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Fallout Equestria: Stable Crawler

Fallout Equestria: Stable Crawler

by Rainedash


Chapters


  • From the city of sin to the world of death
  • Stable 113: Section A
  • From the city of sin to the world of death

    Las Pegasus, the city of sin and the most beautiful city in the sky, was the latest causality in this war. After the Enclave got its collective ass kicked by that half pint unicorn, things went from bad to worse for us and eventually, a civil war broke out. Every cloud city, including Las Pegasus got pulled into the fighting. Neighvarro, the center for the Enclave supporters, attack us and force us into submission. Everyone here was drafted into service and the city hired a couple battalions of Talon mercs. We won, but a lot of the city was in ruins, including where I worked.

    I watched as Moon Lily and Specter finished hanging up the sign, The Gates of Tartarus: come and indulge in your sins. Our old boss came up with the slogan. The guy had a knack for coming up with catchy slogans but wasn't that good at dodging energy beams.

    A couple of the other girls and I pulled our money together and bought the casino/brothel. However, there was still a slight problem.

    “Hey Ember, we’re all out of money.”

    Of course we are. “Yes, I know Lily,” I respond. We had enough to buy the place and fix up the outside appearance a bit, but the inside was still a mess; the plumbing was shot to hell, the furniture was ruined, and the backrooms where the entertainers stayed during the day – you know, singers, magicians, comedians, strippers, prostitutes, etc – simply wasn’t there anymore. “Listen girls, I think I know how we can get some money.”

    “Why don’t we just go with my idea?” asked Specter.

    Damn it, not this again. “Specter, we are high class escorts. I will not go back to working street corners again, where anyone can try to pick us up.”

    “Fine Ms. I’m too good to do that again, what’s your idea?”

    “I overheard some of the Talons talking a while ago. Apparently mercenary work pays pretty well, depending on who you’re working for. And, more importantly, that the NCR is looking for mercs for some special job.”

    “The NCR? No, you can’t do it,” said Moon Lilly. “Those surfacers are savages. I heard that they’re cannibals.”

    “Yes, I heard that too. I heard it from the Enclave, the bastards that attacked us. I can’t believe that you still trust their bullshit," I said.

    “Just because they’re our enemy, doesn’t mean that they’re wrong.”

    “Whatever. Either way, I’m going.”

    Her eyes teared up a bit as she pleaded with me, “But… but…” She rushed over to me hugged me for all she was worth. Well, it was either a hug, or she was attempting to crush my ribs. “What will we do if you die down there?” She always did overact to things.

    “Lily, relax. Ember isn’t an idiot; she won’t do anything too risky.” She came over and put her hoof on my shoulder. “Right Ember?” she asked in a low whisper. Even though she didn't show her emotions like Moon Lily, it was obvious she didn't like this plan either. Great, now I got both of them making me feel guilty for doing this.

    “Look girls, I’ll be fine. I swear that I’ll come back in one piece.” Moon Lily loosened her death grip on me, so I guess they believed it. “I’ll be back before you know it and with plenty of money.” Specter consoled Lily as I left.

    Yeah, I was scared of the surface also. Who wouldn’t be? We've all been taught since we were young that the surface was just a land of death and that any citizen that tried to go down there, wouldn't be able to come back. But I really couldn’t think of a better way of getting the money we needed.

    ***

    After grabbing some supplies, namely the kevlar barding and the laser rifle that city gave me before the battle, as well as a saddlebag, I set off. The first thing I noticed about the surface is that, damn it’s brown. Yes, yes, I know that that’s the color of dirt and all, but it seemed to be the only color for most of the world.

    The next thing to catch my attention was how few settlements there were. I was pretty high up over Junction R-7, but I couldn’t see any other cities. Its capital must have been the only real city, and I use the term loosely, that the NCR had.

    I landed in the middle of town, right in front of a statue of Littlepip. I couldn't believe just how small the statue was. I mean, she’s supposed to be this larger than life hero and yet the statue of her in one of the biggest cities of the wasteland was smaller than I am. I guess they wanted to make it life like or something. You know, I wonder if she had some sort of Neighpoleon complex. That might explain why she decided to become a hero.

    A large zebra in a black cloak came up to the statue and bowed his head. “Blessed be Celestia’s prophet,” he whisper and then walked off.

    Celestia’s prophet? Ok, that was a new one. Did the wastelanders worship her? It makes sense after all she did for them, but still, it seemed odd. Also, were all zebras built like tanks? Damn he was big.

    I fished out a piece of paper that I’d gotten off one of the Talons. After a few bats of my eyelashes and smile, he was more than happy to give me all the information I needed. I had to talk to a griffin named Reggie in the military affairs office, which was located near town square. How convenient.

    ***

    Ok, maybe not so convenient. It took me like a half of an hour to find the damn place. I eventually just asked for directions, only to find out I had passed it a couple times. Whatever, I was in it now. There were a bunch of armed soldiers hanging around and a receptionist; who, by the way, didn't even look up to greet me.

    “State you name and business,” she said in a halfhearted tone.

    “I’m Ember and I need to see Reggie about the…” What was it again? Oh right. “About the scouting job.” And before anyone says it, just because I couldn’t find this place doesn’t mean that I’ll suck as a scout. The NCR just needs to make better signs.

    “Tsk, another mercenary. Go down the hall and it’s the third door on your left. Oh and you’ll need to leave any weapons you have here.” I dropped off my laser rifle and followed her instructions. Soon, I was standing in front of a door with: Reggina, commander of special forces, written on it. There were a couple voices coming from inside the office; one male and the other female. I hesitantly reach up and knock a couple times.

    “It’s open,” said the female voice. I opened the door to find that there were actually three people inside. The tank sized zebra from earlier, a griffin wearing combat armor and an alicorn that was green in both fur and mane color. I had heard rumors of how big alicorns were, but wow, she could easily look over the head of both the zebra and Reggie. Even weirder is that she didn't have a cutie mark. “So, you’re a mercenary also right? What’s your experience?” Reggie asked.

    “Well, I fought the Enclave during the siege of Las Pegasus.”

    She gave me a look over and smirked. “If you say so.”

    That wasn’t cool. So maybe I had a body designed more for sex appeal than to send my enemies running in terror, maybe I was smaller than most mares and I’m not sure if I actually hit anything during the battle but… ok, she has a point.

    “Well, get in here and sit down.”

    I sat down in the open space between the alicorn and the zebra, never before have I felt smaller than I did at that moment. Did the NCR go out of its way to hire giants?

    “The mission is simple. The other week some of our scouts found a stable that seems to still be operating. Our tech specialists are working on opening the door as we speak. Now, it’ll be your job the scout the inside and report what's there. Any questions?”

    Yeah, here’s one, why are you sending mercs to do this when you have soldiers?

    Because stables are death traps and we’re cheaper to replace.

    That makes sense… wait what? That thought was not mine. On the surface for less than a day and I’m already starting to hear voices. So, what’s next, seeing a zombie card dealer? Sigh, I swear I’m not crazy. Well, I don’t think I’m crazy. Am I crazy?

    Possibly, but that’s not why you’re hearing me.

    Well then, voice in my head, why in Celestia’s name am I hearing you? Answer that one.

    You don’t know much about alicorns do you?

    Alicorns? Does being near one make you go crazy?

    Some ponies do act irrational around us, but no. Green alicorns are simply adept at communicating through telepathy.

    “Telepathy?” Both Reggie and the zebra gave me a funny look. Yeah, I’m an idiot for saying that part out loud.

    Agreed.

    Quiet you.

    “Anyways… since you three will be working together, introduce yourselves," said Reggie.

    “I’m Ember.”

    “Charon.”

    Alpha.

    “Good, now follow me.”

    Hold up, did they also here that?

    Yes.

    …alicorns are weird.

    You don’t know the half of it.

    Like good little mercenaries we followed Reggie back to the lobby, where I picked up my laser rifle. Alpha apparently came in with some sniper rifle and a pair of smgs. Because an alicorn that can read your mind isn’t intimidating enough, she just had to also have a plenty of firepower to go with whatever spells she knew and be bigger than everyone else. Charon on the other hoof picked up a couple metal claws that fit perfectly onto his front hooves.

    Reggie told us that there would be a carriage just outside the city gates to take us to the stable. I decided to just fly out of the city and Alpha seemed to agree that was the better idea. Up in the air we flew by this really weird pegasus pulling a cart. By weird, I mean that she looked like a corpse and her eyes went in different directions. Everything about the surface was so damn weird.

    Suddenly Alpha dropped down in front of me, it was all I could do to avoid flying into her. She was glaring at me so hard I thought I was going to burst into flames at any second.

    Do not make fun of Ditzy.

    Have you ever seen an angry alicorn up close? No? Then consider yourselves lucky. They are fucking scary.

    “I wasn’t making fun of her. I’ve just never seen a ghoul up close before.” Mind you, the cloud cities weren’t completely ghoul free, but they were pretty damn rare.

    Alpha turned and started flying forward again.

    She is one of the few ponies that doesn’t treat my kind like we’re monsters. Many of us have become rather protective of her.

    I guess that’s understandable, but did she really need to scare the hell out of me? Maybe Moon Lily is right, the surfacers really are just insane.

    ***

    The flight to the NCR station went without a hitch but it was almost a disaster. As it turns out people that can’t fly sometimes get sick from going through the air. Charon sat in the corner the whole time. His cheeks turned a bit green and I think I saw him throw up in his mouth a bit. To Alpha’s and my relief he did keep from vomiting on the carriage floor.

    We landed with a soft thud. One of the griffins that pulled us here stuck in his head and looked to be in a less than stellar mood.

    “You three, get out here now. We have a situation.”

    We weren’t at the station, but we could see it in the distance, as well as the smoke rising from it. “What happened?”

    “We don’t know but the five of us going to go a find out.”

    Five of us? Oh, that’s right, I’m a merc now. I was really hoping that I wouldn’t need to use my rifle ever again. Looks like fate had a different idea.

    We snuck up to the camp site, staying low to the ground and doing our best to keep from being seen. The others did an ok job of it, but having a dark red mane and white fur isn’t really good for sneaking. Thankfully, no one shot at us.

    Most of the station was just tents that were now ripped to pieces and a few of them were on fire. Not to mention the dead ponies laying around. There was also a small, two story building in the center with the NCR flag flying above it. Figuring that was as good of a place as any to start, we made our way over to it. The griffins were in front. Alpha, Charon and I were bringing up the rear.

    The ground beneath us exploded, turning the griffin guards into a red mist. The door violently flung open and out rushed five ponies in power armor, each armed with a minigun strapped to their side. Alpha surrounded us in a pink barrier just in time to stop a hail of bullets from hitting us.

    Ember, I have an idea, but I need you to stay calm.

    Ok, I guess.

    A small opening appeared at the top of her barrier. It was just large enough for a po… oh crap. Before I could say or think anything to her, I was picked up and tossed out of the hole.

    Get on the roof and shoot down at them from there.

    I was a bit pissed, to put it midly, but arguing while getting shot at was a bad idea. And of course, now that I wasn’t behind a forcefield, they all decided to aim for me. Several shots hit my barding, nearly knocking me out of the sky. I rushed to the rooftop, but just before I got onto a bullet struck me in my flank. Bastards. I have a nice flank and they better not of done too much damage to it.

    Aim for their weapons.

    I peeked over the edge and began shooting… and kept missing. In my defense, I was able to hit the ponies themselves some of the time, though all that did was leave a black mark along the top of their armor.

    A shot sounded from Alpha and Charon’s location and one of the miniguns fell to the ground. A few more shots rang out, followed by two more of their miniguns hitting the ground. The five of them retreated back into the building.

    You ok?

    If you were able to do that, why did you need to throw me?

    It’s easier to hit their battle saddle straps when they face away from me.

    I… I was just a distraction wasn’t I?

    Yes.

    …fuck you Alpha.

    Mercenaries aren’t supposed to whine.

    If she thinks that is whining, she's seen nothing yet. Before I could reply, Charon spoke up. “So, are we going in or are you two just going to keep staring at each other?”

    “You want to go in there with them?”

    “They could have hostages. Checking it out is what Littlepip would do.”

    Your claws are useless against them, I don’t have any armor piercing shots and Ember’s aim is so bad that she’s more likely to shoot us than them.

    “Hey!”

    We should retreat back to Junction R-7 and tell the NCR what happened.

    “You know what, I agree with Charon. We should check this out more before retreating.”

    Mind you, I didn’t have any moral issues with running away and Alpha is right; they could end up killing us if we go in. But the NCR might not pay us for just running away. Also, the bastards shot me in the ass. Yes, I was still a bit mad about that.

    You’re both idiots. Fine, let’s see what they’re are doing here. Ember, is there a roof entrance up there?

    “Yeah.”

    You go in from there. Charon and I will go in through the front door. When they start shooting at us, you’ll know where to go.

    “Got it.”

    The door opened with a creek, and I went down into the building. The top floor was pretty much just a single room filled with cubicles. None of the lights were working and with only a couple windows were on this floor, making it pretty dark.

    A little click of metal against the floor was the only warning I got as one of the armored raiders – they are raiders right? – came out of hiding and charged me. On instinct I tried to fly away, but I wasn’t fast enough. He turned and bucked me in my side. I cried out in pain as I went through a row of cubicle walls.

    I lay there, curled up in a ball as I heard him charge again. Somehow I managed to keep my grip on my gun and I turned it towards him and kept pulling the trigger as quickly as possible. The first few shots missed, but as he got closer, I was able to hit his front, left knee. Blood and ash fell from the hole as he or she fell down. Not one to let this chance pass by, I got in closer and kept firing; this time at the raider’s head. I didn’t stop until my clip ran out and the raider stopped moving. The gun dropped from my mouth as I sat there heavily panting. Pain shot through my ribs with every breath. Part of me expected the raided to get back up, but he wasn’t moving at all anymore.

    I couldn't believe it. I actually just killed someone. I might have gotten a lucky kill shot in during the battle for Las Pegasus, but I didn’t see if I harmed anyone or not. I’ve never had to fight someone up close with weapons before. I... I couldn’t believe how easy it was to pull the trigger, knowing I was going to kill them.

    The sound of guns going off on the first floor broke me out of my stupor. My weapon was the best one we had against their armor, so I rushed down the steps to help..

    It was just like the previous floor in appearance. Alpha and Charon were behind the pink forcefield and a couple dead raiders lay by them. The surviving ones were shooting all they had at Alpha’s shield. I quietly snuck into one of the cubicles behind the raiders and readied myself to take the shot.

    Come on Ember; just do what they told you to do during training. Line up the shot, take a breath, hold it, calmly pull the trigger and… miss. Fuck. Now they all knew where I was.

    The two raiders fell back into a different set of cubicles, one shooting towards Alpha and one shooting at me. Their cover was keeping me from getting a good shot, not that it really mattered. From this distance, there was no way I could hit any thin spots in their power armor.

    Alpha’s shield was finally starting to give way. Cracks started to form and then it shattered.

    Even from a distance I could see the strain on Alpha's face as her horn lit up again. She lifted Charon into the air and threw him towards the raiders. Flipping around, he dug his claws into the ceiling, propelling himself forwards and then down onto one of the raiders, slamming into him hard enough to knock him off his hooves, and then Charon jumped onto the other one, holding on for dear life as the raider tried to buck him off.

    The fallen raider was getting back up, but he was now away from his cover. I couldn’t miss again, I had to land this shot. Breath in, hold it, and fire. The laser beam connected with one of the barrels on his minigun, just as they started to spin. A second later the barrel exploded, damaging the power armor along his side. I aimed for the new weak spot and kept firing at the dazed pony until he dropped.

    Charon didn’t seem to be having the same luck with his target. The raider had him pinned to floor, pressing his hoof down onto the zebra’s throat. I wasn’t even going to try shooting him with Charon that close. A green blur raced across the room, crashing shoulder first into the raider. It didn’t knock him down, but it was enough to get him off Charon. I took the shot and the beam landed right between his back legs causing the raider dropped down, clutching his injured privates. If it was a stallion in there, he wasn’t one anymore.

    Charon jumped up and ran over to the raider, yanked his helmet off, brought his claw down and ended the battle with disgusting sounding thud.

    With the fighting over, my body made damn sure to teach me to never do this again. My ribs were killing me and flank hurt every time I tried to take a step. Not far from me Alpha lay on the floor, trying to catch her breath. I guess she’ll be without magic for a little while.

    Charon walked over to a door on the far end of the room and opened it. “Hey guys, there’s a basement.”

    “Damn it, Charon, give us a minute!” I clutched my ribs and regretted yelling right away. Fucking raiders.

    They aren’t raiders. They’re the Steel Rangers.

    What’s the difference?

    Knights in the Steel Rangers only care about securing technology, not about raping and killing.

    This is securing technology?

    To them, securing and stealing are pretty much the same thing. They think they alone should have access to the advance prewar technology that's still around. Come on, or Charon my go ahead by himself.

    She got up onto her hooves slowly with a grunt and walked over to Charon. i followed behind her, praying to Celestia for my ribs to stop hurting.

    The basement was in much better condition than the other floors. It was small with a few desks along the right wall. One of them even had a working terminal and an earth pony mare in a red robe was done here. I was about to say something to her but Charon ran forwards and pinned the frightened mare to the ground.

    “Why did you attack a NCR base?”

    “Let go of me, zebra scum!” she shouted back.

    “Tell me or my alicorn friend will pull it from your mind.”

    That made her freeze and look over at me and Alpha. “No, don’t let that monster anywhere near me. I’ll tell you ok. Just please keep her away.” Alpha sighed and shook her head at the display. Can’t say I can blamed her. “We heard that they found out the password to the nearby stable and we came to take it. It’s on the computer over there.”

    Alpha walked over and began typing away at the computer.

    Found it. The password is: Many within one. And the stable about a quarter mile to the west.

    Charon let the ranger get back up to her hooves. “Get out of here, now.” She took a long look at Alpha before running off. “So do we head for the stable or report back to the NCR?”

    We should rest here for the night. Ember and I aren’t in any condition to do anything.

    “Alpha’s right, we’ll get killed if we have to fight again right away.”

    “Fine. I’m going to see if there’s anything good to loot from the tents.”

    Charon left and Alpha curled up in the back corner. I wasn’t really sleepy; I simply needed some time to relax. With nothing better to do, I decided to poke around in the desk for a bit. There were mostly just two century old office supplies. I was about ready to give up on finding anything interesting, until I spotted a holotape labeled M.O.A.

    M.O.A…. M.O.A…. I know I’ve heard that somewhere before… wait, that's the Ministry of Awesome; Rainbow Dash’s ministry.

    I made sure never to talk about it in Las Pegasus, but I always kinda admired Dash. Even if it was stupid to go rushing back down to the surface right after the megaspells went off, at least she gave a damn about the ponies stuck down there. The rest of my people just pretended to forget that the surface existed. Well, that is until we attacked the surface and Littlepip destroyed most of the Enclave’s fleet. I put the disk in the computer and hit play.

    ***

    “Ministry Mare Dash, ma’am.”

    “Hey Storm Chaser. What’s the status of the missions?”

    “We’ve managed to secure some taint from Maripony and a few stasis pods from a Ministry of Peace hub.”

    “What about Twilight and Fluttershy?”

    “Ministry Mare Twilight is throwing a fit. She knew right away that some of her chemicals were missing but she doesn’t know it’s us that took them. Fluttershy seems to have no knowledge of her ministry being robbed.”

    “Figures the egghead would know her stuff was gone. What about the other two missions?”

    “Soarin’s and Spitfire’s bodies have been exhumed without anyone knowing. They’re in SPP tower number 7 and their dna samples will be delivered to the lab by tomorrow. Though I’m afraid our agents in the Ministry of Morale haven’t been able to copy the designs for their mind manipulation machines yet. They’re being extra careful around Ministry Mare Pinkie and her top agents. She seems to grow more paranoid and more protective of her ministry by the day.”

    “…right. Tell me when they finish the job.”

    “Yes ma’am.”

    ***

    Come morning, the three of us talked over the situation a bit more and decided to go to the stable. Mapping it was job, so we might as well get started. During Charon’s looting spree last night he found a few plasma grenades and gave them to me. As well as extra ammo for me and Alpha to use.

    The stable door was hidden in a cave at the base of a mountain. Huddled together right in front of the stable door was three skeletons; two adults and one child. I’m no medical expert, but they looked pretty old. Probably refugees from when the balefire bombs dropped onto nearby Baltimare.

    Alpha walked up to the terminal and entered the password. A loud, high-pitched screeching noise echoed throughout the cave as the giant door slid open, revealing… what the fuck? No, I’m seriously asking, what the fuck is that thing?

    Most of it looked like a standard robotic pony, except for its head. On the top of the head was a glass dome with, and dear Celestia I hope I’m wrong, a brain under it.

    The… thing, whatever the fuck it was, spoke to us. “Judging by my calculations you are over two hundred years late. Please collect you stable uniforms from the storeroom and head to your designated sub-stable. Oh, and Stable-Tec welcomes you to Stable 113. Remember, nothing matters more to us than your safety.”

    Sub-stables? Just how big is this place?

    *******************************************************************************************************


    Level 2 reached.

    Energy weapon skill raised to 30

    Perk taken - Black Widow: You do extra damage to male opponents and have extra dialogue options with males.

    Stable 113: Section A

    Cutie marks.

    There are so many people out there, including many ponies, that believe looking at a pony’s cutie mark can give you some great insight into their personality. Bull. Shit. Personally, I think even they don’t fully believe it; it’s just some excuse to check out a pony’s flank. Ok, I’ll admit, there are some cutie marks that instantly make you realize this that, hey, pony might be messed up in the head. For instance, if they have a head on a pike as their cutie mark, you may want to avoid them.

    On the other hoof, most cutie marks are so damn abstract that it’s impossible to tell what their special talent is suppose to be. Just look at Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle. She has a star on her ass… how the fuck does a star equal magic? She’s far from being the only pony with a cutie mark that is utterly meaningless without a full explanation.

    There’s also another group of ponies who have cutie marks that look nice, until you hear the story behind it. Like mine; a heart with an arrow through it. So many other pegasi have seen my mark and thought it was cute and that I must be a hopeless romantic or something like that. The truth behind it is that I’m good at manipulating the feelings of others. A flutter of my eyelashes here, a wiggle of my flank there and the occasion kiss, or more, and I can get damn near anything I want from a stallion. Looking back at it, I guess it’s no wonder I ended up being a prostitute. Though at least when I’m on the clock stallions, as well as the occasional mare, know full well that I’m only pretending to be interested in what they say.


    ***

    “What should we do about that… thing?” I pointed my hoof at the robot, um cyborg… whatever the hell you want to call it, “We shoulnd't just leave somepony’s brain in there.”

    If you care so much about it, then kill it. Otherwise just forget about it.

    “Kill it? You can’t just kill a pony just because they got their brain stuck in a robot.” I couldn’t believe she was even suggesting that.

    “Better than just leaving it like this,” chimed in Charon.

    Was it so bad being stuck in a robot that you had to die for it? That… just seems really fucked up to me. Leaving them stuck here to wait for more ponies that aren’t coming isn’t an option either.

    You don’t understand how robobrains work at all, do you?

    “If I did I wouldn’t have freaked out when I first saw the damn thing.”

    “They have to follow their programming, even if their minds are against it. I’ve actually had one with corrupted programming apologize to me while it was trying to kill me,” said Charon. “This one will stay here, following its programming, until the end of time.”

    Or until it runs out of power. She shrugged her shoulder, though, in a vault that’s still working, that won’t happen for a long time.

    The robobrain wasn’t responding to us at all anymore, despite us talking about killing it. It just stared ahead at the vault door, waiting to greet other survivors that weren’t going to come.

    I did my best to come up with possible solutions that didn’t involve killing the thing. I had already killed a couple steel rangers today and I really didn’t want to get used to death, particularly with me being the cause of it. A gunshot snapped me back to reality and I saw the robot fall over, what was left of its brains and the brain juice was leaking from its shattered dome.

    We shouldn’t waste so much time at the entrance.

    So much for trying to save the thing. I wonder who they were before being put into that machine. I’m not going to get the chance to find out now.

    Leading out of the first room there were two doors, besides the gigantic stable door. One opened itself when I stepped near it, revealing a long hallway, and the other just led into a small office.

    Charon and I went into the office to see if it had any good loot, as Charon put it. On one of its walls there was a poster with some shadowy figure taking files from a filing cabinent. Written on the top was: Keeping an eye out for corporate spies is your duty; and at the bottom: Make sure to report all suspicious behavior to management. There was a computer sitting on a desk with a half open drawer right below it, revealing a small box of bobby pins. Not entirely sure why there would be a box of bobby pins here but I won’t look a gifted horse in the mouth. After pocketing my loot I checked out the computer. Most of its files were just rules and procedures for employees but there was also a note:

    They actually did it. The fucking stripes actually went and did it. Everything was just fine until a news report came up on the radio saying that Cloudsdayle had been hit. After that it was Manehatten and then Fillydelphia. Then it was just static. The tvs weren’t picking anything up anymore either. Ponies in Baltimare came rushing to the stable by the hundreds but some of them didn’t have stable tickets. Those that didn’t were forced to leave, even the children. Dear Celestia how did it come to this?

    I shut the computer down and left the office.

    “Find anything good?” I asked Charon.

    “Not unless you consider a broken mug to be good. You?”

    “Bobby pins but that’s it.”

    The three of us walked down the hall. The bright lights of the stable were starting to give me a headache. Who, in Celestia’s name, decided that this much light was needed. Whoever they were, they’re an idiot and should be bucked in the head.

    We eventually came to a split in the hallway. A sign was up to give directions; section A to the right and section B to the left.

    “Wanna flip a cap to see which way we should go?” asked Charon.

    Section A seems like a sensible starting point.

    That seemed logical, I guess.

    ***

    Ok, maybe not such a good place to start. The section A hallway led to two sealed, metal doors labeled substable A-1 and substable A-2. Each one was locked electronically and had a wall mounted computer next to them. Alpha has been typing away at the A-1 computer for the last half hour and has only grown more frustrated by the moment.

    “Maybe we should just-“ I was cut off by a beeping sound.

    Substable A-1 is now unlocked.

    “Ahem, I knew you could do it Alpha.” She glared at me. “Well…we should get started.” I tried stepping forward, only to realize I wasn’t on the floor anymore. Oh and my body was now covered by a pink magical field.

    No. Not we, just you.

    “Wait, what? I have to go in alone?” Charon seemed almost as confused as me.

    Do either of you ever think. If there are ponies in the substables, they haven’t seen the outside world since the end of the war. The only alicorns they know of are Celestia, Luna and Cadance. We don’t know how they’ll react to me. They may start worshipping me or they may think I’m some kind of monster.

    Considering what I’ve heard about taint created alicorns, that second one was probably closer to the truth. Then again, I heard that from the Enclave and we all know how trustworthy they are.

    And then there’s Charon. The last bit of news that did have from the outside world, from when their ancestors came into the stable, was that the zebras launched their megaspells and destroyed Equestria.

    “She... may have a point there. A lot of ponies still hold a grudge over the whole war thing,” said Charon with a nervous laugh.

    “So, I’m going in alone?” They both nodded in response. “I hate both of you.”

    Enough whining.

    Alpha pushed a button on the computer and the door slid upwards.

    You are the first contact these ponies have had with the outside world in over two centuries, so try not to mess it up.

    Going in alone… this can’t possibly end well. I took a deep breath and tried to push down any worries as I stepped in through the door, entering a small, empty room with another sliding door on the opposite end. The one behind me closed and the one in front of me opened, revealing a… town?

    The room was huge and there were several buildings spread out in it. The ceiling was a giant screen with a video of the sky playing on it. Honestly, that part felt creepy. Maybe it’s because I’m a pegasus but there was just something disturbing about looking up and seeing a fake sky.

    My attention turned from the screen to the busy town in front of me. There were plenty of ponies, all earth and unicorn ones, walking around and doing regular villager stuff.

    “It’s one of the warmongers!” shouted out a pony, then the yelling and panicking came as they all started to freak the fuck out.

    Gee, I wonder if this has anything to do with my arrival.

    Four large, earth pony guards ran up to me, one in front and three baton wielding ones behind him. “Stop right there criminal scum,” shouted the one in front.

    Yep, it’s about me.

    The odd thing was that all four of the guard stallions were giving me plenty of room and I swear the three in back looked like they were hiding behind the one in front. It was almost like they were afraid of me.

    “Put your weapon on the ground or... or else!” said the one in front.

    Part of me wanted to ask, or else what, just to see their reaction, but I was suppose to make a good impression and all that. I grabbed the laser rifle from the side of my barding, which brought a wince from the guards, and gently laid it down on the ground, then I slowly backed away from it. “There you go boys, I’m unarmed. I’m not here to start any trouble.”

    Finally getting a bit of courage in them, the guards rushed up over and surrounded me. “Come quietly and no tricks.”

    They were taking me… somewhere. Many ponies were staring at me with a mixture of fear and hatred. However, there was an exception, one brown earth stallion way in the back of the crowd that only seemed curious. I don’t think I would have even noticed him, had it not been for the fact that his lack of strong reaction made him stand out. As we continued down the street, we passed a statue of a pegasus stallion. Scooteroll, founder of Stable-Tec, was written on the base. It has been a while since my last history class, but I’m pretty damn sure her name was Scootaloo and that she was, well, a she.

    Anyways, they ended up leading me to some mansion that was easily twice the size of the other homes. Two guards stood in front of the double doors and eyed me wearily as we entered. The entrance room was probably bigger than my entire apartment. It had several doors along its walls, a pair of staircases leading up and one staircase leading down, which is where we went.

    Instead of a basement, it was a dungeon down here, complete with old fashioned iron bar cells. They took my bag and placed it on a table near the staircase, sat my laser rifle down next to it and then shoved me into a cell before leaving.

    “Oh yeah, I should go in alone, we simply don’t know how these ponies would react to an alicorn or a zebra. Great fucking plan Alpha.” I started to pace back and forth in my cell, “And just what the hay is wrong with these people. Who calls a pretty pegasus a warmonger and then arrests her for no damn reason. Bunch of idiots.”

    I looked around the dungeon, hoping to see something, anything, to give me a clue as to what was going on. Then I got my answer from a pair of posters along the side wall. The first one had a picture of the six ministry mares and Princess Luna with the caption: Mares led us to an endless war. Next to it was one with a shadowbolt wielding a pair of anti-machine rifles that read: Where mares tread, death follows.

    Ok, now it was starting to make more sense. These ponies blamed mares for the war happening and probably for the megaspells being used. A soft clop drew my attention back to the stairs, where I spotted a stallion peeking around the edge of the doorway. Just as our eyes met, he backed up, to stay out of sight. Ember, it’s time to put on your game face.

    “Hey there. Came to see the wild and dangerous mare?” He peeked out from the corner again. “Don’t worry; I don’t bite; unless you’re into that kind of thing. Would you mind coming out from there?” He slowly stepped out and into full view. Pink fur with a green mane? Wow, some ponies were really unlucky with their colors. “So handsome, you got a name?”

    “I’m, um… I’m Vines. What’s yours?” His nervousness was actually kinda cute and once you got past the colors, he wasn’t bad looking. Not particularly great looking either, but within the fuckable range.

    “Aww, no need to be nervous hon. I’m Ember. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He was keeping a noticeable distance between us. I guess he was afraid that the evil mare was going to attack at any moment. I tapped on the bars a couple times, “I don’t know what you’ve been told about us, but mares can’t break through iron bars. You’re plenty safe.” That must have made him feel a bit better, since he came closer. “You haven’t actually seen a mare before, have you?” He shook his head.

    “Um… where… where did you come from?”

    “From a city in the sky.” He took a couple steps closer, with his ears perked up in interest. “Mind if ask a couple questions?” He shook his head in response. “First off, why are you down here? I didn’t think they’d let anyone see the dangerous prisoner.”

    “I… I’m the son of Mayor Stallion, so they let me go where I want.”

    Makes sense, I suppose. “On the way here I saw a statue of pegasus named Scooteroll. Who was he?”

    “Oh, that’s the founder of our town. He saw that it was the mares that lead us to war, so he set up a town of only stallions. That way we could live in peace…” after saying that, he pawed at the floor. “Um, no offense.”

    Wow. I thought the Enclave had perfected bs propaganda but Stable-Tec could give them a run for their money. I flashed a little smile at him, “No offense taken hon. So, do you know what your father is going to do with me?” Thankfully Vines was too bashful to make a stupid sex joke, despite me giving him the perfect opening.

    “I don’t know.”

    “Really?”

    Vines nodded. “But I guess he’ll probably want to speak with you.”

    I really didn’t want to have to charm the mayor as well. Who knew how hard charming someone who led a mare hating town was going to be. “Could do me a huge favor? In my bag there’s a box of bobby pins. Would you please get it for me?”

    He looked back at my stuff. “I don’t know.”

    “Hon, what could I possibly do with bobby pins? C’mon, I just want to look nice for when I meet your dad.” It was time to pull out my hidden weapon, the lost puppy eyes. “Please?”

    “Um… ok.” He opened my bag and poked around in it, eventually pulling out the little box and pointing to it with his hoof.

    “Yep, that’s it.”

    He walked up to bars and pushed the box between the bars for me to grab it. Before taking it from him, I leaned in and gave him a peck on the tip of his nose, causing his cheeks to turn bright red. I took the little box and we said our goodbyes. I told him that we should see each other again and he apparently loved that idea.

    I almost felt bad for using him like that but there was no way in Tartarus I was going to stay a prisoner for these stallions.

    ***

    Since it had gotten darker, I assumed it was now night and it was my chance to escape. However, without a screwdriver, this was going to be tricky. I decided on using a couple of the bobby pins pressed against each other in place of the screwdriver. I held the two in my mouth and the third between my front hooves. With the lock facing the other way, I had to try to do this through the bars. The only good thing about this is that if a guard saw me, I’d look so ridicules that he wouldn’t be able to guess what I was doing.

    Ok, I think I found the sweet spot… snap. Fuck! After replacing the broken bobby pin, I set to work on attempt number two. Gently, gently… click. I silent thanked Specter for teaching me how to pick locks as I left the cell. I hovered a bit off the floor as I made my escape, doing my best to remain silent.

    After I grabbed my bag and my rifle, I flew up the stair and went for the front door. I opened it to see a guard on the other side starring right at me. In hindsight, escaping through the front door was probably a bad idea.

    “So… it’s a beautiful night out tonight, huh?”

    “The prisoner is escaping!” he yelled out and many of the lights in the mansion came on in response.

    I went over his head and flew as fast as my wings would allow towards the substable entrance. It only took a few moments for me to be at the main door, which of course was shut. I turned back to see torch wielding guards getting closer. I bucked at the door, hoping that Alpha or Charon would hear it.

    Alpha, if you can hear this thought, open the damn door. Now.

    The guards were closing in and I began to wonder if I’d have to shoot them. Killing the rangers was one thing. They were armed with guns and power armor, but these guards had no way of fighting against someone with an energy weapon.

    Thankfully, the door slid open. I rushed out, going straight towards the computer and closed the door.

    I take it that things didn’t go well?

    “No things did not go well, Celestia damn it. That substable was nothing but a bunch of mare hating stallions.”

    “Are… are you serious?” asked Charon.

    “Yes! They’ve been told since being here that mares do nothing but spread war and death. Hell, they treated me like I was some kind of monster.”

    Hmm… odd.

    “Yes it’s freaking odd. I can’t believe that the idiots have bought that lie hook, line and sinker.”

    No, that isn’t the odd part. What’s odd is that they still have a population after two hundred years but don’t have any mares.

    Ok, she had a point there. How the hell do you reproduce without having mares around?

    “Anyways, thanks for opening the door. You got me out of there just in time.” Alpha and Charon gave me a pair of confused looks. “What?”

    “We didn’t open the door.”

    “Then who did?”

    I’ll look into it. In the meantime, you have another substable to check out.

    “I’m going in alone again, aren’t I?” Alpha nodded. “I hate you two.”

    Charon put his foreleg around me, “Look on the bright side, what are the odds of there being two substables full of mare hating stallions?”

    Knowing what I do of Stable-Tec, I wouldn’t put it past them.

    “Thanks Alpha, I feel so much better now.”

    This was probably going to suck but looking through the stable is what I’m getting paid for. Alpha opened the substable door and then closed it behind me. Here we go again.

    Just like the last substable, there was a town built here and a giant screen with a video of the sky playing. Also, I was getting stared at by the few ponies that were still out and about at this time. Though there was one big difference, they were all mares. However, knowing my luck, I’m sure they were probably told that pegasi are evil or to not trust ponies with red eyes or something that make them all hate me.

    It didn’t take long for a group to approach me and act all cautious while doing it. “Uh… hi,” I said with a wave, doing my best to look friendly.

    “Greetings,” said an old, grey mare in mare in front. “I am Overmare Blossom. What is your name and where are you from?”

    “Ember and I’m from Las Pegasus.”

    “So, there are other ponies that survived,” she seemed genuinely shocked by that. “How?”

    “Other stables, cities in the sky and ponies that were far enough from the cities to survive. We’re like insects; we’ll never completely die off.”

    “This calls for a celebration!” she exclaimed to the cheers of all the ponies around her.

    Ok, this is going better. A lot better actually. In fact, it’s going too good… I got ten to one odds that the screen will fall and kill us. Oh and somehow, it’ll be my fault.

    ***

    Despite it being at night, the whole town showed up and seemed to really love seeing the mare from the outside world. The only thing that made me a bit uncomfortable was that the feast was at the Overmare’s mansion, which happened to look exactly like Mayor Stallion’s mansion.

    It didn’t take too long before all the questions came rushing in. “Did the princesses survive?” asked one mare.

    “How many cities survived?” asked another.

    “Why didn’t anypony come and check on the stables sooner?” asked the third.

    “Ladies, please, one at a time. Our guest can’t answer all your questions at once,” said the Overmare. She nodded towards me and the crowd went silent, waiting for me to speak.

    “Well, Equestria the country doesn’t exist anymore. Princess Luna died in the megaspells attack.” There was a collective gasp from the crowd and a few of them started to tear up. Can’t say that I blame them for it; I had just said that one of our goddesses is dead. “As for Celestia… I can’t really say that she’s alive but she’s not actually dead either. From what I’ve been told, her soul is trapped inside the central SPP tower.” I was met with several confused stares.

    “How… how is that even possible?” asked the Overmare.

    “You’re asking the wrong pegasi. I don’t know the first thing about magic so I have no clue why her soul is trapped there. All I know is that she controls its security system and her soul is causing an impenetrable forcefield to cover the tower.” There were a bunch of low whispers among the crowd. “Anyways, most of the nobles and military leaders also died so there wasn’t anyone really left to rally behind and continue Equestria.”

    “Earlier you said that ponies survived by being in the cloud cities. Didn’t the zebras target them as well?” asked the Overmare.

    Great, now we get to the part that can and will turn awkward. “Um… after Cloudsdayle got hit in the first series of megaspells, the pegasi covered the entire sky over Equestria with clouds and constantly moved around our cities for several weeks, keeping the zebras from being able to target them. They still got in a couple lucky hits, but when it was over, nearly all of the cloud cities were still in one piece.”

    “I don’t understand,” said random mare number ten in the crowd. “If the pegasi mostly survived, then shouldn’t you all and the survivors on the surface have tried remaking Equestria’s government?”

    This part of the explanation was going to suck, so much for me being on their good side. “Um, my ancestors sort of decided the best thing for us to do was to just forget that the surface ever existed and stay isolated. Oh and we created our own country: The Grand Pegasi Enclave.”

    “So, you just left the ponies on the surface to die?” asked a random mare.

    “For the record, I didn’t leave anyone to die. My ancestors on the otherhoof… yeah, that’s exactly what they do.” I figured it was best the leave out the attack against the surface ten years ago. They were probably upset enough without knowing that we not only left the ponies on the surface to die of radiation, starvation, etc, but also flat out killed many of them recently. Oh and how we kept the cloud cover over Equestria, forcing the ponies, zebras, etc on the surface to live in a permanent twilight. You know, it’s no wonder so many surface ponies hate us pegasi.

    The whispers were starting to get a bit more intense. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it certainly didn’t sound nice. “Now, now, we can’t blame her for what her ancestors did.” She turned back towards me, “So then Ember, it’s only fair that we answer any questions you have, so is there anything you’d like to ask?”

    Alpha’s question about how the stallions in A-1 reproduced came to mind. “This is probably going to sound weird but how do you reproduce? I don’t see any stallions around here.”

    “Stallions… bunch of no good, lazy bastards…“ she mumbled for a bit longer about how much stallions sucked. Really, it wasn’t all that surprising that they were also fed a bunch of bull. “Sorry about that but discussing them is generally not done in polite conversation. Anyways, every couple of months or so some robots show up in town with vials of synthetic sperm for us to use.”

    Since there’s a substable of just stallions nearby, I kinda doubt that the sperm is synthetic. “What do you do with any colts that are born?”

    “Oh, the robots take them away.”

    How nonchalantly she said that was a bit on the disturbing side. “One final question, can you open up the door leading out of your town?”

    “…no.”

    “No?”

    “There is no way for us to open the main.”

    See, I knew something was going to go wrong. Celestia damn it, why did I have to be right about things. Now I might be stuck in here for who knows how long.

    ***

    I waited for the party to settle and for the guests to start leaving before stealthily making my way back to the entrance… well, ok, it wasn’t that stealthy but better than last time.

    “If my luck decides to pick up, maybe it’ll be open… yeah right.” I stepped up to the first door and it opened like normal. Shockingly, the actually substable door was also open and had Alpha standing there, thank Celestia.

    We need to talk.

    I followed her out and she closed the heavy door. “So, talk about what?” I asked.

    I found out a bit more about why the A-1 door opened for you. The substable door computers are all linked to a central server.

    “And?”

    Idiot. That means that someone or something not only has access to that central server but was also watching you and knew when to open the door. For all we know, they could have been watching us since we first entered Stable 113.

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