams started to pour out of every gun.

Almost subconsciously, I slipped into SATS, feeling time slow down to a crawl. I stared around at the many guns that lined the hall, their magical beams slowly flying out of the barrels. By some miracle, they all seemed to be aiming at the monster instead of me or my friends, probably trying to hit the largest target.

I needed a plan, and I needed it fast.

Okay… can I destroy them before they kill us? I wondered, focusing on the closest turret. SATS highlighted the different parts, but the one that drew my attention the most was the large red talisman underneath the barrel. The targeting spell classified it as ‘sensor array’, maybe if I took that out, the gun would be disabled!

It’s worth a shot…

I selected the turret directly above me, one shot. My eyes moved to the next turret over, the one that separated me from Narrative and Pot. Two shots cued for that one’s talisman. And then finally I moved to the gun directly above Pot, setting up my final shot on its talisman.

The spell took charge, whipping my gun upward and firing. The sensor exploded into a shower of sparks and small pieces that fell around me like rain while the gun whipped around to the second turret. I immediately regretted using two shots for it when I saw the first one fly straight through the sensor.

The second shot made me find a new appreciation for this rifle, however. It might not look pretty, but I couldn’t argue with the precision after seeing the second bullet fly perfectly through the hole left by the first.

SATS pulled my rifle towards the last turret, firing almost immediately. It was a little too far away, even for me. My shot ricocheted off the gun’s armor, harmlessly biting into the wall next to it. Before the turret had even registered the shot, however, I brought the gun up to my face and took aim, firing my last shot myself.

Direct hit, a third sensor talisman exploded into sparks. My hunch seemed to have been correct, as the three turrets I had shot hung limp from their perch, blinded.

But there were more than three turrets in the hallway. The beast had decided to run in the opposite direction, clawing desperately at the turrets as they pelted it with magical beams. Silently thankful for it drawing some of the aggro, I started to rush towards Pot and Narrative.

I reloaded my rifle as fast as I possibly could while I ran, slamming a new magazine into place and letting the empty one fall to the floor. The rifle floated right up to my face again as I took aim at the next turret. It seemed to be out of range, as it hadn’t started shooting, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Three shots rang out, with the final one hitting the sweet spot.

As I approached my friends, I noticed that there was another connecting hallway ahead. With any luck, it would have another door that we could open, like the shooting gallery one.

“Follow me!” I shouted, getting a nod in response from a thoroughly horrified Pot.

One more turret to take down… I thought. Not wanting to take any chances, I slipped into my partially recharged SATS spell and lined up the shot. One trigger pull, one less turret to worry about. We made our way towards the hall. As we moved, I heard the monster give out one last pained cry before a loud thumping sound filled the facility.

The sound of turret fire was almost immediately replaced by an eerie silence as my friends and I slowly crept forward. I took a potshot at the next turret before we were close enough for it to shoot back, needing both of my remaining bullets to finally hit it.

Down to twelve shots… I counted as I reloaded the gun again. I looked back with a frown at the magazine I had dropped while I was running towards Pot. It was too late to go back for it now, but maybe after we had found a way out of this mess.

We reached the hallway, but were forced to retreat slightly when I peeked into it and was immediately met by a barrage of turret fire.

“Okay genius, what’s the next step of your master plan?” Pot demanded, he sounded more angry than scared.

I looked at the hallway opening, then at my rifle.

“Wait… I think I have a plan…” I said, smiling when I turned the weapon over and saw the energy cell.

“What are-?” Pot started, but he fell silent when I floated the gun up to touch my shoulder with the stock and pressed the button under the barrel.

The effect of no longer seeing my hooves below me was strange to say the least, but I knew that I didn’t have any time to waste with it. I jumped into the hallway, still cloaked in invisibility, and wasn’t immediately blasted to shreds by the turret. Aiming carefully while making sure to never stop touching the gun, I shot the turret twice.

The invisibility didn’t affect the muzzle flash in the slightest, leading to a small moment of fear when the turret twisted towards the flash. Fortunately it was only for a moment, as it quickly joined its brothers in the hallway in limply hanging from the roof.

“Got it!” I said as I released the button, fading back into the visible world.

Narrative and Pot walked out of the main hall behind me. With the earth pony giving the turret a worried glance before glaring at me.

“How did you know it wouldn’t shoot you anyway?” He asked.

“I didn’t,” I replied, smiling.

“Oh no none of those stupid little jokes,” The earth pony shouted, stomping on the floor. “Look at the fucking mess you put us in, Black Light!”

I looked around for a moment, trying to find what exactly he was so mad about. Sure the turrets were back online, but at least all three of us were unharmed.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Pot’s left eye twitched.

“Fuck you! You’ve done nothing but drag us around’ like a bloody idiot, and all we ‘ave to show for it is a slow death down here!” He bellowed, his accent slipping into his voice a little more. “We’re gonna bloody die down here, trapped by those damn turrets, and it’s all yer fault,” He finished, pointing at my chest.

My ears drooped at his disheartening words, it wasn’t like I was trying to reactivate the turrets! I was just-

What is… that…? I wondered, my right ear twitching as it picked up… something.

“-And to top it all off, you haven’t even said sorry for forcing us to go along with yer insanity!” Pot continued ranting, but I was more focused on the new sound.

“Wait, shut up… do you hear that?” I said, raising a forehoof to silence the angry earth pony.

“Don’t you bloody shush me! I’m gonna fucking-“ Pot started again, but I wrapped my magic around his muzzle, slamminf it shut.

“I said, shut up,” I repeated, giving him a slight squeeze as a warning.

The stallion nodded vigorously, his eyes wide with terror. Having made my point, I let him go and raised my head, trying to pick up the sound again.

There it is… I thought as my left ear swiveled towards it.

Apparently it was coming from inside a door in the middle of the connecting hallway. If the shooting gallery was anything to go by, this one should be open too. I tapped the button and found that yes, indeed, this door was open. But what I saw on the other side was definitely not a shooting gallery.

The room beyond the door held a single large device, shaped like a cylinder. Within its core there stood a large stone object, covered in tubes and wires and held firmly inside a glass tube.

I approached it, almost in a trance. I could hear it, the beautiful melody. It called to me.

It called to me, to Black Light, to the hero of the surface.

“What… is that…?” Pot whimpered from behind me.

“Fear. Do not approach it,” Narrative added.

“Can’t you hear it?” I asked, confused as to why my friends didn’t want to come into the room with me.

Pot had been angry… I couldn’t remember why. Narrative had just said that he was afraid… but how could he? Could his body not let him hear the melody?

That had to be it, maybe they just couldn’t hear it! I had to show it to them. Somehow I had to find a way to-

The flute! I thought triumphantly as I sat down in front of the machine, almost touching the thick acrylic pane that separated me from the rock thing. I reached into my saddlebag and brought out Shrapnel’s flute, feeling a strange tingling sensation in my horn as the magic coarsed through it.

I had never played an instrument in my life, let alone one as seemingly complex as the flute I now held. It was completely covered in small holes, seemingly designed to produce many different notes. Forgoing my magic, I sat down on my haunches and brought the flute up to my lips.

My limbs moved on their own accord as I provided air, mimicking the melody almost to perfection. It was relatively simple, but it still held a slight air of melancholy to it. As soon as I finished it, however, the stone started it anew.

“Stop it!” Pot pleaded from somewhere behind me.

The stone sang out the first notes again, and I followed along with my flute, matching it again. I noticed that it was rotating, with the many strange symbols that adorned its surface locking into place as it shifted around in its enclosure. The melody started again for a fourth time, but now the stone grew louder and somehow even more beautiful.

My flute dropped to the floor as I sat there, swaying softly from side to side as the rock kept shifting and rotating. It was no rock, this thing was a talisman, and it was getting ready to work for the first time in centuries. I heard vague mumblings behind me, as if somepony were screaming something. Why did they scream? Were they trying to drown out the music?

Beams of light fired out of the talisman, bouncing around the acrylic protection. Cracks appeared on the surface as more beams poured out of the talisman, all of them eventually condensing into three. The lights focused on me, making a spider web of cracks form on the acrylic right in front of my face. The little pony in my head tried to scream at me to run, to move, to do anything, but I silenced it. Could it not hear the music either? No… it couldn’t be… my mind was part of me.

Unless a part of me couldn’t hear it… I realized. It was a terrible, awful revelation. But it was one with a simple fix. All I needed was to sit still and wait… or so I thought.

The acrylic shattered as if it had been made out of glass, letting the beams of light blast directly into me. The first struck my side, hitting my saddlebag. The second hit my chest, making my heart slow to almost a crawl. And the third hit me squarely in the head.

Despite being made of light, the beams hit me with the force of a hammer. The music stopped almost immediately, ripping me out of my trance nearly as violently as I had fallen into it.

“Black Light!” Pot shouted from behind me, but it was too late.

The beams of light launched me backwards as if I had been shot out of a cannon. I soared through the air for almost a full second before slamming into the wall with a wet crunching sound. My view exploded into a mix of abstract shapes as I flopped to the floor, hitting my forehead against the steel plates hard.

I tried to get up, but I seemed to have lost all balance, instead only being able to flop around uselessly. The coppery taste of blood flooded my mouth, with the same strange warmth pouring out of my nose and… eyes?

I raised a forehoof to touch my right eye, pulling it away to see a small spot of blood on it. That couldn’t be good. Something made a muffled noise over to my right, and I turned to see a blue blob make its way towards me.

“P- poh…?” I started, but the moment I opened my mouth I was nearly overcome by nausea.

A shaky forehoof reached up to touch the back of my head, which was hurting a little. The hoof felt around for a moment, but all I could feel was the usual soft and squishy stuff.

Wait… isn’t my skull supposed to be there?

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Evening Clouds

Classification: Pegasus stallion – 83 years of age – C-f2f2fe M-3a364b E-e2570d

Cutie mark: A moon behind two clouds.

Evening Clouds was a park ranger who was born in Cloudsdale. He spent most of his days watching over the woods near Neighagra falls, where he was particularly fond of the many different birds that called it home.

As he grew older, he retired from the park ranger business and decided to spend his days with the birds that he loved feeding. During the evenings, the old stallion could be seen soaring above the treeline alongside his feathery friends.

He would eventually pass away of natural causes. Having no surviving family, his body was donated to the up and coming equestrian scientific revolution, where his brain would be harvested and turned into one of the many brain bot workers.

The machine that now bore his brain had any trace of the old stallion’s personality completely wiped. Yet despite this, the robot it was in had a soft spot for birds, and would sometimes be seen offering small sticks to them so they could build their nests. After the bombs fell and the MoI facility it was in got abandoned, the brain bot suffered a catastrophic failure and went offline.

Author's Note

If you’d prefer to just leave a tip, I now also have a KoFi.

A fresh coat of paint

A soft ethereal breeze blew through my mane as I took in the sights around me. A vast expanse of blue dunes met my eyes, interrupted only by the occasional large tree. The swirling stars in the eternal night sky bathed the scene in a soothing purple light. It was serene, beautiful, and completely still, frozen in time.

But I wasn’t here for sightseeing.

I crouched down closer to the blue dirt below me, examining the tracks I had been following with the careful eye of a hunter: eight claws, almost an entire hoof’s depth into the soil. I stretched out my own forehoof and pressed it into the ground next to the track, putting my full weight on it for a moment before lifting it again. It barely sank into the dirt at all, which could only mean that this was a big one, at least four times my weight.

“Hmm…” I muttered, swinging my spear off my back as I tried to think.

The tip let off a rainbow of hues in the prismatic light of The Lands. It was a long spear, one and a half times my length, with the blade at the end being three hooves long. The strap that held it onto my back was undecorated, nothing but a hoofful of carefully woven reeds. Other than that, I was completely bare.

I sat on the ground and took a deep breath, feeling the cool air flow into my lungs. There wasn’t much to see out here once the initial awe of just how vast The Lands were had worn off. The only real landmark was the large trees that dotted the landscape, but there was no real way to tell how close they were. For all I knew, they could be as vast as The Lands themselves, and simply placed so far away that they looked normal-sized to me.

It's going to be hard to find my way back… I thought, eyeing the landscape. If only I had a map…

My right foreleg raised as if by instinct. I turned it around, raising an eyebrow as I looked at my golden stripes. There was nothing on it, but I couldn’t shake the sensation that I needed to look at it.

A sound made my ear twitch, but I couldn’t spot anything when I glanced over my shoulder. For some reason my eyes darted down and to the left, almost as if it had been a reflex, but there was nothing there other than more blue dirt. I shook my head. This would do me no good, I needed to focus on the hunt ahead.

“Probably in a cave…” I mumbled, scanning the horizon for any indication of where my quarry could’ve gone.

The tracks were my best bet, so I slung the spear across my back and started on my way down the dune I had climbed. Before I reached the bottom, however, the tracks suddenly stopped moving forward. It looked as if the monster had stopped and stomped on the ground for a moment. Could it have been choosing where to go next? No, if that were the case it would’ve stood still, this looked as if it had rapidly moved in circles.

“Where’d you go?” I asked the tracks, not really expecting a reply.

I looked around the area, spotting another set of tracks a considerable distance off to the right. Clearly my prey had jumped away, but the reason why was still a mystery. I approached the spot where it had landed, where I saw the trail start again.

Judging by the distance between each pawprint, the beast had started running once it had landed. Gone was the steady trail, replaced by spots where all four paws were pressed together before violently launching the monster forward. It was running as fast as it could.

“Hunter? or hunt-ed?” I wondered, taking a moment to straighten my back and look at the trail ahead.

Given how the tracks didn’t have a definitive direction, I was leaning towards ‘hunted’... but by what? There were no other tracks around, so either something else had scared my prey away…

“...Or it came from above…” I said aloud, immediately staring at the boundless sky.

The infinite swirling nebulas of The Lands absorbed my gaze like blood drops in a river. Small tears formed at the edges of my eyes as the stars pressed their indescribable weight on me. I wanted nothing more but to advert my gaze, but I knew that I would find whatever had scared my prey off hiding amongst those very same stars. I knew I shouldn’t stare for long, the stars were not fond of being observed, especially not by mortal souls.

There! I thought, spotting a patch of stars that was moving a little too quickly…

Horror spread through my body when I realized what I was looking at. It was a Starbeast, a foul creature from beyond this plane.

“Oh no…” I gasped, immediately looking away.

Unfortunately, it was too late, the Starbeast let out an impossibly loud roar above me. The sound shook me to my very core, and not just me, but the ground around me as well. Small crystal growths sprouted out of the dirt, like hooves reaching up toward the firmament. I dared another glance up, and saw that the beast had whirled around to start heading directly towards me, its many tentacles swirling behind it.

I looked around me, but there was no escape, I was out in plain sight, in the middle of an endless desert. My only hope was to fight, but I knew in my heart of hearts that there was no way to fell a Starbeast. My gaze hardened. If this was to be my end, then I would meet such an end with my pride intact.

One of my forehooves reached back, swinging my spear around to rest it beside my shoulder with the blade pointed forward. I raised my head, focusing on the approaching creature. It was slug-like, its skin looking like a transparent gel that held a deep dark mist within it. Inside the deepest part of the mist spun an entire nebula, its many cyan and pink hues swirling within the creature’s transparent flesh. It had no defined head, and no legs, its only appendages being the uncountable tentacles that twisted and turned behind it. Since they were almost completely transparent, there was no real way to count them. From the center of its ‘head’, opposite the tentacles, stretched out one extra tentacle, capped off with a large white sphere that glowed too bright to stare at it directly.

For a split second, I considered bracing my spear against the ground and impaling the beast on it when it attacked as if I were hunting a boar. A second thought dispelled the idea, however, since the Starbeast was way too big. Even if I could stab into it, the creature’s bulk would simply crush me like an insect.

To my amazement, the creature changed directions as it approached, landing in front of me instead of on top. Before hitting the ground it spun around to touch the ground with its tentacles, freezing any dirt they touched.

The tentacle that formed the monster’s ‘head’ wormed upwards, like a serpent enchanted by a musician’s flute. Once it stretched out to its full length, the star on the end suddenly became brighter. I slammed my eyes shut, but the light was still there, pulsating and vile as it shone directly through my eyelids.

A wave of magic washed over me, making my forehead tingle weirdly. My body suddenly felt light, as if I were suspended in water. Daring to open my eyes, I realized that the stars were gone, replaced by a veil of darkness that swirled around me and the Starbeast. It had trapped me with it, as if in some kind of astral colosseum.

“I’m not scared of you!” I shouted, stomping the ground for emphasis and noticing that it had become incredibly cold.

The Starbeast said nothing, instead bringing its head tentacle lower to ‘face’ me before letting out a deep reverberating sound. It wasn’t a roar, nor was it any sort of attempt at communicating, it was simply a noise, loud and otherworldly.

My spear looked pathetically small in comparison, but I knew that I at least stood a chance, however small it may be. The blade’s metal was that of the stars, after all, and if anything would be able to maim this creature it would certainly be something as ethereal as itself.

“Come on!” I challenged.

I watched as the creature swam into the air, moving around me in a wide circle. I tried to adjust my stance to keep the spear pointed at it, but the strange weightless sensation in my legs was throwing me off slightly. The Starbeast didn’t attack, it kept swimming in circles, as if it were trying to measure me up. It was hard to tell given the lack of a head or any sort of eye. Not even the long tentacle with the star on the end did anything, it just bent back and joined its starless brethren in moving the creature through the air.

Suddenly, the creature stopped completely in place. The reason for its spinning became clear when I tried to stop myself, as the weightlessness that had been draped over me made my rear legs slide on the ground as if it were slickened with oil. Somehow noticing that I was unable to bring my spear’s blade to bear, the Starbeast darted towards my exposed side.

The star-tipped tentacle stretched out as if trying to touch me. I didn’t know exactly what it did, but I wasn’t intending to find out either. Since the tip of my spear was already near the ground, I raised a forehoof to grab the shaft and pulled it down with all my might, launching myself into the air a significant distance.

“Missed me!” I exclaimed as the Starbeast passed under me.

My victory was short-lived, however, as the somersault had left me wide open in the air. A nearly invisible tentacle unfurled itself like a whip, slamming into my chest with the force of a hammer blow.

I soared through the air, as the monster turned the rest of its body around and charged at me again. This time I was even higher up, and the weightlessness of my body wasn’t going to let me reach the ground fast enough to dodge. I only had one option left.

Grabbing the spear with both forehooves, I tried my damndest to orient myself and face the monster head-on. The star-tipped tentacle drew closer. I jerked the spear towards it, intent to at least try and attack. Unsurprisingly, my weapon didn’t connect, as the creature’s tentacle spun in a spiral and struck the shaft of my spear.

I cried out in pain as the hardened wood of the shaft exploded into a rain of splinters. My right forehoof, which was the closest to the tip, split down the middle, spraying glistening golden blood into the air as I tumbled to the ground.

Pony, blade, and splinters fell to the blue dirt as the Starbeast swirled above. I grit my teeth and got up, keeping my weight off the injured forehoof and letting my blood drip onto the ground. The wound was not fatal by any stretch, but given how I was now unarmed, it probably wouldn’t take long for the creature to finish me off.

I need a weapon… I thought, scanning the dirt for my spear’s blade.

The shiny metal edge was a short distance ahead of me, if I could reach it, I could still stand a chance. Using my rear legs, I launched myself into the air, working with the weightlessness instead of fighting it.

Before I could reach the weapon, I felt something wrap around my right rear leg, yanking me back and into the air. The Starbeast hurled me like a ragdoll, sending me flying away from the speartip. I spun in the air and landed on my hooves, shaking my head slightly, I raised my gaze to look at the creature.

It didn’t attack, nor did it move from its spot, circling my spear. I realized that it was toying with me, waiting for my next move. The spear wouldn’t be my salvation, but I still needed some sort of weapon to battle this beast. I looked around the ground, trying to spot anything useful, but all I saw was the blue dirt of The Lands.

Wait… the crystals…

I looked at the spot where the creature had roared at me originally, staring at the many crystalline spikes that had sprouted from the soil. It was almost the same distance from me as the spear tip, but it had the big advantage of not being guarded by the Starbeast.

You can do this! I told myself, darting towards the spikes.

The Starbeast let out its strange noise again, seemingly wisening up to my strategy, as it charged towards me like a gigantic missile. My forehooves struck the ground, pushing me forward faster. A small spike of pain came from my right forehoof, but I didn’t let it stop me from reaching the crystals.

With a victorious chuckle, I wrapped my forehooves around the nearest spike. The regret was almost instantaneous, as the hard surface was indescribably cold. My forehooves cracked from the extreme temperature, their outer layers peeling off like cracked paint.

The shock was short-lived, as once more the Starbeast wrapped a tentacle around one of my hindlegs and yanked me back. Despite the cold, I clutched the crystal with all my might, ripping it out of the ground as the monster pulled on me. Thinking quickly, I spun the crystal around and stabbed it into the tentacle before it had a chance to throw me.

Icy-cold blood poured out of the tentacle as the weightless magic faded. I was let go, tumbling to the ground and slamming onto my back. The hard impact knocked the air right out of my lungs. Before I could recover, the Starbeast whirled around and charged at me. I tried to struggle, but the countless tentacles held me firmly against the ground, crushing every last drop of air out of me.

I struggled, thrashing against the tentacles, but I couldn’t manage to move at all. The star-tipped tentacle loomed ominously above me like a surgeon’s light. I tried to struggle, but another one of the creature’s limbs pressed against my forehead, pinning my head in place.

My breathing accelerated as the mass of tentacles swirled. I noticed how the injured one was looming ominously back, the transparent skin seeming to bubble as blood poured from the wound. It almost looked as if something were trying to claw its way out of it.

“Get off me!” I shouted, thrashing harder against the creature.

A strange tendril poked out of the Starbeast’s pierced flesh, followed by another, and then another. Like a surgeon’s forceps, the tendrils pulled the wound open until it was almost the size of a hoof. I noticed how despite the tentacle’s flesh being almost completely transparent, the ‘inside’ of the monster was pitch black, punctuated only by the white tendrils that were poking out from within, and the light blue blood that continued to ooze from it.

Two minuscule dots of light appeared from the darkness. Eyes, I realized as the smaller creature tore its way out from inside the Starbeast. Like some kind of horrid perversion of birth, the smaller monster dropped from the wound with a wet splatter, landing next to my head in a puddle of blood.

It was just smaller than my hoof, and rather insect-like. A segmented body that looked as if it were covered in barbs, with a myriad of tendrils on its underside. It was colored a pale white, almost the color of bleached bones, and the two dots of light that were its eyes moved around slowly, as if it were searching for something. Eventually, the dots focused on me, and the creature started to approach me.

“No…” I muttered, my heart thundering in my ears like a war drum.

With newfound strength, I tried to pull myself free, yet no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t even get the tentacles to budge. The small insect reached my side, where I noticed the mandibles that sat underneath its eyes. My eyes shrank to pinpricks as I felt its painfully cold legs tapping my left cheek.

“No! Get away!” I shouted, but all I seemed to do was draw the creature’s attention towards my mouth.

The Starbeast loomed ominously above like an uncaring goddess, bathing me in its evil white light. I clamped my jaw shut as the smaller creature crawled along my face, coming to a stop just above my mouth. I felt its small legs prodding at my lips as its jaws clicked together. Tears formed on the edges of my eyes as my lips were forced open.

Desperation started to make my limbs freeze up as the smaller monster tapped at my teeth, its cold flesh making them hurt horribly as if I had bitten into a scoop of ice cream. I tried with all my might to keep my mouth closed, but the creature snuck the tips of its legs in between my jaws and started to pull.

I had considered biting at the creature, but I wasn’t even able to keep my jaw closed as it slowly pried my mouth open. My breathing became shallower as the monster slowly slid its way inside. The blood it was covered in burnt the inside of my mouth with the sheer cold, but that was nothing compared to the vile feeling of the creature’s tendrils poking the insides of my cheeks.

My heart lurched when I felt my tongue get grabbed. It felt as if strings had been tied painfully tight around it. The creature adjusted itself inside my mouth, walking over the top of my tongue while still holding my jaws apart. I was forced to start breathing through my nose as it moved around.

A scream was torn from my throat as the smaller monster’s jaws bit into the base of my tongue. The cold was doing nothing to mute the pain as it bit again and again, ripping through the flesh like a well-sharpened butcher’s knife. As it reached the bottom of my tongue, it severed the artery that lay within, immediately flooding my mouth with the coppery taste of my own blood.

There was so much… too much…

I let out a series of gurgling sounds as more blood poured down my throat. I had held my breath when the smaller creature had cut it, but I was running out of air fast. I needed to breathe…

Not able to hold it anymore, I tried to take in a gulp of air, but the only thing that filled my lungs was blood. I coughed violently, sending a torrent of crimson liquid out of my open mouth. My vision started to blur as every beat of my thundering heart sent another gush of blood into my mouth.

Air… I need…

I jerked up violently, sitting on my haunches and screaming at the top of my lungs. Something grabbed me and tried to push my chest down, but I wasn’t going to be pinned again. I tore my foreleg from whatever was grasping it, hearing a dull thudding sound come from somewhere in front of me.

Almost immediately, my forehoof shot up to my mouth and pulled it open, reaching inside with the very tip to touch my tongue. An impossibly relieved sigh left my throat when I realized that my tongue was completely intact. Just to be certain, I stuck out my tongue and ran my forehoof over it. The grime and dirt that was stuck to it tasted rather foul, but the fact that I could still taste in the first place was decently reassuring.

My eyes were covered with something, but I quickly reached up and pulled the cloth off. Slowly, almost fearfully, I cracked an eye open, wincing slightly at the light in front of me. I was immediately presented with Pot, who was struggling to stand up, and Narrative, who was standing idly next to me with his claws extended, as if preparing to grab me.

“Calm down,” The robot stated.

I looked at him, then at Pot, who was getting up and looking at me with concern. As the shock of my sudden awakening faded, however, the pain began.

“F- fuck!” I shouted, clutching my head with my forehooves.

Every beat of my heart felt as if a wedge were being driven into the base of my horn, blow by blow. My head had been wrapped in bandages that squelched wetly when I touched them, meaning that they were probably caked in blood. I felt cold metal wrap around my forelegs as Narrative tried to stop me from squeezing my skull.

The pain suddenly seemed to shift from my head to my belly, hitting me like I had been bucked in the stomach. I bent over to the side and started retching violently. There was nothing in my stomach, but through sheer force of will I still managed to throw up some odd mixture of blood and bile.

“Ough…” I whimpered, slowly dropping onto my back.

I noticed that I had been laid out on one of our bedrolls and stripped. My head throbbed painfully. Pot dragged himself a little closer to me and offered me a bottle.

“It's water, drink,” He said.

Before I could second-guess myself, my horn surged with magic. I preemptively winced, expecting the headache to reach a new level of agony. Yet to my amazement, it didn’t worsen. I took several gulps of water before floating the bottle back to Pot, who scooped it out of my magic and dropped it into his saddlebags.

“What… what happened?” I asked, grunting slightly when the muscles in my jaw made my skull tighten up.

Pot chuckled and sat down next to me.

“Whatever you did with that… rock thing fried the turrets for a while, so Narrative and I dragged you out,” He explained.

Memories slowly started to float up to the surface of my mind. I could remember most of it now, the machine, the amulet, the music…

“What was that thing?” I muttered, bringing a forehoof up to touch my forehead and feeling how hot to the touch it was.

Pot shook his head before replying.

“I have no idea,” He admitted. “But whatever it was, it sent you flying into a wall, cracked your head open like an egg,”

Yeah, that tracked.

“It also seems to have given you stripes,” Narrative interjected, drawing a little closer to me.

“Wait… what?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at the robot and immediately relaxing it when I felt a sharp pain stabbing into the side of my head.

Pot grimaced slightly, shooting a disappointed stare at Narrative, as if he were shocked that he had brought it up. He gave me a concerned glance before speaking again.

“Yeah you uhh… you’ve got stripes now,” He muttered. “I thought they might be burns, but no, they’re on your coat,”

I chuckled softly.

“I’ve always had these, dummy! Did you really never notice befo-” I started, but I fell quiet when I raised my forelegs up to my face and took a better look at them.

My stripes had always been light, extremely light. So light, in fact, that sometimes even I doubted that I had them. But now they were very clear. They had become a rather dark shade of gray, not entirely black, but still extremely conspicuous when contrasted against my white coat.

“What…?” I mumbled, looking down at my bare chest and noticing that all my stripes had become gray. “Okay, that’s definitely not normal…” I added.

“Do you feel okay?” Pot asked, putting his forehoof on my shoulder.

I looked at the earth pony and noticed that his prosthetic had been repaired with some metal wire. It didn’t look sturdy, but it was apparently good enough to hold him up.

“A bit of a headache… but I’m okay,” I said, nodding resolutely to try and calm the stallion down. “What even happened? Where are we?” I asked, looking around.

We were in a small room, an apartment of some sort. There was a moth-eaten couch resting against one of the walls, and a small coffee table had been pushed aside to make space for my bedroll. There was a large double door in one of the walls that had been made out of glass at some point. Much like every other window I had seen on the surface, this one was completely shattered. There was another building across from ours, just three stories tall. The cloud layer could be seen above. My ears twitched slightly as I heard the sounds of rain falling outside.

“After that machine zapped you I realized all the turrets got fried. I wrapped your head with the bandages and Narrative helped me drag you out of there,” Pot explained. “We didn’t stay long, no idea when the turrets would come back online. That was a day ago,”

“The healing bandages seem to have worked, at least,” Narrative added.

Pot let out a soft chuckle.

“I’d hope so, we used all of them,” He stated, his tone got more serious as he continued. “Are you sure you’re okay? You were losing a lot of blood,” He asked.

Truth be told, my head was hurting really bad. But I was the hero of the surface! I had to be tough for my friends, and for all poor defenseless surface ponies too!

“I’m perfectly fine, we need to-” I started, trying to get up, but I cut myself off when I collapsed onto the floor again.

The room was spinning violently, leaving me unable to put my hooves under me no matter how hard I tried. No matter how hard I focused, all I could do with my legs was trip over myself. I cocked my head to the side, feeling the movement slow down slightly while I let out a soft groan.

My heart was beating oddly, as if it were pumping twice in quick succession and then taking a longer time for the third beat. I raised a forehoof to touch my head again, trying to squeeze the pain out.

“Stop touching your head!” Pot reprimanded me, pulling my forehoof down.

“Sadness. She is clearly brain damaged,” Narrative commented.

I whipped my head around to glare at the machine.

“I am not brain damaged, my brain is perfectly healthy!” I shouted back.

Narrative raised one of his claws and held it up next to his brain jar.

“How many hooves am I holding up?” He asked.

“None, you don’t have hooves!” I retorted.

The machine slowly lowered the claw, looking almost depressed as it rolled a little further back. “Sadness. Point taken,”

“That was uncalled for,” Pot said, furrowing his brow and staring at me with disappointment.

I furrowed my own brow, raising an accusatory hoof to point at Narrative.

“He said I was brain damaged!” I pouted.

“Because we saw your head get split open ya bloody idiot!” Pot bellowed.

I opened my mouth to reply, but I closed it just as quickly. Pot was right, if I had gotten a bad head injury then it made sense for them both to be concerned about me. I lowered my head, my ears drooping, before glancing at Narrative again. He had remained completely still, save for the bobbing of his brain inside the jar.

“I’m sorry…” I said. “Can I make it up to you?” I added, raising my head to look at Narrative directly.

The machine said nothing, as if it had been offended.

“She could try to put that new sensor on you,” Pot offered, turning to look at me. “If you think you can use your magic, that is,”

I looked at the earth pony, raising an eyebrow.

“What do you mean?” I asked, looking back at Narrative and focusing on his sensor talisman. “Didn’t we grab a new one down in the bunker?”

“We did…” Pot answered, opening his saddlebag and pulling out the small talisman before putting it softly on the floor. “But let's just say that an earth pony with a single hoof and delicate electronics aren’t exactly a winning combo,” He added.

“I guess so,” I replied. “I’ll give it a try… if you want me to, of course…” I added quickly, bringing my eyes back to Narrative.

“Fine,” The machine stated. His body didn’t say what emotion he was feeling, but he was probably still feeling rather sad from my comment earlier. I had to make it up to him somehow.

I scooted over closer, feeling the room start spinning slightly as I did, but not enough to throw me onto the floor. My horn lit up and grabbed the new talisman from the floor, floating it up to Narrative’s front plate. My own saddlebags opened as I pulled out my combat knife.

Just like I had done down in the facility, I dug the tip of the knife into the edge of the talisman and popped it free. I left the new one on the floor next to me as I focused on pulling the one currently inside Narrative free. My head started to throb slightly from the focus, but it wasn’t too much to deal with. I pulled the sensor free and left it on the floor next to its replacement before picking up the new one.

“Fear. Make sure to connect it properly,” Narrative said.

“Yeah… I got it…” I replied, scrunching my face in concentration as I levitated the wires into the hole.

Narrative’s interior lit up with a faint crimson glow as my magic filled it. I could see many strange parts inside, circuitry, gears, and all sorts of wires and tubes. All the way in the back, however, I spotted the connectors where the wires on the sensor had to be connected. Thankfully they seemed to be color-coded, red, yellow, and white.

“Almost got it…” I said, connecting the yellow wire to its proper place.

“Can you even see anything in there?” Pot asked, cocking his head to the side to try and peek inside as well.

I looked at the stallion, intent on telling him… something. For whatever reason I was feeling rather lightheaded, as if my attention were being siphoned out of my head through my horn. That should be an easy fix, just had to stop using it! My magic faded into a soft shower of sparks. I turned to stare at Pot directly, who raised an eyebrow at me.

“So… do we have any food?” I asked, smiling.

“What are…? What?” Pot asked, shaking his head in confusion.

I looked forward again, where I found myself staring into Narrative Lampshade’s chassis. A wrap of cables hung out of the opening, with a talisman hanging onto the end.

“Sweet Celestia! What happened to you?” I exclaimed, stumbling back slightly.

“What are you talking about?” Narrative demanded. “Is there a problem with the sensor?”

“What?” I asked before wincing slightly and leaning over to the side, clutching my head.

Pot scooted over to me and put his hoof on my back, leaning over next to me and looking at my face. He looked concerned… Why was he concerned? We were just-

“Ough…” I mumbled, feeling the room start to spin again.

I felt somepony hold my head, then I felt it get pressed against something soft. I tried to lift my head again, but it felt terribly heavy. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get my neck to move at all.

“What are you…” I slurred when I noticed Pot out of the corner of my eye.

The room suddenly stood still, but my mind continued to spin. Round and round it went, feeling as it were twisting my stomach into knots. I wanted to throw up, but that would be so tiring! I was already tired enough already… so… tired…

Maybe just a quick nap, to get my strength back! I thought, fading out of consciousness once again.

There were no trippy dreams this time, just the endless black void of unconsciousness.

It wasn’t a normal sleep, that would have been instant. This felt painfully slow, as if every second were being dangled in front of my face before fully passing. I tried counting to pass the time, but I lost count more times than I could count.

On the bright side, at least my head didn’t hurt anymore… Or anything else, for that matter. It was rather pleasant, just me, alone in this void.

I couldn’t help but think about Pot and Narrative, however. The robot had insisted on me being brain damaged, but that couldn’t be true! I could still think just as clearly as I had before.

He’s probably just worried about me… again.

It was a ridiculous notion. I was the one that should be worried for him, not the other way around! My frustration at how vehemently they refused to accept that I was their savior. Sure, I had some missteps, but I had mostly managed to keep them safe!

I felt one of my ears twitch slightly as it picked up a muffled voice somewhere next to me. My head refused to move, but I still tried to turn it and listen better to whatever was being said. It sounded vaguely like Pot, but I had no way to be sure.

“-Sure you can’t?” The voice said.

”Sadness. No, as long as she’s still alive, I can’t leave her presence,” A second voice said, monotone and metallic.

Silence once more, but it was quickly broken by the first voice again.

“Say we kill her, what then?”

“I cannot,” The other voice droned. “This body prevents me from harming her in any way,” It added.

“Fine, say I kill her,” The stallion’s voice said.

A second passed, then another. Neither voice talked, as if both were deep in thought. Or perhaps I had simply slipped further into sleep and could no longer follow the conversation. It could’ve also been a dream, after all, there was no chance that Pot would even entertain the thought of killing me!

If I had been able to, I would’ve laughed out loud at how ridiculous the concept was. Pot was a friend, it’s not like he was some sort of bandit who had been fooling me all along. I was way too smart for that! And while I didn’t want to discredit my friends… I really doubted that Pot would be bright enough to fool me, he was a surface dweller, after all.

Suddenly, I jerked upright as if a spring had launched me off the floor. My eyes opened wide, revealing the inside of the apartment again. Pot, who had been standing next to me, jumped back so violently that his gun fell to the floor, somehow flying out of his holster. My head felt hot, almost unbearably hot, as if I had stuck it inside an oven.

I drew in a deep breath, feeling the cold air pass across my palate and pry some of the heat in my head away. My eyes finally focused, letting me take in every detail around me. The lamp, cooking pot, Pot’s bedroll, and even my own saddlebags had been packed up and attached to Narrative’s back. The only thing that wasn’t packed was the bedroll that I was resting on. Pot’s expression was grim as his eyes switched from the fallen gun to me and then back to the weapon.

“Heh… You forgot the safety strap,” I said, pointing at his leg holster.

“I swear we-” The stallion blurted out, but he fell quiet just as fast, shaking his head and focusing on me. “What?” He demanded, sounding absolutely stupefied.

My horn lit up, wrapping around the fallen pistol and raising it into the air. Pot’s face went white, his eyes shrinking to pinpricks as they focused on the gun. I floated it over to him, putting it back in his holster and passing the security strap over it, keeping it in place.

“There you go, now it won’t fall out again!” I chirped.

A large drop of sweat ran down the side of Pot’s head, his eyes remaining fixed on mine. Concern flared in my chest when I noticed how worried the stallion looked.

“Are you feeling okay, Pot?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.

“Y- yeah!” The stallion said, shaking his head. “I’m just… surprised that you woke up, yeah,” He added.

I smiled at him, puffing my chest out slightly. Truth be told, my head still hurt, but it was nowhere near the agony that I was feeling before.

“Of course I’m up! I’m the hero of the surface! It’s going to take a lot more than a little bump on the head to put me down,” I announced proudly. “What’s up with all the packing? Were you about to go scavenging?” I asked, gesturing at all the stuff that was piled on Narrrative’s back.

“Uhhh… Yeah, exactly,” He said, looking at Narrative. “But since you’re awake now, I guess we can wait a little longer,” The earth pony added, sounding just slightly off.

I was relieved to hear that, while I could think fairly clearly, I wasn’t confident in my ability to move around for too long. Narrative, who had remained silent the entire time, rolled up closer to me, pointing the gaping hole in the middle of his frontal plate towards me.

“Anger. Now that you’re awake, maybe you can finish putting my new sensor in,” The machine stated.

Pot whipped his head around to look at the robot with concern, but his gaze relaxed. He turned to look at me again, shooting a quick glance at my horn before giving me a half-hearted smile.

”Y- yeah! You should finish plugging that thing in!” He said.

“Wait… what?” I asked, furrowing my brow. “What happened to your eye thingy?”

“Anger. You took it out to put the new one in and then decided to pass out halfway through,” Narrative stated.

Some memories started flooding back into my mind, but they were foggy and fragmented. I had a vague sensation of being told to do something by the brain, but I couldn’t quite recall it. Clearly I had done something, because the sensor talisman that was normally sticking out of his front was missing, but I couldn’t remember properly.

“I’m sorry…” I muttered, lowering my head. “I can’t really remember… where’s the new eye?” I asked.

Pot let out a deep sigh, seeming more relaxed. He shook his head slightly and took a couple of steps towards Narrative, poking his head into one of the saddlebags that were draped across his back and digging out the new talisman again.

I took it in my magic, recalling that I was meant to plug it in with the color coded connectors. The telekinetic glow started to seep into Narrative’s interior, but it was… off.

When I had tried before, the glow had been the usual crimson that it had been all my life. This time, however, the color was wrong. Small flashes of blue, green, and yellow were mixed in with the red, turning the machine’s interior into a kaleidoscope.

I shook my head, trying to pry my attention away from the bright colors. I plugged in one of the connectors, followed quickly by the second one. The last one was a little difficult, as the wire had gotten caught on a piece of tubing. I berated myself internally for not twisting the wires around before putting the talisman inside.

After a little maneuvering, I managed to get the connector unstuck and floated it into place. The talisman that hung out the front of the machine lit up dimly and started to hum. I wrapped it in my telekinesis and carefully locked it into place, sealing up the hole.

“Is it working?” I asked.

Narrative focused on me for a moment. I could actually tell that he was focusing on me now, as his new talisman opened and narrowed like a camera shutter. He turned to face Pot next, focusing on him for a couple moments.

”You two look awful,” He stated.

Pot opened his mouth as if to complain, his brow furrowed, but he closed it and shrugged instead.

“Yeah, I guess we do,” The stallion said.

“Does it work?” I asked, staring into the sensor and seeing it adjust again.

“Joy. Yes, it does,” Narrative answered.

The machine rolled past me, heading towards the window. I noticed that it was still raining, with sparse water droplets clinking off the metal guardrail of the balcony.

“Don’t stay out there for too long, you’ll get…” He started, but his gaze softened with realization. “...I guess you can’t really get sick, can you?” He added.

“Why would he get sick?” I asked, turning my head to stare at Pot.

I noticed that the earth pony still looked rather tense. He nervously shot a glance at me before replying.

“The rain,” He said, raising a forehoof to point at the window. “It’s very radioactive, if it soaks your coat you’ll need some RadAway. S- so you shouldn’t go out there,” He explained.

“Weren’t you and Narrative about to head out for scavenging?” I wondered, recalling what the stallion had said before.

Pot seemed to be shocked by my question.

“I- uhh… I misspoke! We weren’t going anywhere,” He explained.

“Oh, okay!” I chirped, smiling. “Honest mistake,” I added, drawing a raised eyebrow from Pot that was quickly followed by a relieved sigh.

I turned to stare out the window, watching the droplets fall and clink off Narrative’s brain jar. I took a few steps closer, not close enough to get splashed, but closer to the balcony nonetheless. The robot remained completely silent, as if he were encased in thought. I walked up to the very edge of the window and stopped. Narrative seemed to sense my presence, because he turned ever so slightly to the side and spoke.

“Sadness. It is a rather depressing sight,”

I stared into the ruins myself. There wasn’t that much to see, since the building in front of ours obstructed most of the view. Even then it was still bleak. Broken windows, crumbling walls, the cracked street below, and the drab gray sky above made it a rather perfect picture of despair.

“How bad is it?” I asked.

“Sadness. What do you mean?” The robot droned.

“You were here before the bombs fell, how bad does it look now?” I clarified.

“Truth be told, it doesn’t look too much different. There’s simply less ponies around,” He stated.

I cocked my head to the side and raised an eyebrow. The machine didn’t move, but it still spoke after a short pause.

“Sadness. That was meant to be a joke,” He said, bringing his claws up so he could look at them. “I guess that is another thing this body has taken from me,”

“What? You can’t make jokes?” I asked, confused.

“Sadness. No, I just can’t change my tone, so I have no way of showing that I’m being sarcastic,” Narrative replied.

I fell silent, lowering my head slightly. I guessed he was right, he had no way of expressing himself properly. Maybe he could click his claws in some pattern to let us know if he was being serious or not, but that would take way too much time to get used to.

“Maybe we can find somepony who can help you,” I offered.

“I doubt there is a single pony out here with sufficient knowledge of robotics to help me,” The machine said,

I turned around to look at Pot pleadingly. His eyes went wide at my sudden movement. What’s got him so jumpy? I wondered.

“Do you know anywhere where we could find a robot repair pony?” I asked him.

The earth pony sat down and stared at the floor, as if he were trying to project a map onto it.

“Not really…” He said.

I sat down myself, bringing a hoof up to my chin to think. The sudden position change made my head throb slightly, but it wasn’t crippling.

I still need to find help for my stable too… Where could we go? I thought, of course, we could always try to go back to the Medical Center, perhaps scribe Tourniquet had some robotics knowledge.

“Sadness. It is all right, I don’t need false hopes,” Narrative stated, moving back into the apartment and facing Pot. “You, on the other hoof, need somewhere safe to lie down and finish healing,” He added, pointing at the earth pony’s crudely repaired prosthetic.

“I think we should head back to the medical center, maybe Tourniquet can help us out some more,” I offered.

As soon as I finished speaking, I felt a strange sensation on the bottom of my tongue, as if it had been stabbed through with a needle. Pot’s head twitched slightly and he blew air out of his nose, as if he had been angry. His eyes, however, looked as if they gad glazed over slightly.

The stallion screwed his eyelids shut and shook his head before focusing on me again.

“No, Tourniquet probably knows about what happened with the other Steel Rangers, he’ll want your head,” Pot said, keeping his brow slightly furrowed.

“What?” I asked, surprised by what he was saying. “That’s exactly why I should go! I need to tell him that it wasn’t me!”

“And what makes you think he won’t just order one of his knights to blast you into a red mist as soon as they spot you?” The stallion retorted.

I opened my mouth to reply, but I closed it just as quick. He had a point, Tourniquet probably didn’t trust me. Then again, it was just as likely that he had no idea about what had happened to the Steel Rangers at the headquarters. In either case, it was better to be safe than sorry, but that did bring us right back to square one.

“Then where can we go?” I asked.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out…” Pot said.

I turned to look at Narrative, but the robot raised both its claws up above his brain jar.

“Don’t look at me, my knowledge of Baltimare is at least a century out of date,” He said.

Pot grunted and shook his head. He did not look happy, but I couldn’t tell what was causing him the grief.

“Damn it, I guess we only have one option, huh?” He muttered.

“What’s that? Going to the medical center?” I asked.

“No, I wouldn’t risk it with the Steel Rangers,” The stallion said, walking up to one fo the corners of the apartment.

I wanted to ask what he was doing, but he answered my question by lowering his head and picking something up. When he looked up, I realized that he had grabbed a small piece of charred wood. He walked up to the middle of the wall, and started to draw on it.

He drew a large horseshoe shape, then added some seemingly random lines across it. He paused for a moment and then drew a small circle on the right side of the horseshoe, then a couple of others some distance away from it. He took a step back, then walked back up to the wall and added a few more marks.

“Okay, so,” He started after spitting the piece of wood out onto the floor. “This is more or less what Baltimare looks like,”

The stallion gestured towards the entire horseshoe shaped curve. He then took a step closer and sat down to keep his balance before pointing at all the extra lines that he had drawn on top of the first shape.

“These are all the rivers and riverbeds, they’re about as close to a permanent landmark as you can get,” Pot continued.

“Joy. I see those haven’t changed much since before the war, if the old bridges are still standing, I know several spots where we can cross them,” Narrative interjected.

“I doubt we’ll need to, most of them are dry,” The earth pony stallion explained before pointing at the map again.

He pointed at one of the dots in the large group he had drawn.

“We are somewhere around here,” He stated. “And these points here are more or less where the parks and the medical center are,”

I nodded to let him know that I was still following along.

“Now, we don’t want to go deeper into the city, it’s Virtue territory,” The stallion said, gesturing vaguely towards the upper part of the horseshoe. “And we don’t want to go North-east either, because then we risk running into Slavers,”

“So that just leaves South-east and south?” I asked, scrunching up my face while I looked at the map.

“No, actually, just south,” Pot said, his tone a mixture of concern and disappointment. “I don’t know what is in the southeast, but it's still too close to Redeye’s territory for comfort,”

Narrative rolled forwards slightly. I turned to look at him and noticed his sensor focusing on the map. He raised a claw up to the bottom of his brain jar as if he were trying to hold his nonexistent chin and remained silent for a second before speaking.

“I don’t intend to point out the obvious, but wouldn’t we be trapped at the tip of the horseshoe if we went South?” He droned.

“Yes, we would…” Pot started, standing up and adjusting his sitting to point at the last dot he had drawn, all the way down on the right side tip of the horseshoe. “Were it not for this spot right here,” He finished.

“What’s there?” I asked, curious.

“That is Marepoint Fort. It’s… not a nice place, but we should be able to get somepony to ferry us across to the other end of the bay,” Pot answered.

I stared at the map again. If the scale was even remotely accurate, going to the other side of the bay would put me really far away from my stable. But then again if what Pot had said was true, I wouldn’t have much of a chance of finding help in this area.

“Okay, I think it’s a good idea,” I said, nodding.

“I know too little to make an educated choice, so I trust your judgment too, Pot,” Narrative concurred.

The earth pony stallion nodded and turned to look at his map once again, muttering under his breath.

“Only thing left to decide is our route,” He started. “Closest safe spot where we can rest is probably somewhere near Rosewood, which should be around here,” He said, gesturing to a spot around two thirds of the way to our destination.

“Rosewood, the town?” Narrative asked.

“More like ghoul-infested ruins now,” Pot replied. “That place is a death trap, but that also means that the area around it is mostly safe as long as you don’t stay for long,”

I glanced back to the window, noticing that it had stopped raining at some point during the explanation.

“Judging by the distance, we’ll probably need to find a place to camp between here and Rosewood,” The earth pony stallion added before turning to look at me and Narrative. “What do you two think? Should we try to stay in the ruins or should we try our luck with the open wasteland?”

“Fear. You are the one with the most experience here,” Narrative stated.

“Fair enough, I think the ruins should be the safest bet, but I want all three of us to be on the same page so we don’t get sidetracked,” Pot replied, looking at me with a furrowed brow.

I considered the map again, and then reflected on the options he had laid out. Thinking back to my travels so far, I had only ever fought other ponies in or around ruins. The only time Pot and I had been attacked while out in the open wasteland had been when we ran into that pack of wolves. If i had to pick, I’d say fighting things that didn’t shoot back would be more beneficial. Sure, I’d miss out on the rush of a good gunfight, but that was an understandable price to pay in exchange for being able to care for Pot and Narrative more easily.

Speaking of… where’s my rifle? I wondered, looking around until I spotted the gun sticking out of one of the packs on Narrative’s back. I didn’t really have a sling for it, so I guessed he could keep it for now. But back to the question that the earth pony had asked, I had arrived at my answer.

“I think we should try the open wasteland instead,” I said.

Once again, as soon as the last word left my lips, I felt that strange stabbing sensation underneath my tongue. Pot grunted and slowly stood back up, screwing his eyes shut. He opened them again, and the bright green that was usually there looked a little paler as he stared off into infinity. He shook his head softly and looked at me, his eyes having returned to normal.

“Aye, open wasteland it is,” He stated.

I smiled at him, grateful that he had chosen to agree with me instead of arguing.

“Great!” I chirped. “When should we leave?”

“Right away I’d say, we need to get as much distance as we can while the sun is still up,” Pot replied. “Maybe we can-” He continued, but he cut himself short and whipped his head around to look at the window.

I had heard it too, it sounded like faint voices coming down the street that passed in front of the apartment building we were hiding in. My brow furrowed immediately as a strange feeling of unease washed over me.

Carefully, I walked over to the balcony and poked my head over the edge, staring into the street below. My EFS confirmed it before I could see them myself, there were four signals approaching. As my eyes scanned the area, I spotted the first of them coming around the corner.

It was a pony, a stallion, judging by the size. A dark green horn poked out of a brownish mane. A sling held a rifle on his side, it looked crudely made. They were wearing some sort of reinforced barding, covered in metal pieces of multiple sizes, all capped with spikes.

And who are your friends…? I wondered as I waited for the other EFS blips to round the corner and join the first one.

The second one reached the corner, and it made my eyebrow rise in surprise. What I was looking at was no pony, it was some sort of strange cow creature. Even without mentioning the apparent lack of coat it was still had to keep one’s eyes off it given how it had two heads. An incredibly large pair of saddlebags were slung across the beast of burden’s back, undoubtedly filled to the brim with goodies.

Another blip, this time it was a rust colored mare who wore some light barding. The main thing that drew my attention was the revolver that hung by her side, it looked remarkably well-maintained.

Could it be Ironshod? I wondered. I hadn’t seen any FlimFlam revolvers yet, but I doubted they would be able to make one that looked that nice, even from a distance.

The last pony in the group was dressed similarly to the first one, metallic armor covered in spikes. A gun hung from a battle saddle, but I couldn’t tell if it was a rifle or a shotgun. The gun looked even more crudely made than the leader’s, but the pony still moved it around as if he had full faith in its ability to shoot

I was getting bad vibes from the spikes, but I couldn’t quite tell why.

“Who are those ponies?” I asked out loud.

“I think they’re traders,” Pot said, walking up to stand next to me.

“You sure? Those spikes don’t look good,” I stated, furrowing my brow.

“Those are probably mercenaries,” The earth pony replied.

I stared at the group again. No, I wasn’t convinced.

“I’m going to-” I started, but I fell quiet when I noticed one of the two spiky ponies raise a forehoof to stop the others in place.

His head was tilted in our direction, with the ear swiveling to try and pick up as much sound as it could. He stayed in that position for a moment, gesturing for his other spiky friend to come closer. The pony walked forward and took position next to the first one, keeping his gun pointed forwards.

“Do you think they heard us?” I asked.

Pot glared at me and lifted his forehoof to cover his mouth. I understood and fell quiet, my ears drooping. The two spikey ponies looked around for a moment before the one who had been at the front of the group spoke up.

“Show yourself!” He shouted.

Okay, they’re jumpy.

After a short moment of silence, Pot took several steps back, gesturing for me to step away form the edge too. Once we were out of sight, he spoke up.

“We mean you no harm!” The earth pony shouted.

“Sh- show yourself then!” The second armored pony exclaimed.

They sounded awfully nervous. Perhaps they were just some guards escorting a merchant. If they really were then they should look into getting more friendly-looking armor, anypony without my impeccable impulse control might have shot at them!

Just have to make sure they don’t think I’m dangerous. I realized, slowly approaching the edge of the balcony.

“We’re good!” I exclaimed, raising my hooves up over the edge of the balcony.

“Gah!” One of the ponies shouted.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood upright when a gunshot split the silence. My forelegs retracted in the blink of an eye, but they had either missed or their guns had failed them. It didn’t matter, however, the sound of a gun firing immediately sparked a fire in my chest.

“I knew it!” I shouted, whirling around and charging at the door of the apartment.

“Black Light, wait!” Pot roared behind me, but I was already on my way.

My horn flashed as I darted past Narrative, pulling the rifle off his back and crashing into the apartment door with my full weight. I landed in a small hallway, and my head whipped from side to side until I spotted a stairwell.

I barreled down the hall and jumped down the stairs, clearing an entire flight of stairs in one go. I whirled around and lept down the second flight, rolling as I hit the floor of the hallway. I considered jumping out of the second floor window, but given how the armed ponies were waiting for me, it would probably only get me shot.

One last floor. There were two doors on the bottom floor, one led into another apartment, but the other led out into the street. I ran towards it and quickly glanced outside.

There! I thought, spotting an overturned trash can. It wasn’t ideal cover, but it was made out of metal and looked thick enough to at least somewhat protect me.

I rolled behind the trash can and floated the rifle up to aim at the other two ponies. Neither of them shot at me, which was just surprising enough to stop me from pulling my own trigger.

“Put the gun down!” The unicorn at the front shouted at me, holding his rifle up in his magic.

I looked him dead in the eye, there was no way I was going to do that. For all I knew, the second I lowered my rifle he would blast my brains out!

“Not gonna happen!” I shouted back. “Who are you ponies?” I demanded, keeping my voice low.

“We’re a trader caravan,” The mare in the middle of the group said, sitting on her haunches and raising her hooves in surrender. “We mean you no harm,” She added.

I raised an eyebrow at her and scoffed.

“Why’d you shoot at us then?” I asked, recalling how I had nearly gotten one of my hooves shot off earlier.

The stallion in the back, who was wearing a battle saddle, spat out his mouth trigger and lowered his head.

“I was surprised and shot without thinking,” He said.

“Likely story…” I stated, still unable to shake the mistrust that these ponies had sparked in my mind.

“We’ve ran into way too many slavers around these parts, we are understandably on edge,” The mare retorted, staring at me with a concerned glare.

I kept my rifle aimed at the pony in the front of the group, who held his aimed at me in turn.

“And how do I know you aren’t slavers?” I asked.

The mare cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow at me, as if the question had been completely ridiculous.

“We could ask you the same thing!” The pony with the battle saddle said. “Nice clothes, nice gun, well-fed, you could very well be a slaver!”

Oh no he didn’t.

“Me? A slaver?” I roared. The mere implication was as ridiculous as it was insulting. “I am the hero of the surface, Black Light!”

“Likely story, where’d you get that fancy gun from?” The stallion at the front demanded. Apparently my explanation had done little to soothe the pony’s nerves.

“I uhh… I found it!” I stuttered.

“You found it? Where?” The armored stallion pressed. “Did you-” He continued, but he cut himself off and flipped his gun to aim at the front door of the building I had just ran out of.

Narrative had caught up with me. For a split second I was confused as to why he was even here, but then I recalled what he had said about not being able to get away from me. My head throbbed painfully when I tried to think of a way out of this, blurring my vision slightly.

“Don’t you dare shoot him!” I roared.

“What the fuck is that?” The unicorn demanded, keeping his rifle trained on Narrative.

“Fear. Do not shoot,” Narrative droned, waving his claws in front of his chassis.

My head felt as if a spike were being driven into it with every heartbeat. I clenched my jaw and forced my eyes to focus on the stallion in front of me. I’d have time to deal with my throbbing head after this shitshow was sorted out.

“Put your gun down now,” I barked at the stallion.

Once again, I felt that stabbing pain under my tongue. It was barely noticeable when contrasted against the throbbing in my head, but it still managed to make its presence known.

The unicorn stallion let out a soft grunt and shook his head before slowly lowering his rifle to point at the ground. Both of his companions opened their eyes wide and stared at him, mouths agape. The other armored pony furrowed his brow and turned to stare at me.

“Stop that!” He shouted, kicking the trigger back into his mouth.

“Don’t you dare!” I shouted at him, moving my rifle to aim at the stallion. “Spit it out!”

My tongue hurt again, making me let out a pained grunt. My jaw was starting to hurt from how hard I was clenching it. The stallion screwed his eyes shut and grunted, but he shook his head slightly and opened them again, glaring daggers at me.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up a split second before the stallion bit down on the trigger. I threw myself to the side, pulling my own trigger in turn. My throbbing headache threw my aim off significantly, while I had been aiming at the pony’s forehead, my shot went low and off to the side, hitting his shoulder instead. The bullet struck the armor and exploded into shrapnel, some of which flew upward and dug into the stallion’s neck. His own shot grazed my own right shoulder, just barely missing. Whatever he had shot, it had been hefty, at least judging by how strong the gust left in the round’s wake was.

I watched as the pony collapsed onto the floor clutching their neck with their forehooves. The gunshot also seemed to have snapped his companion out of the strange stupor he had fallen into, making him shout something unintelligible at me before whirling their gun around to fire.

“Keep the gun down!” I shouted, the ringing of my own thundering voice making my head hurt harder.

Whatever my tongue was doing, it stung again and made the stallion’s eyes glaze over, buying me just enough time to adjust my own aim and shoot before he got the chance to. My bullet struck true, making a hole at the base of the pony’s horn. The bullet flew through the stallion’s head and hit the strange cow creature behind it, making it bellow in pain.

The creature charged directly at me blindly: threw myself to the side, avoiding both of its heads as it tried to impale me on its horns. My rifle whirled and fired twice into the body of the beast. With another bellow, it ran off further down the street.

Now where are-

“Ough!” I screamed, my magic imploding as a sharp spike of pain ran from the back of my head to the tip of my horn.

I collapsed onto the floor, clutching my head and squirming around on the fresh mud. Any movement made my head feel like it was being compressed by a vice. Staying still was somehow worse, feeling like I was getting struck in the horn with a hammer over and over. I tried to touch my horn, but it felt way too tender to touch with my bare hooves.

The sound of gunshots drew my attention. I wasn’t being shot at, the sounds were ringing out too often, as if two ponies were shooting at each other. Despite how badly my head was hurting, I cracked a teary eye open and spotted Pot in the doorway of the building. He had his gun in his mouth and he was shooting down the street.

I looked in the direction he was shooting in and saw that the cream colored mare was crouched behind some rubble with her revolver out. The stallion with the battle saddle was lying down behind her, holding something up to his face.

A potion! I noticed, shifting my gaze towards my fallen rifle.

By some miracle, my magic responded when I tried to use it, picking my rifle up off the ground. The crimson telekinetic field had become even more warped than before, bathing the mud below with a rainbow of different colors. It floated upwards, but I couldn’t aim it… or even hold it steady.

I tried to go into SATS and immediately regretted it, as it sent a shockwave through my head like an electric discharge. My vision went completely white and the sounds around me became muffled, replaced by a high-pitched whistling sound. I felt my face dig into the mud as I collapsed onto the ground.

Get up, Black Light! I roared at myself internally.

My hooves shakily pressed into the mud on either side of my head, desperately trying to pull me up. I was slowly starting to see again, but my EFS was malfunctioning, it looked as if it were stuck halfway through activating SATS. The compass was warped and distorted, and my eyes felt as if they were being forcefully pulled in a specific direction. I couldn’t tell what I was being forced to look at, however, because my vision was still pure white.

I raised one of my forehooves to my head and felt the telltale tingling of magic. Was my horn still working? If it was, then the rifle was still floating somewhere in front of me. There was no way for me to pull the trigger if I couldn’t even feel the weapon in my telekinetic grasp, but maybe I didn’t have to do that at all…

“C’mere…” I grunted as I threw my head backwards.

The throbbing headache had been replaced with a strange feeling, as if my skull had been filled with a thick honey that slowed down my thoughts. It was a blessing in disguise, however, as it let me throw my head back without being crippled by the pain. I felt the stock of the rifle bump against my chest… perfect.

I managed to sit on my hind legs, hugging the floating rifle in front of me and jamming the stock into my shoulder, raising the rifle and aiming at the white spot where my eyes seemed to get stuck.

“Over there!” I heard somepony shout in front of me.

Purely by instinct, my left foreleg moved further up my gun’s barrel and touched the button that would turn the gun invisible. I heard a gunshot, and something whizzed through my mane, but I wasn’t dead. I pulled the trigger, blindly firing forward until the gun stopped kicking back, it was out of ammo.

The vague smell of smoke reached my nose when the energy cell in the rifle burnt out. I could tell that I had become visible again and that I should probably take cover, but my body was way ahead of me, as my legs suddenly went limp. I collapsed onto my back, splashing the surrounding rubble with mud. It was a rather solid fall, but fortunately I didn’t hit my head against anything… Not that I thought my head could get hurt any worse.

I heard more gunshots, driving me to try and lift my head again. My vision had cleared to the point where I could make out vague smokey figures. Pot was peeking out from inside the building and shooting at the mare and stallion, who I couldn’t make out among the rubble save for the occasional yellow muzzle flash. I strained to try and get up, hoping that I could help before Pot got shot, but I didn’t have any ammunition left even if I managed to sit down.

After a few more exchanges, the blue blur that I knew to be the earth pony stallion dropped down slightly.

“N- No!” I shouted when the gunshots suddenly fell quiet, thinking that my friend had been gunned down.

My relief when I saw the blue stallion move towards me was immeasurable, I guessed he had been rearing up on his hind legs and that was why I saw him lower slightly. Either that or he had crouched to move towards me. I blinked, smiling as my vision cleared further, I could almost see normally again.

“Black Light! Are you okay?” Pot asked as he got closer, his voice had a noticeable pained tinge to it.

I eyed the blue stallion, and even through my cloudy vision I could still see a red spot on one of his rear legs.

“You got shot,” I mumbled, trying my best to get my eyes to focus again.

“I’m fine!” The stallion grunted. “What happened to you?” He demanded, putting his forehoof on my shoulder.

He moved his head from side to side, looking me over for any injuries. I could barely make out his brow relaxing when he realized that I just had some mud on me. I gave him a small grin and lifted my forehooves up to rub my eyes. My vision was back to normal, even my EFS compass went back into its proper place.

“I thought you’d gotten shot in the head with the way you were rolling around,” The stallion stated, pressing his own forehoof to my forehead.

“No… no… I just…” I started slowly, but truth be told, I didn’t even know what I had done wrong. “I tried to use SATS and it backfired on me,” I concluded, raising my PipBuck.

Pot eyed the machine with a raised eyebrow. I didn’t think he’d know what SATS even was, but he didn’t ask me about it either.

“Well… Don’t do it anymore,” He said, giving me a concerned glare.

“It’s fine…” I mumbled back, feeling my headache subside.

Out of curiosity, I tried to activate SATS again. I winced preemptively, expecting it to backfire again, but to my surprise, it activated with no issue.

Pot seemed frozen in front of me, outlined with a thin blue glow. A small window on the bottom of my view informed me that I was unarmed, but I didn’t mind it too much, not like I was actually thinking about hurting Pot…

Then again… it would be pretty easy. I realized. If my rifle had any ammo in it I could very easily target Pot’s head with SATS. He’d have no way of reacting, just a second and then bang.

I shook my head, dispelling the troubling thoughts. That wouldn’t be right, I only killed bad ponies like slavers or bandits, not my friends!

“Fear. Is it over?” Narrative droned as he drew closer. “Is she alright?”

“Yeah…” Pot answered, getting back up.

“Did you get them?” I asked, looking over to the spot where the other ponies had been shooting from.

Pot grunted back, focusing on his rear leg instead. The bullet seemed to have only grazed him, fortunately.

The mare with the revolver was slumped over the armored stallion, both unmoving. Pot sat down on some rubble next to me and lifted his injured leg. He took some bandages out of his saddlebags and tied them around his leg. Despite his missing foreleg, the stallion had become surprisingly adept at putting bandages on himself and others.

“We should see if they had anything useful,” I said, rising to my hooves. “...Or at least some clean barding…” I added when I looked down at myself and saw how much mud had stuck to my jumpsuit.

“Who were they?” Narrative asked, rolling a little closer to me and Pot.

“Some traders,” The earth pony answered, whipping his head around to glare at me. “I hope you’re happy about that, most slavers know they shouldn’t mess with traders. We’ll be lucky if we don’t have mercenaries hunting us down by the end of the week,” He added, his tone steadily rising as he spoke.

I cocked my head to the side, confused. He couldn’t really think that these ponies were actual traders, right? They shot at me of all ponies, that was basically a certificate of evil!

“Good thing they weren’t traders, then,” I said, winking at him.

Pot stared at me with a deadpan expression.

“I’m pretty sure they were,” He answered.

“But they shot at me!” I exclaimed.

“They tried to deescalate the situation when you reached the street as well,” Narrative interjected.

I jumped back some distance and stared at my friends, moving my gaze from one to the other. Pot went slightly pale when I did, with his eyes flicking over to my fallen rifle for a moment before locking back into mine.

“They were not traders,” I said, stomping the floor for emphasis. “Th- they were some bandits that were masquerading as traders, yeah!” I added.

The stabbing sensation under my tongue returned after I finished speaking. Pot’s green eyes glazed over like they had done back in the apartment, but after he blinked a few times they returned to normal. Narrative let out a series of low beeping sounds that sounded vaguely like an alarm, but his sensor talisman refocused on me.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Pot said, sitting on his haunches and raising his foreleg to hold his head. “What are… no, nevermind,” He mumbled under his breath.

Narrative remained quiet and completely still, as if he were lost in thought. I smiled at my friends. For a moment there I was starting to think that they were doubting me, but they probably realized that they were talking nonsense.

“Stay there,” I told the earth pony, drawing his attention back to me. “I’ll go check if they had anything useful on them,” I added, getting a nod in response.

I walked over to the two fallen ponies. The one with the spiky armor still had a potion clutched in their forehooves, but they had seemingly died before they could drink it, since most of the bottle’s contents were spilled over his face and neck. My horn fired up for a moment and tore the bottle out of his clutch.

“Damn…” I muttered when I realized that there was barely half a sip left inside.

The mare with the revolver was slumped over the stallion, I kicked her with a hindleg, causing her to flip onto her back. Two gunshots on her chest let me know that she was definitely dead.

Lookie here. I thought when I noticed that the mare still held her revolver firmly clutched in her mouth. The cylinder was off to the side of the weapon, empty. And I realized that the mare had dropped a speed loader on the ground next to her. Pot probably caught her mid reload.

I took the revolver and lifted it up to my eyes so I could look at it better. It was definitely Ironshod, I realized, smiling widely. It was .32 and it was in pretty bad shape, but it was about as well maintained as I could reasonably expect from a wasteland gun. I checked the mare, finding an ammo belt wrapped around the inside of one of her forelegs.

“Twelve more shots for Black Light,” I said, smirking to myself as I dropped the entire belt into my saddlebags.

The dead stallion’s weapon was a return to form, looking like it had been assembled from a pile of spare gun parts. It had been a double barreled shotgun of… some caliber. I didn’t see any sort of loading mechanism on the stallion’s battle saddle, not that any could be made, since the shotgun was breech loaded. I could only imagine that he’d need to detach it from himself to be able to put another shell in. I knew they weren’t guards! No guard worth their salt would walk around with such a lousy excuse for a weapon. Two measly shots followed by an incredibly long reload? It was a wonder that he even made it this far!

I, on the other hoof, was not limited by needing to use my mouth and hooves to operate firearms like some sort of earth pony. Eight shells were attached to the side of the stallion’s battle saddle, and a quick check revealed that both the shells inside the weapon had already been fired.

Not a bad haul, two guns and some ammunition. I found a waterskin on the armored stallion’s body as well, but the foul odor coming from it when I tried to take a swig made me throw it to the side.

I turned around to look at Pot again, who was slowly making his way towards the other fallen stallion, the unicorn. Assuming that he could manage looting him on his own, I set my own sights on a different target and started making my way towards the fallen cow creature.

It hadn’t made it too far away from where the gunfight had taken place. I eyed it curiously, there was no way that I had managed to kill it with just a single shot that had flown through another stallion’s head. It wasn’t breathing though, and unless it was some sort of undead monstrosity, I was pretty sure I’d be able to notice an animal that large moving its chest.

When I finally walked around to the front of it, however, I realized what had happened. The monster had ran headfirst into a wrecked carriage, impaling the many jagged pieces of metal that jutted out of the wreckage into the space in between its two heads. The eyes of the head closest to me were almost completely white with cataracts, yet even through the milky white covering I could still make out the pupil enough to realize that the eyes had rolled back when it died.

I looked back at the rest of the beast, taking in the bulging muscles that tore out of its hairless skin, as if the leather that covered them had become too brittle to contain the creature’s strength. It was wearing a set of large saddlebags that had evidently been tailor made for it. Dozens of pockets covered both sides of the creature, with an extra rucksack tied along its back.

Smiling widely, I opened one of the pockets and took a peek inside. My gaze was met by many small bottles and red inhalers, I didn’t know what any of them were, but I absolutely recognized the pinkish glow at the bottom of the pocket.

“Pot! I found a healing potion!” I exclaimed, looking over at where the stallion and the robot were standing.

Narrative had his claws working on one of the fallen stallion’s legs, trying to tear off the barding. Pot looked at me and said something to the machine, but I was too far away to hear it. He started to limp towards me as fast as he could, which was no easy feat considering his badly repaired prosthetic and his injured leg.

“Are you sure you don’t need it?” He asked.

I shook my head, wincing slightly as my headache flared up.

“I’ve just got a headache, you need it more,” I answered, gesturing towards his rapidly reddening bandage.

“Fair,” Pot concluded, sitting on his haunches.

I levitated the potion towards him. The earth pony took the bottle with his good hoof and brought it up to his face. He bit the cap off and spat it out tot he side before lifting the bottle to drink from it. He was really getting used to only having one hoof it seemed. Good for him.

Before my very eyes his wound started to bubble and warp. I could see as the muscle fibers stretched out from either side and joined together once more, pulling the rapidly growing skin along with them like some macabre version of sewing a hole in a piece of fabric. Once the skin was remade, the stallion’s blue coat took mere seconds to regrow, restoring itself to the same length as the coat surrounding it. Once the dim pink glow faded from the area, the only indication that there had even been an injury in that spot was that the freshly grown coat was shiny and clean instead of grimy and covered in dirt like the rest of the stallion’s body was.

“What else was on them?” Pot wondered, curiously peeking into another one of the dead beast’s pockets.

His eyes immediately widened as a smile parted his lips. He reached into the pouch and brought his hoof back out, holding a large pile of bottle caps.

“Oh yeah, this is some good stuff,” He stated.

We counted out the caps, which came out to nearly three thousand. If Pot was correct about the multitude of flasks and inhalers in the first pocket I had opened, then we had an extra thousand caps worth of ‘chems’, as he had called them.

The rest of the haul was a mixture of salvage that we dumped on the side of the road and weapons which I didn’t have a huge interest in, given how they were all FlimFlam Firearms. There was a substantial pile of ammunition too, but most of it was for the guns that were with them. Pot got several dozen bullets for his pistol, and I managed to nab three more shells for my shotgun, however.

Pot had also seen it fit to put one of the dead stallion’s barding on. Or at least most of it. I had to talk him out of putting the evil-looking spiky bits on. The rest of the barding was nothing to scoff at, however. Sure, the hardened leather probably wouldn’t be stopping any bullets, but it would definitely stop a knife.

The cow creature’s special saddlebags were put on Narrative’s back, his larger frame making it easy to drape across his back. All the stuff we had been carrying in the smaller bags he had on him before were moved into the newly vacated pockets of the larger set. They looked much better than the mismatched pile he had been wearing before.

“We still have some sunlight left,” Pot stated, looking at the small hut that we had dumped the bodies into. “We should probably get as far away from this place as we can,” He added.

“Yeah, I agree,” I answered, nodding.

Narrative rolled up to us, his sensor widening and refocusing as he approached.

“Will you not be hiding that Brahmin creature in there as well?” He asked, using one of his claws to gesture towards the dead beast further down the street.

“Unless you want to try your luck at moving that thing, we don’t have much of a choice,” Pot replied. “And we need to get away from it quickly if we don’t want to be blamed for killing merchan- err… slavers,” He concluded, shaking his head slightly after he finished speaking.

“Understandable,” The machine droned.

We set off into the wasteland immediately after that exchange, with Pot at the front guiding us out of the ruins. The sky had already began darkening by the time we cleared the destroyed buildings, and it had not been a peaceful trip.

Nothing had actually happened, but I had been on edge the entire time. The nerves and anticipation of slavers being in the area were only compounded by my horrid headache and recurrent bouts of vertigo. I had actually tripped and fallen onto my face at one point after losing my balance while skipping over some rubble.

The headache hadn’t subsided one bit, which probably contributed to how quiet the journey was. Any attempt at speaking to me from either of my companions was swiftly met by either a grunt or a short answer from me. After some time they gave up on smalltalk entirely. They did talk to each other a little, with Narrative asking Pot some things about how the world worked. I didn’t really pay any attention to their conversation, as I was fully locked into a battle with my own body.

My head throbbed painfully with every single step I took, yet I could do nothing but grit my teeth and force my hooves forward. I knew I had to stay vigilant so I could keep my friends safe, but I severely doubted my ability to protect them should the need arise right now. Still I pressed on, the last thing I wanted was to force my friends to slow down.

Every couple seconds my eyes would dart down to my EFS compass to try and make sure that there was nopony near us. For whatever reason, however, most of the time I tried to look at it, my EFS would look like a vague blue blur at the bottom of my vision. I had to blink several times before the overlay would clear up enough for me to make out the bars on it.

Even when I managed to clear it up my task was not complete, as strange symbols would sometimes appear on it. At first I thought it might just be some kind of glitch, but the strange thing was that the symbols looked too defined. They weren’t letters or numbers, or at least none that I could understand.

“How much further do we have to go?” Narrative inquired, cutting through the silence that had befallen the trip.

“Honestly?” Pot started, sitting on his haunches and panting heavily. “We’re just trying to find a spot to set up camp,” He added after catching his breath.

The earth pony stallion turned to look at me with a concerned stare.

“You doing good?” He asked me. “You look a little pale,”

“I’m… I’m fine…” I replied, holding my head with a forehoof.

“You don’t sound fine-” Narrative droned.

“Well I am!” I exclaimed, cutting him off.

My tongue hurt again after my outburst, but it seemed to have calmed my friends down. Pot drooped his head and continued panting, rubbing at the spot where his prosthetic met his stump. Narrative didn’t press the subject either, instead turning around and gazing into the horizon. I followed his gaze, looking out onto the cracked earth of the Baltimare wasteland.

I winced when another jab of pain ran through my head.

What is wrong with my head? I wondered, almost desperate. I lifted my PipBuck up to my eyes and saw that the little pony on the status screen was stumbling around woozily with bandages around her head. I raised an eyebrow when I noticed that she had been altered slightly. Whereas before she had been dressed in a Stable 75 jumpsuit, now she was completely bare, with stripes visible on her legs, back, and face.

Just like with my EFS, parts of the interface had been replaced with strange symbols that I couldn’t read. When I switched to a different screen and then back, however, the options that had been distorted returned to normal, and others that had been normal became distorted in their stead.

Whatever that weird rock was probably scrambled this thing. I thought, realizing that that was probably the reason why SATS had failed me earlier.

I did notice that no matter how I moved my compass or how many times I restarted it, one symbol remained firmly lodged near the East direction. It was some kind of strange spiraled shape with several dots along its exterior. Something about it seemed strangely familiar, but it still looked like nothing more than a doodle. I wanted to bring it up with Pot, but considering how we were kind of heading in that general direction, I decided to wait instead. Perhaps it was just a simple glitch like all the other symbols and it would just disappear as soon as I stopped paying attention to it.

The little spiral persisted as the sky continued to darken, slowly moving towards the Northeast marker on my EFS. Pot started to grow increasingly more desperate as the wasteland continued to be nothing but cracked soil in any direction we looked in.

Any direction, that was, except for the Northeast.

“Hey wait!” I exclaimed. “What’s that?” I added, pointing at the horizon.

Far out where the dark gray clouds and the dull brown earth met there was a small black spot. It stuck out from its surroundings so much that it was almost like a light in the darkness.

“What’s what?” Pot asked, panting heavily.

Apparently the pull of whatever I was looking at only affected me. And sweet Celestia did it have an effect. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t tear my eyes away from that spot in the distance. It was reminiscent of the gunfight from earlier in the day, where my malfunctioning SATS spell had locked my eyes in the direction of the bandits despite me not being able to fully see them.

“I think there’s a building out there,” I said.

“Hmmm,” Pot muttered. “There’s nothing out here as far as I know, but if there aren’t any lights on then it might be an abandoned building,”

“Fear. And what if it isn’t abandoned?” Narrative asked.

“Then I really hope it's just some scavengers,” The earth pony replied.

I wanted to say that I hoped so too, but I knew better than to show my friends weakness. I had to remain strong and resolute for them, no matter what came our way!

We walked towards the spot on the horizon, with me taking the lead now that I was the one who knew where we were going. It didn’t take too long before Narrative managed to spot the dark object as well, which came as quite a relief to Pot, who was starting to think that I was seeing things.

“It looks like a small hut” The earth pony said when he finally managed to see the building. “Can you see any lights?” He asked me and Narrative.

“Nope, nothing,” I replied, slowing down a little as we approached.

“I see nothing either, it appears to be abandoned,” The machine droned.

When we got a little closer, I finally realized what I was looking at.

It was a ranch, a stone foundation crowned by a sturdy wood building. It didn’t look like it had been built with scraps in the slightest, which could only mean that it was from before the bombs dropped.

Off to the side of the hut lay three crudely made gravestones. I noticed that there were flakes of paint still holding onto the stone, forming letters. Whatever had been written on them had faded away into obscurity, with the only indication that there had ever been something legible there being the occasional spots where some letters could still be made out.

Interestingly, only two of the tombs seemed to be filled in, with the third having a small crater in its place. It looked almost as if a hole had been dug, but it had then been left unused for countless years.

“Fear. I don’t like this place,” Narrative stated.

“Doesn’t seem like there’s anypony here…” Pot muttered before turning his head to look at me. “What does that computer thing say?” He asked, gesturing towards my PipBuck.

I glanced down at my EFS and nodded when I saw that there were no bars on it other than Pot and Narrative’s.

“All clear,” I said, feeling a small stab of pain behind my eyes.

The front door of the ranch was unlocked, which was slightly suspicious. Just to be safe, I pulled out my rifle and levitated it up to my side, keeping the barrel aimed into the hut. The rainbow hues that flickered in and out of my crimson magic bathed the door as it slowly creaked open.

I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting,but it was definitely not what I found. The ranch was not much more than a single large room with a kitchen and a bedroom off to the sides.

What really caught my eye, however, was the table at the center of the room.Or more specifically, the dessecated corpse that was sitting at one of the chairs. A whiskey glass was still held in its leathery hoof, resting next to an empty bottle on the table. His clothes were simple, yet still incredibly well preserved. A pair of overalls and a simple hat.

The pony’s face made me realize that I was looking at a stallion, as some whisps of what had once been a mustache still clinged to the hardened leather that had become his skin.

”Black Light, stay back!” Pot whispered at me, putting his front hoof on my side.

I turned my head around to look at him, confused. The stallion’s green eyes remained fixed on the dead stallion on the chair, as if he were expecting it to lunge at us at any moment.

”What’s gotten into you?” I whispered at him.

”That thing’s a ghoul,” He whispered back.

I turned to look at the corpse. It looked completely mummified, with the bones sticking out as if they had been vacuum sealed inside of a leathery bag. It had, unusrprisingly, not moved a muscle since we opened the door.

“It’s dead, Pot,” I said, no longer whispering.

Just in case, I took another look at my EFS, which only corroborated my words. There wasn’t anything alive in that direction.

”That is a sad sight,” Narraive said, his monotone voice booming into the hut.

Despite the loud noises, the dead stallion remained dead.

”Sorry I… I thought it might be dangerous,” Pot started. “There’s ponies that look like that out here in the wasteland. Only they’ll try to bite your head off if you get too close…” He explained.

”Fear. Like zombies?” Narrative asked.

”What’s that?” Pot responded, cocking his head to the side.

I looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

“Ever seen Night of the Living Mare?” I asked the earth pony.

”No? What’s that?” Pot replied.

“He’s from the wasteland, Black Light, I really doubt there’s a working cinema out here,” Narrative said.

He did have a pretty good point, I doubted there was anypony smart enough to operate a film projector out here in the wasteland. And that was without even thinking about how unlikely it was for the movie to have survived the balefire.

”It’s a movie,” I explained. “Dead ponies come back to life and try to eat living ponies’ brains,”

The earth pony stallion sat on his haunches to think for a moment before looking up and replying.

”Something like that, only these will try to eat anything they can bite,” He said, not taking his eyes off the corpse on the chair.

Narrative rolled a little closer to it, contemplating the scene in silence. One of his claws reached out and grabbed the empty bottle, bringing it closer to his sensor.

”Sadness. Wild Pegasus. Guess he wanted one last taste of the good stuff,” The robot droned. “I miss being able to drink,”

”Wonder what happened to him…” I muttered, looking at the rather serene expression that still graced the stallion’s face.

Pot walked closer as well, spotting something on the table and going around me to reach it. Some kind of book, I noticed. The stallion opened it on the table and stared at the front page for a moment. I peeked over his shoulder and read the only thing that was written on the page.

’Summer harvest registry’ It read in fancy black letters.

”Can you read?” Narrative asked. It was remarkable how he still managed to sound slightly condescending despite his voice being a robotic monotone.

“Of course I can read,” Pot grunted back.

The next several pages were filled with uninteresting numbers and stuff about farming that I didn’t understand. But just as I was considering telling Pot to leave it, we reached a new segment.

Where most pages started with the exact date and how much it had rained, this one was written more like a page out of a diary. It wasn’t as elaborate as the writing on the previous pages, but it was still pretty. The page read:

Something bad happened, really bad. One moment we were sitting down for dinner, next thing we know there’s this green lightshow coming from Fillydelphia.

We tried to get the old radio to work, but Hayseed never got the new dial for us so it was a lost cause. I might head to Baltimare in a few days to ask what is going on.

Pot murmured something that I didn’t quite catch before flipping over to the next page, which was also written like a diary:

Whatever that green light was a few days ago, it’s really bad. The pegasi are not doing their damn jobs anymore apparently, since we weren’t scheduled to have rain for the next several weeks.

But that wouldn’t be much of a worry if it were actual rain falling from the sky. I don’t know what Tail Wind is doing, but I’m pretty sure rain isn’t supposed to be a greenish brown sludge.

The stallion flipped through the pages until the pages turned blank. After which he flipped back until he found the last page that had been written on.

Gone were the gentle curves and elegant swirls that had been used for the previous entries, replaced by writing so shaky that it rivaled my own. The page read:

They’re both dead, my little angel and the love of my life. Now they’re both buried next to the house, and I’ll go rest next to them right after I’m done with my cousin’s whiskey.

I can’t keep going anymore, not like this, not alone.

“I guess they… I guess his family died…” Pot said, his head drooping slightly.

I kept reading the start of the entry over and over, trying to understand what it meant. The love of my life… could he have been referring to the whiskey? I had heard Quick Check refer that way to his coffee before. It still didn’t make any sense considering that the entry mentioned the whiskey later.

Narrative reached forward and snatched the book off the table, carefully flipping back to the first page so he could read it as well.

Pot lifted his forehoof and wiped at his eyes.

“Are you okay, Pot? Are you hurt?” I asked when I saw the glint of a tear roll down his cheek.

“I’m fine!” The stallion grunted, taking a couple steps away. “We should… we should bury him,” He added after a moment of silence.

I looked at him, and then at the dead stallion. Something about either the dead pony or the book he had just read were clearly troubling him. If putting that shriveled up corpse away would make him feel better, then it was the least I could do. Besides, I wouldn’t feel too comfortable sleeping next to that thing anyway. Especially not after Pot had told use about ghouls.

”I’ll bury him,” I said, taking a step towards the dead pony.

“Y- you will?” Pot asked, looking at me with surprise.

”Yeah, you can start with dinner,” I answered, smiling at him. “To relax a little,”

I felt that strange sensation in my tongue again, but Pot didn’t seem as bothered as he had before. The earth pony nodded and slowly made his way into the kitchen, giving one last glance at the corpse. I followed his gaze and focused on the body, wrapping it in my magic with care, so as to not rip it apart.

For what had, in life, been a pretty large farmer stallion, the body felt incredibly light in my magic. I carefully levitated him out of the ranch and off to the side, where the gravestones were lined up.

I set the body down next to the hole and got to work on making it a little deeper. The dirt was hard, but it wasn’t anything my magic couldn’t deal with. The work helped take my mind off my headache. It had let up significantly, but it still made its presence known any time I moved my eyes too fast. Once my work was done, I put the stallion’s body in the hole and covered him as well as I could.

Almost immediately I felt a deep sense of relief wash over me.

“There you go,” I said to nopony in particular.

I walked back into the ranch, all but hypnotized by the delectable scent of whatever Pot was cooking up. The house itself seeimg friendlier, like it was actively working to guard us as opposed to just being an innert monument to a bygone era.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Tail Wind

Classification: Pegasus mare – 236 years of age – C-366e81 M-958767 E-457505

Cutie mark: a simple depiction of swirling wind

Tail Wind was a pegasus mare who was in charge of the weather distribution in Baltimare. Kind, yet strict, she commanded her weather team with the precision of a military commander.

On the fateful day when the bombs dropped, she ordered her team to flee while she stayed behind and tried her damndest to push the contaminated clouds out of the way of major cities. The high exposure to radiation at a near constant rate rapidly turned her into a ghoul, driving her mad. Despite this, she continued to rearrange the clouds, holding onto what little of herself had survived the transformation.

She would eventually be killed, alongside many other feral ghouls, in an effort by the Virtues to establish a new base of operations in the eastern Baltimare ruins.

Author's Note

If you’d prefer to just leave a tip, I now also have a KoFi.

An unbeating tender heart

Leaving the dilapidated ranch had been a surprisingly difficult task. Realistically there was nothing for us there, as any food that could have been stored inside had long since faded to dust. There were a multitude of farming tools stowed away in a chest at the back of the house which were surprisingly well-preserved.

Pot did find lots of high quality pots and pans in the kitchen, but had eventually decided against taking them with us. He didn’t really need anything other than his cooking pot, taking anything else with us would just be dead weight. What he did grab, however, was a pair of metal plates. The cupboard that he took them from had twelve plates total, but we only really needed two.

We had tried to use the beds in the ranch to sleep, but neither the double sized one nor the smaller one next to it were able to support our weight, with whatever filling had been in the mattresses had completely disappeared.

The real boon, however, other than my headache being nearly gone, was the well that hid behind the ranch. When we found it the following morning, Pot was almost certain that there wouldn’t be any water down there to begin with. We found a metal bucket inside the ranch, but the rope next to it crumbled to nothing the moment I tried to grab it with my magic.

Fortunately we had some rope of our own, which I tied to the bucket and then passed through the well’s winch following Pot’s instructions. While I worked I saw the remains of a collapsed windmill which had once been attached to the well that was half sunken into the dry dirt. I removed the rusted cover that had been put over the opening and slowly lowered the bucket into the darkness.

I turned the crank round and round to the point where I nearly used up the entire length of rope. Thankfully I eventually heard the sound of water far below.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Pot mumbled, surprised. “I doubt it’ll be safe to drink… but we should still check,” He added.

“Yeah,” I replied, focusing on the winch again and turning it in the opposite direction.

The bucket came back up filled with water that looked surprisingly clear. Curiously, I brought my PipBuck up to the side of the bucket, keeping my eye focused on the magical radiation sensor. It didn’t budge at all, which could only mean that the water was clean.

“Huh…” I muttered. “Oh! I know! Give me an empty waterskin,” I told Pot.

The stallion raised an eyebrow, but eventually he reached into his saddlebags and pulled out one of the saddlebags that we had taken off the traders. I took it in my magic, unscrewed the cap, and unceremoniously dumped the water that was inside it. There wasn’t much, barely a few sips, but Pot still grunted in protest when he saw me empty it.

Without missing a beat, I sank the waterskin into the bucket, filling it as much as I could before pulling it out, screwing the cap back on, and then stuffing it in my own saddlebags.

“What are you…?” Pot started, but I silenced him with a forehoof.

“Trust me,” I said, lifting my right forehoof to bring my PipBuck screen up.

I switched to my inventory management screen and scrolled down through all the stuff in my saddlebags until I reached the waterskin. Several of the items were illegible gibberish just like they had been yesterday, but the skin I had just dumped into my bags was clearly labeled.

“Clean water,” I announced, smiling.

The stallion raised an eyebrow and took a long look at my PipBuck before speaking.

“That little box is full of surprises,”

A loud sound came from somewhere behind us, making me and Pot whip around quickly to see Narrative Lampshade getting closer. He had been looking around the ranch for anything useful, but he hadn’t found much judging by his empty claws.

“Does the well work?” He asked.

“Yeah,” Pot replied, looking at Narrative’s large saddlebags. “We should fill up everything we can before heading out, even if we don’t drink it we can still use it for trade,”

I nodded in agreement, walking up to Narrative and firing up my horn again.

We set out a while later, much to my disappointment. It was pretty interesting how cozy the small ranch had felt despite us finding a literal dead body sitting in it. I glanced back wistfully at the hut as we walked away.

Huh… what’s that? I wondered when I spotted something on the ranch’s porch.

It was a figure, vaguely pony-shaped, that seemed to be made out of a thin smoke. I watched as it raised one of its forehooves and waved at me before a soft breeze blew it away into nothingness.

“Did you see that?” I asked aloud.

“See what?” Pot replied.

I shook my head, realizing that it was probably just a trick of the light.

“Nothing, I just thought I saw something,”

We walked out into the wasteland, just as we had done the day before, following my compass. It was a rather boring trip, with the wasteland seeming to stretch out indefinitely like a brown sea.

“And that’s when you crossed over to Baltimare?” Narrative droned, he had been talking with Pot for a while now.

“Aye, right before I got here I met up with uhh… some not-so-great ponies,” The blue stallion said, lowering his head slightly.

My own head lowered in kind, remembering my failure. I spoke slowly, trying to be respectful.

“Double Cross and the others?”

“Double Cross? That sounds like a trustworthy name,” Narrative Lampshade interjected.

Pot let out a short laugh.

“Yeah I guess I probably should’ve seen that one coming. But yeah, met up with him and his little friend… Burning,” The stallion explained.

“What about the others?” I wondered.

“We picked them up when we first got to Baltimare, Cross thought they’d be good to have around as extra muscle,” Pot answered.

I listened carefully to what the blue earth pony said, trying to chart out the course he had taken from Fillydelphia to Baltimare. Based on what he himself had said, Fillydelphia had gotten taken over by Redeye at some point. If that were the case then it made sense for him to flee into Baltimare… but then there was one question that stuck out in my mind:

“What do you mean not-so-great ponies?”

Pot shook his head slightly, shooting me a concerned glance for a split second before focusing back on the horizon ahead. He quickly turned back to look at me and blurted out his reply.

“I mean that we uh- W- we weren’t doing so great! Having run away from our homes… and all…”

“Oh! Yeah, that makes sense,” I answered, smiling at the earth pony.

Pot let out a relieved sigh and kept walking, taking a moment to think before speaking again.

“After that, we spent our days moving around the eastern ruins. Ran into lots of bad ponies out here…”

“I cannot imagine the horrors you’ve been through,” Narrative droned. “I’m still finding it hard to believe that Equestria has fallen so terribly,”

“Hey,” I said, jumping in front of Narrative and putting my forehooves on either side of his brain jar. I focused on his sensor talisman, trying to impart some calm into him. “Don’t worry, Narrative, I know everything might look bad right now, but that’s what my stable is for! Me and the other graduates are working hard every day to make this wasteland a better place…”

I looked off to the west, towards the city proper, and trailed off slightly. But I quickly gathered myself and shook my head. I couldn’t have any doubt in me if I wanted him to trust my words.

“I know it may not look like it, but I’m sure that every single pony from Stable 75 has made this wasteland a better place, just like I’m doing,” I added with a smile.

“Sadness. A professor I once knew said that if you have nothing nice to say then you should say nothing at all,” Narrative started. “I always thought he was full of baloney, so I won’t lie. If you really are trying to make things better, then I really hope the other ponies from your stable are at least slightly smarter than you,”

I chuckled and gave the robot a sly wink before replying.

“Fat chance! But hey, the whole point of Stable 75 is making us better and better,”

The machine remained quiet for a moment, as if deep in thought.

“Come on, let’s keep going,” Pot said, staring at us with a furrowed brow.

“This isn’t the first time you talk about your stable, yet the way you talk about it makes it sound less like a balefire bomb shelter and more like some kind of boot camp,” Narrative droned as we started our march forward once again. “From what I recall of the sales pitches they weren’t really meant to do more than keep ponies safe inside,”

I chuckled softly at the robot’s words, skipping around on the ground as I marched forward.

“My stable makes heroes,” I announced. “We are safe in there, but out duty is to make the surface safe as well,”

“That is an admirable goal, I guess,” The robot replied.

I smirked and turned my head to look at the horizon again.

“How long until we reach the town, Pot?” I asked.

The stallion let out a deep sigh before replying.

“We won’t be there until tomorrow… and we have to pass through Rosewood first…”

“Fear. Is that a bad thing?” Narrative asked.

“Shouldn’t be as long as we steer clear of the town, the entire place is crawling with ghouls,” Answered the blue earth pony. “I’m actually surprised we haven’t found any yet… but we’re still far from the town,”

“How far?” I wondered.

Pot stopped in place and sat on his haunches, raising his good forehoof to point at the horizon. I followed the hoof and focused as hard as I could. I could just barely make out something in the distance, but it was nowhere near defined enough to make out any details.

“About two hours, but we’ll go off to the right a little,” The stallion added, standing back up.

Just as he did, however, he immediately sat back down with a loud grunt, clutching at his shoulder. I dashed to his side, putting a forehoof on his back and helping him hold himself up.

“Are you okay?” I asked, but the answer was pretty obvious.

“Yeah I just… I need a second,” Pot replied through gritted teeth. He furrowed his brow, however, and got back up. “No… no, we need to get past that town before nighttime,” He stated.

“You sure you can-” I started, but the stallion cut me off.

“Yes, Black Light, I can,” He grunted, pushing me off. “Now shut up and keep walking, we’re wasting daylight,”

I wanted to insist on taking a break, but the stallion seemed to have made up his mind. Respecting his choice, I remained quiet as we walked, staring at the town in the horizon as we got closer.

About an hour later we started to see something other than bare dirt. A small hut was stationed next to a long cracked road, its wooden walls completely bleached by the sun. As we drew closer to it I realized that the wall that faced directly away from the road was missing. The wall that faced towards the road had a large window in the middle which, naturally, had been broken long ago.

“What’s this place?” I wondered.

“I have no idea,” Narrative started, “But it’s on the road, so it was probably some vendor stand,” He added.

The little stand didn’t really look like anything could be sold out of it, given how it didn’t seem to have enough space to display or store stuff.

“Those are all over the roads,” Pot explained.

The stallion stopped in place and stared at the small hut for a moment, muttering to himself.

“You know… sometimes scavengers leave things hidden in spots like these, do you want to take a look?” He stated, turning his head to look at me.

I cocked my head to the side at the stallion’s strange request. He had quite literally shot down the idea of resting just a moment ago. Not just that, but he had also said that he didn’t want to get sidetracked again after the Golden Stable incident. What could have changed?

Maybe he’s found good stuff hidden somewhere like this before. I reasoned, walking up to the building.

The sun bleached wood was about as bare up close as it had been from a distance. The only part of the structure that I could see feasibly hiding anything was the wall that faced towards the road. It was a double wall, about two hooves wide, but it didn’t appear to have any sort of door or cover that could be used to stash stuff.

I sat on my haunches and stared at the wooden boards. There was clearly nothing here, but something about the structure didn’t sit well with me. I just had to check if there was something in there.

Well… I guess there’s only one way to open it…

I stood back up and turned around, raising a rear hoof to take aim at the weak planks. My hoof shot backward, slamming into the lowest plank and sending a shockwave up my spine. The hit was so strong that it made my head start hurting again, stabbing at me painfully with every beat of my heart. Shaking my head to try and make the pain simmer down, I took aim again and kicked the plank twice.

On the third kick, my hoof went straight through the plank, shattering into a shower of splinters. I looked back triumphantly at my friends and noticed that they had pulled back quite some distance. The pair were talking to each other just far away for me to not be able to make out what was being said.

Huh… I wonder what they’re doing over there. I shrugged, turing to look at the hole I had kicked into the wood instead. They probably walked away in case there was a bomb here or something, that’s probably it.

Curiosity got the better of me as I pulled the planks open, but my hopes were quickly dashed when I peeked inside and saw nothing other than dirt and ancient cobwebs. Just in case I had missed anything, I flipped my PipBuck light on and poked the device into the hole to light up the inside of the small space. A small glint caught my eye, and a quick scratch of the dirt revealed one singular golden bit.

“Nice!” I chirped, taking the coin and turning it over on my forehoof.

My magic wrapped around it and bright it up to my eyes so I could see it better. A bust of Princess Celestia was engraved in the middle of it, with the letters ‘one bit’ printed around the edge. I flipped the coin around and looked at the backside, which was dominated by Celestia’s cutie mark and the words ‘Canterlot mint’.

I chuckled softly at the joke. This was clearly not a mint, it was a gold coin… unless…

The coin floated up to my mouth. I chomped on it as hard as I could, sending a shot of pain through my jaw.

“Owwwww…” I whined, rubbing my cheek.

Yeah… definitely not a mint. The coin floated into my saddlebags as I turned around to look at my friends.

Pot and Narrative were still sitting some distance away, with Put busy digging through the saddlebags that were draped over the machine’s back. I walked over to them, watching as the stallion pulled out the MedX syringe he had used before and dropping it into Narrative’s outstretched claw.

“I know this stuff is no good for me… but Celestia be damned, it’s effective,” The stallion grunted when Narrative stabbed the syringe into his shoulder.

“Look at you two!” I chirped, smiling widely. “I’m glad you’re becoming friends!”

Pot rubbed the spot where Narrative had injected the medicine into his shoulder, looking at Narrative with a stern expression before speaking again.

“Yeah… friends…”

Still smiling at my companion’s friendship, I produced the coin from my saddlebag and proudly displayed it to them.

“Check out what I found!” I said happily.

“One bit?” Narrative asked, despite the monotone of his voice, I could’ve sworn that he sounded completely incredulous.

“Those are pretty much useless…” Pot muttered. “Other than for some vending machines, that is,” He added.

My smile widened. I had read about those from pre-war books, and they sounded like a dream come true. A wonderful machine that you could put coins into to get food on the spot. No waiting for a cook, no asking an adult for permission, just pop a coin in and watch the food come out.

“There’s working vending machines out here? I’ve always wanted to use one of those!” I squeaked, bouncing in place.

“There’s at least one,” Pot explained. After a moment of silence his face brightened slightly and he continued talking with a smile. “In fact… it’s in the town that we’re going to,”

I basically started vibrating at the stallion’s words, my grin spreading so widely that I could almost feel it touching my ears. Pot was apparently excited for it too, as his own smile grew wider. He kept speaking, his voice sounding more cheerful as he did.

“So, if we don’t get sidetracked exploring any deadly corner we come across, you’ll get to use the vending machine! Got it?”

I nodded happily.

“Fantastic! Now let’s keep moving before this damn MedX wears off,” The stallion stated.

With renewed vigor, we set off towards the southeast. We wouldn’t make it to the fort until tomorrow morning, according to Pot, that is. I quickly took the lead and started to set the pace, all but making the stallion trot behind me to try and keep up. It wouldn’t cause him any pain since he had gotten some MedX, so there shouldn’t be any problem with picking up the pace!

Something interesting happened as we marched, however. A strange sound coming from the direction of the town made my ears twitch. I couldn’t quite put my hoof on what it was, but it felt eerily familiar. A strange warmth spread through my legs when the sound rang out again.

“Do you hear that?” I asked, slowing down slightly.

“Hahh.. Hear what? Huff…” Pot whimpered, extremely winded.

The sound echoed through the wasteland again, this time, however, I felt as if I had been shocked with a stun gun. I knew exactly what that sound was.

“Are those…?” Pot started, but I cut him off before he could finish talking.

“Gunshots!” I exclaimed, jumping in jubilation. “Oh I’ve been itching for a good gunfight!” I added, whipping out my rifle and smirking in the direction of the town.

“Oh no, absolutely not!” Pot boomed, stomping on the ground. “We just talked about this, no more getting sidetracked!”

I looked at the stallion, then at the town.

“Oh come on, Pot, what if somepony needs my help?” I pouted.

“In bloody Rosewood? Only ponies shooting there will be idiots that ran into ghouls!” The stallion exclaimed.

I could feel my blood boiling inside my veins as more gunshots filled the air. There was no way Pot could be serious, especially if he knew that the only thing those ponies could be shooting at were mindless ghouls!

“I will not leave ponies to die!” I shouted, making the stallion cower slightly. “I know you’re a good stallion, Pot, come with me and help!”

That odd stabbing sensation reappeared at the base of my tongue, but I ignored it in favor of keeping my gaze focused on the blue earth pony in front of me. He couldn’t keep my gaze, his eyes glazing over slightly as his head hung limp for a moment. Clearly he was realizing that I was correct, I just knew that he knew what the right choice was.

“Okay, I’ll help you,” The stallion mumbled, shaking his head.

“Thanks, Pot,” I said, smiling.

My gaze switched to Narrative as the machine drew closer and began to speak.

“Anger. What is wrong with you, Pot? We need to keep moving, like you said,” He droned.

The earth pony sat on his haunches and lifted his good forehoof to clutch his temple, grunting loudly. Could he have a headache? No, it couldn’t be, he had taken some MedX! But then why was he groaning like that?

“Narrative… is… right…” Pot slurred, his brow furrowed and eyes screwed shut. “We need to keep… going!” He added, almost forcing the words out of his throat.

I glared daggers at Narrative, which almost felt literal when the machine rolled some distance away from me. Pot also seemed to get shocked, getting up and pulling away.

“Oh no, we are not splitting up!” I stated, stomping the ground. “You two are going to come with me and help!”

The stabbing sensation returned. Pot staggered back onto his haunches, screwing his eyes shut again. Narrative’s sensor talisman started to open and close repeatedly, like the shutter of a camera.

“Very well,” The robot droned.

“Yes… Black Light…” Pot added, dragging out his words.

Could the MedX be messing with his head? It made too much sense now that I thought about it. Pot had said that he didn’t want to overuse it, could he have known that it would have this effect? Regardless, I was happy to see that my friends had come to their senses.

“Come on, there’s no time to lose!” I exclaimed, turning around to face the town again.

I started to run towards the gunfire, watching as the town’s building slowly grew larger. Despite wanting nothing more than to rush into danger, I forcefully held myself back to make sure I didn’t leave Pot and Narrative behind. My heart was not happy with this, as it was beating several times harder than it needed to. My head had started to hurt again, but given how it throbbed alongside my thundering heart, I assumed it was simply my body protesting about being held back for no good reason.

Come on, Black Light, you don’t want to die of a heart attack before you even get there! I chastised myself. You need to concentrate and-

My tail was suddenly and violently yanked back, bringing me to a stop. I tumbled to the ground, dragging whoever had grabbed my tail along for the ride.

“Hey! What gives?” I demanded, whipping my head around to see that Pot had my tail firmly held in his mouth.

The earth pony spat my tail out before flopping onto his side, panting for breath too heavily to form a coherent sentence. After a couple moments he seemed to forgo explanations entirely and instead pointed forward with a shaky forehoof.

“Trying to… huff- stop…” He whimpered between pants.

Narrative caught up with us, as he had been lagging behind slightly.

“What happened?” The robot asked.

“I’m not sure,” I replied, looking out in the direction that Pot had pointed in. “He said that he wanted to stop- oh!” I continued, cutting myself off when I spotted what the stallion was pointing at.

Three figures were moving towards us in a triangle formation. They were heading out from the town, perhaps they had managed to escape the ghouls!

Wait a minute… I thought as my eyes strained to try and see the approaching figures a little better. Are those…?

A cold chill ran up my spine when I noticed that all three of them were cloaked in blue.

“Virtues!” I grumbled.

“Virtues? What are they doing all the way out here?” Pot said, incredulous. “Are you sure?” He asked, squinting to try and see the approaching ponies better.

“Do they all wear those weird blue robes?” I asked.

“Yeah…” Pot muttered.

“Who are you talking about?” Narrative asked.

I turned around to look at the robot, trying to think of a good way of explaining who these ponies were.

“They’re a bad pony group, I’ve run into them before,” I explained. “I don’t know what they’re doing here, but they’re probably up to no good!”

“Virtues is a rather poor name for an evil organization,” Narrative commented, rotating in place slowly until he focused ominously on Pot. “How do you know they are evil, Black Light?”

I took a moment to think, but there wasn’t really much thinking to be done.

“I rescued Pot and his friends from a group of virtues, I overheard their leader talking about enslaving them. A few days later they opened fire on us even after we said that we were merchants,” I explained, whirling around to stare down Narrative. “So yeah, I’m pretty sure they’re as evil as they come, no matter what they call themselves!”

I stared at the approaching ponies again, then at the surrounding wasteland. There wasn’t much in the way of cover, or even a place to hide and wait in ambush. No, our best shot was for me to make the most out of my rifle and take them out from a distance.

Of course, that would open us up for return fire if any of the three ponies had a decent gun of their own. This would be a lot less dangerous if we had any sort of protection, a wall of some sort or-

“Hey Narrative?” I started, grinning at the machine.

“Fear. What?” He replied.

“You’re pretty much bulletproof, right?” I asked.

“Fear. No, I am not. A well placed shot can still damage my life support systems,” The robot retorted.

I rolled my eyes.

“Fine, mostly bulletproof,” I muttered before pointing at a spot in front of me. “I need you to move here,”

My tongue contorted inside my mouth as the pain spike struck its base, but I was getting used to ignoring it by now. Narrative didn’t offer even a single word of protest, he simply rolled away and placed himself between me and the approaching virtues.

I took position, poking my head from around Narrative’s chassis and bringing the rifle up to bear next to my eye. It may not have had a scope, but I was sure that I could at least hit center of mass from this distance.

Remembering what I had been taught in the stable, I took a moment to feel the wind, smiling when I realized that there wasn’t even the slightest breeze blowing. It was a huge relief considering how I had never really practiced long distance shooting down in the stable.

Focus, Black Light! I told myself, steeling my nerves and pouring a little more force into my magic to keep the gun stable. As soon as the sights lined up, I squeezed the trigger.

Bang!

The first bullet ripped through the wasteland’s skies, headed directly towards the figure at the front of the group. It struck true, as the cloaked shape collapsed onto the ground. It looked almost as if they had melted into a puddle, going from vaguely pony-shaped to an amorphous blue blob.

One of the other two immediately whirled on the central figure, crouching next to them. The third, however, started to charge at us.

Dumbass… I thought as I adjusted my aim.

Bang!

The rifle sang again, sending that exquisite kick into my telekinesis. I almost considered grabbing the rifle with my forelegs so I could feel that recoil directly, but I knew that my aim would be much better if I was using my magic instead. I raised an eyebrow, however, when the charging figure didn’t slow down.

I probably didn't hit anything important… I reasoned as I took aim.

Bang!

This time I knew I had shot true. The figure was close enough for me to see the blood splattering behind them. I’d hit them square in the neck, yet the cloaked pony marched on. I realized that I could make out the glint of a gun poking out from under their hood, it was only a matter of time before-

A bullet whizzed past me, missing, but not by much. Another shot flew past, and a third hit the back of Narrative’s chassis. Pot hid behind the robot, but I poked my head out again and brought the rifle up to bear, clenching my teeth so hard that my lower jaw started hurting.

Bang! Bang!

Both shots struck true, making the pony’s cloak ripple with the impacts. The first shot was completely ignored, much like the first two, but the second one seemed to have hit a little lower and injured their leg. Even with four shots, the pony seemed to be unbothered save for a small limp.

”How are they alive?” I exclaimed in frustration as I reloaded the rifle.

More gunshots ricocheted off Narrative’s back, but our attacker seemed to have realized that they were shooting metal and stopped.

”Fear. Just shoot the bastard,” Narrative said, somehow managing to communicate urgency despite the monotone voice.

”I’m trying!” I shouted back, poking out and shooting at the cloaked pony.

Pot joined me this time around, firing at the figure with his rickety pistol thrice before it jammed. I saw as every bullet tore into the pony, same as all three shots from my rifle. For a moment I was thinking that they might have been wearing armor, but the black blood flying out of them was no mistake. My last shot managed to rip the hood off their bald head, at least.

”It’s a ghoul!” Pot shouted.

I fired my last two shots. The first one bit into the ghoul’s chest, but didn’t seem to bother it too much. The second shot hit them square in the face, blowing their right cheek apart in a shower of blackish-red chunks.

My shot may not have killed the creature, but it threw its aim off just enough for them to send a bullet flying through my mane instead of through my head. The gun fell out of the ghoul’s mouth, but they didn’t stop to pick it back up. Instead, the half-rotten carcass charged us with renewed vigor.

Thinking quickly, I ditched the rifle and pulled my combat knife out of my saddlebags. It proved to be the right choice when the ghoul vaulted over Narrative’s chassis with staggering speed.

“Fuck!” Shouted Pot, but I was already on it.

I poured every last bit of power I could muster into the telekinesis that held the knife, launching it upwards into the ghoul’s torso. The blade sank into it with disturbing ease, but the base of the knife was caught by the ghoul’s ribs, giving me the leverage I needed to push the entire monster into the air.

The ghoul had been trying to jump on me, but my stab had made it overshoot by a good bit.

”Fear. I need to leave,” Narrative stated before turning in place and rushing away, leaving a dust cloud in his wake.

I squited to try and keep my eyes on te ghoul through the cloud, and what I saw was nothing short of nightmaish.

Even without taking into account the disfigured face, the rest of the creature was not faring any better. It looked remarkably similar to the dessecated corpse of the stallion that we had found at the ranch,only this one was impossibly animate. Spotty paches of a gray coat clung onto the pony’s horrifically scarred skin. Its hooves were cracked, and burnt black as coal. What little teeth had survived its encounter with my rifle were dark yellow at best.

Black coagulated blood oozed from the many wounds that covered its chest, neck and face.I noticed that while the cloak was not the only piece of clothing that the ghoul was wearing, the simple jacket that it was wearing below looked as if it had been messily fused to the pony’s flesh with a blowtorch.

The only part of this abomination that was anything even remotely resembling a normal pony was the eyes. Something that I found incredibly disturbing. Not only did those two lilac eyes look almost untouched save for some slight reddishness around the edged, but they also held an undisputable intelligenece. It may have blindly charged at us like some kind of beast, but those eyes were proof that there was still a pony in there.

With a roar, the monster threw itself at me, swinging its forehooves at my head. I backstepped to avoid the attack, but the ghoul simply used the momentum of its swing to turn around and strike at my neck with a mighty buck.

”Woah!” I exclaimed as I thre myself to the ground. I felt the ghoul’s cracked rear hooves clear my horn with barely a hair’s width to spare.

This pony was clearly far from feral. Pot had told me about this. Ghouls that hadn’t gone completely insane. He’d said that they could almost pass for a normal pony were it not for heir horrifically burnt and scarred coats… and were it not for their nature as a ticking time bomb. According to the earth pony it was only a matter of time before a ghoul went insane. I could see it clear as day, those eyes might have held some level of intelligence, but they had still decided to join the virtues.

I could’ve used my horn to attack the ghoul, but somethign stopped me before I let the arcane power course through me. I felt alive, my heart beat in frenzied jubilation as a deep burning flooded every last bit of my legs and chest.

Planting both my forehooves on the ground, I spun the rest of my body around to kick the ghoul’s legs out from under it.

I had either misjudged how much force I had poured into my sweep, or the ghoul’s bones were just that fragile. Whichever was the case, the result was the same, The ghoul let out a loud roar as both it’s front legs bent in half, shattered by my kick.

The front half of the ghoul collapsed onto the ground in a heap of scarred flesh and blue fabirc. It tried to lift its head to look at me, but it was swiftly rammed into the ground by Pot’s prosthetic leg. The stallion had rushed past me and whipped his shoulder around to bring the metal bar down on the creature’s temple.

Making the most out of the window Pot had bought me, I focused on my horn and felt the magic surge within it. A beam of crimson energy shot out of the tip and struck the ghoul in the face, making it let out a horrible gurgling noise.

The magic’s glow faded, and I found myself staring directly into the Ghoul’s half-molten eyes. Its face was a burnt mess after my spell. For a split second I thought it was dead, but the monster moved one of its broken forelegs closer to me in a desperate attack attempt.

It hadn’t even started moving before my horn surged again, however, and this time I kept the beam up until I felt my magic start to falter. Once the beam was broken, the ghoul remained where it had been, unmoving. It’s face had become a charred mass that looked more like coal than any sort of skull.

I spring up to my hooves in an instant. Pot, who had been covering his eyes with his good forehoof to avoid getting blinded by my magic, jumped back in surprise. I didn’t pay him much mind, however, because the burning in my body remained unsatiated.

There’s at least one bastard left!!

I scanned the horizon like a hawk, spotting Narrative some distance off to my left and Pot standing nearby on my right. I turned my gaze towards the town, where I spotted the other two cloaked figures. The one I had shot originally was back on their hooves, and both were scrambling eastward. I tried to trace their path, they were trying to reach a pile of rocks that jutted out of the wasteland’s cracked soil.

While that did explain why they hadn't started shooting at us, it was far from a good development. If they managed to get behind cover while we were still out in the open then I would have a hard time taking them out.

“Pot! Shoot at them!” I ordered

“I’m not gonna hit shite from ‘ere!” The stallion shouted as he yanked on his pistol. The weapon let out a horrible screeching sound before a single bullet fell out of the bottom of the magazine, bent in half. “Got it!” Pot shouted, putting the gun back in his mouth.

“Shoot them anyway! I need to get closer!” I shouted back before I dashed off towards Narrative.

Revolver or shotgun… I thought as I approached the robot. I didn’t trust that shotgun completely, but the less time the other virtues had to take cover, the better. Thinking quickly, I pulled Temperance’s revolver out of my holster as I got closer to the robot.

”Nightmare. Guns. Nightmare,” Narrative droned as I approached. There would be time to deal with that later, however, for now I had to get my weapons and run.

Without missing a beat, I dumped Temperance’s revolver in one of the saddlebags and pulled out the other revolver we had found, placing it in my leg holster. As I passed the robot I pulled the shotgun off its back as well, keeping it held in front of me as I ran.

Pot’s dainty pistol fired from somewhere to my right as I approached the two cloaked figures. At the range he was firing at, it would’ve been a miracle if that gun hit anything. But it didn’t matter, because the bullets hitting the wasteland around the stone that the virtue ponies had hid behind was enough to stop them from poking their heads out and shooting at me.

My hooves kicked up a dust cloud as I barreled through the wastes towards the stone, ready to throw myself to the side at any sign of movement from behind the stone.

For a moment I considered ditching the shotgun and using the revolver instead, since I didn’ exactly trust it to fire properly. My thinking was interrupted when I saw something blue poke out from behind the stone.

My horn acted before I could finish registering what it was, whipping the shogun towards the rock and firing. The gun worked properly, kicking back against my magic as it blasted a chunk of the stone off. Whoever had been trying to poke out hid behind the rock once more.

A pistol flew out from the cover, wrapped in a thin, weak magical glow. Whoever was holding it had very evidently never held a gun before, as I saw the entire magical field constrict down around the weapon in a vain attempt to make it fire.

It got lucky, maganing to squeeze the trigger just right. Not that it was much use, as the inexperienced magical grasp had pulled the weapon off center. A single gunshot rang out, slamming directly into the ground below. The gun itself went flying into the air, its recoil having clearly overpowered the unicorn’s arcane grip.

I had no time to waste. Jumping into the air, I soared past the rock and landed on the other side, where I got a clear view of the two hiding ponies.

My gaze was met by that of a ghoul unicorn. One of its eyes was missing, but the other one went wide with fear. The other pony was slumped against the rock, clutching at their right shoulder. They had a battle saddle that held a rifle onto their side. That was good news for me, since it would take them a couple of seconds before they would be able to take aim at me.

The ghoul’s horn lit up, but I was faster. The shotgun roared and bucked, sending its deadly payload into the creature. The thin magic that had barely started to form around its horn imploded as the ghoul collapsed onto the ground.

“No!” The earth pony virtue shouted as they tried to aim their battle saddle at me.

I threw myself to the side, taking advantage of how inconvenient battle saddles were to buy me some vital seconds. I dropped the shotgun onto the ground and drew the revolver instead.

Bang! Bang!

One shot through the chest, one through the head.

The pony straightened out and flopped onto their side, still carried by the momentum that they had picked up while trying to turn and aim. The rifle on their side fired once into the dry soil when the pony’s jaw clenched around the mouth-trigger.

Something made my right ear twitch. I dropped down into my fighting stance, keeping the revolver at the ready as I tried to listen closer. Despite the roaring of my heart in my ears, I could still make out some raspy, wheezing breaths.

The ghoul!

I whipped the revolver around and took aim at the fallen monster’s head. It wasn’t moving at all save for the very slow rise and fall of its chest, but I just knew it was probably waiting for me to let my guard down!

”Nopony tricks Black Light!” I shouted before pulling the trigger.

Two shots flew straight into the back of the Ghoul’s skull, with a third one following suit for good measure. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly disappointed by the revolver.

Temperance’s revolver would’ve turned that ghoul’s skull into paste!

No matter, I had to-

“Ough…” I mumbled before my head exploded.

The dry dirt beneath me rose up to hit my face as I flopped forwards. My forehooves reached up to clutch the sides of my head in a desperate attempt to pry the vice that was clamped down on it off.

My heart, which had been beating like a war drum, now beat out of rhythm, sending odd bursts if blood into my throbbing head. The warmth in my limbs had gone from soothing to searing, tearing through me like fiery tendrils that wrapped around my bones.

I tried to lift my chest off the ground, but the exhertion was too much for me. Before I had even managed to lift my head fully, my stomach lurched violently and sprayed my breakfast all over the ground.

Ew… I thought weakly, using what little strenght I could muster to flop onto my side, clearing the puddle of vomit.

Six bars appeared on my EFS… or were they three? Maybe five? I wasn’t sure, it was too blurry and glitchy to make out anything in particular. I really hoped that it was Pot and Narrative, because I could not get up for the life of me. The little pony in my head was staggring around like they had been hit in the head and were goving their last woozy steps before passing out completely.

Another spike of pain rammed into my head, making me squirm backwards and groan. I could really use some MedX.

“Black Light?” Pot’s voice called from somewhere on my right.

“Joy. Do you think they got her?” Narrative’s voice added.

I raised a forehoof weakly, waving it from side to side to draw my friends’ attention. I flopped onto my back, keeping one forehoof pressed against my forehead and the other stretched upward.

The clouds above were the same as they had been since I had taken the first step out of my stable, dull gray, barely moving. I hadn’t seen them break even a single time. Granted, I hadn’t exactly been looking at the sky all the time, but it was still impressive that jt was always a single solid mass above.

I wonder what the pegasi are up to up there…

They had to be there, there was no way those clouds were being kept in place by the whims of nature. There was something evidently artificial about them.

My view was suddenly filled with Pot’s face. He looked concerned, and I could’ve sworn that he was looking noticeably older than he had when I first met him.

“Are you hurt?” He asked.

“No… just my head…” I replied weakly.

“She should definitely not be running around after a head injury like that,” Narrative stated, rolling up to the edge of my peripheral vision.

“I’m… fine! I just n- need some MedX…” I mumbled, my tongue seemed to be fighting against any intention of me using it to speak properly.

Pot furrowed his brow, giving Narrative a weird look.

“Absolutely not,” The robot replied. “The last thing she needs is MedX,”

“She’s in pain,” Pot said, furrowing his brow more.

“Too bad, she is not stable enough to deal with MedX,” Narrative said, crossing his claws in front of him. “The last thing we need is her going on a rampage,”

The earth pony looked down at me, then back up at the machine. He let out a defeated sigh and looked at me again.

“He’s kinda right, lass,” He muttered.

He looked legitimately disappointed at not being able to get me the MedX. He knew how bad I needed it.

No, Black Light! He’s supposed to see you as his guardian! I chided myself internally. Suck it up and get your hooves under you!

Clenching my jaw as hard as I possibly could, I flipped onto my side and got my hooves on the ground. The earth pony reached out to touch my shoulder with his good forehoof, but I brushed him off softly.

Grunting with effort, I climbed up to my hooves. I gave Pot a smile, trying my best to keep my face relaxed. My eyes were wide open, but the sun seemed to poir into then like a stream of broken glass. I wanted to slam them shut and go back to clutching my head on the floor, but I knew that I couldn’t falter.

“I’m fine,” I grunted.

“Are you sure you-“ Pot started, but I had no time for his nonsense.

“I am fine,” I repeated, shaking my head slightly when base of my tongue sent a shot of pain into my head.

Pot’s eyes glazed over for a secon or two before he looked at me and nodded.

“Okay, fair enough, let’s keep moving,” He said.

I raised a forehoof to point at the two virtue soldiers I had taken out a moment ago.

“We should… Hnngh… see if they had anything useful,” I said, trying to bite back my pained winces.

As I looked at the fallen ponies, however, my left ear twitched and swiveled towards the town.

More gunshots… I realized. Could there be more virtue soldiers out here?

The mere suggestion of there being more foes to fight seemed to inject power directly into my heart. It beat once, then twice, and by the third beat it had flushed every last bit of pain out of me. My vision sharpened to a razor’s edge again, just as it always had whenever I trained.

I looked at the town again, I could make out the buildings in the distance, but there wasn’t any movement that I could see from here. That was odd, I would have imagined that the ghouls would be visible from here.

“There’s more gunshots, I bet there’s some virtue soldiers in the town,” I said.

“You can’t be serious,” Pot said, staring at me with wide eyes.

I turned to look at the earth pony stallion and nodded.

“I am, we can’t let a single one get away!”

“Ya were just writhin’ on the floor ya daft bastard!” The stallion boomed.

I picked the revolver up from where I had dropped it earlier and walked up to Narrative,

“Fear. Please, no more shootings,” The robot pleaded.

”I’m sorry, buddy, but I have to go check,” I said, lowering my gaze slightly.

”Check what? You’re going to get yourself, and us, killed!” Pot exclaimed.

“For starters, we don’t even know if the ponies shooting are virtues! What if they’re some wastelanders that these bastards left there to die?”

Pot furrowed his brow and stared at me with a confused expression.

“Why wouldn’t they have just killed them, then?” He asked.

“Well uhh… to preserve ammunition!” I replied. “Besides it’s not like they could hit the broad side of a barn anyway,” I added, looking at the dead ghoul and remembering how hard they had struggled with their gun.

“Black Light…” Pot started, his voice taking on a rather alarming edge. “We are not getting sidetracked again, let’s move,” He finished, giving me a strained smile.

I looked into the stallion’s green eyes, then back at the town. More gunshots rang out. This time, however, they brought with them a realization. If it was a group of surface dwellers being swarmed by ghouls, then why did the shooting stop? Either they’d take out all the ghouls and flee or they’d get overrun.

“Can’t we at least take a peek? Something isn’t right…” I said.

“Absolutely not, we need to get bloody movin’ right now!” Pot bellowed.

“Aw come on! What’s the worst that could happen? You can stay away if you want but at least let me go check!” I pouted, stomping the floor.

The strange stabbing sensation under my tongue returned as I watched Pot consider my words. He groaned softly before shaking his head and focusing on me.

“Fine, but give me the rifle,” The stallion stated.

I cocked my head to the side, confused about his request.

“What? Why?” I asked.

“So I can help you from a reasonable distance,” He explained, furrowing his brow. “And because if you get torn to shreds by the ghouls then I’ll at least have a nice gun,”

His logic did make sense, and while I didn’t exactly feel like parting with the rifle, the shotgun and the revolver should be more than enough for a couple ghouls. I nodded and floated the rifle over to the stallion along with the second magazine. Before I started to approach the town, however, Narrative rolled forward and placed himself in front of me.

“Anger. I refuse to go. He can choose to stay back, but I cannot,” The robot droned, gesturing towards Pot.

I rolled my eyes. I was starting to get pretty annoyed at how much my friends were delaying me, why couldn’t they just let me do my thing?

“You can stay as far away as you can,” I stated, crouching slightly and furrowing my brow.

“Anger. That is still not far enough,” Narrative replied.

“Ponies need my help, Narrative, move,” I growled back, biting onto my tongue when I felt the stab again.

The machine let out some odd whirring noises before slowly reversing out of my way. I didn’t want to waste another second, and I launched forward the second I could. My heart started to beat harder, vaporizing what little wisps of my headache still remained.

The little pony in my head was running alongside me, a determined grin on her face. A grin parted my own face when I heard gunshots coming from the town. I wasn’t too late yet! I did find it slightly odd that I had heard what I could’ve sworn was an explosion before the shooting started. Why would they wait until now to use explosives? I wondered, no matter, I had to help them!

As I approached, I realized why I hadn’t been able to see any movement from far away. The town was almost completely walled off with fences and carriage wrecks. It was almost reminiscent of Junkyard, which was not giving me good vibes at all. Unlike Junkyard, however, the fence here was much more refined, the metal plating on the bottom was carefully organized to form a solid barrier, and the top was lined with barbed wire.

Can it, Black Light, focus! I told myself, forcing my legs to run faster.

I pulled my revolver out and slowed down a little when I got to the edge of town, realizing that rushing in would probably not be a good idea. My EFS was littered with blue bars in all directions, many were spread out, but some were grouped together in small clusters. Could one of the clusters be the ponies that were doing the shooting?

My ears swiveled as I neared the edge of one of the houses, trying to stay alert for ambushes. What I heard instead was rather intriguing… voices. It sounded like a whole crowd of ponies was idly chattering inside the town. I drew closer to the fence that formed the outer perimeter, poking my head out slightly and staring into the town.

Oh no…

Virtues, at least a dozen of them. They were all walking around the town like they owned the place. I noticed several tents and gazebos had been set up on the street I was looking down, which had several large metal boxes laid out underneath them. I noticed how the clusters were pointing towards some larger tents, probably filled with even more virtues.

The rest of the town told a different story, however. Multiple lines of sandbag walls had been set up as protection facing away from the camp and towards the other streets. Most of the virtues were gathered there, aiming their weapons out at something I couldn’t see. The only other thing that drew my attention was the large pile of charred corpses that had been set out in an empty lot.

What are they doing… I wondered, poking my head out more to try and see what the soldiers were aiming at.

Another cloaked earth pony walks out from one of the tents. A mare, I realized, she hadn’t put her hood up yet. Some kind of metal device was hanging from her chest, attached by a strap. I couldn’t make out what it was, but it appeared to be covered in buttons.

The mare walked forward and approached one of the sandbag barriers, which had a metal box set up behind it seemingly at random. She jumped onto it and cleared her throat, puffing out her chest before she started to shout.

“Citizens of Rosewood! We are the Followers of Virtue,” The mare announced, I realized that she had been the one who I had heard screaming before. “We have come to offer you our Kindness. If you can understand these words, then please, lie down and cover your head with your forelegs. You will not be harmed, and we will accept you regardless of what you look like,”

What is she talking about…

As I watched, the mare looked down at the device around her neck and lifted it up to her face. She stared at it for a moment before reaching up and pressing one of the buttons.

One of the houses shook violently as an explosion echoed out from inside. Dust and rubble flew out of the house as all the virtue soldiers that were nearby kept their guns trained on the door. The dust slowly settled, but nothing seemed to happen.

The mare on the box lowered the device around her neck and whipped her head around to look at one of the many virtue soldiers around her.

“Straps, go make some noise!” She yelled.

One of the cloaked ponies walked forwards towards the house, hitting the doorframe with the barrel of the rifle attached to his battle saddle before jumping back. The other soldiers tensed up, keeping their guns trained on the door.

A loud roar came from inside the ruined house, followed quickly by the ghastly visage of a ghoul lunging out of the darkness. It had once been a pegasus, as evidenced by the skeletal wings that were limply attached to its back, but that time had long since passed.

It didn’t get far, of course, as at least five separate soldiers opened fire on it, nearly cutting it in half under the sheer volume of fire. Once it had fallen motionless to the ground, a soldier walked up and dragged the body away, carrying it towards the pile I had seen earlier.

“Candle, you’re up!” The mare barked.

“On me!” A stallion said off to her left before removing their hood.

A long black mane spilled from underneath the hood, interrupted by a long orange horn. The horn flashed for a moment before a brilliant sphere of light condensed on its tip, floating up a short distance above the pony’s head. Even in the daylight it was still strong enough to bathe the area around the pony in more warm light.

Three other virtue soldiers formed up behind him as he marched into the house, keeping a shotgun up and ready. All four ponies disappeared from my sight the moment they passed through the door, and after a few moments, they disappeared from my EFS compass as well.

They went underground… I reasoned, but I couldn’t figure out why.

After a couple minutes, one of the soldiers walked out and stepped to the side to let a small figure through the door. It was a ghoul, very similar to the ones I had fought before. The tattered remains of a dress still clung to her flaking coat, her milky, bloodshot eyes squinted in the sun, and she raised a cracked forehoof to cover her face.

“Guns down,” The mare on the box ordered, jumping forward and walking towards the ghoul, gesturing for one of the soldiers around to do… something.

The pony had clearly understood the gesture, however, and they walked up to one of the gazebos to pick up a roll of blue cloth. They trotted back to the mare’s side, who had placed a forehoof on the ghoul’s shoulder.

I was too far away to hear what she was saying, but the ghoul seemed to relax. The pony that the lead mare had called for offered the cloth to the ghoul, who wrapped it around herself. It was a cloak, same as the ones all the virtues wore. The hood was drawn over the ghoul’s head, possibly to protect her eyes from the sun.

The soldier that had brought her the cloak helped the ghoul make their way towards one of the tents on the sides while the mare at the lead jumped back onto her box. I noticed how the other two soldiers that had gone into the house walked out and took their positions again.

“Okay ponies, we have a lot of basements left!” The mare shouted. “Let’s get a move on,”

My ear twitched as I picked up the sound of Narrative’s treads approaching. I winced at how loud it was, whipping around and spotting the robot as it approached.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded, trying my best to whisper.

“Anger. I have no choice, you imbecile,” The machine droned back.

My ears flattened against the sides of my head at Narrative’s unbelievably loud voice. He seemed to notice too, given how his claws darted out to press against the underside of his brain jar as if he were trying to cover his mouth.

“You say somethin’?” A stallion’s voice said from the roof of the house I was hiding behind.

“No?” A second voice said.

I heard the sound of rustling, as if a pony had been laying down on a bedroll. My heart was beating like a war drum as my eyes scanned the lip of the house’s roof. This could go bad very fast, but I just had to be faster.

There!

The revolver in my magical grasp flipped around and fired at the first sign of movement. It wasn’t the best choice, as whoever had been on the roof had placed their hoof on the edge instead of poking their head out. Blood and hoof fragments rained down on me as the stallion screamed bloody murder.

“Raiders!” The second voice shouted.

“Straps! Get the ghouls out of here!” The mare who had been on the box shouted.

I pressed myself against the corner of the house, poking my head out again to try and see just how many enemies I was up against. Almost as soon as I did, a cloaked ghoul that was standing near the fence spotted me and raised a forehoof to point in my direction.

“Over here!” He rasped.

I just barely managed to tuck my head back behind the wall before the general area started to get riddled with bullets. The house’s bricks spewed orange dust, and the scrap metal plates that had been pressed against the fence next to it let out metallic sounds as bullets bounced and punched through it.

A gunshot echoed out from the distance, and I nearly jumped in shock when a body landed behind me. I whirled around and tried to make sense of what had happened. A dead stallion was lying on the ground, his head a bloody mess. What could have-

“Sniper!” A virtue soldier shouted.

Pot! I realized, turning back in the direction I had come from and spotting a small figure lying flat against the ground.

My eyes darted down to my EFS, which made my heart drop. That was way too many of them…

“Fear. We are dead,” Narrative said.

“No! Shut up, I’ll think of something!” I shouted back.

The gunfire had died down, but the bars on my compass were relentless. I watched as small groups formed and started to spread out towards the edges. Gunshots rang out from above, but they weren’t aiming at me. Pot returned fire from off in the distance, but he clearly missed given how the bullets hit the edge of the roof.

I tried to think of a way to help him, but I was about to have much bigger fish to fry. One of the EFS bar groups was about to round the edge of the town to meet me. Turning around revealed that both groups were about to catch me in a pincer attack.

“You wouldn’t happen to be able to shoot, right?” I asked narrative, trying and failing to keep the panic out of my voice.

“Anger. No,” The machine responded.

Well, shit. Think, Black Light! I yelled internally as I tried my damndest to split my focus.

My horn throbbed painfully at the strain, but I still managed to float up my shotgun alongside the revolver and aim each gun in a different direction. But I had to admit, ‘aim’ was relative, since the weakened magic and split focus made the weapons shake vigorously.

No, this wouldn’t work… but I had a different idea!

Dropping the shotgun to the floor so it would be easy to pick up later, I focused solely on my revolver and tried to trigger SATS. The spell failed to cast, making a faint popping sound instead. Yes, this would work much better.

I tried to trigger it again, nothing. Then a third time, still nothing. On the fourth attempt, my head was whipped to the right by arcane force as I felt the spell take hold. The outline of a foreleg and part of a chest stuck out from behind the corner of a building. A pistol was floating out as well, wrapped in magic. Knowing that SATS would aim for the center of mass, I simply let the spell fade and aimed at the pony’s chest myself.

Bang!

Direct hit. The stallion stumbled forward onto the ground, his telekinesis spell collapsing around the pistol. I had no time to enjoy the victory, however. SATS took hold again, whipping my entire body in the opposite direction and highlighting an earth pony who had jumped out from behind a wrecked carriage. Judging by their determined expression and how far out of cover he had jumped, he had clearly assumed that I would be facing the other way to attack the ponies on that side. The strategy would have worked too had it not been for SATS’s time perception acceleration.

Bang!

The stallion’s forehead split apart as my revolver sang.

No time for recharge! I thought as I whipped myself around and fired blindly at the corner where the first stallion had jumped out from. My hunch was proven correct when a pony staggered back. I hadn’t hit them, but they had been to jump out and shoot me.

Another echoey gunshot rang out through the wasteland, only this time it struck true. A mare cried out from one of the rooftops above me and no return shot was fired. Pot fired again, and the bar disappearing from my EFS showed that he had been aiming for the cluster where the earth pony with the battle saddle had jumped out from. If he had that side covered, then maybe I could take out the other group…

There were still too many bars on my compass. We probably didn’t even have enough ammunition to take them all out, even if they lined up and let us execute them. A cold tendril of fear started to wrap around my heart, biting harder into it with every beat. But I couldn’t afford to freeze up, there had to be a way out of this.

I triggered SATS again, whipping around to the corner I had blindly fired at before. I could barely make out the very tip of one of the pony’s forehooves. That wasn’t helped at all by Narrative blocking most of my view. If only this useless tin can could use a weapon! Another gun might just give us the edge we need-

That’s it! I thought as an idea sparked in my mind. I might not be able to get more guns on my side, but the memory of the feral ghoul lunging at the soldiers earlier made me realize that I might still be able to turn the tide.

“Stay put!” I shouted at Narrative, intent on using his reinforced body to buy me some vital seconds before shooting blindly at the corner again.

One shot left… I noted as my revolver cycled to the last round.

I poked my head out from behind the house, looking into the settlement again and spotting multiple virtue soldiers. I slipped into SATS, but I knew that I didn’t have much time. I spotted the mare who had been on the box before hiding behind a small pile of boxes. Feeling the milliseconds before I got shot slip by, I aimed for the first thing I could: her leg.

Before the spell had even started to fade I was already yanking my neck back to try and get my head out of the way. I was successful, but only barely. A hailstorm of gunfire flew at me, with one grazing my right eyebrow.

The mare I was aiming at, however, wasn’t so lucky. I heard the distinctive noise of a pony falling to the ground as well as a metallic thump when the device around her neck fell as well.

No time for celebration, however. I dropped the revolver and kicked the shotgun into the air with a forehoof, grabbing it in my telekinesis just as another soldier rounded the corner and opened fire. The cloaked pony’s pistol fired thrice, with the first shot missing and the other two ricocheting off Narrative’s rear plating. The machine started ranting nonsense, as if I needed another distraction.

I did not intend to let her fire a fourth.

Bang!

The shotgun ripped into the pony’s shoulder, sending them to the ground while clutching it. Their pistol fell out of their mouth as they screamed, leaving me with one less enemy to deal with.

Before another soldier decided to try their luck, I moved my attention upwards and started phase two of my crazy plan.

I sat on my haunches and dropped the shotgun into my forehooves, just in case I had to shoot it again, and then wrapped the barbed wire on the top of the fence in my magic. With a grunt, I ripped a segment of it off its posts and up into the air. Closing my eyes to try and visualize the place where the mare had fallen inside the town. Using the wire like a whip, I struck at the general area where she must have fallen.

Like a fishermare with her line, I yanked the barbed wire towards me, feeling it catch on something. More magic surged through my horn, yanking what I hoped was the mare towards me. The yanking eventually stopped when something thudded against the fence.

I cracked my eyes open again, or at least my left one, as the wound on my eyebrow was bleeding profusely down my face and stopping me from opening the other eye. The mare I had shot was writhing against the fence, clutching at her cloak’s collar. The wire had tangled itself on her cloak, dragging her right up to me.

“Gotcha!” I shouted before moving my magical grasp to the device around the mare’s neck.

Here goes nothing! I thought before pressing every single button on it.

The entire town beyond the fence suddenly roared to life. Dozens of explosives went off at once, sending plumes of smoke and rubble sky high. The sheer volume of explosives made my ears start ringing as I threw myself onto the ground to avoid any debris.

For a single, impossibly long second, nothing happened. None of the bars on my compass even dared to flicker, as if everypony in the area had frozen solid… and then it began.

“Look out!” A stallion shouted before the air filled with grunts and groans.

Bar after bar appeared on my compass, ten, twenty, thirty… too many to count. Gunfire started to cut through the grunts, mixed in with the screams of any soldiers that had been standing at unfortunate spots.

I whipped my head around to the sides, seeing that the clusters were rushing back into the town. The mare I had fished with the barbed wire had managed to unclasp her hood, but her attention was fixed on the swarming ghouls.

“Get- cough! The grenades!” She shouted.

I considered shooting her in the back, but given the sheer number of ghouls I was seeing on my compass, it would be a massive waste of ammo. The mare turned around and locked eyes with me for a split second, her gaze that of pure fear, before running away from the fence screaming.

“Narrative! Are you okay?” I shouted at the robot, trying to be heard over the screaming and gunfire.

The machine didn’t reply, but I didn’t need him to. Shoving the revolver into my holster and slinging the shotgun across my back, I lit up my horn and wrapped around one of his claws as I pulled him away from the town. He was mostly unresponsive, but his treads at least seemed to cooperate with me. I looked back and watched as the mass of bars twisted and turned on my compass, smirking at how effective the plan had been.

Once we were far away enough, Pot met back up with us. The stallion appeared to be unharmed, but he was angry.

“What the fuck was that?” He demanded.

“Virtues! Lots of em,” I answered.

“No shit, I fired half this thing’s bullets trying to stop them from swarming you,” The stallion grumbled. “I’m talking about you blowing the entire place up,”

I sat on my haunches and chuckled softly before replying.

“Yeah! They had explosives set up to open basements, I just blasted them all open at once!”

Pot stared at me in confusion before staring at the town.

“Why would they even do that?” Pot wondered.

“They were trying to separate the feral ghouls from the normal ones… I think,” I said as I reloaded my revolver. My brow furrowed. “Bastards, they made any ghouls that could still think join them, talk about easy recruits…” I added, remembering the ghoul mare.

Of course, I could’ve saved her, but was she really innocent if she had joined up with the clear bad guys that easily? The one that had attacked us earlier had joined up with them too. If I had to guess, I’d say that their minds are too far gone to understand right and wrong, even if they aren’t just mindlessly violent.

“You could’ve gotten killed, Black Light,” Pot stated.

“But I didn’t! No harm no foul,” I chirped back, smiling.

“And all it cost us was most of our ammo… not to mention all the time we wasted here,” The stallion snapped at me.

I swiveled an ear at the town, a smug grin appearing on my face.

“Well… I don’t hear any shooting…” I started, slowly gesturing towards the town with my head.

“No,” Pot immediately interjected. “You barely got out of there the first time, why in the name of Celestia would you want to go back there?”

“Okay, wait, listen to me,” I started.

The stallion opened his mouth to protest, but I silenced him by raising a forehoof.

“No, I mean it. I looked at their guns… they have the good stuff,” I continued. “And they stopped shooting, which either means that the ghouls are all dead and there’s a lot less of them, or they’re all dead and we’ll just need to kill a couple ghouls,”

Pot stared at me with a concerned expression.

“I really hate how much sense you’re making…” He muttered. “If there’s one thing the virtues are good at, it's setting up settlements. Would be a waste to leave all that stuff lying around for somepony else to find.”

“Exactly!” I agreed, nodding.

“We’ll just have to be careful,” Pot started before gesturing towards Narrative. “What about him?”

“I think he’s out cold, like back at the Golden Stable,” I theorized.

“Will he follow us?” Pot asked.

I started on my way back towards the town, taking a few steps forward before replying.

“let’s find out, c’mon,”

As it turned out, Narrative’s limp body did follow me around. He didn’t move as fast as he did while conscious, but he still managed to keep up as we made our way back to the town.

The first thing we came across was two ghouls, busy at work ripping into a dead virtue soldier. I floated out my revolver and took aim at one of the ghouls.

“Don’t waste ammo on them,” I told Pot when I noticed that he was sitting on his haunches and bringing the rifle up to bear.

Bang!

The first ghoul flopped onto their back, black blood splattering into the air. I watched as the second one whipped their head around in confusion, walking up to the fallen ghoul and prodding them with a forehoof. It looked… Scared? Maybe sad?

Bang!

No matter, it was dead.

We got to the town proper, where we were met by a rather awful scene. Ghoul and virtue soldiers lied strewn all over the place, showing a clear contrast between the two groups. Virtue soldiers could only be told apart from the ghouls by the tattered remains of their cloaks and the distinctly red color of their blood. The ghouls had been relentless, disemboweling and clobbering them to death.

The ghouls, on the other hoof, were much luckier. Most had been put down with a quick shot to the head, others had simply been gunned down. At least it was quick, I couldn’t imagine how the virtue soldiers felt when they-

“Get down!” Pot shouted, slamming into me and forcing me to the ground.

Two gunshots rang out, both missing us thanks to Pot’s quick thinking. My revolver spun around and fired thrice in the general direction of the gunfire. The destruction had made me lower my guard, and I was not going to let that happen again.

My eyes darted to my EFS compass, where I spotted six bars. One of them was where the bullets had come from.

There!

One of the ruined buildings had a stallion hiding behind a metal box. He had taken cover from my shooting, but the box was way too small to protect him. I took aim and fired, hitting the stallion’s exposed rear leg.

A blood curdling scream filled the town as the stallion writhed on the ceiling. Before I could take him out, however, my attention was drawn to the side when a ghoul lunged at me and Pot.

Bang!

One shot, straight through the head.

The gun whipped around to aim at the stallion again, lining up with his head.

Bang!

Pot’s own pistol rang out, firing five bullets into another ghoul that started to drag themselves towards us. Its legs appeared to be crushed, but it still dragged itself along on its forelegs and lanky wings.

I tried to look around for the other bars, where I spotted a ghoul that was slowly dragging itself into one of the ruined houses. For a moment, I considered letting it go, but I changed my mind just as quickly. The last thing we needed was for it to decide to attack us while we were distracted.

“Go finish that one off,” I said, pointing at the ghoul.

“Hmmph,” Pot replied around his pistol’s mouth-grip.

The stallion walked over to the ghoul and shot it twice in the back of the head.

I scanned the battlefield again, spotting one other bar near me. It looked like somepony was hiding behind a pile of metal boxes. Keeping my revolver trained on the edge of the box to anticipate an ambush, I walked up to the box.

Raspy wheezing sounds reached my ears. Could it be a ghoul? No… A perfectly healthy light green ear poked out from behind the box. Keeping the revolver up, I turned the corner and looked at the rest of the pony.

A light green earth pony was lying against the box, holding a dark blue bag against their stomach. He turned his head to look at me with bloodshot eyes, but they didn’t make a single movement.

I looked more carefully at the bag, where I realized that it was no bag at all, it was the soldier’s blue cloak. He had been disemboweled, and was holding his spilled guts in his own cloak.

My gun floated up, aiming for the pony’s head.

“N… n- no!” They whimpered.

Bang!

He might have been evil, but nopony deserved that pain.

“Does that little terminal on your leg see anypony else?” Pot asked, making his way towards me.

I turned to face the last two bars, which were pointing at one of the larger tents. As I watched, one of the bars disappeared.

“Huh… Stay here…” I told Pot, knowing that he’d just get in the way if I had to fight off a ghoul in a cramped space.

I walked up to the tent, pushing the entrance flap out of the way. My eyes were met by some sort of control center, with multiple metal tables set up with terminals and radio equipment. There was a trail of blood on the floor that led to a feral ghoul. I took aim at it, but that’s when I noticed the combat knife sticking out of its head.

The ghoul’s mouth was very bloody, but it wasn’t its own blood. A trail could be seen leading from it to behind one of the desks, and that was the same direction of the final blue bar on my compass.

I heard a dull thumping sound, followed by another. My eyes scanned the scene until I spotted the source: A bloodied hoof was feeling around on one of the tables. It eventually came to a stop when it found a small device attached to a wire, which it pulled down.

“C- come in…” A voice said. I recognized that voice, it was the mare that had been holding the detonator. “Dish… pick up- cough!”

They didn’t seem to have noticed me, so I remained quiet hoping that I could get some information out of her.

“Kindness? What happened?” A scratchy voice asked from the speakers on the desk.

“Raiders… The ghouls got out of hand…” Answered the mare.

“Redeye?” The voice in the radio asked.

“No… One of them was- cough!” The mare blurted out before being taken over by a coughing fit.

“Come on, Kindness, tell me who did this and we’ll end them,” The radio stated, trying to bolster the mare.

If she didn’t recognize me, then that means they don’t know what I look like yet! I realized. While listening in some more could be useful, I would get much more use out of the element of surprise.

“She was a ze-” The mare started again, but I cut her off with my revolver. Three shots went into the radio, making the speakers pop.

“Nuh uh,” I singsang as I walked around the table.

The mare was lying on her side, covered in blood. Multiple bite marks dotted her hindlegs, with multiple chunks missing from her right thigh, as if another pony had bitten into it. Her right forehoof was a bloodied mess from when I had shot her earlier, and her other hoof was clutching the radio’s microphone for dear life.

“N- no!” The mare pleaded, throwing the microphone to the side and using her only good hoof to drag herself back.

I took a step forward and placed a forehoof on one of her hindlegs, keeping her pinned in place. It was clearly painful, judging by the mare’s wince when I put more of my weight on her leg.

“Where do you think you’re going, evildoer?” I asked, letting my voice get more bombastic.

“F- fuck!” The mare whimpered as she dragged herself away. “Please!”

“Should’ve picked your team better, no evil shall take root while Black Light is here!” I announced.

Bang!

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Dented Tumbler

Classification: Male earth pony – 61 years of age – C989E71-M83A297-E34B355

Cutie Mark: A metal tumbler with a dent in the middle

Dented Tumbler was an old mercenary who used to roam around the Rambling Rock Ridge area, picking up small gigs as a caravan guard or gun-for-hire. Despite being an earth pony, his prowess with a rifle was almost as legendary as his skills with the guitar. Nopony could ever get him to tell where he had come from, nor could they know where he'd go next after completing his contracts. The one thing they knew was that he was not a stallion to be trifled with.

Many ponies tried to end him, all of them failed. But alas, nothing lasts forever. And much like the legend attached to his name, so too did Tumbler fade. Gray streaks lined his mane as the years started to weigh heavy on his bones. His eyesight, once as sharp as a hawk's, became blunted and cloudy. The only thing he retained from his younger years was the apetite for good booze and the stuming of guitar strings.

He would finally be felled, not by any skilled opponent, but by chance. Old Tumbler had been hired by Kindness, the virtue leader. On the fateful day when the Rosewood reclamation project failed due to the Witch of Baltimare's efforts, he would be torn to shreds by a pack of feral ghouls, too slow and old to escape.

Author's Note

If you’d prefer to just leave a tip, I now also have a KoFi.

Marepoint Fort

“Do we really need to carry all of this stuff?” Pot demanded as I tried to retie the straps holding the boxes onto Narrative’s sides.

“Wh-? Of course we do!” I pouted, furrowing my brow as I tried my best to pass the rope under the box nearest to me. “We couldn’t just leave it back there for them to just grab again!”

The earth pony rolled his eyes at me in annoyance before he replied.

“We also didn’t have to try and bring their entire base along with us,”

The stallion was oh so terribly wrong, but was there really any point in explaining tactics to a surface dweller? Regardless, he might have had a point. Narrative’s chassis was now adorned by four of the metal boxes that the virtues had had lying around their camp. We had filled two of them with the best weapons we had found.

I made extra sure to see if any of the virtues had been carrying Ironshod firearms, and to my immense delight, many were. While I hadn’t gotten the time to check if they all worked, I was sure that it would take a little more than getting knocked around by rotten ghoul hooves to break such fine weaponry.

The other two boxes held supplies and ammo respectively. They were rather disorganized, mainly because in the rush of trying to loot everything and run away, we had resorted to just throwing entire saddlebags and bandoliers into the crates. Some weren’t even useful anymore since I was forced to cut the straps to take them off the dead virtues.

Other than that, I had also picked up a small metal lighter off one of the ghouls. It didn’t have any lighter fluid in it or anything, but the shiny exterior caught my eye while carrying the supplies around.

Much to Pot’s dismay, I had taken special care to drag every gun we couldn’t carry with us and anything else that looked even remotely useful outside the town where I buried it. Granted, the suspiciously box-shaped mounds sitting a short distance outside the town wouldn’t fool anypony paying attention, but if they did, they would keep all those things out of the virtues’ hooves. Just for good measure, I had also thrown a couple of grenades into the communications tent they had set up.

“Trust me, you’ll be glad that we took the time to sabotage them like that later,” I replied, feeling proud of the mighty blow I had dealt to those blue-cloaked ne’er-do-wells.

“Whatever, but if those damn ropes cut again we’re leaving some of the stuff here,” Pot stated, stomping the ground.

I nodded energetically before looking out into the horizon.

“How much further until we get there?” I asked.

Pot sighed deeply and sat on his haunches, raising his good forehoof up to measure the position of the sun.

“A couple hours, maybe three,” The earth pony said, “But we should really pick up the pace, I do not want to sleep out here again,” He added.

“Aww come on, it wasn’t that bad!” I pouted, remembering our camp from the previous night.

“For you, maybe. I don’t appreciate sleeping in the open,” The stallion replied.

I rolled my eyes and chuckled at how dramatic he was being. Sure, sleeping in the middle of nowhere was a little unnerving, but the night was so completely and utterly dark that the only way a pony could be spotted other than them having a light on would be to just so happen to run directly into them.

Regardless, we started on our way again. I kept my eyes focused on the horizon for a while, but after some time I realized that we would be much safer if I just kept my eyes glued to my EFS at all times. Just in case somepony were to sneak up on us, I would occasionally spin in place to make sure no extra bars popped up.

The hours of silence sent me into a trance, at least until a burst of static from Narrative made me jump in place.

“Fear. Where am I?” The machine demanded.

“Wakey wakey, sleepy head!” I said, playfully patting his brain jar.

“Fear. What happened? There were monsters,” He insisted.

“That was yesterday, dummy, we’re on our way to mare…?” I trailed off, shooting Pot a look to get some help.

“Marepoint Fort,” The stallion harrumphed.

Narrative’s claws raised up as if to cover his brain jar while he continued ranting.

“Fear. Where are the monsters?”

I walked up to the front of the robot and sat on my haunches, lifting my own forehooves to lower his claws.

“They’re dead, you’re safe,” I said plainly.

He fell silent for a moment, as if to gather himself. A smile parted my face when he lowered his claws, managing to look relaxed despite being so clearly artificial.

“Sadness. This body is a curse,” Narrative stated. “There’s an excessive weight warning in my sensor array, what did you do?”

Pot slowly turned his head to look at me with a deadpan expression.

“I don’t know, what did you do, Black Light?” The stallion asked.

“I uhh… I might have gone a little overboard with the looting…” I mumbled under my breath.

Pot let out a long, defeated sigh.

Little else happened as we continued pressing forward. Much like before when we were nearing Rosewood, the open bare wasteland was slowly replaced with ruined suburbs. Small houses surrounded by the sun bleached ruins began dotting the landscape as the ground beneath my hooves got rougher, shifting from dry earth to cracked pavement. This road led directly into the denser part of the ruins, but it still remained fairly intact save the occasional cracks and the flaking paint. I guessed it made sense, it had been many, many years since anything heavier than a pack brahmin had used it.

“Wait… why are we on the road?” I asked, turning to look at Pot.

The stallion was looking significantly worse for wear. Sweat poured from his brow in thick droplets, and he leaned to rest on his good forehoof almost as soon as we came to a halt.

“This place is full of traps, the only way in or out of the town is through the main road,” He explained, panting heavily.

“That makes sense I gue-“ I started, but my mouth slammed shut as my head exploded.

I collapsed onto the road and twisted on my back clutching my temples with as much strength as I could muster in a vain attempt to squeeze the pain out of my skull. My hindlegs kicked wildly at the sky, sending more jolts of pain through me with every jerking motion as my saddlebags slid off my flanks, spilling their contents all over the road. I wasn’t in the best state of mind to worry about that now.

I heard Pot shout something but couldn’t make out the words as a claw wrapped around one of my hindlegs, trying to hold it down against the cracked pavement. Something in the back of my mind reacted before I even got the chance to think, spinning my body around and kicking with my other rear leg.

Crunch!

My right rear hoof sent a line of white-hot agony burning all the way up to my head as it collided against solid metal. The injured hoof was swiftly immobilized by a second claw, holding it against the road.

My teary eyes cracked open and stared upwards at the clouds. Swirls and strange symbols flooded my view as an odd feeling of panic gripped my heart. I turned my head to the side and watched as my EFS flooded with red bars and swirls.

“Mngh… there!” I shouted, gritting my teeth as I thrashed on the ground.

I was still being held down, but I had to do something. My horn powered up and pulled out my revolver, firing once at the mass of swirling symbols before my magic imploded on itself. The backfiring spell slammed me flat on my back, where I could do nothing but listen to the sound of the gun falling to the ground. Dazed, I curled up into a ball as best I could and screwed my eyes shut.

I don’t know how long I spent there. All I know is that after a while my rear legs were let go and I was carefully dragged somewhere a little darker than the road we had been on.

The headache slowly started to fade at the back of my head. The relief moved forward slowly, terribly so, but it was moving. It felt as if barbed wire were slowly being reeled out of my skull through my horn. Pulling the pain out but hurting as much as possible as it did.

Half my head was clear now, leaving me with an unpleasant hot sensation. I considered opening my eyes, getting up, maybe asking Pot for help, but something told me that moving would just make things worse.

Focus, Black Light, you’ve been hurt before…

I stabilized my breathing as best I could and immediately felt the relief grow faster, only the very front of my head hurt now. I was almost there, just had to hold on a little longer…

“Ough…” I groaned when I felt the last of the pain slide out of my horn.

My head still felt extremely hot and like it was filled with cotton, but it was a far cry from how bad it had been hurting earlier. I tentatively cracked an eye open, where I saw that I had been dragged into one of the houses on the side of the road. I had been set down just barely past the front door and faced outwards. Pot or Narrative were nowhere to be seen, but I could hear noises coming from behind me. Noises and… something else. Something all but dispelling whatever discomfort had clung to my head.

Something smelled good.

Spurred by my nose, I crawled up to my hooves and stumbled deeper into the house. My right rear hoof was hurting horribly, as if it were trying to sprout another ankle down the middle, but none of my bones agreed. I bit it back and kept moving, intent on finding out what the smell was.

“Did you hear that?” Narrative’s voice droned from inside one of the rooms ahead.

“Yeah… Think she got up?” Pot asked.

I tripped over my own hooves and was forced to lean against the wall for support. My ear twitched as it picked up the sound of approaching hooves. Gritting my teeth, I pushed off the wall and stood as straight as I could.

Come on, be strong. I told myself.

Pot poked his head out from inside the room and let out a relieved sigh. His face quickly morphed into concern, however, as he limped out of the room and pressed his good forehoof against my forehead.

“You’re burning up, come in, I’m making lunch,” He said, gesturing towards the room with his head.

“Anger. Well look who’s up,” Narrative droned as soon as I walked inside.

I furrowed my brow, looking at the robot with confusion. Why was he angry?

“She’s not feeling well, Lamp,” Pot warned as he walked past me and sat down next to his cooking supplies.

The stallion had set up his cooking pot over a fire made from wooden scraps. Curious, I peeked into the pot and saw that whatever was being cooked inside it was bubbling softly.

“What happened?” I asked, dragging myself a little closer to the cornucopia of delectable scents that were coming out of the pot.

“You tell me,” The earth pony replied. “You started screaming and shooting into the air… I’m actually surprised we haven’t had any visitors yet,”

I rubbed the back of my head with a forehoof, feeling how matted with sweat my coat was. I looked down at my rear leg and noticed that the hoof was cracked slightly, with noticeable swelling at the base.

“Anger. I tried to help by holding you down, but you just broke one of my claws,” Narrative stated, holding up his right claw for me to see.

The mechanical appendage had been locked into a half-open state by the plating around the base of the wrist, which had been bent badly out of shape by my panicked kick.

“I- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” I whimpered.

“Sadness. I know you didn’t,” Narrative said after a short pause. “How’s your head?” He added.

“It’s-“ I started, but I cut myself off.

I had to be strong for them, just like a true hero of the surface should! With the most confident smile I could muster, I looked at the brain bot and spoke.

“Much better! I’m really sorry about earlier, I think I wasn’t healed from the little bonk on the head I took,”

Pot raised an eyebrow at me, but remained focused on the pot in front of him.

”I am fairly certain you have a massive concussion,” Narrative droned.

”A massive what?” Pot asked, whipping his head around to look at the robot.

”Nothing, nevermind,” The brain bot replied.

”Well… anyway!” I squeaked, trying to change the subject. “What are you cooking?” I asked, smiling at Pot.

“Well, I realized that we still had a lot of fresh stuff from the golden stable ponies, so I decided to use as much as I could for this stew before it goes bad,”He explained, a proud smile split the stallion’s face as he spoke. “It’s got meat, eggs, and a lot of cheese,”

My mouth had been watering harder with every single word he had spoken, and the smell coming from the stew was simply beyond description.

Pot offered me one of the tin cups that we had taken from the virtue encampment. My horn fired up a telekinesis spell, but almost as soon as it did I felt an odd sensation around it, as if I had stabbed my horn into something tough like leather.

Weirded out by the sensation, I decided to lean forward and take the cup in my forehooves instead. Pot gave me an odd look, shooting a quick glance at my horn as well, but remained quiet.

I dipped the cup into the cheesy mixture in the pot, finding it to be incredibly thick and stretchy. It was very hot as well, nearly burning my hooves with how close they were to the edges of the pot while dipping the cup into it.

”Can you get mine?” Pot asked, passing me a second cup.

”Take this one,” I replied in turn, offering him the cup I had just filled.

The stallion nodded and let me place the cup on his outstretched forehoof. He lifted it up to his face and licked the bits that were dripping off the side. I grabbed the new cup excitedly and immediately brought it up to my muzzle. It burnt my lips a little bit, but the thick cheese and beef was way too good to concern myself with things as meaningless as thermodynamics.

I slurped up the entire cup, half-drinking and half-chewing as the sharp-tasting cheese filled my chest with warmth. I looked pleadingly at Pot once my cup was empty, but I didn’t even need to open my mouth before the stallion nodded and gestured to the cooking pot.

”You can have the rest, one cup is more than enough for me,”. He said.

Halfway through his reply I had already lept to action, scraping the crust that had stuck to the bottom of the pot with my little tin cup.

While I worked on wolfing down the rest of the food, Pot sheepishly finished the rest of his cup and lied back slowly to rest, staring at the roof.

”You know…” He started, “I think all the guns we grabbed might be really useful when we get to the fort,”

I yanked my muzzle out of my cup, feeling as several strings of molten cheese still connected them.

”Hmmp hmmm?” I asked.

”Uhhh… what?” Pot replied, cocking his head to the side.

I swallowed loudly before repeating myself.

”Useful how?”

“Trade goods,” The earth pony said, “They’re a lot more valuable than plain caps, especially Ironshod,”

He seemed to notice my pouty expression, because he lifted his good forehoof and kept explaining.

”No, not all of them. We can keep some good ones and their ammo, but we can’t keep going around lugging enough guns to arm a small army,”

I guess that makes sense. I realized. While I wasn’t fond of the idea of parting with the guns, it was an acceptable sacrifice if it meant I could find ponies who could help me.

“Maybe, but we should make sure we keep all the good ones!” I huffed, pointing my cup at his face aggressively.

”Sure, sure” Pot offered, raising his forehoof in mock surrender.

”Good!” I exclaimed before shoving my head into the cooking pot to continue eating.

Once we were done, we took a short time to organize our haul properly. My horn was still feeling odd, so I mostly used my muzzle and hooves to help Pot. It was remarkably hard, and I was moving a lot slower than him despite him being one hoof short. I just chalked that up to practice and earth pony shenanigans.

The ruined saddlebags were discarded onto the crackling fire and the rest were tucked away in one of the boxes alongside all our food and ‘chems’.

Wait a minute… I thought as I turned over a jar of pills in my forehooves. Why am I stressing about my horn? I realized as I bent around to open my own saddlebags and pulled out my jar of Bounceback.

”Now we’re talking!” I exclaimed, carefully unscrewing the cap and popping one of the pills into my mouth.

“What are you doing?” Pot shouted, making me jump so hard that I almost sent the jar flying.

“I’m just taking some medicine!” I squeaked back.

“You can’t just take random pills! What even is that stuff?” The earth pony demanded.

I closed the jar and gave him a sheepish smile.

“Don’t worry, these are from my stable!” I said, smiling. “It’s for my horn, it’s feeling strange,”

The stallion looked at me, and then at the pill jar before giving me a nod.

“Aye, fair enough,” He commented. “Just… don’t take any of the others, last thing we need is you going on a rampage,”

Yeah, as if a simple pill could make me lose my cool. I never lose my cool! I thought, huffing aloud.

Once we had finished organizing the stuff into our boxes, we set out on the final stretch. Leaving the piles of ruined saddlebags off to the side along with one of the boxes. I sheepishly looked down when I realized that I had grabbed an entire excess one, but Pot was too relieved with us leaving it behind to be angry at me.

We made sure the three remaining boxes were properly strapped onto Narrative, we made our way to the door and walked back out into the main street. I walked out first and did a full spin around to make absolutely sure there was nopony lying in ambush.

The ruined houses around us started to shift. Where once had stood simple piles of rubble now stood actual buildings. Sure, they were still damaged almost beyond repair, but the construction quality had increased as we got deeper into the town.

“So…” I started, trying to break the monotony. “Before you said that there were traps around here. What kind of traps did you mean?”

“Bombs, mostly,” The stallion replied. “Landmines and tripwires,”

“Ohhh… think we could nab some to sell?” I asked, smirking.

“How in Celestia’s name do you expect to nab a landmine?” Narrative interjected.

“By… disabling it before it explodes?” I offered.

“Anger. That’s not how a landmine works, if you walked over one it would immediately blow you to bits,” The machine stated.

I cocked my head in confusion.

“Don’t they start beeping and explode after a few seconds?” I asked.

“I thought they made a little clicking sound and then blew up when you lifted your hoof,” Pot added.

Narrative slapped the front of his brain jar with a claw in frustration.

“Anger. No, no, no. An actual landmine explodes as soon as you step on it,” He droned before turning to face me directly, “What you described is a proximity mine, and a terrible one at that if it beeps loudly before exploding,”

“How do you know so much about landmines?” Pot asked, turning his head to look at the robot as well.

“I used to be a literary critic, do you have the faintest idea how many times I had to deal with poorly written landmines?” Narrative replied.

“A literal what?” Pot asked, confused.

Narrative remained silent for a moment before he decided to speak again.

“Sadness. Nevermind, it’s not important anymore,”

Pot and I exchanged a quick look, but I just shrugged and stared forward again.

Almost as soon as I did, however, I froze in place. My EFS showed… something off to our right. I couldn’t make out what exactly the symbol was, but it looked like a bar. The edges warped and wobbled however, giving it a more abstract shape than the hard bars I was used to seeing.

“What is it?” Pot asked cautiously as he unstrapped his pistol.

“I’m not sure…” I mumbled back, looking up from my compass and at the building that it was pointing at. “Li… y…?” I read aloud from the sign that still clung to the top of the door.

“Library,” Narrative clarified, “Pinecone library,”

“Shh!” I hissed at the brain bot before turning around to look at the building, silently praying that the bar hadn’t heard us.

The building itself had been made to look like a log cabin with a porch out front. Coffee tables were set out for its patrons, with one even having a small light green cup still standing on it. I noticed that the bases of the pillars holding up were carved into pinecones.

Something else caught my eye off to the side, however. There was another cup like the one on the table resting amongst a pile of bones and tattered clothes. Judging by the two skulls, there had been two separate skeletons at some point that had been carelessly discarded off to the side. It… irked me. I couldn’t exactly put my hoof on it, but I didn’t appreciate seeing bodies of good ponies desecrated like that.

Nonetheless, the strange bar was inside the library. And if the skeletons had been thrown off to the side, then that could only mean that there had been ponies here at some point.

My revolver floated out of its holster and up to my side, but the magic felt off. It wasn’t concerning enough to opt for grabbing it with my mouth, but the telekinetic field still warped ominously at the edges.

At least the Bounceback is working… I thought as I carefully approached the door.

The bar hadn’t moved since I had first spotted it, which reassured me slightly. If they hadn’t moved then they probably hadn’t heard us.

I reached the front door and placed one of my forehooves against it. The door easily slid open… too easily…

Turning around, I gestured to the other two to stand further back, just in case this was another grenade bouquet moment. Once I was sure they were out of harm’s way, I stepped up to the side of the door.

Using my revolver instead of my hoof, I pushed the door open slowly until-

Bang!

A shower of splinters flew out from the edge of the door as a shotgun blasted it apart. The sound alone felt like an injection of electricity straight into my very soul. My entire coat puffed out as a deep shiver ran all over me.

My legs felt strong, and my senses sharpened to a razor’s edge. The wobbly telekinesis around my revolver took on a deeper crimson color and gripped the weapon with confidence.

I fired twice into the door, a wide smiling parting my face as I did. Whoever was inside had clearly tried to get the better of me, something only a baaad pony would do!. but it seemed like the hunter had just become the hunter-ed.

With a heroic shout, I threw myself at the ruined door and crashed straight through it. My revolver spun around wildly as I tried to spot the evildoer who had just shot at us.

Multiple empty tables were spread around the middle of the library, with bookshelves lining the walls around them. I scanned the room repeatedly, my revolver following my eyes with pinpoint accuracy,

Nothing.

It was then that I thought to glance at the floor, and noticed the snapped piece of wire that had ran in front of the door.

“Tripwire,” I said, looking back to see Pot, who was slowly making his way into the building.

“Aye, hooked up to that,” The stallion replied, lifting a forehoof to point at a shotgun that was hidden among a pile of ruined books on one of the tables.

Only the barrel was visible, but the wire that ran from the door into the side of the gun made it abundantly clear that it was the culprit. There was one thing that was still off though.

If this was a booby trap… then where’s the bar?

I glanced at my EFS and raised an eyebrow when I realized that it was still there. A quick glance around the library revealed that there were no stairs or attic hatches, this was a one-storey building.

“Black Light we need to-“ Pot started, but I raised a forehoof to silence him.

“The bastard is still in here…” I muttered, not really bothering with stealth since I was pretty sure whoever was in here had already heard us.

With an uneasy heart, I started to walk around the room while keeping my eyes trained on the strange bar. It didn’t move from the center of the room, not even for an instant. The only issue was that I could very clearly see that there was nothing there.

Underground maybe? I wondered. But it couldn’t be, the floor looked like solid stone, and I knew for a fact that my EFS couldn’t track stuff underground that well. Narrative made their way into the library as well, only he didn’t seem all too preoccupied with the strange signal.

Tentatively, I walked towards the center of the library, keeping my revolver trained on the center. My heart was thumping in my chest like a thunderstorm, every beat sending jolts of fire through my veins.

Where are you… I thought as I drew closer to the center.

“Black Light there’s nopony here,” Pot offered.

“Shut up,” I retorted, gritting my teeth.

Another step, and then one more. Nothing moved or changed… or at least nothing I could see. My EFS remained steadfast in showing a bar dead ahead, but there was nothing there.

Once my forehoof set down in the very middle of the room, however, the bar disappeared. I spun around in place, confused, but I couldn’t spot it again no matter what I did.

I took a few steps away from the center and looked back at it, seeing that the bar had completely disappeared.

That’s not right… I thought, trying my best to tune out whatever Pot was saying.

My mind raced to try and come up with an answer as to what was going on. Could it have been a glitch? No, it had to have been something else… it had to be! There was no way it would be that precise unless something had been there. Maybe it was invisible? Or maybe-

“Rah!” I bellowed when I felt somepony breathing against the back of my neck.

My revolver flew out of my holster in the blink of an eye. I rotated myself backwards with a roundhouse kick to try and catch the invisible attacker in the head for a quick revolver finish… and hit nothing…

When the flurry of movement ended, all I could see was Pot, pressed completely flat against the far wall and deathly pale. His eyes had shrunken to pinpricks that were focused on my gun, which I had just noticed was pointed directly at his head.

I threw the gun to the side immediately, hearing it clatter onto one of the tables.

“P- Pot I’m-“ I stuttered, lifting my forehooves to hold my head. “I d- didn’t meant to…”

The earth pony was hyperventilating. He slid down the wall, clutching his chest so hard that I almost thought I had actually shot him. He took in a couple of deep breaths as sweat started to pour from his brow. He looked absolutely horrified, and kept his gaze fixed on my gun despite me discarding it.

“Y- you-“ I started, taking a step towards him.

“No! Stay there!” The stallion shouted. “J- just stay put,”

“Fear. She is clearly unstable,” Narrative droned.

I turned around to look at the robot, feeling my eyes start to well up with tears.

“N- no I’m not! I’m just a little jumpy a- and my EFS glitched out!” I whimpered.

The bottom of my mouth started to hurt as I fought to hold back my tears. It wouldn’t do me any good to start crying in front of adults.

Come on, Black Light, stay still like he said. I chided myself internally, sitting on my haunches and offering Pot an uneasy smile.

“It’s okay… it’s okay… I’m sorry…” I said as calmly as I could.

The stallion closed his eyes and took another hooffull of deep breaths. He seemed to calm down somewhat when he focused on the gun I had dropped, as if the knowledge of me being unarmed were reassuring to him.

That realization stabbed through my heart like the horn of a raging bull. This was all wrong… I was the hero of the surface! The surface dwellers’ reactions should be the exact opposite of Pot’s. If I was armed then they had no reason to be worried.

“Why…?” I asked, unable to keep holding my tears back.

Pot looked up at me with concern.

“W- why won’t you let me do what I was trained for?” I asked, feeling tears pour down my cheeks. “Years and years of training… I was the best, you know?”

“Black Light-“ The earth pony started, but I wasn’t done yet.

“No! Shut up!” I roared, wincing when that stabbing pain at the base of my tongue reared its ugly head again. “You don’t know anything! You’re just a dumb surface dweller that doesn’t know what’s good for him!”

Pot’s brow furrowed, and after a strong head shake he opened his mouth to speak. The strain on his face was noticeable, as if his jaws were trying their damndest to stay shut.

“Oh fuck you,” The stallion shouted. “Ah know of one thing that’s not good-“

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” I warned, feeling the stab again.

“Y- You- Hmph !” Pot grumbled, apparently at a loss for words, before slamming his mouth shut.

I shot a glare at Narrative as well, who rolled back slightly. I swear that if machines could shake in fear, he would’ve been doing so.

“What about you? Got anything to add?” I spat.

“Fear. No,” The robot replied.

“That’s what I thought,” I said, furrowing my brow and spinning around to look at Pot.

The stallion looked… defeated. His head was cast low, ears droopy. By all means it looked as if I had just given him a beating.

My gaze softened. It wasn’t his fault, he just didn’t know any better. I probably would’ve ended up the same way if I had been born out here on the surface.

“Now listen to me,” I said, ignoring the jab of pain in my tongue. “We are going to take a short break here until we all calm down, and then we’re going to get to the town, got it?”

Pot nodded, not lifting his gaze to meet mine.

“And then we’re going to get to the other side of the bay, I’m going to find a nice safe spot to drop you two off,” I continued, whipping my head around to stare at Narrative as well. “Until then, you two would do well to remember how lucky you are to have a hero of my caliber watching your backs, and let me do my job!” I added, stomping on the floor for emphasis.

Pot gave me another weak nod, Narrative remained silent.

“Good! Now let’s uhh… let’s relax, yeah!” I blurted out.

Neither of my companions looked too relaxed, although it was fairly difficult to tell with Narrative.

My eyes darted around the library, trying to search for anything at all that could distract them from the chat we had just had. Something caught my eye half-buried under a pile of ruined books. It looked like a Ministry of Peace medical box.

“W-we could loot! Yeah!” I chirped nervously as I pulled the box out of the pile, where I noticed that it had a rather large lock holding it closed. “Don’t you wanna know what’s inside this bad boy?”

Pot stared at me with hurt eyes, but he didn’t move a single muscle from the spot where he had sat down. I stuffed the box into my saddlebags and got up, shaking my head softly.

Come on, think! I roared at myself. What did the research team do when we were feeling down? A heroid speech? No… that wouldn’t work on Pot, he wasn’t a hero like me.

He isn’t a colt either… I reasoned. What did the research team do when they were feeling down, then? Drink coffee…?

I stared at the stallion with a concerned expression, trying to figure something out. Maybe I just needed a more personalized approach.

“Come on! Cheer up!” I said, walking closer to Pot. “Wipe that frown off your face and think about how nice it’s gonna be when we get to the town and get ourselves a nice relaxing ferry trip. I can’t drag you off to anything dangerous out on the water, can I?” I offered with a smile.

My grin was soured by the quick jolt of pain that came from my tongue, but a much more comfortable smile replaced it when I saw Pot look up into my eyes and smile back.

“I guess you have a point there,” The stallion said, chuckling.

“Fear. I agree, we should go,” Narrative droned from behind us.

I smiled at the robot too.

“Awesome! Glad you two could see that you were wrong,” I said happily. “Off we go!” I announced before turning in place and heading out the door.

The walk was rather uneventful, not helped in the slightest by the complete silence that had taken root after leaving the library. It didn’t last forever, of course, as when bars started to show up on my EFS, Pot turned to speak to me.

“There’s gonna be a lot of ponies with guns here, do not pull yours out unless you want to start a firefight… And I doubt even you could fight your way out of this place,”

Fat chance. I thought, internally chuckling at the thought of some surface dwellers being able to stand a chance against me. I guessed they could get really lucky if there were enough of them, but it would still be a hard fight.

As we walked, the houses around us suddenly became much more maintained. There was no rubble in the streets, and some ponies could be seen peeking at us from behind windows or from the rooftops. I wasn’t fond of being watched like this, but none of them looked particularly aggressive.

“You there!” A stallion shouted from atop one of the rooftops. “What’s yer business ‘ere?”

I cleared my throat to reply, but Pot slineced me with a forehoof.

“The fuck do you care?” He shouted back, drawing a hearty chuckle from the pony on the roof.

Almost as soon as the exchange finished, the town came to life around us, as if some sort of veil had been lifted. Ponies barged out of their homes and started to walk up and down the streets.

“Keep your head down, Black Light,” Pot suggested. “And try not to limp so much…”

I nodded and tried my best to walk forward, ignoring the jolts of pain going up my leg. Pot was right, it would do me no good to show weakness, let alone in a place like this.

I noticed that these ponies seemed… grimier than the ones I had seen before. Bandoliers full of ammunition, guns hanging from slings, holsters, and battle saddles. And many even seemed to be wearing armor. It was a far cry from the medical center or even Junkyard. Most bore scars, some even sported eyepatches and the occasional peg leg.

I also couldn’t help but notice that many of them were sizing us up. Furtive glances at my revolver, confused stares at my PipBuck and face, and odd looks at my flanks. They’re probably looking at my saddlebags.

We turned a corner and suddenly found ourselves in a market area. Most of the houses here had had their fronts torn down and opened to turn them into storefronts. Dozens of scrap metal signs touting food, ammo, guns, and dozens of other things.

The street was bustling with activity, ponies of all sorts made their way between the shops. My nose immediately perked up when it caught the scent of food.

Three stores on my right had food on offer. Two of them had lines of ponies waiting, but the one closest to me was completely clear. It was strange, considering how much cheaper the prices seemed to be.

Iguana meat… interesting…

I walked up to the stand and was greeted by an incredibly twitchy stallion.

“You- you- you… want?” They asked, shuddering deeply with every stutter.

I took a better look at the various pieces of meat set out on trays. It was all chopped into small squares, stabbed through with wooden spikes and cooked on an open fire that was set up behind the counter.

“So you sell iguana meat?” I asked, curious.

“It’s Igu- Iguana meat, yes, yes, iguana for the n- nice zebra lady,” The twitchy stallion replied.

Zebra? Guess his eyesight isn’t the best. I thought with a chuckle.

“Why’s the line here so short?” I wondered aloud.

“The- the- the ponies h- here… they no like ig- iguana,” The stallion replied before pulling back and scratching at his right ear with a rear hoof as if he were a dog.

I stared at the two signs hanging from the top of the store. One read ‘clean: 6 caps’, and the other read ‘mistry: 3 caps’

Wonder what a mistry is… probably some kind of animal.

“Black Light, what are you doing?” Pot asked, pushing his way through the crowd to get to me.

“Oh I was just thinking about buying some of this,” I said, smiling. “Do you want one too? They’re pretty cheap,”

“Oh- oh, oh! You- you’re-“ The stallion stuttered, pointing at Pot with a shaky forehoof.

“Can it, Munch,” Pot said. “And we’re not buying… that,” He added, giving me a warning glance.

“Maybe another time!” I told the salespony.

The twitchy stallion mumbled something in response, but I was already walking away and couldn’t hear him.

“I take it that this is some sort of outlaw town, but is it truly necessary for them to dress like that?” Narrative droned, gesturing towards a group of stallions wearing dusters and touting an assortment of guns. “They look like extras from a bad western,”

Outlaws, oh please! I thought, laughing internally. This was just what surface dwellers looked like!

Pot turned around to glare daggers at the robot before turning back around to look at the stallions he had pointed at.

“Just… be quiet,” He said.

“Where are we-?” I started to ask, but Pot cut me off halfway through.

“Don’t ask so many questions, the last thing you want to do here is act like you don’t know what you’re doing,” He warned. “You and midter tin can are drawing enough attention as it is,”

I guessed the stallion probably knew more about this town than I did, especially considering how he was leading me and Narrative around. I couldn’t help but wonder about why he knew this place, but I guessed it could be a question for later.

My attention was suddenly drawn forward when a salty breeze blew through my mane. I looked up and saw that the town ended just two blocks away from where we were, leading into a beach and then to the sea.

“Woah…” I gasped.

“Keep moving, this way,” Pot said, keeping his head low.

As we rounded a corner, I caught a small glimpse of a wooden port where a large boat was pulling in. I wanted to stick around and watch, but Pot glanced back at me and gestured forward with his head.

What’s got him so stressed? I wondered as I watched the stallion shoot glances all around us.

The side street was a lot less lively, but it still had some houses with open walls facing into it. The closest one to us was Two Hooks’ bait and tackle, which had a wide array of what I assumed to be fishing gear on offer. An old earth pony sat out front on a rickety chair, dressed in full fishing gear. Judging by the two hooks on his cutie mark, I assumed he was the owner of the store.

On the other side there was a strange looking restaurant with several stools set up out front. Two ponies sat outside taking sips from colored glasses. I didn’t see any food between them, so I assumed that they had already finished it. Behind the counter stood a unicorn, surrounded by bottles of multiple shapes and colors. A sign hung above the door that read ‘The spiked cocktail, bar and inn’

“Here we are…” Pot stated, stopping right in front of the door. “Let me do the talking… and please keep your gun holstered, no matter what,”

I nodded, which seemed to make Pot relax.

The earth pony took a deep breath before pushing the door open. Boisterous laughter boomed out of the building as we stepped inside. Two ponies were talking behind a counter, and a third huge earth pony stallion stood closer to the door.

One of the two ponies bore a wide-brimmed hat and some kind of strange harness. They looked at me directly and raised an eyebrow before looking at Pot. His eyes went wide at the sight of him.

“Well well well, if it ain’t ol’ Potty boy!” The stallion said, walking out from behind the counter.

I noticed that the stallion gave the large earth pony a quick wink. The hairs on the back of my neck stood upright when I saw the earth pony kick their battle saddle trigger up to their mouth.

Don’t draw your gun, let Pot do the talking. I repeated internally. They clearly knew each other so there was nothing to worry about… right? But then why had he ordered his guard to get his weapon ready?

“Muddler, long time no see,” Pot grumbled.

“What happened to ya?” The stallion asked when he spotted the prosthetic leg. “And just who in Celestia’s name are these two?” He added, looking at me and Narrative.

“I’m Bla-“ I started, but Pot cut me off.

“None of your business,” The earth pony stated.

Muddler stared at Pot with an unamused expression.

“A zebra, a robot, and a stallion with a missin’ leg walk into mah bar… sounds like the start of a bad joke, eh?” He said.

The taller stallion walked up to Pot as he let out a painfully forced laugh. Once he got just barely too close for comfort, his face became serious again as he spoke.

“And Ah’m pretty sure it is mah business. And last time Ah let you lot in here Ah got into hot water with Beardie… Speaking of, where’s Cross and Burnin’?”

“They’re both dead,” Pot said with a grave tone.

Muddler gave Pot a couple pats on the shoulder before taking off his hat and holding it up to his chest.

“Mah condolences,” He said. “Hey Ginny! Get our guests some drinks!” He added, turning to face the unicorn mare that he had been standing behind the counter outside.

I noticed that the counter continued inside the building, forming an L shape so they could give food for ponies inside and outside. The mare nodded and stared at Pot intently. She was a relatively short unicorn with a cropped crimson mane, her coat was a soft cream color, and her upper eyelids were painted with some kind of shiny red paint that matched her lips. Her eyelashes also looked thicker and larger than normal, completing her rather odd appearance.

Wonder what’s up with her…

“Give me a shot of Whiskey,” Pot said before looking at me with a concerned expression. “And get her some apple juice… or something, no booze,”

The mare behind the bar raised an eyebrow at me, but then she shrugged and got to work on pouring our drinks. Pot got a small glass filled with a yellowish clear liquid, while I got a tall glass full of golden apple juice. She levitated the smaller one directly to Pot, where I noticed that her magic shared the same aquamarine color of her large eyes.

I raised an eyebrow at her when I noticed that she hadn’t given me my glass, but the mare just gave me a wink and kept working on the drink. She added a colorful straw that twisted into a spiral, a small umbrella, and even an apple slice to the edge of the cup. I stared in silent amazement as the drink was prepared, barely containing the urge to drool.

“Here you go, beautiful,” The mare said with another wink.

“Thank you, miss!” I chirped as I took the glass in my forehooves. And jumped onto one of the bar’s stools.

My hind hoof welcomed the relief, and the pain slowly dulled. While I happily sipped my drink, Muddler walked around the counter and sat down in front of Pot, pouring himself a glass of the same drink he had ordered.

Narrative, for his part, had decided to wander around the bar, stopping to look at the many decorations that hung from the walls. Most seemed to be little more than funny-looking pieces of scrap metal and nahtical knicknacks, but the one that had drawn the robot’s attention was a brainbot claw.

“So, Potty boy…” He started. “Or is it Mister Pot? Ah’m guessin’ you’re the leader now?”

“Just Pot is fine,” The earth pony replied.

Muddler raised his forehooves in mock surrender and chuckled before speaking.

“Fine, Pot. What can Ah get for ya?”

“I need a ferry to the other side of the bay, the sooner the better,” Pot explained, swirling his drink around on a forehoof. “Independent, of course,”

Muddler let out a loud chuckle before downing his glass in a single go.

“Potty, Potty, Potty, you should know better by now than t’ask for stuff ya can’t pay back,” The hatted stallion started. “Didn’t work out too well for your friends, now did it?”

“We’ve got a lot of caps,” Pot replied, gesturing towards Narrative with his head.

I took another long sip of my apple juice, enjoying the sweetness. I noticed that the bar mare was looking at me curiously, but when I lifted my gaze to stare at her she suddenly became very interested in one of the cups on the table in front of her.

“Ah don’t care if all three of them boxes are filled with caps, Bluebeard would probably pay double to have Cross and Burnin’s heads on his table,” Muddler said, bringing my attention back to him. “And Ah’m guessin’ yours might just fit the bill too…”

Who is this Bluebeard pony? I wondered. I remembered Burnin’ talking about them all those days ago before we got to Junkyard.

“I’m not finished,” Pot said, smiling at the other stallion. “We’ve got guns and ammo, enough to outfit your entire crew. Lots of chems too,”

Judging by Muddler’s expression, Pot’s words had piqued his interest. The stallion cleared his throat and spoke again.

“What kind of guns are we talking about?”

“The good kind,” Pot reassured him. “You can check if you want.

“Well of course Ah do!” Muddler exclaimed.

Pot smirked and turned around to face the bar.

“Narrative! Come here!” He called, and the robot rolled closer.

“Fear. What is it?” He asked, but Pot was quick to dispel his concerns.

“Just stay there for a bit so my friend here can check the weapons,”

Muddler did exactly that, walking around the bar and heading directly for the metal box that Pot had opened. Due to the box being tied fairly high on Narrative’s back, the stallion was forced to rear up on his hindlegs to stare into it.

I played around with my drink’s little umbrella while I waited for them to finish. My brow furrowed slightly when I realized that Pot was going to be trading off those beautiful guns. I couldn’t bear to watch.

The mare behind the bar walked up to me again, gesturing towards the glass.

“Can I have a sip?” She asked, batting her eyelids at me.

“Huh? Oh! Sure!” I said, sliding it towards her with a forehoof.

She took a quick sip from the straw before passing the glass back to me.

“I just wanted to make sure I had given you the best juice!” She said with a soft chuckle. “I love that huge bracelet you’ve got,” She added, gesturing at my right foreleg.

“My PipBuck?” I asked, lifting my foreleg and setting it down on the table to show off the device.

“Never seen anything like it,” The mare continued.

I smiled and turned the screen on, which immediately flashed to life with my status. The little zebra pony thing in the middle was limping slightly with some bandages around her right rear hoof. The bartender mare’s face turned from bewilderment to pure wonder as she watched me navigate the menus.

“It can do anything I need!” I said happily, selecting the inventory management function and scrolling to the aid segment. “For example…”

I selected one of the healing potions that I had taken from the chem stash before and felt as the inventory management spell took charge of my horn and expertly plucked the vial from the saddlebags.

I have to use that more often… I thought.

I popped the cap on the potion and drank it before flipping back to the status screen and showing that the little pony in the middle was walking along happily now. My leg became warm in kind as the abused joint carefully set back into place.

“That’s an impressive piece of gear, where’d you get it?” The bartender asked.

“Oh, it’s from my stable!” I replied with a smile.

“I’m guessing that’s where you come from…” She started before looking at the underside of my PipBuck and noticing the complex locking mechanism. “How do you take it off?”

I opened my mouth to reply, but then closed it and stared at my PipBuck.

“I… don’t?” I offered, giving the unicorn mare an uneasy grin. “I don’t know how to, actually,”

The unicorn mare leaned over the counter slowly, batting her eyelids at me.

“I can help you find a way to take it off if you want~” She said, her voice suddenly becoming husky.

I really doubted this mare had access to a PipBuck key out here on the surface, but I felt that it would be rude to just go out and say it.

“I’ll keep it in mind!” I said with a smile. “You can drink the rest of this,” I added as I passed my glass back to her, thinking that maybe the juice could soothe her throat.

The mare pursed her lips strangely and then softly brought the straw up to her mouth, where she took a long, drawn-out sip from it. Since she had barely pressed her lips against the end of the straw, small droplets of juice remained on them, but they were quickly mopped up by the mare’s tongue.

“Name’s Gin, by the way, Dry Gin,” She said. I smiled when I noticed that her voice sounded less hoarse already.

“Mine’s Black Light!” I answered.

An earth pony stallion drew both of our attentions to him when he slammed his hoof on the part of the bar that faced the street. He bore an eyepatch and a strange frilly scarf. His gray mane and sideburns made his head look much wider than it probably was, capped off by a pipe.

“Get me a drink, barmare!” The stallion boomed.

Gin rolled her eyes and gave me another smile before walking off to tend to the new customer.

What a nice mare. I thought with another smile before turning around to focus back on the negotiation.

The inner area of the building had been closed off at some point while I had been talking with Gin. The massive stallion with the battle saddle had moved to completely block the door. Muddler, the other pony he had been talking to when we walked into the bar, and Pot were all gathered around a table where a veritable arsenal of guns had been laid out.

My horn flashed softly as I nabbed the apple slice from my glass and put it in my mouth before walking up to the group. I noticed that Narrative was once again checking out the decorations, only now he didn’t have any of the boxes on his back.

“Ah gotta give it to ya, Pot, Ah’m shocked,” Muddler said. “Ah’m almost tempted to say that this is some kinda sting operation… but this stuff is worth more than mah entire store,”

“So how’s that for a ferry?” Pot asked. “I know there’s gotta be some independent captains here,”

Muddler stared at the guns, then at Pot. He stopped to think for a moment before looking up at the massive pony at the door, then to me, and then to the other stallion standing next to him, his gaze was… dangerous-looking.

I followed his gaze as well. The huge earth pony was wearing a battle saddle with a shotgun attached to his right side. On one hoof, that meant that it would take him a little while longer to be able to shoot at me, on the other, that just meant that he could choose to shot Pot first. His clothes also concerned me, a bulky-looking leather overcoat that could easily be concealing armor underneath. I would need to hit him in the head.

The other stallion was rather odd, no armor on his chest or head, but he had a thick cape covering his back. I could see the twin rifle barrels that hung at his sides, but the mouth-trigger was nowhere to be seen.

That should buy me a few seconds if worse comes ro worse…

The hairs on the back of my neck started to stand up. My horn itched with the need to draw my revolver. I hadn’t undone the security strap, a blunder that could cost me valuable milliseconds should I need to draw the gun.

Big guy first, straight through the head, the one next to Muddler second, before he can get the trigger up…

What about Muddler himself? The harness on his chest held a single pistol, single-shot by the looks of it. Not that it would be much help, one shot was all it took, after all. I could see that he had a safety strap holding it in the holster, however, so he would be slow to draw.

And then… I thought, turning around to look at Dry Gin.

The mare was leaning over the counter to pass the stallion outside their drink. She wasn’t wearing any sort of holster or battle saddle, all she had on was a strange piece of clothing that squeezed down on her waist and what I could only describe as a fishing net wrapped around her legs. I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when I noticed a minuscule pistol that was tangled in the net on her left hindleg.

Change of plans, then. Big stallion first, Gin second… then whichever one of those draws first… I listed off, eyeing each pony in turn.

“Well… This is a lot of stuff… more than enough for me tah want t’take the risk with Bluebeard,” Muddler started. “But the way Ah see it, there’s nothin’ stopping us from gettin’ this and Bluebeard’s caps,”

I did not like the implication. I looked at Pot as my heart started to beat faster. Much to my surprise, he didn’t look stressed at all. The stallion simply glanced at me and shook his head softy.

“See the saddlebags on his back?” Pot told Muddler, pointing at Narrative with his good forehoof.

“A Brahmin pack?” Muddler wondered aloud.

“Indeed, and the traders we got them from knew where we were headed and what trade goods we had,” Pot continued.

The lie sat oddly with me, why had he said that those wretched bandits were traders? And why did he lie about them knowing where we were going? Not to mention that even if they had known, there was no way for them to tell anypony about it given how they were dead.

That’s when the realization dawned upon me.

Muddler doesn’t know any of that.

Pot wasn’t lying, he was just misdirecting. A proud smile parted my face when I realized that he had learned something from me. Perhaps surface ponies could learn.

“You some kinda trader now?” Muddler asked.

“Yep, and if you don’t want the trades with the fort to stop, you better make good on your word,” Pot stated. “And if you don’t… well I really doubt the other businesses here would appreciate it…”

Muddler sat on his haunches, deep in thought.

“Well Ah’ll be damned,” He said at last. “Ya got yourself a deal, Pot,”

“Fantastic!” The blue earth pony exclaimed. “So when do we leave?”

Muddler chuckled softly and turned to look at the stallion next to him.

“Well, Chart? When’s the next ferry passing through?” He asked.

“I gotta check t’be sure, boss, but I think it gets here in the mornin’” The stallion stated, scratching the back of his head nervously.

Muddler whipped his head around to smile at Pot.

“Well, how’s that? Guess you’re gettin’ a free room for the night too!” Muddler said.

“Yeah right, free,” Pot said, rolling his eyes. “For this much stuff I should get your room,”

Both stallions shared a laugh. I let out a deep sigh as the tension dissipated. Muddler gave Pot a playful hit on the shoulder.

“Y’all can have room three, Ah swear no harm will come to ya while you’re under mah roof,” The stallion said, spreading his forelegs to gesture at the ceiling. “And now that that’s all sorted, we can finally catch up,”

“I can show you to your room, if you want~” Gin said from behind me, drawing my attention. “The beds are super comfortable,”

“Aww, that’s so nice of you!” I replied with a smile.

“Absolutely not, you’re staying behind that bar until midnight at least,” Muddler shouted, pointing a forehoof at the unicorn.

“Sure thing, boss,” Gin replied, rolling her eyes.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Sand Sifter

Classification: Earth Pony Stallion – 76 years of age – C-F5DEB3 M-8B0000 E-76f7bf

Cutie mark: a metal detector

Sand Sifter is the oldest living inhabitant of Marepoint Fort, as well as one of its seven first inhabitants of the post-war era. Him and his small group of wanderers discovered the ruined coastal area and the multiple relatively intact sailboats housed within its huts. It didn’t take long for them to set up a quick ferry business to transport passengers and goods from one tip of Horseshoe bay to the other. Sand Sifter was one of these captains, and loved his boat almost as much as he loved his daughter, Dry Gin.

Once Bluebeard’s pirate faction started to gain traction, the mounting pressure forced Marepoint Fort to establish a trade agreement, where any ships not affiliated with Bluebeard would have to pay exorbitant fees. Refusing to take on an outlaw lifestyle, Sand Sifter opted to sink his own ship “by accident” and willingly exile himself from the town, setting up shop at an abandoned lifeguard hut a little further off.

Ever since that day he has spent his days collecting stuff that washes up on the shore, wandering endlessly up and down the beach.

Author's Note

If you’d prefer to just leave a tip, I now also have a KoFi.

Dead ahead

The spiked cocktail’s beds were by far the most comfortable beds I had ever had the pleasure of sleeping on. A wonderfully rough canvass bag that had been filled with clothing scraps, making it soft and squishy, allowing me to sink into it and surrounding me with warm softness, almost like sleeping on a cloud.

Pot and Muddler had chatted for a while after we had worked out our deal. At first I wasn’t too happy about leaving most of our guns here, but after thinking about it some more I realized that it was probably for the better. I couldn’t really use all those guns at once, and the poor ponies of Marepoint Fort clearly needed better defense. Muddler had promised that they would make sure the guns went to whoever needed them most.

Something weird occurred after dinner, which consisted of fish fillets and little else. I thought Pot would want to catch up fully with his old friend, but as soon as I excused myself, saying I was a little tired, Pot had done the same, leaving towards the room as well.

Weirder still, as soon as we had dragged the three metal boxes into the room and closed the door, he had gone into a frenzy. The earth pony stallion checked every single floorboard and wall for… something.

He had pulled the curtains open and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the thick steel bars on the windowframe. Seemingly unsatisfied, however, he gave every bar a tentative tug and nodded when he comfirmed that they wouldn’t budge. He’d asked Narrative to press himself against the door to the room, as if to act as a living barricade. I noticed that he took everything off to sleep except for his holster, which felt a little excessive even to me. But The final weird request had come in the morning.

As soon as we had woken up, the stallion had asked me to make sure I was wide awake before we headed out of the room.

“Yeah, good idea,” I said, realizing that we weren’t out of the woods yet and I might still have to fight.

I knew exactly how to wake myself up, as I had stayed up late many a night back in the stable and been forced to shake it off quickly the next day. As soon as Pot had told me to sober up, I dropped to the floor and started doing push-ups. I could feel the sleep being torn from my bones as the blood pumped through my veins.

I wonder what Light Show is up to? I thought wistfully, suddenly filling with concern for the other fillies still trapped under those impostors. I had to find them help on the other side of the bay, no matter what. Hopefully I could find a good spot to drop Pot and Narrative off and be on my way to find ponies.

…Or maybe one of the others will wise up to those damned research impostors! I half-thought, half-prayed. Gamma Ray would be the most likely candidate, being the oldest colt. Sure, he wasn’t as smart as I was, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t have some brains in him!

For now just focus on the task at hoof, protect Pot and Narrative, and look for ponies who can help.

I sprung up to my hooves and smiled broadly at Pot, who had kept an eyebrow up during my entire exercise routine.

“Good to go!” I chirped.

“You are a very peculiar pony,” The stallion said.

“Agreed,” Narrative added from his spot by the door.

“Nah… I’m special!” I said with a chuckle, remembering the posters we had back in the stable clinic.

We made our way to the main bar area, where we were met by Muddler, who was stitting at one of the tables.

“Wakey wakey!” The stallion boomed as soon as his eyes fell on us. “How’d ya sleep?”

“Are those the same mattresses you had last year?” Pot asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

Muddler threw his head back in laughter before replying.

“Nope! Those got stolen a few months ago, that’s why Ah had the window bars installed. The ones y’all slept on are a couple years old,”

“How nice of you…” Pot mumbled.

“Ah do try!” Muddler answered, giving the shorter earth pony a grin before gesturing to the table. “Come! Get some food in ya before ya head out,”

Pot and I approached the table slowly. I noticed that two additional plates had been set out in front of Muddler’s. Some brownish pink mush sat in the middle of each plate, accompanied by some rice and a glass of mostly-clear water.

“It’s tuna,” Muddler explained, “We grind it up like that because most ponies don’t like the way they’re covered in eyes,”

“You eat fish for breakfast?” I asked, curious.

“It’s the only damn thing we eat,” Muddler replied with a pained chuckle.

We sat down at the table and started eating, it didn’t take long before Muddler spoke up again, clearly anxious about something.

“So you’re leaving the guns here?” He asked.

“And the ammo,” Pot added after he swallowed. “We’re keeping one of the shotguns, the fancy sights from one of the rifles, and one of the ten milimeter SMGs along with some ammo, everything else is yours,”

I nodded in agreement, my whole muzzle covered in rice grains that stuck to it, flinging some ofthem all over the table before I shoved my face back into my plate.

“Well what can Ah say? If that doesn’t put this lil’ town back on the map then Ah don’t know what will,” The hatted stallion exclaimed.

I opened my mouth to ask why being a bigger target would be a good thing, but Pot beat me to it and spoke first.

“So, anyway, when are we leaving?”

“Honestly? Ah have no idea. The boat should be in, but it leaves whenever the captain says,” Muddler replied, taking a sip of his water. “Y’all can go ask him at the docks ah guess, ask for Nilcoar… he’s really hard to miss,” He added.

His words piqued my interest, I wondered who this captain would be.

“We will,” Pot agreed, taking another bite of his tuna and nodding. “This is surprisingly good,”

“Ah know, it’s the best we have,” Muddler said with a wide smile. “That’s twenty caps a piece, by the way, and ya got two on your plate”

Pot stared at the other earth pony with a deadpan expression.

“Really?” He asked, unamused.

The town was a lot less lively than it had been the previous day. Perhaps it was just too early, but whatever the reason may be, there were only a couple ponies walking around. Most of the stores were closed as well, with only a boat repair shop and a general store being open.

We made our way onto the main street and turned to face the docks. Just as we did, however, a unicorn stallion wearing a stained yellow raincoat stepped directly in my way. His coat was a weathered red, and a light brown mane poked out from underneath his yellow rain hat as he looked at me and spoke.

“Yer the one from the radio…” He said.

His horn lit up with a baby blue shine, but for some reason I didn’t feel threatened by it. The same could not be said about Pot, who immediately jumped back and lowered his head towards his holster.

The stallion either didn’t see what he was doing or didn’t pay him any mind, instead digging through his raincoat and producing a bottle of something wrapped in a brown bag. He took a swig of it and shivered softly.

“What do you mean?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.

“Zebra-lookin’, got a big metal thing following ya…” The stallion continued, taking another swig from his bottle. “And ya got a magic bracelet,” He added, pointing at my PipBuck with his bottle.

“What?” I asked, confused. That sounded nothing like me!

“Yes, yer the one that’s been destroyin’ settlements up north,” The stallion continued. “We don’t like yer kind of folk here…”

Ohhh I’m raffling a bullet and this guy’s buying all the numbers…

“Excuse me? I have not destroyed any settlements, whoever you are talking about is not me,” I said at the stallion, my tone rising as I opened my holster for quicker access with a magical flash.

“Black Light…” Pot warned.

I was not about to listen to this slander any longer! Who did this stallion even think he was? He was nothing but an old stupid surface dweller whose empty brains I could blast onto the street before he could even think about taking another swig from that bottle. No, he didn’t even deserve a bullet, I could probably twist his head off with pure magic alone!

Oh you are gonna get it…

But my fiery temper was soured slightly when I noticed the two rifle-sporting stallions set up on the roofs at either side of the street. We were too exposed for a firefight here. Lucky bastard wouldn’t get hit by anything other than my furious glare.

“Heh, wouldn’t ya know…” The stallion said, turning his bottle around and letting a yellowish drop fall to the floor. “Good day to ya, don’t go cursin’ our town now,” He added before chcuking the bottle off to the side and walking off.

“If I could curse it, I would, purely because of him,” I grumbled once the stallion was out of earshot.

“Fear. Perhaps try not to say such things around other ponies,” Narrative stated from behind me.

“Whatever just… let’s go find this Nilcoar stallion before anything worse happens,” Pot said, eyeing the ponies aroud us nervously.

The stallion’s extreme paranoia was starting to get on my nerves. What could he be so worried about? Sure, the infuriating old stallion had stopped us in the middle of the street just to insult me, but with the way Pot was acting you’d think we were in an active warzone.

We finished rounding the corner and came to the end of the town. The only buildings that stood beyond this point were a couple of lifeguard huts and some shacks along the docks.

“I guess Muddler was right about our ship…” Pot commented.

I followed his gaze and confirmed it for myself.

He really is hard to miss…

On the dock sat a bright yellow sailboat with a maroon cabin. The extreme contrast between the boat’s colors and the drab dock made it nearly impossible to tear my eyes off it. Two identical stallions were standing on the deck, hauling ropes from one end of the ship to the other.

The ship was huge, I couldn’t tell exactly how big it was, but it was at least two train wagons long. A black mast stretched out into the sky from the middle of the cabin, easily just as long as the boat itself if not more. A large black bag hung perpendicular behind the mast, with the word ‘Dragonfly’ embroidered into it. The front of the ship was hooked to the tip of the mast by an incredibly thick rope, almost as thick as my head was wide.

We walked closer to the ship, right up to the edge of the dock. As we approached, a huge reddish-brown stallion climbed out of the tiny door in the back of the boat.

Could that be the pony we’re looking for? I wondered.

The stallion had their eyes covered by some kind of wool hat… no… it was hair! His mane was so long and thick that it looked like a hat had been drawn over his eyes. His immense head scanned the dock before coming to a stop when he noticed us. Much to my surprise, the stallion simply turned around and climbed back into the ship.

He was swiftly replaced by another stallion whose head was adorned by an enormous red hat. He had a short, creamy white mane that poked out from underneath the hat. And his teal coat stood out against his crew’s darker colors. I noticed the immense red stallion pointing at us with a hoof from inside the ship.

The stallion with the hat walked towards us, swaying weirdly as he approached. It almost looked like the floor was swinging underneath him, despite it being completely solid. He wore a long blue coat with two wide-barreled pistols hanging from his front legs. A curved sword hung at his side, swaying along with his step.

“Are you three the passengers Muddler told me about?” The stallion exclaimed in a bombastic tone, stopping in front of us and puffing out his chest.

“Ye-“ Pot started, but he was cut off by the stallion once more.

“Sensational! The name is Nilcoar Scaggs,” He said, shaking Pot’s prosthetic leg vigorously and making the stallion wince. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had new faces on board

The stallion paused for a moment, his smile faltering as his eyes seemed to look straight through us.

“New faces that stayed on their heads, at least…” He commented before shuddering and remaining silent.

“So we-“ Pot started, only to be cut off mid sentence.

“But we don’t have any reason to worry about that! …I think… yeah probably,” Nilcoar stated. “Do you have any luggage other than that box on your metal friend?” He inquired, gesturing at Narrative with his head.

I turned around to look at the robot, who had the box that we had stuffed all our caps into slung over his back.

“Yeah, plus our saddlebags,” Pot said, finally able to finish a sentence.

Nilcoar beamed at us.

“Marvelous! We’re still going to be a little pressed for space with him though…” He said, cocking his head to the side to look at Narrative better. “Say, you don’t sleep, do you?”

“Fear. No, why?” Narrative replied.

Nilcoar turned around to look at his ship for a moment, mumbling under his breath.

“We might be able to squeeze him in the back. Would make it harder to get in or out of the ship, but I really don’t know where else to put him,” The captain said. “Maybe if we bought a dhingi…”

“Fear. That will not be needed,” Narrative interjected.

“D’aww, you’re no fun!” The hatted stallion replied, chuckling.

I watched as the two identical stallions I had seen before jumped onto the dock, each wearing an identical set of saddlebags. They started to make their way towards the town, but they stopped in place when the captain whistled at them.

“So! This is my crew,” Nilcoar started. “We have Simi and Hiri,” He said, pointing at each of the two stallions in turn.

“Actually, he’s Simi,” The stallion on the left said, gesturing at the one on the right.

“Tsk tsk, no he’s not,” Nicloar said before turning towards me and Pot. “They’re pranksters, but you won’t find better sail trimmers anywhere,”

I glanced at the ship, noticing that the sail was nowhere to be seen. Nowhere, that is, unless it was stashed inside the bag that hung off the mast. I could see how trimming would be needed to fit it in there… but how did they use it then? Was it in multiple pieces?

“Griff ran off to buy some more fishing supplies, so you’ll meet him later,” The captain explained, but my eyes were fixed on the ship, which had started to wobble slightly.

As I watched, the huge red stallion climbed out of the boat and jumped onto the dock, shaking the ship as he did. The ropes that had been tied from the boat to a series of metal stool-things on the pier went taut but held.

“And last but definitely not least, this is Vissnir,” Nilcoar continued. “Best cook you’ll ever meet,”

The cook glared at me… or at least I supposed he did, truth be told I couldn’t tell exactly what he was looking at. His head being slightly pulled upwards made me think that perhaps he was staring at my horn, however. And he looked rather tense.

“Hah! I doubt he cooks better than Pot,” I said, nudging the blue earth pony in question with a forehoof.

The captain’s eyes seemed to twinkle as a wide smile parted his features, revealing two lines of perfect white teeth.

“We shall have a mid-bay cooking contest!” He exclaimed, throwing a forehoof triumphantly into the air. “Yes, it will be legendary!”

The red stallion, Vissnir, blew air out his nose before replying in a voice so deep I could feel it in my bones.

“Fine, I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do,”

I heard Pot gulp audibly next to me.

“Aww don’t look so scared!” Nilcoar said. “It’s not like we’ll cook you for dinner if you lose! Not that you have much meat on you anyway, mister…?” He continued, trailing off and looking at Pot inquisitively.

“Pot,” Pot replied dryly.

“Pot what? Blue Pot? Terracota Pot? Porta Pot-y?” The captain asked.

“Just Pot,” The earth pony replied, his voice and face making it abundantly clear that he did not find the exchange humorous.

“Sour Pot, got it!” Nilcoar said, grinning.

The stallion lifted a forehoof and reached under his big red hat, pulling out… a banana?

“Here you go, this might get your spirits up!” He said, offering it to Pot.

The blue earth pony looked at the fruit with a furrowed brow for a couple seconds before speaking again.

“I’m good,”

Nilcoar simply shrugged his shoulders and then sat on his haunches. I watched in silent awe as the stallion clapped his forehooves around the banana, causing the fruit to be propelled into the sky out of its skin. It flew quite some distance upwards before falling directly into the captain’s mouth, who swallowed it in a single go.

Completely shocked by the feat, I could do nothing other than sit on my own haunches and clap my forehooves together. This was much appreciated by our hatted acquaintance, who gave me a respectful bow.

“Please, please, you’re too kind,” He said. “Would you like a banana, miss?”

The mere mention of food was enough to make my stomach roar to life like a tank engine.

“Absolutely!” I said with a wide smile.

“Good answer!” Nilcoar replied, pulling another banana out from under his hat. “Maybe not this one…” He added when he stared at the fruit.

On the stallion’s hoof sat what I could only describe as a skinned banana. Not a regular one with the skin peeled off, but rather one that looked like skinned flesh arranged in the shape of a banana. As I stared in silent horror, I could make out blood vessels on the fruit’s surface pumping what I could only assume to be blood.

In a single motion, the stallion stuffed the abomination under his hat and pulled out a normal, yellow banana in its stead.

“There we go!” He said happily as he threw it at me.

I wrapped the fruit in my magic and peeled one end, bringing it up to my mouth for a bite. The taste was extremely pleasant, nothing at all like what I had read in books!

Then again, I’m pretty sure that book was talking about banana bubblegum, not bananas themselves…

Whatever the case, I kept eating the delicious yellow treat as Nilcoar cocked his head to the side so he could stare at Narrative.

“And I’ll say. I’ve had all sorts of weird passengers on the Dragonfly, but I’ve never had to ferry a…” The captain paused for a moment, as if to think, “What are you exactly?”

“I am a pegasus, my name is Narrative Lampshade,” The robot droned in reply.

“A pegasus?” Nilcoar repeated, his right eyebrow lifting so high it nearly touched the brim of his hat. “Sure, and I’m princess Celestia,” He added, chuckling softly.

“Sadness. I may not have my body, but I am still a pegasus,” Narrative said.

The captain’s face lost its smile. And he spoke with a calmer, friendlier tone.

“And I’m not actually Princess Celestia. Could you imagine? I wouldn’t fit below deck!”

Nilcoar chuckled, finding the thought amusing, and then turned to me just as I finished swallowing the last bite of the banana.

“And who might you be?” He asked, the faintest ghost of a smile twisting the edges of his mouth. “If it weren’t for the literal brain in a jar then you would be my strangest passenger!”

I puffed out my chest pridefully and took in. Deep breath before booming at the stallion.

“I am Black Light! Hero of the surface! I was sent from Stable 75 to free the wasteland from any ne’er-do-wells and villains!”

Nilcoar’s eyes widened, sparking a tentative sense of hope in my chest. Could I have finally found a pony who knew about the stable?

It would make sense, after all, if he was a ferry captain then he must’ve seen any graduate that made their way across the bay!

“Never heard of it, but it sounds great!” Nilcoar said, dashing my hopes before they had even finished forming.

The captain looked at our saddlebags once again, then at his ship.

“Say, you ponies wouldn’t have any issue waiting here on the pier for a bit, right?” He asked. “We still need to buy some stuff for the trip, and I’d rather get that sorted out before we load mister metalbutt on the ship,”

“Fine by me!” I chirped.

“Absolutely not, I’m not gonna stand around in the open,” Pot interjected.

Nilcoar raised an eyebrow at the earth pony, surprised at the sudden outburst. I turned to look at him too, confused.

“You two can get settled inside the ship if you want, but he’s staying out here until we’re done loading up,” The captain offered, pointing at Narrative.

“I’ll stay out here with him, you can get on the ship,” I told Pot, getting a resolute nod from the stallion.

“It’s settled then, we’ll head out in an hour or so!” Nilcoar said with a wide smile.

Pot nodded and walked up to the boat, eyeing the open part at the back tentatively. I followed his gaze, seeing that the rear area of the ship had two long seats that stretched all the way to the flat end of the boat, where a single black motor could be seen. The fact that the outer cover was covered in duct tape and had exposed wiring sticking out struck me as odd, but I didn’t know enough about sailing to say for sure if it was a bad thing.

“Well go on then, jump on!” Nilcoar said, chuckling.

“Like just… a jump?” Pot asked, hesitantly taking a step towards the edge of the ship.

“Well yeah… try to land on the boat tho, I’m not jumping in the water to pull you out!” The captain added.

Pot muttered something and launched himself onto the boat. His prosthetic leg popped out of place, sending him face first into the bottom of the ship. He twisted onto his side and brought his good forehoof up to rub his muzzle.

I opened my mouth to ask if he was okay. But before I could say a single word, Nilcoar jumped onto the ship and helped him back to his hooves.

“Up you go, friend,” The stallion said, offering his side for support. “I’ll say that’s got to be the worst peg leg I’ve ever seen,” He added, staring at the prosthetic.

Pot mumbled something I couldn’t quite catch and quickly adjusted his leg again.

“Come, I’ll show you the ship,” Nilcoar said, leading the way into the cabin.

Narrative and I stayed on the dock for a while longer. He didn’t really feel like chatting, however, so I simply looked around at the other ponies.

The town slowly started to buzz with activity as the day went on. And I watched as another boat pulled into the port. It was much smaller than the Dragonfly, but it also appeared to be much better suited for battle.

Instead of some crimson and yellow paint, this ship had been outfitted with metal plates and what appeared to be multiple bulletproof vests slung along the sides. A large brass cannon had been mounted where the mast would have been.

I would’ve found it odd that the ship could move at all, until I saw, and most importantly heard, the twin motors that hung behind it. A simple flag was mounted to a pole that stuck out from one of the motors, with what looked like two blue ‘B’s drawn over a black background.

Wonder who they work for… I thought as I watched two grizzled stallions climb out of the ship and onto the pier through a submarine-like hatch in the middle of the cabin.

One of the two was wearing a deep blue leather hat, his gaze immediately locked onto the Dragonfly before spotting me. His head cocked to the side, eyebrow raised, and he turned around to say something to his companion.

The other stallion stared at me as well, brow furrowed. Something about their attitude didn’t sit well with me…

I watched as a green flash appeared at the side of the hatted stallion, opening a holster that hung at his side. I realized that the stallion was probably a unicorn whose horn remained hidden under his hat. The other stallion climbed into the boat again.

What are you up to… I wondered as I opened my own holster.

“Narrative… go over there,” I said, pointing at a pile of boxes that were a little distance away from us.

“Fear. What is the matter?” The robot asked.

“I don’t like those two…” I said simply, keeping my eyes fixed on the other boat.

The second stallion joined their friend on the pier, where I noticed that he was now wearing a battle saddle. A single rifle hung off his left side, and while the trigger hung off to the side, it was clear that he had every intention of using the weapon.

They walked closer to us. The one with the hat kept their eyes focused on me, but their friend shot a glance at the Dragonfly.

I followed their gaze, seeing that they were looking at Vissnir. The massive red stallion had opened their own holster and was walking up to get closer to the approaching stallions. His expression was uneasy, but not outright aggressive.

The stallion with the hat stopped a short distance away from me, glancing at my PipBuck for a second before returning his gaze to my eyes.

“Hello there,” He said, revealing that he had several missing teeth.

“Hi,” I replied simply, raising an eyebrow at the pony.

He nodded oddly, glancing at my PipBuck and my face again.

“Say, ye would happen t’be a witch, are ya?” The stallion asked. “Zebra witch,” He elaborated.

Again with the zebra stuff, it’s like they’ve never seen a pony with stripes before!

“Uhhh no?” I offered. “I’m just a pony,”

“What like, normal pony?” The other stallion inquired.

“Yeah?” I answered, confused.

The two stallions fell quiet for a few seconds, looking at each other.

“Where’d you get that fancy bracelet?” The stallion with the hat asked.

“She bought it from your mother,” Vissnir boomed, walking up to stand between me and the pair.

The two stallions glared daggers at the large red pony. Their expressions made my horn almost start to light up with the need to draw my gun. The stallion with the hat was quick to somewhat soothe my nerves by smiling at the cook.

“Vissnir, old friend, how’re the waves treatin’ ya?” He asked.

“We already paid all the stupid fees your boss wants, stop bothering our passengers, Compass” Vissnir replied, ignoring the stallion’s question.

“No need t’be hostile, lad,” Compass replied, raising a forehoof. “Where’s yer captain?

“Right here!” Nilcoar exclaimed, jumping out of his ship and onto the pier.

The captain waltzed towards the two stallions, smiling broadly. When he got close enough, he reached under his hat and pulled out a banana.

“What a lovely day to not be working under some old geezer’s hoof, isn’t it?” Nilcoar asked, peeling his banana.

Compass stared at the captain with a deadpan expression.

“Hardy har,” He said, rolling his eyes.

“I know, I’m hilarious,” Nilcoar continued, taking a bite from his banana.

Compass tensed up more, his eyes dartingdsrting between all of us. I kept my gaze focused on his holster, waiting for the slightest indication of a magical glow. My ears swiveled around to try and pick up the sound of magic coming from underneath his hat, but I could hardly hear anything other than Nilcoar’s chewing.

“Now why don’t you two get lost?” Nilcoar said after swallowing. “Wouldn’t wanna be late with your cargo declaration…” He added, gesturing towards the other stallion’s boat.

“Aye… but before we leave,” Compass started, turning to look at me. “I wanted t’ask for yer name, miss…?”

“Black Light, hero of the surface,” I said. “You two better not get any ideas while I’m around,” I added, glaring at Compass and his companion.

Both of their expressions hardened. I noticed that the stallion with the battle saddle angled themselves to aim at me more directly.

“Is that a threat, lass?” Compass asked.

Come on, Black Light, think of something heroic and inspiring! What could it be… something about justice? Oh! I know…

“I don’t make threats,” I started, adjusting my stance slightly into a more battle-ready position. “I just shoot anypony foalish enough to try and stop me from bringing justice back to the surface,”

The stallion smiled, as if he were holding back laughter, but my dead serious face seemed to dispel whatever he had found humorous.

“Now now, we don’t want anypony shooting anypony,” Nilcoar said, lifting his forehooves. “Let’s just calm down, okay?”

“Fine by me,” Compass said, blowing air out of his nostrils. “Come on, let’s go,” He added, leaning towards his companion.

The two ponies walked off, but I kept my magic at the ready in case they decided to flip around and attack us when our guard was down. They didn’t, however, instead simply melting away into the growing crowd of Marepoint Fort.

“Here comes a big one!” Nilcoar announced, clutching onto the long lever that moved the ship’s rudder.

The captain threw his weight against the lever, turning the ship enough to catch the wave with the front. It still rocked the ship significantly, forcing me to lean back in my seat.

I was seated in the back of the ship, on the left side. Nilcoar was at the very end, on the right side, holding onto the rudder with both forehooves. Between us stood Narrative, tied to the boat with a pair of ratchet straps.

A strange contraption was attached to the floor in between the robot’s treads. It was a series of pulleys that held a thick black rope, which then stretched out to the bottom of the stick that held the sail-bag thing. The boom, Nilcoar had called it. He had protested at the idea of Narrative being between the rudder and the boom-ropes, but had given up after several attempts to reorient the brainbot.

“How are you liking the Dragonfly?” Nilcoar roared over the crashing waves, throwing his head back and taking in a deep breath.

“This is amazing!” I shouted back giggling.

And it was true, too. Ever since we had left the port I had been glued to my seat, watching as the brownish water around us stirred, pushed, and pulled. I hadn’t even gone into the ship’s cockpit yet, that’s how strong the effect of looking at the water was.

Pot, on the other hoof, hadn’t come out of the ship ever since he had gone down at the port. According to Vissnir, he had fallen asleep shortly after we left. It made sense too, for whatever reason the earth pony hadn’t slept too well at the spiked cocktail.

The bay’s waters were vast. I could still kinda see Marepoint fort behind us, but it was rapidly disappearing. Ahead was… nothing, just empty water.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the wind blowing through my mane, smiling.

“Shouldn’t we see the other end of the bay?” I asked the captain.

“Noah, we’re too far out for that,” The stallion replied. “And the other end of the bay is actually that way,” He added, pointing at the horizon on the right side of the ship.

I whipped around to stare at the captain, raising an eyebrow.

“Why aren’t we heading that way, then?” I asked.

Nilcoar pointed with a forehoof at a small screen that was next to the cockpit door.

“Can you read that? Look for the depth indicator,” He said.

I tried to lean over, almost losing my balance when the ship hit another wave. I resolved to simply jumping up and throwing my flanks into the seat on the opposite side, leaving me seated next to the screen Nilcoar had pointed at.

“Two… fathoms?” I asked, cocking my head at the strange measurement.

“It’s about twenty-eight hooves,” The captain stated.

“Oh, I see,” I said.

“Well, that’s because we’re still close to the bay,” Nilcoar continued. “I don’t know how exactly, but when the moon got left to its own devices, the tides went completely crazy. Whatever they did, it made the central part of the bay into a quite literally unfathomable pit,”

I lifted a forehoof up to my chin, trying to wrap my head around the new information.

“Wait so how deep is that part?” I asked.

“It’s… it’s un fathomable… it can’t be fathomed,” Nilcoar replied, raising en eyebrow.

“Well why not use a different unit to measure it?” I wondered. “Like, if fathoms don’t work,”

Narrative, who had up to now remained completely quiet, slammed his working claw into his brain jar in a rather scuffed approximation of a facehoof.

“Anger. Black Light, he is saying that this area is too deep to measure,” The robot droned.

“Ohhhhhh,” I said, clicking my tongue. “Why didn’t you just say that?”

“That is exactly what I said,” Nilcoar replied, raising an eyebrow.

I chuckled at the stallion, not really wanting to continue discussing his poor choice of words. Instead, I turned around to stare at the horizon again, enjoying the breeze.

The sail was off to the right side of the boat, puffing out nicely and revealing that it was covered in patches of different colors. The thick rope I had seen before was actually a second triangular sail, which looked to be in much better condition than the main one. Both sails pulled the ship along at a rather impressive speed. Not that I had the faintest idea of how fast we were actually going, since there weren’t any landmarks around.

I stared at the front of the boat, where a young colt named Grif was sitting at the very tip and holding up a telescope. He was the youngest member of Nilcoar’s crew, and had been the most surprised to see what me and my friends looked like.

“Captain! We have a sunken ship off to port ahead!” The young pony shouted.

To port? I wondered, craning my head off the side of the ship to try and spot this mysterious port. Much to my surprise, there was no port in sight. Poor kid, he must be seeing things, probably some kind of developmental disorder. Yet another cruelty of the surface.

“Aye!” He boomed, much to my surprise.

The stallion threw himself against the rudder, making the ship veer to the right.

“What was that about?” I asked. “There’s no port out here!”

Nilcoar nodded and looked at me with a proud expression.

“Right you are, miss Black Light, there are no ports out here. I see your skills of deduction are as sharp as your senses,” He said, nodding resolutely. “However, Grif was referring to the direction, so port is the right side of the ship,” He explained.

I couldn’t help but grin at the stallion’s compliment, finally feeling that my intellect was validated by another pony. I opened my mouth to speak, but I didn’t get the chance to.

“What? Isn’t that the left side?” Narrative interrupted. “Left and port both have four letters, it’s easy to remember,”

The captain shook his head before staring out into the horizon, his eyes holding memories of days long gone.

“Funny story about that actually,” He started, keeping his gaze on the horizon. “There was this one time where I was fighting a giant squid… and then suddenly it hit me…”

The stallion trailed off, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile as the memory replayed within his mind.

“…What hit you? The squid?” I asked.

“Oh yes, a lot. But the other thing that hit me was…” He continued, turning to me and grinning as if he had just made a mind-shattering breakthrough. “Why is the right side called starboard if you can’t see the stars anymore?”

My brow furrowed in concentration, but I nodded along as I tried to wrap my head around this new knowledge.

“That makes sense…” I muttered, trying to sound intelligent.

“I know!” Nilcoar agreed. “And then I also realized that you can park a ship at a port… with both sides of the ship! So I renamed starboard to port!”

“Anger. But if you renamed starboard to port, then what do you call the left side of the ship?” Narrative droned.

“Port two, of course,” The captain chirped back, grinning proudly.

Narrative’s brain jar turned slightly reddish as a gush of blood shot out from the side of the floating organ. I almost asked if he was alright, but the bloodied fluid was swiftly cleared by his robot body.

“May I be unhooked so that I can throw myself out of the ship?” The robot asked.

”Absolutely not!” Nilcoar snapped back. “You’re probably full of batteries and other nasty things that would completely destroy the ocean’s delicate ecosystem!”

Narrative shifted around on the bottom of the ship, as if he had just tried to turn around to face the captain.

”Ah, yes, wouldn’t want to contaminate the balefire wasteland,” The robot droned.

”Exactly! Good to see that others are just as concerned about the three-headed trout population as I am,” Nilcoar said, reaching into his hat and pulling out a banana.

As soon as he tried to bite into the top to peel it, however, the fruit let out an ear-piercing screech from the opposite end, where it opened up in three separate directions, revealing rows and rows of sharp teeth. The captain opened his mouth in surprise, giving the banana a window to leap off the pony’s face and onto Narrative’s back.

”Oh you slippery bastard!” Nilcoar exclaimed, whipping his head into his coat for a moment before pulling out some kind of contraption.

Is that a flintlock…

”Mhhp hmmph!” The stallion mumbled around the mouth-grip before chomping into it.

A huge puff of smoke enveloped the gun, with an even larger one shooting out of the front. The water splashed a good distance away from the boat.

When the smoke cleared, I saw that the banana was completely unharmed, as the captain had missed entirely. The banana creature split open again to screech at the stallion before opening up fully and… flying off?

I watched in silent awe as the fruit flew off like some kind of messed up bird.

“Drat, almost got it,” Nicloar pouted after spitting his pistol into his forehooves.

The stallion gave the rudder a kick with a hindleg, almost by reflex. I followed the motion curiously and noticed that the metal bar had locked itself into place thanks to a series of rope loops, keeping it mostly steady.

Nilcoar then carefully reloaded his pistol, letting me watch silently with twinkling eyes. The reloading process would’ve been difficult for me to do as a unicorn, let alone for an earth pony!

He reached under his hat and pulled out a metal banana that was decorated with an intricate brass design. Holding it in his forehooves, The captain bit the end of the banana and pulled the cap off. He then carefully grabbed the banana with his mouth and brought the muzzle of the gun upwards, pouring a strange red powder into it.

The stallion lowered the pistol to hold it between his thighs as he capped the banana again and stuffed it under his hat. He shoved his muzzle into a pocket on his coat and pulled out a small metal ball wrapped in a piece of cloth that he placed in the gun’s barrel.

“I can’t tell the flying ones apart by touch yet,” He muttered.

I wonder if Pot could reload a pistol like that…

Nilcoar pulled a metal stick out of the pistol and used it to force the ball deeper into the gun. Once satisfied, the stallion put the gun back into his holster and took position next to the rudder once again.

“We’re gonna be sailing until tomorrow morning, you can go into the ship if you want,” The captain said.

I considered my options. On one hoof, I really wanted to stay out here and enjoy the breeze. On the other, however, I was very curious as to what the ship’s interior looked like. Shrugging softly, I made my way into the cabin of the ship.

If I had to describe the inside of the cabin with a single word, it would be ‘efficient’. The steps that led from the door were actually a sink which had rubber spots on its edge for easier climbing. The central area of the ship was taken up by a long wooden table above which hung a strange black device with hooks and chains on its underside, it was barely the size of my head.

A long seat wrapped all the way around the front of the ship, upon which sat Pot, Vissnir, and Hiri. The lone twin waved a hoof at me as if to say hello. The other two stallions hed clearly just been talking, judging by their expressions, but they had fallen quiet when I climbed into the ship.

He looks tense… I noted, staring at Vissnir.

The immense red stallion got up, which wasn’t an easy task given how little space was available inside the ship.

”I’ll be outside,” He rumbled, walking past me and climbing up the stairs before shutting the door behind him.

I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but my train of thought derailed when a small door on the left of the ship opened, revealing Simi, who had crammed themselves in what I assumed to be a wardrobe. He stumbled out of the compartment, followed by a distinctively foul odor.

”This is the bathroom, if you need it,” He explained, gesturing towards the door with his head.

”I wouldn’t use it right now if I were you,” Hiri interjected. “You’d probably die after closing the door,”

I whipped my head around to face the twin that had just spoke.

”Why? What’s in there?” I asked, confused.

”He’s just being dramatic,” Simi said, rolling his eyes.

I chuckled softly. Finally understanding the joke.

Simi walked towards the front of the ship and took a seat next to Hiri before reaching behind him and pulling a cup out of… somewhere? I glanced around the stallion and noticed that the edge of the ship was one giant shelf, closed off with an elastic net.

How did I not notice that? I wondered as I looked around at the many objects that were stashed behind the net. Cups, plates, a fan, lamps, clothes, small bottles and flasks. I also noticed that there was a wide seat behind me, underneath the outer seat where Nilcoar was sitting. Having the seat on top made the already cramped interior of the ship look wide open by comparison, barely leaving enough space above that seat to crawl on top of it.

”How are you supposed to sit in there?” I asked, pointing at the weirdly positioned area.

”You don’t, that’s the captain’s bed,” Hiri explained.

”Oh, it’s a bed. That makes sense,” I said.

I walked up to Pot and sat beside him. The stallion shifted uncomfortably in place, dragging himself a short distance away from me. I slipped out of my saddlebags and used my magic to open up my jumpsuit partially, taking a deep, relaxed breath.

“How do you like the boat?” I asked him, smiling.

”I just want to get to the other side of the bay, at least these seats are comfortable,” The blue earth pony replied.

I shifted around on the blue cushion below me. It wasn’t as soft as the beds at the Spiked Cocktail, but they were still very comfortable.

“What were you and Vissnir talking about?” I asked.

The stallion glanced at my horn for a split second before replying.

“Just… life,” He said simply.

Not in a talking mood…

I decided to respect the stallion’s silence, instead focusing on the twins.

The two stallions had expanded the central table, pulling additional panels up from the sides to make it wider. On top of the table they set up a metal chessboard and got to work on painstakingly setting up the thirty-two knights needed for chess. Despite the boat’s constant movement, none of the pieces moved unless one of the twins touched it.

After about an hour, both stallions had come to a stalemate, after which they simply shook each other’s hooves and put the chess board away. Nilcoar climbed into the cabin for a moment and retrieved a large canvas bag from underneath one of the beds.

I poked my head outside to see what it was, where I noticed that Vissnir and Narrative were talking. Just like with Pot earlier, however, he went quiet the moment his eyes fell on me.

Something is definitely up with him… I thought, but I couldn’t put my hoof on it. I wasn’t concerned, of course, Nilcoar clearly trusted him, and Pot hadn’t warned me about him being weird in the slightest. And I knew Pot would never try to hurt me by hiding information!

It’s probably nothing…

Through the small windows near the roof I watched as the clouds turned orange and then slowly faded to gray, before finally coating us in darkness. The water around the ship was pitch black, even when the light of the windows shone upon it, making it look as if we were sailing through a sea of ink.

I poked my head out of the cabin once more, where I discovered that the canvas bag that Nilcoar had dragged outside was a special tent of sorts that completely covered the open rear area of the boat. The plastic seats on either side of the ship had also been outfitted with cushions much like the ones inside.

“Hiri, Simi, I need the main sail stashed,” Nilcoar said, poking his head into the cabin.

”Aye aye captain!” The twins replied at the exact same time before darting out of the cabin.

I tried to follow them out of curiosity, as I wondered how exactly they intended to trim the sail when neither of them had grabbed a pair of scissors. However when I tried to climb out of the ship’s interior I found myself being stopped by Nilcoar’s forehoof.

”There’s too many ponies out here, just wait inside for a bit and then we’ll have dinner,” He explained.

”Owww… okay,” I pouted before turning back and sitting next to Pot again.

The stallion had remained mostly quiet throughout the trip, idly clutching at his stump-leg every once in a while. That was definitely out of the ordinary for him.

”What’s got you so worried?” I asked, offering him a friendly smile.

”I’m just… I’m thinking of where to go next,” The stallion admitted.

”What do you mean? Didn't you say that the ponies on the other side of the bay were nice?” I replied.

Pot let out a deep sigh before speaking again.

”I did say that, didn’t I?”

”Yeah, and also that I could find help for my stable there…” I reminded the earth pony. I didn’t like where this conversation was headed.

”In my defense, I’ve never actually been to the other side of the bay. I’ve heard that there’s good ponies there who are willing to help others out,” He said.

Okay, that’s not as bad as I expected.

”Did you hear that from a trustworthy source?” I asked, giving him an optimistic smile.

”About as trustworthy as a bandit can be…” Pot said.

My brow furrowed immediately.

”N- no it’s like…” The stallion stuttered. “I heard it from a bandit,”

”Why were you dealing with bandits?” I asked, my voice sharp. “And how do you know they were trustworthy?”

A fire of indignation lit in my chest.

”I can’t believe you staked my mission on information from a bandit!” I said, my tone growing louder. “What if we just sail into a damned bandit pit? Who would help my stable then, huh?”

The earth pony remained quiet, but his eyes were wide with fear. His gaze kept switching from my horn to my gun and then back to my eyes.

”Y- you don’t get it…” He mumbled, “The b- bandit was talking about… uh… being ran away from the other side! Yeah!” He finished.

My expression softened. I let out a loud chuckle. Of course! That made much more sense! What would the alternative even be? That Pot of all ponies was some kind of outlaw bandit raider-type? Fat chance! The sheer ridiculousness of the concept made me bend over in laughter, tears streaming from my eyes.

”I’m- pfft! Sorry Pot, I should’ve let you finished…” I managed to choke out before another laughing fit took over.

”Hey!” Somepony shouted at me from the door to the cabin.

I turned around, still chuckling, to meet the pale face of Nilcoar.

”Cut that out before we get heard!” The captain said, his voice dead serious.

My laughter died on my lips at the stallion’s tone. I opened my mouth to apologize, but the stallion lifted a hoof to their mouth, shushing me. His ears swiveled from side to side, twitching slightly.

“I think we’re safe…” Nilcoar said, glaring daggers at me. “Were you told anything about sailing safety?”

”No…?” I mumbled, my ears drooping at the thought of making an adult angry.

Nilcoar blew air out of his nose.

”I guess I can’t blame you for that…” He said, climbing into the cabin. “I really need to make a Baltimare Bay survival guide…”

The stallion mumbled under his breath for a moment before speaking up again.

“Just try not to laugh too hard or for too long, it attracts…” The stallion said, bringing his face closer to mine. “Lungfish…” He finished in a hushed whisper.

”Wh- what’s a lungfish?” I asked, a strange feeling of dread washing over me, “Is it like… a fish that can breathe?”

“Were it so simple…” The hatted stallion said, shaking his head. “Lungfish are vicious creatures, about the size of a pony. They can’t breathe outside the water, but they can jump out for minutes at a time. They are called lungfish because they exclusively eat lungs,” He explained.

I shuddered at the thought.

“…How?” Pot asked, a horrified expression warping his features.

The captain whipped his head around to stare at the earth pony.

“First they jump out of the water and push you overboard. Then they swim up close and give you a big smooch with their disgusting fish lips,” Nilcoar explained, gesturing with his forehooves as he did. “And then they start to suck… until your lungs get forced out your mouth!”

Pot’s horrified expression was only matched by my own as Nilcoar nodded sagely.

“But no worries, they haven’t heard us. So I guess the next order of business is…” He trailed off, leaning backwards to poke his head through the door. “Dinner!”

In a heartbeat, the twins and the young colt all but materialized inside the cabin. Nilcoar raised an eyebrow at the door, as if he were expecting Vissnir to follow the rest of his crew. He climbed out of the ship, closing the door behind him as he did.

“What’s up with Vissnir?” I asked the twins.

”He’s not fond of unicorns, miss…” The young colt said. “That’s why he asked for the back cover to get set up,” He added.

”Not fond of unicorns? Why?” I asked, confused.

If anything, I would’ve imagined that unicorns were valuable assets out at sea! Let alone one as great and powerful as I was.

Them again… he doesn’t know exactly how strong I am…

Nilcoar joined us once again, an uneasy smile on his face.

”Vissnir won’t be eating with us,” He explained before turning to stare directly at Pot. “Which means that the cooking contest will have to be altered slightly. You will cook for us, and I will compare it with my vast memory of all of Vissnir’s splendid recipes,”

“I… what?” Pot stuttered.

The smile that split my face was so wide that I was sure the edges of my mouth were touching my ears.

“You gotta!” I told the stallion.

”I…” Pot started, his eyes passing over me and all the others before he shook his head. “Whatever, I’ll do it, where’s your kitchen,” He added, staring at Nilcoar resolutely.

Sleeping on a boat was definitely the weirdest experience I had had in my life. The gentle rocking of the ship and the blanket I had been given to wrap myself in tugged at my memory weirdly, but I couldn’t quite remember it clearly. Could it be a memory from before I had my signature excellent memory? Or had my brain just made it up? Whatever the case may be, despite the cramped confines of the ship, I slept very well.

Vissnir had refused to come inside to sleep, and Grif had decided to sleep on the outside seats as well, leaving two of the boat’s beds free for me and Pot. The twins took the frontmost bed, which was a large triangular piece that took up a third of the boat. Pot and I slept on either side of the table where we had had dinner. And Nilcoar slept in his little captain’s nook, at the back of the ship.

I woke up to the sounds of hooves on the roof of the ship. Panic flared up in my chest for a moment before I glanced around me and saw that only Pot and I remained inside. The others were probably out and about already.

“Wakey wakey,” Nilcoar said when I climbed out of the boat.

The sky around us had just barely began brightening, meaning that it was about as close to pitch black as possible. There was only the faintest shift from black to gray to mark where the horizon stood.

I watched from the opening of the cabin as the seaponies worked the sails. The large triangular one was opened, but not fully. The tent that had been erected on the back of the ship was stored back in its bag, which was then carefully stashed inside the ship’s seats.

“Wind’s a little odd today, but we should get to the other side in a couple hours,” Nilcoar explained, glancing out at the horizon. “We just… need to…” He trailed off, looking at the sea behind us.

I followed his gaze, but couldn’t make out exactly what the captain was looking at.

“Grif, what is that?” Nilcoar asked.

The young colt squinted at the horizon, but pulled his head back and shook it after a few seconds.

“Excuse me miss, could you give me my spyglass? It should be next to the sink,” Grif said to me.

“Sure!” I chirped back, climbing into the cabin again.

I found the small brass tube hanging from a sling right off to the side of the sink-stairs. My horn fired up and scooped the tool up, levitating it out the cabin door and directly into Grif’s awaiting hooves.

“Can’t really make it out…” He said after pressing the spyglass up to his face. “Maybe it’s a wreck?”

“There shouldn’t be any wrecks out here, look for a flag,” Nilcoar replied.

Grif adjusted the spyglass somewhat and focused harder on the horizon. The sun had started to rise more steadily by now, painting the sky in a soft orange tint.

“Blue flag,” Grif announced.

“Drat!” Nilcoar exclaimed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked the captain.

Nilcoar reached under his hat and pulled out a banana which he immediately began peeling. His movements were practiced and robotic, almost as if he were doing it out of habit rather than actual hunger. Possibly some attempt to calm himself down.

“That’s one of Bluebeard’s ships,” The stallion said gravely.

”Oh fuck…” Pot said from behind me.

I turned around to look at the earth pony, whose expression had become one of horror. He and Bluebeard had crossed paths before, and I remembered Muddler talking about him being willing to pay good money for Pot’s head.

”I am so bloody dead,” The stallion said, hyperventilating.

”Hey, hey, don’t lose your head just yet…” Nilcoar said, but his tone made it clear that he wasn’t buying his own words. “Simi, get the radio working,” He ordered.

One of the twins climbed down into the cabin and began digging through one of the storage compartments. I climbed out to give him more space, where I saw Hiri busy at work managing multiple lines of rope.

Nilcoar was crouched over the small screen where I had read the depth the day before, and he did not look happy.

”Wind’s blowing straight at them,” He said, glancing over his shoulder at the approaching boat. “And theirs isn’t a sailboat….” He trailed off, turning to glare at Pot.

“Muddler you motherfucker…” Pot mumbled, staring incredulously at the boat.

Vissnir blew air out his nostrils and glared daggers at Pot as well.

”And just why the fuck is Bluebeard of all ponies after you?” The cook asked.

I dropped into the cabin of the boat and placed myself between Pot and the others, opening my holster as I did. Pot hadn’t asked to get mixed up with the pirate pony. And while I had grown to like these ponies, I wouldn’t hesitate to drop them if the need arose.

“I don’t know what this Bluebeard pony’s problem is, but Pot had nothing to do with it!” I exclaimed.

”Well he clearly did something,” Vissnir barked. “And I’m guessing we’re all going to be sleeping with the fishes soon,”

A long silence befell the vessel. Broken only by Simi’s tinkering with the radio panel.

“It’s working, captain,” The stallion said.

Nilcoar looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

”I’m going to talk to them… we’re no friends of Bluebeard so keep your gun down,” He said, holding a forehoof out as if trying to pacify me.

I wanted to trust him, he hadn’t given me any reason not to trust him so far. And from what I had understood about the trade with Muddler, we had chosen this boat specifically because they weren’t affiliated with Bluebeard.

“Okay…” I agreed, taking a step back while keeping myself between them and Pot.

Nilcoar pressed a large button on the radio control panel which immediately flooded the inside of the boat with static.

“This is the Dragonfly speaking, who else is out there?” Nilcoar asked into the microphone.

A couple moments of silence filled the ship before the speakers buzzed to life with a gruff voice.

”Loud and clear, Dragonfly,” The pony said, a stallion, judging by the deep tone, “This is the Nevermore speaking,”

Nilcoar winced slightly at the stallion’s words, but his expression shifted to a mischievous smile.

”Captain Iron Sides, it’s been a while!” The stallion said happily. “Lovely day for sailing, isn’t it?”

”I’m here on serious business, Scaggs,” The stallion, Iron, replied. “Captain Bluebeard found out that you have a certain passenger on your ship that he would very much like to meet,”

Nilcoar pulled back slightly and cleared his throat. I stared at Pot, who looked as if he were trying to swallow a large stone. What did he mean by meet though? Hadn’t Pot and Bluebeard already met?

”And who might this pony be?” Nilcoar asked, turning to raise an eyebrow at Pot.

“Not a pony, she’s a zebra,” Iron replied. “Blue cloak and a strange bracelet, blood red eyes too,”

I think they got the wrong ship.

Nilcoar gave me a strange look, eyeing my jumpsuit and PipBuck curiously before finally focusing on my horn.

”I’m afraid you have the wrong ship, there are no zebras here,” The hatted captain responded.

”Don’t you dare lie to me, Scaggs, she was spotted boarding your ship at Marepoint Fort,” Iron barked over the radio. “We’re going to board you, and I swear that if we find that zebra-”

”You won’t find any zebras here,” Nilcoar interrupted. “The only passenger I have that even remotely fits your description is a unicorn,” He added.

The captain took his hoof off the radio for a split second, turning to look at Simi through the open cabin door.

”Check the fuel,” He ordered before swiftly pressing the button again and continuing to speak. “And in any case, nopony is setting a hoof on my ship without my permission,”

”Your permission?” The stallion on the radio asked, almost mockingly. “I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want, and right now I want to blast your stupid yellow canoe out of my sea,”

Nilcoar chuckled at the threat.

”Your sea, is it? This is Neptune’s sea, and we are all but trespassers in it. You should keep that in mind,” He said, completely serious.

”Oh that does it!” Iron roared. “I’m going to drag you out of that shitstain you call a boat, and then I’m going to shove every last one of your fucking bananas up your-“

”And that’s enough of him,” Nilcoar interrupted, shutting off the radio. “How’s the gas?” He added, turning towards Simi.

The stallion was leaning over the seats on the left side of the ship, holding up a lid and staring down into the bowels of the ship. He lifted his gaze and shook his head.

“We won’t make it to shore,” He said.

“Well that’s just perfect,” Vissnir muttered. “Grif, get my gun,”

The youngest stallion started to dig through one of the storage compartments next to us. My attention was torn away from him when Nilcoar brought a forehoof up to hold his face and grumbled.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“We don’t have enough fuel to make it to shore against the wind. Said wind is also blowing directly at them, so we can’t exactly sail our way out of this mess…” Nilcoar explained.

I sat on my haunches, which was actually not an easy feat considering the swaying motion of the boat.

Come on, think! There has to be a solution…

“Wait… what if the wind were blowing the other way?” I asked, grinning at the captain.

Nilcoar looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

“What kind of question is that? If it were blowing the other way then we could use it to get to shore. We’d have a much easier time mounting a defense there… if they even bother following us,” Nilcoar said.

My grin widened.

“I have an idea, trust me!” I chirped before leaping out the door.

I came to immediately regret my decision when I almost slid directly out of the boat and into the water. Were it not for Narrative being quite literally lodged in the way.

“Anger. What gives? You’ve all been scheming down there for ages,” The robot droned.

“Don’t worry about it!” I reassured him. “I just need to concentrate for a bit, can you be quiet?”

“Sadness. All I seem to do is suffer in silence,” Narrative replied.

“Yeah, exactly, keep… doing that,” I absentmindedly said as I screwed my eyes shut and focused.

Okay Black Light, here you go. Wind… what is wind…

Wind was what happened when air moved around, that was easy enough. But then that left me with another question:

What is air?

I racked my mind for memories of science class. Surely a pony as smart as me would have no issue recalling something as simple as what air is.

“Ah! I know!” I exclaimed out loud when the memory dawned on me.

Air was that blue arrow that plants shot out when the sun hit them. And those same arrows would then go in and out of ponies!

I could feel it right now, floating around inside my lungs. Air was an actual thing that could be grabbed, how else could I hold it inside of me?

Which means…

My horn started to power up as I focused on the air around me. If my chest could hold air, then why wouldn’t my magic be able to?

A thin telekinetic field appeared in front of the mast, where the wind was hitting us directly. I squeezed down on it, feeling it leave my magic’s grasp as I applied more pressure.

Maybe if I just… push?

To my amazement, it seemed to work. The wind started to spin inside my magic like water, spiraling out from in front of the mask and rounding back to the back of it. I grit my teeth while focusing on maintaining the spell before turning to look at Nilcoar and speaking.

“I have it… open the sail…” I grunted out.

The stallion raised an eyebrow at me, but he nodded regardless and gestured for the twins to climb out of the cabin.

Before long, the main sail was carefully opened, where it found my artificial wind filling it and pushing us forward.

“You are amazing!” Nilcoar exclaimed when he saw the sail billow against the wind. “Would you like to be part of my crew? When we make it out of this mess, I mean,”

“Talk… later…” I managed, feeling the sweat pour down my brow.

The captain slammed his mouth shut, clearly understanding. He turned around to face the approaching boat for a moment before smiling.

“I think we can outrun them,” Nilcoar stated. “Their boat is actually slower than this one, especially with you pushing it,”

The compliment reinvigorated me to push harder, spinning more wind into the sail. My horn started to ache slightly, but I pushed through, keeping the magic flow constant.

I liked this, just me and my magic, being strong and helping ponies. My heart raced happily as I gave it my all, remembering my training in the stable.

Come on, Black Light!

I couldn’t really tell how much time passed, but eventually Nilcoar and the others started to cheer around me. Given my complete focus, I couldn’t really pay them any mind.

My head hurt, but it was a dull pain. The type that made it abundantly clear that it was going to get way worse once I stopped.

“You can ease off on the wind, they turned back,” Nilcoar said, holding my shoulder.

The sudden contact almost made me lose my focus, but I held on. My eyes slowly opened, where I noticed that the sail had been pulled halfway down into the bag.

Keeping it as constant as I could, I carefully wound the magic down. Nodding when Simi and Hiri looked at me while holding the sail ropes. As the magic faded, the sail was stashed inside the bag that hung off the mast.

My horn started to ache almost immediately when the spell stopped, making me collapse onto Narrative’s back.

“Are you okay?” Grif asked, poking his head out of the cabin.

“Yup, just being a hero…” I managed to mumble out.

The boat started to vibrate underneath me as the motor roared to life. I looked back woozily and saw Nilcoar holding the rudder steady. I smiled softly as I slowly faded into a soft sleep.

It wasn’t actual sleep, of course, as my head was throbbing too hard for that. I just rested as well as I could, keeping my burning forehead pressed against Narrative’s cold back.

The cold metal pulled some of the pain out of my skull, almost as if it were melting and leaking out of my eye socket. But any time I as much as tensed my neck, the pain would return in full.

I gotta get some Bounceback…

Moving as slowly as I dared to, I crawled off Narrative’s back and towards the cabin. Somepony said something to me, but I mumbled that I was fine and they let me keep moving.

I opened my saddlebags which had been thrown onto one of the seats and fumbled around inside of it until I found the jar and popped one of the pills into my mouth.

“Are you okay?” Pot asked me, but I didn’t get the chance to reply, as the pill had finally dulled the pain enough for me to finish passing out.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Butterfly Loop

Classification: Earth Pony Mare – 23 years of age – C- 7851F3 M-9A3260 E- 089EF8

Cutie mark: a butterfly loop knot

Butterfly Loop was one of Captain Iron Side’s most trusted sailors. She was brought to The Rig as a filly where she eventually got her cutie mark while learning about knots.

She was a bright and spry mare, who loved sailing more than anything, possibly due to it being the only thing she really knew. Her joyful demeanor and great attitude quickly got her name into the bag from which the best of Bluebeard’s captains drew their new crewmembers.

She was picked to join Captain Iron Sides and served him dutifully for years up until the battle of the college, where she took a bullet to the chest that eventually killed her from an infection.

Author's Note

If you’d prefer to just leave a tip, I now also have a KoFi.