Balefire Equestria

This fanfic is inspired by Fallout Equestria, Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons, The Fallout game series, The TTRPG, The TV Show, etc, etc... I would like to clarify that although several parts may be similar it is its own disconnected thing!

Chapter One: Hello, World!

“I just don’t know what went wrong!”

Berri woke up on the ground, face to the floorboard and wrapped in a nice, warm blanket, her own saliva coating her cheek. Despite the discomfort of her awakening, (and the minute-long struggle with that apparently endless blanket wrapping,) she felt great. Though feeling great was no surprise, who wouldn’t in her situation? She was one of the richest ponies in Equestria right now! Everypony had always said war was horrible, and she normally wouldn’t deny that, but oh Celestia was it lucrative!

Every day ponies were buying the berries she grew. Her magic made it an effortless process, enabling her to grow and pick enough berries to outperform her competitors. She supplied ponies with “berries” from the lands the storm (a group of unhappy dragons who stumbled upon what was left of the storm king's army.) held domain over and whatever else fetched a good price. Recent additions to this list of unobtainable fruits were Pomegranates and Bananas. The more land those beasts took, the more she had a monopoly over, she decided the price, and she was the last thing keeping some ponies alive, or she'd at least like to think so. The only inconveniencing part were her employees, who she’d rather write off as a myth than properly acknowledge, which really wasn’t quite hard... She planned to eventually replace them all with robots; Mr.Handy units, preferably.

Unfortunately, fall was approaching and while it was her favorite season it did mean she’d have to put in a little more work if she wanted to sell pumpkins. Pumpkins were always unpleasantly expensive, war and higher demand didn’t remedy this, but they sold for the most when nopony else had them. During summer Berri could produce small, unripe, low effort pumpkins and sell them for almost double what a well grown pumpkin would during fall, and Berri had the talent to produce as many pumpkins as she wanted.

Berri wouldn’t have been capable of providing so much for Equestria if it wasn’t for her special talent, Berries. Everypony had always gotten vague talents, she even knew of a couple ponies whose talents were ideals or concepts, but Berri had seemingly won the lottery, getting an actually useful talent as opposed to some strange magical flourish or thing of that sort... It took some experimentation, but soon she figured out the reach of her talent and how to use it. She rarely questioned why her special talent only worked in some wacky definition of “berries” she didn’t understand, it only gave her a headache, she knew what she could grow, not why eggplant was on the table, but strawberry wasn’t. And Berri felt that, in the end, the only reason Equestria didn’t start rationing food was because of the surplus of berries that she provided, so temporarily disabling herself and her abilities with a headache seemed stupid.

She peeled herself off the floor, struggling to stand, the blanket wrapping and odd resting place having interrupted her blood flow. After resting against her bedframe for a minute (Resting time she later learned she didn't have to spend), Berri finally left her room, her only goal, like with every morning, was to freshen herself up for the day ahead of her. It was a short trip to the restroom, just down the hall. The floor that made up most of her home was a clean white tile. Everypony told her that a carpet would be better for her hooves, but until they told her why she wasn't gonna waste the time getting one installed.

No rich pony’s home was complete without a butler of course, and Berri had one hot hunk floating around, a Mr. Handy unit (which she had named ‘Rice Crisp’ just a month earlier,) that she had expected to come floating past as soon as she left her room, but it seems he was preoccupied with something, she hoped it was breakfast, he was one great cook... Among other things.

She slipped past the doorway and right into her restroom, flicking on the lights with a quick swish of her tail. The room was white, shiny, and sterile. Across the room sat the sink, and a mirror. While absentmindedly scrubbing her teeth of all grime and plaque, she got plenty of time to admire her own appearance... Berri was the pony she’d always been, but something was off? Of course, she scrutinized her whole face, taking everything in and trying to pinpoint what was so... Uncanny(?) about her appearance.

“No... Same pony Berri has always been.”

She’d always been a brick wall of a mare, a point of great insecurity, but that wasn't what was wrong with her this morning. She examined herself closely, trying to pick out whatever was the issue, coming up with nothing. She shifted curly purple mane with her hooves, trying to figure out if she was simply wearing her hair wrong, and still found not a single thing. Eventually she chalked it up to something being wrong with her lights.

Something was decidedly wrong. But quite inconveniencingly, Berri would have to push that aside, there were more pressing matters. Berri’s admiration (and study) of her face was cut short, just having finished brushing her teeth and wiping down her stunted horn when a robotic voice called her name. Alerting her to something. She spat out that frothy toothpaste gunk and made her way to the living room, where sitting across from a soft, a-little-bit-too-comfy couch was her television, the usual programming interrupted. It appeared something had gone wrong. Just one look and she understood what the fuss was about.

This, "fuss" -an understatement, perhaps the most devastating one of the century- being that Cloudsdale had been wiped clean off the map by a ball of rolling, all encompassing fire. It took a second to register but when it did Berri wasted no time fleeing her home, sparing her belongings not even the shortest glance, or even thought, before barreling out the door and onto the street.

She wasn’t a particularly fast pony, but she made up for it with strength. Thanks to some disproportionately large front legs -Big enough to be confused for those of a stallion- She oftentimes struggled when it came to running, routinely tripping whenever she had to do so if she wasn’t staring at the ground or already very familiar with where she was.

She didn’t trip this time, nor did she show that careful attention to her surroundings she so often did. No, she barreled right through anyone in her way, other ponies making the same short journey she was. Berri, unwittingly ended lives in this rush, every pony she knocked down or pushed over would never reach the safety of a stable.

She raced across a rickety wooden bridge that saved ponies from wetting their hooves in a small stream and up a hill. She had to be faster, survival was all that mattered, and if there was even a single pony in front of her she wouldn’t survive. Quickly she found herself standing in-front of an armor clad pony, he took one look at her, and another at her cutie-mark, (A trio of blueberries of varying sizes) and let her pass, moving aside for just a second to let her through a well protected gate, the threshold keeping anypony who shouldn’t enter the stable out.

It was a good few more feet before she stood at the top of the hill where the stable sat, overlooking the town on a metal gear-shaped platform along with a handful of other ponies. A high, long hiss came from beside her, startling her and a few other ponies on the platform before they began their descent. It was painfully slow, and Berri was panicking the whole time. In the distance, Berri saw the shield around Canterlot, little orbs and missiles pelting its surface. She was glad that the capital was safe from harm, admiring Equestrian ingenuity before her vision was obscured by a rolling magical frame sprouting from the cliff Canterlot was built on... Berri could only hope it held up well.

Before she got a good look at the aftermath of the cliffside detonation Berri was pulled into darkness, beginning a descent into the stable below. A part of her was frustrated she didn't get to see what happened, but she was mostly just glad she was safe.

The adrenaline of the situation finally wore off halfway down the shaft, she felt wobbly and infirm. So she sat, feeling a dazed...Looking around, a few other ponies stood nearby, she didn’t know any of them personally, but she guessed that would change in the coming years.

A new life, underground, surrounded by ponies she barely knew... A guaranteed easy life from here on out, where nothing could ever go wrong.

Berri was sure she was never going to see the sun or sky ever again, never gonna grow another plant... It was quite miserable to think about. The war took a lot from everyone... She knew that first hand, but ponies weren’t meant to be trapped underground… She let out a little sigh and shook herself. This is just how things are now, nothing she can do about it. Everypony else had already left the shaft, she was just holding things up.

Berri steeled herself and took her first steps into the artificial light of the stable and into a new, less lonely life.

xxxXXXxxx

"It’s so... Cold? I’m cold? Why am I cold? Where am I? I looked around, finding nothing but darkness, in front of me, and dark, cold steel to my sides. I pushed my hooves against the wall(?) in front of me, feeling weak... Was I buried alive? Why is it so cold? My hooves hit something that felt less metallic. Glass? It felt like glass, cold, wet glass... Why would somepony put glass on a coffin? Why did anypony think I died? How long have I been in here? I mean... I could still breathe! That was good, it meant that... I was gonna slowly suffocate in here. Great... Maybe this is the afterlife? Dark... And Cold... This definitely wasn’t as advertised. This? This for all of eternity? I figure I might deserve eternal nothingness a smidgen… I mean, if not for scamming hundreds and hundreds of ponies, then for every zebra life I took... I really figured that wasn’t going to matter... But apparently it did! At Least it didn’t hurt, that’s a plus! And I can think, and I still have a body, and a horn... And I can hear! I can hear a hissing! Is that a snake?? Oh god what if this is punishment? Eternal punishment with a snake?!"

The wall in front of me gave away, leaving me falling forward onto the equally cold ground... Every part of my body was freezing, my muzzle and hooves dripping with ice-cold water. I scrambled to my hooves and looked around, and to my immediate embarrassment found rows and rows of naked ponies, all drenched in water and lying limp on the floor. I expected somepony to stand up, but nopony did. I looked to my left, at the closest limp pony and realized they weren’t breathing, further examination revealed that nopony was, except for me.

The lights were dim, and the air left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. I looked back, towards the seemingly endless row of ponies, hoping my eyes would find a wall. I didn’t. As far as I could see was lifeless pony after lifeless pony, slowly fading into darkness. With nothing else to do I sat down in contemplation, digging through my memory to try and figure out what’s going on.

Quickly I dug up some memories of entering a stable, but at a point my memory seemed to hit a wall, any attempt of recalling what came after being met with disappointment.

“Good Morning everypony! Welcome to day one of your future!”

A tinny voice interrupted my thought, crackling from all around me, I could only guess it was the voice of a very charismatic pony... Reminded me of somepony I’d swear I’d heard in the movies once, or maybe the radio?

“Alright, everypony, let me conduct a vital check on all of you, and we can get started!”

The voice went silent, and for a brief moment, I was left alone with my thoughts.
Before I was truly given room to resume thought, there came a hiss, from the better lit side of the room, and a door began to slowly slide open.

“Alright, stay still! Our pal here will give you a once over; and then you can leave the room and get started with your assignments!”

I expected somepony to come in, but instead a robotic, arm-like structure descended from the ceiling. At the tip of it, where you’d expect a hoof or maybe a hand, was a little black ball, a sensor of some sort, I assumed. The arm quickly slid to the side of the room nearest the door and started scanning the soft, limp ponies on the floor. It takes just a second for each pony, and then it moves on to the next.

“Ah, that’s not good! Don’t worry everypony, a few not-so-alive ponies are to be expected! We’re working with crazy new tech here!”

The arm slowly made its way my direction, scanning every dead pony along the way, flipping back and forth and meeting disappointment every time.

The arm was one or two rows away now, I was starting to feel unwell.

“Experimental tech... Amirite?”

After a minute of the scanner finding limp corpses if rested on me, the center flashing red before moving on. I took that as me queue to get out of the mass graveyard I had so unpleasantly emerged in. The walk out was unpleasant, it felt strange seeing so many dead ponies all lined up without a signal injury. While I passed I noted that most of them were unicorns... It made sense considering how close to Canterlot they were.

“Sweet Celestia, are all of you dead?”

After far too long I finally exited the dark room, finding myself in the well lit hallway it hung off of... The contrast of the two rooms was immense, the lights bright enough to hurt my unadjusted eyes and the hallway itself comparatively warm.

“Oh! Sorry, I must’ve missed you getting scanned... Good Morning..."

The voice paused, likely trying to remember my name.

"Berri! Welcome to your new life... Alone, from how it seems... Would you please walk to your left? There will be a room for you down the hall, clothing for you in there. We can talk more when you’re done getting clothed!”

I slowly walked down the hall, feeling a little bit weird. The floor beneath me was cold and hard, just like everything else here. The whole hall felt sterile, lights seemed brand new, the floor clean and unscuffed, even the walls appeared to have never been painted before. Every few feet there was a poster most of them calling for unity and strength between the ponies of the stable. One or two of them reminded me to bathe often and flush the toilet.

My room was the first door to the left, I had a feeling that I was probably originally supposed to be a few rooms down, but with everypony being dead I’d been assigned to the first room, I wasn’t complaining though. The door slowly slid up and open, introducing me to a red carpeted room. I stepped inside and looked around, it wasn’t nearly as big as my home, but it had all the proper amenities, and looked quite luxurious. On the table sat a little gift basket, and a folded, almost shiny jumpsuit. Said jumpsuit was a nice blue color that I could only describe as BLUE, the gold accents assisted in my realization of where I was, an extremely unorthodox stable. That was one of the few ideas that flew through my head when I left the dark, cold room, but a military compound was higher on the list, and honestly preferable. After struggling myself into the form fitting, slightly uncomfortable rubbery suit, I quickly vowed that I’d rid myself of it, no matter how good it makes me look.

I gave the rest of the room a quick look, a pleasant little kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom, and what might be the most sparsely decorated living room I’d ever been in. If I was gonna stay here, I’m gonna have to find something to put in here, fast. Which probably started with me leaving this room to talk with... Whoever was so lucky to be the owner of that voice.

“Alright, scanning is mostly done, and from the looks of it, you’re the sole survivor... Which is bad, really, really bad... Regardless, welcome to your first day in Stable 111, and, I’m afraid, it isn’t gonna be a long stay.”

The voice went silent for a moment, and I took the moment to look down the well lit hall. There were a few markers here and there, telling me where things are, a mess hall, security, so on and so forth.

“Stable 111 was meant to store whatever talented ponies we could spare, and save them for later... Y’know, later, as in now. Right now. Please, follow the markers on the wall to the Overseer Office . We had trained some of the ponies in here to help you put on your pip-buck and train you for proper use, but it seems I have to, and you’re gonna need it.”

I started on my way down the hall, and the voice continued.

“Unfortunately, Stable-tec has failed to issue the all-clear for this stable... And, that makes it our job to conduct said all-clear for everypony else... It’s our duty as employees of Stable-tec, and I do mean me and you when I say we, because that’s part of the contract… Well, the contract for ponies that pay to get in, because apparently stable one was just too far away for you.”

I guess I’d been in shock this whole time, because I suddenly felt that crushing weight of well, everything... Regardless, I kept walking.

“Everything I know just got blown up, and I got lied to? I didn't sign up to get frozen solid. And all these ponies, these talented ponies, just died here? If I’m the sole survivor of this stable, then who am I talking to?”

I didn't voice my thoughts, sure that my questions would be answered in due time.

The voice continued its exposition, “We weren’t supposed to be down here so long, and I’d give it another year before the other Stables start experiencing the issues that come with a gene-pool made up of so few ponies...”

I wasn’t quite sure what the voice was talking about, and I think I’m fine with that. I had my own things to think about. It took everything I had not to just sit down and cry, I could barely even remember what happened, it was all a blur, but I definitely felt it all. Eventually I formed a question, I figured it was important enough.

“How long has Berri been down here?”

I dreaded the answer, hoping it’d only been a few days, maybe even weeks, but I knew better. Maybe a good ten years? Twenty? Thirty? Thirty seemed plausible. It took a few seconds, but eventually the voice responded,

“Two hundred and ten years.”

Now that couldn't be right...."Could you repeat that?" I requested.

“Two hundred and ten years. Give or take a couple days.”

The voice repeated.

"I hadn’t even considered living for another twenty years, but here I was, a centenarian. A double centenarian? Was that how it worked… Do I even care?” Apparently there were more pressing matters though, well, at-least, the voice seemed to think so.

“Berri, do you realize you’re referring to yourself in the third person?” The voice asked, it wasn’t a question I quite enjoyed being asked, because that means there’s either something wrong with me, or this is an annoying prank.

Berri isn’t referring to herself in the third person… This isn’t funny.”

The voice seemed to agree with me on the not funny part, which was good, I’d rather not be laughed at.

The rest of my journey down the hall was silent, I was sure whether that was because the voice had nothing more to say, or if they simply wanted to hold off any more conversation until we met face to face. Of course, the silence gave me more time to focus on the more important things, like how much I hated these clothes. I really, wholeheartedly, despise stable-tec for inventing this clothing… It’s a shame that anyone who I could’ve voiced my complaints to is probably dead. Before I knew it, I was at the proper door, I took a good second just standing there. I didn’t have a good reason for it, but this was my first face to face interaction in… give or take, two hundred years. I mashed my hoof against the big green ‘open door’ button and waited just an uncomfortable millisecond too long before stepping into the overseer office.

It was remarkably empty, there was a big desk, a couple black monitors faced the door, and that was basically all…

“One second Berri… Sorry I would’ve had this open before but It requires a registered pony to enter the room before I can let you into the uhm, super-secret-stable-compartment-where-we-hide-all-the-awesome-stuff… Trademark Stable Tec.” The voice mumbled out that last part… The name really wasn’t that bad…

While the desk laboriously raised itself from the floor and revealed whatever hides beneath, I took another look at the near bare room, to its credit, there was a coffee pot, but other than that? Disappointingly unfurnished. By the time my rigorous examination of the coffee pot had finished, the desk had raised high enough for me to get under, it wasn’t quite done rising, but I wanted to see who I’ve been talking to. There was a short, dingy looking flight of stairs before me, and a descent into an inexplicable darkness… Well, it was probably perfectly explicable, but I really just didn’t like how dark it was.

As soon as I started to descend the stairs, the voice returned, although now it had a source that wasn’t every intercom and speaker in the whole stable… It hadn’t lost its tinny quality though.

“Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you my name, since I already know yours and all… I’m Ice-Cream Sandwich…” The voice… Ice Cream Sandwich, informed me.

I took a few more steps, and was greeted by a mass of electronics. I didn’t know much about anything that made up that mass, but I did recognize a big screen with a familiar looking stallion on it… Wasn’t sure where I knew him from, it was honestly weird, all things considered.

“I’m Stable 111s resident AI! And, most likely, the final AI ever created! That makes me cutting edge technology! I… I made that sound like every stable has an AI, but this is pretty much one of the only few stables with an actual AI, Not the point though. Now, hold your questions, we’ve got some very important business to get to. Hold out your hoof please!”

I hadn’t done much more than stammered, I didn’t have any questions, just various flabbergasted exclamations I couldn’t quite force out of my throat. Eventually I gave up on responding and just offered him a shake of my head.

I lifted one of my front forelegs up, grimacing as a couple metallic claws descended from… Well, it wasn’t the real ceiling, more of an artificial one made up of wires, tubes, and other… things. In one claw was a bulky object, I couldn’t quite make out what it was, but with what I knew of Stable-tec, I could probably guess. The claw rested on the brightly colored pip buck just above my hoof, one claw pushed the straps together, while the other fiddled with a latch on the bottom, pulling the two sides tightly together around my leg. The inside was comfortable, at least, I could definitely put up with this as opposed to the clothes I’d been provided.

“That, Berri, is a limited edition Pip-Buck! How limited? It’s the only one! I made it! I know you’re curious on how I did that while confined to this room, but they left me here for two hundred years with a connection to every single government project, and bit of un-finished research they could get their hands on, and then I dug up even more by myself! I optimized myself, and I could use the little bits left over for whatever I wanted, and they left me hundreds of pip-bucks to give all of you, and so many robots and-”

I really didn’t care much about what Ice-Cream was going on about, I was more concerned with fiddling with the pip buck I just got. I hadn’t gotten one for myself, but there were a couple ponies I knew who had them, I don’t quite remember why I never bought one.

“Anyway, that would be the… Pip buck Epsilon! Do you like the color?”

I really didn’t like it, it was garish at best. But it would be rude to voice that, so naturally, I lied.

“Berri thinks it’s nice… Thank you Ice-Cream Sandwich.”

…

After anywhere between twenty minutes and several hours of Ice Cream Sandwich talking about every little thing he’s done in the past two hundred years, including curing several major diseases, making several blueprints for complex, almost space age technology, and coding several programs, we finally moved on to something important, all those other things were important of course, just to somepony who wasn’t me… Maybe me two hundred and ten years ago, but at this time it just really didn’t concern me.

“Sorry about that Berri, it’s just, I’ve had nopony to talk to for a long time, even AIs need stimulating conversation! But don’t worry about leaving me down here, I’m on your pip buck… I can see and hear everything you do! And we can talk, which is good, because I don’t think I could spend another week without somepony to talk to… Anyway, that brings us to the important part; You’re going to have to leave soon, I’ll equip you with everything you can carry, but I’m afraid I don’t have much to offer other than that. We had some survival experts, and some great teachers, but I’m neither of those things. Regardless, You’re going to have to make your way to Fillydelphia, to the Stable-tec hub building, hopefully it’s still in working order, but we don’t need it in peak condition to broadcast the all-clear. You can go ahead and leave now, as much as I’d love to keep talking, we really need to get started, we’re already at least one hundred and twenty years late. Alright Shoo, Shoo now, Get out.”

I had just made my way through the door out of the overseer office when I heard Ice-Cream sandwich’s voice, this time coming from my pip buck. It sounded a little less tiny than from every other source, something I couldn’t bring myself to question.

“Hey, Berri, I forgot to tell you this, but you’re also technically the overmare of Stable 111 now, which doesn’t mean much, but it’s still a prestigious role to have… It also double solidifies you as an employee of Stable-tec.”

After that, it was pretty silent, I wasn’t in a big rush, nor was I interested in looking around, I wasn’t really excited about going outside… I definitely felt like a relic from the past, I wasn’t feeling physically old, I felt like I’d at most aged a day, but my head had this passive throb, not unlike a headache, just less utterly devastating to my psyche.

I wasn’t sure how long I just lingered around, I occasionally took a few steps, but I hadn’t made much progress towards anywhere important before Ice-Cream sandwich got fed up with my lack of productivity.

“Berri? Are you gonna go to your room? That’s where the saddlebag I prepared for you is… There’s lots of ammunition, food, and a firearm in there. You might really need it!”

I wordlessly made my way back to my room

I was immediately rummaging through the sack, sorting and moving things about, curious. I didn’t know what was packed for me, but I was particularly curious what gun Ice-Cream sandwich had given me… Maybe it was a superweapon that called rays of death from the sky… Wouldn’t that be cool? It was really disappointing to be met with what might be the most ‘gun’ gun I’d ever seen. It was definitely meant for civilian use, which means it was perfect for me, but I didn’t like it. A 10mm handgun, everypony with a drop of paranoia, worry, or anxiety in their veins had one of these, they never saw the war, which was probably a good thing, because they would’ve gotten everypony killed.

There were also a few cans of cram in the bag, which I placed on the table to consider. I don’t know what cram is, but it seems like meat, and I’d rather not eat mystery can meat, ponies aren’t meant to do that. I should ask somepony what cram is… I should have asked somepony what cram is… They probably don’t make it anymore

I didn’t end up leaving the cans of cram behind on the table, it's probably a collectors item now… The can itself is probably worth a good hoofful of bits, and the stuff inside? Tons.

While I re-organized everything and put it back into the saddlebags, I tried to remember where I knew Ice-Cream sandwich’s voice before… Although all I could come up with is food, for some reason. Rocky road, bologna, potatoes, grapefruit…

“When I have the time, I’m gonna grow a grapefruit, I haven’t had grapefruit in, well, two years before the bomb, two hundred and twelve after.” I thought to myself

Eventually I gave up and just asked him, he was an AI, and last time I checked, they don’t make their own voices, he needed some sort of model, all of them always needed a voice model.

“Berri is curious… Your voice, Berri recognizes it… Who’s is it?” I probed

Ice-Cream sandwich responded immediately, although his tone was much more flat than usual. Probably an automated response.

“My voice is provided by Cheese Sandwich, the party pony! Cheese Sandwich is also the model of the Stable-Tec mascot… Hope this helps!”

It didn’t mean much to me, but it was still nice to know.

xxxXXXxxx

The air was gross and humid, every step was a struggle against mud, and Berri generally couldn’t be more uncomfortable with her surroundings. Mosquitos bit at her skin, trying to draw a little bit of blood, and all around her was swampy, disgusting water. There were ponies who could deal with swamps, Berri was not one of them.

Ment-als rendered everything in a much starker, sharper filter than she was used too, but there wasn’t much to look at, so the benefits were mostly lost on her, they tasted nice though, she could probably dump a whole tin of them into her mouth right now if she wasn’t worried about not having any for later. You need to be able to see, feel, and hear everything a lot better in a swamp, especially a swamp that took out everycreature you were already traveling with.

Berri and a handful of other well-trained mis-fits were dumped into a storm-invaded stretch of swamp, and it’d slowly picked off everyone else until she remained, it was too late to turn around though, Berri didn’t know which way to go, the only thing that mattered now was finishing the mission, then she could get back to safety and shovel as many ment-als as she can into her mouth before going on another excursion.

During the whole mission Berri wondered why she couldn’t be given a suit of power armor, that would make this all a breeze. She’d been lucky enough to be deployed in one before… They told her it’s because it would make moving around in a swamp hard, but she wasn’t quite sure that was the truth, she thinks the real reason was because this was a suicide mission, probably meant for the shadow-bolts more than her. The swamp had already taken out a griffin, two changelings, and badly injured a Kirin early on, luckily enough they hadn’t been far enough in for that to become a burden. Problem is, that left her alone when the changelings and the griffin died, and the swamp water and hostile territory made any communications impossible. It wasn't supposed to be this bad in the first place!

Sunset was nearing, that was bad, low visibility was really, really bad, and she wasn’t sure if sleeping in the swamp was a good idea, she’d probably drown or something. So she pushed onwards, annoyedly stomping through the mud, the fear and helplessness she felt put themselves to rest hours ago, and now she just wanted to be through with it.

Landmines work surprisingly well on stomping ponies in swamps, they could fall, or just not see the mine under mud or shallow water. Berri wasn’t even watching for landmines, the previous traps were a little more barbaric than landmines, there was even a pitfall.

Berri unwittingly walked straight into a minefield, she’d circled around it twice by accident, and only decided to go through it because she was feeling lost. Every step was a major risk, and Berri wasn’t a very lucky pony, or an observant pony, really she should’ve turned around as soon as the rest of her group was dead, but she didn’t, she pushed onward.

If somepony were to, say, get their hooves blown off, and get crippled in this swamp, they’d probably bleed out alone. Berri hadn’t realized how miserable of a death that would really be, the swamp water would infect the injuries if anyone had found her, and there’s a chance it would be a zebra. So, when Berri carelessly blew herself up, there was nothing she wanted more than to die.

Every second hurt, it hurt so very bad, she knew her hooves were gone, and the stumps that were left over burned so bad. Swampy, disgusting water stung as it pushed against, and into, her injuries, and the little bugs that swarmed her landed on raw skin, probing her bloodied legs and stinging with every little twitch. Slowly, she bled out, the explosion wasn’t enough to blow her to bits, or to fatally wound her, it was just enough to cripple her and leave her bleeding, alone.

Darkness took its time, it could’ve just been ten minutes that she experienced in that shocking Mint-al blessed clarity, but it felt like eternity, and then she slipped into eternity.

And then she climbed back out again.

xxxXXXxxx

I found the weight of the saddlebags on my back and sides wasn’t as uncomfortable as I’d anticipated, which was certainly surprising judging by how much my pip-buck indicated it weighed, firmly reaching into a hundred pounds.

The presence of the bags slowly faded from my consciousness as I pressed through the stable. The elevator to take me out was on the complete other side of the bunker, it wasn’t the longest walk I’d ever taken, but it was boring. The whole way the walls were mostly un-decorated and ugly, and the few posters they had in rotation were a visual snoozefest. I honestly couldn’t wait to be out of here.

While I walked, Ice-Cream sandwich decided to tell me about Stable-tec Arcane Targeting Spell -Also known as S.A.T.S.- which supposedly slowed down time to allow better aiming and assessment of a situation. It sounded quite useful, but I wasn’t sure if aiming was gonna be a problem for me, even with my… Perceptive issues, I was quite a good shot, probably better than anypony else I’m gonna run into up on the surface. Unless this is all just a joke, a really cruel, sick joke. Or a dream… I would’ve rather had everything I’m dealing with been a dream… Eventually I found myself before a big gear affixed to the wall, it was classic Stable-tec branding, and also probably a waste of power, moving a big metal gear probably put a strain on whatever the Stable was powered by, and it was probably a waste of material, too. It was good for everyone that it wasn't meant to be opened and closed more than a handful of times… I’d personally hoped that the surface was habitable enough I could make sure the door was only opened once.

“Alright, Berri, let me walk you through this, your pip-buck has a key… Well, less a key and more a long cable meant to interface with electronics, but for now it’s a key. There’s this little console, on the left hoof side of it is all you’ll need to open up the stable; a port for your key, and a big red button. You plug the key into the console, let your pip-buck interface with the stable, you press the button, and then the door opens.”

Ice-Cream Sandwich instructed, honestly I could’ve figured it out myself, but it was nice to have help. I lifted the little cable in my magic and, as gently as I could, hooked it up to the console. In seconds the plastic shell protecting the big red button was lifted, then my hoof was lifted, and then the button was pressed.

I was happy with my button-pressing work for a second, but it was generally a short-lived moment. The whole room lit up with the colors and sounds of panic, orange and yellow flashed and spun around, casting waving, reaching shadows around the chamber as the big gear started to move, loudly pulling towards me before slowly sliding away to the side, the whole affair spooked me, and the sirens that came along with the door’s opening didn’t help. Eventually, the noise was over, replaced by the rusty noise of metal sliding on metal as a short bridge was formed between the two sides of the door. I shook myself from my shock and made my way along the yellow painted cat-walk that greatly reminded me of a cheese grater.

And now that I was out of the stable, it’s time to leave the stable, because Stable-tec decided to put an elevator here instead of just building into the mountain from the side, because that didn’t waste enough valuable war-time resources… Probably why everypony in the stable croaked, except me… Being the only survivor in a stable full of good, valuable ponies kind of stunk.

I don’t remember the rest of trotting through the stable when I first ended up here, but this room was familiar, I don’t quite recall what it looked like, because there were bright lights shining in my face, but now, with a proper view, its very un-refined, they obviously didn’t think this room necessary to clean up and thus didn’t give it the same treatment of the rest of the facility. It looked like the inside of a cave, dirty and rocky… I could feel grime underneath my hooves, and there was water dripping somewhere nearby. The big platform was already at the bottom of the shaft, I was glad I wasn’t gonna have to wait for the ton chunk of, Probably lead? To slowly descend down a two hundred year old shaft that’s been exposed to the elements and hasn’t seen a lick of maintenance since conception. There were bones on the surface of the elevator, I could make out the skull of a pony… I couldn’t help but wonder when that got there. Across from me was the console to move the elevator.

Stepping over the bones of a dead pony, I stood before the controls to the elevator, a single big red button. There were a lot of big red buttons in Equestria… Before the bomb. Without another second spent contemplating the prevalence of big red buttons in a technologically advanced society, and the generally not-so-advanced technology of big red buttons, I pressed the big red button. I had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the last time I got to press a button of this caliber, and the prospect filled me with joy. This time I was able to bask in the feeling of accomplishment, as the elevator was mostly silent. I sat with my back to the bones as the lift ascended, pulling me ever closer to the surface.

It was a long ride, and I was left with nothing particularly good to think about. The whole situation was miserable, and I found myself once again hoping this was some elaborate prank, or maybe a dream… Reality television?

I thought on it longer, “I mean, Reality TV is still up and coming, this is the type of thing to get lots of ratings and views. Ponies would eat this up! Especially somewhere like Canterlot… maybe Manehattan? I don’t remember auditioning for any Reality TV shows, but it’s fully possible. Some Ministry of Morale project? No, they wouldn’t… Not to a veteran.”

My mane was slowly pulled into the light, and then my face… It was dawn, cloudy… Everything smelled freshly rained on, and for a moment everything felt normal. In my absence a few trees had grown near the stable entrance, but none obscured my view of Canterlot. In the distance, perched on a cliffside, I could tell the once great city had slowly fallen away. The castle still remained, but it no longer bustled with activity, no little ant-sized ponies scuttling across the way and flying through the sky. It was nice and cool out, if everyone I knew -a very small handful of select ponies- wasn’t dead today would’ve been a great day to maybe have a picnic…

Silence was broken by rustling nearby, and the ringing of bullets far in the distance made itself realized. I fidgeted with my pip-buck and drew my own weapon, hoping that I wouldn’t have to shoot anything, not yet. I need time to accept what’s happened before I go killing ponies…

“Woah, calm down sweetheart, I’m not a threat”

A smooth, greasy voice -the type of voice any pretty mare in a position of power had already grown used to,- spoke from a nearby bush, not close enough that whatever in it could lunge out and reach me before I laid a handful of bullets into its head, but really I’d rather run.

“Look, I can see you just left a stable, you don’t know the state of things… I’m going to pop my head out now, try your best not to shoot me, please.”

From behind the bush a peach colored pony’s head with a short blonde mane popped right up and promptly fixed their eyes on me… The most I could offer in return was a little smile… If there were still ponies around, that meant things hadn’t devolved too greatly.

“Ah… Hello there! Are you familiar with Roll Family Farms? Because Berri-” I pointed a hoof to myself. “-owns the company.”

The peach pony looked at me a little confusedly, likely unfamiliar with my company, which didn’t necessarily mean this wasn’t a big joke, but it was leaning me towards this being all real, which was bad.

“Anyway… you know who Berri is, who are you?”

I tilted my head a little with my question, curious about the name of the first pony I’d seen in hundreds of years. The strange peach pony remained behind in the bush as when he answered my question, which is reasonable, because to him I’m a strange pony who just ascended from a deep dark hole in the ground.

“I’m Arrow… Hey, you said you owned a company, how does that work? Down there I mean…”

I paused for a second, obviously Arrow had encountered somepony coming from a stable before, but obviously he hadn’t encountered anypony from my time. No reason why I shouldn’t tell the truth, if he thinks I’m a nutcase then he’ll leave, which is fine, because if ponies up here are civilized enough to assume that a strange pony from underground who claims their two hundred and ten years old is a nutjob I shouldn’t have to worry about my trip. Before I started to think about all the reasons that would be stupid, I spoke.

“Berri is from before everypony went into the stables… Berri owned land during the war…”

I watched him closely… If this isn’t the weirdest thing he’s encountered then my trip might be strange. Not difficult, just strange. I didn’t know how to feel when he didn’t seem all that surprised, and then he spoke once more.

“Ah… hadn’t realized that… Are you like, wearing a wig or something?”

Arrow moved out from behind his bush just to get a better look at me, he was a lanky stallion, and he covered himself in a tattered, dark green poncho… On his left forelimb was a contraption that consumed most of his foreleg. I wasn’t quite sure of the purpose of… It looked cool though, that much was undeniable

“Hmmm, well, you don’t look like any ghoul I’ve ever seen… Must’ve been some real nice cosmetic products down there… Could you tell me what it was like in your stable? I know a couple other stable ponies, and if you tell them about any stable other than the one they grew up in they practically have a panic attack.”

He was curious, a lot of questions… I didn’t mind answering, but I had things to do.

“Berri was put into cryogenic sleep for two hundred years, everypony else died, we weren’t supposed to be kept frozen as long as we were.”

Arrow took a step away, and then fell on his rump.

Me and my new acquaintance sat in silence for a couple minutes, I assume this time was spent wrapping his head around the circumstances that brought me before him… I didn’t stick around to let him figure it out, I was more looking forward to getting home. I left Arrow behind and started to slowly wander the surprisingly green path that led back home, that tiny little community just a short walk away from Canterlot. Back before I was put on ice for two hundred years, Sanctuary was a neat little town full of veterans and their special someponies. Unluckily enough I was just the first one, and I didn’t have a special somepony of my own. There was plenty of opportunity to move, but it was a nice community, and I didn’t really see a point in moving all my stuff to a new, bigger place when the smaller one accommodated me just fine. Company was always nice, every week I’d find myself sitting around with somepony and enjoying a cool drink while the sun set over Canterlot. It was always very nice. It was a nice life, there was this cute mail-mare that I was trying to meet properly, she seemed really great, but total atomic annihilation beat me to it.

The only reason sanctuary was stuffed full of veterans is because they needed a good place to put all those crippled ponies that couldn’t, or refused, to fight anymore, and also needed routine help and a good community to talk about their experiences. War-time Equestria was nothing if not mindful of the mental health of ponies all across Equestria... Thanks to the Ministry of Morale.

It was a silent walk, I was sure that Arrow would catch up with me when he felt like it, I had to get home. I had lots of bits stored and two hundred years of absence definitely increased the chances of some of my wealth being stolen… Not that Rice Crisp was shoddily made, or incapable of holding down the fort, but he was always more personal eye-candy than an actual butler… At-least the Ministry of Wartime Technology could make something right, with that… Nutjob of a Ministry Mare.

The homes of my neighbors were in decent condition, they still pretty much provided shelter, but there were more smashed windows and splintered doors than I remembered, and the smashed bottles and discarded shells were equally new, but none of that concerned me much. Slowly I meandered down the road towards my home, It wasn’t shielded very well from the onslaught of magical death, so the paint had all been charred away, and there wasn’t a single window intact. I sat before the entrance to my home for a second, the door held up surprisingly well, but the paint I had slathered on a week or two after moving in had all peeled away or had been charred when everything went wrong. Standing before the ruined remnants of my house, I firmly decided that this wasn’t a big joke, and I was thoroughly stuck in a new, unfamiliar time.

Footnote:
Quest Perk: Perfect Pre-war Artifact - You’re in perfect condition AND 200+ years old! Pre-war technology has a high chance to recognize you, making it passive, and more receptive to communication attempts. Affinity with groups like the Enclave and The Steel Rangers increased. Ghouls may also recognize you.

Berri’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:
S. 10
P. 3
E. 10
C. 5
I. 8
A. 2
L. 5

Oh, and Berri’s traits!
Bloody Mess
Heavy Handed/Hooved