“Mom? Mom, are you here?”

Brushstroke glanced away from from her painting, her ears perking up as she heard her son’s voice.

“I’m in the art room, Canvas.” She called back. A few moments later, the mare heard the soft romping of hooves on the stairs. She turned, smiling as she saw her son enter into the room. “Do you need something?”

The colt hesitated, biting his lip as he glanced at the floor. Brushstroke frowned, placing her paintbrush down as she got up.

“Canvas? What’s wrong?”

Canvas looked up, carefully taking a few steps towards his mother.

“Mom? Do… do you and dad hate me?”

The mare froze, shocked by the question her son had just asked. A moment later, she shook her head, tilting it to the side ever so slightly as she looked at her son.

“Canvas, I’m surprised at you!” Brushstroke said, a number of concerns and doubts rushing through her mind. “Why in the world would you think that we hate you?”

The colt paused, wiping away a tear he hadn’t realized was forming.

“I-it’s just… you and dad are always fighting, a-and it’s usually because of me, a-and…”

“Oh, Canvas…” the mare trotted up to her son, pulling him into a warm embrace. “You shouldn’t think things like that. I know your father can be a little… tough, at times, but he doesn’t hate you. Being in the Enclave is just stressful, that’s all.”

“And…” Canvas wrapped his hooves tightly around his mother’s neck, sniffling softly as he failed to hold back tears. “A-and you?”

“Canvas, my perfect trifecta of color...” Brushstroke nuzzled the colt, an action that led to a fit of childish giggles. “I could never hate you. You’re my pride and joy, Canvas. I’ll always love you, no matter what.”

The yellow pegasus smiled, wiping his eyes with a hoof as his mother let go of him.

“I’ll tell you what, Canvas.” Brushstoke said, an idea popping into her head. “Why don’t you help me paint this one? I know how much you enjoy painting.”

“Really?!?” the colt jumped into the air, his eyes growing wide as saucers. “B-but you never let me do stuff to YOUR art…”

“Well, just this once, I think I can make an exception.” Brushstroke smiled, picking up her paintbrush and giving it to Canvas. Canvas grinned, gripping the brush in his mouth and hopping up onto his mother’s back.

“I love you, mom!”

“I love you too, my little artist.” Brushstroke smiled, giving her son one last nuzzle. “Now then, the secret to making these big fluffy clouds is to move the brush in circles…”

This can’t be right.

It had taken us long time, but we finally reached the spot on the map. I was beginning to doubt the map’s authenticity, however, because all I could see in front of me was a simple wooden door, embedded in the side of a rock formation, a sickly green water pooling around the base. This… this couldn’t be the Stable, could it? This cracked, fading door was supposed to save the ponies from the horrors of the megaspells? It barely looked like it could protect ponies from the wind.

“You sure that map’s any good, feathers?”

Temper clearly shared in my doubts, taking a few hesitant steps towards the door, like she expected it to explode or something.

“Maybe… maybe we started in the wrong spot? I-I mean, I assumed we were at the circle, but maybe that’s where the pony was going?”

Temper ignored me, finally making her way up to the door and extending her leg carefully as she reached for it. She hesitated for just a moment, her hoof lingering just in front of the handle. With a sharp tug, she pulled it open, quickly jumping back into a battle stance. I started to panic, leaping behind the nearest rock I could find. I waited. First a few seconds. Then a few more. After about a minute, I finally peeked out from behind the rock, wondering why I couldn’t hear anything.

It was probably because nothing had jumped out to attack us. I breathed a sigh of relief, stepping away from the rock and towards the door as I steadied my heart rate.

Alright… this is it. This is finally happening. Once I’m in the Stable, I can find a Terminal, look at the holodisk, and send a message for help. I felt a somewhat giddy smile grace my lips, though I hid it once I got close to Temper. The raider looked at me, her eyebrow raising for a second before she shook her head, pointing me into the wooden door with her gun. I still don’t know how I’m gonna distract Temper… I really hope… that…

As I looked past the door, I gasped, my thoughts trailing off as my voice started to echo.

Clearly, the wooden door was merely a front to keep ponies from finding the shelter, because hidden behind it was a massive open cave, far larger than the door had led me to believe. I looked around at the cool blues and grays of the stone walls, their jagged edges making the dim colors swirl in interesting patterns that I hadn’t thought could occur naturally. Columns and spikes of stone ran along the edges of the cave, almost like strange malformed teeth. A sickly greenish water even dripped from the stone spikes, pooling in a puddle near the center.

But deep in the back of the cave was the thing that truly shocked me. In all honesty, it shouldn’t have, because it was exactly what I had come here searching for in the first place.

A large circular steel door dominated the cave wall, its edges poking out in certain spots, much like the spokes of a gear. The stone around it almost seemed to blend into the hardened gray metal, melding with the door’s housing nearly seamlessly. In the center of the gear, some faded and chipped yellow paint marked the location with a single number:

“I think this is the place.” I muttered breathlessly.

“No shit.” Temper nickered, although I could still sense the awe in her voice.

Slowly, I approached the massive steel door, looking for a way to open it. It didn’t take me long – off to the side, a small electrical panel sat, with a single switch placed in the center. I reached out, pulling down on the switch with little resistance.

The room started to rumble. Bits of stone began to crumble from the ceiling, clattering all around me as I stood. A sudden screeching sound made me bring my hooves to my ears, Temper doing the same as the door painstakingly pulled out of its casing, sliding back further into the cave wall. A moment later, the door rolled to the side, the sounds stopped, and I got my first look at the inside of the Stable.

Behind the door was a simple metal room, a mechanical door of some kind situated in the very back. And that was pretty much it. There was a panel off to the side, presumably for opening the door, but beyond that all I could see was a table and a few filing cabinets. I honestly expected more.

I turned to look at Temper, only for the mare to gesture inside with her gun. Nervously, I trotted forwards, entering the room to get a closer look. As I stepped inside, I heard a small, continuous clicking sound. I looked around, searching for the source of the noise, my eyes eventually settling on the table. There wasn’t much there – just a clipboard, a piece of paper, and some kind of scientific device I didn’t recognize. The sound seemed to be coming from the device, so I took a closer look. Whatever it was, it had something like a microphone attached to it, with a small panel that had numbers ranging from “0” to “2K”. There was a needle on the panel as well, hovering somewhere around the “5” on the panel, clicking with every little twitch.

“Aw, fuck.” Temper groaned, looking at the machine. “I should have figured there’d be a catch.”

“Huh?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “What? What’s wrong?”

Temper rolled her eyes, trotting closer to me.

“That’s what’s wrong.” Temper pointed at the clicking device. “This whole place is irradiated.”

“Irra… wait, like radiation?!?” I stumbled back a bit, almost knocking over the table as I did. “B-but I thought… weren’t the Stables supposed to keep that stuff out?”

“Well, they didn’t do a good fuckin’ job then.” Temper muttered, scowling slightly as she spoke. “Well, whatever. As long as we have a good supply of Rad-Away, we shouldn’t die immediately. You’ve still got the medical stuff, yeah?”

I quickly looked through my saddlebags, double checking my supplies. Back at Rainston, Temper had decided that she would divide up all the stuff we took. I kept the food and medical supplies in my saddlebags, while Temper had strapped everything else somewhere on her armor. I turned back to Temper, nodding in affirmation.

“How many bags of Rad-Away do we have?”

I stared blankly at Temper. After a few seconds, the mare groaned.

“The orange stuff.”

Oh. I looked through my saddlebags.

“Five… n-no, wait, six.”

“Well that’s enough for me.” Temper snickered, trotting further into the Stable. “You better hope we find some more for you, or you might end up with a fuckin’ third wing or something.”

I felt my good wing flare up, my cheeks flushing with warmth as I failed to hide my embarrassment. Does… does she even know what that means?

She probably did.

I sighed, lowering my wing and looking back at the table. As I did, I noticed that the paper had some writing scribbled on it. Curious, I picked up the note.

Mr. Ball-peen;

Based off of the symptoms I’ve been seeing in the residents, it seems as though there may be radiation leaking in through some point in the Stable. I shouldn’t need to tell you how serious of a health concern this is, so I’d like to see the leak fixed as soon as possible.

I’ve instructed my assistant to provide you with my Geiger counter so you can track down the source of the leak, I’d suggest starting near the main Stable door and working your way back, with extra care to check the upper floor, since it might be closer to the outside world.

Please fix this leak as soon as you can, the Stable only has so much Rad-Away. If we run out, I don’t want to think about what might happen.

I turned my head back to the Geiger counter, still steadily clicking away.

Clearly, Mr. Ball-peen wasn’t very good at his job.

“What’s the fuckin’ hold up? Come on, we’re on a time limit here. I can only go so long without Rad-Away.”

I jumped slightly, turning to see Temper’s gun trained on my head. I laughed nervously, stuffing the note in my saddlebags and rushing deeper into the Stable.

“Fuck, this place is a dump.”

As we trotted deeper into the Stable, I couldn’t help but find Temper’s assessment painfully accurate. Every inch of the Stable’s halls had some sign that the Stable had been in a state of disrepair for a long, long time. Dust and dirt littered the ground, leaving a faint dusty cloud behind us wherever we walked. Most of the walls were covered in stains, at least in the places the flickering lights hadn’t made them fade first. All along the halls, there were doors similar to the one at the start of the Stable. Unfortunately, every single one was just a small supply closet, and even those were in terrible shape – the shelves had completely fallen off the walls, their contents scattered across the tiny room. The worst part was that most of them didn’t even have anything useful in them. No potions, no weapons, no food… but most importantly, no Terminals.

…I suppose it would be weird to have Terminals in a closet though, wouldn’t it? They must be… huh?

“W-wait, hold up, Temper.”

Even without looking at the mare, I could feel her death glare piercing into the back of my head.

“Th-th-the path’s blocked.” I stuttered, pointing a hoof ahead. “I-it looks like the tunnel caved in or… o-or something.”

Temper stretched her neck, glancing past me as she observed the massive pile of stones and dirt that had somehow broken through the walls of the reinforced shelter. The mass of wasteland had completely blocked the path ahead, leaving only a single closet door ahead of us.

“Well great.” Temper spat, approaching the one remaining door. “This whole adventure better not have been a waste of my fuckin’ time.”

Without warning, Temper spun, bucking the door in frustration. The door, clearly upset by the violent assault, retreated into the ceiling, revealing that I had been wildly incorrect about what was behind it.

The door led into a large open room, a room which was completely featureless in design except for the pillars in each corner that seemed to be holding up twin catwalks. The entire room was as much of a mess as the rest of the stable had been, with posters on the floor, stained and faded walls, and now broken wires hanging from the ceiling as well. I glanced across the middle of the room, looking over some empty tables, and-

“Grrrrraauuugg…”

I froze, mortified by what I saw in front of me.

After days upon days in the wasteland, I finally found the demon ponies I had been promised.

I struggled to comprehend the two creatures that stood on the far side of the room. Their flesh was rotting, with huge chunks of it missing and exposing the muscle structure beneath. Most of their hair looked like it had been burned off, leaving naught but a few errant strands sticking out of the monsters in random splotchy patches. Their eyes were soulless and yellow, their stares seeming to pierce through to my soul. And their teeth… they weren’t quite the fangs I had heard stories of, but even I could tell that a pony’s teeth weren’t meant to be that pointed.

I stood paralyzed, fear overriding my senses, making me unable to flee from the nightmare creatures. But these were far, far worse than any nightmares, because these things were real.

“Grrraugh… grrraaaugh!! HHeeeech!!!”

Without warning, the creatures started charging at us, giving me a minor heart attack as I scrambled back towards the door. Even the way these creatures moved seemed like a horror story… It was like they had forgotten how to use their limbs, and had to settle on flailing their legs about in the hopes that it would push them forwards. Except it was working, and against all logic, they were faster than me.

BANG!!

Fortunately, Temper was faster than both of them.

A bullet launched from Temper’s gun, piercing one of the zombies straight through the head, a sickly red fluid starting to pour from the hole. You’d think that would have killed it, but to my eternal horror the beast kept shambling forwards at breakneck speeds. Even Temper seemed slightly annoyed by this, but only for a moment.

BANG BANG!!

Two more shots, this time hitting the creature in the leg, sending it crashing to the floor. As I watched the creature skid to a stop, I realized that the second zombie was still coming, and fled to get behind a nearby table. Temper barely had a second before she realized the monster’s proximity, quickly reaching down and pulling out her knife. Just as the creature lunged into range, Temper swung her blade, expertly slicing the creature across its throat. The zombie stumbled back, but otherwise paid little mind to the gashing wound as it moved in for another strike.

It was right around then that I realized I could probably make my grand escape just by going back through the door we came in. True, we hadn’t found a Terminal yet, but my priorities were-

“GRAAUGH!!”

GAH, FUCK!!

Before I even took one step out from behind the table, the corpse of the zombie Temper killed suddenly lunged forwards, wrapping its hooves around me. I screamed, desperately trying to shake the monster off, but to no avail. I could feel its squishy and rotten skin, the muscles pulsating ever so slightly as it tried to pull itself in to bite me. As I watched and flailed in horror, the creature brought its head in close, opened its mouth, and-

BANG!!

…immediately collapsed to the floor as a final bullet pierced its eye socket. I quickly shoved the zombie off my leg, scraping my hooves on the floor to remove as much blood and zombie parts as I could.

“Fuckin’ hell,” Temper muttered, reloading her pistol as quick as she could. “I hate ghouls. They rarely go down in one shot.”

“What were those?!?” I yelled, still wiping my hooves on whatever I could find. Temper rolled her eyes, placing the last few bullets into her clip as she trotted up beside me.

“That,” Temper said, pointing a hoof at one of the corpses, “Is what happens to ponies who don’t drink enough Rad-Away. Speaking of, toss me a bag.”

Yeah, no, don’t have to tell me twice. Without even thinking, I dug through my saddlebags and pulled out two bags of the orange liquid, tossing one to Temper and downing the second as quickly as possible.

“Hey! Don’t…”

Too late. By the Time Temper had gotten those two words out, I had drained the sack of medicine, retching slightly at the aftertaste. Temper let out a frustrated groan, bringing a hoof to her face as she did.

“Great, now we only have four bags. Fucking fantastic.” Temper sighed, drinking her bag and kicking me in the rear. “Get moving, the sooner we find something good, the sooner we can get the fuck out of this death trap.”

“Nothing.”

I didn’t even need to hear what Temper said afterwards – her sigh alone told me exactly how frustrated she was.

“For fucks sake, seven pony’s rooms and not one of them has anything useful? Are you sure you know what you’re looking for?”

I sighed, trotting from yet another empty room. Once again, our search for loot was turning up absolutely nothing. But that’s not what was on my mind. What was getting to me was that of the seven rooms I had checked, five of them had a Terminal in them… and not one of the Terminals worked. One didn’t have any power, one had a hole punched through, one had the circuits fried… every time I thought I had found what I was looking for, I was pulled straight back into the cruel, harsh reality of the situation.

“W-well, there’s still one more… M-maybe there’s something really good in there?” I offered.

“You better hope there is,” Temper sneered, “Because if we get too far in without anything turning up, I’m pinning it all on you.”

“B-but wh-”

*KKZZSHT-VRRRRR…*

I jumped, startled by the sudden noise. Even Temper seemed to be caught off guard, coming to an abrupt halt as she looked for the source of the sound. As I looked up towards the ceiling, I spotted a small speaker mounted to the wall, just as a voice began to cut through it.

“GREETINGS, MY LITTLE PONIES!!!”

That voice… I honestly cannot find the words to describe it. It was like… like, say you had a regular pony. But then this pony swallowed a bucket of dirt. After smoking every cigarette in the Equestrian Skies. And also possibly every cigarette in the Wasteland.

Now imagine that, but as though it were trying desperately to speak in a high pitched, soothing tone, like a mother would use to talk to a child.

Now imagine it was shouting.

That still doesn’t do it justice, but that’s as close as I can get to properly describing the voice that assaulted my ears.

“What the fuck?!?” Temper jolted around, pointing her gun at the speaker, as though she expected to intimidate whoever was behind it. “Who the hell is this? Show yourself!”

“PLEASE,” The voice screeched, “RELAX YOURSELVES!! PUT YOUR MINDS AT EASE, FOR I MEAN YOU NO HARM!! I WISH ONLY FOR YOU TO FIND PEACE AND HAPPINESS HERE IN MY HUMBLE HOME!!”

“Answer me, dammit!” Temper shouted back. “Who the fuck are you?!?”

A strange huffing sound came from the speaker. For a moment, I thought the speaker was dying. Then I realized that the mystery voice wasn’t wheezing, it was laughing.

“MY LOYAL SUBJECTS, DO YOU NOT RECOGNIZE THE VOICE OF YOUR DEAR PRINCESS CELESTIA??”

What?!? Celestia? As… as in, THE Celestia? But… I, wha… In the midst of my confusion, I started to lower myself to the ground, only to feel a sharp tug as Temper pulled me back to my hooves.

“Don’t bow, you retard!” Temper hissed at me, quickly turning back to the speakers. “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you sure as hell ain’t Celestia. That bitch has been dead for years.”

The voice paused for a moment, a slight hum coming through the speakers in the background

“PLEASE, FRIENDS,” the voice suddenly resumed. “I KNOW YOU ARE CONFUSED, BUT FEAR NOT!! I MAY NOT BE THE CELESTIA YOU ONCE KNEW AND WORSHIPPED, BUT IT IS STILL I!! THE PRINCESS OF THE SUN AND RULER OF EQUESTRIA!!”

Temper rolled her eyes.

“I WAS REBORN, INTO THE BODY OF ANOTHER PONY!! EVEN NOW I REMEMBER THE MOMENT I DIED, THE BURNING PAIN AND AGONY OF IT ALL AS THE SUN’S FLAMES CONSUMED ME!!”

“You’re fuckin’ mental.” Temper moved around behind me. “Feathers, check that last room so we can keep moving.”

Slowly, I nodded, shaking off my confusion and making my way towards the eighth room in the area.

“I HAVE WAITED HERE, THE SUN’S ENERGY RADIATING OFF OF ME FOR MANY, MANY YEARS!!”

“Temper,” I ignored the voice as best as I could, “I can’t open it. The door’s locked.”

“Ugh, great. Move over, I’ll get it.”

“IT HAS BEEN SO LONG SINCE ANYPONY FROM THE OUTSIDE HAS COME TO VISIT!!”

“What the-?” Temper’s face scrunched up in confusion as she looked over the door. “There’s no lock to pick! How the fuck-”

“TELL ME; WHAT BRINGS YOU TO MY NEW ROYAL CASTLE??”

“Look, bitch.” Temper called out to the psuedo-Celestia. “All I want is to get whatever goods you’ve got here, and then get out. Now will you please shut the fuck up?”

The voice paused, the speakers going dead for a few seconds.

“THEIVERY IS A VERY SERIOUS OFFENSE IN MY KINGDOM.”

“Whatever.” Temper looked over the door for a few more seconds, before groaning, turning back the way we had come in. “This is a bust. C’mon, there’s bound to be some other fuckin’ rooms around here.”

“STOP!! IF YOU STEAL, I WILL BE FORCED TO-”

“SHUT UP!!”

BANG!!

I jumped away, frightened as the speaker exploded into metal fragments, silencing the voice coming through it. I turned to look at Temper, watching her quickly cock and reload her pistol.

“Fucking hell,” Temper groaned, “That has to be the most irritating voice I’ve ever heard. If I never hear it again, it’ll be too fucking soon.”

For once, I couldn’t help but agree.

This looks promising.

As Temper and I continued through the Stable, I stopped, pointing up at a placard along the top of one of the doors. It was faded, but I could still make out the words “Medical Bay” printed on it.

“I’d much rather that say ‘Armory’,” Temper growled, “But I guess that’ll do for now. After you, feathers.”

I nodded, approaching the door. With a press of a button, the steel door slid up into the ceiling and I stepped inside.

The door had put me on the end of some kind of mini hallway, which looked to be a staff entrance from what I could see. As I entered the room, I looked off to the right to see a few stretchers laying on the ground, most of which had toppled over onto their sides, knocking over IV tubes and medical trays that had once been at their bedsides. Most of the room was in a similar state of disrepair as the rest of the Stable, with trash lying along the ground and paint chipping off the walls. However, as I looked around, something about the room’s layout put me off. I glanced down, quickly realizing what it was; some of the sheets were laid out not on the stretchers, but directly on the floor. No fancy padding, no mattresses, just straight onto the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an oddly shaped object under the covers of one of the floor-beds. I started to move closer to it, trying to get a better look…

It was a skeleton.

I reeled back, covering my mouth as I looked at the pony remains. The skeleton was lying down under one of the sets of sheets, completely covered save for the top of his skull. I blinked a few times, trying to rationalize my thoughts as I stared.

M… m-maybe I’m just imagining things… y-yeah, that’s just my living nightmares again, hahaha… p-probably just a-a baseball or something. I’ll go prove it…

Slowly, I reached out for the blanket, hesitating for just a moment before I flung the covers back.

It was definitely not a baseball.

I stumbled back, frantically trying to get away from-

“Gah!” Temper sputtered as I backed into her. “Watch where you’re fuckin’ going!!”

“Ack! I-I-I’m sorry, I was-”

“Grrrraaaauuugggg…”

Oh shit.

I turned towards the moaning, spotting two… what did Temper call them, Ghouls? Whatever, two of those things rushing around the corner, making a beeline straight towards us. I began to panic, turning away to run back down the mini-hall, only to realize that there was no more mini-hall left to run down. All that greeted me was another wall.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!

Before I could even react, Temper opened fire. In the span of a few short seconds, she unloaded into one of the monsters, driving every bullet straight through its head until it crumpled to the ground, its face nothing more than fleshy swiss cheese. The second creature growled, continuing to charge for Temper as-

“HHeeeecchh!!!”

I jolted upright as a third ghoul appeared around the corner. I saw the ghoul turn, completely ignoring Temper and… OH GOD IT’S COMING STRAIGHT AT ME!! In spite of the wall in front of me, I desperately ran away from the ghoul, my hooves pounding against the metal wall as I hoped in vain to find some other way out. I moved into the corner, my head whipping to look at the zombie as it approached me, its eyes vacantly staring as a greenish drool dripped from its mouth.

BANG!! *click*

Temper pulled her gun from her mouth, starting to reload as one of the ghouls edged closer to her. But she didn’t have the time. Before she could even pull a new clip from her pocket, the zombie moved in close enough to swipe at her, forcing Temper to drop her pistol and pull out her knife. As the two began to brawl, I moved into the opposite corner of the hall, pulling out the Artisan as I stared down the third ghoul. I stood, my hooves trembling slightly as I took aim at-

“You did this…”

I couldn’t fire.

I tensed up, panic beginning to fill inside of me. The world seemed to slow down around me, as I tried desperately to will myself into shooting the approaching zombie, to just bite down and trigger the shotgun, eliminating any danger. But every time I tried, my mind contorted the image in front of me, turning the brain-eating monster into a regular pony right before my eyes. I tried again but it didn’t do any good – they looked too much like ponies. They were ponies, at least if Temper was to be believed.

But they aren’t ponies! Not anymore! They’re… th-they’re just monsters! I have to-

Once again, the scene in front of me changed. But this time, the creature didn’t look like just any pony. I recognized the sky-blue coat, the pink mane that flowed down to her shoulders. And the eyes… even as a figment of my imagination, there was no mistaking those eyes that had glared at me countless times in my childhood.

Sky…

I… I can’t…

The Artisan dropped from my mouth, clattering to the floor as the zombie grew ever closer. I felt myself curl up into a ball, watching as the monster started to lunge forwards. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting and praying that my death would be swift and-

“Hooves off my slave, bitch!”

My eyes snapped open, looking up as I saw a shadow fall over me. Without warning, Temper had jumped in front of me, blocking the ghoul as she plunged her knife down into the side of its head. With a slight twitch, the ghoul dropped to the ground, blood pouring out of a deep cut right above its eyeball.

I turned to Temper, slightly awestruck as I looked at her. I could see her panting heavily, her own blood beginning to seep out of multiple spots on her chest and legs. And I’m not certain on this, but I think there was a chunk of one of her mowhawks missing. As I watched Temper turn back towards the zombie that had first attacked her, I realized that she had just saved me.

Temper had just saved me.

BANG!!

One shot from her gun, and the last of the ghouls dropped dead on the floor. I started to get up, opening my mouth to-

“Ggrrrraaauuuggg…”

Oh for- another one? Sure enough, a fourth ghoul ran out from behind a simple curtain door, turning to face us as it growled and snarled. The ghoul started to trot in closer, only to stop and…

Wait, is that a horn?

I only had a split second to react as one of the stretchers suddenly came flying towards us. Temper quickly dove out of the way, and I moved to do the same. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite fast enough – a fact made very clear as the stretcher slammed into my back leg, eliciting a scream of pain as I felt the whole thing force itself to bend in a way it never should have been able to. I crashed to the floor, clutching my leg and praying that it hadn’t broken – one shattered limb was plenty. I managed to crane my head back towards the unicorn zombie, watching as his horn flared with a magical energy, the glow slowly starting to envelope another stretcher and lift it off the ground.

BANG!!

The magic stopped, Temper’s bullet smashing into the side of the unicorn’s horn. It wasn’t enough to shatter it, but it did break off a large chunk of the rotted appendage. The ghoul stumbled back, hissing and screeching at us as it did. Temper smirked, trotting towards the creature, her steps slightly staggered from her wounds.

“Send ‘Celestia’ my regards.”

BANG BANG BANG!!

Temper unleashed the full force of Tartarus onto the beast. When she was done, all that remained of the unicorn ghoul’s head was a mangled, bloody mess. Satisfied with her destruction, Temper turned back to me, kneeling alongside me as I sat in agony.

“Hey, hoof me a fuckin’ healing potion, will ya?”

“B-but…” I grit my teeth, wincing as I tried to speak. “My leg, it-”

“I’m sure it’s fine.” Temper groaned, reaching into my saddlebags and pulling out a potion herself. “Quit being a pansy.”

Nearly the second it touched her lips, I could see her wounds starting to fade away, cuts and bruises healing in the blink of an eye. As she drank her potion, Temper glanced down at me, her irritated expression betraying a hint of a grimace as she spied my twisted leg. She grabbed hold of me and pulled me to my hooves, but the second she let go the pain in my leg flared up, burning so intensely that I fell to the ground. I winced, looking up at Temper as she rolled her eyes.

“Fuck, kid.” Temper groaned, “Can you even stand?”

I tried to pull myself up onto my hooves, but once again the pain dragged me back to the floor. With an irritated sigh, Temper moved around behind me, positioning herself over my twisted leg. She scrutinized the wound, eyeing it from every angle, even prodding it once, eliciting jolt of pain strong enough to make me scream. With a smirk, she prodded it a few more times, relishing in my agony as I writhed about, completely at her mercy. Finally, after she had gotten her fill of torture, she stopped, giggling somewhat maniacally as I whimpered.

“Well it ain’t broken, thank Celestia’s vag. Just dislocated.” Temper bent down, placing one hoof on my lower leg and another-

WOAH there, Temper! I yelped, blushing as Temper’s other hoof reached around to the inside of my leg. I turned back to look at her, just in time to catch the mare’s lips turning up in a sly grin.

“Maybe I should let you have a Rad-Away.” Temper snickered, “I think I feel that third wing starting to grow.”

I blushed harder. She knows. Temper laughed, turning her attention back to my leg.

“Now hold still,” Temper commanded, “I’m gonna pop it back into place. And don’t be a pussy about it – it won’t hurt a bit.”

I nodded, looking away as I fought to hold back my tears. Without warning, Temper yanked on my leg, and I screamed, feeling a burning pain course through my body, a pain rivaled only by the pain I had felt when I first broke my wing. Temper snickered as I flailed about, tears streaming from my eyes.

“Whoops, I lied.”

I grit my teeth, slowly bringing myself to my hooves, and immediately realizing that it no longer hurt like a bitch to do so. With my pain gone, I trotted over to grab the Artisan, my thoughts lingering on Temper’s actions as I did. I felt better – I really did. And that was exactly the problem.

Why is she doing this for me? She hates me, doesn’t she? So shouldn’t she-

“There.” Temper grunted. “Now that you can fuckin’ move again, help me look around this place. If I’m lucky there will be some Rad-Away hidden somewhere.”

I don’t think I could have been having worse luck if I had tried.

Even after Temper and I had scoured the medical center, we had come up with hardly anything between the two of us. On my end, I had managed to find a half-empty healing potion and a magic bandage (which, as I learned from Temper’s reaction, was nowhere near as amazing as it sounded). Oh, and another broken Terminal. Temper, meanwhile, had only found a single bag of Rad-Away which (of course) she drank on the spot. That left us with four more to get through the rest of the Stable. I prayed we wouldn’t need them all.

“Son of a…” Temper groaned, kicking at the door in front of her. “I swear, all the good stuff is behind the locked doors, I just know it! Feathers, go check that other door, and don’t come out unless you find something worth taking!”

I rolled my eyes, but I walked over to the only other door in the room. Slowly, I went inside, approaching something that looked like an advanced stretcher, with mechanical parts to move it up and down, and lights all around it. I stepped in closer, trying to get a better look, when I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head, glancing over to a table along the wall. I felt my eyes widen as I looked – another skeleton, seated upright in a chair, its limbs propped against the table.

I tasted a little bit of vomit in the back of my throat, but I managed to ignore it, trotting up to the table to get a closer look at the equine remains. I could see a horn protruding from the middle of the skull, making it fairly obvious what kind of pony it had been. I started to back away, fearing that some kind of ancient black magic would still be housed within the evil unicorn’s remains, but then I saw what the pony was wearing. It was faded, tattered, and barely held together, but it was very clearly a lab coat. I could even see a little name tag, just as stained and destroyed as the rest of the garment. My curiosity got the better of me, and I reached out, hesitating for a moment before I grabbed the coat, lifting it slightly to get a better look at the name.

I paused for a second, coughing a few times in the silence. Slowly, I brought out the note I had grabbed back in the first room in the Stable. My eyes began to dart between the two sources, the correlation dawning on me in a heartbeat. I quickly pushed away from the skeleton, avoiding the potentially cursed remains to see if the doctor had left anything useful on his desk. To my ever-growing despair, he didn’t have a Terminal on his desk, but he did have a notebook. I looked at the pages, hoping that maybe there would be some hundred-year-old clue hidden inside to help me. With no real idea of where to start, I looked at the earliest entry I could find.

Day 8

Eight days in to our fight for survival, and we’ve gotten our first patient. Mrs. Morning Dew, our resident school teacher if I recall correctly. Fortunately, there wasn’t much wrong with her. Mild nausea, coughing – typical symptoms of the flu. Nothing a little bed rest won’t fix, although I must admit I had hoped we’d be able to keep diseases like that out of our enclosed Stable. Then again, I suppose I wouldn’t have much of a job if that were the case. I’ll check in with her in a few days.

I coughed. Well that was a dud. I flipped forwards a few pages, skimming over some minor patient reports until I found some more interesting passages.

Day 13

Something is very clearly wrong. I’m beginning to suspect that the disease currently spreading around the Stable isn’t flu at all – the symptoms don’t match up anymore. If the overmare would get someone to retrieve my proper medical equipment then I could have a better idea what was going on… although, now that I think about it, there is one thing it could be… I’ll have to see if I kept that Geiger counter of mine. I sincerely hope my suspicions are wrong.

Day 16

I’ve given my Geiger counter to Mr. Ball-peen, with any luck he should be able to find the radiation leak. Until then, I’ve decided to ration our Rad-Away, to make sure that it will last until the problem is solved. I only pray that Ball-Peen is a fast worker.

Day 27

I do wish Mr. Ball-Peen would stop being so stubborn when there are so many lives at stake. It’s been over a week since we discovered the problem, but still he insists that the whole Stable is intact. I’ve tried to tell him, show him that simply can’t be the case, but he ignores me, telling me it’s my fault for not healing the patients. I suppose, in some respects, it is partially my fault for not noticing the problem sooner… but I must keep on. There are lives to save, and I hardly have the time to keep writing.

Day 30

We lost one.

Little Sandy didn’t make it through the night.

I paused for a moment as I read. As I glanced over at the final page – the one that had been open when I entered the room – I saw tiny red splatters and smears over top of the words, faded remnants of some kind. A took a breath, and continued reading.

Day 41

The nurses keep trying to get me to drink some Rad-Away. I’ve told them I’ve had my fair share, and that the patients need it more. With any luck, they’ll continue to believe me.

All the medical records show that I’m nearing the limit for exposure to Radiation. Seeing as I won’t have much longer, I guess that makes these my final words.

To all the patients here, to all of you who have suffered under my care and cried for those who continue to suffer under my watch, I am sorry. I have failed you in the most basic aspects of being a doctor. I onl

I scrunched up my muzzle, looking as the words abruptly stopped, only to pick up one line later with much cruder hoofwriting.

It looks like my magic’s starting to fade. My apologies to whoever tries to read this – it’s been ages since I held a quill in my mouth.

I only hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. I’ve messaged the overmare, and she’ll be taking control over the medical inventory, effective immediately. My nurses are well trained, they should be able to take care of you in my absence. Even if I don’t die tonight, I feel I am no longer fit to take care of you wonderful ponies.

Don’t worry, Morning. I’ll make sure Sandy’s feeling alright.

I pulled away from the notes, looking back at the skeleton in his chair. As I looked him over, my eyes lingered, focusing on the pony’s horn. For a moment, my thoughts conflicted, trying to juxtapose the image of the caring and concerned doctor with the image of unicorns that I had been warned about for years and years. Something simply wasn’t adding up. This wasn’t a monster. This wasn’t a pony who was going to use evil magic to destroy you and everything you loved. This was a doctor. A wise, intelligent doctor, one who dedicated his life to healing the sick, and one who felt deep sadness when he couldn’t.

This doesn’t make sense… The Enclave has had historians looking into this stuff for years, so they can’t be wrong. Yet, this looks like… I snuck another look at the Doctor’s journal. Yeah, this is a private journal. Written hundreds of years ago, no less! It’s not like he’s gonna lie to himself, so his notes can’t be wrong either… but then who’s wrong? Did the Enclave make a mistake? I don’t-

“For fuck’s sake, what’s taking you so long?”

Eep!

I whipped my head around, Temper standing angrily in the doorway.

“I, uh, I… I-I’m sorry, I got distracted, a-and I-”

WHAM!

My vision momentarily blacked out, my head slamming against the wall as Temper roundhouse punched me.

“We don’t have time for fuckin’ distractions.”

I pulled myself from the wall, the room spinning around me as I tried to regain my balance. In my confusion, I stumbled into some kind of switch mounted to the wall. I turned to look at the switch, just in time to see a small panel on it change from “locked” to “unlocked”. I turned back to Temper, the mare grinning as she looked at the switch.

“On second thought,” Temper snickered, “Maybe your distractions aren’t that bad after all. C’mon, let’s check the fuckin’ door.”

Slowly, I made my way out of the room, leaving the doctor to his tomb as Temper followed right behind me.

“Jackpot!”

Temper grinned as she looked around the room, and I couldn’t help but smile a bit myself. The room we had entered wasn’t all that big, but the tiny space made up for it with piles upon piles of all the medical supplies I could have ever wanted. Healing potions, magical bandages, antivenom… even some supplies I’d never seen before, like little needles labeled “Med-X”.

Unfortunately, there was a significant lack of Rad-Away, something my churning stomach was not too happy with.

“You go sweep the left side,” Temper ordered, a slight spring in her voice as she spoke. “I’ll nab the center aisles.”

I nodded, coughing as I moved to gather the supplies. As I began placing items into my rapidly-filling saddlebags, I glanced over at Temper, a slight nagging sensation washing over me as I looked at the mare. My mind was lingering on that last battle, what Temper had done afterwards. I tried to push it to the back of my mind, but my curiosity got the better of me.

“Temper?”

The mare paused, slowly craning her head towards me.

“What?”

I flinched as Temper spat the word at me. Still, I pressed on.

“…why did you save me back there?”

“You’re not worth shit to me if you’re dead.” Temper scoffed. “That holds true regardless of whether or not I end up keeping you around.”

I went quiet, the two of us returning to taking items from the shelves.

“…what about my leg?”

“What about it?”

“I-I just…” I faltered slightly in my speaking, a few coughs erupting from within me as I stopped. “Why did you fix it?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Temper countered. “You’re just slowing me down if you can’t walk.”

Temper went quiet for a moment. Out of nowhere, my stomach heaved, nearly causing me to vomit on the shelf in front of me. I managed to hold it back, with just the faintest taste of bile reaching the back of my throat.

“I wouldn’t have had to fix it anyways if you had just shot the damn things.” Temper said, raising an eyebrow as she glanced towards me. “The fuck was that about, anyways? You didn’t have any problems shooting other wasteland creatures.”

I tensed up, thinking back to the fight, watching as the ghouls shifted and changed in my mind’s eye.

“Th-they…” I let out a sigh. “They look too much like ponies. A-and after Rainston, I-”

“Oh for fuck’s- are you still thinking about that?!?” Temper groaned as she ceased looting, instead trotting straight up to me and staring me in the eyes. “This isn’t even remotely similar to Rainston! These things aren’t even ponies!!”

“But they were!” I countered. “You said that was what happened to ponies when they get too irradiated, so they were ponies at some point!”

“But they aren’t ponies!!” Temper seethed. “Not anymore they aren’t. They don’t have any fuckin’ brains or personality left in them, they’re just mindless fuckin’ creatures. No better than a radroach or a bloodwing or a bloatsprite.”

“I… b-but-”

“Look, feathers.” Temper spoke, her voice taking an unnaturally calm tone for her. “If it helps you not be a pussy in fights, then look at it this way. Those ghouls? They’re already fuckin’ dead. They just don’t quite realize it yet, so a couple a bullets through their head should make it pretty clear. You get what I’m saying?”

I coughed, reluctantly beginning to nod in agreement.

“Good.” Temper muttered, starting to turn away. “You know, one of these days, you’re gonna have to kill another pony. That’s just the way it is down here. Rule number one, remember?”

As I started to rebut, I felt another surge of unease in my stomach. I took a few deep breaths, hoping to stop the inevitable vomit, but it was no use. Before I was quite aware of it, I had expelled my lunch all over the floor.

Temper paused, her face taking on an expression I couldn’t quite identify… it wasn’t quite disgust, but it didn’t look like she was irritated either… at least until she rolled her eyes. I held still, leaning against one of the shelves in the room as I tried not to focus on the taste in my mouth. As I wiped the vomit from my mouth, I felt something smack against my head, my hooves flailing in mild panic as I tried to grab it.

A bag of Rad-Away.

“Found it in the corner.” Temper muttered. “You need it more than me right now.”

I clutched the bag in my hooves, staring at Temper as she trotted back to continue looting her side of the room. Slowly, in-between coughs, I started to smile. I sucked down the orange liquid, the disgusting aftertaste a relatively pleasant replacement for straight vomit. Almost immediately, I felt my nausea begin to fade away.

“Temper?”

The mare turned back, raising an eyebrow as she looked at me.

“Thanks.”

Temper scoffed, turning back to the task at hoof.

“You owe me 40 caps for that.”

With the Medical Center looted, Temper directed me towards the opposite end of the room, leading me into what looked like it had once been a lobby of sorts. I walked through the veiled curtain that separated it from the rest of the office, taking in the layout of the room – lots of benches, an overturned table… I think I even saw a toy train in the corner.

Slightly more noticeable, however, was the makeshift barricade in front of the door. Whatever it was the ponies in here had been trying to keep out, it had managed to get in, judging from the shifted couches and broken tables (one of which, to my discomfort, had a skeleton hanging limply off the side of it).

“Good, the door’s clear.” Temper commented. “Now I don’t have to waste my fuckin’ time making you clear the debris.”

I stepped around the debris, carefully moving towards the door. With a deep breath, I poked my head through, looking around the corners to make sure there were no ghouls. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I nodded back towards Temper, who forcefully pushed me out into the hall.

Almost immediately, I spotted another door, not too far down from where we were. I moved in closer to take a look, noticing that the door was already open. I looked up, spotting another sign, marking the location as a Repair Station.

“Seriously, where the fuck is the armory?” I turned back towards Temper, her face scrunching up in frustration as she talked. “I swear, if there are no guns in this place I’ll-”

“AH, THERE YOU ARE!!”

Temper’s eyes shot wide open, her teeth grinding together as the unwelcome voice pierced both of our ears.

“GAH!” Temper shouted. “Fucking hell, not you again!”

“PLEASE, MY SUBJECTS, CALM YOURSELVES!!” the voice continued to screech. “I MUST INSIST THAT YOU CEASE YOUR VILLANOUS WAYS!! THIS IS NOT-”

“Shut up, you fraud!” Temper yelled, finally finding the speaker “Celestia” was speaking through. “And stop calling us subjects!”

The voice paused, some indistinguishable murmuring echoing through the halls.

“Ugh, c’mon feathers, there ought to-”

“I AM SORRY IF I HAVE OFFENDED YOU-”

BANG BANG BANG BANG!!

The voice went dead as the speaker exploded under a hail of bullets.

“As I was saying…” Temper seethed, my ears folding flat against my head as I looked at the furious expression on the mare’s face. “There ought to be something in there. You better hope it’s something good.”

I nodded nervously, frantically trying to open the door. With a slight stutter, the steel barrier slid away, revealing a room filled with tables. All sorts of tools, screws, and little machines littered the tops of them, almost like some kind of mad scientist’s lab, but if the scientist was a mechanic instead. Off in the back of the room, I spotted another door, seemingly leading into a separate room. I stepped towards it, trying to see if there was any indication of what was inside. Fortunately, there was another sign running along the top of the door. Unfortunately, this one was faded beyond recognition. The only word I was able to pick out was “Auto,” which didn’t really tell me much. Temper stepped beside me, scratching behind her ear as she looked at the sign.

“Maybe it’s a separate workshop?” I offered meekly.

Temper responded by smacking me upside the head.

“I don’t care what it is, retard.” Temper said, her voice a slight growl. “Just get in there and take whatever looks valuable. I’ll sweep over this room.”

“Why do you-”

*click*

“Sorry, what was that?” Temper asked, tilting her head slightly as she held up her gun.

I shuddered, quickly opening the door. With a smirk, Temper turned away, and I carefully stepped inside, seeing if I could find anything that “looked valuable.”

I found something even better.

The inside of the room was small, barely big enough for four ponies to stand in comfortably. The walls were lined with shelves holding all sorts of tools, from simple hammers to mechanical drills, even a few stranger things I couldn’t identify. The center of the room was dominated by a large device I’d never seen before, a big mechanical arch shape with a large hole built into the side of it. All around the inside of the arch, little robotic claws and tools sat at the ready, waiting for some unknown purpose.

But none of that interested me. The thing that caught my full attention was a table, shoved off to the side of the room. More importantly, what was on top of it.

A Terminal.

And from the look of it, a working Terminal.

I glanced behind me, double checking the door. From this angle, Temper would never see me. Could… could this be it? Is this my chance? I could almost feel the planets lining up, it was too good to be true. Before I got my hopes up too high, I maneuvered myself in front of the Terminal, sitting down in a strange chair and barely holding back a squeal of delight when I saw that it wasn’t smashed and destroyed.

With the press of a button, the device sparked to life, the screen glowing a faint green as various words appeared on the screen. I reached forward, my hoof trembling as I began absentmindedly looking through the various options. This was it, I knew it! I was finally going to go home! I reached into my saddlebags, pulling out the holodisk as quickly and quietly as I could. With almost surgical precision, I slotted it into the machine, waiting as the disc’s information booted up over the existing programs.

Before I even knew it, the words on the screen blinked away, new words being written overtop of them.

>> PROPERTY OF THE GRAND PEGASUS ENCLAVE

> CLASSIFIED INFORMATION NOTICE

> Enter Passcode 1

Passcode? Shit, I didn’t think about that… I don’t know what the passcode would be… With no other choices available, I selected the first option.

>> CLASSIFIED INFORMATION NOTICE

> The information contained within this disc is classified Enclave information, clearance level delta. If you are not Enclave personnel, cease all operations with this disk and contact your local authorities. If you are Enclave personnel and you do not have clearance level delta or higher, please return this disc to your commanding officer ASAP. Any unauthorized ponies found accessing or attempting to access this data will be detained and tried in military court. Unauthorized Enclave personnel found accessing or attempting to access this data will also be subject to court martial and may be dishonorably discharged from the Enclave.

I bit my lip as I read the words on the screen. There’s nothing here… I could get in so much trouble for looking at this… should I?

I quickly shook my head, backing out to the main menu of the disk as I selected the second option. This is my only chance. I have to take it, no matter the cost.

>> Enter Authorization Passcode 1

> []

I looked at the blinking cursor for a few seconds, racking my brain as I tried to think of something Windspeed would use as a password.

Hmm… “WONDERBOLT”?

>> Passcode incorrect. 3 attempts remaining.

Damn, I thought… wait, what?!? Three attempts? I only get three more tries at this?

“Find anything yet?”

I tensed up, Temper’s words startling me from the screen.

“Ah, no, no…” I laughed nervously. “N-nothing much yet. Just some old tools.”

“Well keep looking. I don’t have all day.”

“G-got it! Heh heh…”

With Temper satisfied for a short time, I turned my attention back to the screen. It suddenly dawned on me just how much was riding on guessing this password. This wasn’t just trying to guess what my friend was thinking of. This was my one shot at freedom. This was my nice warm bed, my family, my friends. This was an end to the nightmares, an escape from the constant fear of death. This was never having to kill anything ever again, pony or otherwise. In many respects, this truly was life or death.

All of that, hanging by a thread from a few buttons on a keyboard.

Ok, I need to take this much more seriously. It’s not “WONDERBOLT”, but what else would Windspeed use as a password? It would have to be something that only he would use, something memorable to HIM specifically. “SPEED”? “FLYING”? “ENCLAVE”, maybe?

No, those are too generic. It would need to be something important to him, even if it wasn’t important to anypony else. Something he really values…

I paused for a moment as a weirdly touching thought entered my head.

“CANVAS”.

>> Passcode incorrect. 2 attempts remaining.

Fuck. I’m not sure why I expected that to be his password, but a part of me felt wounded that it wasn’t. Alright, words aren’t doing it… I’ve gotta think this through harder. Let’s see… maybe I’m looking at this wrong. It’s an Enclave disk, maybe the passcode is something THEY set up, not Windspeed specifically. It could just be a random number, couldn’t it? But what?

Maybe it’s a date? Some important date in Wonderbolt history, perhaps? It was a longshot, but I typed it in anyways. I had to try something, and I didn’t have any leads to go off of.

Maybe it’s the date they were founded? I’ll try that… “120894”.

>> Passcode incorrect. !!! Warning: Lockout imminent !!! 1 attempt remaining.

I could feel sweat starting to pool on my brow. I was so close now, I had made it so far. Everything was leading up to this moment. I had to get into this holodisk. There wasn’t another option. I only had once chance left, I couldn’t afford to fuck it up.

My hooves trembled as I held them over the top of the keyboard. I tried to think of other things that could be the password, numbers, words, anything. But each time I typed one in, I deleted it immediately. What if I was wrong? This was my last chance, if I entered the wrong password, then that was it. Game over. I racked my brain, trying to narrow down every possibility. I tried to think over everything I knew about the Enclave, every single detail that could help me discern a password.

Finally, I narrowed it down to one word. The key ability of every member of the Wonderbolts, the move that Windspeed had trained for his entire life to be able to pull off.

“RAINBOOM”

I typed the password in, hesitating as I looked at the “enter” key.

If… if I’m wrong, then… n-no, no, I can’t think like that. I have to be right. It’s simple, I just press the enter key, and then I’ll be in… right? B-but then again, if it’s not right, then I’m done for. I’m as good as dead.

I… I should back out. Make absolutely sure I’ve got the right password. I started to pull my hooves away, already going over all my-

“Feathers! What’s taking you so long?”

I jolted upright in my seat, my hooves slamming down on the keyboard as I reacted to Temper.

Slamming right down on the enter key.

>> Passcode incorrect. 0 attempts remaining.

“No!” I screamed out at the Terminal, desperately pressing buttons on the keyboard in an attempt to undo my last action. “No, no no no no! Please, no! Don’t-”

>>Lockout Sequence Activated. Please wait 24 hours or reinsert holodisk into a separate Terminal to try again.

I froze. I stared at the words on the screen, my mind completely and utterly numb. I knew that things were still happening around me. I could tell that the holodisk was being automatically ejected from the Terminal. I knew that Temper was yelling at me from out in the hall. But none of it mattered. My mind locked on the Terminal, the holodisk’s words already blinking away.

I lost.

I felt tears well up in my eyes, blurring my vision as I looked at the Terminal. I blinked a few times, unsuccessfully trying to clear them out. I could feel them, continuing to pool around my eyes. When they couldn’t pool any more, I felt them start to streak down my face. I didn’t even bother to stop them or wipe them away. I had wasted my time. I had wasted every second I had been down here on the wasteland floor. Every word I had said to Temper, every bullet I had fired from my gun, every life I had reluctantly taken… all of it had hinged on this, on finding a terminal, getting into the holodisk, trying to find something, just one little thing that could help me.

And I had failed.

I cried. I couldn’t afford to wait a whole day to try again. Temper would have dragged me out of the Stable by that point, and I doubted I’d live long enough to see another. And finding another working Terminal? It had taken me days just to find this one. Who knew how long it’d be before I found another?

That was it. I was stuck here, forever trapped in the Wasteland. I’d never go home again, never feel the soft clouds under my hooves again, never see my mom again… oh God, I might never have a chance to paint again!

An image flashed to my mind. A familiar turquoise pegasus, snickering as he jabbed a hoof at me playfully.

I’ll never see Windspeed again.

I felt my chest tighten up. My only friend in the world… the pony I’d known longer than practically anypony else… he was gone. In that moment, I realized how much I missed him. Even with how little we saw each other nowadays, we still did go and see each other when we could. We’d talk about what was going on, laugh about stupid things. Even when we couldn’t see each other, we’d still send each other letters, just talking about life. I realized that I’d never get another letter from him, never see his smiling face again, never hear his laugh again…

I broke down, my loud sobs filling the room. I didn’t care if Temper saw me. I didn’t care if I got beaten. I didn’t even care if I got killed. I almost wanted to be killed, right then and there. Just have something put me out of my misery. I had made it through poisoned air, radiation, bloatsprites and a homicidal maniac to get back home, to be able to see my old life and my only friend once again. And it was all useless.

I-I’m… I’m stuck here… forever...

I placed my hooves on top of the keyboard, folding them together as I accepted defeat. I buried my head in my hooves, trying my best to hide my sobs as-

*Kssh* “hhoooELLO!”

My ears perked up, disturbed by the strange voice. I glanced up at the Terminal, one of the functions flashing on the screen. I must have pressed something by accident. In spite of everything, I still felt my head lift up, trying to locate the source of the noise. I found it in the form of a speaker mounted to the side of the unknown machine in the middle of the room.

“Welcome to the Automated PipBuck Repair Station!” The voice continued with a soothing, feminine tone. “Here for all your PipBuck needs!”

Just another remnant of the past. I lowered my head back to the table, barely even listening as the machine started talking about scientific who-really-cares.

“Please wait while we scan your PipBuck for necessary repairs! Scanning…”

A node on the machine suddenly illuminated, bathing me in an eerie blue light as I sat at the table. I turned, trying to move away from the light, only for the light to follow my movements.

“Um… n-no, no thanks. I don’t need any-”

“ERROR. ERROR.” I jumped slightly, the soothing voice suddenly being replaced with harsh, robotic tones. “SUBJECT DOES NOT HAVE A PIPBUCK.”

“Uh, yeah...” Slowly, I started getting up from the chair, the machine’s light following me with every little movement. “Don’t really need repairs if I don’t have a pip-thingy.”

“Hey!” Temper’s voice came in from the hall. “Who the fuck are you talking to in there?”

“PIPBUCKS ARE REQUIRED FOR ALL STABLE RESIDENTS WHO HAVE THEIR CUTIE MARKS.” The robotic voice spoke, ignoring my denial. “YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF THE OFFICIAL STABLE RULES.”

“Look, voice thing?” I spoke up. “I’m sure you’re just doing your job, but this isn’t a good time. Please, could you just leave me alone for-”

“INITIATING AUTOMATIC PIPBUCK APPLICATION.”

…wait, what?

Without warning, the chair tilted back, knocking me into the seat as the armrests latched onto my hooves. I snapped out of my stupor, panicking and pulling against the restraints as much as I could. Unfortunately, it was no good. They were simply too strong for me.

“Hey! L-let go of me!!”

“ERROR: SUBJECT IS RESISTING. TIGHTENING GRIP. ALL STABLE RESIDENTS MUST WEAR A PIPBUCK.” The robotic voice suddenly shifted, its tone switching back to the soothing voice recording. “Please, sit back and relax while your PipBuck is automatically attached!”

“T-Temper!!” I started screaming as the chair started moving towards the mechanical arch. “TEMPER, HELP!!!”

“What the fuck’s going on in there, you…” Temper’s jaw dropped as she entered the room, watching as the chair dragged me around. Slowly, she started to back away, stepping out into the hall as carefully as she could.

“TEMPER!!” I started to hyperventilate, screaming incoherently as the chair situated itself under the machine. Slowly, the arch’s robotic arms began to spring to life, bending away from the arch and towards my left hoof. My mind filled with images of my leg getting mutilated as the claws continued to poke and prod at me with their little metal pinchers. For a moment, the claws retreated, leaving me to strain against the robotic menace, only to return a moment later carrying strangely shaped pieces of metal.

“Please remain calm while your PipBuck is applied. This process has been proven to be safe and painless with 93.6% of tested subjects! Please speak to your Stable’s doctor if you experience swelling, throbbing, nausea, cancerous lumps, or momentary psychotic episodes.”

I felt a sharp stinging sensation as the claws clamped the metal around my hoof, followed by the sounds of mechanical whirring and sparking electronics. I braced myself against the chair, closing my eyes as I prepared for one final push.

Ok, on three… one… two… thr-

“Application complete. Thank you for choosing the Stable-Tec Automated PipBuck Repair Station!”

Instantaneously, the restraints released, causing me to fall forwards mid-tug, collapsing painfully onto the ground in front of me. I groaned, picking myself up as I looked down at my leg, finally seeing just what all that insanity was about.

Clamped onto my leg was a device I’d only seen a few times before – a PipBuck. It was sort of like a terminal, only the screen was shrunk down to about the size of a postcard. It was designed to be attached to a pony’s leg, with all sorts of strange dials and buttons along the sides of the screen for ease of use. At first there wasn’t anything on the screen, just an empty black background. No prompts, no commands, nothing. Hesitantly, I reached out and poked one of the buttons with my hoof.

In an instant, the PipBuck screen flickered to life, and my vision was suddenly invaded by strange symbols and measuring gauges.

And no, I don’t mean on the screen. I mean on the edges of my actual fucking vision, regardless of where I was looking, there were symbols and meters of various shapes and sizes feeding me all sorts of strange information.

Naturally, I started screaming.

WHAM!

“Get a fucking hold of yourself, feathers!”

I gasped, my seemingly eternal scream finally done for the time being. I looked up at Temper, the strange symbols still present in the corners of my sight. I looked around, a slight nausea washing over me as the meters followed my gaze around the room, locked in place as though they were attached directly to my eyes.

“Finally!” Temper sighed. “About fuckin’ time you shut up. What the hell happened in here?”

I didn’t say anything, instead electing to hold up my newly Pip-Bucked leg. Temper gazed at the technological marvel, her eyes widening as a low whistle escaped from her lips.

“Well shit, feathers.” Temper said, lifting my hoof to get a better look. “You just find all the cool stuff, don’t you? Where was this? I hope you brought enough for the rest of the class…”

“Th-the arch thing… it put it on me.”

Temper paused, slowly turning around to look at the large mechanical arch. She looked like she was thinking about something, but I could still catch the faintest hint of discomfort on her face.

“I-I mean, if you really want one, I c-could probably-”

“Forget it.” Temper said rather suddenly, pulling me to my hooves as she trotted for the door. “I don’t want one badly enough to go through all that shit. Let’s just keep moving.”

I sighed, nodding as I followed the mare back out into the hall. With the insanity done, I tried to ignore the meters now floating in my face, my focus instead being drawn back to the Terminal situation.

I… I-I can still salvage this, right? Sure, my only reasonable hope for rescue is completely dead to me now, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely done for… r-right? I’ve just gotta think of something else, th-that’s all.

But what else was there? I still couldn’t fly, I was still saddled with Temper, and now I didn’t even have a means of getting a message back home. I closed my eyes, the PipBuck display blinking away, quickly being replaced by a view of my home. I could see every painting inside, almost as clearly as when I had first envisioned them, back when each one was nothing more than a white sheet on an easel.

Slowly, the image in my mind began to change. Dust started to cover the furniture. The colors slowly started to fade as unknown strangers came in and took my artwork away. I saw my mother walk through, a black veil covering her face. I could hear her soft weeps as she turned away, burying her face in her hooves, unable to look at the room any longer.

I wanted to say something to her. Even though it was just a figment of my imagination, I wanted to yell out to her, tell her that I wasn’t dead. I almost did. But before I could even open my mouth, I opened my eyes, the scene in my mind fading back to the dull, repeated grays of the Stable. As the PipBuck’s lights invaded my vision once more, I felt my ears droop, my whole body sagging ever so slightly as my walking slowed. Tears started to pool in my eyes, masking the world in an ugly, blurry filter.

“Hey, keep moving.” Temper spat, shoving me from behind. “We don’t have forever, feathers.”

I looked back at Temper, locking eyes with her for a moment before continuing forwards.

Sh-she’s right… I can’t waste time thinking like this. I… My thoughts stopped as I let out a cough. I have to at least make it out of this Stable. I can gather my thoughts once I’m safe… well, SAFER. There’s… I have to stay strong, for now. I’ll make it through this alright. I-I know I will.

I didn’t believe it for a second. Every instinct in my body wanted to just sit there and let the radiation slowly kill me. Maybe I’d turn into a ghoul, still alive, but free from-

“PLEASE, MY SUBJECTS!!”

I jolted upright, my ears turning up towards yet another speaker high up on the walls. Temper wasted no time in pointing her gun directly at the speaker.

“I UNDERSTAND YOU ARE FRUSTRATED,” the voice screamed. “BUT I WISH ONLY FOR PEACEFUL RELATIONS BETWEEN US!!”

I heard a small clicking noise come from Temper’s gun as she swore, reaching for a new clip of ammo.

“TO ASSIST IN THIS, I HAVE SENT DOWN MY MOST TRUSTED DELEGATES TO SPEAK WITH YOU PERSONALLY. I SINCERELY HOPE THAT YOU WILL GIVE THEM A CHANCE, FOR THEY MAY SUCCEED WHERE I HAVE FAILED. ONLY THROUGH PEACEFUL DIMPLOMACY MAY WE BE LED TO UNITY, SO LET THEIR WORK STAND NOW AS A SHINING EXAMPLE OF MY KINGDOM’S PROSPERITY!!”

“Grrraaaauuuuug…”

I froze.

“OH, WONDERFUL!!” the voice cheered on. “IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY’VE ARRIVED!!”

BANG BANG!!

I didn’t bother to look back. I didn’t know how many were chasing us, and I didn’t care. I just ran, Temper right behind me as she fired wildly at the approaching monsters. I flinched, hearing something crashing into the ground behind me – probably a unicorn throwing some unseen object.

As I raced down the hall, I spotted an open door off to the side. At first I ignored it, galloping straight past to keep up my running speed-

“Heech!”

At least until another ghoul came into view from the hall ahead of me. I skidded to a stop, turning as fast as I could to get into the open doorway.

“Temper! Right!”

BANG!!

As Temper banked for the doorway, she fired a shot at the new ghoul, a shot which sadly ricocheted harmlessly off of the stable wall. The ghouls started moving in closer, rapidly approaching the door. As quick as I could, I rushed over to the door control panel, mashing the buttons as fast as I could. Just as the ghouls reached the door, it slammed shut, sealing them outside.

I took a second to survey the room, a large cafeteria of some sort with all the tables and chairs mounted directly to the floor. I could see a counter that lead to a kitchen area off to the right, as well as some high counters off to the left. As I looked across the room, I spotted another door leading out into the hallways.

Which was good, because there were three more ghouls in the cafeteria.

The ghouls outside started pounding on the door, causing me to jump as the ghouls in the cafeteria noticed us. I started to reach for the Artisan, but before my hoof even touched the gun, nightmarish images jumped to my mind. I shook my head, instead simply pointing across the room. Temper glanced at the door, nodding and immediately charging for it.

BANG BANG!!

…after firing a few shots at the ghouls, of course.

If the creatures hadn’t noticed us before, they certainly did now. In an instant, they started to shamble towards us, one going for a straight charge while the other two – both of whom were unicorns – decided to hurl whatever they could grab at us instead. I yelped, narrowly avoiding one of the projectiles as I swerved around it.

“Fuckin’ unicorns!” Temper shouted, spinning around in mid-run. “Check the door, feathers!”

BANG!! *click* *click*

Temper swore, pulling out a new clip of bullets as fast as she could. The one shot she did get off passed straight through the one non-unicorn ghoul in the room. She must have gotten some kind of lucky hit though, because that one bullet somehow popped the ghoul’s head clean off, sending the monster toppling to the floor.

“PLEASE REFRAIN FROM DECAPITATING MY SUBJECTS.”

“Shut up!” Temper shouted at the air. “What are you gonna do about it anyways?!?”

Almost immediately, the door we had come through shot open, releasing all the ghouls from the hall into the cafeteria. As I rushed to get to the door, I heard Temper shout in pain, followed by a crashing sound as something hit the floor. I didn’t bother to look back – I was more focused on the tables being thrown at me. With one final leap, I made it the door, frantically pressing buttons to try and open it.

BANG BANG BANG!!

I turned my head back in time to see Temper waste one of the ghouls, slowly starting to back up towards me as she fired.

“Feathers, how’s that door looking?” Temper yelled back, a hint of worry betraying her normally vicious tone.

As if on cue, I heard the door slide open behind me. I whipped my head around, ready to make my escape-

“Grraaauuuugg…”

OH COME ON!!

“T-Temper?” I stammered, coughing as I backed away from the door. “I-I don’t think this way’s any good!”

“What do-” Temper turned back to face me, stopping mid-sentence once she saw the additional ghouls. “Oh, for fuck’s... how many of these things are there?!?”

“I HAVE MANY SUBJECTS IN MY KINGDOM.”

“There’s too many!” I called out, flinching back as another table flew past me. “Get to the kitchen!”

As the creatures continued to move in closer, Temper hesitated, clearly wanting to stand and fight more than she wanted to flee. With an irritated shout, she rushed alongside me, holstering her pistol as the two of us followed the walls towards the back of the room. The zombies continued their pursuit, slowly starting to close in on us as we made our way to the kitchen door.

*CRASH*

As we ran, one of the unicorns grabbed a jukebox out of the corner of the room, flinging it at Temper with blinding speed. Temper ducked down, sliding along the ground just as the box sailed over her, her only casualty being a small tuft of hair. The jukebox smashed into pieces as it hit the wall to my side, showering me in painful metal debris.

As I tried to shrug off the pain, I finally reached the kitchen counters. I jumped around behind them, quickly making my way towards the kitchen door. Temper, on the other hoof, pulled out her pistol again, standing behind the counter for cover as she opened fire on the ghouls. For a brief moment, I thought she’d be able to fight them off.

Then I remembered how many ghouls there were.

I didn’t even bother waiting for Temper. I mashed my hooves against the door control panel, opening the door as quickly as I could. The second the door slid open, I charged through, looking around to make sure that the coast was clear. It was cluttered with appliances of all sorts, but thankfully there weren’t any ghouls. I turned back to-

“LOCK DOWN THE KITCHEN!!”

What?!?

Faster than I could react, the door in front of me slammed shut, leaving a very confused and enraged Temper on the other side of it. I heard her start shouting expletives as I frantically tried to open the door. But this time, the door refused my commands, stubbornly remaining closed as Temper shouted at me.

“What the fuck, feathers?!?”

“Th-that wasn’t me!!” I tried to look at Temper, but there weren’t any windows on the door. “I-it just shut by its-”

“OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR OR I’LL-”

All of a sudden, Temper’s voice cut off. Over the next few seconds, more sounds started to die down, until the cafeteria finally went completely silent.

“Temper?” I coughed, practically choking on my own voice at this point. “T-Temper, what’s going on?”

The room remained silent. No talking, no fighting, not even the growling of ghouls or the tapping of hooves on the metal floor. The only sound I could hear was my own coughing. After a long time, I heard a door opening, and a slow trotting sound came from the cafeteria, accompanied by a soft green glow sneaking through the edges of the kitchen door.

“AH… ALONE AT LAST…”

The voice hadn’t come through the speakers.

I started banging my hooves against the door, trying to draw attention to myself in the hopes that I would be let out.

“IT’S SO MUCH EASIER TO TALK TO PONIES ONE ON ONE, WOULDN'T YOU AGREE?” the voice shouted. “FRIENDS, KINDLY ESCORT THE PURPLE ONE TO THE THRONE ROOM.”

At first nothing happened. After a moment, I heard a gravelly sigh, followed by a soft whistling I’d never heard before. All of a sudden, I heard a distinct shuffling of hooves, slowly fading away with every second.

“AND DON’T WORRY, YOUNG PEGASUS.” I froze as “Celestia” addressed me through the door. “I’LL SEND DOWN SOMEPONY TO RETREIVE YOU IN A MOMENT.”

“W-wait! Please, let me out!” my cries were ignored, as I heard “Celestia’s” hoofsteps moving farther and farther away. “P-PLEASE!! DON’T LEAVE ME HERE!!”

Through the cracks in the door, I saw the green light start to dim, growing fainter and fainter. Finally, after a gruelingly long time, the light blinked out. I tried to listen for something, but all I heard was my own coughs. I felt my pupils shrink. For the first time in many, many days, there were no monsters. No other ponies. Not even Temper.

I was alone.

Author's Notes:

Level Up

New Perk: Rad Resistance – You are better able to avoid radiation, and the bad effects radiation causes. With this perk, your Radiation Resistance improves by 25%.

Quest Perk Added: Buck Up – Thank you for choosing Stable-Tec! You may now use PipBuck related actions, including SATS, EFS, mapping, inventory management, and more!