---

Loyalty.

The Wasteland would always have its ways of screwing you over, and giving you the big ‘fuck you’ right when you think you had done something right. The Wasteland denies heroes, it doesn’t want heroes. But the Wasteland needs them, and I certainly was not the right pony to be that hero. It needed another Littlepip, somepony who could put things right regardless of the outcome. Even if it killed them in the process, the Wasteland would be a little better from it -- ponies would ask what kept them going, and the companions of the hero would reply “friendship, of course.”

I was not the pony to fill in those shoes. No… I wasn’t ready. I had made many wrong decisions for the sake of my friends’ lives, for the sake of my lover’s life. Crystal. On the night I had destroyed Sunnyvale, she was on the verge of having her life taken away from her. I chose to destroy Sunnyvale to ensure that she made it out, and she did. But the outcome of that decision was regret, and guilt was my weakness. Guilt was the only thing that made it hard for me to progress. I was no Littlepip.

This Wasteland cries and begs for heroes -- ponies who know how to do right -- ponies who know what is the difference between right and wrong -- ponies that can pick themselves up after their many mistakes and errors. I however could not. The Wasteland taught me that the tiniest mistake could have thousands calling for your head. And it was right to do that. No matter what choices a pony makes out in the wild and woolly Wasteland, no matter how many ponies you save, the Wasteland would always find its ways to toss you back into the abyss of guilt and despair.

I was not one of those ponies…

The Wasteland taught ponies to fight to survive -- the Wasteland forced the violent lifestyle on ponies so that Ponykind could survive. Little did they all know, little did I know, that no matter how hard you fight for your own life, you’re only taking away another pony’s life -- slowly killing off Ponykind one by one. I was no better than they were, I was the same as everypony else. Fighting for survival, trying to add one more day to my life… One pony at a time. I was no different, no better. I was just as bitter and as sick as they were. I killed with almost no remorse.

The Wasteland changes ponies. The Wasteland changed me. My first night out in the Wasteland was a whole new experience. I had killed my first pony, I had met a new friend… ventured beyond the sealed door of Stable 30. Even though it wasn’t my choice. I may not have noticed it, but ever since I found myself outside of Stable 30, ever since I took my first steps out into the open Wasteland… the Wasteland was changing me. Compared to what I was all those months ago, I was a monster. A bitter, evil, sadistic monster!

The Wasteland corrupted Ponkykind. Power and control. The Steel Rangers and the Enclave battling each other for control over the Wasteland, and trying to grab as many civilians and other ponies that were useless with weaponry. The promise of easy money dragging them in, and holding them in the fray. After all, money talks. The civilians didn’t want to fight, they didn’t want to be involved in the violence -- but the safety, and caps they were all promised pulled them in, hypnotized them. And forced them to fight until they saw red.

The Wasteland is a cruel and bitter place. A place where not even the toughest of the tough, the brainiest of the brains or the most brutal of the brutes could survive alone. Friendship guides ponies, friendship protects ponies… Friendship is what makes ponies. Without it, we’re all powerless, useless, and alone. Friendship is what helped me get this far, and I was not going to give up.

I came home…

---

Upon arriving at the familiar cave that contained the door to Stable 30, I felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me as the dirty cave air rushed down my throat and hurried into my lungs. The scent of the degrading metal coming from the door at the end of the cave filled the air, and the surrounding darkness almost restricted our vision completely. I could just see the number thirty plastered to the mundane grey door at the end of the cave.

Home…

I felt a hoof shove me in the back of the head, grunting as I felt the hoof make contact. “Move!” Mist demanded, still holding the gun to me in his wing as he waited for me to proceed. I glanced at him, snarling and glaring at him before turning back and slowly walking back down the dirt covered path I had walked months ago.

I walked closer and closer to the large circular door at the end of the cave, taking deep breaths as I examined the cave around me. A small smile came onto my face as I felt myself on familiar soil, before stopping at the door and looking up at it. I smiled at the door as I felt somewhat welcome, even before we entered. I took a deep inhale of breath knowing that this was going to be the last I’d see of Stable 30, this was going to be my last time coming here ever.

My eyes grew misty as a couple of loose tears trickled down my cheeks. I was quick to wipe my tears away with my hoof, looking down to the ground and sniffing up quietly as I wiped the leaking emotion from my face.

Hearing walking hooves echo from behind me as they scraped the dirt, I soon noticed Mist walk passed me to the door’s console. He lowered his gun, but kept it in his wing’s grip as he began pushing a few buttons to activate the door’s mechanism. At first, seeing him do this with ease shocked me. How did he know the passcode to get inside? But then again… If he kept documentations on Stables, then I’m sure he’d have the code for each of them somewhere.

Upon hearing the sound of the alarm blaring out of the speakers just above the door, Mist took a couple of steps back and looked at the door as he waited for it to open up for him. Cyclone, Swift, Crystal and I all stood there in silence, waiting for the next move. I didn’t want to kill the ponies inside… I didn’t want to, and I shouldn’t have to. No. I had killed enough already.

A loud screeching sound was soon heard from the door, as it began to be reeled backwards by the large mechanical arm on the other side, before being rolled to the side to reveal the brightly lit up entrance to Stable 30. Bright fluorescent lights were fixed to the polished grey ceilings, and the walls beyond the door were just as polished, carrying a dull and mundane grey color.

“Come on,” Mist said, walking into the Stable with his gun by his side. We all felt a little push from the Enclave soldiers, before walking slowly towards the wide open entrance of the Stable. My home.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly proceeded to walk into the Stable, my companions following me as trudged my way back into my home for the first time in months. Upon feeling the unfamiliar cold metal that built the doorway against my hooves, I soon walked into the Stable to feel the incredibly familiar Stable floor beneath my hooves, and after a few seconds upon entering, the scent of the air was distinctively different. The once rotten Wasteland air that I was used to was now replaced with filtered oxygen… it was so fresh, and the familiar humming of the generator for the vents was also heard.

Home.

Mist stopped by the small staircase leading up to a small metal door, looking towards me as he waited for me to join him. “You’re with me from this point on, Tornado. Your friends can wait here until the job is done, and then we get out of here.”

Without saying another word, I slowly trudged my way towards him, glancing back to my friends. Their eyes looked saddened as if they themselves had lost hope. As if we had reached the end of the line… maybe we had. Maybe I had. If I didn’t stop him from hurting anypony, this place would be my funeral.

“And if they decide to try and follow us, or attack you, kill them. All of them. If one of you steps out of line, you all die…” Mist said, lifting a hoof as I stood by him. He looked to me with a grin. “Try to not let that sink into your mind -- it could ruin things, and it’d be a shame for me to have to kill you if that happens.”

“Kill me?” I asked, raising a brow. “What exactly are your plans and why do I have to be involved?”

Mist climbed the staircase in silence, and I followed, waiting for his response. I got none. Not yet, anyway. We reached the door which sat just in front of the metal staircase, Mist instantly grabbing the lever which controlled the mechanism and pulling it to open the door. Pulling the door open, a small and darkened room with a large generator in the center of it was beyond it. To the left side of the small room was a brightly lit up staircase.

He looked to me and walked through the doorway. I followed, closing the door behind me and taking a deep breath. Something told me I wouldn’t see them again… but I tried to ignore that feeling… just like he said. And I had to try and ignore that thought until we were done here.

“There’s a console in a certain section of the Stable… it manages to pump clean air inside of here instead of the irradiated shit clogged up in the air vents. Without the filter online, the irradiated air would get pumped into the Stable…” Mist began, lifting a hoof and looking at me in the eyes. “Truth be told, the “irradiated” chunks that are inside of the air ducts, just behind the filtering system is a lot more deadly that the air outside of the Stable. I plan to fill the Stable with radiation… They’ll die overtime, but it’s a much cleaner job than say “shooting up the place”,” Mist walked towards the staircase, expecting me to follow… and I did. “But you, Tornado, are the icing on the cake… you can’t have cake without icing, just like I can’t do this without you.”

“Why am I so important?” I asked, tilting my head as I followed him up the staircase. “Why me?”

“Because they know you… upon seeing me alone, they’d shoot on sight. It’d be too messy for my liking. You can somewhat grant me access, right? Even if they hate your guts for abandoning them,” Mist chuckled darkly under his breath.

“Stop right there!” a loud voice echoed from the top of the stairs. Looking up, I saw a pony wearing padded Stable 30 security armor. The pony was a mare, a unicorn… In her levitational grip were two weapons, one being a gun and the other being a baton. She wore a protective helmet with a strong plastic visor stained with blood. Fresh blood. As were her padded hooves. Her blue eyes just focused on Mist and Mist alone.

“Oh. I’m ever so sorry; do I seem to be intruding?” Mist tilted his head, looking to me, obviously expectant of me to ask her to move out of the way.

I took a couple of steps up the staircase, trying to get her attention. Which I was successful, but she didn’t lower her gun and recognize me at all, nor did she care who I was. No, she aimed her gun at me, my eyes looking directly down the dark barrel of the pistol she wielded. She raised her baton as if she was preparing to strike me down.

“Stop!” she screamed. “You’re both trespassing, how the hell did you get inside of the Stable?!”

“I-I’ve come back!” I said with a tone of shock, trying not to move just in case she fire shots at me for moving. And it was likely that she would. “D-don’t you remember me at all?”

“We didn’t ask for you to come back, Tornado!” she barked, gritting her teeth as her weapon pushed against my head, in-between the eyes. “We threw you out for a reason. You tried ever so hard to help the ponies believe there was hope beyond that door. You tried to tell them that there was a land of opportunity -- that the Stable was nothing compared to life outside. Tell me, did you find hope?”

In truth, I hadn’t. I hated almost every minute. But I was certainly given more freedom.

I gulped, looking at her. “Please… let us pass. We won’t cause no harm, I promise you… Please!”

“Yeah, that’s what you said last time,” she let out a bemused chuckle, prodding the gun barrel against my forehead. “Now fuck off, blue boy! We don’t want you around here anymore. I’ll give you ten seconds to head back the way you came… If not, then I’ll blow your fuckin’ brains and feed the chunks to the residents.”

“Oh please, do I have to do this?” I heard Mist’s voice speak from behind, before a loud BANG from his gun echoed and ricocheted off of the walls. I closed my eyes upon hearing it, before opening my eyes and seeing the security mare standing there, almost lifeless. Her jaw was blown clean off; blood spurting and leaking from the wounds and her eyes wide open as noises of what sounded like a backed-up sewage pipe came from her throat. He fired another shot, the bullet pushing straight through her visor and into her eye, knocking her onto the ground.

My eyes widened my heart sinking as I stared down at her bloody corpse. I shook my head, looking down at him with a glare. “You didn’t have to do that! She didn’t deserve to die!!”

“You think you’re any better?!” Mist bit back, climbing the stairs and stepping over her corpse. He took a couple of steps closer to the door at the end of the bright hallway, lighted with fluorescent lights fixed to the ceiling. The door had a sign that read Atrium above it, the sign glowing a bright green color. “Think about all those ponies you killed, the ponies you barely knew. Tell me, did they deserve it? I defended you… we weren’t going to turn back, I wouldn’t allow that! The least you could be is grateful that I saved your skin!”

The sound of the alarm soon blared out of the speakers fixed to the scratched steel walls. I flinched, hearing the ear-piercing alarm bounce off of the walls and shoot directly back into my ears. It didn’t take long for me to recover from the sudden burst of pain that I felt just then, and without saying anything else, Mist continued to the door, keeping his pistol in his wing’s grip. He looked to me, shooting me a look.

[[“FIND THE INTRUDERS AND STOP THEM; ALL STABLE RESIDENTS MUST REMAIN WITHIN THEIR QUARTERS!!]]

The Overmare’s loud voice boomed on the speakers as the alarm rang out. Mist trotted towards the door before opening it to reveal a large open area with balconies at either side. Bridges connected both sides together, and the floor was a shining obsidian black. Various metal boxes were scattered on the ground and the pillars which held the metal balconies in place were thick and made of metal. Mist trotted through the doorway, keeping his gun nearby him at all times and scanning the area for any guards.

“I didn’t want to have to fight my way there, but if we have to.” One of the doors at the opposite ends of the room opened to reveal a small party of armed guards with guns and batons in their levitation grips. Mist quickly ran towards one of the nearby boxes hugging one of the support beams, and ducking behind it.

“Over there!” one of the guards’ voices sounded, before I ran for cover and slid down on my belly, before slamming against a box. I yelped, holding the wound in my side as I felt it slam against the box.

[[“FIND THE INTRUDERS AND STOP THEM; ALL STABLE RESIDENTS MUST REMAIN WITHIN THEIR QUARTERS!!”]]

The Overmare’s voice repeated as the sound of the raining gunfire from the guards was drowned out by the alarm. I shuffled around a bit behind the box as Mist shot some blind shots towards the guards. Reaching into my Stable Jacket’s pocket, I pulled out my gun, holding it in my jaws and then soon peering over to see how many there were.

One… two… three… seven. And the numbers were rising upon me catching sight of more padded guards marching through the open hallway. Peeking over to see which pony would be the easier target, I opened up S.A.T.S. to select the closest one to me. Luckily, the pony I had selected was out in the open. Selecting the torso and one of their forelegs, I fired two loud shots to the Stable guard, both of the shots piercing through the armor they wore and damaging them.

The shots luckily didn’t kill him… I wasn’t really wanting to kill ponies who I could have possibly known before I was thrown out of the Stable. Leaning over again, I popped into S.A.T.S. yet again and targeted one of the guards who had just arrived, targeting both of his forelegs and firing the shots in rapid succession, wounding and crippling the guard. Like the guard before, he fell with a cry of agony before falling onto his front.

“Shoot the fuckers, we cannot disappoint the Overmare!” I heard one of the voices from the guards call.

Mist soon crawled his way over to me, sitting by me and looking at me as he attempted to keep his head down from all the spraying bullets that were flying above us and hitting the wall. I looked at him, my gun in my jaws still as the rounds from the security guards continued blazing over us. The sound of rushing hoofsteps began to be heard above us. I peeked around the box, looking up at the bridges to see security ponies running across to the opposing side so they could see us.

“I’m not fighting all of these, Tornado!” Mist called out, peeking around the corner to check if the hallway was clear. “I know where we have to go… but I must keep you alive. Are there any shortcuts?”

“Shortcuts to where?!” I cried out, feeling a bullet barely miss me. I flinched, curling up and looking to the balcony at the three security ponies who had taken position on the balcony. I shot two shots without S.A.T.S., one of the bullets killing one of the three ponies on the balcony with a headshot, his blood splattering onto the grey wall behind him and the other crippling the pony directly next to him.

“To the generator room?!” Mist barked back, looking for an opportunity to dart for the corridor. “You help me now, and then we go our separate ways. All I ask of you is to guide me.”

I looked to the hallway that the guards came from, before looking back to Mist and opening up my hooves as if I wanted to hug him. He looked at me with a confused look before shaking his head and facehoofing, the bullets still flying over the box we hid behind at a rapid pace.

“I don’t think a hug from you will help us in this situation, ‘Nado!” he criticised, climbing to his hooves, but trying to keep low.

“No… I can fly you to the hallway. From then on, we run… don’t fight. Nopony has to die.” I lifted myself onto his back, wrapping my forelegs around him tightly so I wouldn’t drop him mid-flight. I prepared to try and carry him to the doorway, of course, with him being a full-sized pony; I most likely wouldn’t be able to fly for more than a few seconds.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Mist gritted his teeth, glancing up at me as I pressed against his back. “If you drop me, I’ll make sure that you don’t leave this Stable alive!”

“I can’t promise anything, but we can try!” I said, taking a deep breath as I counted to three under my breath, staring at the doorway. Another bullet just avoided my flank from the final pony on the balcony opposite us, making me flinch once more. “Three… two… GO!” I soon lifted Mist off of the ground, flying out of cover and towards the opened doorway at max speed, the security guards shooting at us and only just missing us my a few millimeters.

Upon reaching the doorway, I felt my strength fail as I soon fell to the ground, landing on top of the stallion I carried. Sliding along the floor ever so slightly, I quickly launched up as the guards shot at us and charged towards the doorway. With one simple buck to the button that operated the door, the door slammed shut and it also locked in the process, the sign above it changing from green to red almost instantly after the door closed.

I stumbled forward, panting heavily as I glanced back at the door, hearing hooves slamming against it and the yells of the security ponies, all of them cursing and screaming at their failed attempts on stopping us. I grinned, looking back to Mist. He grinned back and let out a snicker within his heavy breaths.

“Not bad… This doesn’t mean with friends, though,” Mist admitted, shooting me a dismal look.

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” I responded instantly, walking up beside him. Standing in the lengthy and claustrophobic corridor that was lit up with a reddish glow from the light boxes fixed to the ceiling, at the end of the long corridor was a door to the upper section of the Atrium.

[[“YOU FOOLS! THERE ARE TEN OF YOU, AND ONLY TWO OF THEM, ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU CAN’T STOP TWO PONIES WITH LESS FIREPOWER THAN YOU?! THAT’S UNACCEPTABLE. I EXPECT BETTER FROM YOU ALL!!

“AS FOR YOU AND YOUR FRIEND, TORNADO, YOU’RE BOTH NOT WELCOME HERE. I’M GIVING YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO TURN BACK AND LEAVE WITHOUT CAUSING ANYMORE VIOLENCE. TAKE YOUR CHANCE WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!”]]

There was no turning back. I didn’t come this far for nothing. And Mist wasn’t going to get what he wanted… I had to try and stop him. Of course, when the time was right. Right now we needed each other. We needed each other to push through this, to get there alive… If he died, I wouldn’t make it out alive. Not that I ever respected him.

“We’re almost there… I think…” I said, lifting a hoof before proceeding to the door at the end of the corridor. Mist followed me closely, staying by my side as we walked down the long and empty hallway. “Yes… we’re close.”

---

Trotting up the stairwell at the end of the corridor, we still kept our weapons out in the open just in case. I held a strong grip on my Pistol’s mouth-grip, while Mist walked ahead with the gun in his hand. Opening the door at the top of the stairs, it revealed the balcony we had been underneath moments ago. Mist took one step, peeking around the doorway in both directions. Standing behind him, I noticed in the circular window of the Overmare’s office (the one that gave her a full view of the Atrium) that she wasn’t standing there, looking for us.

I removed the gun from my mouth, and held it in my wing. “Come on… let’s hurry. It’s on this level…” I said, lifting a hoof. I felt my heart sink, thinking about what would happen if I failed to stop Mist.

Mist trotted out, walking to the right and down the large open hallway. The hallway was filled with red, as one small bright bulb that was fixed to the ceiling supplied all of the light for the area. I followed him with a regretful and worrying sigh, the grey steel walls coated in dry blood as if they had beaten ponies against the walls. Which was believable…

Upon passing the door to the Overmare’s office, I glanced a look to the scratched and battered door, and then to the flickering sign above her door. I let out a sigh, before looking back to Mist and following him slowly as I held my gun in my wing, following the buck closely as he wandered forward. The voices of the security guards that we had fought earlier were loudly echoing from the walls as they continued the search, but failed to find a way beyond the door that I had locked.

We soon reached a door… A scratched and damaged door. A door filled with various bullet holes, and tainted with dry blood. We stood by the door, staring at it, before I looked up at the sign above it. Generator room. The sign was bright green, and the big and black text on the sign seemed to be welcoming. I looked back to the door, Mist walking over and pushing his hoof against the button on the wall beside the door.

“Here we are…” Mist spoke, walking through the doorway. I soon followed him, looking around the room as I did. “Let’s get this done and get out of here… We’ve wasted enough time as it is.”

The room that we had both stepped into had the same red glow like the hallway just outside of the room. There were large mainframe computers, exactly four different computers all around the same size, beeping and working as they made sure that clean air was being pumped through the air ducts. By one of the dark colorless walls sat a small desk with a terminal sitting on top of it. In each individual corner of the room were terminals and other large computers… but of course for other uses.

Walking over to the terminal on the desk right beside the large mainframe computers, Mist placed his gun onto the desk gently beside the terminal, and began to hack into the computer’s system. I glanced at him, watching him staring at the screen of the computer as he attempted to hack into the Stable’s system. My heart sunk further, knowing that I had to act now or it would be too late.

But… I couldn’t. My mind was telling me that I shouldn’t. But I had to. I couldn’t just let him do this… Killing the lives of many innocent ponies inside of a Stable and for what? The betterment of the Wasteland? No… Stables don’t harm the Wasteland, ponies harm the Wasteland. Ponies like him. But if I just showed him the barrel of my gun, he could potentially tell the Enclave guards to kill my companions. He has the power to do that, and I’m sure he would take that opportunity.

I looked down at the ground, thinking as I heard him type away on the computer, before hearing a couple of hoofsteps coming from the doorway. My attention quickly turned towards the doorway. I saw my sister wearing Enclave Power Armor, and the weapon she held within her wing’s grip was a pistol. An Enclave pistol…

Mist turned to look upon hearing the sound, before sighing and chuckling to himself with a shake of his head. “Oh… You trust Enclave soldiers with something, they never do it right. I should have brought more.”

“You need to stop what you’re doing,” Cyclone said, gritting her teeth. “Mist… this is wrong. You shouldn’t have to kill these ponies.”

“Are you suggesting that I just let them all go?” Mist glared at her, raising a brow and taking a step closer to her. “If they get out, we’ll have more ponies who want to “help.” I can’t deal with ponies like that -- we don’t need more LittlePips… And certainly not more Tornados! Wanderers like LittlePip… Like Tornado… Like all the others before him are a thing of the past. Nopony wants them anymore.”

I looked at Mist, not saying a word. Ouch? So I was unwanted? Great.

“That’s not true!” Cyclone shot a look straight back at him, aiming her gun right at him as she took a step closer herself. “Tornado isn’t perfect, far from it. But what he’s done is shown that he can make his own decisions, that he doesn’t have to get into somepony’s good books. He doesn’t care being liked by ponies who he doesn’t even know. He has his friends, he has us -- that’s all he needs.”

I stood there, baffled by all of the things I just heard. I never rated myself as ‘perfect’, but I couldn’t make my own decisions without getting ponies to hate my guts. But I certainly didn’t care if they did if I didn’t know them… as long as they weren’t trying to hunt me down and kill me, of course. I still kept my eyes on them both, Mist taking a couple of steps closer while shaking his head.

“Wanderers, like Tornado, haven’t been seen in a long time. In fact, it’s been many years since we’ve had somepony like him…” Mist bitterly said, glancing back to me and grinning, before looking back to my sister. “But they’re not needed -- the Wasteland could do without them. And the Wasteland most certainly could do without you.” Cyclone’s facial expression changed to a confused one as Mist raised his gun. “Goodnight, Cyclone,” he said, before firing a single shot at my sister. The bullet hit her right between the eyes, blood spraying out from the exit wound behind her, before the mare collapsed with a loud thud.

I stared at her body as she collapsed, her eyes wide open, tears filling my vision and making my sight blurry. I gritted my teeth, dropping the gun in my wing onto the floor and biting my lip from all of the sadness and emotion I felt from that single event. I had lost her… And this time, I wouldn’t get her back.

“N-no,” I mumbled under my breath, darting over to her as Mist returned back to the console. I stopped at her body, the blood leaking from her wound and onto the floor, some chunks of brain and lumps of brain matter on the ground. Her eyes were wide open, and I just stared at her, baffled and speechless. She was dead… And there was no way on getting her back…

“I’ve almost finished,” Mist commented, his hooves hitting against the keys. “Once we finish up, we can leave.”

I didn’t respond. Anger, hatred… so many emotions built up inside of me slowly. I glanced back to Mist, tears trickling down my face as I shot him a look, breathing heavily and trying so hard to just bite back the tears. But they weren’t going. Nothing could stop them.

“W-why did you kill her?” I asked, breathing heavily as the tear trickled down my cheeks and onto the floor. “She didn’t deserve it… and neither do the ponies inside of this Stable.”

“Don’t you understand what she did? She walked out on the Enclave -- she walked out when we needed her the most,” Mist turned to me and shot a look right back at me. “The only reason I kept her alive this long was to get you to come this far with me.”

I held the lifeless body in my hooves, looking back down at her body in my hooves, the blood leaking onto me as I held her gently. Kissing her head and then pulling away, my tears falling onto her body and drying into her fur. I soon closed her eyes slowly, and then settled her back down onto the cold, hard ground, before wiping my eyes and sobbing softly.

“Done. The filter’s offline,” Mist said, leaning away from the computer. I looked to him, gritting my teeth and climbing to my hooves, shooting him a look. “This Stable is going to fill up with radiation any moment now -- we have to leave and fast.”

“You bastard…” I mumbled under my breath, standing by my sister’s body. “You… complete… utter… BASTARD. Why did I even trust you?! You gave me no choice whatsoever, you forced me to help you -- you put my companions’ lives on the line just so I could help you kill off a Stable?! You killed my sister, Dodge, Cyber and for what?! What did they do to you that deserved what they got?!”

He glanced at me with a grin, turning his body towards me as he stared into my hate filled eyes. “Because it was fun toying with you, Tornado. Besides, you’re no better -- you killed Violet, not me. Wanderers, like you, don’t exist anymore. But when you came along, I feared that you’d try to become the new LittlePip. Luckily for me, you didn’t. But either way, it was fun toying with you… and now that you’ve helped me come this far, I have no use for you now…” he threw his gun aside with his wing, before fixing his eyes back onto me. “It’s the end of the line for you… though, it has been fun. I’m so sorry that it has to end like this, but one way or another, I was going to kill you anyway.”

Mist soon threw himself at me, the white stallion tackling me onto the ground. I landed on my back, the buck standing over me and swiping a hoof across my face strongly. I let out a yelp, trying to throw him off as he soon swung his other hoof around my face with the same amount of force. I shoved my hooves into his face, slamming a punch into his face to try and throw him off, but my strength was no match for his at this point.

I shoved my hooves into his face, Mist struggling to hit me as I began to push him off of me. He grabbed my hooves, trying ever so hard to throw them away from his face. I soon slammed my right foreleg into the side of his face, Mist screaming out in pain before I rolled on top of him. I swung my hoof around his face as I held him down with the other hoof, rapidly punching him around the face. Blood started to come out with each punch I landed on his face, the blood splattering onto the ground in small bursts.

“Y-you’re making a grave mistake!” Mist roared at me as I attempted to contain him beneath me. He raised his hoof to block mine, my hoof colliding with his as I went to swing another blow around his face. He gritted his teeth, his muzzle bleeding from both his nose and mouth. Throw me off of him, he was quick to try and pin me down, shoving both of his hooves down onto my shoulders and holding me down on my back.

I struggled, trying to raise my hooves to throw him off. He reached into his own jacket, searching for something. He was quick to reveal something in his jaws… A knife. My eyes widened as he applied more pressure to my shoulders to keep me pinned underneath him, cocking his head back and then soon slamming his head down, the blade’s tip pointing towards me.

I quickly jerked away from the descending knife, the metal knife slamming against the metal flooring below me. He quickly pulled his head back; the knife slightly dented but still sharp enough to cause some real damage. He swung down at the other side. I quickly dodged, this time the knife getting jammed into the ground from the amount of power he applied. I felt the buck lie down on top of me as he tried to yank the knife back out of the ground, his hooves applying less pressure. I used this opportunity roll on top of him, before sitting on top of him and slamming my hooves down onto his neck. Choking him, I stared down at him with a glare, applied more and more pressure as I brought my hooves closer together while I held his neck.

“Y-you’re going to die… for everything you did. Every single mistake you made,” I groaned, breathing heavily as I stole the air from his lungs.

“L-like hell I am!!” Mist spat out, coughing before throwing me off with ease and pinning me back down once more. He swung both of his hooves around my face at a high velocity, mashing my face with both of his forehooves. Upon feeling his heavy hooves hit my face; I felt blood burst out from my nostrils and mouth as he swung both of his hooves my way.

Holding my face down with one hoof, he began to use his other hoof to brutally beat my face to a bloody-pulp. Or tried to. Each hoof that landed on my face felt painful, and stung with each and every contact he made. I didn’t make any whimpers, seeing the blood from my nose splatter onto the floor with each punch he landed.

I tried to shove him off of me, wrapping my own foreleg around the one he used to punch me to weaken him. He breathed heavily from all of the energy he used, and as soon as his eyes widened, I twisted his foreleg to induce pain. And pain was what I did induce. He soon cringed and arched his back in pain, his foreleg making a few silent pops as I began to twist it, slowly sitting up and then headbutting him in the muzzle. Releasing his foreleg from my grip, he screamed in agony as he fell onto his back and rolled on the floor.

I quickly darted up, limping back towards the desk where his gun was, but before I could reach it, I felt something slam against my right hindleg. I screamed, almost falling face first onto the ground. I looked back to see the blunt knife on the ground, stained with a bit of my blood on a sharp side of the blade. Then followed the feeling of blood trickling down my leg.

“Gah, mother fucker!” I yelled, hissing in pain. Mist soon ran to the desk, picking up the gun in his jaws and then swung the barrel of the gun around my face. I felt the hard metal base of the gun slam into my face, before feeling myself get throw onto my back and landing with a loud thud.

Looking up, I saw him aiming his gun at me. He grabbed the gun from his mouth with a wing, and held it in a firm grip. My eyes widened, and my heart sunk, knowing that this was the end of the line for me. He walked closer to me, and upon reaching me, he stood over me. He pointed the gun down at me, and pressed it against my head. I found myself looking down the barrel of his gun… His gun was going to end my life.

“It’s the end of the line, Torna--”

BANG!!

Mist soon flung to the side, landing onto his side and dropping the gun, his side filled with bullet holes as blood began to leak out of the many wounds created in his side. I looked in the direction of the sound to see Crystal with a shotgun in her levitational grasp and snarling at the buck on the ground. She was covered in blood as if she had battled her way through just to get here. But there was no sign of Swift… I feared for the worst at that point upon coming to realization. She stomped over to him with a great fury that not even I could match.

“Not my fiancé, you Enclave-lovin’ bastard!” Crystal roared out, pointing the shotgun to his head. The once brave look of Mist was soon taken away almost instantly, as a mixture of pain and fear was shown on his face. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you now…”

Mist didn’t respond. Crystal pumped it, and as she did a loud ‘cha-chink!’ as she placed it back between the eyes of Mist. I coughed loudly, trying to fight against the pain to lift myself up once more.

“It’s about time somepony put you down!” Crystal exclaimed, pressing it against his head as she grinned down at him, breathing heavily. “We had to fight our way up here, and now that I have you, I’m going to end you.”

“Do it,” he simply said, leaning forward against the barrel. “It makes you no better than me, or him, or anypony in the Wasteland, for that matter!”

“Very well…” Crystal fired the shot, his head splitting open as large chunks of blood and brain matter splattered onto the ground behind him. The top portion of his head was now non-existent, and the brain that filled his skull was now blown into pieces. The buck slammed onto his back with the shot, blood leaking from his shattered head. She panted heavily, her eyes widening as she dropped the gun.

I lifted myself onto my hooves, walking to her steadily but surely and then sitting beside her, wrapping my hoof around her as I looked at his corpse. I pulled her in close, hugging her and caressing her mane as I held her close. She hugged back, kissing my neck gently. I reeled back, kissing her on the lips with a great passion, and holding her close to me as I felt her warm and soft lips kissing mine. I pulled away, smiling softly, but that soon faded.

[[“WARNING: RADIATION LEVELS INCREASING, ALL STABLE RESIDENTS MUST NOT PANIC, WE ARE TRYING TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE; REMAIN IN YOUR QUARTERS!!”]]

Hearing the sound of hooves coming towards the room, I looked to the doorway to see a blood-soaked Swift, panting and looking towards us both as I held her close to me. Swift walked into the room.

“We have to go, the Stable’s going to flood with radiation at any given moment,” Swift stated, lifting a hoof. I stood onto my hooves, limping towards the terminal and gritting my teeth as I felt a shooting pain fill my body.

“W-which is why you two need to go immediately,” I hissed, leaning against the desk and biting my lip. I looked to them, smiling. “You know where the exit is… head for it and don’t look back.”

“What about you?” Swift said, walking closer to me with a puzzled look on his face. “You’re coming with us.”

“Somepony has to ensure everyone gets out alive,” I coughed, spitting blood out onto the ground as I leaned against the desk. “I didn’t come all this way just to watch all the ponies of my home die.”

“But they’ll die in the Wastes without the proper equipment!” Swift exclaimed, glaring at me. “You’re coming with us, Tornado!”

“I can’t… even if I wanted to,” I said glumly, looking down. “There are some old friends in this Stable, friends of whom I know deserve the lives they have…”

“Listen to yourself!” Swift cried, stomping forward and leaning in close to me. “Crystal is pregnant with YOUR child, she will give birth to YOUR child, do you expect that child to survive without a father?!”

I went silent, taking it all in and looking down at the ground. She was pregnant with my child… And I had no idea that she was. But I didn’t come all this way to just let all of these ponies die, they had to survive, they all deserved their lives. All but the guards, of course… but I knew ponies down here. Ponies that I had known longer than the ones I had met outside of the Stable lived down here, even after I was thrown out. And they deserved their lives more than I deserved mine.

Walking up to Crystal, I put a hoof on her cheek and pressed my forehead against hers. “Swift… Can you give us a moment, please?” I requested, speaking in a soft tone of voice as I closed my eyes, holding her close to me. Swift left with no more words, walking out of the room slowly…

“P-please don’t stay behind…” Crystal whimpered softly, gently pushing her muzzle against mine and sniffing. “We need you. Both of us.”

“If I had a choice, I would come with you,” I responded, wrapping my hoof around her and pulling her close. I felt the tears build up once more, allowing them to slowly trickle down my cheeks. “But these ponies need a future -- they need to believe. Without the opportunity to start a new life, these ponies will die… And nopony deserves to die a death that is undeserved.”

“Y-you do have a choice, Tornado,” she softly spoke, licking the tears that trickled down my cheeks while hers ran down her cheeks. “P-please come with me. With us… I love you…”

“I-I love you, too…” I said, taking a deep breath and nuzzling her gently. “B-but these ponies need a future… Once I open the secret passage in the Overmare’s office, it’ll be too late for me as soon as they all leave…They go… I stay…”

“It doesn’t have to be like that…” Crystal bemoaned, reeling away. I opened my eyes to see her staring into mine with tears in her eyes, whimpering softly. “You can exit first, and they follow.”

“I can’t do that… I’d slow them down…” I said with a sigh, looking down. “An injured buck isn’t exactly the most ideal thing to be stuck behind in a time like this. They go, and I remain. It’s the only way, I’m afraid…”

Crystal bit her lip, looking down as her tears fell. It hurt me to see her like this, but I had no choice. I could barely walk fast enough. Once I open the hatch and let all of the ponies out of the Stable, I wouldn’t have enough time to reach the exit. I was too crippled, but I wasn’t going to let these ponies die without a chance at life outside…

I put my hoof underneath her chin, and lifted her head up to make her eyes meet mine. I gave her one last warm and passionate kiss on the lips, tears falling down at both sides of my face. I closed my eyes, pulling her close to me as I kissed her softly on the lips and she kissed back, sobbing softly as she did. I reeled away, and then cocked my head to the door.

“Now go!” I ordered, turning to the desk once again and sniffing. “I’ll always be in your heart, Crystal… I love you…”

“I-I love you, too…” I heard her soft voice say, before the sound of her running hooves were heard echoing loudly against the walls. I turned around to see I was alone again, before beginning to limp back towards the doorway of which I had come in before Crystal had killed Mist.

Upon passing my sister’s body, I kneeled down, kissing the forehead of it with tears in my eyes. I smiled softly at her body, but not out of happiness, but out of pain… She was in a better place… but I didn’t want it to end for her the way it did. I didn’t want her to die while I was still alive, but… it was the way it ended for her. Wiping my tears away, I got back onto my hooves and slowly limped out of the room and towards the Overmare’s office that was just across from where I was.

I groaned out in pain, closing my eyes and wincing as I dragged myself to the door of the office, before slamming a few knocks on it with my bloody hoof. I slammed harder, trying to get the attention of the Overmare immediately so I could do what needed to do. The door opened up, revealing a dull grey mare, with bright yellow eyes and a dark grey and white striped mane. Almost collapsing into her quarters, she glared at me as I stumbled into her office. Her office was brightly lit up with large light boxes fixed to the ceiling, the blue-ish grey flooring reflected nicely from the light, and the mahogany brown wallpaper that she had gave it a nice homey feel.

Like all offices that belonged to the Overmare, there was a large circular desk in the center, with a chair behind it and a solitary terminal sat on top of the desk and beside it was a microphone. Her bed was tucked away in the corner, while the lockers that contained ammo and medical supplies hugged the walls. Large computers sat behind her desk, computers that monitored the air within the Stable. Right now, it was code yellow… dangerous.

“What are you doing here?! You’re the reason we’re all going to die!” the Overmare accused, pushing me so that I fell onto my front. I landed with a thud, and a moan of pain. “And now, you and your friends are going to DIE with all of us!”

I glared up at her and coughed. “My friends have left… You must open your escape hatch, and let all of the ponies inside of this Stable out into the open. The Wasteland is full of opportunity, you can start a new life beyond that door, I promise you… j-just don’t let all of these ponies die for nothing.”

“And what makes you say that?!” She stomped a hoof down, walking closer to me and glaring down at me. “The world beyond that door is full of war and danger -- ponies want to hurt one-another out there -- how do I know this? Just looking at you, violence is the only way you know how to live.”

“B-but they’ll die in here if you don’t,” I said, climbing to my hooves and letting out a bitter cough. “Listen to me… if I managed to survive after being left for dead, then surely you can last if you leave willingly.”

“These ponies are going nowhere, you hear me?!” the Overmare said with fury. “What do they say about the Stables, again? “You’re born in the Stable; you die in the Stable.” These ponies are going to die, and you cannot make me change my mind otherwise.” She stood her ground, and I sighed, looking down at the ground.

“Very well…” I quickly turned around, and bucked her in the face with my hindlegs, groaning and crying out in pain as I did. Almost falling over, I winced, before climbing to my hooves and limping over to her desk.

Working my way around it, I soon grabbed the microphone in my hoof, and then slammed down on the ‘transmit button’. I took a deep breath, coughing to the side so I didn’t blow up the speakers with a sudden blast of sound. Moving my lips back to the microphone, I took another deep breath, preparing myself to deliver the message.

“Residents of Stable 30, this is Tornado Dash speaking… I need you all to listen to me very carefully, as what I am going to say will save your lives. In the Overmare’s office, there is a secret passage that will lead you directly to the Stable 30 entrance -- the door to the Stable should already be open, if not, then all you have to do is type in the passcode for the door.” I logged onto the Overmare’s console, surprisingly, she didn’t have a password set on her terminal. Opening the file “>Stable door passcode”, I was greeted with a single line of text stating the passcode; “WORK.”

“The passcode for the entrance door is “WORK”, all capitals. Once you put that in, all of you must leave the Stable and venture out into the world beyond the door. The radiation levels are dangerously high, so I must ask you all to hurry to the office immediately… the hatch will open upon your arrival…” Upon finishing my sentence, I ended the transmission and placed the microphone down on the desk. I soon went back to the terminal, leaning against the desk as I did.

>Back.

…

…

Hello, Overmare!

>Open secret passage.

>Stable door passcode.

>Stable documentation.

>Back.

Opening “opensecretpassage.doc.”

…

...

Do you want to open the secret passage?

>Yes.

>No.

>>Yes

Are you sure you want to open the secret hatch?

>Yes.

>Go back.

>Opening secret hatch…

>Back.

…

…

>Log off.

Logging off.

Upon backing away from the terminal, the desk soon began to raise off of the ground, and a small hatch beneath the desk opened up to reveal a stone stairway below it. I groaned, falling down onto my flank and leaning up against one of the computers behind the Overmare’s desk, coughing and wheezing as I looked around. I felt myself growing weak… not from the radiation either… but from the fight with Mist…

I snickered, coughing and wheezing once more. “‘You’re born in the Stable; you die in the Stable’…” Closing my eyes, I remained against the computer, resting my hoof on my stomach as I grinned. Movement was soon heard as the Stable had responded to my message. “...Here they come…”

---

Once the ponies had left the Stable, the only one left was me. I sat against the computers, the silence of the empty Stable almost deafening as I breathed heavily. I felt my body weaken more and more, and this time it was the radiation making me weaker. I opened my eyes once more, seeing the empty office around me. No sound… nothing at all. Everypony had left, and I was all that was left…

I grinned as my body began to shut down, and my vision slowly fading into white as I inhaled and exhaled my last breaths of the irradiated air… I was born in the Stable… and I can’t say that I was particularly happy here. The Wasteland gave me new opportunities; I met new ponies, and experienced things that I never thought I would have ever experienced. It was -- hell -- but at the same time, I… can’t say I didn’t like it. And as my time came, my vision was consumed with a screen of white as the radiation finished me off…

Footnote: Maximum Level! - Level 20

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