I knew that finding Envy was going to be the defining moment of our journey, but I had yet to realize just how defining that moment would be. Not only had she promised to help Mom, but I also met a kindred spirit in Rock Thresher. He was dark and mysterious then. It took a long while to learn more about him. The more I learned, the more I was glad he was with us.

Mom would often spend nights ribbing me about my lack of companionship. Truth be told, I never really was interested in matters of the heart.

How quickly that would change.

My eyes fluttered open in the darkness. The camp fire that Coconut had built was smoldering, providing very little light to see with. Regardless, I could make out the form of Rocky. He stood silently at the edge of our little camp, his weapon drawn. The others were asleep still. Lightning’s snoring made sure I couldn’t hear the small sounds of the building.

I pushed myself to my hooves. Despite what I'd been through, a couple hours of good rest really had done the trick. I felt better than I had in days. I stretched a bit and then tip-hoofed over to where Rocky was. He glanced at me, his yellow eyes narrowing.

“You are awake,” he said quietly. “You should be resting.”

“Couldn't sleep. Too much on my mind,” I whispered. “Is everything alright?”

Rocky's eyes glanced down the hallway. “I'm not certain this was the best place to make camp. Something's... not right here.”

I followed his gaze down the hall. He was right about one thing. Something wasn't right for sure. The little noises and whispers I'd heard during our meal, combined with the strange vision when we entered the place made me completely agree with Rocky's assessment.

I trained my eyes on the dark hallway, letting them adjust to the low light. I couldn't see as well as Rocky probably could, but I could at least make out shapes further down the hall. They appeared to be swaying back and forth, pony shapes staggering almost drunkenly.

“What the...?” I said softly. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Feral ghouls,” Rocky said. “I've been watching them for an hour now. They just... appeared out of nowhere.”

“Why haven't they attacked?” I asked. “It's not like them.”

“I do not know. I am hoping that we can leave soon without drawing their attention,” Rocky said. “I fear that with our current weaponry that we would bring the entire building down on us. My rifle is quite loud.”

I giggled as quietly as I could. “I can attest to that.”

“I... I'm sorry for that,” Rocky replied. “You do understand, I was doing my job.”

“No, no need to apologize,” I said, waving him off. “I probably would have done the same if I'd known who Xerves was.”

“Can I ask you a question?” Rocky said, his gaze still down the hallway. “Why did you save him?”

I grimaced, looking down at my hooves for a second. “I... I thought I was doing the right thing. All my life, Mom's taught us to do the right thing, to fight the good fight. To be better than the raiders and the scum of the Wasteland. I just... wanted to be like her, even for a moment.”

“I see,” Rocky said. He paused for several moments as he digested what I'd said. All the while he kept his eyes trained on the hallway, on the ghouls at the end of it. “For what it's worth, I am sorry for what Xerves did to you and your mother. He is... unstable. Mistress was blind to this fact, even though we tried to tell her many times.”

“She's his mother,” I said. “That doesn't really surprise me.”

Rocky's eyes glanced back at me for a second. He looked back down the hall, his eyes widening. “Where did they go?”

I followed his gaze. The ghouls down the hallway had mysteriously vanished. I blinked. How in the hell did they do that? Ghouls were usually slow and shambling, not fast and stealthy. I was starting to get a really sick feeling my gut over this place.

“I'll go get the others up,” I said quietly. “I think we should leave this place now.”

Rocky merely nodded in reply, his yellow eyes continuing to scan the dark hallway for any sign of life.

I turned back towards the others and nearly screamed as I almost face-planted into the snarling visage of a feral ghoul. The beast made a rasping noise that sounded a lot like sucking air through a straw before charging at me. Before it could get close to me, the loud retort of a rifle rang out in my ears. The ghoul's head exploded in a shower of gore, splattering me with bits and pieces of ghoul flesh. I blinked and turned back to Rocky. I swept a piece of ghoul eye off my brow and groaned.

“Really? You just said we had to be quiet!” I growled.

“You were going to be hurt,” Rocky replied. “I had to do something.”

Howling erupted from deeper inside the building. It poured out of the very walls, almost as if the entire place was alive. All of the ghouls here had heard that shot, and we'd alerted each and every one of them to our location.

“Shit,” I said, trotting over to where the others were pushing themselves up from their slumber. “I think it's time to go. Everyone up and at them!”

“What's happening?” Lightning said groggily. “Why are there ghoul pieces on the floor?”

“You doof,” Coconut said. “We were attacked.”

“Mistress, we must leave this place. I fear I may have alerted the ghouls to our presence,” Rocky said.

“You think?” I said, rolling my eyes.

Envy grimaced. She moved swiftly to the door and pulled on it. She growled under her breath. “We have a problem. The doors are locked. They won't open.”

“What?! What do you mean they're locked?!” Lightning shouted, charging past Envy to try and pull on the door himself. He pulled hard for several seconds before groaning loudly. “Dammit! I don't want to be eaten by ghouls!”

“Is he always so melodramatic?” Envy deadpanned.

“You don't know the half of it,” Coconut replied, rolling her eyes. She stepped up next to Lightning and nudged him out of the way. “Step back. I'm going to blow the door open.”

Lightning nodded silently as he made his way next to us. The persistent howling of the building echoed all around us. It was getting louder. We had to get out before every ghoul in the place descended upon us.

Coconut grinned widely and lowered her visor. Her rifle swung out from her battle saddle and she took aim. Several quick successive shots hit the door hard, blowing smoke up into the air. When she finished and the smoke cleared however, the door looked exactly the same as it did before. Lying on the ground in front of it were the bullets she’d fired, deformed chunks of metal laying on the floor.

“What the fuck?” she said aloud. “How...?”

The howling started getting even louder. I glanced back down the hallway and started seeing red eyes among the rubble and debris. We were out of time. We had to do the only thing I knew anything about and that was fight. But first, I needed something to fight with.

“Coco, throw me a gun!” I shouted. “I can't fight with just my magic.”

She nodded and pointed to her pack. I reached out and grabbed it with a burst of telekinesis, pulling a ten millimeter pistol out of it. It wasn't Justice, but it would have to do. I turned back to the hallway as the first of the ghouls started shambling into view.

The ghoul was larger than the average feral ghoul I'd seen, its legs misshapen. It glowed a bright green and had luminescent bile coming from its mouth. As soon as it stepped into the lobby, my PipBuck began to click like crazy.

What the...? Radiation? I thought that was all cleaned up, I thought as I glanced down at my PipBuck. I'd heard stories from Mom about what she'd called 'glowing ghouls'. I had been so readily willing to accept that it was just a story, and yet here was one in the flesh.

Rocky fired first before the ghoul could get closer. His rifle came up in a flash and delivered a high powered shot right into the glowing monster's chest. Green goo spurted on the ground as the ghoul let loose a throaty roar.

I lifted the ten millimeter and squeezed off a few shots. They disappeared into the side of the ghoul, and yet it showed no signs of wearing down at all.

“Shit,” I said under my breath. “This thing is tougher than normal ghouls.”

The ghoul roared and charged at the nearest target—Rocky. It lunged upon the minotaur, only to meet the butt end of his rifle. It went soaring back into the hallway, landing on another ghoul that had found its way to our camp. A sick *crunch* was heard as the ghoul underneath splattered into oblivion.

Envy growled under her breath, pulling several spinning bladed weapons from underneath her cloak. She chucked them into the hall. As they soared through the air, they broke apart into smaller bladed balls that found purchase in the paired ghouls’ dessicated frames. Ghoul blood splattered all over the ground, but it still did not stop the Glowing One.

The thing stood, its misshapen jaw hanging open as it roared again. Shit... just how much does it take to kill one of these things! I thought as I fired another set of rounds at the monster. Nothing. Not even a wobble. I cursed under my breath.

Lightning stood next to me, having slipped on his battle saddle during the fight. He took aim and chomped down on the bit in his mouth, both barrels spewing forth hot lead that also sank into the ghoul's tough flesh.

Coconut tried her best as well, sending round after round into the ghoul, but nothing seemed to be doing the trick.

The ghoul turned its head at us and snarled loudly. It lifted its head and began to gargle. A burst of green erupted from the beast, nearly knocking me to the ground. My PipBuck’s clicking sped up into an alarming buzzing. Not only was this thing tough as nails, it was also emitting radiation like it was a weapon!

*BLAM*

Rocky’s shot hit the ghoul in its jaw, tearing it completely off its face. The ghoul gargled louder as it emitted another wave of radiation. Rocky grunted and kept moving forward, lifting his rifle again and firing several rounds into the ghoul's legs. The ghoul stopped as he leveled the rifle point blank with its glowing green eyes.

*BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM*

Rocky unloaded his rifle into the monster's head, causing it to explode in a shower of green bits that lit up the hallway when they hit the wall and ground. The ghoul slumped forward and hit the ground hard, where it lay unmoving. We swiftly finished off the remaining ferals. Rocky grunted again as he turned to us.

“Are you all alright?” he said.

I glanced down at my PipBuck. The radiation had subsided, but even the short bursts of it had been enough to up my rad count by quite a bit. I was well over two hundred rads, and yet I didn't feel like anything was wrong with me. I nodded silently at Rocky.

“I'm sure that is not the last of these vile beasts,” Envy said. “We must focus on getting the door open.”

“We already tried that, remember?” Lightning argued. “It didn't work. We're trapped here.”

“I hate to say it, but my brother is right,” I said.

“Hey!” he said indignantly.

I chuckled softly. “Sorry, Bro,” I said. “But you're right. The door here won't open. Our only option is to go deeper in.”

“Wait, you want to go deeper into the building with all the crazy ghouls? Starry, did you hit your head or something?” Coconut said.

Envy narrowed her gaze at me and nodded. “Her logic is sound. It stands to reason that there is another path to egress this building. We can either spend time here trying to get through a door we may never be able to open, or we can press forward and hopefully get out of this place.”

The building began to howl loudly. We all looked up in apprehension. I knew that likely it was suicide to delve into the building's depths, but it was the only thing that made sense. There had to be an exit, there just had to be.

“If we are going to move we should do it now,” Rocky said. “More ghouls will be on their way.”

“Right,” Envy said. She pointed at me. “Starry Night, you will take point with Rock Thresher. You two will be our eyes and ears. Coconut, Lightning, you two will cover the middle. Use your PipBucks to identify where threats are and call them out. I will take up the rear and ensure no ghouls sneak up on us.”

“How are you going to do that?” Coconut said, cocking her head in confusion.

“I have my methods,” Envy replied, opening her cloak to reveal several rows of bladed traps. “These will slow down any ghouls who think it wise to attack from behind.”

The building howled again. I grimaced, lifting the ten millimeter into the air with my magic. I really, really missed Justice. I trotted over to where Rocky stood waiting.

“Alright then, let's go,” I said.

Rocky nodded silently. “Stay close. I'll hold off any ghouls in the front. You tell me where to aim and where to go.”

“Right.”

We started forward down the hall, keeping an eye on every little nook and cranny as we walked. The hall eventually ended in a staircase that had been collapsed over. Another hall extended out to the left. We rounded the corner, seeing two feral ghouls scraping at the walls.

“There!” I called out.

Rocky lifted his rifle and answered in kind. Two quick shots to the head of each ghoul and they were down for the count.

The hallway opened up into an office space. Rows of cubicles lined the room. Broken terminals adorned each desk. As I stepped in next to Rocky, my head began to grow a little fuzzy. I glanced up and saw the room again, this time pristine and new. I was alone, except for a pony sitting at one of the desks at the far end of the room. I couldn't see his face. I blinked.

What in the Sorrel Hells is going on in this place? I thought as I took another step forward.

The pony at the desk jerked forward and my vision of prewar Equestria vanished. In the pony's place stood another one of those glowing ghouls. It took notice of us and snarled loudly.

“Rocky!” I shouted.

Rocky nodded, lifting his rifle and firing several rounds at the monster's head. They hit like a ton of bricks, exploding the ghoul's head in a shower of glowing goop.

“What the...?” I said, looking over at the minotaur. “How did...?”

His eyes glimmered in the darkness. If he had a mouth, I could have sworn he was grinning. “Armor piercing rounds. Figured I needed a little more kick to take down these bigger ones.”

“And how many of those do you have left?” I asked.

He glanced down at the rifle and grimaced. “Not very many.”

“Great,” I said as I turned to let the others know it was clear. I stopped as I realized that they weren't there. There was no one there at all actually. It was just me and Rocky. My eyes widened in panic. “Envy? Lightning? Coco? Umm.... I think we got a problem here.”

Rocky turned his head towards me. “The others are gone? What happened?”

“I don't know,” I said softly. “It's not like there was any place for them to go. The hall only went one way. It doesn't make any sense.”

“Nothing about this place is making any sense,” Rocky said. “Our only recourse is to keep moving forward. We'll meet up with them. Likely they're doing the same.”

I nodded, glancing down the hallway behind us once more. For a brief fleeting second I saw a busy walkway, filled with business ponies fluttering to and fro like they were important. It flickered in and out and then finally died, revealing three regular feral ghouls. They rasped and howled as they charged at us. I yelped, lifting the ten millimeter and pulling the trigger.

*CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK*

I blinked. Had I been so invested in moving forward that I'd forgotten to reload? I was certain I wouldn't have made such a rookie mistake. Mom would be disappointed in me if I had. I calmly and quickly pressed the button to eject the magazine. It didn’t move.

Great. Stuck. Just what I needed, I thought as the ghouls kept moving forward. A broken gun and feral ghouls about to eat me alive.

Rocky leaped next to me and struck the first of the ferals with his claws. In a flash, the ghoul's head separated from its body and went flying into the wall. The minotaur grunted, picking up the dead ghoul and launching it at the other two.

The other two ghouls tried to dodge, but were too slow. The body of their dead friend hit them like a train, splattering them on the ground. They struggled to get up as Rocky approached. Two quick strikes of his claws and they too were dead.

“T-T-Thanks,” I stuttered. “Stupid gun jammed and broke.”

“You are alright?” Rocky said.

I nodded. “Yeah. Let's keep going. I hate this place.”

We kept moving forward, finding ourselves in a topsy turvy maze of hallways and business offices, but no exit in sight. Occasionally we ran into a group of feral ghouls. They crawled around the building like radroaches. Without a weapon and only my magic, I had to rely on Rocky's expertise in melee combat, something Mom had never really touched on during any of our lessons. Her stance on melee combat was to avoid it at all costs. Melee combat, for a ranged fighter like me, meant I was dead.

Thankfully, we didn't run into any more of those glowing ghouls, and the howling of the building overall had died down. Perhaps it knew that it already had us in its clutches, and didn't need to alert anything to our presence. Or perhaps I was over-thinking it too much, and we'd simply killed enough ghouls to warn them off.

Feeling frustrated with not being able to find the others and not being able to find an exit, I pulled out one of the audio tapes I'd picked up in the lobby and slotted it into my PipBuck. A scratchy voice began to play in my ear-bloom.

“Dammit. Dammit dammit dammit! I knew it was a bad idea to join up with this caravan. I figured I'd make some extra caps, get out and maybe find my dad, but I didn't expect to find myself lumped in with a bunch of Luna-dammed slavers!

I found out about it when we passed into Chicacolt the other night. I was glad, cuz it was the last place I'd heard that Dad had been, so I thought I'd be able to break away for a little bit. No such luck.

We got into the city and that was when I found out what our cargo was. Fillies, colts, you name it, we had them. We were taking them all to a place the caravaners called the Pier. Some sick motherfuckers called the Hellraisers ran the place. Didn't sound very friendly. I got stuck guarding the slaves. I couldn't even look them in the eye.

I ran the next night. Ran until my hooves practically gave out from underneath me, like a fucking coward. At least I'd been able to open as many cages as I could have before I left. Fucking savages.

I stopped at an abandoned building, some place my PipBuck called the 'Hoofwich Building.' It struck a note with me. Looking through my notes, it was one of the last places Dad had been seen. I'm here now, hoping that he's still here or there's some clue to why he left.”

I grimaced, wondering just how old these audio tapes were. They looked like they'd been sitting on the front lobby desk for a very long time. I glanced over at Rocky, who was looking apprehensive.

“Everything alright?” I asked.

“I am... concerned for my Mistress's safety,” he replied softly. “I had expected we'd have found them by now.”

I nodded. “I've been thinking the same thing. This place is just fucking with us. It's like its alive or something.”

We rounded the next corner. It led to a set of stairs that went down. A feral ghoul sat on the landing at the bottom of the stairs. Rocky lifted his rifle and fired, putting it down quickly before it could see us.

We made our way down the stairs, stopping to check and make sure the ghoul was dead before continuing on. A large metal door sat at the end of the hallway, appearing to be some sort of maintenance corridor. I cracked it open and grimaced. Pipework went everywhere. The maintenance area of this building was even more confusing than its normal floors. Not only that, there were cracks in the steel walls that showed bedrock underneath.

“This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” I said softly as I took a step forward. My mind began to grow fuzzy again as another vision of prewar Equestria appeared. It had been happening all over this place. As quickly as the clean-cut maintenance tunnels had appeared they disappeared. I wobbled forward a little bit, stumbling to my knees.

“Starry? Are you alright?” Rocky asked. He placed a claw on my shoulder.

“Yeah... I'm fine,” I said, panting. I glanced down at my PipBuck. The amount of radiation that I'd soaked up had gotten much higher. Was there something in this building's construction? Maybe a leak of some sort? I didn't know. “Let's keep going. The others have to be ahead.”

“No. We should rest for a moment,” Rocky said. “We do not want to push ourselves too hard, lest we find ourselves in the wrong kind of trouble. Do you see anything on your PipBuck?”

I grimaced and brought up the Eyes-Forward-Sparkle function on my PipBuck. No red blips, no friendly green blips except Rocky. I shook my head. “Nothing. Not even a radroach.”

“Good. We'll take a breather here. Ten minutes, tops,” the minotaur replied. He opened his side-pack and dug out a bottle of water. “Here. You need this more than I do.”

I took the water with my magic and began to drink it down greedily. I opened one eye and glanced at Rocky, who was staring at me. “What? Something wrong?”

The minotaur looked away for a moment. “Nothing. Sorry. I am just... concerned for your well-being.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling the heat in my cheeks. “I'll be alright. Are you sure you don't need any water too?”

“I do not require water to survive,” the minotaur said promptly. “As you can see... it would do me no good.”

“I... I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me,” I said, slumping to my haunches. I frowned. “So the... the face-plate doesn't come off?”

“No,” Rocky replied. He sighed heavily. “I'm sorry, Starry. I do not wish to discuss such things right now. Please, drink. I will stand guard.” He walked over to the door and hoisted his rifle up in case anything came through.

I frowned more, looking down at my hooves. Stupid stupid stupid! I thought. I'd gone and made him mad at me! Well, you did ask him about something that is apparently very personal, and very painful. Imagine how you'd feel if he asked how you felt about Mom's heart condition?

I sighed. My inner voice had a point. I was going to have to apologize to him the first chance I got.

“Rocky, I...” I started to say.

“Shh,” Rocky said quietly. He lifted his claw as to indicate silence. “I hear something.”

I flipped up my Eyes-Forward-Sparkle again. Still nothing. “There's nothing out there. Probably just the building settling or something. Look... I'm sorry about, well, you know...”

“Apology accepted,” Rocky said succinctly. “Now rest. We do not wish to tarry much longer.”

I nodded, taking another long draw from the water bottle he'd given me. Clearly, I'd struck a chord that he didn't want struck, and his acceptance was... short to say the least. I sighed, resolving to make it up to him once we got out of this fucked up place. While I drank, I slotted in another one of the audio tapes I'd picked up in the lobby. After a few moments of static and what sounded like heavy breathing the same voice from before came on.

“My first night was not a pleasant one. I got no sleep whatsoever. I kept hearing things from deeper inside the building, little whispers coming from the walls. I swore several times I saw a feral ghoul lumber down a hall, but then it disappeared without a trace.

This morning I decided to venture deeper into the building to try and find some clues. I walked around in circles for what felt like hours and found nothing. Zippo. Squat. It took me equally as long to get back to my camp in the lobby. Along the way, I actually ran into a ghoul. It seemed to not even notice I was there, almost as if it was in some sort of trance. I carefully walked around it and kept moving forward until I got back to camp.

Why did Dad come to this city? To this place? Several times while I was walking around I got this fuzzy feeling inside of me. I... I saw things. Things I'd rather not talk about.

I panicked and tried to open the front door. It wouldn't budge. I tried kicking it. I pounded on it for several long minutes before deciding that nopony was going to hear me, and even if they did, they weren't likely going to let me out. Did those fucking slavers follow me here and lock me in? I don't know. I can't see anything outside the windows, even though its supposed to be broad daylight.

I'm going to have to look deeper tomorrow. There has to be some way out of this place and hopefully some clues as to why Dad came here in the first place.”

I grimaced. So, whoever this mystery pony was, he was having the same things happen to him that were happening to us. Seeing things, the ghouls, not being able to open the door. What was with this place? Was it some sort of prewar magic spell gone wrong? I'd heard often that sometimes the security systems put in place by the ponies of the past were a little eccentric and magical in nature.

I looked up over to see Rock and my eyes widened. The minotaur was no longer standing in the doorway. I hadn't even heard him leave. I stood and walked over and peered down the hallway. No one was there. I was alone. I looked down at my PipBuck, which confirmed happily that I was the only sign of life in the vicinity.

“Shit,” I said aloud. Did I piss him off that badly? I mean, I apologized and everything! I thought to myself. No... this is something else. Something this place is trying to do to me. I need to keep moving forward.

I glanced about for something, anything I could use to protect myself from the ghouls, should I come across one. The immediate hallway presented nothing of use, but the room just on the other side of the door produced a box with a lead pipe in it. I picked it up with my magic and hovered it next to me. It was going to have to do since my only other ranged weapon was out of commission.

I trotted into the next hallway, continuing to move forward. If Rocky had gone on without me, and I really doubted that he had, then he would be just up ahead. The hallway ended in a set of steel stairs that went upwards. What was it with ponies from the past and their stairs? I shrugged and started up them. My hooves clacked on the steel stairs much louder than I would have liked them to. I half expected a ghoul to rush down at me and catch me off guard.

I made it to the top of the stairs and stepped into the room beyond the doorway. The room I was in was likely some sort of business office that had been completely obliterated. A massive hole sat in the middle of the room, where I could see the floor below me. It too, had another hole that led to the floor below it. I could see… further down than I could actually see.

How far up am I? I thought as I studied the hole. There seemed to be a way to get down to each floor as large pieces of the floor above the next had made a bridge of sorts. I glanced up and almost yelped too loudly. Two feral ghouls stood across on the far side of the hole. They appeared to have not noticed me yet. They seemed to not notice anything all.

Almost as if they're in a trance, I thought, remembering the audio tape. I grimaced. I had to hope that the mystery pony was right and they wouldn't notice me slipping down to the next floor or be able to follow me. I dropped down and inched slowly around the hole, keeping an eye on the ghouls at all times. They showed zero interest in me or what I was doing. I glanced down into the hole and my eyes widened. A set of horns could be seen at the very bottom.

“Rocky?” I said under my breath. Before I could do anything to see more, they disappeared. I glanced back over at where the ghouls were. They were gone. “This place is getting weirder and weirder by the minute.”

I stood and took a gauge of my surroundings. Whatever the ghouls had been doing, they weren't around any longer to do it. I sighed and decided that I needed to move on. If that had been Rocky I'd seen at the bottom, I was going to have to get down there and find him. Likely he was in trouble, just like the others. I was starting to get worried for Coconut, Lightning, and Envy.

I made my way onto the piece of floor that led down to the next level and began to carefully tread down it. I stepped off onto solid ground and grimaced. There was at least two to three more of these to get to the ground floor. I reached into my pack and pulled out another one of the audio tapes. I figured it would give me something to listen to while I was traversing downwards. The same scratchy voice began to play from my earbloom, this time sounding... panicked.

“I... I found Dad today. Goddesses, it was... it was horrific. He had been transformed into a ghoul! I had to... had to shoot him, put him down... Goddess forgive me. He kept saying something I couldn't understand. 'Al'kreth, Al'kreth.' I don't know what it meant, but I knew it was him. He was wearing the gold hoof band Mom had gotten him as a gift. I guess now he's at peace. I took the hoof band from his body and put it on. Maybe it will remind me of better times.

I finally turned on my PipBuck's radiation counter. The amount of radiation coming from the lower levels of this place is astronomical. I can't help but think that's what happened to Dad.

I'm still trying to find an exit, but so far there's no luck. The hallways in this place, they change. They move around. I think I've got it mapped and then suddenly I'm in a completely new set of hallways. It's like this place... it knows I'm here. It's alive.

I found a large room earlier that leads all the way down. I'm going to try going there tomorrow and hopefully find a way out.”

I pulled up my PipBuck and checked the radiation. Sure enough, it was clicking away slowly. I grimaced. I hadn't thought to bring any RadAway in the first place, and even if the Hellraisers hadn’t taken our medical supplies, I knew I didn’t have anything relevant on me. I was surprised I wasn't feeling any of the normal effects of radiation exposure. I should have been feeling sick to my stomach, instead I just felt... normal. I wondered briefly if I was experiencing the symptoms and the illusions were induced by the radiation. I shrugged the thoughts away. There wasn't any time to dwell on that. I had to find the others. We had to get out of here and get back to Mom.

I continued down each level, wondering whether the mystery pony on the tapes ever found the exit he was looking for. The light got progressively dimmer the lower I went until I found myself on the ground floor. There appeared to be no other doors at the bottom except for a single maintenance door. Carefully I walked over and pushed it open. Another tunnel leading to a set of downward stairs extended beyond. Just how deep is this place? I thought to myself as I started down this new set of stairs.

As I got deeper, I noticed that the walls of the maintenance tunnels started giving way to natural rock formations. The only caveat was that the rock appeared to be worked stone. It was like somepony had actually carved the tunnel by hoof. It made just about as much sense as the rest of this fucking place. I kept moving forward, finding the tunnel opening up into a large cavern.

The place was dimly lit, if only by the glowing fungi that lined the walls. The path before me dropped off into a cliff that went straight down into a deep abyss of black. A metal staircase extended out and downwards towards the center of the cave. My eyes tried to focus as I realized that the whole place was teeming with feral ghouls. They moved to and fro in a seemingly purposeful pattern. It looked like they were moving things. I squinted as my eyes caught something that was definitely not ghoul-like in nature.

Horns. Stripes. Wings. My friends! They appeared to be bound to a rocky pillar at the far end of the cave. I couldn't tell if they were awake or not from where I was. I scanned the area for any way that I could get down to them without alerting the ghouls and that was when I saw it.

It was a massive obelisk in the center of the cave. Words couldn't even begin to describe the thing’s monstrous features. It was black as night, but it twinkled every now and then. Vague pony shaped forms were carved into it, but each one was monstrous in its own way. One had tentacles where its mouth should be, another had large claws like a crab at the ends of its legs. Just looking at the thing made me shiver. It was horrific.

I grimaced as I pulled my eyes away from the thing. I had to get down there and get the others out of here somehow, but I didn't have any weapons except for the lead pipe I was carrying. The ghouls would be on me within seconds. It would be suicide. I had to think smart. I had... I had to think like Mom. What would she do in this situation?

Gather more intelligence on the situation at hand, I thought to myself. Right. Mom would make sure she had all the information before charging in, guns blazing. Or in my case, lead pipe swinging. The only source of intel I had on this place was the audio tapes. I pulled the next one out of my saddlebags and slotted it into my PipBuck. Hopefully, it would give me some idea of how to proceed. The same scratchy voice started to speak but it sounded a little.... different.

“I found the heart of the building. The underchambers of this place are enormous. I... I canfeel the power here. Its seeping into my fur like a sponge. The ghouls here are actively ignoring me now. I think... I think I'm becoming one. I can feel my skin beginning to flake, my hair is falling out.

I caught a glimpse of something in the large cavern. It... it chilled me to my bone, but at the same time it drew me like a moth to a flame. I must know more. The ghouls, they seem to worship it. I've watched them sit at its base, howling to some Tartaran evil locked away.

I've heard the words they seem to form in their howls. All'z'reth, R'k'tylth. I don't know what it means. I... I want to know... is this what Dad was looking for? This... All'z'reth?

I know, Dad. I know. I have to go down there again. It is the only way. The only way out of this place. The only way out of this place... the only way...”

The recording shut off abruptly. Swearing under my breath I slotted the next one in and hit play. The voice started again but this time it was... gravelly. Hollow.

“All'z'reth. The blood of the fallen will flow. The knife will stab the wounds of the forsaken.

R'k'tylth. The forgotten one will rise. He will rise to devour the world of light above.

The one will come. The one will come. The one will come...”

My eyes widened as I realized the words from the recording weren't just coming from the recording. They were coming from behind me. I swung about and came face to face with a tall ghoul. It wasn't a pony. It was... a zebra? I could see the stripes on its mottled flesh. The ghoul's eyes gleamed as it walked towards me.

“All'z'reth. R'k'tylth. The one will come,” it said. It bore the same voice as the mystery pony on the recording. It was exactly the same!

I yelped, lifting the lead pipe into the air with my magic. I swung hard at the zebra ghoul, trying to connect with its head. The ghoul swerved to the side, causing my strike to completely miss. I brought the pipe back around as the ghoul swerved again. I missed.

“All'z'reth. R'k'tylth,” it said again. “The one will come.”

“Fuck off!” I shouted, lifting the lead pipe into the air. “Let my friends go, you freak!”

“All'z'reth. R'k'tylth,” the ghoul replied. It snarled and launched itself at me, knocking me to the ground. I hit my head on a rock and blacked out instantly.

I groaned loudly as my eyes opened. I wasn't dead, which meant that the ghoul wanted us alive for some fucked up reason. I glanced around, seeing the others bound up next to me. All of them appeared to be awake, except for Coconut.

“Starry!” Lightning said. “You're awake!”

“Bro,” I said. “What's... what's happening?”

“We do not know,” Envy said softly. “I have tried to communicate with the zebra ghoul, to no avail. He appears to be the leader. He keeps repeating the same words over and over.”

“All'z'reth. R'k'tylth?” I said, drawing a few stares. “Yeah, I know. How did you guys end up down here?”

“We were attacked and brought here,” Rocky said. “There is something wrong with this place. The ghouls here are... strong.”

“What about Coconut?” I asked, indicating the earth mare. I couldn't see her face through her helmet, but I knew something was off.

“She has not yet awoken,” Envy said. “The radiation coming from... the thing must be too great for her, even with the increased resistance that her power armor provides.”

I grimaced and struggled with my bonds. “We can't wait too long then. We have to get out of here. Coconut could die from that much radiation.”

“I am aware of the dire necessity of our escape,” Envy replied with a sigh. “But none of us are strong enough to carry Coconut from this place, and removing her from her armor would be fatal.”

“So what is your plan then? Try and talk to the crazy ghoul who's holding us captive? Because I hate to tell you, that's not working,” I snapped.

“Starry...” Lightning said.

I growled under my breath. “Don't you 'Starry' me, Bro. I really want to know what the plan is, because so far all of her plans have been pretty shitty,” I said angrily. “We can't just hang here and let Coconut die. For that matter, Mom is still counting on us to get back to Theater.”

Some of the ghouls took notice of our heated conversation because they began to hiss loudly in our direction. The crazy zebra ghoul barked something in a language I didn't quite understand to them, causing them to quiet down.

“Starry,” Envy said softly. “I realize that you are upset, but you must have patience. I suspect our chance to escape will come quite soon.”

I looked up, realizing that the crazy zebra ghoul was standing over me. His red eyes glowed brightly in the darkness.

“ All'z'reth. R'k'tylth. The one has come. The one has come,” he said in his gravelly voice. He pointed at two other ghouls and shouted again in that language. They shambled over and began to untie me.

“What are you doing?” I said as the ghouls grabbed me and lifted me up.

“ All'z'reth. R'k'tylth. The one has come. The one has come,” the zebra ghoul merely said. It said something again in the language I didn't understand.

The two ghouls carrying me complied and began carrying me towards... towards the thing.

I looked up, my eyes catching it up close. I wanted to scream. The things in the obelisk moved. They writhed, like they were waiting to be set free. The longer I stared at it, the more I wanted to help them. It took all my willpower to pull my gaze away from it. The others, they were shouting for me. I had to do something. I had to help them!

The ghouls lowered me onto an altar that smelled like something had recently died on it. My coat became slick and wet as they held me down. The rot assaulted my senses and I could hear my PipBuck clicking madly.

The zebra ghoul stepped forward, still muttering and chanting in its strange language. He lifted a knife in his hoof, a curved wicked blade that was still covered in some poor soul's blood.

My eyes frantically searched for some way out, some way to stop this thing from sacrificing me to whatever dark things lived in that obelisk. I finally caught a glimpse of something shiny. Rocky's rifle. It was propped up against one of the minor obelisks with the rest of our stuff. The ghouls had taken great care with our gear, almost as if they knew the value of the weapons.

I didn't have time to ponder that revelation. I growled and thrashed under the two ghouls holding me down and reached out with my magic. Despite knowing how to strip us of our weapons, these ghouls forgot one minor detail about unicorns. Disabling a unicorn's horn is key to disabling the unicorn as a combatant. It was rule number one of fighting them, courtesy of Mom.

My magic sputtered, but managed to grab a hold of the rifle. It lifted into the air, shakily but otherwise aloft. I grimaced as I started to squeeze the trigger.

The ghouls hissed and pushed me down harder, slamming my head against the cold wet stonework altar. My magic died completely, dropping the rifle to the ground with a clatter before I could even get a shot off.

Figures, I thought to myself. Should have known that plan was too easy to stop.

The zebra ghoul began to chant again as he lifted the knife into the air. Murder gleamed in his eyes. As he lowered the knife I started to struggle harder, trying to free myself.

Two metal hooves connected with the ghoul's head, showering crazy zebra ghoul brains all over the floor in a spectacular explosion of flesh. The leader ghoul slumped to the ground as the two ghouls holding me down began to hiss and snarl.

I looked up to see Coconut Cream Pie, in all her glory. Her visor was retracted and she looked like she was going to fall over at any moment, but yet she was standing.

“Let go of my friend!” she shouted. She reached back and swung hard, connecting with one of the ghouls on top of me, sending it flying.

“Coconut!” I exclaimed as I used my telekinesis to try and shove the other ghoul off. It seemed like it was a lot easier to do now that the leader had been dispatched. I jumped up from the altar and ran over to my friend, giving her a giant hug. “You're alright!”

“I'm not out of the woods yet,” Coconut replied with a cough. “We had to... had to wait until the ghouls weren't paying attention to us.”

I blinked, glancing past her. The others had extricated themselves from their chains and were collecting our gear. My eyes met Envy's cold stare. This had been her plan from the get go. Nearly let one of us get killed just so they could escape. I grimaced. I was starting to hate how she treated her companions.

“We have to get out of here,” Envy said. “On the way down here, we passed by a service tunnel. I suspect it will lead us out of this place.”

“Umm... what are we going to do about them?” Lightning said, pointing beyond the obelisk.

I glanced over in the direction he was pointing. Every ghoul in the place was hissing and growling, snapping as they inched towards us, conveniently blocking the stairway at the far end that led out of this hellish place. The obelisk in the center of the room howled, almost as if it were in pain. It was drawing the ghouls out from every part of the cavern right to us.

“We fight,” Rocky said, lifting his rifle and firing three rounds at the crowd of ghouls. “We fight, or we will perish here.”

“I don't feel like dying today,” Coconut said angrily as she bit down on the bit to her battle saddle. Her own rifle swung out and sprayed rounds into two approaching ghouls, turning them into paste. She panted loudly as she slumped back.

“Coconut!” I shouted. I grunted as I tried to help her up, but her power armor was far too heavy for me. I looked over at Rocky. “Rocky! I need your help with her!”

The minotaur nodded and made his way across, taking care to hit a few more ghouls on the way over. “I am not certain I will be able to lift her.”

“We have to try. We have to get her out of here,” I said, my eyes pleading with him. “I can try to lighten her with my telekinesis, but I'm not sure how long I can manage it.”

“I'm... I'm alright,” Coconut breathed. “Hit... hit the button on my PipBuck.”

I blinked, looking down at the mare's extended hoof. I studied it closely, noting that her power armor had some reserves of RadAway for direct injection. It wasn't much, but it was enough. I hit the button and Coconut sighed as she managed to get to four hooves.

“Thanks,” she said. “But we should be going.”

“Yes, let's get out of here!” Lightning shouted. His twin rifles echoed throughout the chamber.

I nodded and walked over to where the body of the crazy zebra leader was. I lifted his knife with my magic. It was going to have to do. It seemed like my luck with weapons was atrocious, so maybe this one would stick around. I charged forward next to Coconut as we made our way across the cavern. Rocky took up the rear, keeping any ghouls off our tails.

It still didn't seem like enough. The ghouls were everywhere. They poured from every orifice of the cave, almost as if this whole place was coming down on us for killing the zebra ghoul. Several of the glowing ones were mixed in with the crowd. Their very presence seemed to bolster the lesser ghouls.

“Up the stairs!” Envy shouted, tearing a set of ghouls that were blocking our path in two with a swift strike of her bladed gauntlet. “Hurry!”

I swung out and slashed through the neck of one of the nearby ghouls with my new knife. Its blood splattered all over the ground as it fell. In the corner of my I kept close watch on Coconut. She was still up and moving, but I didn't know for how long. How much radiation had she absorbed down here? Furthermore, why was it affecting her the worst and not the rest of us?

“Starry! Look out!” Rocky called out.

I blinked, shaking away my thoughts. One of the glowing ghouls had gotten close enough to try and take a swing at me. I jumped to the side and led my knife through the air with a burst of telekinesis. It hit home, taking the ghoul's eye with it. The creature howled before being put down by a quick burst of Rocky's rifle fire.

“Thanks!” I exclaimed, giving the minotaur a little smile.

“You are welcome,” he replied simply.

I grimaced. He's not still mad at me about earlier is he? I thought to myself. I mean... he accepted my apology.

“There are too many of them,” I said to him, trying to break the ice again.

“Yes. It appears the death of their leader has sent them into a frenzy,” Rocky said as he ushered me onto the stairs behind the others. “I will watch your rear. Hurry now.”

I admit, I hadn't exactly heard him right over the noise, but I blushed fiercely anyways. He caught my expression and his eyes narrowed.

“That... that wasn't what I meant,” he said.

“I-I-I know,” I stuttered. “Look, I'm sorry about before. You're not still mad at me are you?”

“Is this really the time?” Coconut said from next to me. She huffed and panted as we ascended the stairs. “Seriously, if you want to ask him out on a date at least wait until you're out of mortal peril.”

I blushed harder. “Coco! Not cool!”

“I hate to break up this little friendly spat, but we must keep going,” Rocky said. “I am going to try and cause a little trouble for our enemies once we get to the top.”

I blinked. “Alright, come on Coco. Let's catch up to Envy and Lightning.” I grabbed her close and started walking up to where the others were.

Envy and Lightning waited at the top of the stairs, where the zebra was pointing out the service tunnel she had seen. The hallways ahead were clear of any ghouls. They had all been down in the caverns it appeared.

Probably because they were going to sacrifice you to whatever things lived in that obelisk, I thought.

Rocky grunted as grasped onto the sides of the metal staircase. His claws dug in and he ripped them to shreds, dropping the metal and debris down the stairs. It slammed into the ghouls trying to climb the staircase, causing a domino effect that dropped many of the horde below. Rocky stood for a moment and lifted his rifle, raining armor piercing death down into the ghouls.

“Hurry, to the tunnel!” Envy said, pointing down the next hallway.

The tunnel branched off from the next section, leading to a set of stairs that went up. A set of metal doors sat at the top of the stairs, blocking our access. Envy trotted over and hit a switch on the wall, which caused them to retract. Rocky caught up with us as we made our up the stairs and into the room above.

“Quickly, we must close the doors,” he said.

“Wait, let me do something first,” I said. I reached out with my magic and ripped the outside switch out of the wall. I dropped it to the ground where it lay sparking. “Do it.”

Envy tagged the switch above, slamming the doors shut. She quickly dragged over one of the metal desks in the room and pushed it on top of them to hold them closed. After several long minutes of silence, the sounds of pounding and gnashing hit the other side.

“That should hold the ghouls for a while,” Rocky said.

The pounding ceased. It seemed that even psychotic ghouls knew when they couldn't get to a target, well enough to just give up.

I panted loudly and turned to take in our surroundings. We were in a power station control room, covered in switches and dials and status lights. Likely it was connected to the main Hoofwich Building, but given the amount of time we spent underground, I wasn't sure. A rim of light emitted from underneath the door at the far end. I trotted over and threw it open and breathed a sigh of relief.

Fresh air assaulted my nostrils, the Sun's sweet sweet rays causing everything beyond to glimmer brightly in the light. The outside world had never smelled sweeter. I took a step outside. I didn't recognize the part of the city we were in, but I didn't care. We'd made it. We'd gotten out. We'd...

“Coconut!” I heard Lightning shout.

I glanced back to see my friend doubled over on her side. I galloped over to her. Her visor was retracted and she was breathing hard. I grabbed her hoof with my magic and pulled up her radiation counter on her PipBuck. The readings were well over seven hundred rads. Coconut slumped over further. She coughed, hacking up fluid onto the ground before us.

“No... no Coco. Stay with us. Come on, it'll be fine,” Lightning said. “We need to get her to a doctor!”

“I'm... fine...” Coconut coughed out. “Just... help me up...”

“We must get her out of her power armor,” Envy said. “We can't carry her in the state she's in now.”

“Wait. Lightning. You know this city. There's bound to be patrols around. You need to go find one and bring them here,” I said calmly. “They'll be able to help her.”

“But... what about Coconut?” he said. “Starry, she's going to die!”

“She'll be fine, Bro. We'll keep her company. Now go, hurry, before she does die,” I said.

Lightning grimaced, but he finally nodded. “I'll be back as soon as I can.” His wings spread and he launched from the side of the building into the sky. Soon, he was a speck in the distance.

I looked down at Coconut. She was coughing and hacking up blood. I looked back out at the city. “Hurry, Lightning. For all our sakes, please hurry.”

Author's Notes:

Holy crap this chapter took a while to write! I had a heck of a time progressing through this because I wanted it to be a fun little side jaunt on our way back to Mom but also a long enough that it felt worthwhile. I certainly hope it did. It was fun to write, and we're progressing along nicely I feel.

The real question? Why does radiation not affect our plucky young Starry and Lightning? The answer is... MAGIC. Just kidding. We’ll be addressing that bit soon. Stay tuned!

Anyways, super huge thanks to Wirepony, McMesser, and Heartshine as always for stabbing my stuff like raw meat and turning it into awesome. You guys are the coolest.

Again, I'm going to plug my Patreon account. I really could use the support. I love writing, and I love producing content, so if you are enjoying what you are seeing and you want to give, then by all means, please do. Or, if you are of the mind of giving one-time, I do accept donations through PayPal. Just contact me through PM for details on this.