Chapter 1: little shop of the wastes

“Once upon a time in the magical land of equestria..”

Stable 42 was a nice place, plenty of room, good neighbors, and freedom to do things that most others would not let their ponies do. But above ground is a vicious death land, a very strange comparison to the joyful and kind equestria it used to be and now all of the ponies find respite within the walls of the nuclear bunkers now surviving after those spires of bright hot magic enhanced bombs hit the ground. We open on stable 42 and deep deep down sits a diner where a mare sleeps who would save the world on the outside but we must begin in the most unusual place: a simple family diner.

An alarm loud, a blaring noise hits my eardrums and makes me jolt up right out of my bed. I looked over and saw my pipbuck sitting next to my bed on a table, I wiped the sleep from my eyes and pressed a button on the pipbuck making it stop ringing. Hello my name is stewardess and I’m going to tell you my entire story from the beginning to the end. I stepped out of my room in my work clothes wearing an apron and a soda jerk hat on my head, my mane being in a pulled back ponytail.

I'm your normal run of the mill pony and I work at my dads diner which in no way is allowed by the overmare but we still had it up for whatever reason. The reason it's so absurd is because it's built into the hallway with no permission. He built it in the hallway so if anypony came through they’d have to cross our diner, the whole place was made of scraps and “borrowed” pieces that we never returned to their owners. And I’ve been working at this place ever since I was old enough to work and now I’m in my teens still working with no coworkers because the only ones there are me and my dad john, and talking about him the moment I walked out I saw him already out working the supplies. He was a grey bulky earth pony with a bushy beard and a slick ducktail mane cut on his head. He was wearing an apron like mine, just a bigger one and with no soda jerk hat. I put on my roller skates and started getting to work until dad stopped me in my tracks.

“Hey are ya not going to at least say morning to your pops?” he said in a deep voice with a smile on his face

I looked at him and weakly smiled thanks to me just waking up and chuckled saying “good morning dad..”

He smiled and said “good, now we need those tables cleaned for the customers.” he said with a smile on his face. His joy was so infectious that it always made me happy even when I was tired out of my mind

I rolled over to the sink and got a sponge and towel and rolled over washing the tables while the jukebox played in the background. I then just started chatting with dad “you know I’ve always wondered if we are good or bad guys?”

Dad just said “what do ya mean?”

“You know making ponies come into our diner made without permission of the over mare, taking a bunch of stuff from other ponies to build this small diner?”

Dad just chuckled and said “we don't steal things we just.. Borrow things for our own profit!”

“If that's the case then boy are we in debt!” I said jokingly

We both chuckled as I kept cleaning there were five tables and a painted checkerboard floor, the front and back being made from wood scraps and metal along with a counter with stools for ponies to sit at. The whole place looked like a semi botched diy job of making a building and it was my home no matter what anypony said. We worked the day away, me taking orders and cleaning and dad flipping patties and making drinks. It was a smooth day and I was getting into the good groove of things. Soon it was our break so we put the closed sign on the doors and sat at a table eating some fries and listening to our stables radio on my pipbuck play music. It was a cozy atmosphere just chatting and eating our honestly subpar fries while listening to the radio station. It was nice. We then started to talk to each other.

Dad looked at me and said “you know you remind me of your mother, always snarky and funny!”

I chuckled a bit and said “yeah.. I miss mom..” I said sadly thinking of her, I never really knew her much.
The room went silent as we both took a moment of silence.

Dad looked at me with a caring face and said “your mother was a kind, funny and good pony, it's just.. She wanted more. She shouldn’t have gone away from the stable and I think even though she did, it probably tore her up inside more than anypony else in this place…”

I smiled a bit and said “even though I never knew her much.. It sounds like her…”

We both then chuckled thinking of the past “remember when you would beg me to let you ride on my back like you were a pegasus?” dad said, thinking of the past made me happy again and we continued our small talk like nothing happened.

Then the music stopped for the host to talk on the radio, she sounded like one of those wife ponies from the sitcoms and she said “as most of us know tomorrow is the 250th year anniversary of our time in stable 42 and the overmare herself is wanting all independent and large scale diners and restaurants to come and prepare meals for the party in her words being a representation of our communities togetherness, so be ready cooks because tomorrow may be your big shot!” We heard the broadcast and our jaws dropped at the idea of it, our food being eaten by the overmare herself! And maybe even more money coming making us able to get more things for the diner it was an intoxicating idea that spread through our heads like the common cold and we both knew what the other would say and somehow at the same time we both while smiling at each other our eyes looking determined we said “were going to that party!” We then got to work in the kitchen even though it was the middle of the day. We knew if we wanted to make an impression we needed to make lots for that party.

Soon the diner was open again, ponies coming in and out of the place left and right. It was the lunch rush and we were on our A game, no not A game our S game. It was perfection balancing both the customers with the food we were preparing for the party. It was a perfect run of things.

And later the diner was out of the lunch rush and we both just sat down and laughed at the good job we did and we wiped the sweat off our foreheads with our hooves still just laughing until we heard the bell ring that notified somepony coming through the door broke our laughing and I just sat there in the backroom

as dad opened the door and said “hey guess who it is?”

I thought and said “is it.. Flapjack from security?”

Dad said I was wrong and said “its that one pony who I think you don’t like much..”

I thought then an annoyed expression on my face washed over my face like a shock wave and I said “no you don't mean..”

Dad shook his head as I slowly made my way to the door and who I saw on the other side was one pony who I never really liked at all I said in a annoyed and utterly tired voice “jack loveboat…” yes that was his name jack loveboat or as other called him jackie a lanky pony who was a blue coat with red eyes and a purple mane that was somewhat messy but also neat at the same time his cutie mark being a heart with a keyhole on it and even though everypony else loved the guy I didn’t. It's hard to explain but have you ever just eaten a lot of sweet things and after you just feel sick and terrible that's jack in a nutshell to me. Don’t get me wrong he's the nicest guy I’ve ever known it's just he's so nice all the time it just gets insufferable and as his name suggests he is always looking for a girl and most girls love him for his kindness but the reason he hasn’t found a long lasing one is rather he says something dumb or the mare is just a prick whos looking for his money.

And the worst thing is that he was coming to the diner way more than usual so I knew he was wanting me next and I did not want him so when I saw him come through that door I was groaning in annoyance and dad then told me to go out and ask his order so I did.

I put on my roller skates and saw there were still a few other ponies at other tables so if he made his move now I’d never live it down. I rolled over to the counter because that's where he always sat and that's exactly where he did sit but before he said a word he took a bit and threw it into the jukebox in the side of the room and somehow it automatically played a love song called “Calendar mare” and he smiled at me with a big grin

I looked at him and said “what do want to order loveboat?..”

He turned his smile down and said “stew can I call ya stew I really dig this place! So I’ll get the normal one I get daddy-o a good ol’ milkshake! Actually make that two milkshakes roundhells!” He spoke in a goofy sort of a manehattan type accent and he always used old world slang like “daddy-o” or “knuckle-sandwich” ponies mostly saying he only says this slang because his parents said them all the time.

I just looked at him and said “anything else and also why two milkshakes? they’re the most expensive thing on our menu!”

He just looked at me with a nervous expression until a smile spread across his face again “I just.. Love helping out small pads like this! place just puts me on cloud nine baby!”

“Don't call me baby.” I said jackie just put his hooves up in a defensive position telling me to “cool it” he sat down at the counter as we made the two milkshakes and dad looked at me with a smirk on his face and said “you know you and that jackie seem like you’d make a great couple..”
I double took at that statement stammering until I said “you know I practically hate that guy right?!”

Dad just laughed and said “what, you don't like him?”

“No well yes, sort of I guess? It's hard to explain! But the simple thing is if I was stuck as the last pony left in equestria I would never like jack!”

He just laughed and said “sure.. I’m just saying…” Soon we finished making the shakes and I sat them down on the counter for Jackie and Jack sat 20 bits on the counter for her and Jackie said “keep the change stew!”

I just said in a deadpan voice “there isn’t any change.” Jackie just stayed awkwardly silent for a second until he began to speak again

“So are you and your pops going to the big stable bash tomorrow? It's gonna be the biggest blast of any others I think!” jackie said

I just said “yeah we are.”

Jackie smiled really wide, his eyes looked stary and joyful and Jackie said “and guess what I’m gonna be doing this year? I’m going to be singing for the whole stable!”

Those words made me perk up in surprise. Yes he did sing but I didn’t think he’d be the type that would be called by the overmare to sing for the whole stable. I simply said with an astonished look on my face “really huh? Wow I didn’t know that would happen, good job man!”

he smiled at my compliment and said “I’ll make sure you get some new customers tomorrow stew! And I bet afterwards I'm gonna be raving about how much of a good ol’ bash that was!”

I rolled my eyes and then Jackie said something after finishing his first shake “so uh stew I can't really finish this other one so you mind taking it for me?”

I looked at him with a deadpan face and said simply “how about rather one you take the shake with you or two you let me take it and the next time you come over I’ll be saving it for you the next time you order a shake jack so make your pick.”

“Um okay then number two I guess…” he spoke in a very deflated and sad voice

I then thought for a second and sighed. I took the shake into my hooves and said “fine just for you jackie…” I took a sip of the shake and the taste of strawberry hit my tongue and it surprisingly tasted good no wonder this was the specific thing jack got every time.

The joyful light shot through him like a thunderbolt going into a lighting rod and he cheered and said “thank you stew I’ll see you at the big bash tomorrow, I’m so cranked!” He then ran out of the diner and that was that. Dad and me continued to work until the work day was over and I headed for my room
Dad stopped me and said “why don’t you ever go that much around the stable after work?”

“Well there's no need to, no pony really likes me and I’ve already seen the entirety of this place already since I was born..” I said in a casual tone

“Well you need to get out some time or else you’ll be a mole pony of sorts…” he said in a joking tone

“Well aren’t we all dad? Being stuck in the ground for 200 and more years?” I said jokingly. We both chuckled and I headed off to my room and sat at my desk reading a book thinking. Thinking about my life, about my job, about everything I’ve done and what may be to come I thought until I blacked out.

I then woke up after I heard a knocking on my desk. I jolted up and saw my dads hoof on my desk. He looked at me and said “fell asleep on the desk huh?” I nodded and saw my pipbuck it read 3:24 pm we needed to get to the cafeteria so we could set up our food for the party catering. I sprung out of the chair and ran over to the boxes we stored all the pre-made meals into and we got to work moving the food to the cafeteria and as we trotted inside we saw a great hall of decor!

The walls were lined with decorations, the roofs hanging with ribbons and the wall on the other side of the room had a large poster that had stable-tecs mascot on its stable mare with the words “happy 250!” on it and balloons were everywhere and we kept going back and forth from the cafeteria to the diner back to the cafeteria and each time we saw ponies put one more thing in the room until the place looked better than any other I had seen. Soon ponies were storming the cafeteria eating and chatting until Jackie came onto the stage right when we had finally finished the delivery and we stayed just to see what would happen. The room was filled with an upbeat trumpet and big band jazz song that sounded pretty good, ponies were dancing to the music and it just felt like a good time!

Then from a hallway two guard ponies arrived and stood at both sides of the opening making way for the overmare. She was a pink color with a yellow mane being neat and sophisticated, kind of like her. She made her way to a podium in the center of the room and spoke into the microphone having an orderly and clear voice through it making the room go silent “hello my fellow ponies of stable 42, today marks a day in our history for all of us! Ever since those megaspells hit we have been down here and we have thrived and we are theorizing that in 50 years your generation of foals will be able to inhabit the land above making way for the new equestria free from bigotry and hate! May celestia bless us all with her divinity and cheers, for another 50 years!" The ponies cheered in joy as the overmare stepped off the podium being escorted by the guard ponies by her side and she made her way to the food counter.

There was a large selection including our food being some of the hay burgers and fries and she made her way to the table, and to our section. We waited in suspense waiting for her to grab one and she went over and grabbed a fry and bit into it. She chewed for a few seconds until she swallowed and we waited for her response. She then stared at the fries and then grabbed another fry and ate it showing that she enjoyed the taste. We both got giddy and started celebrating with the others, it was an amazing party and nothing felt like it could go wrong. Tonight was our night.

At Least that's what we thought.
We were all having a great time we had finally seen some great fun from the monotony, me and dad were probably going to be advertised by the overmare helping us fund the diner, and lots of ponies were drunk off of hard cider which to be honest not just because I’m a teen I never liked whisky or any alcohol but I had never had it then so who was I to judge those ponies who were innocently throwing up on the floor and laughing at unfunny jokes. It was the middle of the day and the festivities were playing out to be lasting all night. Even the overmare was having a bit of fun along with the other ponies. It was, in short, perfect.

But that peace would die soon enough.

At some point while the party was going, a loud noise emitted throughout the stable. It sounded like a large explosion nearby and sounded like if we were too close to the source we would have gone deaf. The room went silent looking to the hallway where the noise came from confusion and fear filled our faces as we stood silent looking on. The overmare gestured the guard ponies to go and check the hall and they followed suit trotting into the hallway and we all just stood there the drunken ponies now having a sobered expression on their faces like all the cider they had drunk had spilled from their stomachs at that moment. For some reason the overmare just stood there with a calm expression on her face while she sipped from a red plastic cup, she didn’t even try to calm the crowd down or tell them everything was fine she just stood there… thinking.

After a few moments of silence we heard gunshots and then more silence as we worried more and more but one pony had their mind in the right place, my dad. He slightly kicked my front hoof with his and mouthed the words “we should get out of here…” I nodded and slowly walked back with him until we hit the wall where we stood there waiting for whatever was there just in case it was a false alarm. We stood in silence until we saw two ponies come out not from the stable but from somewhere else came trotting from the hall holding one of the guard ponies heads on a short sharpened pole. There were about 8 of the ponies, no not ponies, things that did not resemble ponies they were all bloody and ragged holding guns and most of them were grinning like man ponies. Everypony else was just astonished and paralyzed by the sight, most of their jaws dropped and no pony was ready for what happened next.

Then out of the back came a steel ranger finally some order. But the pony in the power armor just sat there until a few other steel rangers came in and started shooting. The ponies screamed as the railguns shot all over the cafeteria ponies dropping like flies while scrambling all over the room blood spilling all over the ground and at that moment dad grabbed my apron collar and we began to run through the hallway and ran into the diner dad slamming the door behind us, he then yelled “GET THE WOOD PLANKS AND TOOLS WERE BOARDING THIS BITCH!” I didn’t waste a second and ran to the back grabbing planks, nails, and a hammer and running back to give it to dad. He grabbed the tools and started to board up the door. The noise of the hammer hitting the wood made my skin crawl with fear. At any moment those things could come and burst down the door. I had so many questions like who, what, when, where, and why were there steel rangers shooting at civilians also was the surface clear of radiation or is that why those things went bonkers?

I then thought “we needed to defend ourselves” so I ran off into the backrooms and grabbed a baseball bat from my closet and ran off to the main room. Dad had finished boarding up the door and we both sat in the room panting trying to catch our breath.

Dad then looked at me and said “do you think a wooden bat is gonna hurt a steel ranger?! Put some nails in that thing!” He then pushed over the nails and hammer and I got to work immediately. Suddenly we heard the noise of banging on the door and with a dreadful expression on his face he said in a quiet voice “hide now.. Trust me…” I hesitated and then went into the backrooms and hid inside a wardrobe and waited.

I sat inside there for I don’t know how and I started hearing gunshots and a familiar scream. I couldn’t take it, I held my hooves over my ears hearing many hooves clop across the ground outside. I just continued to hold my ears closed, a stream of tears flowing down my face as I tried to muffle the noise.

I then looked out of the closet and saw no pony there so I walked out. It was quiet and somber like an aftermath of a great tragedy and I stepped out to a morbid sight that I cannot get out of my mind since then. My dad was shot dead with many rounds cast into his body. A pool of blood surrounded his body and he was pale, cold, and dead. I was in short mortified, the one who had cared for me for years dead on the floor not living anymore. Now I had no pony to care for and I was completely alone. I then just sat there for a minute or two and sobbed more than I had ever before it was automatic and I needed it. The crushing weight hit me every second that passed and I was completely devastated. I then stood up and trotted to his room and grabbed a vase with three red flowers, a gift of moms he cared for more than anything and slipped it into his hooves.

I slowly trotted through the hallway seeing the bodies of fleeing ponies lining the hall, the blood and viscera pooling around them. Its stench was unbearable seeing ponies that I had known for years dead on the ground before me was dreadful beyond comprehension to me. I shivered by the thought of it until I saw the things and that steel ranger in a hallway speaking to each other.

One of them said something like “the boss is really gonna love these…” and soon they disappeared around the corner, I followed cautiously and saw they had gone through the stables door. It was a large scrap of the original all blown to bits and forward was a tunnel that was going upward most likely to the surface and I was fearful. On one hoof there’s me staying down there and I would have plenty of food but no pony would ever talk to me again since this stable may have been hidden from the public but on the other hoof there might be way more danger on the surface but I would at least be living in a maybe good society. I just thought.

I walked up and down the halls thinking about the whole day up to then but then and after a bit of walking I saw the nailed baseball bat laying next to my fathers corpse and something rose in me, a fire that danced like an enraged animal trapped within a cage and it hit my brain like a needle injecting fluid to an arm. I then took on a brave face and grabbed the bat with my teeth and headed to the stable door.

But as I had been walking over to the veil to the new equestria I heard a shuffling noise from a door on the side of me, the door to the janitor's closet and the shuffling noises continued to grow like a scared animal was trapped inside.

I raised the bat and slowly opened the door, seeing an assortment of cleaning supplies and a stench that was coming from the detergent and other juices. In the corner of the room was a shuffling box the source of the noises. I raised the bat in the air ready to strike at whatever made its way into the box, I opened the lid and out popped the head of jack loveboat. I looked at him and he looked back at me with a nervous smile. He was seemingly scared of the nailed bat I was holding right above his head.

He then shifted his eyes trying to stay cool and said “hey daddy-o.. Good to see ya hehe… ya dont mind moving that bat somewhere else?”

I sighed and then thought then my mind finally knew what this meant “I am going to have to spend maybe hours with jack loveboat dear celestia…”

I knew I couldn’t just leave the dude here alone especially when he knew that I was alive now and he didn’t deserve being stuck down there for maybe months and he was way too kind to really try and beat a random pony who might come down here with others so I was forced to stay with him. Why did celestia have to curse me so.

I looked down at him and he was still nervously looking around but then I sighed and said in a depressed voice “are you sure you're the only pony who's left?”

“Yes, stew, at least I think so…”

“How did you even survive? There were probably lines of those things marching down the halls just killing every pony in sight. How have you survived this entire time?!”

“Well when I saw the guns start shooting so I had to split it was like one of those slasher flicks you see in the passion pits man! So I booked it into this closet and those ponies were really bad news so I made sure to hide in this box here!”

I then just looked down at him and sort of cringed on the inside and then said after a sigh “you got a weapon?”

He looked around and saw a broom, he then took it and broke it making a sharpened end to it he smiled and said “will this do well stew?..”

“Sigh… alright that's fine..”

He then smiled widely and jumped out of the box hugging me with his front hooves and I pushed him away telling him not to touch me.

We trotted through the halls slowly until we had found ourselves at the stable door. We looked back at the stable taking a look at it for one last time and then we looked forward into the gaping maw that is the cavern leading outside to the new equestria or the end of the planet. We both looked to each other and then we took our first steps into the cavern beginning our journey through the wastes and an adventure that would change our lives forever.

Author's Note

this is the first chapter hopefully you all like it :)