“Take that, zebra scum!”

The turquoise colt dodged to the side, firing his toy blaster at the imaginary forces, currently represented by a sole yellow pegasus. In an instant, the “evil zebra” went down, collapsing in a heap on the ground.

“N… noo!!” Canvas yelled, his voice slowly fading away as he fell in defeat. A moment later, he let out a final breath and rolled over, dead. He then very quickly became not dead, jumping to his hooves and brushing himself off. “Windspeed, why do I always have to be the bad guy?”

“Because I’m the Commander of the Enclave!” Windspeed proclaimed, his lips turning up in a smile as he puffed out his chest. “The Commander of the Enclave can’t be the bad guy!”

“W-well yeah, but…” Canvas said, trying to find the right words. “Couldn’t you, y’know… NOT be the Enclave? Just once?”

Windspeed looked at Canvas as though he had just kicked a baby.

“How could I NOT be the Enclave?!?” the turquoise colt asked, rushing forwards to get in Canvas’ face. “They’re the coolest of the cool! The strongest of the strong! They’re the best ponies ever!”

Canvas shrunk back, bringing his wings in front of him to shield himself from his friend’s enthusiasm.

“And someday…” Windspeed smiled, looking up at the sky. “Someday, I’m gonna be one of them! I can see it now… Captain Windspeed! Or General! Ooh! Maybe I’ll even be a Wonderbolt!”

“I, uh…” Canvas let out a nervous cough, tilting his head to the side as he looked at his friend. “I thought soldiers had to work really hard to be Wonderbolts?”

“Yeah, if you’re most ponies.” Windspeed replied, a sly grin donning his face. “But when I join, I bet they’ll be so impressed by my skills that they’ll promote me on the spot!”

Canvas rolled his eyes.

“I can’t wait to grow up.” Windspeed sighed, “When I do, I’ll be the best soldier the Enclave has ever seen!”

“I dunno if you’ll be the BEST, Windspeed.” Canvas teased. “But I’m sure you’ll be great, whatever you do.”

“Well, what about you?” Windspeed asked, turning his attention back to his friend. “What do you wanna do when you grow up?”

“M-me?” The yellow colt stammered. “I-I don’t know, Windspeed. I don’t even have my Cutie Mark yet, how should I know what I’ll do when I’m grown up?”

“Well, what do you WANT to do?”

“I… I-I dunno.”

“Really?” Windspeed raised his eyebrow, scrutinizing his friend. “You can’t think of ANYTHING you want to do? Out of like, a bajillion things you could do? You can’t think of anything?”

“I, uh… yes?”

“Ugh,” Windspeed facehoofed, letting out a groan, “There must be SOMETHING you like doing! You like playing, right?”

“Well, sure,” Canvas muttered, “Of course I like playing. But to do that forever? That’s a lot of playing. When would I paint? When would I sleep? When would I-”

“Jeeze, Canvas, you think too much.” Windspeed said, rolling his eyes. “This isn’t that hard, just pick whatever you like most!”

“Well… I-I like painting, but-”

“There! Then it’s settled!” Windspeed proclaimed with a grin. “You’ll be the greatest painter the world’s ever seen, and I’ll be the best soldier in the whole Enclave! I can do cool things, and you can paint cool pictures of my battles!”

Canvas rolled his eyes, but still couldn’t keep a smile from gracing his lips.

“Whatever you say, Windspeed.” Canvas said, starting to stand up. “I need to go soon, my mom wanted me home by six. By the way, I call being the Enclave next time.”

“No problem,” Windspeed said. “See you… hey, wait a minute!”

“Too late, I called it!” Canvas yelled over his shoulder, darting off down the street as quickly as his legs could carry him. “Later, Windspeed!”

“I, but, wha… DANG IT, CANVAS!!”

Alone.

I sat there, locked in the Stable’s kitchen, that one word echoing through my mind with every passing second. Alone. No Temper. No ghouls. No radroaches. No crazy immortal ponies. Just me, sealed in an underground metal box, waiting for death’s embrace.

My eyes darted around the room, my coughing slowly beginning to etch away at the silence within. I tried to see if there was a way out, some exit I hadn’t noticed. But there wasn’t. There were only three doors in the room, and I’d already tried each of them earlier. All locked.

This is it. I’m finally gonna die, cold and alone in an underground kitchen. I coughed a few times, flinching as I saw droplets of blood come out with each cough. Radiation… I guess this is the poisoned air I’d been warned about. I always imagined it would be a much quicker death than this.

I closed my eyes, trying to conjure up a happy image – something nice to remember in my final moments. I started to think about my family, the last time all four of us had been together. It must have been ages ago, but I could still make out every detail – Sky’s vibrant mane, my mom’s graceful movements… even my dad seemed to have lost his usual edge, smiling and laughing heartily. I felt a few tears roll down my cheek as I remembered it. What was it we had been celebrating, again? I want to say it was Sky’s birthday, but I know that’s not right…

My eyes opened, the happy image blinking away as I felt my stomach begin to churn. Oh yay. Vomit. Another reminder that my death was inevitable, and that it would be slow and painful.

And alone.

God, if only there were somepony here with me… Windspeed would know what to do. He’d bust down the wall, crack jokes as he helped me get back home. Or even Temper… I pictured her in the room with me, a steady stream of “fucks” flowing from her mouth as she tried to get out. I just wanted somepony there with me, anypony to suffer with. Tartarus, I’d have settled for a mindless ghoul. At least it would have killed me quickly, and I’d have somepony to talk to until it did.

But no. As I sat on the verge of death, I was completely isolated, unable to escape, and waiting for a deranged pseudo-princess to decide she wanted me retrieved. Assuming I even survived long enough to-

*BLEEAUUGH*

Theeere it is. I paused in my self-pity, wiping bits of vomit from my mouth. I could have taken a Rad-Away if I wanted – I did have four bags of it on me, and now there wasn’t anyone to tell me not to – but that would have just been delaying the inevitable. As it stood, it seemed much easier to sit there, staring at the vomit as I waited for death or capture. Just staring at the orange, slimy puddle, the scent slowly wafting-

I gagged, quickly turning my head from the puddle to keep from throwing up again. Dying or no, vomit is still pretty disgusting. As I looked away, my vision passed over a kitchen stove, and I paused for a moment. Not so much because of the stove, mind you. My attention was drawn more by the object lying on top of it. I got up, slowly making my way to the stove as I looked at the object. It looked like a large thin grate of some kind. I hadn’t noticed it before, simply assuming it was some kind of cooking implement, like a cast-iron griddle, or something. But looking at it now, I realized that couldn’t have been the case. It was too big, plus there was a dent in the stove, the same size and shape as the grate itself. It must have fallen then, but… I tilted my head back, looking up at the ceiling to find the grate’s origin.

There was a hole in the ceiling.

I stared at the hole for a few moments. I hadn’t noticed it when I had been looking for escape earlier – the sides of the hole were masked by some random piping, hiding it from anypony who wasn’t standing directly in front of the stove. It must have been ventilation of some kind, though I wondered what it was doing directly over the stove. Maybe it was supposed to get rid of the smoke if something burned? That seemed overly complicated, but it was the only thing that made any sense to me.

Wait a minute… if that’s a vent, then…

I hardly even hesitated, pausing only for a quick sip of Rad-Away. In an instant, I was on top of the stove, jumping for the hole. The ceiling was a little hard to reach, but even my terrible jumping was up to the task. I climbed inside, but just as I pulled my hind legs through, I heard a sliding sound, one of the kitchen doors suddenly opening. A green glow filled the room, along with a low growl, as one of the floating PipBuck symbols lit up with two lights, one red, one green.

“ALRIGHT, MR. PEGASUS, WE’RE HE…”

Celestia’s voice trailed off, the ghoul’s hissing becoming more prominent as it walked through the room. I didn’t bother waiting for the mare to start talking again. As quietly as possible, I slipped through the air vents, a small feeling of hope finally starting to return to me.

Maybe I still had a chance.

*CLANG*

I flinched, worried that Celestia would hear the falling grate from wherever she was. Fortunately, as I waited in the vent, I didn’t hear any sign of the mare. I let out a sigh, sipping down some more Rad-Away before dropping down from the vents into a new room. At least, I think it was a new room. It looked just like the bedrooms I had looted through earlier, but it couldn’t have been – I had left all the drawers open, just to make sure I didn’t go over the same one twice. But all the drawers here were closed, so-

I smacked my head with a hoof. The locked room! After everything that had happened in the Stable, I’d completely forgotten about it. This must have been that one room I couldn’t get into. For a brief moment, my mood dropped – if this room was locked too, then I was right back where I started.

Although… maybe not! I trotted to the door, looking at the opening mechanism. Sure enough, I located a switch on the underside of it, currently labeled “Locked.” I smiled, quickly flipping the switch and testing the door, which obediently slid open, eliciting a sigh of relief from me. Slowly, I started to go through the door, glancing back into the room for-

My heart skipped a beat. There, sitting on a table along the back wall, was another Terminal.

I backpedaled, closing the door as I rushed to the machine, carefully looking it over for any signs of damage. To my amazement, it was completely untouched (I guess the locked door kept anyone from coming in to destroy it). I felt my heart start to race. Here, hoofed to me on a silver platter, was a second chance at freedom, mere moments after I had screwed up my first. A wide grin started to form on my face, and I was barely able to stop myself from jumping and screaming for joy.

Ok… ok, keep it together Canvas. I’ve got this. I calmed myself down, taking in a deep breath and letting it out. I can do this. I powered the machine on, quickly reaching into my saddlebags to find the holodisk. I won’t screw this up. I have to be more careful this… time… or… huh?

My brows furrowed in confusion as I turned to look into my saddlebags. For some reason, I couldn’t find the holodisk. I started pushing objects around, maybe I had just missed a spot? I searched again, but still no holodisk. I felt my motions become a bit more erratic as I frantically looked through the bags, again and again. The disk had to be here, it had to! I had another chance at being saved, but I needed that disk to do it! I couldn’t have lost it! Where else would it even be, any…

Oh God damn it.

I left it in the Repair Station.

I wanted to slap myself. I had been so distracted by everything that happened that I had left the damn disk behind! Great. My epic second chance, practically gift wrapped and hoofed to me by God himself, all thrown down the drain. Stupid, stupid, stupid!!

Ok, calm down Canvas. I closed my eyes, attempting to steady my breathing as I thought things through. This isn’t a problem. Just… just go back to the Repair Station and get the disk. Simple, right?

“ATTENTION ALL CITIZENS!!” I jumped, banging my good wing against a shelf as the voice screamed through the speakers. “ONE OF OUR GUESTS HAS GOTTEN LOST WITHIN OUR GREAT UTOPIA!! PLEASE KEEP ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A YELLOW PEGASUS!! I HAVE SENT SOME HIGHLY TRAINED GUARDS OUT TO AID IN THE SEARCH, SO DON’T BE ALARMED!! ONCE MORE, BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A YELLOW PEGASUS!! THAT IS ALL, AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING!!”

…maybe not.

Before I turned away from the terminal, I took a look at the commands already on-screen. I doubted there would be anything useful, but you never know, right? Unfortunately, all the commands were just simple text files written by one miss Morning Dew, a name I recognized from Dr. Statistic’s journal. My better judgment told me not to, but I selected one of the first entries anyways, reading through the ancient words.

>>Day 8: Students were fighting

>I’ll need to schedule an appointment with Bobby Pin’s parents as soon as possible. Near the end of class, one of the students told me that Bobby was picking on Sandy. When I approached the two, they started fighting, and it got more out of hoof than I’d like. I don’t want to admit it, but… I had to use my crowd control spell. Oh, how I hate using that spell! It feels unethical to just invade a pony’s mind like that. But if it calms the students down, then… well, I suppose it was for the best.
>I went to see Dr. Statistic today. I was feeling a little under the weather, and I didn’t want my students getting sick because of me. Goodness, that would be quite backwards, wouldn’t it? The doctor told me I simply have a case of the flu, and that I should get some bed rest. Of course, there aren’t really any substitutes around here, so I‘ll have to find a way to teach anyways. Maybe I’ll just wear a mask to class?
>I’m quite worried about Sandy. She’s always done fine with her classes, but now, being down here, she doesn’t seem as interested in schoolwork anymore. I truly hope she cheers up. I hate seeing her so down in the dumps. I don’t like living in a metal box either, but compared to the alternative… well, this seems far better. Still, let’s hope for the best in the coming weeks.

All the other entries were fairly similar, each one dated and given a brief title, most of which were simple notes like “Feeling a little sick” or “Worried about Sandy’s grades.”

Most of them. A few of the later entries had no dates, the second to last had no title, and the last one simply read “survived”. With extreme hesitation, I opened the title-less file.

>> …

>I think I’m safe for now
>I hear them groaning and scratching, outside the room
>How did this happen? First my daughter, and then the attack…
>They didn’t even have time to move the doctor’s body, the things showed up too quickly!
>I don’t want to die
>Everypony else is gone. I’ve tried finding them on my PipBuck, but their signals are all dead. Satin, Crystal Quartz, my students… all of them, torn apart by those things…
>I have to stay strong. The Overmare will fix this. She’ll contact Stable-Tec, and they’ll send somepony to come clear out the poison
>I just have to hold out for a little bit longer. This will all be over soon, just a distant memory.

I felt a shudder run down my spine. Slowly, I opened the last entry, a creeping sense of worry starting to crawl through my body.

>>survived

>it burns
>every day it burns
>but im still here
>the scratching stopped
>that was ages ago
>ive been chosen
>like a goddess
>its been so long
>but i made it
>the pain isnt too bad
>time to rebuild

For a little while, I didn’t move. I simply stared at the screen, letting the words burn into my mind. I turned, glancing up at the corner of the room, a single speaker sitting quietly on the ceiling.

I stood motionless for a few moments, staring at the speaker as the seconds ticked by. After a bit, I shook my head and moved for the door. I could feel bad for her later. Right now, I had a holodisk to find.

“Grrraaaauuuuugggg…”

I ducked down, hiding around a corner as the zombie roamed the hallway. After fumbling with the PipBuck for a few moments, I’d figured out how to use the map function, and the Repair Station wasn’t all that far away from the living quarters. Unfortunately, getting there was proving to be slow going, as I was forced to hide in every closet and corner that I could find before one of the ghouls noticed me. Celestia wasn’t kidding about her “guards” – whereas the Stable had been relatively empty before, it was absolutely crawling with ghouls now, a fact that was made even more evident by all the red bars moving across my vision (another PipBuck function I had pieced together, some kind of enemy locator). I had to stay hidden at all costs. I couldn't fight the ghouls off. Not just because of my issues with shooting them, either. Temper had all the bullets on her, and that left me with only four pistol rounds and a single shotgun shell. I wouldn’t stand a chance.

I stayed behind the corner, tracking the ghoul’s movements through the red indicator in my vision. After a few moments, the red light blinked out of existence. I think that means it’s gone. I glanced around the corner, confirming my suspicions and silently thanking my sister for the countless games of Hide and Seek we played as kids. I could see a door up ahead – the Repair Station, according to my PipBuck.

As quietly as I could, I snuck over to the door, slipping inside and shutting it behind me. I started to sigh in relief, only for the distinct growling of a ghoul to make me shut my mouth. In an instant, I was on the ground, ducking behind a table as I glanced at the enemy-locator-thingy. Two red lines. I guessed that the enemies were in the room – the PipBuck didn’t indicate enemy distance, but judging from how the lines moved, they couldn’t have been far. Out of curiosity, I poked my head up to see where-

God damn it. One of the ghouls was just sitting in front of the PipBuck Repair Station, it’s back turned to me as I watched it. I only barely managed to stifle a groan at the sight. Meanwhile, the ghoul continued to sit, facing the door as its body moved in the subtlest ways. I need to get that thing to move, but-

“Grraauug…”

I flinched, ducking back down as I tried to move away from the noise. Right, there’s a second ghoul. And judging from the red line, he wasn’t content just staying in one place. My whole body tensed up, and I felt my own movements become constricted and tight. I perked up my ears, trying to listen for the creature’s movements. I held my breath, watching the red line slowly move across the indic- OH FUCK HE’S RIGHT THERE

I scrambled around the corner of my cover, trying to get out of the zombie’s potential line of sight. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, just barely edging into view. I stole a glance at the first ghoul, a gasp escaping my lips as I realized that my new position gave me absolutely no cover from it. If the monster’s head so much as turned, I’d be caught.

A few beads of sweat began to trickle down my face, my heart pounding in my chest as I waited. One step to the left, I’d be seen. One step to the right, I’d be seen. One wrong move from the sitting ghoul, I’d be seen. I started to hyperventilate, every second that I was unable to move becoming an agonizing experience in and of itself. God damn it, move already!!

Finally, I heard a shuffling sound, and the ghoul retreated to some other part of the room, allowing me to slip back behind the table. I should have felt relieved, but instead I was just annoyed. I was right back where I started, the only difference being that now I was scared shitless.

This is getting me nowhere. I started to steady myself, bringing my breathing back to normal rates as I kept my eyes on the moving red line. I peeked around the corner, watching as the ghoul turned and examined one of the tables in the middle of the room. I glanced past the ghoul, spotting a work bench on the wall opposite me. Perfect cover from the sitting ghoul. I took another look at the roaming ghoul. Whatever it was looking at, it must not have been that interesting, because only a few seconds later the beast turned away, hissing and shambling around to the back of the table. I kept my eyes on the monster, carefully making my way across the room-

THUD

-and walking straight into the wall.

“Grrau?”

I dropped to the floor, ducking below the work bench just as the sitting ghoul turned towards me. My eyes shrunk to pinpricks as I stared, looking at its hooves through the table legs. The ghoul stared back, looking just above me with its soul piercing eyes. I started to sweat, praying that the work bench was actually giving me the cover I needed. After a painfully long few seconds, the monster turned its head away, returning its focus to the wall in front of it.

I started to sigh, but I suddenly noticed the roaming ghoul starting to make its way over to my side of the room again. My heart pounded in my chest, kicking my brain into overdrive as I formulated a plan. As the ghoul grew closer, I reached into my saddlebags, grabbing the first thing I could find. My hoof returned with a couple healing potions, and with a quick toss, I launched them to the other side of the room. I winced, hearing the bottles shatter, spilling their beautiful healing liquids all over the ground.

Fortunately, it had exactly the effect I had hoped for. In an instant, both the ghouls ran over to the source of the shattering sound, hissing and growling all the way. As soon as the coast was clear, I rushed into the PipBuck room. Quietly, of course.

I shut the door behind me, finally relinquishing a sigh of relief I had been holding in for I-don’t-know how long. I looked around the room, flinching as my eyes passed over the PipBuck machine. I shuddered, slowly glancing back down at my PipBuck.

“…huh. My PipBuck.” The words felt strange as I said them. It was weird, to think of it as being mine, instead of just a device mounted to my leg. But it really was mine now, wasn’t it? I didn’t know how to get it off, and I doubted anypony really did… I suppose that made it a part of me, didn’t it?

I shook my head. I can worry about that later. I looked past the chair, my vision stopping as I saw my prize: The Holodisk, laying right on the table, just where I had… left…

Wait, what? I furrowed my brows as I glanced over at the Terminal. I never pulled the Enclave disk out of the machine, and either way, this disk was on an entirely different table. Carefully, I moved towards the Terminal, looking it over for… yeah, here it is! As I had thought, the Enclave holodisk was still wedged into the side of the Terminal, the familiar “O.D.” facing me as it waited to be pulled out. I grabbed the disk, stuffing it into my saddlebags as I turned back towards the other table.

So then what are you? I picked up the second disk, turning it over in my hooves as I looked for an indication of its contents. The only word adorning the cover was “Rant,” giving me a pretty good idea of what was on it. As I continued, examining it, I realized that it wasn’t a holodisk, but rather a holotape – an easy mistake to make, since they both look so similar.

I took another quick look at my PipBuck, absentmindedly wondering if it had a way to play the tape. Surprisingly, it did – just along the top, I was able to spot a long, holotape-shaped hole. As I inserted the tape, I was startled by a new vision-invading indicator, one which only briefly flashed the words “Note added: Rant” in the upper left of my peripheral vision.

Note? I think I saw a note menu somewhere on this thing. I looked back down at my PipBuck, pulling the tape out and stuffing it in my saddlebags. Sure enough, off to the side of the map, there was a tab labeled “notes.” With my curiosity piqued, I navigated to the menu, selecting the “Rant” tape and-

“I don’t know why that asshole keeps bothering me about this shit!”

I jumped, squealing like a little filly as I was startled by the sudden voice. My eyes darted around, trying to find the mystery speaker, but the room was completely empty, save for myself. It took me a lot longer than I’d like to admit to realize that the raspy voice was coming from the recording, and by that point the stallion was flinging out so many swears that he honestly gave Temper a run for her money. I briefly wondered how I was hearing the tape, since the PipBuck didn’t have any speakers, before eventually deciding to chalk it up to some magical so-and-so. I started to pay attention, listening to the rest of the pony’s rant.

“…fuck’s sake, I’ve looked through this damn stable from top to bottom, front to back, at least five times now, there’s no fucking radiation leak! It’s not my fault his damn patients are getting sick. He’s the Celestia-damned doctor, maybe he should, I don’t know, DO MORE FUCKING HEALING and stop blaming the fucking maintenance pony! I swear on the Goddesses, if he comes to me ONE more fucking time, I’m gonna lose it. Damn medical types.”

I paused as the recording ended, my mind starting to turn over the information I’d just received. I’m going to guess that was the maintenance pony… Ball-peen, right? I frowned, a cough escaping my lips as turned for the door, ready to make my way back to Morning Dew’s room (after I made sure I had the Enclave disk, of course). I peeked back into the main room of the Repair Station, and to my relief the ghouls had left, leaving me with a nice empty room to move through. As I started to sneak my way back to Morning’s Terminal, I started to think more and more about the Stable. I didn’t like it. Something was up, and a part of me kept wondering just what had happened.

But then again, a part of me was afraid that I’d find out.

Well… here we are again…

I stared at Morning’s Terminal, the door shut and locked behind me as I held the holodisk in my hooves. This was my second chance, and probably my only other chance. If I messed up again… no. I couldn’t mess up again. Once I put the holodisk into the Terminal, it was password or bust.

But I hesitated. What was to stop this from going the same way it did before? I had no more information on the Enclave than I did the first time I tried, why should I expect anything different to happen? I let out a frustrated sigh. My odds were no better, and if I couldn’t figure it out this time, then that really was it.

…fuck it, I have to try.

I shoved the holodisk into the Terminal, watching as the commands were once again replaced with those of the disk. I selected the second command, my heart pounding in my chest as I hit the Enter key.

>> Enter Authorization Passcode 1

I took a deep breath. Four more tries. I can knock out the ones I tried before, not that it narrows down the pool much. God, if only I could get some kind of feedback on my guesses, that would make this so much easier.

I started to think back, recalling as much as I could about the Enclave. I really should have remembered more, considering both my family AND friends had strong ties to it, but I was drawing a blank.

Alright, let’s start simple… what are some of the things dad used to say? I think he mostly just went on scouting missions, didn’t he? Come to think of it, Windspeed talks about scouting a lot too, so maybe… “SCOUT”?

>> Passcode incorrect. 3 attempts remaining.

Fuck, that’s strike one. God, this could be anything, couldn’t it? It could be complete gibberish for all I know, how in Equestria am I supposed to figure this out?

Ugh, I need to think… is there anything they say a lot in the Enclave? Something… oh, maybe that enlistment commercial on the radio! They’re always playing that thing, there could be something there! What was the motto that guy always said? “We must always be ready,” I think? Although that would be a really long password… maybe the acronym then? “WMABR”?

…well, it’s better than nothing.

>> Passcode incorrect. 2 attempts remaining.

Strike two… augh, I can’t do this!

I backed out, ejecting the holodisk and pulling it from the machine. This was my only way back, I couldn’t risk getting the password wrong again. What if I screwed up and locked myself out of the Terminal again? What were the chances I’d get it right? 10%? 5? 1? How would I ever beat those odds?

Then again, if I didn’t try at all, the odds of success were a resounding 0%.

I have to take this chance. I pushed the holodisk back in, reopening the password command. I know I won’t get another one.

>> 2 attempts remaining.

Still just…? Damn, I was partially hoping that ejecting the disk would refill my tries… I guess not.

I need to retrace my thoughts. What’s something that might be valuable to the Enclave? Something they would consider important? I mean, they consider the safety of Pegasai important, I guess, but I somehow doubt that “PEGASAI” is the passcode. Maybe it’s more tangentially related then? But what else would they use to…

…“CLOUD”?

There was no way. It seemed way too obvious for that to be the password. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it started to make – it encompassed not only the thing that kept us safe from the wasteland, but it was a good means to describe the Equestrian Skies themselves. But it couldn’t be that easy… could it? Slowly, I entered the word, practically forcing myself watch the screen as I hit the enter key.

>> Passcode Correct. Accessing Data…

I felt my heart skip a beat as the words moved across the screen. I-I did it! Holy shit, I actually did it! I’m probably gonna get put on a watch list or something, but I don’t… Ok, I care immensely about that, but I still did it!

Moments later, the commands on the Terminal vanished, a new set appearing in their place.

> BIRD CAGE DEBRIEFING

> Enter Passcode 2

I… wait, Passcode 2? There’s more?!?

I swear to God, that debriefing better have something useful in it. I’m not going through all that shit again.

>> BIRD CAGE DEBRIEFING

> Operation Bird Cage was a complete success. At 0015, Falcon Squad arrived on the wasteland floor and prepared the ambush. At 0100, to avoid another Snare Trap incident, the primary comms channel was changed from 300.65 to 303.05. At 0347, the target entered the target area and Falcon Squad commenced with the ambush. After the skirmish, at 0355, several Magical Apparatus were obtained and stored for transport. At 0400, the mission was complete and Falcon Squad returned to the Everfree Outpost as per orders. With the Magical Apparatus obtained, we should be ready to begin Optic Delve as soon as you give the orders.

A grin plastered my face as I read over the words. I felt something start to well up inside of me, a feeling of warmth and energy unlike any other, just waiting to burst out. The kind of emotions most ponies only feel when they get their cutie mark. Finally, I had found what I was looking for: an Enclave Radio Frequency. A means to get home again. Now I just needed some way to send a message, but compared to getting this far? That should be a cakewalk.

With no way of writing the frequency down, I burned it into my mind, making sure I memorized every digit before I shut the Terminal off, ejecting the holodisk and putting it in my saddlebags. Just in case.

303.05. Get out of the Stable. 303.05. Find a radio. 303.05. Message the Enclave. 303.05.

Quickly and quietly, I started to sneak back to the entrance of Stable 6, stopping occasionally to hide from a ghoul or two. Every step of the way, repeating the number in my mind.

303.05. Gotta get to the exit. 303.0-

“MR. PEGASUS???”

I jumped, nearly fleeing from my current hiding spot as the voice seemed to fill the room around me.

“I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME, MY NEW SUBJECT.” She continued, “WHY DO YOU HIDE?? HAVE I DONE SOMETHING TO OFFEND YOU??”

You mean besides locking me in the kitchen to let the radiation kill me?

“PLEASE, ANSWER ME. I MEAN YOU NO HARM. I ONLY WISH FOR PEACEFUL-”

“I don’t care!” I shouted at the air, finally far enough from the ghouls that I could ignore stealth altogether. “I-I don’t want to be your subject! I want to go back home to my nice warm bed and forget that any of this ever happened!”

The voice of Celestia remained silent for a few moments.

“I AM SORRY YOU FEEL THAT WAY.” Celestia shouted. “I HAVE DONE EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO MAKE THIS A PERFECT WORLD, BUT… YOU HAVE DONE NO WRONG, SO I HAVE NO RIGHT TO HOLD YOU HERE AGAINST YOUR WILL.”

Didn’t stop you befo... wait there it is! I smiled, finally seeing the main Stable door, still rolled away like it had been when we got here. I started to run, a smile forming on my face as I imagined flying above the clouds again, painting pictures and-

“ALTHOUGH I MUST ADMIT THAT I’M SURPRISED YOU DON’T WANT TO COME SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR FRIEND FIRST.”

I came to an abrupt stop. My wha-

“Fuckin’ hell,” I heard a second voice come through the speaker, punctuated with so many coughs I could hardly understand her. “I already told you, I’m not his fuckin… ugh…”

“T-Temper?”

Her voice stopped, a distinct vomiting sound coming from the speaker in its place.

“YES,” the voice confirmed, “THE TWO OF US WERE HAVING A NICE DISCUSSION. UNFORTUNATELY, IT WOULD SEEM SHE HAS GOTTEN SICK, BUT WORRY NOT!! IT’S PROBABLY JUST A CASE OF THE FLU. NOTHING A LITTLE BED REST WON’T FIX.”

An image flashed to my mind. Dr. Statistic, rushing around trying to save ponies as they died around him.

“Wait! Sh-she’s not coming down with a cold, she’s irradiated! You need to-”

“OH, THAT’S JUST SILLY.” The voice laughed. “THIS PLACE WAS BUILT TO BE COMPLETELY RADIATION PROOF. FEAR NOT, SHE’LL BE PERFECTLY SAFE HERE IN MY UTOPIA!!”

No she… wait.

“You’re…” I let out a cough of my own. “You’re keeping her here?”

“MR. PEGASUS,” the voice spoke slowly, “DO YOU REALIZE JUST HOW MANY OF MY SUBJECTS SHE HAS SLAUGHTERED? I MAY WISH FOR HER TO JOIN US AS A VALUED MEMBER OF OUR SOCIETY, JUST AS I WISH FOR ALL PONIES TO JOIN ME IN MY UTOPIA. HOWEVER, THAT DOES NOT CHANGE THAT FACT THAT SHE HAS COMMITTED A VERY SERIOUS CRIME. I CANNOT ALLOW A CRIMINAL SUCH AS HERSELF TO GO FREE UNTIL SHE HAS BEEN PUNISHED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW.”

I stared forwards, an image of Temper locked up in a jail cell springing to mind.

“AND,” the voice continued, “EVEN IF SHE WERE NOT GUILTY OF MURDER, SHE IS STILL IN NO CONDITION TO GO ANYWHERE. I TRUST THAT YOU TOO CAN HEAR HER??”

On cue, Temper’s raspy coughs started to echo through the speakers.

“BUT FEAR NOT FOR YOUR FRIEND!!” Celestia said, her voice regaining its vigor as Temper groaned in the background, “ONCE SHE HAS SERVED HER SENTENCE AND GOTTEN OVER HER ILLNESS, SHE WILL BE FREE TO WALK AMONGST MY PONIES AS ONE OF MY LOYAL SUBJECTS, JUST AS YOU ARE NOW FREE TO LEAVE THIS PLACE BEHIND AND NEVER LOOK BACK ON IT AGAIN.”

“W-wait!” I stammered, “But-”

“NOW THEN, IF YOU WOULD BE SO KIND AS TO EXCUSE ME, I AM A BUSY PONY, AND I HAVE SOME IMPORTANT DIPLOMATIC ISSUES TO TAKE CARE OF!! GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK, MR. PEGASUS!!”

For a while, I stood there motionless, all kinds of thoughts swirling through my mind. The door was in front of me. Escape was in front of me. I had the radio frequency, I was away from Temper… I had everything I needed. I could see the muted daylight seeping into the cave, only a few more steps and I would be free.

And Temper would die.

I… No, no! I-I don’t care! Let her die! She’s a horrible, despicable pony, she’s done nothing but beat me and force me to kill, a-and…

My thoughts started to trail off, my imagination taking hold as I saw an image of Temper, retching and puking blood as she lay in a jail cell, unable to escape as she slowly died from the very air she breathed.

Well… well, good! She deserves to be in jail, she deserves every bad thing coming to her! I-I don’t care!

Another image. Temper’s corpse, her skin peeling off as it sat crumpled on the floor. Slowly, it started to stand, looking around with the same soulless eyes of the ghouls she had fought off.

Sh-she deserves that too! W-why should I care, anyways? She’s never done anything good for me, that-

A number of images flashed through my mind, this time not imagination, but memory. Temper saving me from the ghouls. Temper giving me leather armor. Temper fixing my leg. Temper tossing me a pack of Rad-Away as I sat vomiting on the floor. Every image, showing Temper helping me in some way that she really didn’t need to.

B-but… but she… no! I-I don’t care! I don’t!!

I paused, a final thought floating into my head.

Then why am I thinking about this so much?

I looked up at the Stable entrance again, peering out into the cold blues and greys of the cave. Slowly, I looked through my saddlebags.

3 more bags… if I ration it out right, I could get to her with at least a bag to spare. I glanced back up at the Stable door, and then down at my PipBuck. I know how to get back here if things go wrong. I have a good idea of where to start looking, too.

I blinked a few times, stunned by what I was implying.

I… I could actually save her. Slowly, I turned my head, looking into the dark and aging steel tunnels of the Stable. And if I don’t, who else will?

I closed my eyes, wondering if I had gone crazy, before turning and charging back inside.

Alright, daring escape… I guess first I’ll need to find out where Temper is… I can’t believe I’m doing this…

My mind flooded with hundreds of doubts as I made my way back through the Stable. This was suicide, pure and simple. I had only barely managed to escape from Temper once, and she hardly even locked me up, the more I thought about it. This was like a prison break. And yet, there I was, trudging through the empty halls, ducking into closets to avoid ghouls, all so that I could save the pony who had tormented me for days on end.

I must have been insane.

I-I should probably retrace my steps. The map says the kitchen is just ahead, which means the cafeteria is… here! I stopped, looking at the door to the cafeteria. I would have opened it if not for the amount of red lines I could see behind it. Clearly, the vast majority of the Stable’s ghouls were taking a lunch break.

I decided it was probably best not to disturb them.

Ok then… cafeteria’s out. Now what? I kept walking along the hall – now that there weren’t ghouls chasing me (or at least, not as many), I could see a lot more pathways that had been otherwise unavailable in the heat of the moment. For example, a hallway just past the cafeteria. I followed it down, and after hiding from the occasional “civilian,” I ended up at a door set in between two very large windows.

Windows showing a room filled with, of all things, trees.

I trotted up to the window, completely baffled as I looked through it. A bright light poured out through the windows, remnants of what I could only guess was an artificial sun. Like I said, the room itself was filled with trees, a farm of some kind if the sign above the door was to be believed. But the trees didn’t look normal. They didn’t look like the apple trees we had above the clouds, nor did they look like the spooky plants of the Everfree Forest. They weren’t even dead, like most of the trunks I had seen throughout the wasteland. They looked twisted and black, the trunks making strange spiraling patterns in the bark as they moved their way up towards the branches. The leaves were nonexistent, instead replaced by multitudes of shriveled, rotten apples, each one a strange reddish gray color. No matter which way I looked at them, the trees just felt… wrong.

I shuddered, continuing past the door in hopes of finding a different way to go. Unfortunately, all the other hallways were either collapsed or dead-ends, leaving me with only three options – the cafeteria, the farm, or back to the Stable door. For a brief moment, I considered going back to the Stable door. My brain then took a minute to flood my mind with images of Temper dying, reminding me why that wasn’t really an option. I didn’t like it, but between the cafeteria and the farm…

Well, those trees probably aren’t dangerous, right?

…who am I kidding? This is the Wasteland. EVERYTHING is dangerous.

I took a few deep breaths, before slamming a hoof on the door-opening mechanism. The steel barrier slid away, immediately exposing me to the smell of rotting wood and food, a smell that resulted in a lot of gagging on my part. I pulled away, taking a deep breath of fresh (well, fresher) air before entering the room.

It was eerie, walking through those trees. Every step I took, I thought something was going to shoot out at me, tree roots bursting out from the ground or branches reaching down and ripping me in two. But the trees remained motionless, rotting apples hanging down below them. Were they unable to move at all? Or simply waiting for the perfect moment to strike? I prayed that it wasn’t the latter.

“Heeech! Heech!”

My whole body jerked to attention, my eyes darting towards the source of the noise – a lone ghoul. For a moment, I thought I might be able to outrun him, or even take to the air and painfully fly past him. Then its horn flared to life, and I knew things wouldn’t be that easy. The ghoul hissed, grabbing hold of a steel barrel and launching it at me.

Well, not exactly at me. For some reason, the ghoul decided that it didn’t want to crush me while I was a sitting duck, instead hitting a tree to my left. In an instant, all the rotting apples fell from the tree, showering the ground with a spray of goo I only barely managed to hop away from.

And then the goo started sizzling.

I stared in bafflement for a moment, only to make a panicked jump back to avoid a second barrel, this one aimed straight at my head. As I did, I bumped into a tree, knocking one of the apples loose. The apple splattered on the ground beside me, a drop of it flinging up onto my wing and-

“AUGH!!” I brushed my wing against the tree as quickly as I could, trying to scrape the goo off. It had only been a tiny drop, but HOLY FUCK did it hurt. Even after I was finally rid of the offending splotch, I could still feel a burning pain where it had hit.

All of a sudden, it dawned on me that I was standing directly below hundreds of flaming time bombs, just waiting to be shaken loose.

And this ghoul was in just the right mood to shake them.

I turned, making a frenzied sprint for the opposite wall as the ghoul fired again, another tree becoming an acidic death trap as the barrel slammed into it. As I flung myself out of the way of the deadly splatter of apple mush, a few errant drops landed on my right saddlebag strap, quickly eating through the fabric. Instantaneously, the bag fell down, and I winced as all the healing potions I’d gathered spilled out, shattering on the ground. I turned in dismay, hoping I could salvage some of the bottles, but the ghoul was too close, hissing and picking up the barrel for another shot. I dove to the right, hoping to lose the monster in the rows of trees. Sadly, this resulted in me running straight into a wall. I pulled away, stumbling slightly as I staggered away from another barrel shot. The whole room seemed to shudder as the barrel slammed into the wall behind me.

I tried to keep moving, but before I knew it I was stuck in the corner of the room. I turned around, staring in abject horror as the ghoul grew ever closer. The creature’s horn flared to life, but this time it didn’t pick up the barrel. Slowly, the ghoul’s magic reached out, wrapping around nearly every tree in sight. I felt my eyes shrink, watching as hundreds of apples were simultaneously plucked from the trees. The apples floated around behind the monstrosity, and the ghoul hissed, preparing to launch them all. At me.

For a brief moment, I glanced down at my gun holster, a short debate going on in my head over whether or not to use it. Much to my own surprise, I grabbed the Artisan in my hoof, squeezing my eyes shut as a plethora of disturbing images came to mind.

“You did this…”

“Stop it!!” I screamed, trying to drown out my thoughts. “Get out of my head!!” I shoved the pistol’s grip into my mouth, snapping my eyes open as I took aim at the ghoul’s head. I felt tears begin to stream from my eyes. This was Rainston, all over again. My own death stared me in the face, and there was no Temper to save me. The sights of the gun shook, wavering in and out of alignment as the massive wave of apples started to move towards me. For just a moment, the ghoul transformed in my mind, replaced with a beautiful pegasus mare.

“Canvas,” the mare cooed. “You’re not a killer, are you? Come on, put down the gun, and we can go home. Ok?”

Time slowed to a grinding halt as I stared at her. I wanted to listen to her. I didn’t want to be a killer. I wasn’t a killer, was I? But then what about all the things I had killed? Where did that leave me? What was I?

“You’re right.” I admitted. “Mostly.”

The mare’s eyes shrunk, her ears folding back as I pointed the sights at her head.

“I’m not a killer,” I said, steadying my aim. “I’m a survivor.”

BANG BANG!!

The ghoul froze, the illusion dissipating as the first shot hit its eye and the second lodged itself into the zombie’s neck. Its magical grip faltered, but didn’t die out, sending several apples splattering to the ground as the ghoul tried to regain its focus.

OH FUCK IT’S NOT DEAD

I started to hyperventilate, realizing that the only way out was past the ghoul. With a few quick breaths, I steeled my nerves and rushed forwards, screaming as I slammed into the fleshy monstrosity. The ghoul stumbled back, trying to regain its balance as it hissed at me.

Then it stepped on an apple.

I ducked out of the way, the ghoul letting out a primal scream as its hoof melted away to nothing. The pain must have finally broken its concentration, because all at once, the apples dropped from the air, showering the ghoul in a deadly spray of acid mush. The ghoul let out a blood-curdling screech, forcing me to cover my ears as I stumbled away. When the sounds finally died out, I spared a glance at the impact site.

There wasn’t even a trace of the ghoul left. Just a bubbling, apple-scented pit of death.

I shuddered, a wave of nausea washing over me as I looked at the puddle. I turned away, just in time to vomit on the floor instead of the apple pit. I sat there for a few moments, heaving up my insides as my mind played the ghoul’s death on repeat. Finally, I ran out of things to throw up, and I was able to shut the image out of my head. As I moved for the exit, I picked up my fallen saddlebags and reattached them to my body. I started to grab a Rad-Away, but I hesitated, eventually deciding to leave it in my bag.

I had a feeling it wouldn’t have helped anyways.

Second floor… for fuck’s sake, how much more of this place is there?

I continued through the halls, passing by a couple labeled doors, leading to a classroom and a “Recreational Area.” I spared a look into the classroom, but forced myself to look away at the sight of several children’s skeletons sprawled across the desks. I felt my stomach churn, threatening to spew my insides across the floor, but I closed the door before it got the chance, composing myself and continuing along.

The third door I came to was slightly more interesting. The door was plain enough, a sign labeling it as a simple storage area, but what had my attention was the sheer size of the room behind it. As the door slid open, I stared forwards into hundreds upon hundreds of crates and barrels, some piles stacked all the way up to the ceiling. Other boxes were spread across the floor, creating large plateaus of tiled steel. A looter’s paradise.

Were she not dying in a jail cell, I imagine Temper would have been drooling at the sight.

I slipped into the room, closing the door behind me, and then immediately regretted that choice as the room became pitch black, save for a faint greenish glow from my PipBuck. It only served to make the room even creepier. I started fiddling with the device, trying to turn the glow off. All of a sudden, a blinding light filled my vision, a flashlight activating on the PipBuck. A flashlight pointed directly at my face. I backpedaled, my vision becoming a kaleidoscope of swirly colored after-images even well after I had shoved the beam out of my eyes. I had to keep blinking, trying to regain my sight as I stumbled further into the room.

The deeper I went, the more the boxes seemed to pile up around me. Soon enough, I wasn’t so much walking through a room as navigating a three-dimensional maze in the dark. I kept bumping into boxes, unable to see them until they were a few inches from my face. I think I cut my leg climbing on top of a crate – the corners were way sharper than they had any right to be. I honestly expected something to jump out at me, even though the enemy-locating-PipBuck-thing (jeeze, that thing really needs a better name) was coming up empty.

Well, for a while anyways. While I was in the middle of climbing on top of a large box, a couple of red lights showed up in the corner of my vision. A moment later, the room suddenly lit up, light pouring in from the hall as a door opened. The sudden brightness made me momentarily go blind again, sending me falling back to the ground with a thud. I heard the ghouls starting to move, their low growling starting to converge on my location. My heart rate shot through the roof, and I raced to shut off my flashlight before they had a chance to find me. Just as my flashlight went out, I heard the door close, and the entire room was plunged into darkness once again.

My whole body tensed up. My movements became slow and stuttery, as did my breaths. My wings twitched at every sound, threatening to bump against something and reveal my location. I couldn’t see the ghouls, but as far as I could tell they couldn’t see me either, at least as long as I covered my PipBuck. The only thing I had to reference where they were was the three red lines floating in my vision. And I watched those red lines like a hawk, following their every twitch, pause, and movement, desperately making sure they didn’t come anywhere near me.

As I sat in silence, I started to feel something in my throat. A sort of pressure, slowly building up. My eyes widened. I squeezed my mouth shut, placing my hooves around my muzzle for added support. My throat started to tickle, the pressure continuing to build up until… nothing. Just as suddenly as it had come, the pressure seemed to go away. I relaxed, removing my hooves and-

*cough*

I froze, seeing the three red lines start to scurry about as they tried to converge on my location. I scrambled away, panicked thoughts rushing through my head as I tried my best not to run into any crates, my eyes continuing to adjust to the darkness. Just as I got away from the grouping of ghouls, I brushed up against a barrel, the object teetering dangerously as I tried to get past. I reached out to steady it, only to accidentally bump into another barrel. I rapidly unfurled my good wing, just barely managing to catch the container before it crashed into the ground. I held my breath, sparing a glance at the red lines.

Not a single one had moved.

I let out a sigh of relief. I quickly fumbled through my saddlebags, finding a Rad-Away and downing it as fast as I could to soothe my throat and stop the coughing. I grimaced, the aftertaste seeming to eat away at the inside of my mouth, but I managed to avoid retching.

I started to turn my head, but as I did, one of the red lines sped across my vision, almost moving in sync with the motion of my head. I blinked in confusion. Is… is the PipBuck broken? I shook the PipBuck a bit, holding my breath as I tried to listen for rattling pieces.

I could still hear breathing.

My eyes widened, and I resisted the urge to scream. I covered my PipBuck screen with my hoof, suppressing the faint glow it gave off as much as I could. Slowly, I placed one hoof behind the other, carefully making my way backwards until I felt my rear end brush up against a wall. Cornered.

I could see the creature, faintly. It stood there, only a few hooves away from me, looking off to the side. Slowly, the creature turned, walking straight in my direction. My eyes shrunk as the ghoul came closer and closer, before stopping right in front of me. I held my breath. I leaned back, desperate to avoid being discovered. I could smell its breath, the pungent scent of death and decay. Even in the darkness, I could make out every feature on its face. Every shriveled wrinkle, every patch of missing skin, every hair on its face… and its two massive, soulless eyes.

“Grraaauuuuggg…”

I didn’t move a muscle. The creature stood there, just staring at me. D-does it see me? Oh God, it can see me, can’t it?!? My eyes darted around, trying to find an escape route in the darkness. But a moment later, the ghoul turned, growling as it trotted a few steps away from me. My shoulders relaxed, the tension in my body finally starting to ease off.

The ghoul suddenly stopped, pausing for a moment. Its head turned back towards me, my eyes going wide and my body tensing up once more. It sniffed at the air, my wings twitching as I kept my eyes on the ghoul.

“ATTENTION ALL GUARDS!!” I jumped as Celestia’s voice rumbled through the room. “THERE HAS BEEN AN INCIDENT IN THE FARM AREA!! I REPEAT, ALL GUARDS TO THE FARM AREA!!”

The ghoul in front of me hissed, shambling off into the darkness. A few moments later, I heard the sound of a door opening as the room filled with light once again. Slowly, the red indicators in my vision blinked out of existence one by one, until the door shut again, leaving me alone in the darkened room.

I finally let out a breath I had been holding for who knows how long.

Please, tell me I’m almost there. I don’t know how much more of this I can handle.

I had been too nervous to turn the PipBuck flashlight back on, which lead to several minutes of blindly stumbling through the storage room as I looked for an exit. Eventually, I managed to make my way to a new door, breathing a sigh of relief as I opened it and walked through into the halls… wait, scratch that. Not the halls. The door just opened directly into another room, one with various machines and devices strewn about, much like the Repair Station. But unlike the Repair Station, the devices in here seemed more refined, less crude. Some of the contraptions I recognized, like microscopes and test tube arrays. The sides of the room had a few refrigerators, once pristine and white, but now muddled and brown with age.

I even saw a few Terminals, to my surprise. Almost by instinct, I started to check them to see if they were working, but I quickly stopped myself – I already had my data, Terminals meant nothing to me anymore. I walked through the room, careful to step around the broken glass and fallen objects, when I heard the sound of a door opening, followed by two red lights on my enemy radar thing.

“Grrauuug…”

Shit! I ducked down, quickly slipping behind a table as the ghouls entered the room. I started to prepare myself for more sneaking, quieting my breaths, making slow movements, and-

*crackle*

-immediately stepping on a test tube, shattering it beneath my hoof.

“Grrauug… Heeech!! Heech!!”

SHIT SHIT SHIT- I stopped thinking and started running, making a beeline for wherever the ghouls weren’t. Unfortunately, that led me away from the exit and into a wall. I turned my head, watching as the ghouls started to give chase, one charging forwards and the other channeling magic to fling a microscope or three at my head. I quickly leapt behind another table, hesitating as I glanced down at the Artisan. I started to debate whether or not to use it, but the sound of science machines smashing against the table made that decision for me. I grabbed the gun, ignoring the images flashing through my mind as I aimed the sights directly on the charging ghoul’s head.

BANG!!

The sound echoed through the room, but the ghoul hardly even slowed down, screeching as blood started to flow from the hole in its head. The monster continued to charge after me, and I kept running, a few thrown beakers smashing against my armor and leaving some minor cuts on my neck. I turned back, the gun shaking as I lined up for another shot.

BANG!! *click* *click*

Oh fuck. The first shot had been right on target, piercing through one of the ghoul’s eyes and dazing it for a second. Unfortunately, that was my last bullet, which only left me with the shotgun shell, and even if that killed the first ghoul (which I had a feeling it wouldn’t), that still left me with a unicorn to deal with.

In other words, I was screwed.

I ducked under another projectile microscope, bolting for the far side of the room as the charging ghoul gave chase. At first, I managed to keep a good distance between us, but the ghoul was starting to catch up, and why is that table glow-

WHAM!

I cried out in pain, the table slamming into me right as I passed it, knocking me into a wall. I fell to the ground, struggling to stand as the world started to swim in my vision. Slowly, I regained awareness of the ghouls, now very close as I tried to stumble away from them. I brought a hoof to my head, hoping I’d be able to form some semblance of a plan if I could clear the haze from my mind.

All of a sudden, I found myself falling to the floor again as the charging ghoul finally caught up to me, tackling me to the ground. I screamed, trying to push the creature off of me as it lay there, biting and gnashing at my face with barely an inch of space between us. I started flailing my hooves, trying to punch the zombie for what little it was worth. I could feel my hooves sink into the ghoul’s mushy skin with every blow, but I don’t think it even felt my attacks. It just kept biting at me, determined to rip me to shreds with nothing but its pointy, demented teeth. The beast screeched, blood dripping down its face as I continued to wrestle with it. My ears folded back and my eyes shrunk to pinpricks, my gaze locked on the ghoul as it lunged at me.

Then it bit me.

I screamed, feeling the monster’s teeth sink into my shoulder as it started to rip off chunks of leather armor, followed by chunks of my skin. Tears started streaming from my eyes as I cried out, still unable to get the ghoul off while my own blood started to pour down my side. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the unicorn ghoul, its magic slowly starting to wrap around a nearby refrigerator, lifting it off the ground.

I felt a surge of adrenaline shoot through my body as time seemed to slow all around me. In one swift motion, I brought my rear hooves under the ghoul and bucked upwards as hard as I could. For a brief moment, the zombie sat there, no longer lying on me, practically suspended in midair by my kick. That was all the time I needed to roll out from under it and towards the unicorn. I covered my head, watching as the fridge sailed over top of me, flying directly at the other ghoul.

The thing didn’t even have time to flinch.

The fridge smashed into the ghoul, sending bits of blood and muscle in every direction. I got up, trying my best to ignore both the pain and the mess as I barged towards the door. If the unicorn ghoul realized it had just flattened its own ally, it didn’t seem to care. Instead, it reached out with its magic, picking up the refrigerator for another throw. But this time, I was faster. By the time the ghoul had gotten the fridge off the ground, I was at the door, and with the press of a button the metal slid out of the way. I slipped through, watching the unicorn prepare its throw as I tried to close the door.

The door stayed open.

I pressed the button again, but still the door remained open. I felt my breathing speed up, my hooves frantically slamming on the door button as the fridge started to fly towards me. Just as the fridge was about to reach the door, I spun around and bucked the button, causing the door to finally slide shut again.

A resounding crash echoed through the hall, the door denting out towards me as the fridge made impact. I stared at the door, my jaw dropping as I gaped at the bulge. Something told me that door wasn’t going to be opening for a long, long time.

With the battle done, I relaxed a bit, wincing as I regained awareness of the stinging in my shoulder. I reached into my saddlebags, trying to grab a potion, but my hoof returned empty. Right. I lost those things back in the farm. Perfect. I groaned, pulling out my scarf and wrapping it around the wound instead. It didn’t ease the pain, but it did stop the bleeding. Satisfied with the makeshift bandage, I moved on, leaving the science lab as far behind me as I could.

That must be the place.

I stared out from the hall, looking across a bridge that connected two balconies. Just on the opposite balcony was a single door, two large windows adorning either side of it as a faint green glow seeped through the aged glass. A single word sat above the door: “Overmare.”

Slowly, I made my way across the bridge, sparing a glance down at the room below. I started to look away, but I did a double take, and on second glance, I recognized the area below as the atrium. The very first room in the Stable. I mentally kicked myself – I could have gotten here much earlier by just coming back to the atrium and flying up here. That would have saved me hours of sneaking, shoddy combat, and mental trauma.

Ugh, of all the stupid… no, I don’t have time to think about that. I’m here now, and I have something to do. I approached the door, biting my lip as I reached out a hoof, before hesitantly opening it. The metal door slid away, immediately bathing me in a green glow as I stepped inside.

The inside of the room looked… strange. It was fairly sparse, to be honest. The back wall had a machine with four terminals on it, and a single cabinet occupied the back right of the room. On the wall opposite the cabinet, a relatively undamaged couch sat, a couch currently occupied by a recognizable purple and red mare. But the center of the room was the most noteworthy, dominated by a large circular desk, flanked on either side by two ghouls, one earth, one unicorn. A hole had been cut from the middle and back of the desk so that whoever sat there was in the center of the circle at all times.

I should hardly need to say who was currently occupying that chair.

Now that I could finally see the mare, I was a bit surprised by what I saw. As was made evident by her rotting skin and practically nonexistent hair, she herself was a ghoul. Unlike the other ghouls, however, Celestia’s skin glowed – yes, glowed – with an eerie green light, explaining the strange color that seemed to accompany her presence. I could see a horn protruding from her head, just as mangled and melted as the rest of her body was. Slowly, the mare turned to look up at me, a smile slowly gracing her decaying lips.

“MR. PEGASUS!!” Celestia shrieked, in what I can only assume was meant to be a welcoming tone. “I’VE BEEN EXPECTING YOU!!”

“I… w-wait, you have?”

“BUT OF COURSE!!” the mare chuckled, getting up from her seat to approach me. “I HAVE EARS ALL AROUND MY KINGDOM!! DID YOU THINK I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO HEAR YOUR PROGRESS??”

I honestly didn’t.

“I’M GLAD YOU’VE DECIDED TO RECONSIDER MY OFFER, MR…” Celestia stopped just in front of me, tilting her head and smiling as she seemed to think. “OH, LISTEN TO ME!! ALL THESE TITLES ARE UNBECOMING OF POLITE CONVERSATION!! WHAT IS YOUR NAME, GOOD SIR?? I NEVER DID GET TO ASK.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Temper stir, coughing continually as she started to look at me.

“I, uh… i-it’s Canvas…”

Temper somehow managed to scoff amongst her retching.

“VERY WELL THEN, CANVAS.” Celestia reached out her hoof, grabbing hold of mine as she shook it vigorously. “IT’S A PLEASURE TO FINALLY MEET YOU IN PERSON!!”

“Graaauuuugg…”

“OH! HOW RUDE OF ME!!” the mare turned, gesturing to the ghouls at her sides. “THESE ARE MY TWO MOST TRUSTED GUARDS, CLOUB SLOGLER AND GRIBY DWIF. SAY HELLO, CLOUB.”

The ghoul on the left growled, making a slight lunge in my direction.

“AH, THAT’S CLOUB FOR YOU.” She chuckled. “HE’S ALWAYS BEEN A HUGGER.”

“R-right…” I took a step away from Celestia, edging just a bit closer to Temper as she heaved bloody vomit onto the floor. “What, uh… w-what interesting names…”

“YES, YES.” Celestia affirmed, “BELIEVE ME, I’M FULLY AWARE OF HOW PECULIAR THOSE NAMES ARE. BUT THAT IS WHAT THEY SAY THEIR NAMES ARE. GO AHEAD, ASK THEM YOURSELF!!”

“Uh… alright, then…” With extreme hesitation, I approached the leftmost ghoul. “So, uh… w-what’s your name, m-my good... sir?”

“Grraaauuuuggg…”

“THERE, YOU SEE?” Celestia stated, pointing to the ghoul. “HE VERY DISTINCTLY SAID ‘CLOUB SLOGGLER’.”

“You’re…” Temper coughed, threatening to throw up her lungs as she spoke. “You’re fuckin’ mental…”

“SO, CANVAS,” the mare continued, ignoring Temper as she returned to her place at her desk. “FOR WHAT REASON HAVE YOU DECIDED TO STAY?? HAVE YOU SEEN THAT YOU MADE AN ERR IN JUDGEMENT, AND COME TO LIVE WITH US IN PEACE??”

“Uh…” I glanced over at Temper, her ears perking up ever so slightly. “N-not exactly. I… w-well, I came to, uh…”

Celestia remained silent, her eyes trained on me as she waited patiently for me to continue.

“I-I came to sav… er, escort my good friend Temper back home.”

Temper did a spit take with her own blood.

“Y...” Temper barely managed to get a word out between her retches. “You what?!?”

“CANVAS,” Celestia spoke, her voice growing very serious once again. “I APPRECIATE YOUR CONCERN FOR YOUR FRIEND, BUT I ALREADY TOLD YOU. SHE CAN’T LEAVE. SHE’S A CRIMINAL. A MURDERER.”

“W-well…” I stammered, “I-I understand that, but-”

“FOR THAT MATTER, YOU TOO HAVE ASSAULTED SEVERAL OF MY SUBJECTS.” Celestia stated, her soulless eyes narrowing slightly. “HOWEVER, FROM WHAT I COULD TELL, IT SEEMS LIKE MOST OF THAT WAS SIMPLY UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENTS AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS, SO I’M WILLING TO LET YOU GO WITH A WARNING. BUT HER?? SHE WAS DELIBERATE. SHE KNEW EXACTLY WHAT SHE WAS DOING.”

“P-Please, wait!” I shouted. “I don’t care what she’s done, y-you can’t keep her here! This whole place is toxic! I-if she stays here, she’ll die!”

“ARE YOU FEELING ALRIGHT?? YOU SEEM TO HAVE PROBLEMS WITH YOUR MEMORY.” Celestia walked over to Cloub (or was that one Griby?), throwing a hoof around his shoulder as she chuckled. “THERE IS NO POISON HERE!! MY SUBJECTS AND I HAVE LIVED IN THIS PLACE FOR OVER A HUNDRED YEARS, I THINK WE WOULD HAVE NOTICED IF IT WAS POIS-”

“Listen to me!!”

The mare paused, her eyes widening at my sudden outburst.

“Celestia… no, Morning Dew, isn’t it?” I caught a slight twitch in the mare’s eye as I continued. “Look around you. Look at your subjects. Can’t you see that something is wrong? Where are their coats? Their manes? For crying out loud, where are their skins? Don’t healthy ponies usually have skin, Morning?”

“I’M NOT SURE THAT I LIKE YOUR TONE, CIVILIAN.”

“And what about you?” I asked, stamping a hoof on the metal floor. “Don’t you think it’s odd that your skin is glowing? Not to mention you’re missing as much skin as the rest of your subjects are. Have you even looked in a mirror lately? You’re as mutated and corpse-like as the rest-”

“ENOUGH!!” Morning shouted, my ears folding back as her voice boomed through the room. “I DON’T NEED TO LISTEN TO THIS!! DO YOU THINK I’LL JUST SIT HERE AND LET YOU MOCK MY APPEARANCE?? THERE IS NO POISON, AND MY SUBJECTS HAVE BEEN HEALTHY FOR MORE THAN A HUNDRED YEARS!!”

I stared at Celestia as she stared at me, her eyebrows furrowed and her teeth bared for me to see. There was no convincing her, I realized. I could stand here for days, trying to tell her about the radiation. But it was too late. The pain and time had already ruined her.

“I’m sorry, Morning.” I sighed, approaching Temper and trying to lift her onto my back. “Come on, Temper. We’re leaving, even if I have to carry you out. I’m not letting anypony die here.”

“Fuck that.” Temper muttered, forcing the words out of her mouth. “I’m not letting you drag me around. I’d-”

“We’re not debating this.” I interrupted, kneeling down next to the couch as Temper stared at me. “Get on. Unless you really, really wanted to die puking up your blood on a sofa.”

“HOW DARE YOU!!” Morning shrieked, my legs threatening to buckle as Temper hesitantly crawled onto my back. “I OFFER YOU PEACE AND KINDNESS, A CHANCE TO LIVE IN MY UTOPIA, A PERSONAL AUDIENCE WITH ME, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY IT?? BY SLINGING INSULTS AT ME AND BREAKING OUT A RUTHLESS CRIMINAL?? I WILL NOT TOLERATE SUCH AN OFFENSE TO MY MAJESTY!! CLOUB!! GRIBY!! SIEZE THEM!!”

The ghouls remained motionless as I started to make my way for the door. With a groan, Morning’s horn lit up, her magic slowly starting to flow out of it and into the head of both ghouls. Suddenly, the zombies sprang to life, rushing at me as fast as they could. I pulled out the Artisan, thinking quickly and aiming the gun at the point between the ghouls.

BOOM!!!

The Artisan roared, the shotgun pellets ripping into both of the ghoul’s faces as they stopped in a strange daze. Morning screamed, and rightfully so – her desk was between her guards, meaning the brunt of the shotgun spray hit her, tens of bullets smashing her horn to pieces and leaving the rest of her face an undead, bloody mess. She let out a stream of curses, flailing to hit some buttons on the terminal behind her as I slipped out the door, Temper in tow.

“Fuck, feathers.” Temper spat, drops of blood spattering my coat with every word. “You really fucked her up!”

“Don’t remind me.” I grimaced, fighting back the urge to throw up. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“Not-” Temper paused, and suddenly I was sprayed with warm liquid as Temper vomited on my neck. “Not without my shit.”

EW EW EW “I, uh…” WHAT THE FUCK TEMPER “I-I think…” WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT “We don’t-”

I stopped, feeling a light thump on the back of my head. A few moments later, I realized that was Temper, attempting to punch me in her weakened state.

“Ugh, fine.” I relented. “Where is it?”

Temper said nothing, pointing across the bridge at a room labeled Armory.

“Alright.” I said, hoofing a Rad-Away to Temper. “We’re grabbing your stuff, and then-”

“ATTENTION CITIZENS!!”

Oh god damn it.

“ALL CITIZENS, BE ON HIGH ALERT!!” Morning’s voice screamed through the speakers. “I HAVE JUST BEEN ASSAULTED BY A YELLOW PEGASUS ASSASSIN, WHO ESCAPED MY THRONE ROOM WITH A NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL IN TOW!!”

Assassin? Me? I ignored the voice, making my way to the Armory and opening the door. Immediately, I saw a footlocker on the ground with Temper’s armor poking out of the top. As Celestia continued to preach about the dangers I posed to her citizens, I helped Temper off my back and left her to put on her clothes. I waited, watching Temper fumble with the mish-mashed armor, various pieces clattering to the floor as they slipped from her hooves. I started to turn away, when I spotted something on the floor near the back of the room.

A holotape.

Slowly, I walked over to it, picking it up and looking it over. No label. No indications whatsoever. Hesitantly, I slotted it into my PipBuck, an indicator flashing to read “Note added: The Truth.” How straightforward.

I selected the note on my PipBuck, staring at it for a moment, not actually playing it. I really shouldn’t have cared. The events that had transpired over a century ago were none of my business, after all. But I did care. Terrible things had happened in Stable 6. Ponies died. Ponies mutated. Only one pony survived, and it had driven her insane.

I have to know. I reached out, my hoof hovering over the button for a brief moment, before I pressed play.

“Those- *cough* -those bastards!!” The voice was unmistakably Ball-peen’s.

“They’ve been letting it in!! All- *cough* -all along, through the damn vents!! They’ve been killing us since- *cough* -the moment we got here!! And oh, the over- *cough* -the overmare tried to deny it, but I saw the- *cough* -mechanisms myself!! It was all on purpose!! I know she’s in on it!! I’ll- *cough* -I’ll bring proof!! I’ll expose that bitch for the coward she really is, and then she won’t be able to deny it!!

“Are you happy, Stable-Tec? You’ve killed us all!! You’ve killed the only hope equinity has for survival!! You… *cough cough* …bastards will-”

The audio cut out abruptly. I sat there, stunned silent. That couldn’t have been true. Even after the war, everypony had heard about the great things Stable-Tec had done. They were practically a household name. And they… they did it? They let radiation in? Deliberately? That can’t-

“The fuck are you doing, feathers?”

I turned back to look at Temper. The mare was lying on the ground, still struggling with the last pieces of her armor. I started to rebut, but just as she was getting her leg through the last strap, a siren started to blare throughout the Stable.

“GUARDS!!” The speakers screeched. “THE ASSASSIN IS IN THE ARMORY!! ALL GUARDS, CONVERGE ON THE ARMORY!!”

FUCK FUCK- “Temper, can you stand?”

The raider rolled her eyes, got to her hooves, and immediately collapsed on the ground in a coughing, vomiting heap.

“G-great.” I stammered, helping the mare onto my back again. “C-can you still shoot?”

BANG!!

I yelped as a bullet passed through my ear.

“That-” Temper retched, threatening to drop the gun as she did. “That answer your question?”

“P-perfectly.” I turned towards the door, putting the Artisan away as Temper readied her pistol. Almost immediately, I saw several red lines starting to dart across my vision. I took a few deep breaths, before opening the door, bursting out of the room and leaping over the balcony.

I only remember the next couple moments as a blur of images. So much happened in so short a span of time, I didn’t have time to commit the details to memory. The only thing I remember with absolute clarity was that I kept running, and Temper kept shooting, mowing down every last ghoul that got in my way as I rushed for the exit. Beyond that? I remember my hooves hitting the floor, my wings flaring up to keep Temper from rolling off my back. I remember rounding the corner into the last hallway, and seeing the massive steel door of the Stable start to roll closed in the distance. I remember leaping over several ghouls, their bodies squishing and skulls smashing beneath my hooves as I raced for the exit. I remember exhaustion sweeping over me, and a stiffness in my joints that threatened to send me crashing to the ground. I remember reaching the entrance room, struggling to stay in motion as the Stable door came within seconds of sealing shut. I remember a sudden kick of energy, my vision focusing in and my body forcing itself to move. I remember just barely slipping out the door, a dull thud shaking the cave as it slid into place behind us.

And while I don’t remember how long, or how far, I remember running. Running as fast as I could, as far as my legs would carry me, until by the time I had turned to look back, Stable 6 was nothing but a vanishing speck in the distance.

“Alright, that’s far enough.”

My ears perked up and I turned my head, looking at Temper as she sat draped across my back. Now that we were away from the Stable, my pace had slowed down, and I had simply kept walking. Even now, as Temper commanded me to stop, I felt compelled to keep walking.

“Hey, I said…” Temper coughed. “I said fuckin’ stop!”

“No.”

“What-” Temper paused, vomiting off to the side before she continued. “-what’d you just say, you little bitch?”

“I said no.” I replied matter-of-factly. “We need to find somewhere safe first. Somewhere that isn’t out in the open. And besides, right now? You’re not really in a position to make me do anything.”

“Like hell I’m-” Temper let out several coughs. “-I’m not! I’ve still got my gun, I can shoot you whenever I-”

Temper yelped as I bucked my rear end into the air, jolting her enough to drop her pistol on the ground. Before she could reclaim it, I scooped it up in my good wing, holding it just out of reach as she strained to grab it.

I felt a slight smile grace my lips. I have to admit, it was kind of fun to toy with Temper in her weakened state. After a while, she stopped struggling, finally accepting that it was a lost cause.

“…Canvas, huh?”

I tensed up, but slowly nodded in confirmation. Temper let out a slight huff in response.

“Figured you’d have a pansy-ass name.”

“You’re one to talk.” I replied, smirking ever so slightly. “Ms. Tantrum.”

“I will end you.”

I rolled my eyes, ignoring her threat as we continued along the road. For a while, neither of us said anything, the silence growing tenser with every passing second.

“So-” Temper finally broke the silence, stifling a cough as she did. “-so now what?”

“Huh?” I tilted my head as I looked back at her. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t be retarded, dumbass.” Temper spat, coughing at nearly every word. “What are you gonna do to me? You gonna abandon me on the side of the fuckin’ road? Leave me for dead? Maybe you want to shoot me yourself, feel the satisfaction of revenge flowing through you? Or maybe you’re one of the sick fucks who wants to ‘have your way’ with me first?”

“Temper,” I said, disgust starting to wash over me, “What the heck are you talking about?”

“Revenge, you dumbass!” Temper yelled. “Do you think I’m an idiot? I know I’ve lost, and this is your big daring escape. You could have just left the big bad slaver in the radiation to die, but noo, you fought your way back inside so you could finish the job for yourself! So what’s it gonna be? Murder? Torture? Rape? What’s your fucking plan?”

I stopped walking, turning my head back to stare at Temper. Staring back at me was a face of rage, her eyes were widened and her face scrunched up, contorted into a menacing scowl.

But that wasn’t all. Even though she tried to hide it, I could see the little details. A few drops of sweat on her forehead. Her eyes, briefly darting around whenever I moved. Her whole body, for that matter, giving the slightest twitch whenever I so much as ruffled my feathers. This wasn’t the normal Temper. This was something else.

For a while, I just stood there, simply watching the mare as she bathed me in pure, unadulterated rage. Finally, I sighed, turning back and continuing to walk.

“My plan…” I could practically feel the words rolling off my tongue. “The first thing I’m going to do is find a secluded cave. Somewhere no one will find you until you’re prepared.”

“Prepared?” Temper spat. “You need to fucking prepare my corpse for being found? Fuck, I’ve been slaving a psychopath.”

“Then, I’ll… wait, this looks good.” I stopped talking, spotting a large hole in the ground. I looked down, and to my relief the hole opened up into a decently sized cave. The opening was at the top of a stone wall, one that wouldn’t be too hard to climb out of… unless, of course, you were severely weakened by radiation poisoning. I shimmied my way down, wincing as Temper fell off my back halfway down, crashing into the stone floor with a groan.

As I continued down, Temper started to crawl away from me.

“So you’re…” Temper paused, choking on her words. “You’re just gonna kill me now? Rip me apart and ‘prepare’ my corpse for the world to see?”

“No.”

Temper stopped, raising an eyebrow as she looked at me. Slowly, I reached into my saddlebags, pulling out the last bag of Rad-Away, about half of my healing supplies, and most of the food on me. I trotted further into the cave, setting the supplies down close to the back of it. I also pulled out Temper’s gun and knife, setting them down on top of one of the taller rocks.

“There.” I said, satisfied with my work. “That should be enough to get you on your hooves again, once I’m far enough away.”

“Wh-what-” Temper paused, fighting back another wave of puke as she arched her eyebrows. “What are you doing?”

“I’m…” I paused, stopping to think for a moment. What was I doing? I was helping a criminal. I was saving the worst pony I had ever met. I was giving her the means to go out and keep perpetuating her evil. And yet… I couldn’t shake the feeling that killing her was somehow worse.

“I’m trusting you to do better.”

Temper stared, her eyes widening as she sat there, stunned silent. I started to climb out of the cave, but I hesitated for a moment, climbing back down and approaching Temper. She tried to pull away, but in her state she was no match for me, and I quickly pulled half her caps and several hooffuls of bullets and shotgun shells out of her pockets.

“Sorry, but I might need these.”

I turned around, Temper spewing curse after bloody curse at me as I climbed out of the cave and into the muted light of day. I smiled, closing my eyes and savoring the moment for a bit as I walked away from Temper, the sounds of her rage slowly fading off into the ambient noise of the wasteland.

Finally, I was a free pony again.

Author's Notes:

Level up

New Perk: Travel Light – Get out of there, Canvas! While wearing light armor or no armor, you run 10% faster.