Fallout: Equestria - Purity

A Fo:E side story by StormbadgerXIII

Chapter 3 - Claustrophobia

"Wow, what a rough night."

My eyes slowly pried open, and I found myself lying on my back in what could best be described as blackness. I rolled to my hooves and tried to stand up, only to have my head hit something that could be considered a roof. I pressed my hooves to it, wondering how blackness could be so damn solid, when I heard the sobbing of a filly in the distance, a single light illuminating a small pony, her body heaving.

Cautiously and awkwardly I trotted up to her. "Hey... don't cry... it's ok..."

"It's not ok...” the filly sniffed. "It's not ok..."

I knelt down behind her, smiling warmly. "It's fine... you're not alone anymore..."

"No... they're all dead... dead because of me..."

"Who?"

The little pony wailed for a second, before returning to quiet sobs. "Mummy... daddy... bro..."

I blinked. "What happened?"

The filly couldn't answer. Her face was hidden between her forehooves, a small pool of tears below her. I reached out and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

Her head fell off, her face as still as death as her body fell limply to the ground.

I screamed, staggering up to my hooves. My back hit something with a squish. I slowly turned only to see a stallion bleeding from his ears, staring into my eyes with his own soulless ones.

"Please... h-help... me..." he rasped. I backpedalled like mad, as he shambled after me. I felt my flanks hit a solid object, and I turned to see only black. The filly's body convulsed and sat up, reaching over to her head and placing it on her neck. I galloped to the side, and as I peered back I slammed into another body. I turned to see a mare, one I instantly recognised as the mare who had been raped, brutalised and then shot by the savage ponies. Her eyes were awash with tears, her head wound leaking red and some grey-pink. I gulped, staving off my urge to vomit, then galloped off again.

I spotted a figure in the distance. It was Final, thank goodness, wearing a red dress and looking away from me.

I called out to her, and she didn't respond. Something was off...

As I got closer, I saw that the dress was white. Well, it was.

"Final?"

Her head turned to face me a little, a wan smile on her mouth. Blood dripped from her lips. She tried to speak but only vomited blood. I nearly followed suit.

I galloped up. "Final, what happened?!"

She turned to face me some more, and I saw that half her face had melted off, an eyeball hanging loosely from the empty socket. The other corpses had caught up to me. Final turned her body, and I saw that it wasn't just half the flesh of her face that had melted off. Something ropey dangled between her legs.

"Fin-!" I screamed, before I threw up, the foul reek of rotting flesh overpowering my senses. I backed away as quickly as possible, only to be greeted by black wall. Final started limping towards me.

"N-nimbus..."

I shrieked.

"N-n-nimbus."

I scraped my hindlegs at the ground, trying to push against the uncompromising darkness as the corpses staggered towards me, surrounding me in a half-circle. Final froze, before shrieking my name and hurling herself at me.

My eyes snapped open and I instinctively flew up into the sky. Only there was a solid metal wall in the way, and I bounced harmlessly off it. I screamed and flailed, swinging out at everything, fighting off the zombie ponies meaninglessly. One of my hooves smashed into a table and I felt tiny blades cut into me, but I didn't care.

"Nimbus!" Final, the real Final, shouted, as I stopped swinging, fell to my haunches and hyperventilated. My friend flew up to me, placing her hooves on my shoulder and looked into my eyes. I wanted to scream, to panic, to get the fuck out of here, but... my eyes met hers and I finally slowed down, my horror converting into a tightness in my stomach. One sniff and I realised I had thrown up on myself.

Final sighed, placing her forehead on my chest. "Dammit dude... don't fucking do that..."

I said nothing - I couldn't. I wanted to apologise, to explain... but I couldn't bring the words up.

Instead, I broke into tears.

It had taken me a good half-hour to finish with my breakdown. Final had been hugging me the whole time, whispering words into my ears to try and soothe me. I had thrown up a second time, fortunately into a bedpan and not on my friend. Damn, I didn't want her to see me like this... the strong, noble friend of hers, Nimbus Cloudhoof, reduced to a blubbering mass of pony over a bad dream. But she seemed not to pay any heed to my worries, and rather, was wiling to stay by me despite it.

I had finally managed to get a word out. I explained the dream, and I saw her visibly pale on the mention of what happened to her. She had joked about her endurance but I didn't find it funny. It was easy to laugh at something that wasn't thrust onto you. She provided me with a drink to help get the taste of bile out of my mouth, and some food to fill my now-empty stomach. I could barely eat but I tried. She had also put a bandage about the hoof that had hit the table which, as I learned later, was covered with scalpels and other pointy things.

"Geez, I know you've had bad dreams before but damn, that really takes the cake," she muttered, hoofing me my armoured bodyglove. I nodded and slipped it on.

"So, how'd you sleep anyway?"

"Me? Like a foal tied to a log," she smirked.

I tilted my head. "So is that good or bad, because I don't think a foal would sleep well-"

"It's a joke, dude," she sighed, a wan smile on her muzzle as she leaned down. "Should've saved it for when you weren't... I mean... I had a pretty good sleep." She rubbed a part of her foreleg. "Though these aren't as comfortable as I thought."

"Then why'd you wear it?" I asked.

"Because I thought it was comfortable."

I rolled my eyes, before shakily rolling onto my hooves. I looked around the room again, now that I was awake and calm enough to take in some details.

The clinic was pretty meagre - barely any obvious medical supplies. I wondered if the unicorns that may have lived in here had any healing spells, or maybe the whole population had just gone through so many of their supplies. A vent was just above the bed I had been sleeping on, which meant I was probably getting most of the temperature-altering effect. A couple of splatters of blood and a pile of regurgitated trail rations lay on the floor, some of the blood a lot older than my own. A single desk was in the room with a swivelling chair and a terminal made out of solid metal. I had decided to check it out, out of curiosity. I was wondering when somepony was going to notice that a couple of pegasi had snuck in - it was already ten in the morning according to our clocks.

After a very tedious but surprisingly easy hacking attempt, I managed to open up the terminal. The PipBuck Final scavenged had been useful in helping with that. One line was designated to open a safe, and a couple of medical reports and personal diary entries were in the others.

I didn't know where the safe was so I immediately went into reading some of the things on there.

Medical Report #212

Patient: Lighthorn

Sex: M

DoB: 4.14

Relationship?: None

Diagnosis: Asthma

Lighthorn had reported breathing difficulties early in the morning, and was immediately brought in here when he fainted in the middle of Maintenance. Throat was partially blocked by small particles, but not significantly so to most healthy ponies. Patient was diagnosed five hours after incident.

Recovery process: Patient is to use Stable-Tec issued inhalers to help with breathing difficulties, as well as being transferred to a position less likely to incite his condition until he has shown signs of recovery.

Medical Report #223

Patient: Boltlock

Sex: M

DoB: 12.12

Relationship?: Yes

Funnel, marefriend

Diagnosis: Sexually-transmitted infection

Boltlock was brought into the clinic to have a check for sexually-transmitted infection by his marefriend. Subject was tested positive but has stated he has never had sexual intercourse. Records confirm this fact.

Recovery process: Preventative medicine and condoms.

I was starting to have a feeling this pony was a pretty lacklustre doctor.

Personal log entry #4

Finally got Bolt tested for STI's. I don't want to have to deal with an itchy cunt for the rest of my life. Of course the idiot had to be positive, though he's never had sex. I have no fucking clue where he got it and I kinda don't want to.

I have to admit, he is a pretty nice guy, very well-meaning and fairly handsome, but he's so fucking dumb. Hell, he probably doesn't even know what fucking hole to stick it in. Most stallions with half a brain more than this guy are all scared of me and, let's be honest, no stallion wants to be under my knife. Hell knows I could neuter all of them.

Of course, the Overmare wouldn't allow it, and truth be told many mares would be on me in minutes when they would find out what I had done. Celestia dammit, I just wanna get out of this fucking Stable and go to Vanhoover.

Well, I would, except the whole fucking place is dead.

I type 'fucking' a lot, don't I? Guess it's because these Luna-shitting medical reports can't have them and I have to maintain a good bedside manner or else I'd get fired or something.

I fucking hate my job.

Oh well, better not send this personal entry to the Overmare like I did with the last one. That didn't go over well...

Wow. Grumpy much? I flicked to the next one.

Medical Report #257

Patient: Russet

Sex: F

DoB: 7.9

Relationship?: None

Diagnosis: Paranoid schizophrenia

Russet was brought into the clinic screaming about the air trying to kill the Stable's population. Sedation was necessary to prevent injuries. One member of Security was wounded in the sedation attempt (see report #256). Patient was interviewed and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia type C as per the guidelines of the EDSM.

Recovery process: Anti-psychotic medicine.

Medical Report #299

Patient: Mic

Sex: M

DoB: 8.3

Relationship?: None

Diagnosis: Psychosis and ALFS

Mic was brought into the clinic unconscious, part of his barding fused to his coat and skin. When the patient awoke he immediately attempted to attack everypony in the room, foaming at the mouth and screaming incoherently. Three Security officers were wounded in the attempt to sedate him. Sedation did not work, and the patient was euthanised under orders from Security Chief Cuprum.

Recovery process: Patient is deceased.

Addendum: ALFS injuries are becoming more common. Maybe maintenance could look into this to prevent further cases? Thank you. ~Dr. Funnel.

What the hay was ALFS? I keyed the next entry, eyes widening. Most of the other reports seemed to become more and more similar every second; psychosis, ALFS, schizophrenia, breathing problems...

Personal log entry #13

FUCK

Sorry, had to get that out of the way. Those fucking cunts in admin aren't taking my reports seriously. There's ponies fucking dropping like flies everywhere in the stable, and those that aren't are looking like they're on the verge of some sort of mental illness.

Fucking fucking fuckers better fucking read my fucking reports or else.

Ok, now that that's out (mostly), I've decided I'm gonna fucking leave this hellhole of a Stable. I'd rather die out there then be trapped in a tiny metal box slowly decaying. And besides, I doubt the little pony in my uterus would appreciate it.

Boltlock's decided to stay here; obviously this fucking death-trap is more important to him then his flesh and blood, which I'm fucking carrying for him. I don't fucking care anymore - he's probably too stupid to look after a kid anyway. Might sit on it.

I know its suicide to leave the Stable, but at least out there there's a chance of survival - this fucking place is going to kill me anyway, why not get out and try to live outside?

Besides, what good's one doctor, with a developing foetus in her, in a metal container that's slowly dying anyway?

I'm going to send this report to every fucking one of these god damn stupid cunts just to show them that I don't approve of their bigotry. If you're reading this, FUCK YOU and I'm already gone. I know enough about computers to put a delay in sending this around. So long, you stupid fucking suckers!

Oh, and Bolt, if you do decide to man up and get your flank out here, I'll be in Vanhoover, look me up or whatever.

Signed, with feeling;

~Dr. Funnel

PS: Shard, you owe me ten fucking bits, but you're going to die anyway so keep them.

Well.

Shit.

I looked away from the terminal and spotted Final looking at a little panel on the door, one that looked an awful lot like a safe. I tapped the 'Open Safe' command and something inside of it clicked, startling Final, before she turned and gave me a questioning look. "Why'd you open the safe?"

"I think everypony in here's dead," I said, glancing back to the terminal. "Or they're insane."

Final hovered over and looked at the glowing screen, tapping some keys. Her eyes widened after reading the last few things. "Well. Shit."

I nodded. "Besides, I just want to know what's in it."

Shrugging, Final hovered over to the safe and peeked in. "Hey, there's a gun here! And a whole stack of bits! ... Who just leaves money in here when they're going to leave?"

Somepony in a hurry, I thought. I drifted over and had a look in the safe - there was a clean, well-maintained (or completely untouched) pistol that had a revolving bit remarkably similar to one that the savage ponies had in design, with a hooffull of bullets beside it. The gun itself had a shiny, dark-coloured metal design, with 'EUTHANISER' embossed on the side. A large sack of bits sat in the corner, as well as a holotape (I'd never really handled or used one before but I'd seen drill sergeants use them for training vids).

"Should we borrow this stuff?" Final asked, turning to me. "I mean, whoever owned them would have died by old age, if savages or monsters or other random crap didn't get them first."

I put a hoof to my chin. "Maybe... I think we should leave it for the moment." None of us had any real training with ballistic weapons, though it was probably much the same, save for the recoil. The bits would jingle like mad and we had no use for a holotape. I shut the safe, locking it again through the terminal.

Final almost seemed disappointed.

We had decided we might as well look around - the Stable couldn't have been that big, right? Unfortunately, it was big. Small, confining and claustrophobia-inducing, yes, but there was so damn much of it. The first level was completely devoid of ponies, or even anything that was living. We had found a couple of skeletons in some of what looked like living quarters, one of which had part of her body fused to the floor. Had she died like that or did something happen to her? I didn't need to press the question so I kept moving.

A red blip appeared on my EFS, blinking below us. I held up a hoof to stop Final moving, and, crouching low and sticking to the shadows, I descended down the stairs silently. I pressed the button on the panel next to the door and it hissed open. Beyond it, through a light purple-pink haze, I saw a pony standing there, looking around with his or her head turned away from me.

I snuck forward, trying not to breathe in this mysterious mist. The pony had no weapons, armour, or even looked like she could fight terribly well. Heck, her body language was screaming non-hostile, and was clad in a tight-fitting Stable 73 suit.

Then why was she showing up as red on my EFS?

I couldn't hold a cough back, and the noise echoed throughout the metal halls, more so than it should have. The Stabledwelling pony turned towards me slowly, hollow eyes peering to me, glowing bright pink like the drool coming from her mouth. Her face seemed like it had been melted slowly, and upon closer examination I saw that the barding had fused to her coat and skin, and in a few places the barding actually seemed to be the coat itself.

I could have shot her, made quick work of it all and move on, but the sight of the deformed pony halted me in my tracks. She looked down at my crouched form, cocked its head to the side for a moment, before half-hissing, half-roaring and rearing up to stomp my head. With a flap of my wings I dashed back, her pink hooves smacking into the solid ground below.

I bit down on the trigger bit for the rifle, the green bolt slamming home. It wasn't as powerful, momentum-wise, as a bullet (as I had recently discovered) but it compensated by being so damn hot. The pony's flesh/barding bubbled and melted and she let out a powerful roar, her face visibly contorting in pain. I fired a couple more shots, the first missing entirely and the second hitting her in the knee, dropping her.

All was still for the moment, but then she got back up, the seared flesh healing a little as a low growl came from her curling lips. It was a slow repair, yes, but it was freaky.

"What the-?" was all I managed to say before the Stable mutant jumped on me, pinning me down on my wings; that hurt like a bitch. I kicked up, pushed her side, headbutted her, anything to get her off me, yet she still remained on top of me. I couldn't even fire my rifle or move to draw my pistol. She arched her head back and opened her mouth as wide as possible, a soft pink light coming from within, hell bent on biting me.

A loud boom and a subsonic lead projectile disagreed with her actions, and send her brains flying across the walls, a puff of pink mist (glowing pink mist) rising from her neck, before she fell limp on top of me. I groaned and shoved her off, rising to my feet. Final stood in the doorway with Euthaniser in her muzzle.

Looking back at the giblets, I was now more frightened of the steel in Final's mouth than what else might be lurking down here.

As we got further down, the purple cloud seemed to be getting thicker, and even the walls were starting to take on a violet hue. We had to duck into a few rooms on the way, rooms that seemed more or less clear of the probably dangerous smoke. I was starting to wonder whether grabbing these experimental suits were exactly that for a reason, or maybe the designers were wanting us to breathe in toxic fumes.

As for the other ponies down here, none were much better than the first - they were all insane; some little more than an animal, others seemingly normal and talking, but were just mad. We had decided to sneak around them - we didn't want to come under attack again. Of course, trying not to get seen was extremely difficult and we had to face a few. Euthaniser was not subtle, but it did much better against the mutants than my plasma.

Good thing we had medical supplies to keep us going.

We had managed to duck into an office that was more or less completely clear of the smoke. It was pretty small, and I felt like I was going to get squished. We had found another terminal, and had flicked through it.

Most of it was garbage, and there weren't even any special commands, but there were two entries that really stood out.

Entry one

Something seems to be going on with this damn Stable. I've heard ponies talk about having difficulty breathing, nightmares becoming more common, shit like that. I'm starting to feel a little nervous about being here, but hopefully it's just some sort of mass Stable Depression Syndrome or something.

Some ponies have asked me to check the vents, but they're all checking out, all pathways to the air filtration room are connected properly. The AFR itself is perfectly operational too, no damage or whatever.

Still, as long as they keep having breathing difficulties, we'll be working our flanks off to try and fix a problem we can't fix until we find out what's going on.

Entry seven

I made a startling discovery today - the AF room isn't even connected to the air system. Or, well, some of it isn't. There's fresh air coming through, so we're not all going to suffocate, but there's another line going down lower to a forbidden area of the Stable - Overseer and Authorised Ponies only. I'd like to think that, as head of Maintenance, I'm pretty damn qualified, but no, apparently I'm not.

Whatever's been causing difficulties for the ponies here, including many of my staff, it's worse now. Ponies having chronic breathing problems, nightmares every night - hell, Russet's been declared insane and Mic Soundwave's been put down. Damn, I liked his radio shows.

I'd make for it and leave, but I don't want to die. Though, maybe if this thing gets to me too, I may end up dead anyway. We'll see what happens.

EDIT: The doc sent a message to every terminal in the Stable explaining her leaving the Stable. She knows more about what's going on with the pony end anyway. I have to get out of here too.

"Something tells me this isn't a safe place for ponies to survive anymore." Final muttered.

The last mutant pony in this group fell down, foreleg somewhere far off. Final lowered her gun, smirking. I muttered a 'nice shot' before flapping my sore wings to jump over the body, looking around for the 'air filtration room'. Not having a map of this place was a real handicap. Eventually, we found a door with 'AF ROOM' marked on it, and we trotted in, greeted with fresh, cool air, free of any impurities.

Looking around, I saw a number of pipes leading from a central machine that looked like a pump mechanism and up to a vent thing. It suddenly occurred to me that I had been sleeping under one of the air vents, and that I had been exposed to whatever had poisoned Stable 73. That would explain the nightmare...

Final looked at the pump and rubbed her chin. "Hmm... well, it's big and noisy."

I had to agree.

I floated over to the pipes, running a hoof along them. One of them was nearly ice cold, the other was unnaturally warm. Strange...

I followed the pipes up the wall, stopping when they both slid into it, probably to the rest of the Stable. I went the other way, stopping when they receded into the machine - the warm one had a red light above it, the other a green one. I crouched low and saw that both pipes lead into the floor. I glanced over to Final, and let her know of my discovery.

"Below? But wasn't the below area restricted?"

I hummed an affirmation. "Which means that whatever's down there is what's affecting the entire Stable."

Final smirked. "And I suppose you want us to check it out?"

"Not just yet. There's still the Overmare's office to check out yet. We might be able to find a passcode or something."

"Isn't that, like, just around the corner?" she asked.

"No, that was the head of maintenance's office. The Overmare's office is on the top level."

"We have to walk all the way back up there?!" Final groaned.

"Nope. Just me."

Final blinked and gave me a look. "But-"

"No buts, Final." I said sternly. "Besides, I shouldn't be too long."

The trip wasn't as bad as I was expecting - all the mutants seemed to be somewhere else. I moved much faster on my own, thought I felt strangely naked without Final to keep an eye and ear out for danger. I had managed to get the Overmare's office door open through the clever use of a bobby pin and some torque, and slid into the surprisingly fresh room.

The semi-fresh corpse at the desk wasn't helping.

I closed the door and walked forward, looking at the body. Strangely enough, she hadn't decayed as much as I'd expected, but I didn't know how long she had been dead for, so it could be recent. She seemed strangely calm, almost resigned, like she had entered a deep, endless sleep. She was a rather aged pony, but had gone well through it and had barely any visible signs. I was wondering what had caused her death but the empty pill bottle next to her gave a fairly clear indication.

I wanted to be able to give her a proper burial but there was nowhere I knew where I could do so. Instead, I grabbed a blanket that we had kept from the savage ponies and laid it on top of her, wishing her peace.

I stopped for a moment - I had been Enclave not too long ago, where matters of spirituality were the least of my worries, and here I was, praying to some higher being for their wellbeing.

Only 10 hours down here and I was already changing.

I decided to pick around the room to see if there was anything of worth. Aside from some bits and magazines which I stored away, plus some ammo for ballistic weapons, there wasn't much else. I did find some holotapes and a white glass orb, though. I loaded up one of the holotapes, labelled as 'Welcome!'

Indeed, it started with that too, as I found out when I slotted it into a part of the helmet.

"Welcome!

"Hello, my name is Scootaloo, the founder of Red Racer and the vice-president of StableTec.

"...

"Of course, that shit's all meaningless now. Chances are you don't even care who I am, but if you're listening to this, then Omega-level security protocols have been enacted, and we have to try to save ponies as much as we can. If somepony in the OIA or MoM hadn't twisted every fucking thing to try to kill us all we wouldn't be in such a difficult position...

"Sorry, I keep side-tracking... Celestia-damned sons of bitches...

"Ugh, can't get through one of these without breaking down...

"Ok, look, long story short, we're not just trying to save ponykind. We're also trying to find out what went so fucking wrong with us to cause all this shit in the first damned place.

"...

"For fuck's sake, Scoot, can't you keep on the damn script...? Ok, sorry, I'm just having a hard time with all of these. I have to do one hundred and fucking one of these, and I started fouling up at twenty...

"Ok, again, sorry. Inside the safe in the room is a set of specific instructions for you to implement. If, for whatever reason, you think this experiment is going to harm the residents of the Stable, don't hesitate to stop following them and try to rectify the problem; otherwise, just follow the instructions...

"Damn... I don't... why does it... why this one?! What the hell was Twilight thinking when she asked for this to be explored...

"Well... guess that's it. Thank you from us, from us all, from Equestria, and may somepony up there have pity on you poor...

"Fuck...

"Well... only got another, what, twenty-eight of these to go...? Damn it...

The recording cut out, and I finally fell back into reality. I had heard of the name 'Scootaloo' in school before, and it wasn't supposed to be a good connotation. I barely paid attention in that lesson. But now that I had actually heard this mysterious pony speak... my heart felt heavy hearing her pain. I desperately wanted to go back in time, rush up to her, and give her a big hug and tell her everything was going to be fine.

I had to make do by hugging the holotape.

I slid the tape away, returning back to my scavenging. I found a security key and another gun, though judging by the size of the bullets that went with it, it wasn't extremely powerful. Leaving it at that, I descended back down to Final.

"About damn time!" Final rolled her eyes. "I didn't hear any shooting."

I gave her a rather serious glare. "The Overmare was there."

Final blinked. "Really? Wow. What'd she do?"

I sighed, looking away. "Well, she had overdosed on something and was dead when I found her."

"Whoa. How long ago?"

"I don't know, I'm not a forensic analyst." I retorted, before passing her the Scootaloo holotape. "When you have a moment, listen to this - hopefully you paid attention to the classes and can tell me some more."

Final nodded and slid the tape away into a saddlebag. I trotted up to the door to the locked section, and used the security key on the panel. The door slid open and a blast of warm air rolled past.

Not to mention a series of alarms, and a number of hissing growls behind us.

"Shit," Final accurately put it.

Adrenalin once again kicking in, I galloped down the long stairwell, which had decided to turn a few sharp corners, opening up into a large chamber containing a number of large vats full of a brightly glowing pink liquid that was emitting some sort of purple smoke.

I was about to ask what it was, rhetorically, but then the sign above it clearly labelled 'Liquid Magic! Do Not Touch!!!' kind of gave it away.

"Liquid magic?" Final asked. "How the hell is that even possible?"

"I don't know how, but I now know that it is," I replied. I'd never had many lessons on magic when I was up in the clouds - pegasi didn't really have the sort of magic that unicorns had. We had only learned how pegasi magic worked - how we could fly, how we could stand on clouds, how we could manipulate the weather, blah blah blah. All very technical, really.

And now we were looking at three giant vats of condensed magic.

Upon closer examination, I noticed that there were a number of funnels above it, with some grating over the lips. A constant hum and the sight of each plume of gas rising into them told me there was some sort of fan in there that was sucking it up like a vacuum.

Suddenly, all the puzzle pieces clicked in and it all made sense.

"They were funnelling gaseous magic into the air of the Stable and exposing the ponies to see what it would do to them..."

Final gave me a look of confusion. "Say what?"

I rolled my eyes. "Ok, you see those vats?" Nod nod. "They're full of magic. The magic is being turned into a gas, and is being pumped into the air filtration system through those pipes-" I indicated the pipes to Final and moved my hoof up to the roof "-where it is being breathed by the ponies up there. The magic affected their lungs and caused breathing problems, got into their brains and nervous systems and caused them to have nightmares, then become insane, and then it clinged to their flesh and caused some sort of liquification or cloth-to-coat conversion."

Final was silent for the longest of times. "Nimbus?"

"Yes?"

"When did you get so smart?" She smirked.

I wasn't in the mood for joking, nor compliments. "Ok, we need to find some way of stopping this."

Final's face took on a grin that made me worried. "Leave it to me."

I nodded and moved over to the door, pressing the 'close' button to make sure that nopony could get in. I then dashed over to a control panel and began examining it.

It was out of order.

"Oh come on!" I shouted, smashing my hoof against the screen - nothing happened. "Why do this?!"

"Maybe they couldn't get anypony down here that could repair it?" Final said, holding a wire in her mouth.

"Maybe..." I trotted over to a table that had a map of the entire Stable. My goodness, it was huge! Fortunately, the diagram also showed us the room we were in.

And right below us was a supposedly natural deposit of liquid magic.

"Well, that explains where they found it."

Final asked me, and I explained it. She nodded, before returning back to... whatever she was doing.

There was a knock on the door and a whole mass of red dots on my EFS.

"Contact!" I shouted, turning and powering up my plasma rifle.

"Give me a minute!" Final growled, before dropping something and cursing loudly. The door thundered as if a hundred ponies were stampeding over it, which they probably were! I was just glad the door was holding.

Then part of it bent out of shape with a resounding dong.

"Final!" I called back.

"Almost done!"

Dong!, another dent. A hoof poked through the gap.

"How long is 'almost'?!" I moved into a combat stance, placing the reticule of the HUD onto the door. I zapped off a shot into the hoof.

"About twenty seconds, give or take!"

Dong!, a pony could now fit his deformed face through it, snarling loudly.

"I don't think the door can-"

"Shut the fuck up and let me do my job!" Final bellowed angrily.

Dong!, now this pony could get most of his body through. He started reaching for the button. I fired a bolt into his hoof but it missed and hit the button, doing nothing.

He finally hit the button.

The door opened. Twenty mutants poured in. I fired shots. One died. Something went click. I drew my pistol quickly.

"Now!" Final cried, tapping a button on the PipBuck.

A series of small explosives went off on the vats, collapsing their supports and sending them tumbling.

Towards me.

"Move!" Final shouted as I jumped up and back. Hooves reached up to me but couldn't get a grip. With a horrible whine and screech, the vats tipped over completely, the liquid magic rolling over the floor like a bright pink wave. The liquid spouted a great mass of smoke, blocking most of my view. I saw a pony that had been covered in it explode gorily, certain points on their magicka network bursting like red grapes. The sounds of hisses being cut off and the exploding squelches signified that they all suffered similar fates.

Final hovered behind the ruined vats, laughing maniacally, shouting insults to the exposees.

I felt something boil up inside of me, and I hovered over. She turned to me with a smile on her face, but it instantly dropped when she saw mine.

"Final, what the fuck were you thinking?!" I bellowed, grabbing her by the shoulders. "You could have killed me!"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" she cried, shrinking up a little. "I thought you'd be able to dodge, or that you'd fly up when I-"

"Did you even know what your plan could have done?!" I continued. "Those explosions could have caused the magic to explode and crush us all beneath several thousand tonnes of steel and stone!"

"But-"

"No buts!" I leaned in close, pressing my nose against hers. "You could have killed everyone here! Don't you ever fucking do something like this ever again without explaining it first!"

Final squeaked, reclining into her further. I could see her eyes become wet, her pupils small. I couldn't care less at the moment, the fire in my heart still burning brightly

"Ok?!" I screamed, shaking her a little more.

"O-ok!" Final squealed, pushing me away and turning from my sight. I hovered there, my anger now slowly turning into a hollow feeling in my chest.

I sighed. "L-look... I was just scared, ok? I didn't want us to die..."

Final sniffed, turning to look over her shoulder at me. I rubbed the back of my neck, flushing a little - how could I be so stupid at yelling at my best and, now, only friend.

Way to fucking go, Nimbus.

"I think we should get out of here." I muttered, looking down at the pink liquid with chunks of red meat floating in it. Final nodded and drifted silently behind me.

"You sure you want to do this?" Final asked, turning to me. She still seemed a little scared of me, as her voice was uncharacteristically quiet.

I nodded. I looked back at the very outer entrance of Stable 73, wondering if what I was doing was the right thing. Or, for that matter, even a safe thing to do. But... this should be done. I didn't want somepony to walk into here and get killed. And Final had managed to pick up as much as the two of us could carry, so that was all well and good.

Final sighed and pressed the button on the PipBuck. A deep rumble and a cloud of dust came from the gaps in the wooden door.

That was it. It was done.

I bowed my head in respect, sighing. Final placed a hoof on my shoulder, and when I looked up I saw she was smiling warmly, a caring look in her eyes.

I wrapped my hooves around her and squeezed her for all her worth. After a second, I felt her do the same.

A few minutes later, we decided to move on, following the road down to what we assumed was Vanhoover. The signs on the road saying '2 miles to Vanhoover, City of Heroes' helped to confirm my theories.

"Look, Final, I'm sorry I snapped at you." I said after a pregnant lull in the conversation. "I just... I don't like being... I hate small spaces with no real way out."

Final smiled. "Yeah, I know. Sorry I did something so risky. I did take care placing the explosives, though."

"Yeah, you were always better with them than m-" I stopped for a second. "Wait, where'd you even find those?"

"Savages kept some on them, weirdly enough."

I shrugged and kept on walking. Soon enough, Vanhoover appeared, and from this distance I could tell that it was a lot bigger than I had expected. A large tower jutted out from behind some walls and shorter buildings, a large purple star with some smaller white ones dotted around it proudly displayed on the side. The ramshackle walls of the edge of town were fairly tall, and I could see ponies trotting along the tops of them, armed and armoured.

One of them had a gun pointed right at us.

So much for a warm welcome.

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: Scout -- +5 to Sneak, and half Perception is added to crit chance.

Author's Note

Argh, I forgot to upload this chapter last week. Ah well, better late than never, eh?

Hope you enjoyed this one. Thanks again to Filthma, Tonto and Sigma for pre-reading, Kkat for creating Fallout Equestria, Somber for Project Horizons, and you for reading :)

Keep tuned for the next chapter...