Fallout: Equestria - Wasted Innocence

Chapter 3
Buckingham

Being inside the building made me a bit uneasy. I had no idea if I could actually trust the pony who stood in front of me. A part of me was curious and wanted to explore the building, and another side of me screamed to tuck tail and run in the other direction. I considered turning around until I heard the doors behind me slide shut and click locked.

Well, shit, there goes that option.

I took a deep breath and tried to cast my nervousness aside. “I was told by a kind drifter that I might be able to get some supplies and medical attention here at...” My mind had already drawn blanks. Damn it, how could I have already forgotten the place’s name? What little confidence I had already started to fade quickly as I tried to fight the urge to look at my PipBuck to remind myself.

The stranger at the door looked me up and down as he cocked his head. It felt like he tried to analyze me, or I just confused him. In either regard, my confidence pretty much dropped to complete zero at that point. My eyes met his, and it felt like I had swallowed ice cubes.

"A kind drifter, huh? Are you sure you don’t mean a Wastelander, Scavenger, Settler, or… Raider?”

I nodded slowly, hoping the pony would believe me, but, at the same time, why should I trust him? My stomach twisted a bit. I was a nervous wreck, and I thought he knew it. I had no idea why I was even there, and, worse, I had taken directions from some stranger who could have sent me somewhere to get myself killed or worse. I had no idea what I was even doing. I couldn’t talk to ponies in 82, and I sure as hell wasn’t too much better making conversation outside.

“Well, filly, I think I know exactly who you are. I know for certain I know where you came from.” He moved his head and looked me over again. The knot in my stomach only became tighter as I closed my eyes. “You are one of those Stable ponies, ain't you?

All I could make myself do was nod my head again.

"Well, I'll be Goddess-damned. We haven't had a Stable-dweller in this little building of ours in quite some time. C'mon, let's go talk for a moment. I know a quiet area nearby so I can run some things by you, but I warn you, it's probably nothing you want to hear.”

My eyes shot open, and I looked at him in confusion. I had never had another pony willing to talk before—well, if you don't include Ivory, that is.

He gestured his head toward the inside of the building as he turned and began to walk along the wall. I took the opportunity while I walked to glance up at the floors above. I could see straight up through to a window at the top of the building and into the outside. Each floor was connected to a set of metal stairs. The inside looked huge, and I was only near the entrance. There was a mural from pre-war Equestria painted on one of the walls with the words 'Friendship is Magic' overlayed on it. It didn't seem like friendship meant much of anything outside. I followed the pony into his office, where he directed a hoof at an old broken-down chair while he made his way around to a desk with multiple rusty filing cabinets behind it.

"Go ahead and have a seat, filly. Let's start off with the most obvious of all of the observations anypony is going to make of you. You have the blue jumpsuit, the PipBuck, a toolbelt I can tell is embossed with the Stable-Tek name and logo but… you are a pegasus. What the hell was a pegasus doing underground and not in the sky?” He just stared at me after he finished his statement like I was supposed to have some kind of answer for him on that.

I was too nervous to sit. I had no answer to give him except for a light shrug. All I knew was that I lived there for many years, and then I was thrown out.

“Just start from the beginning. Where did you come from and how did you end up here, miss…?” The stallion stood and stared at me for a moment. I didn’t know where to start with any of it.

I took a deep breath and sat in the chair he had pointed to and started to rattle off the experience I had gone through. “Okay, first off, I came from Stable 82. They have this raffle thing where they kick a pony out of the Stable every so often, and I guess my number had just come up, or they got tired of me down there. Not too long after I had reached the surface, I encountered what I know now as a raider, and got myself injured pretty badly, a random pony helped me get back on my hooves and directed me to come here. That's pretty much all there is to tell.”

The stallion looked at me with a quizzical expression, looking a bit confused. “82? Right? I’m sorry to tell you this, filly, but I’ve never heard of a Stable 82 around here, or anywhere, for that matter, and I've been around these parts my entire life.”

My ears fell back and my stomach dropped lower. From the tone of his voice, I could tell he didn’t believe me.

"Hey, don't feel too bad, yet. I will give you a few words of advice for free, though.”

I directed my eyes up at him, keeping my head hung low, feeling like more of a complete failure as time passed. I couldn't even tell a compelling enough story to make the stallion believe me, and it actually happened.

“Listen, that blue jumpsuit is going to make you stand out like a sore thumb out there. You need to get rid of it pronto; against all of the grey and brown burnt-up wasteland, you might as well have a big orange target on your back. Don't carry anything around you don’t need. It’ll only slow you down. This means all the tools have to go, and you need a gun and need to learn how to maintain that gun. In order to survive, you will need to kill, or you will die,” he finished with a sigh.

I wasn't prepared for that at all. I felt like the entire building had just been sat on my shoulders. I was hoping the place I was told to come to would give me some kind of security, but his words weren't very reassuring. If anything, they sounded just like he intended: a very carefully worded warning that I needed to listen to. I was thrown out of a place of safety into the very bowels of hell. My stomach tightened at the thought of any place out there that could be worse than what I'd experienced already.

"Tools are the only thing I know, fixing things and replacing parts. I’ve never used any kind of gun before, I don’t even know how to shoot one.”

Valet chuckled again. "Aahh, well, you aren't gonna live very long out there then, but I can get you started, at least. First off, get rid of that bright blue clothing, just pull it off and throw it away. After that, I'll take you to meet Trigger, he'll trade you for your tools and give you a gun in return, maybe some caps to go along with it."

Get rid of my Stable uniform? I’d worn one of those jumpsuits ever since I could remember. I guessed I wouldn’t need it anymore, though, since I was longer part of a stable. I looked down at the blue cloth and reflective yellow stripes that covered my legs and felt a tinge of sadness run through my body for a split second. I guessed Valet saw it as well from the looks he gave me.

"I'll give you a moment," Valet muttered as he moved from his desk and out of the door, shutting it behind him.

It didn't take me long to have my saddlebags and wrench belt off and to get that Stable suit off. I walked out of the door feeling absolutely naked, having only saddle bags on and my wrench belt draped and hung over my body. It felt strange to feel the air against my coat and skin, my cutie mark of two wrenches and a nut in the middle being exposed. It all just felt a bit strange.

Valet nodded to me and walked through the building a bit slowly, explaining things to me as I walked alongside him. I got a lot of strange looks right off the bat though. I didn't like it.

"This area is the center entrance where we met earlier. Everypony refers to this as Escalator Commons. The shops surrounding the escalators are all places you can get a bite to eat if you ever feel a bit famished. Down here is Tailor's, she'll fix you right up with whatever clothing you want. Right across the hall here is Cobalt's Armor. That one is a bit self-explanatory. Then right here is a room to just tinker around in—you can use it to your liking."

I couldn't help but smile a little as I thought about the tinkering room. As I walked with Valet, I noticed a set of stairs that led down to a locked gate and a lone neon green arrow that pointed down. "What is that place, right here across from the tinkering room?” Curiosity was building up about each of the rooms, but that one seemed a bit more mysterious.

"You stay away from that one, filly. That's Changeling Hall. It's not a place for somepony to just be poking around in. Just trust me, don't be snooping around down there unless you plan to fuck a changeling." With that being said, he pretty much pulled me to the room at the end of the hall. At the counter stood an orange middle-aged pony with a greyish beard. He and Valet talked for a moment before Valet tapped the counter.

"Alright, put everything up here, he'll take a look at it and give you an offer."

I nodded and threw my wrench belt and saddlebags up on the counter, feeling like I was disconnecting myself from everything I ever knew. It was a saddening feeling, but maybe it was for the best. Those ponies knew how the world worked on the surface, and I just wanted to be able to survive out there as long as possible. The elder pony dumped the saddlebags out and began to go through everything.

"Ok..." the elder started, "15 wrenches, a leather belt, two drills, a buffer, 4 buffing pads, a bottle of steel cleaner, and rust-removing spray. I've got a weapon for ya." The elder pony left and came back with a long grey gun of some sort attached to a harness and a box of ammunition for it. "High-powered hunting rifle, magazine-fed, 6 rounds per mag, takes .308, fairly common round. It's already got a scope attached and tuned, harness worn, and it's got a biting bit, none of that tongue-operated shit. Take it or leave it.”

Before I had a chance to answer, Valet already snatched it off the counter and motioned me to follow him into the back of the shop. Following him into the back, there were 4 separate lanes with metal pans hung in the back. Stood about halfway down at a desk was a mare, a little older than me with a long blonde mane in a braid, her tail straightened. it really complemented her reddish color well in my opinion.

"Cyan, this here is Diamond Sight, she's the best weapons expert we've ever had the pleasure of knowing. You can give this mare a soup can and some string and she'll make a fully functional grenade out of it, so don't underestimate her," Valet explained as he set the rifle on the bench next to her desk. "Hey, DS, she needs to be fitted into this thing and be taught how to use it."

The reddish mare side-eyed me and sighed. "Honey, if you can't even shoot, then how have you survived out there so long? Let me guess, sheltered drifter? Privileged mare with a self-sustaining bomb shelter, or, no, you are just plain stupid."

"Now, now, Diamond, be nice. Our friend here is a Stable-dweller. She's just come into our area. I don't know her full story, but we will get to that in time. For right now, we just need to get her fitted and rested up if she's gonna make it out there."

"Val, you keep doing this shit, you're gonna get us all killed one day."

"I remember a little filly huddled up against an old railcar starving to death who needed help nearly ten years ago, and where is she now? Please, for the love of all things Luna, get her fitted. I've got other matters to tend to." Valet turned, winked at me and tapped my shoulder as he walked out of the room.

I didn't know what I was supposed to do at that moment. I stood right where I was and looked around the room until I felt Diamond Sight throw a piece of leather around my body, pull it tight around my chest, and make a mark on it. Before I knew it, she threw the leather strap around my abdomen close to my flank and pulled it tight. She had her head extremely close to my hind legs. I could feel my face heating up by the moment. I didn't understand why, but her just messing around with that strap was making my body burn up. I shook my head and tried to snap myself out of whatever trance I had allowed myself to get into.

"S-so, you make a lot of weapons here?"

"Not make them," she explained while she took a couple more measurements and messed with the straps on the harness connected to the rifle. "I fix them, modify them, make adjustments, and, in very rare cases if I had the parts, I restore them. Like right now, I just took several measurements of your body so that, when you fire this thing, the recoil doesn't send the entire thing flying off your body and break your jaw in the process."

"Break my jaw?" I thought of the possibility of my jaw getting broken as I moved my jaw back and forth a little. I definitely didn’t want that.

"You'll see." She chuckled as she moved the buckles around a bit. "Though, with a flank like yours… this thing should stay put."

My body tensed a bit and my mouth dropped open slightly at what she had just said. "A flank like… HEY! You aren't making fun of me are you?" My heart pounded in my chest a little and my whole body felt physically hot from the inside out. I still couldn't understand it.

"I wish I was, filly." Diamond picked up the rifle, threw it over my body, and proceeded immediately to pull the belt tight around me. I felt my body drop a bit and I stumbled a little due to the weight. "You'll get used to the thing, trust me. I used to carry around a rifle twice its size. Now, for one last thing." With a click, she fastened a device to the of the rifle. It took me a second, but I did recognize it from a book I once read on guns. Then, her comment about it breaking my jaw clicked all at once. I tried to look at her, but with the rifle attached to me, all I saw on my right side was the scope on the thing and the barrel that stuck out a good foot in front of me.

"Wait a minute, so this is what could break my jaw?"

Diamond Sight smiled and waved her hoof to one of the lanes to direct me where I needed to go. I reluctantly stepped up to a yellow line on the floor and took a deep breath.

"Okay, here's what you need to know: you pull this lever back to load one into the chamber. Remember, it won't fire if you don't do that. This button here will eject the magazine. You only have six shots. so...." Her words kind of faded out as my mind lost itself in thoughts I had never had before. Doing things I'd never thought about before with… her. And then, all at once, I came back to reality with Diamond Sight still explaining things. "...And I've already switched that off for you, so all you have to do is bite down on the bit, and away she goes.”

"Just bite down, huh?" I put the metal mouthpiece in my mouth, made sure my teeth were seated well, and gave the bit a good bite. Before I knew I had bitten down, I was sent flying back, stumbling over my own hooves, and landed on my side on the floor. I landed on the rifle and pinned my wing to the ground. It didn't hurt, but it didn't feel good. The crack from the rifle was so loud, that all I could hear was ringing in my ears and Diamond Sight's muffled laughter as she leaned her head down to make sure I was okay. I could barely hear what she said as I got up off the floor. The only thing I could hear was her muffled voice practically yelling in my ear.

"Go up the stairs and follow the number signs. Val prepped a room for you, number 204! Get some rest. Tomorrow he wants me to teach you to shoot!"

I nodded my head and walked out of the room, through the gun shop, and down the halls. I still couldn't hear anything, but I could feel ponies looking at me. It almost felt the same way it did in the Stable. It almost made me feel better to keep my head down. Walking up the stairs, I read the numbers to each room scribbled on scrap metal signs next to boarded-up windows. Room 204 was really close to the stairs. Sliding the glass door open, I saw it was a tiny room converted into a small apartment like we had in the Stable. I slid the door closed and let my body fall onto the bed, still wearing my saddlebags, rifle, and all. The bed wasn't bad, pretty comfortable in fact. Maybe those ponies weren’t so bad after all. My headache was slowly getting worse, but I didn’t think about it as I slowly drifted off to sleep.

***************************************************

"Three, Two, One, FIRE!"

I bit down on the bit and actually shot my target that time. I heard the frying pan ring out instead of my ears at that time. I stood there and smiled at the pan as it swayed back and forth. The end of the rifle smoking also made me feel pretty good inside.

"Good job, filly. You've come a long way, and it only took you a full box of ammunition to finally hit the target, but I think you get the gist of how that thing works. You can come down here anytime to just shoot. Hell, some ponies just shoot shit outside." Diamond went back to her desk and jotted some stuff down on a clipboard on her desk.

"Diamond Sight, I've got a question."

"Okay, shoot."

"Why are you and Valet so nice to me? I mean, you both are earth ponies, and I’m a pegasus."

"I'm going to stop you right there, Cyan." My ears laid back from the offense she had in her voice. "We may be wastelanders, but we aren't monsters. Ponies are ponies, end of the story, so whatever fuckery you heard about the different races, it ain't true." Diamond spun around and met me nose to nose with rage and pain in her eyes. "Val is like a father to me, and you will do good to never forget that. If not for Val, a lot of ponies would be dead, understand? Besides the wings on your sides or the horn on a unicorn's head, I and you and Val and every other pony in the Equestrian Wasteland are all the same.”

I stared at her with wide eyes and lowered myself to the floor a little bit, lightly shaking and afraid of what she might do. "I-In the St-Stable, everypony was ordered to treat pegasi like outcasts, lepers, something to avoid and treat with disrespect and disgust. That's why I asked."

Diamond took a deep breath and sighed. "Listen, you are on the surface now. I don't know what kind of fucked up shit goes on underground, but it's a little different up here, alot more ponies around to tell you exactly how they feel about you. You have a lot to learn. As for Val, let's just say he lost everything in a firefight a long time ago, his wife, kids, pets, everything. He fills that void taking in those who are more unfortunate than him. So don't ever think yourself better or lesser than us, and don't think we are all prejudiced against any pony. I'm sorry for getting so fired up but, ponies need ponies." She backed away from me and turned back to her desk, leaving me sitting there speechless. My mind ran a thousand miles per hour. I had nothing I could say at that moment.

"I'm one of you? We are the same? You don't see me as a useless pegasus?" A tear slid down my face in pure joy that she even went off on me. They didn’t help out of pity, they helped out of love and friendship. "Thank you, Diamond."

"You really think you are useless? If you truly were, you wouldn't have your cutie mark yet. What do you think that means? You are destined for something, Cyan—we all are. So, keep that in mind next time someone tells you that you are useless. Stable dwellers are told how to think , what to say, how to feel. Out here, it’s all from experience. Free will for lack of a better term."

Her words cut through me like a well-sharpened knife. It almost hurt. "What's your story? What happened to you? Why are you here?

Diamond turned away from me, still with a serious expression. "My story? My parents were murdered, brutally, strung up, and gutted like game. Those who killed my parents took me far away from my home, dragged me halfway across Equestria, and used me as a piece of meat, over and over, and then they…” Her words trailed off into a distant mutter. Her expressions changed as if she was looking at something and fell to her haunches looking up with widened eyes. She swallowed hard and continued muttering. Her mentality had to be deeply scarred to snap out of reality that quickly. “Im sorry, no more please. I can’t do it anymore.”

She looked like she was reliving her torture repeatedly withen seconds.. I moved a bit closer to her side. I was going to try to see if she was alright until I saw the tears running down her face, and I knew, at that moment, I couldn't do anything to help. I turned and walked out of the room. As I made my way through Buckingham, I looked at the other ponies who walked around and wondered how bad their story was and what they had been through. It hit me all at once that Equestria was not the hellscape they told us it was in the Stable. It was worse. Far worse.

Already, I could feel an overwhelming amount of sadness from Diamond's story, disbelief of how bad it really was out there in the wastes, and the fact that I couldn’t stay here forever, that I would be back out in it soon, I really didn't much more of a hit to my mentality.

Not paying attention to where I walked, I ran straight into somepony, face first right into their side, which caused my rifle to jab them. I stumbled back a bit and rubbed my nose, feeling very embarrassed.

"I-I am so sorry! I didn't see you there."

The pony turned to look at me, unfazed. It sent chills through my body. They were a bit taller than me and had bright glowing eyes, a jet-black body, and translucent wings with a horn that looked like it was covered in holes.

"Did you come by for a good time, baby?" The pony-like creature smiled and showed longish fangs that stuck beneath its upper lip. "I sense you've got somepony in mind you'd like to have all to yourself. I can do things your wildest dreams couldn't."

"Th-things?" I asked, clearly shaken up a bit, as I took a step back and fell back onto my haunches, feeling weaker by the second

"Let me see what I can do." They closed their eyes and looked up toward the ceiling as green flame-looking magic surrounded their body. It started at their hooves, and, in a flash, the magic dissipated and left the Creature looking just like Diamond Sights. The more I looked at her, the less I had control of my own body, and I fell into a bit of a trance until I heard the sounds of guns cocking on both sides of my head. I shook my head and looked up at the creature, who now looked a bit pissed, but left me feeling depressed. I really didn't care about anything anymore.

I got myself off the floor and looked at two security ponies who held guns to the pony’s head. Further realizing my surroundings, I noticed the same green arrow Valet warned me about earlier. So, that creature must be a changeling. So, if they can turn into anypony you want without you speaking a word, then why did I feel so bad right then?

"Go back to your room and stay there." One of the security ponies barked the order at me.

Nodding, I turned and headed back to my room. I didn't look around or observe, I just followed the order. Once I reached my room, I just sat on my bed and stared at the wall for a bit. It felt like I sat there for hours before I began to feel any better. I allowed myself to lay back on the bed and close my eyes, but, just as I closed my eyes, I felt my bed move as if somepony had sat on it.

"So, I hear you had a run-in with Spell Caster, our strongest changeling."

Thank Luna it was only Valet. I don't think I could have handled anyone else at this point.

"You probably feel terrible right now. But that's what they do, they suck the love right from your body and feed on it."

"I'm starting to feel better a little, but it's a strange kind of better. I'm not as jumpy as I was when I first got here, but maybe that's because I'm starting to get used to this place." I never took my eyes off the ceiling to look at Valet. I didn't see any reason to at that moment. My eyes were more fixated on one of the fluorescent lights on the ceiling in the makeshift room that had been slightly flickering and had caught my attention. It was a long one with a broken and dirty plastic lens that covered it. "You called them Changeling before, and you said they feed off of love and that ponies will pay good money to have sex with them. I don't get it." I crossed my forelegs over my face in frustration. "I feel this bad just coming in contact with one, and ponies pay to be used by them? Nothing I once knew makes sense anymore."

"I warned you, you have to learn to adapt out here. Just stay away from them and you'll do okay during your visit here." Valet stood back up and started to head for the door. "I've got some business to attend to. Is there anything you need to be more comfortable here?"

I slowly uncrossed my forelegs from in front of my face and looked directly back at that flickering light again. "That light needs to be fixed. It looks to have a bad ground or maybe even a bad wire somewhere. The bulb is fine, seeing that it’s not dimming or chasing," I mentioned as I pointed a leg up at the ceiling. "There’s no sparks, and the connections between the bulb and the sockets are good. The flickering is just annoying."

Valet stopped dead in his step and turned to look at me. "You can tell all of that just from looking at it? I just assumed it was broken."

Looking right back at him, I gave him a bit of a confused look. I didn't know if he would believe me or not, but I did spend most of my life making repairs. "Well, yeah. Electrical, plumbing, communications, a whole slew of stuff. You can tell a lot from stuff just by looking at it if you know what to look for."

Valet smiled at me, almost excited. "Interesting. Maybe you can help us out with something. For now, just get to feeling better and we can talk later."

I nodded and closed my eyes, letting myself drift off into sleep.

**************************************************

I opened my eyes and looked up at the door to Stable 82, staring directly at the yellow numbers painted on the grey gear-shaped door. Looking around my surroundings I noticed there were no tunnels, no trees, or buildings, there was nothing in sight except this big gray door, the dusty ground and the wind violently whipping my mane and tail around. I couldn't move or speak. I tried to force my wings to open but my body wouldn't react at all, I couldn’t even feel my body. The alarm for the Stable door rang out louder than I'd ever heard it distorting echoing through the vast nothing. The door gave a shrill screech as it slid back and rumbled when it rolled out of the way opening up to completely to a black void behind it. Everything went silent making my heart sink. I heard voices from the void calling out "It's all your fault" louder and louder. I looked down to see blood running from the bottom of the door and pooling at my hooves. Tears ran down my face. Looking back up I saw Diamond holding a gun in her mouth smiling.

“You don’t belong here. You don’t belong anywhere!.” A voice boomed from the blackened void where the stable door once sat. I clamped my eyes shut tears now pouring down my face. I repeated over and over in my head that this wasn't real, it couldn’t be. Slowly reopening my eyes everything was gone except the stable door, dust-covered ground, and the green cloud-filled sky, but the clouds seemed to be moving unnaturally. Looking up at the door my head began to ache again. The vault door began to melt slowly turning from a thick iron door to a running stream of blood, the 82 was soon covered in the red liquid. A green flame burst from in front of it and materialized a pony figure who I recognized, Val.

“Well, Cyan didn’t I tell you, you were going to die in the wastes. Time to die” Val then disappeared and reappeared next to me holding a drill to the side of my head. “You may feel some pain.” With a loud whir, I could feel the drill begin cutting through my skull and the pain from it was unbearable, not being able to move or scream.

The overmare voice whispered in my left ear. “It's for your own good.” The pain from the drill made my eyes roll back and my teeth grinded. Now looking at the clouds they took the shape of a massive rifle aimed right at me. I heard the crack of the rifle and...

*****************************************************.

I sat straight up in bed gasping for air, drenched in sweat and trembling. My head was killing me and my back was sore not to mention my wing was starting to sting and my vision was beginning to blur back up again. I wrapped a foreleg around my face to block out the light and thought about being back in that shack with the nice mare that helped me when that raider attacked me. She made the world seem almost like nothing at happened. Her smile, the way she talked lightning fast, her light-hearted jokes. Light heart. Everything hit me all at once like a jolt of electricity.

"I forgot to see Nurse Light Heart," I mumble to myself as I get up off my bed and rushed down the halls the best I could. I tried to remember where Val said the medical bay was. I could hardly think from the sudden rushes of pain cutting through my head making me see what looked like electrical arcing in my vision. It was a struggle to force myself down the stairs and to the floor holding on the the rails the entire way down. every sound made my head feel like it was going to explode and echoed repeatedly.

Stumbling through the halls I attempted to try to see the Medical bay or whatever this ponies call it out here. Trying to force my vision to focus on resulted in more pain. Seeing straight wasn't an option as another challenge presented itself...Dizzyness. I tried to steady myself against a wall causing my rifle to scrape against the concrete as I walked. As much as I wanted to check my Pipbuck to find out my condition I wouldn't be able to see it if it was directly in front of my eyes.

I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, I just wanted to cry because of the pain, I fell forward and wrapped my forelegs around my head clamping my eyes shut and hitting myself in the forehead with the screen of my own Pipbuck in the process I laid there until I felt the sensation of flying. If my head didn't hurt so bad I'd say the feeling was pretty nice, I felt my body move a few times and then softly get sat down onto something soft. The pain in my head intensified and the only thing I could do was clench my teeth together and pull my hind legs up to my chest.

Breathing through my teeth I knew I had to sound like I was hissing in some sort of way. I instinctively wrapped my wings around my body and smacked at the buckles connected to my rifle only stopping after I felt the weight of it fall off and I could roll to my side. I felt tears roll down my face and embarrassingly enough I'm pretty sure I was drooling. I tried to open my eyes to find out I could no longer see anything except the electrical arcing.

That explains everything, I died in Stable 82 when the Spark Generator exploded and now I'm in hell paying for whatever I have done.

I felt a tug at my foreleg. I tried to pull back but it seemed like my body was no longer responding to any of the commands I gave it. I couldn't move anything. I felt a sharp pain in my leg a moment after and it seemed like all at once I started getting some control back. My body began relaxing and I could breathe normally again, my jaw wasn't locked into place anymore and my sight began coming back and clearing. After blinking a few times I could see the blurry figure of a mare hovering over me. I blinked more tears out of my eyes and saw there was a unicorn mare looking down at me, she looked just like...

"Ivory?" What was she doing here?

"Ivory? Fuck no filly my name is Nurse LightHeart and you sugercube have a massive concussion and you need plenty of rest and a healing potion or that swelling in your head is never going to go away and in the long run it'll get you killed."

"Ivory said I needed to talk to you."

"And talk we will but first open your mouth and drink this."

I looked at her wondering if I should trust her or not but opened my mouth anyway, I didn't have any time to think before she shoved a glass bottle in my mouth and a bitter and disgusting tasting liquid dumped down my throat, I thought I was going to throw it all back up into the bottle at first. Once I had swallowed the last of the liquid I felt a few things throughout my body begin to feel much better, especially my head, suddenly there was no pressure, no pain and I felt like a brand new pony, even my wings felt good as new. Once the bottle was taken from my mouth I coughed a little and sighed

"What was that stuff, It's far different than what Ivory gave me."

The orange unicorn mare looked at me with borderline rage in her eyes. "It is different from what Ivory gave you, Ivory gave you IPs instead of healing potions, Ivory can't mix healing potions to save her life and always mixes them with other drugs, Ivory almost killed you! Just because you are feeling better does NOT mean you are better."

My ears just fell back and I felt like a filly getting scolded by her parents. "O-ok"

"First off what is a pegasus doing on the ground and not the sky, You better not be Enclave or so help me I will shoot you myself with your own rifle. Now tell me are you from the Grand Pegasus Enclave, Dashite, spy? Who are you?!”

“I am none of those things!” I snapped back, I was feeling quite insulted she brought me back to health just to interrogate me. “I don't even know what those things mean for one and for two Ivory sent me here to get proper treatment. If you have a problem then take it up with her.”

Nurse Lightheart scoffed clearly not believing me. “How could you not know who they are? They all think they own the Wasteland.”

“Look I’m from a stable ok? Yes, a pegasus from a stable. Why in Celestia’s Equestria is that so fucking hard to believe. I don’t kill, I don't steal, I don't do anything, I was a Stable repair pony, a technician, Maintenance. Why am I treated like I'm some kind of threat by so many ponies and others treat me like I'm just some kind of nuisance.” I thought ponies in this place were supposed to be friendly but I've been met with so much disrespect. “Don't piss me off or I might polish your bed rails.” I snapped mockingly. feeling the aggravation start to bleed over into anger, at this point I was starting to not care what happened to me out here as long as I wasn't seen as a problem.

Nurse Lightheart blinks a few times at me, her gaze changing from hostile to surprised. “A stable dweller? I didn’t realize. Wait.” She magically floated my foreleg up looking at my pipbuck then hastily looked over my body muttering to herself while I lay there in a mix of irritation and confusion “No branding, no scars. Feathers intact, no burn residue around the mouth, My goddesses I've made one hell of a mistake.” She fell back onto her haunches and placed her hoof on her face with her eyes shut. “I’m so sorry you look just like a mare that came through here a couple of years ago.”

Sitting up slowly I was now more confused than ever but still a bit irritated. “So do you threaten to kill every blue pegasus that happens to come through here?”

Nurse Lightheart shook her head looking away from me. “No she just, she killed My friends when we went on a supply run, Valet prohibits us from making those runs ourselves now, she was the same color, same color mane, same eye color, the only difference being hers was in a ponytail and her ear was scarred.”

My ears perked up and I felt every fiber of my being jump. “That scar. Was it in the shape of an X right behind her left ear?”

Nurse Lightheart nodded.

“Holy Hell on an Ice. That was my mother!”

Nurse Lightheart’s body visibly stiffened as she lowered her hoof from her face with a look of complete hatred, a scowl that made my blood run cold. I slowly leaned back to get some slight distance between us. “I thought you said you weren’t affiliated.” Her voice was low, almost like a growl. All at once it seemed like the whole world went silent and the only two left were me and her.

“My mother and I have never met, Same with my father, I grew up in the stable pretty much alone, sure I had ponies to teach me my job regiment but that's about the only ponies I had, there were like three of them that actually respected me, so no, no affiliation I swear.” Nurse Lightheart kept her serious glare on me as if it were my fault her friends died by the hooves of my mother

“If that were true, then how would you know about your mother's scars?” She wasn’t willing to let me go without making sure I was who I said I was; she was making this clear.

“Decades of being around the same ponies day after day, the memory kind of sticks to a ponies’ brain so of course I’ve heard about her, and I had pictures of her in my living quarters.”

Nurse Lightheart bit her bottom lip and looked around the room for a moment as if she was trying to think of the right thing to say, she still had the eyes of a pony who wanted to tear my head off. “I think, maybe, you should just go. It’s better you give me some time to think. You may not even be the Pegasus mare’s kid, I don’t even want to think that this conversation came up, just go.”

Nodding I slid off the bed and strapped my rifle back on before looking back at the clearly Mentally torn mare. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. “Thank you, for everything.”

walking out of the makeshift clinic and heading down the hall I thought to myself ‘Maybe this place isn’t for me, maybe I should leave, find a broken-down house somewhere, and wait to wither away.’ Yeah right.

Letting myself get lost in thought I didn’t realize I was already in front of my door. I slid the door open and was ready to lay on my bed to see a note lying on it waiting for me.

“Cyan I have a surprise waiting for you on the roof, I need you to fly up to the roof as soon as you can. —Valet”

Are…you…serious. I can’t fucking fly