Overture - A Fallout: Equestria Story

Chapter Two: Interloper

"Confusion colours cruel designs, unhappy girl, you're out of time."

I was alive.

Everything was hazy at first. Thoughts came slow and sludgy, my head was full of fluff. Groggy would be the word I guess. Some kind of broken sounding device was chirping away quietly, playing crackly and treble heavy music that broke the relative quiet. I opened my eyes slowly, blearily looking around to try and get my bearings.

The room was dilapidated at best, haphazardly ramshackle at worst. The walls were a hodgepodge of various sheets of metal and wood planks (all of which looked old and worn) slapped together over cracked and crumbling concrete. There was a threadbare chair at the far end sat next to a well-used table, and the single grimiest looking radio I had ever seen, volume low and lights flickering but still just about working, croaking out an old pop song I was vaguely familiar with. There was a burnt looking wooden door that had been left slightly ajar, letting rays of light from the other side stream through, the only thing lighting the room. To my right there was a window, really just a hole in the wall with a yellowed sheet of plasic bolted around it. It was dark outside, but I could just about make out a dead tree or two peeking over a wall. The blanket I was under was absolutely filthy, holey and covered in dirt, and I could only speculate on the condition of the rest of the bedding. I cringed a little, I had no idea where any of this stuff had been. Smells lingered in the air, the scent of oil, metal, and... cake? Something sweet, hints of strawberry.

I was still waking up, but I worked out I must be in some kind of furnished shed or shack. That wasn't right, I should be in a hospital right now, not some groundskeeper's equipment hut. I started to get nervous, nothing good happened to ponies who wake up in mysterious shacks with no memory of getting there. Last I knew I was about to be savaged by a swarm of rabid birds! The gunmare was supposed to be finding help for me and the pegasus.

The gunmare, where was she? If anypony knew what was happening it'd be her. Realistically she was probably responsible for me ending up here, wherever 'here' was. I tried to get up but my body protested angrily, barrel aching, neck burning, head throbbing. It was obvious I was still in pretty bad shape and the next few days were going to suck. I at least managed to pull back the covers though. I was still dirty and bloodied, though not as badly as I remembered. My gown was gone and my neck had bandages rolled around it. I don't think this really counted as proper medical attention but it was something, I guess. Though from the state I was still in I definitely felt like I still needed to see a doctor, this may have been okay in the short term but I could really do without gangrene or any nasty fractures.

I wasn't alone in the building. I could hear humming and hoofsteps from the other side of the door. It obviously wasn't going to be a doctor, but a part of me hoped that it was the gunmare rather than some other total stranger. Better the devil you know and all that. She may have been dangerous but she had gotten me out of that building in one piece. Just about. Plus it would be nice to know I hadn't just been fobbed off to some random. Unless that random was a doctor.

The hoofsteps drew closer and the door swung open. Admittedly I felt a pit of anxiety as it did and I tensed up, I had no idea who might be waiting on the other side. Somewhat to my relief I was greeted by the now sort of familiar mismatched gaze of the gunmare, thankfully now sans gun from what I could see.

"Oh, you're awake." She said, walking in, looking vacantly surprised and with a full mouth, a slice of cake trailing in her magical aura. For a moment we just dumbly stared at each other, the smell of strawberry sweets filling the room. This was the first time I could get a proper look at her in normal lighting. Her jacket was gone revealing her coat to be a pale sandy green colour, and her mane was a muted shade of placid blue, still tied back but letting a messy fringe sit around her horn. I got a good look at her eyes, one a deep shade of red, the other a flat blue, strangely mismatched in a way I'd not really seen on a pony before. She was crossed with scars all over, some much more noticable than others. Her cutie mark was a magnifying glass crossed over a spanner or wrench or something. Repair? Fine work? Something like that I assumed. Younger than me for sure, but her physical state was terrifying. This was clearly a mare who lived violence.

"I am." I answered, blinking after realising I had just been staring at her. "W-where am I?"

"You don't remember? I carried you back to my place, You were mumbling all the way so I assumed you were awake. Anyway, this is my house. Cozy, right? I figured you could use somewhere to rest up." She pulled up a chair and sat on it backwards, resting her head on the backrest facing me.

I did have vague memories of something or other, crumbled roads and being jostled about, but I thought it had been some kind of dream. She brought me here? This was her house‽ Her demeanour indicated that she didn't seem to think that any of this was a weird thing to do and I can't deny that she did save my flank yesterday. But then why bring me here, and not a hospital? And just how was this her home? It looked like a stiff breeze could knock it over, as far as I could see it was just as good as an old squat.

"It's, uh... charming!" I said, trying to stay on her good side. "B-but if you don't mind me asking, why exactly did you bring me here?"

"You got kinda torn up by that Duplet yesterday, in case you forgot. And I don't think falling down the stairs did you any favors either." She said, tilting her head as she spoke. "Didn't look like you were handling it too well, so I couldn't just leave you there. Especially not with how mixed up you seemed yesterday, you seemed like you could use a helping hoof. Gotta say though, lugging you around really did a number on me, ate up my magic good."

"Oh... well, thank you." I said meekly, the weight of just how crazy everything that had happened slowly dawning on me. I almost died, and I certainly felt like it. As noble as her effort was though, I don't think she was a stand in for an actual medical professional. "Um, if you don't mind me saying, shouldn't I see a doctor?"

"Well, all your parts were still attached, so I was pretty confident the basics would cover you just fine, and you seem to be alright so far." She explained, stretching her forehooves out behind her head. "Besides, it's not like either of us has the caps to see a doctor anyway."

"E-excuse me?"

"I'm broke, you literally only had the clothes on your back, and I'm pretty sure all a doctor woulda done is give you a healing potion and charge double for it." She said. I looked at her incredulous, had she ever actually visited a doctor before? She must have noticed me looking at her funny because she held up a hoof and smiled. "Don't worry, I know my stuff, I've patched myself up hundreds of times!"

That wasn't as reassuring as I think she intended it to be.

I was silent for a moment, digesting the craziness that had been going on. Everything had been so weird since yesterday, it was past high time I got some answers.

"Who are you?"

"Me? I'm Make Do, salvage pony and maintenance extraordinaire! Best repair mare in Horseshoe Bay, and recovery expert as well, if the price is right." She proudly declared, drawing a hoof to her chest. "But enough about me," she said, leaning over in my direction, swaying back and forth in the chair like an excited foal. "Who might you be?"

I let myself relax just a little bit. The slightest amount. Right now this Make Do mare seemed more goofy than threatening, disarmingly so. However, I had to keep my guard up, I still didn't really know anything about this mare or where I was, only that she had access to a very big gun. I hoped 'goofy' didn't also mean 'unhinged' in this case. I couldn't just forget the carnage she let loose in the lab, I knew what she was capable of.

"Silver Sterling." I replied in the most neutral tone I could manage. For a brief moment we just stared at each other, before the gentle patter of rain broke my concentration. Sparing another glance out the window, I saw drops clinging to the glass, the dark figures of leafless trees just visible outside swaying gently in the wind, silhouetted against the cloudy, starless night sky. I looked back to the mare.

"Right, Silver, you said yesterday. So we're all acquainted, amazing!" She smiled, brusquely shaking my hoof. "And since we're such good friends now, Silver, would you mind telling me how you got into that Ministry lab without me or any of the duplets finding out?"

She was looking at me expectantly, as if I was about to spout out some grand revelation. "I just came in through the front door, same as anypony else? Me and one of the staff members just took an elevator down."

"Question."

"What?"

"That doesn't make any sense."

"That's... that's not a question."

"I'm just trying to work out how you got in there, but I don't think you've said a word of sense since I met you." She intoned, resting her head on her hooves. "Nothing you've told me adds up."

"Nothing about any of this makes any sense!" I frowned. "I arrived for the test and everything was fine, the test ended and everything was all messed up. What happened in there? And what were you doing in the lab anyway? You don't look like a scientist."

"You don't remember? Hmm, maybe you're concussed or something." She hummed, brow furrowed. "You're awfully hung up on these 'scientists', too."

"No, I remember what happened, it just doesn't add up! What on earth even is a Duplet? Where were all the staff and why did the whole place look like a mouldy old ruin?" I rattled off, trying to cover all my bases. "Honestly everything was all fine when I arrived last week, I just don't understand how things could have gotten so bad in the meantime.

"A week? You were in there for a week?" She asked, I guess choosing to ignore my questions.

"The spell lasted for seven days, yes. I arrived last week." I stated matter-of-factly. I knew I was right.

"So what, you show up, do some 'spell' for seven days and poof, everything's different? If you're gonna bullshit me, at least make it believable."

"I'm not bull- lying to you! I don't know why I'm even trying to justify myself to you, I don't even know who you are!" I muttered. I never swore, my mum hated it. I was still worried and a bit exasperated by now, and I still had no real idea what on earth was happening. "Please, I'm hurt and I'm scared. I'm sure you mean well but I just want to go home." I hoped she meant well anyway, I had no idea why she was so hung up on me being in the lab.

"Come on, what kind of spell takes a week to perform? How do you even test a spell‽ You don't have a horn!" She pointed at my forehead, presumably to illustrate my lack of any pointy bone appendage. As if I wasn't aware.

"How very astute of you." I deadpanned. "I didn't cast the spell, it was cast on me."

Us. The other mare too. I'd totally forgotten about her! A wave of shame washed over me, I was meant to be finding help but I was stuck here being borderline interrogated by a random. I'd been out cold, who knows how much time I'd lost. Not that it really mattered I guess, if there's one thing she wasn't in any danger of it was starving.

"We have to go back, there's another pony stuck down there. Her gem must have been faulty or something, she's stuck, we have to find somepony to fix it!"

"Hold up, that place has been a Duplet nest for decades, and I know nopony was down there last week because I had to fix the backup generators to even get the door open, entry log hadn't been updated since the Last Day." She said, raising an eyebrow and taking a bite from her cake, stuck on this singular train of thought. "I still don't know what you mean about any spells or anything, I assumed you were there for the same reason I was until you started talking."

"We were there for the trial? To test the Cockatrice spell? Project 1013?"

"Project 1013? That sounds familiar..." She trailed off fiddling with her PipBuck, concentrating on the little screen. The controls clicked and clacked and the green of the screen cast a funny shadow on her face. "You mentioned something about a Cockatrice spell in the lab too, what's the deal with that?"

I opened my mouth to talk but then remembered all the paperwork I signed before all of this. Things were already bad enough, I didn't need to be charged with breaking an NDA on top of everything else that had happened. I'd probably said too much ready. "I don't think I should be telling you if you don't already know. Why were you there?"

"'Recovery expert if the price is right', remember?" She said pointing to herself, not looking up from the device on her leg. "A client wanted a load of data from the mainframe for some reason, so I recovered it. I could've sworn there was a 1013 something or other in there somewhere..."

"Recovering- You stole information from a ministry‽" I wheezed. "That's treason!"

Of course. Of course she was a criminal. How on Earth could I have missed it? The gun, the attitude, even the outfit! How could anypony have thought she was there for legitimate reasons? Information theft from a ministry building wouldn't be a light charge, not by a long shot. If anypony found out what had happened, and if I was implicated in all of this- well, it didn't bear thinking about, my life was as good as over. I'd probably already said too much! "Oh no, oh Tartarus this is bad, what do I do, oh stars oh stars oh stars-"

"Treason? What are you talking about? Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm not okay!" I snapped, glaring at the mare angrily. My heart was pounding and my blood ran cold. "Y-y-you've gotten me tangled up in a crime against the s-state, d-d-do you know what happens to ponies that get caught doing stuff like that? Is that why you brought me here? So there wouldn't be a-any witnesses? Oh Celestia, this is too much, I have to get out of here!" I spiraled, thoughts circling around my head, none of them good. Was she just going to hold me captive?

I was reeling. She didn't seem concerned by the repercussions of her actions at all, in fact she seemed perplexed that I was upset by any of this. Was she really such a hardened criminal, so deep into this illicit career that anypony shocked by any of this would be odd to her? The pit in my stomach had a pit in it's stomach. The Ministry Of Morale had eyes everywhere. I was desperately scanning the room looking for an out, some kind of escape, anything. I didn't know why I was hear but it couldn't have been for anything good. It didn't matter that everything hurt too much to move, the sooner I got away from her the sooner I could distance myself from all of this and I could report her myself. That would prove I wasn't involved, right? If I could just explain myself then surely they'd understand that I wasn't invloved at all. There had to be some way to prove that my involvement was all a big misunderstanding, I was under duress, I didn't know what was happening. I did not want to be locked up, the police would probably hoof me over to the Ministry of Morale and I had heard rumours about what they did with ponies caught doing things like this. It was not good if even a fraction of it was true. That was if Make Do didn't get to me first, I didn't know if she was going to use me as leverage or kill me so I couldn't rat her out. I had to get away, I had to tell somepony, I-

"Hey, hey! Back in the room!" Make Do yelled, rapping her hoof against the wooden chair back. "What the hells has gotten into you? Maybe you hit your head worse than I thought..." I flinched as she put a hoof to my forehead, not quite up to speed enough to properly recoil. She turned my head from side to side, I guess checking me over. I held my breath as the tender spot on the back of my skull slid across the pillow.

"Y-you're going to get us both arrested." I said matter-of-factly, not really knowing what to do anymore.

"What, arrested? Nopony's getting arrested." She replied, settling back down in her seat. That was a definite answer and that was worrying. How could she be so sure, unless she was going to make sure?

"A-a-are you g-going to... k-kill me?"

"Kill you- girl, I saved your life and fixed you up, what about this is screaming 'murder' to you?" She balked, incensed. "I'm a professional, not some scummy raider."

I curled myself into a ball as best as I could before my spine made itself very known and watched her warily. I supposed she was kind of right if you stretched the definition of 'fixed up', but I still didn't trust her as far as I could throw her. And if she really wasn't planning to harm me in any way that still didn't make my situation a whole lot better, I was still stuck here with a criminal. Said criminal was still staring intently at her PipBuck, but had stopped messing around with the controls. Her eyes ran back and forth like she was reading the same line over and over again, occasionally looking my way before darting back.

"Project 1013 Subject: Participant #6G15 Sterling; Silver, Earth Pony, Female, 26 years of age, Blood Type: Q."

"You took my personal information too?" I groaned. So much for the confidentiality clause.

"Hold up." She said, cutting me off with a raised hoof. I bristled slightly at being interrupted, but kept quiet. She said nothing but her face was very animated, squinting and frowning and working her jaw as she read through what were no-doubt highly classified documents, stopping every so often to stare at me. More like gawk, actually. It was quite rude to be honest.

"#6G13-A, Burdock; Dandelion, Pegasus..." She trailed off, scrolling further before opening her mouth again. "So uh, you and this Dandelion mare were turned to stone?"

Dandelion. That's her name, then. Seems Make Do would have all her personal details too. Very nosy of her. But I also suppose that meant there was no reason to withhold anything from her, she likely knew more about all of this than I did now. It was probably in my best interests to keep her happy until I could get out of here. I wasn't happy about it, but it was logical.

"And when you say she's 'stuck'..."

"She's still petrified, yes." I confirmed, grimacing, eyes closed. I may have been willing to bend the rules but I still didn't like it. Plus the thought of being stuck like that just wasn't pleasant, even if I'd had more experience with it than most.

She was quiet for a while after that, intently reading, scrolling the wheel on the side of the device slowly as she did, it's soft clicks rhythmically clashing with the music on the radio. "Buck, this is insane." She muttered, looking to scan the same section over and over again. "I'm gonna be honest with you Silver, I'm looking at the matrix diagram here and this is all way over my head. Like, this is real arcane shit." She said almost sheepishly. "I think we're going to have a hard time finding somepony who knows how to cast stuff like this."

We? She was going help? All of this was starting to hurt my brain, I was getting emotional whiplash or something. I was baffled, surely the first thing somepony who'd just committed intelligence theft on an insane scale would be to lie low. How on earth could she ask around about this without anypony becoming suspicious. And actually- "Why would we need to find help, won't the scientists fix it? I know they weren't there earlier but they can't have gone far, right?"

"Aheheheh, that brings us on to a whole other can of worms." She smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck and looking anywhere but at me.

"What do you mean?"

She seemed to wrestle with the question for a minute, though the break in the conversation made it feel like longer. I was starting to get worried again because it honestly looked like she was unravelling in front of me, sighing and running her hooves through her mane, smile becoming strained before disappearing altogether.

"Well, if these log dates are all correct, and you really are who you say you are, then the spell worked. It worked really, really well."

"Well yes, I know that. What are you getting at?"

"It, uh, worked too well?" She intoned, pitch rising as the sentence went on.

I tilted my head in confusion. "I'm not following you." I replied, trying to work out what she meant by any of this. She sighed again and fixed me with a strange look, serious but somehow sorrowful at the same time.

"Look Silver, I don't like to be the bearer of bad news, but you might want to stew a little on the idea that you've been a statue longer than a week."

Oh. Oh no.

"How... how much longer?" I asked, ears folding flat. If this was real, this was bad. My parents must be worried sick. My friends too. I was meant to be getting a stock shipment in if I'd missed it I wouldn't be able to reopen the shop. Hells, if it was too much longer I might have missed a mortgage payment! That would be the last thing I needed, the cherry on top of everything awful that had happened to me so far, if after all this I get home to a foreclosed building.

Make Do wasn't saying anything. Why wasn't she saying anything? She was just forlornly looking at me, looking uncomfortable. "How much longer was I stuck for?" I repeated.

"You're not gonna like it."

"Just tell me!" I snapped. Her dodging was just making it worse.

"175 years, give or take a few weeks."

A beat passed, her words swirling around my head. I blinked at her once, twice, and snorted. "Oh shove off, do you really expect me to believe that? 175 years, as if!"

"I'm not fucking around, Silver."

"Yeah right, I wasn't born yesterday." I scoffed. "And that's a lot of wool to be trying to pull over my eyes, forgive me if I don't believe the total stranger pitching the most outlandish claim I've ever heard."

"I know we barely know each other but you gotta believe me, I'm not making this up."

"You're right, we do barely know each other, so why should I believe you?"

"Okay, you don't have to believe me but sooner or later you're gonna see I'm telling the truth and I think it'll be a lot harder for you if you're not prepared. I'm not lying to you, and I'm the reason you're even still alive, that has to count for something." She finished off the last bite of her cake and stood up, stretching like a cat as she did. "There's a healing potion in the nightstand, you'll probably want that. Your stuff is in there too. Come find me when you're well enough to move, I'll be around. I've gotta go work out some stuff. Please, just think about it, okay?"

With that she shuffled out of the room, leaving the door open behind her. "Oh, bathroom is just down the hall." She called back, not bothering to return. I heard her steps get quieter as she walked away and the gentle click of another door opening elsewhere. I was alone again, for now at least.

I sort of deflated as tension I didn't know I was holding left my body. I'd managed to navigate that encounter un-exceuted, but digesting what on earth had just happened was a whole other kettle of fish.

What in Tartarus was this mare's angle? She saves my life but brings me here, she steals my files but offers help, she makes ridiculous statements but gives me aid. She ping-ponged from goofy confidence to frustration to sorrow like nothing. I could not get a read on her at all. But at the very least it didn't seem like she wanted to harm me in anyway. She didn't have the air of a criminal mastermind at all, after all that I might even go as far to say she seemed delusional, tripped out on some wild flight of fancy.

It didn't seem like I was a prisoner or hostage like I'd feared. I wasn't restrained or anything, the door wasn't locked and I was invited to freely roam the building. A strained stretch to reach the drawer of the nightstand revealed that there was indeed a healing potion as she'd said, butted up against my gown, which although filthy and torn looked to have been folded nearly, and my ID lanyard.

Now that nothing was holding my attention I realised just how badly my whole body was aching. The pain may have dulled but it was still very much present. My body felt as stiff as a board, creaking at every movement. I supposed I should be grateful I could move at all given the beating my back took yesterday, but it still hurt.

I managed to grab the potion out of the drawer. The glass vial looked cloudy and scratched, and the label was yellowed and peeling, the print hard to read, it looked like it had been around the block so to speak. But it was definitely a healing potion, the Ministry Of Peace logo was still just about visible and the cap was still sealed, thankfully, so I knew it hadn't been tampered with in any way. I popped open the cap and sniffed it cautiously, I didn't know if these things had an expiration date or anything. It may have looked old but it smelled normal, vaguely medicinal with a little floral undertone. I drank the liquid, thick, syrupy and a little tingly and almost immediately felt it working, a wave of relief coursing through my body. It didn't fix everything right away, but I did feel a lot better.

"That was of course Sapphire Shores with 'How High The Moon', and coming up we have some more from the ever lovely Dorian Flash, right after the news. Stay tuned, Baltimare!"

The radio popped and hummed, fading in and out. I didn't recognise the DJ but Sapphire Shores rang a bell. I couldn't name a song of hers but I've definitely heard her name thrown around. How could it have been almost two centuries if they were still playing current hits! Honestly, what was this Make Do mare thinking? Her story had more holes in it than a slice of cheese.

Maybe being that far into the future would be nice though, the war would be over and who knows what arcane wonders would have been cooked up in the meantime? Certainly a novel thought to muse on. All this doom and gloom would probably be long forgotten by then, no need for the Ministries or anything. Back to normality, whatever that would look like by then.

Normality would be very nice. War aside, something crazy was going on and I'd somehow found myself right in the middle of it. I may not have felt directly under threat right this second, but I still didn't really know where I was or what had actually happened in the lab. Make Do hadn't touched on it much and being petrified for decades wouldn't explain the state the place was in.

Would it? It was a pretty advanced decay after all. I was by no means a connoisseur of ruined buildings, but I was very sure things couldn't get that bad in a normal week. It looked like it had been sat abandoned for a long, long time, decaying away.

It had to be something else, some kind of biome spell gone wrong or something. That would explain all the moss and fungus and the deformed orthroses. Right? There had to be a more rational, realistic explanation for everything. There's no way me and Dandelion would just have been left to rot, not when so many ponies knew we were there and we were being monitored. It was a Ministry test for Celestia's sake, we were there for an important reason.

Spittles of rain continued to tap weakly against the window, drawing my attention outside. Gingerly, I shimmied along the top of the bed to get a closer look, carefult not to exert myself too much. My bad leg flared up, not as bad as it was in the lab but still probably too much to be walking on it just yet, even after the potion. I must have done something serious. I grimaced and tried to move it as little as possible as I crawled over to the window. Hopefully I could work out where I was based on landmarks.

The shadowy figures of dead, leafless trees were just about visible outside, swaying gently in the wind, silhouetted against the moody overcast sky. A pile of rotted wood that looked like it might have once been a cargo wagon sat sadly against a crumbling brick wall that was spidered with ivy. I wasn't too sure what time it was but it seemed rather dark outside, not helped by the cloud cover no doubt.

Beyond the wall sat another building, cold and monotone, broken and boarded up windows and fractured concrete. Utilitarian looking but dilapidated. I grimaced at the thought I might be in a rougher part of town, it certainly looked like that was the case. I just wanted to go home.

Maybe I could flag somepony down? Just because it wasn't the nicest area it didn't mean there wouldn't be some decent ponies around. I should probably get looked over at a clinic somewhere and find a place to report the information theft. I couldn't believe that this had all somehow become my problem.

I shook my head. I was unfocused, it was hard to stick to one train of thought at the moment, I was jumping from nasty thought to half-baked plans. Maybe I actually was concussed?

I huffed and slowly lowered myself back to reclining, gently flexing my legs to see how they felt, feeling not much in the way of protest. More confident, I twisted my back, just to see what I was dealing with. It still ached, but it was nothing on how it was before. It popped and clicked as I turned, I'd never really had that happen before, and it wasn't a totally pleasant sound but it did kind of feel good at least.

Now that I was alone I realised just how tired I still was. I'd never really been knocked out cold before, was it normal to be exhausted after being unconscious for who-knows-how-long? That was basically just sleep, right? Granted probably not quality sleep, but surely it was kind of the same thing? I can't have been awake that long. I had no idea how long I'd even been out for. Make Do would probably know.

Make Do. I stared at the ceiling. So many questions. Why did she have my file downloaded onto her PipBuck? What else did she know about me? That was an uneasy thought. The last thing I needed was this unicorn stealing my identity while I was cooped up in her scrap hut. I needed to find out what exactly was going on here. Nothing had been making any sense since I woke up in that booth. Everything was like a bad dream.

My brain was still too foggy to properly work anything out. The rain outside was getting heavier and the sound started to drown out the meek tones from the radio, so I just settled for blankly following the raindrops down the window pane, trying not to think about all the ways things could potentially get worse. Eventually the drone of the rain and hum of the radio blurred into one hazy wave of white noise, and I felt my eyelids getting heavier. It was dark out and my circadian rhythm was telling me I probably shouldn't be awake. I rolled over and tried to get as comfortable as I could, relieved that healing potion had done away with most of my body's aches and pains at least. The bed was lumpy and worn, but it was probably better than the floor. It didn't smell as bad as I would have expected from the look of it.

I closed my eyes, and let my thoughts go quiet, falling into the white noise of the weather. Even though I'd really only just woken up I felt myself drifting off after not too long.

Maybe tomorrow something would go my way.

I wasn't feeling particularly refreshed by the morning. It'd been a restless sleep and I'd woken up a few times during the night. What dreams I did have were horrible snapshots of bared fangs and bullet wounds. Every creak and groan of the building seemed to have set me off, and every time I woke up I had a small panic not being in my own familiar bedroom. I was sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I didn't know what time it was, but it must've been early judging from the dim light outside. The rain had stopped but the clouds still lingered. I don't remember rain and clouds being on the weather schedule, but to be fair I'd been very much out of it recently so I could very easily have be wrong.

I tentatively lowered myself onto the floor, tensed and ready for my bad leg to hurt. The time I'd spent off of it must have done the trick though, it was still painful but it could actually stand on it at least. A few flexes confirmed that I should be ambulatory with just a little discomfort. Small victories and all.

Now that I was properly awake and up I could actually have a proper look around the room. It was, as I deduced last night, filthy. I didn't know if the fact that none of it appeared to be fresh made it better or worse. How could anypony live like this? I don't know why I let myself fall asleep here, in the grubbiest bedroom I'd ever seen under the roof of a shack belonging to a well armed loner I didn't know. I scrunched my muzzle at that thought. I was assuming it was hers. I was assuming she was by herself. I didn't know if the potential for there to be more ponies here was a good thing or a bad thing.

The radio had continued to chirp through the night at varying volumes. My ears swivelled as it decided to get louder, it was some kind of morning news bulletin but I didn't recognise any of the places they were talking about. Maybe it was tuned to some local station from the suburbs or something? That would maybe explain the terrible broadcast quality too, even for an older radio this thing sounded like arse. I didn't pay much attention to it, I was still working out what exactly I was going to do. To tell the truth, as much thinking as I had been doing, I still hadn't really come up with much of a plan.

After milling around for a couple of minutes and not hearing anything from the other side of the door, I figured I might as well have a look around. Hopefully I'd be able to find a way out of here.

Standing up, I nudged the door all the way open. It led into a small hallway of the same construction as the bedroom, old concrete and plaster supplemented with seemingly random pieces of scrap metal and planks. One of the hallway lights was flickering, and there was a hum coming from somewhere or other. The smell of oil and rust was almost overwheming here, mingling with other much sweeter and less abraive scents, albeit much weaker. There was a leak in the corner of the ceiling and rain water poured down the wall leaving a darkened trail, and I could hear more drips from all throughout the place. This whole building must have been an absolute mess.

I glanced around, trying to work out my next move. I was at the end of the hallway, two doors were on the opposite wall before it opened out into a larger area. If Make Do was to be belived at least one of these doors had to have been the bathroom. My best guess was that I was in some kind of horribly dilapidated bungalow and that further down the hall was maybe a living area, I'd probably have better luck getting out of here going that way. I strode forwards and immediately stood in a bucket half full of rainwater, shattering the morning quiet with a combination splash-clang that echoed down the hall and a shrill (and not-at-all-fillyish) shriek from me.

The water was really cold, okay?

I recoiled and managed to knock the bucket over, spilling standing rainwater all over the floor. Not that it made to much of difference considering the state of the building. I huffed and flicked my forehoof, sending small spray of dark water flying. At least the sudden chill was enough to wake me up a little more.

Mess thoroughly made I trotted down the hallway, careful to avoid stepping on anything else. I paused at the end and peeked around the corner. It looked like a crudely throw together living room and kitchen, there was a table in the middle surrounded with old chairs, a counter of some kind on the back wall, out-of-place looking cabinets and appliances, and a long, long dead potted plant in a corner. Pushed off to the side was some very large machinery, seemingly partially disassembled and long dormant. As I expected by now, everything was in a varying state of disrepair. There was a large metal door on the wall opposite me, and another hallway around the corner along. Dull light filtered in through barredd frosted windows either side of the metal door. Natural light. That had to be an exit.

A single lightbulb hung over the middle of the room above the table, where Make Do was sat, slumped forward and head hung low, sleeping if the steady rise and fall of her chest was anything to go by. Honestly I was a bit surprised considering the racket I'd just made.

Despite what she'd said yesterday I didn't really want her to know I was up and about, this may be my best chance to get out of here. I might not get another shot. I steeled myself and slowly stepped forwards, keeping my hooffalls as quiet as I possibly could, breathing slowly and calmly.

I made it around the side of the table and was able to get a good look at this mysterious Make Do mare, my confidence bolstered by the fact that she seemed to be properly konked out. She was smaller than I was and very thin. Up close I could see freckles dotted her face, and there was a chunk missing from her right ear. It looked like an old wound, already healed. Her coat was speckled with dirt, looking like she needed a wash almost as badly as I did. A stream of dribble was running from her mouth and pooling on the tabletop. Grim.

No, I couldn't let myself get distracted, the door was right there and the longer I spent just staring at this mare the more likely she was to wake up. I had to move now before it was too late.

I shuffled the rest of the distance, consciously as light on my hooves as possible as I trekked across the uneven floor, constantly looking back at the sleeping unicorn to make sure I'd not disturbed her.

The door was large, rusty and dented, wide and suspended from rollers above that spanned the whole width of the room, it was like a sliding barn door. The handle was wrapped in well worn fabric for some reason. I wrapped a hoof around it and started pulling, but it didn't budge. Huffing, I sat on my haunches and grabbed it with both hooves, straining to pull it to the side. I grunted as I put my whole body into the effort, the door groaning and creaking but still not giving an inch.

"Don't touch my stuff!" Make Do barked, springing from her position and wielding a rusty knife in her magic field before blearily blinking a few times and seemingly registering what was happening. "Oh, Silver, it's you."

I was wide eyed, my hooves shooting up in the air and my breath getting caught in my throat, stock still like a frightened deer. I'd pratically jumped out of my skin and my heart was racing. My eyes flitted between her and the blade.

"Oh! Uh, sorry, I thought junkies had broken in again." She said, putting the knife down onto twh table with a light clatter. She stretched out like a cat, joints popping and clicking as she did. I slowly lowered my hooves and exhaled, relieved. "Door's locked, gotta keep said junkies out."

"Yes, of course." I faux-agreed. I knew what very little I'd seen didn't look good, but I didn't realise this part of town would be that rough.

"And that aside, I asked you to come find me, not run out on me. I don't think it's a good idea for you to be wondering about on your own out there, not on your own anyway."

"And why's that?" I frowned.

"Because I may not have been around before the war, but I can 100% guarantee you that things are going to be different from how you remember them out there."

"Oh for goodness sake, I told you last night-" I was cut off mid sentence by my own stomach, rumbling the loudest I'd ever heard. I could have sworn I felt it move inside me. My face flushed with embarrassment.

"Well, guess you haven't eaten for a while." Make Do sighed, grabbing the knife and walking over to one of the counters. Perched on top was a glass dome, which she lifted. "Hope you don't mind cake for breakfast, I don't have much else. As good a way as any to start the day, right?"

The room was filled with the smell of baked goods. The scents of fresh fruit and sugar danced over my nose as I gulped. I would have licked my lips if it wasn't so rude. I was really actually quite hungry, and the cake smelled incredible. "T-that sounds great, actually."

Make Do set two slices down on the table as I walked back over. Despite everything else in the building looking like it'd been dragged straight out of a landfill, the table and plates were clean, if a little worse for wear around the edges. Make Do had already stared eating. I gave my slice a tentative sniff, which did nothing but re-affirm that yes, I did really want to eat this cake. Nerves be damned, it smelled amazing. I picked it up in my hooves, and took a small bite.

I was expecting it to be good, but I wasn't expecting this. The strawberries were juicy and fresh, the sponge was perfectly moist and the icing was just the right amount of sweet and creamy. The flavours and textures played across my tongue. A second bite followed the first, and then a third. It was, to my memory, one of the nicest deserts I'd ever eaten.

"Tasty, right?" Make Do asked with a smirk, most of her own slice already eaten. "Guess you were hungry, huh?"

I nodded in response, still chewing. It's rude to talk with your mouth full.

"Good! Hope you like it, ingredients are really hard to come by." She said, finishing off the last morsels of the slice before wiping her mouth with her fetlock.

"You made this?" I asked between bites, quietly. Truth be told I was only trying to make polite small talk, trying to keep the situation pleasant. Although, in all honesty I was rather impressed that something of this quality could come out of a kitchen as makeshift as this. Having said that, the fact that is was made here might not have been the greatest thing.

"Yep! My own recipe!" She answered, puffing out her chest and looking very proud.

"It's good, really good."

"Thanks!" She said, leaning back down on the table. "I started baking a few years ago, it's a lot of fun, but it can be really difficult to find base ingredients that are safe to use."

"What do you mean, how far from a store are we?" I questioned, how hard could it really be? "What do you mean 'safe'?"

"Like I said, Silver, things are a lot different now." She answered, a steely look crossing her face for a second. "Did you think about what I said last night?"

"No, I didn't. It's a ridiculous notion." I rolled my eyes, taking another bite of cake.

The unicorn huffed at that and put a hoof on my shoulder. I paused my assault on the cake to look at her. "One mare to another, I don't think we're as different you think we are. I went through something kind of similar to what you're going to go through when you walk out the door, and it bucking sucks. I just want you to go into it at least a little prepared."

I snorted angrily. I'd had enough of this inane line of dialogue she was pushing, and I really didn't like this 'concerned' angle she was coming at me with. "Okay, yes, fantastic, I'm two centuries into the future because you said so, wonderful. Now hopefully I don't have to worry about my mortgage."

"I'm being serious, Silver."

"So am I! You can't honestly say something this insane and expect me to just take your word for it. Hell, I still don't even know why you brought me here! All I know right now is that you have weapons and you took data from a ministry, and frankly everything is a little bit scary. I don't know why you're doing this, I just want to go home."

I didn't enjoy going off like that, but I had to say something. She had all the power here and with the way she was talking to me all of this was starting to feel like she was trying to induct me to some kind of cult, or hold me willingly captive or something. Trying to induce some kind of Stockhorn Syndrome in me. Keep me here, with her. I didn't like that one bit.

"Fine, if you won't listen to me, I can prove it." She spoke, eyes pointed at the ceiling. "You're not gonna have a good time, but I can prove it."

"Of course you can." I said, giving her a sideways look. She looked oddly expressionless, almost like a poker face. She exhaled loudly through her nose and stood up, leaving the table and walking out of the kitchen into the hallway. I heard a door open and then not a lot more.

Had I upset her? I didn't really care to be honest. I always try my best to be civil but I think it's more than fair to say that I found myself in extraordinary circumstances. I finished off the last of my cake. It was really good, despite all of this. If she actually did bake this from scratch then that would probably be a much, much more productive use of her time.

A few minutes must have passed. I would've checked but the only clock I could see in the room wasn't moving. I was about to get up and start looking for another way out before I heard a door slam and saw Make Do reappear in the doorframe. She looked... stern. She was wearing all her equipment again, and I could see now that her jacket was covered in random old metal plates. Her gun was slung around her side, which I immediately fixated on. That could only be a bad thing.

"Wh-what are you d-doing?"

"Put this on." She threw a raggedy set of overalls at the table, it had thick strips of rubber sewn all across, almost like a kind of homemade barding. "I hope you're feeling okay enough for a walk."

"A walk? W-where?"

"Just a little trot downtown." She answered, fiddling with the gun.

I gulped. I didn't have a good feeling about this, she was acting a lot more detached now. "Why do I need to wear this?" I asked, prodding at it. It was well worn and the fabric was stiff and had a funny smell to it, and had more than a few holes and mystery stains spattered around.

"Because you don't have your own armor and it'd be very anticlimactic for you to live through a duplet attack just to taken out by a potshot from a bloatsprite."

"A-armour?"

"Yep." She said nonchalantly, adjusting a pair of goggles that were dangling around her neck. "Better get yourself ready quick, I think it might start raining again."

I slowly fumbled with the garment, struggling to get into it. It almost felt like it was fighting me, rejecting me from comfortably wearing it. I did manage to get all four limbs where they should be though, if not after an embarrassing amount of time. I pulled the zip up to a close, and even that resisted me, tight in all the wrong places and hard to move properly in.

"Ready? Follow me." Make Do made her way over to the metal door, her horn lighting up and pulling out a large key from her jacket, opening the lock and sliding the door to the side with ease. Natural light streamed in, dull as it may have been it was still brighter than inside. I stepped out and Make Do slammed the door closed behind us, locking it back up as she did. "Stick close to me, I talk, you listen, okay? Bugs have been getting to be a problem lately."

This place was a junkyard. A literal junkyard, I wasn't just being rude. Piles of rusted metal and worn out old wagons sat all around, glumly eroding away exposed to the elements. Stacks of cart wheels and coils of cables intermingled with old pipes and worn out appliances. Brown scruffs of shrubs poked up in between detritus, and loose rubbish spilled out onto the gravel path. Dead leaves twirled in the breeze as we trotted down the path. There were still puddles scattered across, the ground was soggy and mushy, kind of like walking on oatmeal. Probably.

It was chilly, chillier than it shoud have been for this time of year. The extra layer of the jumpsuit was appreciated but it wasn't making a huge difference. There was a strong breeze too, and the sky looked angry, threatening to open up any minute. It'd be another downpour from the looks of things. I hoped we'd be under shelter before then.

Make Do kicked the gate open, sending it crashing against the old brick wall separating this place from the street. She'd cantered ahead while I was taking in my surroundings, I trotted to catch her up. My leg was holding up well so far, the healing potion seemed to have done it's job, and thinking about it I probably didn't even need the bandages around my neck anymore. Medical magic was incredible, it really was.

What wasn't incredible was my location. Now that we were out in the open my fears about being in a bad part of town seemed almost comically understated. I may not have been a Baltimare native, but I had no idea that there were parts of this city that were this rough. The buildings that weren't already reduced to piles of rubble were burnt out. The road paving was spidered with cracks and potholes, totally torn up. A collection of abandoned carts had been pushed up against the outside wall of the junkyard, and graffiti and litter lined everything.

I didn't really know what to say. This almost looked like a slum, but slums had ponies living in them. As far as I could see, me and Make Do were the only ponies around. The street was devoid of life, and I couldn't see a single light on in any of the buildings. Everything was deathly quiet and empty. Even so, I kept my guard up, my ears on high alert. This looked like the kind of place someponh might vet mugged if they weren't careful.

"H-hey, where are we exactlyyyy?"

"Hm?" She answered, looking back but not stopping. "I think this area is called Midtown, not too many ponies come by anymore though. Unless they're looking for me."

This was Midtown? That was crazy, we were only a few miles out from my shop. How could things get so bad here? I never really came up this way, but all the parts lf town I did spend time in looked nothing like this. Even the part of town the Ministry lab was in, and that wasn't far from here at all. I knew the civic budget had been stretched because of the war, but surely it couldn't have been this bad? This place was as good as a ruin!

But here I was, looking at it with my own eyes, walking through it. No wonder there was no pony around, there was nowhere to live.

As we carried on I started wondering how easy it would be to sneak off now that we were out in the open. There was nothing really stopping me from running off. Well, except that the mare with the big gun leading me would probably hear my hooves on the hard floor galloping away. That and I didn't really have any where to run to or to hide, I didn't know this part of town and it's not like there was anypony else around to help me.

I shook my head. I'd carry on following her for now, but keep an eye out for any opportunities to get away. Something to duck behind or somepony to run to. I'm sure something would present itself soon.

We trotted over a crossroad. Things didn't look any better either side. Carts were strewn all over, signposts were sunbleached and unreadable, vegetation grew over buildings. An army checkpoint blockaded one of the crossings, and even that looked like it had seen far better days. Vines spewed out of the windows and nearly all the paint had been worn off of everything. No soldiers were in sight.

This was all wrong. Everything looked old. I could believe this borough falling into disrepair—even if this was extreme—but why on earth would the army abandon a post?

I could see up ahead that we were approaching a tunnel dug into a rocky outcropping, wild overgrown greenery sat either side of the road. Bizarrely, the mouth looked like it had been partially barricaded with old planks, leaving it only half open. Surely that had to be some kind of violation? It was obstructing the flow of traffic!

Make Do halted in her tracks as something rustled in the plants, I almost walked right into her rear end. She stared for a few seconds before snorting and carrying on. Strange mare.

The Unicorn cast a light spell as we squeezed around the wooden baricade and into the darkness. The inside of the tunnel smelled musty and there seemed to be more debris and trash inside than there was on the open road. Not too far from the mouth was a cart tipped over onto it's side, it's contents strewn across the ground. There was another baricade set up just a little bit past that, a big pile of sandbags a few hands tall, maybe a makeshift roadblock? There also seemed to be a weirdly high number of empty barrels all around, some of them looked like they'd been used for fires. This place had probably become a squat for homeless ponies, since it was pretty clear it had been a long time since any actual traffic had passed through. That didn't really make me feel too safe. Did that make me a bad pony? I knew the homeless weren't inherently bad, but that didn't make any of this any less weird and scary.

We continued in silence, only our hoofsteps echoing off the walls. We didn't see a single other pony in the tunnel, just more broken down old carts and piles of junk. As we rounded a corner the end of the tunnel came into view, lighting up the path ahead. "I hope you're prepared for this, Silver." Make Do said, breaking the quiet spell as her magic dissapated. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

I didn't reply. I was actually a little uneasy given the state of my surroundings. Everything just seemed like it was, for lack of a better word, old, decrepit, ruined. But being spellbound for an inordinate number of years was just preposterous, there had to be a reasonable explanation for all of this.

Right?

We stepped out into the light. Both sides of the road were densely lined with dead trees and shrubs. A single crow cawed somewhere in the distance. The road was full of debris with dozens of shopping carts strewn all over, crushed and deformed boxes and bottles littered the ground. The road continued on a shallow curve, a lone, rusted Barnyard Bargains sign rose above where the treeline obscured our path. The closer we got to the store, the more packed the road became with carts and trash, forcing us to weave through to carry on.

My ears flicked as the first drops of rain started to spit down. Very infrequent but definitely there. I think a raincoat would have been more useful that this 'armour'.

"I just want to say before we head up here that I did tell you." Make Do meekly spoke. "But I guess you just have to see it for yourself."

I tilted my head at her.

I followed Make Do around the bend, splitting off at a junction and heading up an on ramp to an elevated road, cutting over the buildings below but not quite cresting the tree canopy yet. It was a short walk even though we were trotting at a slower pace than earlier. Crumbling barriers flanked the roadway either side, presumably to stop anypony from falling off. The overpass curved, I would have said gracefully but I was quite worried by the fact that the concrete we were walking on seemed to already be in the process of disintegrating. I had to watch my step for holes, falling through was not on my agenda for today. After a little while the road straightened out and...

Oh.

Oh no.

The road carried on dead straight before it just ended, having collapsed. That gave us an unobstructed view ahead of Downtown Baltimare, maybe a couple of miles out. But it wasn't the Baltimare I knew. This wasn't the clean, shining gem of a coastal city that I called home. Even from this far away, even through the distant downpour that was drowning the urban sprawl, it wasn't hard to tell that it was all wrong.

A lot of the skyline was just gone. The Transequestria Tower looked to be missing a number of floors. The trade building was standing crooked, ready to fall apart at a moment's notice, many buildings looked to just be collapsed entirely. Actually a lot of downtown looked like it had been reduced to nothing but rubble, and everything was a sickly burnt grey. The shimmering glass skyscrapers and vibrant colourful streets were all gone, leaving only the sad, skeletal shell of a city behind. It wasn't just Downtown, the surrounding boroughs didn't look like they fared much better, with entire streets burnt and ruined. Just like Midtown was.

How could this happen‽ This wasn't an earthquake or tidal wave or wild weather, this was beyond a disaster! This was destruction on a scale I didn't know was possible. The whole place looked absolutely decimated. My shop, my home was in there somewhere. Oh Celestia, my home! My friends! My neighbors! My hind legs gave way as I took in the sight before me. I turned to Make Do, trying to ask how this happened, but I couldn't form the words. My mouth was slack, hung wide open, croaking. The sight of the ruined city had burned itself into my head, tearing me up. My insides felt like a void, like an indescribable weight dropping right through me.

"Balefire bomb." She said, seemingly knowing what I was thinking. "Megaspell smuggled in on a ship at the dock, I think. Something like that. Went off just by the University, it's still too dangerous to go near there for long."

I was numb, just staring ahead. I registered her words but I physically couldn't react.

"It was a big Zebra attack, megaspells got set off all over. Ended the war for everyone, just like that. Happened a few days into your experiment, if the logs are anything to go by." Make Do continued, sitting down next to me. "That was that. No more war. No more Equestria."

I didn't respond. I couldn't stop looking at the hideous scene in front of me, taking everything in. Even for seeing it, I couldn't believe the Zebra Empire could've actually ended it like this. It was too much to process. Detonating a balefire bomb in a population centre was unconscionable, it was inequine. The death and destruction caused, the toll, the suffering. I was left feeling hollow. I was left not feeling, there was a great absence of anything in me.

The rain started to patter down a bit heavier around us, the wind picking up.

"The uh, the changelog on your file was last updated about 64,000 days ago according to the data. The saved date makes that around 175 years and four months or so."

What was I supposed to do? How in Tartarus was I supposed to handle that information? 'Hey, you've been a statue for almost 200 years, also the world ended.' I was stuck, staring at the ruined city like it was a train crash happening in front of me. This was far and away beyond the worst thought I could conjure up comes true.

"I know this is a lot, but I don't think there was any way you'd have belived me without seeing. I tried to warn you." She said, standing up and slowly trotting away. I didn't look back at her, my gaze fixed on the destroyed city. "Come on, we should head back, the weather looks like it's going to get pretty horrible."

I was rooted to the spot, eyes forwards. I could hear Make Do walking away, but I didn't take any notice. I was transfixed, in shock.

"Silver?" She called back, probably noticing I hadn't joined her. "Let's go, we're gonna get soaked if we don't go now."

The wind was whipping up now, and lightning started to flash in the distance, beyond the city skyline but closing in quick. It cast a sick strobe over the ruins of my home. My mouth was working but I couldn't make a sound, I couldn't reply to Make Do, I couldn't whine or cry, just breathlessly mewl in disbelief.

"Lets move, it's gonna get bad out here." Make Do said, putting a hoof on my withers and pulling me back up. I put up no resistance, moving with the motion and standing back on all fours. I couldn't even think properly, dumbly staring at nothing in particular as I turned around, mind racing. "Stick close behind me, okay? The wind might have spooked some of the critters in the woods."

I was like a robot, dumbly following Make Do back to her home. In my state she could have been leading me anywhere and I'd have gone with her, like going through the motions. There was far too much going around my head to focus.

"Hey, hear that?"

I just couldn't believe it was all gone. I'd seen it with my own eyes, but I just couldn't come to terms with it. Even as we trundled back down the ramp I kept glancing back to see if anything had changed, to see if it was actually real. There had to be a trick or an illusion to it. There was no way an entire city could be destroyed like that. It had to be a lie. I needed it to be a lie. I needed it to be a lie because the alternative, if it was true-

"Let's duck down over there until I can work out what that is."

It had to be a lie, one big stunt. That had to be it, there was no way one bomb could destroy an entire city like that. It had to be some next level projection spell or something. Baltimare wasn't really destroyed. We'd get back to the shack, and my friends would be there and it will all have been a big joke. Everything would all be normal and I'd go back to my shop, and I'd tell Mrs. Chime about it next time she came in to browse and she'd feign shock and she'd gossip to all the other shopkeepers about it. I'd write a letter to mum and dad letting them know about the spell test and my time with this strange mare and the prank everypony pulled one me. Noite and Perfect would laugh at me and everything would be back to normal.

"Silver?"

An illusion. It had to be an illusion. This whole thing had to be one big elaborate hoax. Any minute now everypony would jump out and reveal that it'd been a big trick, and I'd be shocked and we'll all joke about it and go home. I just had to wait for-

"SILVER!" Make Do roared, gun in the air, snapping me back into reality.

CRACK
CRACK
CRACK

A cloud of gore burst up right in front of me, covering my chest and neck in blood as the mare blasted a group of grotesque pig-looking caricatures that had drawn near, far too close for comfort. At my hooves was the bleeding corpse of one of the creatures, flesh torn from the bullets. I started shaking, scared at how close these creatures had gotten to me, at how close bullets had just flown to me, of the angry looking unicorn with a shotgun. Two more of the things were lying close by, dead and bleeding. I suppressed the urge to vomit as best as I could. Make Do lowered her gun and came over to me, scowling.

"What are you doing‽" She shouted, now face to face with me. "I told you to stay behind me! Were you even listening? Radhogs are dangerous, they'll take your bucking leg off if you're not careful!"

I looked around, lost. These things bleeding on the floor around me, the armed unicorn, a killer, shouting at me, the abandoned wagons, the sandbag barricade. We'd walked all the way back through the tunnel and I hadn't even noticed. I could smell the blood on me.

"Y-you got me." I wheezed out. "Got me good."

"What?"

"If this is a joke, it isn't funny anymore."

"A joke?" Make Do said, anger giving way to confusion. "What joke? What are you-"

"P-please!" I yelped, desperately looking around for something, anything that would prove none of this was real. "It has to be a joke o-or an illusion, It has to be!"

A gnawing emptiness ate away at me from the inside. It had to be an illusion. I needed it to not be real. I needed it to not be real, because if it was real that meant no more home, no more friends, no more shop. No more Baltimare.

"It's not real." I muttered. "None of this is real. I'm on to it, you can drop the whole thing right now!" But nothing changed. It was still raining, the road was still ruined. The thing in front of me was still dead. Make Do was still looking at me bemused, like she wasn't in on the whole thing.

No one jumped out. The scene was still the same.

"This can't be happening." I whispered. "This can't be real. It's not real, it can't be real!"

There was no big reveal. No punchline. Only the drone of the wind and rain. My legs faltered. The implications hit me like a ton of bricks. There was no illusion. There was no more Baltimore. There was no more home. No more shop. No more customers, no more friends, no more neighbours. Everything was gone. It was just me, soaked in blood in the middle of a dead city.

This was really happening.

My mind swam, this was too much. I heaved and was sick all over my front hooves.

"Woah, woah!" Make Do exclaimed, steadying me. Everything was spinning. I looked up at her, and she looked at me with sympathetic eyes. "Easy there, you okay?"

"It really happened? The whole city?" I choked out. She nodded. "I-is everywhere like this?"

"Yeah, pretty much." She said with a sad smile.

We sat in the mouth of the tunnel for a moment. I stared ahead, vacantly. I don't know when I started crying but tears were streaming down my face, dripping off my chin. I backed up away from the mess, sunk down low and rolled onto my side, laying on the cold cracked tarmac. My insides were churning, I could feel a migrane coming on. If this was real everyone was gone. Mum and Dad, Perfect, Noite, Chocomel, Skipper. Everypony. Everypony I'd ever met. I'd never see any of them again.

"Everyone I know is dead." I stated. Make Do didn't respond.

I didn't even have a home anymore, nowhere to grieve, nowhere to think. Nothing. I had nothing and no one. I was alone on a dead world, and I didn't even get to say goodbye.

"I shouldn't be here." I mumbled to myself, quietly crying, sprawled out on the ground. "I should've gone with them."

"Don't talk like that." Make Do growled, audibly defensive for some reason. "You got saved, this is like a second chance!"

"'Second chance'. You said it yourself, no more Equestria." I spat, voice shaky, glowering at no pony in particular as my situation replayed itself in my head. "I wasn't saved, I was forgotten."

There was a moment of quiet, my sniffling and the sound of rainfall intermingled and echoed down the tunnel.

"I'm sorry." Make Do offered quietly.

"Why me?" I thought aloud. "Why am I here? I-I'd have been better off if the spell never ended." I drawled. "At least then I'd never know that things turned out like this. Dandelion has it good."

"Silver, please don't talk like that." Make Do said, trotting over to my side. "I'm sorry that you got dealt a bad hoof like this, but-"

"'Dealt a bad hoof'? A bad hoof‽" I said, anger rising as I pushed myself up to look her in the face. "This is beyond a bad hoof, Make Do. This is catastrophic, this is the worst hoof imaginable! T-t-t-there's no way it could possibly be worse! I-I-I've lost everything, e-everyone!"

I was looking her square in the eyes, furious, weeping. She was looking back at me almost expressionless, a glimmer of sadness in her eyes.

"S-so d-don't you dare tell me it's 'b-bad'." I said, jabbing a hoof into her chest. "Y-you couldn't possibly know what it's like. I-i-i-it's a disaster, i-it's horrifying, i-i-i-it's-"

I couldn't finish my sentence, I fully broke down. I sobbed and cried, all the sudden stress and trauma bleeding out of me. I wept, and ended up pressed against Make Do to stay upright as my energy and composure all but disappeared. My wailing echoed and bounced off the walls, eerily melting into the sound of the storm. I didn't pay much mind to it, just focusing on the severity of everything. Make Do herself was silent and stoic, but somepony to lean on was better than nopony at all.

Time passed, rain fell, nopony came.

I'm not sure how long I spent in that tunnel crying on the mare's shoulder, but after some time I'd reined myself back to just snivelling and husk of myself, hollowness returning. I sat quietly sniffing, looking out of the tunnel and off into the middle distance. My barrell ached, my eyes were burning and my throat was sore. I was a mess. I think I had a right to be a mess.

Make Do sighed and stood up, stretching out her legs. "We should go home." She said, trotting out into the rain. It was a downpour by this point, thunder and lighting only ramping up in intensity. Rainwater had started running into the tunnel like tiny rivers flowing down the gutters, intermingling with the blood and vomit to make the most godawful puddle.

I stood up, shaky and exhausted, ultimately empty. I resumed mindlessly following the Unicorn. As soon as I stepped outside my mane was plastered to my face and the jumpsuit was soaked through. The water was freezing. I slowly trotted forward, not thinking, just tailing Make Do back through the ruins of Midtown.

I did try and keep more aware of my surroundings as best as I could, though. I didn't want to get jumped by wild animals again. I seemed to be making a habit of that.

I wish this day had never happened. I wished I'd never signed on for the spell trial. I should've gone out with everypony else. I didn't belong here.

Make Do has joined the party.

New Perk: A Friend In Need - Is a friend indeed! Your endurance in increased by 1 point when accompanied by Make Do.