Fallout of Equestria: Bad Gambit

"Ponies don't make themselves heroes. They don't make the right choices, or be forced on to some sort of special path. A hero is made when someone puts that person above others because of what they think of them. Whether what they think is right, or wrong."

I took another tentative step. Nothing changed. Another step. The echoes of the my hoof against the cold steel linings of the Stable floor rang softly, but clearly. Still nothing. Maybe nothing would happen today. Maybe... Another step out into the atrium. Only twelve and a half steps left to the doorway. After that, only sixteen more to the stairwell that would take me down to the sub-basement of level 2 with only twenty one more steps, but none of that mattered. If I could make it out of the atrium... One more step. An ear twitched in the crowd that had gathered for the daily devotions, but the head it was attatched to continued to stare reverently at the Overstallion. Three more steps without interruption. A unicorn in the row closest to the back, and as such to me attempted to cover a yawn with a hoof in an attempt to disguise her boredom, but when a fully grown mare lifts a hoof to her mouth, it is fairly obvious that she is indeed suffocating a yawn and it is a more than reasonable assumption to assume that she would indeed be bored. Six and a half more steps to go. Four more hoofbeats rang true. I glanced back to the audience, almost entirely behind me now, the Overstallion preaching from the Gospel of Moon and Stars, throwing his voice around the room, spinning his simple words into a blur of emotion and story. It really was amazing. I guess. If you're into that kind of thing. I certainly wasn't. I just wanted to complete those two and a half steps to safety.

As I turned back to the doorframe that contained both my dreams and hopes, I took two more dreamy steps. I was almost through. My eyes misted at the thought of what was about to happen. I could feel the faulty Air Fluctuators sending gusts and gutters through the hall, blowing my mane ever so gently, pulling me into the hall. The seed of a grin planted itself on my face as the edges of my mouth began to turn up ever so slightly. Another step...

And safety. I could have laughed out loud. Well, probably. I'd never really done it so I wouldn't know. I turned down the hall and started to skip, yes, skip to the stairway that would lead me back to the haven of my dwelling, where I could be at peace for one more cycle. Hypothetically. I slammed headfirst into a unicorn and fell on my flank in actuality. Fuck me. I was past the threshold of peace. This wasn't supposed to happen. I couldn't move. I fell back onto my back and sighed as I awaited the inevitable.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't think that anybody'd be leaving during the-- Oh! Double-Oh! Sunshine!" And that would be me. Sunshine Lollipops. She gave a playful smirk as she rolled me back onto my stomach and prodded me until I rose. "Missing Devotions again? For shame." She broke out into a fit of giggles that bounced around in my head like the bells of seraphs. My face remained stoic. Devotions were... well, devotions. The whole of the Stable gathered every single day from eleven to about twelve thirty to raise their prayers to the glorious Luna, Queen of the night and Empress of the Stars. Or at least, we were supposed to, but several ponies snuck around other parts of the stable during that time instead. It wasn't mandatory or anything, but it was... just what we did. After the Devotions, there'd be a large communal luncheon full of probably delicious food and amazing punch, prepared out to the goodness of the hearts of whoever'd been feeling particularly generous that day, which tended to be more than we needed. I didn't often get any of course, because of my... occupation.

I was perfect. Really. Amazing at everything. I got a perfect score on my General Occupational Aptitude Test, which is weird because I have been told multiple times that it didn't have a scoring system.

Anyway, being perfect, the Overstallion had had the predicament of deciding what field I'd be forced off into. Naturally, I was never confronted for my opinion. It wouldn't really have mattered anyways. The Overstallion had, in his infinitely finite wisdom decided that it would be best for me to 'Apprentice' at various jobs throughout the Stable, which really meant that whoever I was supposed to be apprenticing under for the day got a half-freeday where I'd do everything for them, and from eleven onwards I was to help out whoever needed help that day, doing oddjobs and whatnot. Generally I ended up being thrown from pony to pony  doing favors, covering shifts, and making miracles and whatever else was required of me until I either passed out or was close enough to my room at the end of their task to sneak to bed undetected. After a few years of trial and error, I'd found that the most likely way to get back to my room was to wait until devotions were already started then sneak around the back of the large atrium. It was only my luck that my quarters were on the Overstallion's side of the Stable and as such I had to go through the atrium to return from any of the other departments. Even then, it seemed that all too often, I'd be discovered by one of the worshiping ponies who'd walk over to me discreetly and ask me to report to them later, all the time with a smile on their face while I nodded my solemn agreement.

But every once in a blue moon, I'd get by. I'd make it through that doorway and get to sleep the rest of the day off, or play games or read or just enjoy laziness. Which brings me to my current predicament.

"So, has anyone snagged you for the afternoon yet?" I shook my head. She grinned brightly. It was like the blessing of Luna herself to be able to gaze upon such a beautiful smile. No one could resist the charms of Clean Cut. I grimaced. "Good. In that case, report to the medical office at thirteen hundred, soldier!" She spoke robustly, her voice taking on a 'gruff' tone as she barked orders playfully and hopped off giggling, red and yellow twisted tail bouncing, Scalpel cutie mark shining brilliantly, blissfully ignorant to my internal turmoil.

Oh well, I consoled myself. At least the medical office was more fun than maintenance, and there was a certain satisfaction to helping someone to get better. And, another part of my mind added, there'd be a nice flank to stare at even if it did turn out to be something un-fun. I nodded to myself and glanced at my pipbuck. 11:31. Might as well go to devotions and get something to eat for once, if I was already promised to be somewhere. Maybe that'd get ponies off my flank for a few minutes. Probably not.

* * *

A hour and a half and six random requests later I walked through the door of the medical office. Clean Cut was glaring at some paperwork, frowning as her butter colored horn produced magic a shade lighter to shuffle through the papers while holding a quill adjacent, ready to mark should it be needed. I clopped twice on the doorframe to let her know I'd arrived. Her eyes twinkled as she looked up, another smile slipping onto her face. Not a 'Oh, I'm glad to see you' smile, but rather a 'Guess who's going to be doing my work' type of smile. Naturally. She flipped her hair and readjusted her lab coat as she signaled for me to come in.

"Ready for something fun?" She tittered, bright eyes staring directly into mine.

Bullshit.

"That's right, I've got a whole mountain of paperwork to do, and I have asked you here today so that you could assist me in my noble endeavor." Her voice turned to a sophisticated Trottingham twinge as she put a hoof to chest like something out of an old romance holovid.

Assist? Double Bullshit.

She frowned. "Well, I say assist, but apparently Weak Knees is having more constitution issues and, with her baby and all, is asking me to make a house call, so it'll really be just you for a while."

I'm too clever for my own good. I nodded my understanding and walked over to the 'Assistant Officer's' desk, which was really more of a flimsy table used for junk, and began clearing it off as she magicked the paperwork over to me. I balanced the papers on my tail and picked up a spare pen with my mouth. Sometimes, I envied the magic of unicorns, but I'd long since accepted my earth pony heritage and resigned myself to only having a massive intellect and strength. Not a bad fallback at all, I'd say.

"Okay, I'll be back in... say, a couple of hours. Try to stay out of trouble." She mocked as she trotted out of the office, white lab coat disappearing behind into the cold grey hallway. Trouble she says. Still, I quickly flew through the paperwork, correcting ponies conditions and diagnosing their complaints with relative ease. Medicine was one of the first places I'd been told to apprentice in, and I'd taken to it like a Pegasus to the sky. In a matter of moments I was finished and searching around the office for something to relieve my boredom. The office was really just a trio of steel cubes attached to each other by a wide doorway with a telescoping cellophane wall that could make one into a private operating room, and another large room. In said room, Medical equipment hung from the ceiling, and white, clean sheeted beds lined the wall. A electric blue tail flickered into my vision beyond the doorway into the room with the beds.

Clean cut hadn't said there were any patients... though she hadn't said there weren't any either. The tail flicked back into sight, but this time it was followed by a light blue coated pony as he walked into the room. He shook his head as if to clear out a fog in his mind. That's what he was probably doing. Ponies in books did it all the time. He arched his back as he stretched and yawned.

"Yo, Cleany, where'd you go?" The now easily recognizable Head Mechanic Drill Bit glanced around the room, his glare finally settling on me. "What a bitch. If I'd wanted the run-around I'd have gone to the Athletics center. I take my eyes off her for two seconds and she's gone. Hey, doctor prodigy guy, you know where she went?"

Drill Bit was a earth pony a few years older than me, and one of the dozens of stallions chasing after the beauty that was Clean Cut. Personally, I liked Drill Bit, which says a lot about him. While yeah, he was really crude and always overly casual and cursing, but he was honest and he got the job done.

I was silenced before I'd even spoken by Drill Bit holding up a hoof as he glanced at his Pipbuck. "Never mind, I have to get to work anyways. If clean cut comes back, tell her I said I'd be back at seven." I closed my mouth and shrugged as he walked out of the room haughtily, probably rushing to get to whatever maintenance job was posted for the day. I guess, that was one benefit of my job. If I could find a quiet place where nobody would happen upon me, I could go nearly the entire afternoon without any work, just daydreaming the day away.

The medical office turned out to not be such a place. As I looked through the drawers of my beneficiary’s desk for something interesting to do, a scream filled the air to the point of bursting, followed by cries of 'Medic!' That would be me, I mentally sighed as I tore out the door, stopping only to rip a first-aid kit off of the wall, pulling it from its purposely permanent position with relative ease.

I speed through the steel halls in the direction of the shouts, almost freezing when I finally came upon the source of the scream and general ruckus. A cut up pony was laying against the wall, next to a collapsed ladder, howling in pain while others stood by nervously and some issued (poor) medical advice. He had multiple lacerations on his torso and what looked like hundreds on his arms, though his already red coat made it hard to distinguish between what was bleeding and what was just bloody. None very deep, but still bleeding profusely. Luckily, it was nothing beyond my ability, or the ability of anyone who'd known rudimentary first aid. I set a reassuring hoof on his shoulder and then got to work, cleaning and binding his cuts.

"Is he going to be alright?"

"How’s my hubby?!"

"What could have done this!?"

"This isn't the line for the theater!"

A veritable wave of ponies poured their concerns and questions into my ear as if shouting louder would make me answer faster. I silenced them with a flat stare and went back about my work as more and more ponies arrived at the scene. As I worked through one of the final cuts on his abdomen, one of the worse ones that had scratched his ribs, a small piece of chitin fell from it. That couldn't mean anything good. As I patted the last adhesive bandage on with a hoof, I dragged out a low quality healing potion from the kit and passed it to him.

"Thanks boy," He said as he chugged it down. I hate it when Ponies call me that. "You just saved my life, I'd reckon."

You'd reckon wrong old man. None of the cuts were that deep, he probably would have gone into shock from blood loss if nobody had tried to stop the bleeding, but that would have been about it.

"Damn thing came at me while I was changin' bulbs." He gestured to the ceiling where a light panel was out of place and then to the floor where his ladder lay against the floor. Damn thing? At least that explained the chitin.

"Hubby!" A yellow manned silver mare forced her way through the crowd with reckless abandon. "Are you alright boo-bookins?"

"Shut yer trap woman! Men are talking!" He shouted back at her. Slowly he turned back to me, his grimace becoming a heartfelt smile. It was... unsettling to say the least. "You've saved my life, and I'd say you've more than earned these, boy." He said softly as he passed me a bag full of hard round objects. My eyes went wide as I pulled the drawstring.

Biscuits. Naturally. I looked back up.

"Now, I know you're gonna say you don't deserve it, and that it was what anypony'd have done, but you done saved my life, you're a hero, and you deserve it."

Wow. Everything about that sentence was a lie. Before I could say anything he rose from the ground and walked away, leaning on his wife. The crowd slowly cleared leaving me holding a bag of biscuits and staring at the piece of chitin that had fallen from his wound.

It was huge. Like, monstrous. Feasibly impossible actually. To supply a body as large as was indicated by this small piece with oxygen would require an infinitely efficient transportation, which was something insects lacked. Maybe it was just a growth from a smaller bug? Some sort of pupae? No, a dead-cell tumor would be a new development in medicine all together and it must have been alive and big to have caused those wounds. A scuttling in the ventilation system brought me back to my body. Not a good sign indeed. I scratched my head. To get out the ventilation system and back in without leaving any trace beyond the chitin... it must either be very smart, or very lucky. Something trickled down my head. I looked down at the blood still pooled around the where he'd been laying, and by extension covering my hooves. Gross.

I flipped my head around trying to throw as much blood off as I could, then I packed up the first aid-kit and started heading back to the medical office when I slammed face first into a certain mare for the second time that day. She shook her head to shake off the pain, then recoiled at the sight of me covered in blood.

"What happened?!" Her voice echoed off of the hall's walls louder than any hoofstep ever could have. "Are you alright?!"

I groaned from where I lay splayed out on the floor. This day had been nothing but sucker-bucks, both physical and psychological. As I began to rise I was forced back down by Clean Cut who was already pulling things out of her medical bag. I groaned again. "Ohmyohmyohmy," She spluttered as she began to hyperventilate, "Who did this to you! Why isn't anyone helping you! Why aren't... you..." Her frantic shouting died down as she wiped a hoof across my forehead and realized that it was neither my blood nor was I in any sort of danger. About the same time, I realized I was being straddled by the most attractive mare in the stable. The tufts of my ears twitched.

"Oh, sorry, I mean, I'd heard somebody'd been hurt so I came running as fast I could, and then I saw you standing here, in the blood, and... yeah. Sorry."

Overreaction. That was it. She didn't mean anything by it. She was just making sure I was okay. My ears twitched again. She still hadn't moved. A red flush crept across her face as she realized what she was doing and she leapt from me with such force that I was thrown back to the floor again.

"Ah, um, yes. Sorry." She meeped. The floor must have been rather interesting, because as I finally was allowed to roll onto my stomach and pick myself up off the floor Cleans Cut's gaze never left it. Suddenly her head shot back up and her eyes returned to me.

"So what did happen here? All I heard was that somebody'd been slashed up pretty bad, so I came running."

That was, the gist of it, I suppose. I picked up the piece of chitin I'd found and then pointed to the ventilation grate.

"This is... No way." Her tone turned cold. Angry cold. "This, could not be what I think it is. Bugs, could not be this big. A bug could not make wounds that would leave that much blood on the floor. Are you trying to scare me?" She stared furiously at me. I stared right back, then gestured to the grate again.

Her mane went limp like some sort of dead animal, and her red and yellow mane seemed a few shades darker than usual. Her eyes widened. "Oh god. Of course you aren't kidding. You haven't made a joke in your life! Your sense of humor is blander than the Onion soup the recyclers put out!"

Hey! My sense of humor was awesome!

The only awesome thing about it is that I can call it a sense of humor without bursting into laughter.

Shut up me.

Suddenly there was another warm body pressing up against mine. Clean Cut glanced around, trying to look in all directions at once. "Oh no oh no oh no. We need to tell somebody!" She said, using her magic to lift me entirely from the ground and dragging me along as she barreled through the halls, dodging ponies and charging around corners recklessly. I left unsaid that I could have easily doubled her speed even if she wasn't dragging an object as large as me. It was pretty nice to have somebody else do some work while I was in the same wing.

Running headfirst into one of the steel walls of the Stable was not. I was going to get a concussion at this rate.

"Okay, good news and bad news!" I heard Clean Cut announce in an particularly authorative voice. "Good news is, the attack on Big Hitter wasn't the fault of anypony in the Stable, so you can call off any investigation you had going."

As my headache dissipated, I began to glance around and discovered we were in the Security wing of the Stable, specifically the head office of our Stable's chief security officer, Tough Luck. Great. As much as I was the smartest pony in the Stable, Tough Luck might very well have been the dumbest. Then again, while he was nearly dumber than a reprocessed stable-issue biscuit, he did have a knack for instinctually finding out criminals, and was headstrong enough to pursue any issue until the truth was splayed out for all to see. Within weeks of his promotion to Security Chief, crime rates had dropped 100%. Which, I suppose wasn't all that amazing, seeing as the only crimes were generally petty thievery, and nobody wanted to get on Tough Luck's bad side. I heard he once bucked a punching-bag so hard the sand inside turned to glass.

"The bad news is that it was someTHING in the Stable that did it." Clean cut used her magic to toss the piece of stark black chitin onto the table, between Tough Luck and two other large security stallions.

Tough Luck stared at it blankly. "What's that? Are the coffee recyclers malfunctioning again?" Clean Cut's confidence faltered.

"Um. No, actually that's chitin."

"What? This thing's a Kite? I really don't see how this is relevant Ms. Cut."

Clean Cut facehoofed. "No, it's... a part of a bug. You know how bugs have those hard exoskeletons?" Tough Luck raised an eyebrow. "Hm. You know how bugs are hard and crunchy?" Tough Luck smiled brightly and nodded. "Well, Chitin is what makes those bugs really hard and crunchy! It makes up their... shell."

"Oh!" One of Tough Luck's thugs exclaimed. Speedy Law, I think was his name. "So this is part of the carapace of what you think did this?"

Tough Luck and the other security officer stared at Speedy. "Deputy Swift Justice, What in sam hell is a carry piece?" Ah, I was wrong.

Speedy Law/Swift Justice shook his head. "It means the shell of a bug."

Tough Luck nudged the other officer and grinned smugly. "Didn't know you were such a nerd Swifty!" They both broke out laughing.

"Am not!" He retorted. They laughed harder.

"Ahem." Clean Cut cleared her throat and the laughter slowly died down. "Anyways, whatever left this is what made the attack on Big Hitter. More bad news, this thing seems to be using the ventilation to move around. The holey thingies in the ceilings." She added as Tough Luck frowned at the mention of ventilation.

"Okay, boys," Tough Luck slammed his hoof onto the table, launching a ridiculously calibered pistol into the air, then catching it with his mouth. "Looks like we got ourselves a bug hunt." He said with a mean grin as is cohorts fitted sidearms into their barding and grabbed their individually assigned weapons, Highground levitating a submachinegun into a small holster on the flank of her security barding while Swift Justice finished loading a high powered rifle into his battle saddle.

Clean Cut smiled as she picked up a pistol with her magic and slid it into a pocket of her jacket, then tossed me a rifle and griptype saddle, more of a back holster, really. I frowned when I realized that I'd have to wield the rifle like a Zebra, but shrugged it off. I was awesome enough to handle something simple like that with ease. I slid out the clip and clicked it back in place after I was satisfied with how much ammunition it held. I didn't want to run out of bullets if I was going to be fighting something that could do so much damage at close range.

The tufts of my ears twitched.

Wait.

Wait just one second.

No. Something was wrong.

I looked at my rifle. Then to Clean Cut, who stared back at me. Then to Tough Luck, who tossed his stupidly large pistol in the air then caught it in a holster on his left leg. Then back to my rifle.

My rifle.

Wait, MY Rifle? No way. No way in Tartarus. I was a lover, not a fighter! Plus, I could get hurt! Unfortunately, just as I began to voice my complaint an extra clip of ammo was shoved into my mouth by familiar butter colored magic.

"Don't want to run out in the middle of a fight, right?" She said, gleefully ignorant of my dilemma.

"Okay men, and lady," Tough Luck winked at Clean Cut, "Who knows where the ventalamawhozit is?"

Everypony glanced around. I sighed as best as I could through the clip in my mouth, then used my pipbuck to send the coordinates to the other four. If my name wasn't Sunshine Lollipop, I'd have wagered my cutie mark stood for competence. I also probably wouldn't have made that wager because my cutie mark was a cartoon-y sun eating a lollipop. I glanced back at my flank and frowned. whatever it was, it wasn't me shooting up dangerous insects.

"Okay, so it's on the first level, so we'll get up there first, then we'll split up. Me and Highground will the eastern thingamajigger. Sunshine and Swifty, you'll take the west one." Tough Luck began to walk out of the room but was halted by Clean Cut.

"What about me?" She glared.

"What about you?" Tough Luck glared right back.

"I'm going, so where do you want me?"

"You're not going, so I want you right back in your office where you belong. Who's on medical duty right now?"

Clean Cut flipped her hair and smirked at no one in particular. "I've already called First Aid and Bronzed Scalpel to take care of the office for the rest of the day. And, I am going with you, or I'm going to tell the Overstallion that you rushed ahead without my consent, unaware of the threats that could very well have laid ahead."

Tough Luck was aghast. "You wouldn't."

Her smirk widened into something more of a wicked grin. "I would. And no one in this room would testify against me but you."

He slammed his head against the ground in frustration. Now, I'm not a small pony, in fact, I'd like to think that I'm fairly above average in both height, length, and muscle density, but I still jumped like a filly at the sudden sound and vibrations that shook the office. "Fine," He growled, "But you stay with me, and stick within five feet of either me or Highground." Her wicked grin flared again as she flipped her hair once more.

"As you wish, oh captain of security." She said sarcastically as she trotted out of the office, leaving Tough Luck to grumble as he walked after her. The rest of us followed.

Why do I always follow...

* * *

We didn't file a report. I glanced to Tough Luck, who ducked to make it through the door we were passing though at the moment. His muscles budged and his eyes burned with excitement. He probably had enough sinew to rip me in half then force my cell membranes to bond back together as he pushed me back into one piece. We probably didn't need to file a report anyways. It was three levels up to the first floor from the security office, and I saw several familiar faces. All of those faces were covered in either confusion or panic, and at some times envy at being in the presence of Clean Cut. I imagine the confusion and panic came from the fact that 4 large, and one not so large, well armed ponies were walking somewhere with purpose, and the fact that Highground was grinning a terrifying grin. She knew there was a fight coming, and she relished in it. Not what I'd have expected from such a cute filly, but considering she stood a half pair of ears taller than me, I was willing to let it go.

Before long, we were on the first floor. Which was not fun. The first floor was for lack of a better word, abandoned. Cobwebs adorned every corner and lights flickered out as often as they flickered on when we flipped their switches. Nobody came up here except for mantenance every other decade or so. After all, why go up to the cold upper level where the Stable door rusted and threatened to fall in any time. Well, it probably wouldn't, given that it was held in place by several tons of steel, and that it was stuck in a rut that held it in place even further so that it would actually have to put forth unnatural amounts of energy to move even an inch, but it still scared Ponies to think about. Nobody knew what was on the other side of the door. Well, that was another lie.

We knew what was on the other side of the door: Nothing. One of the Megaspells hit our door directly. Didn't make a dent, but the records say that it shook the Stable like an earthquake and not a single one of the above ground sensory units have worked since.

My ears twitched. There was a skittering of hard claws against cold steel somewhere in the distance. The tufts of my ears shook.

Not that I was scared of course. It's just unsettling to know that there's something in the distance that you can't see that very well harbors ill intent towards you and could in fact be hurtling towards you at this very instant with terrible fangs glistening with insectoid poison and claws that could rip though flesh like it was warm cud and--

Point is, I wasn't scared.

"Okay, looks like were at the," He scrunched his eyes at his Over-sized pipbuck, "This is where we split up." He turned back to me and Swift Justice and gave us a confident smirk. "Remember, you see a bug, stomp it." Swift Justice gave a quick salute and I rolled my eyes as we walked towards the western Ventilation Shaft Air Conditioning Power Conduit. Yeah right. Stomp it he says. Stomp the thing that maimed a ex-stable athlete. That'll do it.

Our hoofbeats echoed off the empty cold steel, sounding forlorn. Which is weird, because sounds don't really express emotions. Well, I guess they do, seeing as they're the way that they are the way we express our words and tones that express emotions. And to that effect, the tones and tunes found in music often make us feel different emotions. I suppose there must be some sort of correlation between--

A scuttling noise in the far corner of the auxiliary generator room we were walking though broke me out of my thoughts. Before my ears could even twitch with anticipation (Not fear, obviously), a shot rang out, and my ears twinged in pain instead. From what the poor lighting revealed, I could already see that the wall was stained with blood. I suppose my hypothesis for a more efficient way of oxygen transfer was correct. Stepping around one of the smaller generators, I got to see exactly what we were going to be fighting for the first time.

It looked... kind of like a dog. It was about three feet long, from tail to nose, and maybe a foot and a half high. Its face was scrunched up to reveal two enormous pairs of incisors, like a mole's. Unlike a mole, or a dog, aside from its four regular legs, it had four more appendages branching out from it's shoulders, each ending in wicked points. Points exactly like what I'd found broken off in Big Hitter's wounds. It's coloration was grey, brown and black, with grey fur that shifted in shades for the more doglike parts, and black and brown for the buggy parts. I imagine that, based on what I'd already seen, its eyes would have been more mammalian, but I wasn't able to tell because there were a pair of holes where Swift Justice's bullet had torn directly through its skull, taking both eyes with it. I was suddenly glad about being paired up with this stallion.

"Well, that's one ugly son of a bitch, isn't it." He said as he walked over, talking around the bit in his mouth. He sighed. "I reckon he won't be the last one we see." My ears twitched. I nodded and turned back to the pathway we were supposed to follow. The Power Conduit and its Talisman were in the next room. This was just a service door, not even powered by a generator or talisman. Just wood and metal. Maybe some plastic too. I readied myself against the door, preparing to buck it open. Swift Justice stood strong, ready to fire at whatever hellish beast we found beyond the door. I took a deep breath. Swifty nodded. I bucked the door with all my strength, actually knocking it from its hinges as it flew inwards several feet. I knew I was awesome. Before the door clattered to the ground, three shots rang out, bullets screaming from my companion's battle saddle.

Twitchy twitch. I dropped to the floor as one of the creatures soared over my torso, allowing me to roll onto my back and deliver a powerful kick with my back legs that sent it flying into the ceiling with a sickening crunch.

Two more flashes from the muzzles of Swift Justice, and all was silent. I shook my head when I realized that I was still on the floor, waiting for my ears to alert me to danger. I picked myself up and turned back to the security pony. He had a confused look on his face, and he was staring into the room that the creatures had just come out of. I followed his gaze. Inside the room was disgusting. The walls were covered in webbings and wrapped prey like roaches and the like... but more disturbing than that was what was in the center of the room. There, surrounding the casing of the Talisman that regulated the air for the Stable, were hundreds and hundreds of eggs.

Or rather, Hundreds and hundreds of empty eggs. My eyes went wide. We'd killed seven. There were at least a thousand hundred empty eggs here. Swift Justice iterated what I was thinking.

"If we only killed seven... where are the rest?" He turned to me, eyes fearful. I couldn't see myself, but I'm sure mine were a mirror reflection in green.

Before he could say anything further, I bolted back the way we came, ducking and dodging generators and boxes as I ran to the room where we'd split up with the rest of the group. He was only a few steps behind me, struggling to keep up with the pace I was setting, but keeping up none the less. In a few seconds we were at the meeting place, and the others were sitting there leisurely, Tough luck, polishing his combat knife, Highground and Clean cut, chatting Idly.

"Where've you idjits been?" He said with a overconfident smirk. Too overconfident I now knew. "We already cleared out our... what's wrong?" His smirk changed to frown. The competitive fire in his eyes dulled.

"Those... Things," Justice sputtered as I gasped for breath, "They're gone! Hundreds! They're--" He was cut off by a distant scream. My eyes widened further. So this is what fear felt like.

We all ran towards the stairwell to the second level as one.

"What happened?" Clean Cut shouted, panic rich in her voice.

"There were eggs!" Justice answered for me, “Hundreds of eggs, all empty, and we only killed a few! The rest must have already gotten into the ventilation shafts and gotten deeper into the Stable already!"

More screams confirmed our fears.

I leapt down both flights of stairs, not stopping on a single step between flights, bouncing off of walls to make the tight turns, the others were right behind me. I wish they hadn't been. I slipped and fell in a pool of blood as I reached the second level, slamming into the floor, covering my bluish green coat with crimson. As I struggled to rise on the slippery terrain, I came eye to eye with a pony. A pony I knew. Drill bit. His lower half was no longer attached to his body, and was nowhere in sight. There were bite marks all along his torso, his eyes had been torn from his skull. My stomach turned against me. I knew this pony. A pony I knew was dead. He was dead. There was no coming back from death. I tried to scream, but I couldn't make a sound. The others were fast behind me. I heard Clean cut's gasp, and heard Swift Justice empty his stomach onto the steel of the floor. The steel of the floor of the Stable we'd all grown up in. The steel of the floor that was now covered in blood and gore. I thought I was going to vomit. I didn't.

Instead, I got angry. My left ear twitched a few milliseconds before my right. A Bluish green hoof shot past my head and crushed the torso of one of the monsters to the floor. It squealed in agony. Not for long. My hoof lifted itself from the monster’s body and replaced itself on the monster's head, crushing it like a empty tin can. It made what should have been a sickening crunch. Instead, I found it satisfying. I looked up. At least a hundred of them were crawling towards us. The group behind me opened fire, ripping through them. I myself pulled my rifle off my back for the first time, firing deliberately. Find a target. Dispatch a target. Repeat. Over and over. Before long, there were none left. More screams echoed throughout the Stable, and we ran towards them.

There were no words between us. There were none needed. We were employed to help Ponies, and there were ponies to help. It was time to shut up and put up. And we did. I lead the charge. I was afraid. More than I was afraid, I was furious. They were hurting my ponies. MY ponies. In a few swift seconds, we'd reached the atrium, blowing through every single monster we'd seen.

When I saw the state of the Atrium, something hit me. For every bug you see, there are easily a hundred more. Bugs wouldn't just put their eggs out in the open like that. Not unless they'd run out of space first.

There were thousands of them. Thousands upon thousands of them. Corpses were everywhere. It was a scene out of a nightmare. There was no hope. No hope at all. I stopped being angry. They weren't hurting my ponies. My ponies were already dead, and their corpses were being devoured.

"Oh god..." The words escaped Clean Cut's mouth, slipping through in less than a whisper. I had good ears. I wished I didn't. There was no hope in those words. Only despair. There was suddenly a scream beside me, and I saw a friend of mine torn apart. Moral Highground died. Her scream turned to a wet gurgle as her throat filled with blood. there were tens already on her body, and more coming.

"GET BACK TO THE FIRST FLOOR!" Tough Luck screamed, his voice shocking me and the rest of the group into movement. We turned tail and ran. We abandoned Moral Highground. She was already dead, but we left her all the same.

Swift Justice slipped. Swift Justice died. I went to school with Swift Justice. He was in my class, a quiet pony, simply observing and learning and trying to have as much fun as possible without offending anyone else. I'd forgotten my homework once, and he said he'd forgotten his too so that I wouldn't be the only one the class laughed at. I'd forgotten about that. Tears welled in my eyes. I blinked them away. The monsters weren't coming out of the clockwork at this point, they were the clockwork. Clean Cut, Tough Luck, and I ran up the stairs, clambering just ahead of the wave of death that had manifested itself in the form of thousands of eight legged monstrosities. I saw Tough Luck, stopping in front of one of the blast doors that dotted the Stable. That would stall them. Maybe we could escape. I could have laughed with joy. I didn't. I was too scared. I kept running. I heard the doors shutting behind me, followed by several insanely loud shots.

I stumbled, as I ran, looking back to see the doors shut, no living monsters on the side we were on. We were safe. My ears twitched. I could hear the scuttling in the ventilation. Not safe for long. I stopped and waited for Tough Luck and Clean Cut to catch up to me. The door towered before us. Mocking us. We had two doors, one led to lethal amounts of radiation, the other lead to hordes of creatures waiting to devour us.

We were all breathing hard, but it was Tough Luck who was the first to speak.

"This Stable is done." He laughed. It was a pitiful, mirthless laugh. "No way out." He sighed, then looked to Clean Cut. "I suppose this isn't the best time to admit that I've had a crush on you since 5th year?"

She sniffled, then gave a hiccuping laugh. "I suppose this isn't the best time to admit that I'm gay?"

They locked eyes. They laughed. I think I did to. "Well, If I'm going to die, I'm taking these bastards with me." His grin turned to a ferocious scowl. He walked over to the controls to the door.

"What are you doing?" Clean Cut asked, going to stand beside him.

"Nothing lives through radiation, even things born from it. As much residual radiation as is out there..." He paused, then turned to me. "It'll kill them. Probably irradiate the entire Stable. It'll kill us too." His eyes were full of sorrow. I nodded my approval. Vengeance is a dish best served irradiated, right?

He smiled. A sad, sad smile. It was terrifying, really. The smile of a man who has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Clean Cut pushed up against him. She turned back to me and smiled too.

He coughed. "Let's see, the code for Stable 51... let's see... Scoots<3Rumble... Heh. Not exactly what I thought my last words would be..." He said softly as he fed the code into the gargantuan machine. It probably wouldn't even work. Nearly two hundred years of neglect and a Megaspell would do that to machinery. I heard myself give out a surprised grunt as the enormous hydraulics that were designed to move the door moved to their purpose. The Enormous circular door slowly dragged itself inwards, and rolled out of the way. White light made its way through the door, soft and gentle. My fur shimmered, and the tufts of my ears twitched. Tough Luck looked into Clean Cut's eyes. "I don't know about you Sunshine, but if I'm going to die, I'm going to do it beneath that big, blue, irradiated sky... unless it's nighttime of course. Care to join me Ms. Clean Cut?"

She smiled. "I'd love too." They walked out. They left the Stable, walking though that great big door into the even bigger world beyond. I realized I was smiling for the first time today. Crying too. Weird. Not things that usually come together.

I could hear squeals of pain coming from the innards of the Stable. There must have been even more radiation than we'd thought. I'd like to see the sky before I go too, I thought to myself. I began walking. One step. Two steps. Three steps. Heh. Four steps. Three more. Another two. Another and a half...

And I could see the sky. It sparkled like a thousand diamonds. A thousand, hundred diamonds, surrounded by a eternally stretching ring of smoke on a backdrop of shadows. Clouds, a part of me echoed. Clean Cut and Tough Luck laid side by side, just by the entrance of the Stable. Smiles adorned their face. Heh. I kept walking. Didn't want to interrupt. The ground was soft under my feet, and crunched pleasantly when I walked. It smelled... like life. I breathed deeply, taking in the scent of the earth. The tufts of my ears twitched happily. My left front leg gave out. I realized I was laying on the ground. I slowly rose.

A single tree marred the horizon. I wondered what it would be like to fall asleep under a tree, like they always were doing in books. I blinked, and realized that I was already under it. I guess the radiation was getting to my brain. I looked up. The ring of... clouds was closing up. Yeah...

This wouldn't be a bad place to die.

* * *

And then the worst thing that had ever happened occurred. I woke up. I was supposed to be dead. I'd found peace. I tried to call tears, but the rational part of me rejected the thought, disgusted at my emotions. There was a clinking around my throat. I put my hoof up, running it along a rough metal ring with several wires poking out of it that had found its way onto my neck. I opened my eyes. In front of me was a beautiful mare. Golden hair, pure white coat... decked out in brown leather? Definitely not Stable issue.

Maybe she was an angel, here to take my soul to Celestia. I relished the thought. I laughed internally. Maybe the leather meant she was just a kinky angel.

Suddenly she walked over to me. Her mane curled and frizzled at the ends, folding around a beautiful white horn, making a single loop around her chin. She gave a soft smile, then flicked me in the forehead.

"Good morning, and welcome to the wasteland, home of the free, brave, and dead. You are currently none of those, Mr. Stable Dweller, and that thing around your neck is a slave collar. You make one move I don't like, and it pops your head like a grenade.My name is Techo Babylon, and this is my personal hellhole. Soon, it's gonna be yours." She laughed.

It was a pretty laugh.

_____________________________________________________

Level up! Guns: 30

Perk Gained: Radiation wizard- You've survived so much radiation, a little bit more isn't going to hurt you. Much. +120% Radiation Resistance. You also might be a wizard. Which is a weird thing, for an earth pony.

_____________________________________________________

Author's note: This took me a while... I've been taking a break, or rather, I've

been avoiding writing stories for no reason recently, but for some reason I

really felt like writing this... Sunshine Lollipop is a good name. I wish I had

a name like that. But no, I'm just simple, old Kaibomb, King of Dimension and

Guardian of Forgotten Times. Oh woe is me. (By the way, best pony is Twilight

Sparkle.)

Character List --

Sunshine Lollipop-- Earth Pony

He's Blueish Greenish but slightly more kinda greenish mane and coat,

both kind of blending into each other. A shortish long manecut with a short

hairspike at the front. He's tall, but not too tall. More lean than muscular.

Pretty much always blank faced or confused.

Cutie Mark: a cartoon sun that looks like it's on ecstasy eating a

lollipop.

Clean Cut-- Unicorn

Super cute pony with a Yellow and Red twirled mane, kinda like a

cinnamon twist extending into a long braid. She's got a Butter colored coat and

similar colored magic.

Cutie Mark: stitches in the shape of a heart with a pair of band-aids

making it look like a broken heart.

Tough Luck-- Earth Pony

Huge golden pony with silver hair. Like, crazy muscular. If you saw this

dude trotting down the street, you'd say, Holy shit what is a horse doing on the

street. Because you are a human, and he is a pony. Well, you're probably human.

I don't know, and I try not to judge.

Cutie Mark: A Pair of large overlapping Horseshoes form a circle in

which lies a four leafed clover.

Swift Justice-- Earth Pony

Large grey pony with a black mane. He's definitely a guy you'd bet on in

a fight, unless it was against more than ten other guys. Even then, he'd put up

a hell of a fight.

Cutie Mark: A Gavel with wings. It's pretty kickarse.

Moral Highground-- Unicorn

Chocolate brown mare, Dark pink mane with lighter pink highlights. She's

the kinda pony you wouldn't picture in security armor until she stopped stooping

and you realized she was a good head taller than most ponies. Honestly, she's

adorable.

Cutie Mark: A cliff with clouds beneath the cliff and a sun above it.

Big Hitter-- Earth Pony

Another Huge pony with a weak but stark green coat greyed with age. His

now totally grey mane is similarly touched by time.

Cutie Mark: A baseball Diamond with Balloons on either side.

Weak Knees-- Earth Pony

Electric blue pony with a lighter blue mane. She's totally preggers yo.

Cutie Mark: a Heart with four arrows though it, each tangled up with the

others.

These are just the characters that I noticed and felt like telling you about,

let me know in the comments if there are any particular ponies you want

described or given a backstory. Feel free to tell me how bad I am or boost my

already gargantuan ego. Either way, comments are appreciated.