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

COPYRIGHT 1624 - 1626 STABLE-TEC

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

If you are enjoying this story, please consider taking a look at my Discord for extra content, early updates, and other news surrounding my work! And while you're here, why not consider my Patreon for special rewards to folks who pledge! (A huge thank you to all my generous patrons!)