Floating. I was floating. The only things in here with me were the things that were attached to my skin and flesh.

My eyes wouldn’t open, but through my eyelids I could see a sickly green light.

Through the walls of my fluid-filled prison, I could hear muffled voices.

I was content. Happy. Peaceful. No fear, no worry.

Then I started falling.

The fluid drained away, taking me with it.

I screamed.

As the things in my flesh were removed, the pain was excruciating, I started crying.

Then, someone was holding me.

Tears fell on me, somepony else’s. Tears of joy.

Someone spoke.

“See?” They said with a hint of triumph in their voice. “Perfectly healthy, just as I said.”

“Thank you!” Said another between sobs. “Thank you so much…”

“It’s no problem. I’m always happy to help a comrade,” said the first. “But…”

There was a pause.

“I need you to do something for me,” the voice continued. “I need to keep an eye on her for a few years, only about five or so. Don’t worry, it’s just to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

“Why nao? Why wi’ her?” Replied a third.

“She is a unique case. I’ve never had to deal with this before,” the first sighed. “I told you why I agreed to this, right?”

With a short pause, the third eventually replied with some reluctance. “Aye. Ah ken. Yer “sikrit projects”. Silly me.”

“Good. So, if you don’t mind my asking, what are you going to name her?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Miss Knives? Diamond Knives?” The old earth pony Guard asked incredulously as he eyed my papers. He absent-mindedly reached up to scratch his head with a hoof, only to be blocked by his combat helmet. It was blue with the logo of the Guards; a golden star within a circle, with words written in some old language all along the arms of the star. “What kinda name is that?”

“Buck aff ye old bastard.” I growled. I assumed he must be new to this part of the Prison, as everyone else here knew me pretty well. I mean, come one! Who the hell else had a heavy-as-shit accent like mine? “Ah’ve heard worse names, and Ah happen tae like mine.”

He glared at me, puffing out his blue-armored chest. He probably thought it was intimidating, but in reality it just made him look fat. I stifled a giggle. “Insulting a Guard is a serious offense you know.”

I restrained myself from rolling my eyes as I said as convincingly as I could, “Och, Aam sooo sorry sir, Ah didn’t mean it like that…”

That seemed to be enough for him. He smirked and took a look at his clipboard, hmm-ing and haa-ing as he read, “Let’s see here, ah, Diamond Knives. Looks like you’re fixing sewage pipes again.”

“Aam practically oozin’ wi’ joy,” I snarked. “Shall I away then?”

“Yeah. Your crap’s in the lockers. Get your barding and get to work,” he scoffed. “Don’t fuck up. Next!”

I was quickly replaced by a scrawny and nervous young buck as I walked off the platform and into the locker room.

There was little to say about the place. All the walls in the Prison were a sanitary white. No tiles, no planks, just solid, unicorn-sculpted concrete with colored lines leading in all directions from place to place. Sometimes the colored lines would branch off here and there to be replaced with other colors of lines. Occasionally, you could see cameras on the wall, or an inactive emergency light, but that was about it. The ceilings were probably the most interesting, as they had running lights along their edges, but not a lot… You get the point. It was the Prison, thusly, it looked like a prison.

The locker room was no different. Well, except for the lockers of course, and the fact that several mares were milling about. A couple Guards were standing at the entrances, their faces hidden behind the face-plates of their helmets.

When I reached my locker I found, much to my irritation, that the lock had changed position, telling me immediately that someone had tampered with the lockers contents.

With a groan I stood to the side of the locker, undoing the combination lock with my telekinesis, enveloping the door in a nearly invisible grey glow. Swiftly, I threw it open, expecting a bucket of crap or a massive pile of drugs to fall out or something. Instead I was met with the simple sight of a large stack of magazines.

I made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a growl. Someone had stuffed Playbucks in my locker again, and I knew exactly who.

Under my breath, I counted down. “Four… Three… Two… One… Clothesline! ‘ow are ye?”

I’d spun around to see the pink mare standing right behind me. She tossed her black mane with a hoof, smirking. “Oh my, Knives. I didn’t know you were into mares… I certainly hope you don’t feel anything for me…”

I glared at her. “Really, Clothesline? Resortin’ tae grade-school filly pranks again? I thought ye were a wee bit more clever than that.”

“Oh, you blame me for this? Well I certainly didn’t make you a fillyfooler,” she said, the last part a bit louder than necessary. A few chuckles came from some of the other mares. “I don’t know why you’d think me capable of such horrid things.”

I just gave her a deadpan look.

“I mean, look at yourself,” she said, indicating the mirror attached to my locker’s door. I liked to think I had a fairly lithe build. I was small and agile, but unfortunately for me, I had the stamina of an asthmatic foal, and I could barely gallop for a short distance. My striped leg fur blended easily into the greyish fur on my sides. My blackish-green mane was, as usual, a complete mess, as I’d never cared to do anything with it, feeling it was just fine as it was. I blinked my silver eyes as I looked at my cutie mark, a diamond turning into ash, or, depending on your outlook, ash coalescing into a diamond.

“You look just like a young colt.”

My entire body tensed up noticeably at that, but I managed to hold back my anger. Okay, admittedly, I sort of did look like a colt. I had little to show my femininity, and I knew that. But just hearing it drove me fucking crazy, especially with her saying it. However, I said nothing, trying to keep myself from punching Clothesline in the face. She just had to say the one thing that angers me above all others.

“Oh. I’m sorry,” she said mockingly with a huge grin plastered on her face. Oh what I’d have given to break those teeth. I could feel my eye twitching with rage. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

You may be wondering why I didn’t just hit her. The reason was simple: She was the Guard Captain’s daughter, and that assault would have been a crime punishable by death. Throw in the fact that I’m half-zebra, and they would make it a painful death, accompanied by torture under that ever-so-old excuse of me being a “potential zebra spy.”

So, I stood there, fuming, as she walked away laughing, making a point to whip her tail into my face. When she was gone, I gently pulled my bright orange utility barding out of the locker, calmly closed the door, put the neatly folded barding on the floor, and beat the ever-loving shit out of the lockers door with my hooves, leaving several dents in it.

~

I trotted through the Prison, thinking of how many ways I could kill Clothesline without getting caught. I had reached method number seven when I came across the Door.

It was just a simple metal door, with a terminal embedded into the wall beside it. I think that anywhere else in Equestria, it would have been nothing special. Here, however, the Prisoners generally tried to avoid it, as did many of the Guards. Personally, I passed by it any time I went off to work, but I could understand why they didn’t like being near it.

This was the only door to the outside world that I knew of. It’d been sealed shut for a hundred-and-eighty years, closed when the first megaspells hit. Nopony but the Guards knew what was out there anymore, but rumors among the prisoners hinted at things like an endless void, a massive expanse of barren desert, alien civilizations, massive fields of toxic cheese that turned you into a walrus… Yes, we did have more than a few crazies, why do you ask?

I wished I could just leave. The Guards, my cramped-as-fuck cell, that bitch Clothesline, the fact that my job was basically being the plumber, I had a plethora of reasons, but the main one was that I wanted freedom. The Guards controlled almost every single aspect of life here, and I’d lived here for all of mine. I’d known nothing else, but…

I felt a longing to be outside. I’m not sure why. Whether it be nothingness, aliens, or what have you, I wanted out. I wanted to see… Something other than the barren concrete walls.

“Miss?”

I turned to see a gold-furred white-maned unicorn stallion with a cutie mark of a broken red cross. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but he seemed vaguely familiar. He was smiling gently at me with his head tilted slightly in curiosity. “Would you happen to be Diamond Knives?”

I nodded. “Ye know me?”

“When you were just a filly. There aren’t many Half-zebra, half-unicorns around here,” He grinned. “I was hoping to find your parents somewhere?”

With a sigh and a frown I said, “Good luck wi’ that. Dad was thrown out of the Prison an’ mom died in th’ last riot years ago.”

He looked surprised for a moment. “Ah. I see. Well… You have my condolences.” Under his breath he muttered, “I’ve been gone far too long.”

I looked at him, confused. I just smiled nervously sand started walking away slowly down the corridor.

“I’m sure they would be proud of you. Especially your father,” he called back gently. “But he always did hate this place.”

When I’d rounded the corner, I trotted away at full speed, hoping to get far away from the crazy old stallion.

~~~

The sewage pipes were heavily guarded, with a Guard at every possible exit, and several standing along the walls. Between them, posters were stuck up saying things like “The Guards are your friends” and “All glory to the Prison Guards, they keep order for all”, standard propaganda crap. Cameras were looking at every inch of the room in which the pipes were housed. The floor was covered in stains of various, but even in here, the walls and ceiling were that same perfectly sanitary white.

I worked diligently, as I usually did. Taking a bucket of metal plates and small pipes in my mouth and a small toolbox in my nearly invisible magical grip, I pulled out old, rusted pipes, and replaced them with the new. Sludge was everywhere, but I barely noticed it as I moved from pipe to pipe, checking every inch. I may have hated the place, but damn me if I’m going to let the place fill up with raw sewage.

I was so ensconced in my work that I nearly jumped out of my skin when a voice behind me commented, “I will never understand how you can stand to do that with your mouth.”

I glared at the speaker. Why the hell was he here? He lived in a completely different section! “Well, it ‘elps if ye fall from a decent height and land on yer head as a foal. It’ll buck up yer senses pretty good.”

“But still… It’s in your mouth…” The blue unicorn grimaced. His black mane was well-coiffed into something he referred to as a 'pompadour'. I always thought it just looked like he had a dick on his head. “You know you’re a unicorn, right?”

“Aye, but Ah can’t lift a goddess-damned thing, ye feckin’ prick. How many times have AH told ye that?” I growled. “Why don’t ye go suck your stallion aff or something?”

“Ooooh, still upset about our breakup, huh? Well, sweetheart, I’m sorry I hurt you, but you’re just going to have to get over- OW!” I’d thrown a pipe at him. “Oh, so it’s like that is it? Fine. If you can be a bitch, then so can I. At least I can admit what I am. You still keep lying to your-AGH!”

The second hit wasn’t me. A large orb had popped out of a broken pipe above his head, hitting him right between the eyes. I nearly fell over laughing.

“Goddesses… You know what? Fuck you Knives. Just… fuck you.” He growled. “When the shit hits the fan, you’re on your own. Just thought you should know.”

“Huh?” I stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow.

He chuckled. “Oh, you’d like to know, wouldn’t you? Well, All I’m saying is that it’s happening soon. Goodbye Knives.”

I just stared after him as he trotted away, with a confused look plastered on my face. I looked down at the orb that had fallen on him. It was clear and a bit larger than my hoof, with some sort of black crap floating around in it. Dad told me about these once, called them mind balls or something. I thought he said they were white though…

I gave a quick look around to make sure I wasn’t being watched too closely, and attempted to pocket it. I say attempted, because the second I tried to pick it up in my mouth, it jerked away from me, rolling over into a corner. Slightly confused and a bit more surprised, I walked over to its new position. I eyed it carefully. I didn’t know much about this thing, but I knew enough that I didn’t want to pick it up with magic, as I couldn’t afford to be stuck in somepony elses thoughts for a couple hours while on my shift.

Cautiously, and assuming that this must be some sort of prank, I tried to pick it up again, but it only continued to roll away, this time into a broken-open pipe. I just knew that it was another one of Clotheslines stupid pranks, who the hell else could it be? And yet, I continued. Sneaking through the pipe, I followed the ball… orb… thing… until I reached a grate, against which the orb was resting.

I stared at it for a moment.

I touched it with a hoof. There was a slight tink sound, telling me it was made from some kind of glass.

As I bent down one last time to pick up the orb, I noticed that something was brushing my mane. It took me a moment to figure out that the air was moving. I wondered whether or not I was hallucinating, when the realization hit me. I took a deep breath and snapped my mouth shut.

WHOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH

I was just in time, as the wave of raw sewage blasted through the grate, dragging me, along with the orb, down the pipe and past where I’d come in. I tried desperately to keep my mouth closed as I let the wave carry me. I may not be able to taste it, but it’s still a bad idea to swallow sewage, for obvious reasons. I didn’t bother trying to swim out, the pressure was simply too strong and I was too weak a swimmer to get anywhere.

I felt myself being thrown into the sides of the pipe.

A particularly nasty hit knocked the wind out of me, leaving me struggling to keep my breath in.

I was quickly running out of air.

I fought the urge to inhale.

I had to get out.

I had to get out.

I had to get-

There was a loud crash, and suddenly I was on the floor, coughing, spluttering, and gasping for breath.

It took me a moment to get back to my senses, when I discovered that I was in the Guard captain’s bathroom. Mind you, I’d never been in there before, and I really had no idea where it was, but the Prison Guard logo painted on the floor sort of gave it away, as did the fact that she was standing in the doorway, staring at me, looking like she was about to kill me.

Panting, I tried to stand, but my shaking knees refused to hold my weight, and I collapsed. My ribs and head hurt like hell. There was brownish liquid everywhere.

I grinned weakly at the Captain. “Sorry marm. We seem tae be havin’ a few technical difficulties.”

Then I passed out.

~~~~~~~~~~

“No mum. I didnae eat the cake,” I grumbled as I awoke. “Huh?”

Looking around, I found that I was in a medical bay. There were those same barren walls, just with some medical equipment strewn about the room. My chest was heavily bandaged and, looking in the nearby mirror, I saw that my head was as well.

“Ugh. Who th’ buck took a goddess-damned hammer tae mah skull?” I whined from the cot. “Hello? Anypony ‘ere?”

A zebra with a red-dyed mane popped her head into the room. “You’re awake? Damn, I thought you were going to be asleep for weeks.”

“What happened?”

“You popped out of the Captains bathroom through the floor. Heh, you should have seen the look on her face. Priceless!” She chuckled, and then her expression got serious. “Anyway, you have several broken ribs and a minor concussion. Sorry, but they only gave you a small potion to deal with it. I got you some med-x, but I recommend holding onto it for a while.”

She tossed me a small bag. “You really do like getting injured don’t you?”

Suppressing a grin, I looked around and, dropping my accent, said with mock confusion, “Where… Where am I? Who are you? Who am I?”

Her hooves flew to her face as terror filled her eyes, making me burst out laughing. Her expression quickly turned to one of irritation as she glared at me and complained, “That’s not funny Knives! I thought you were serious!”

“Oh come on Zeed! How could Ah ferget Ye? Yer mah best friend in the whole buckin’ Prison.”

Rolling her eyes, she went back into her ‘doctor mode’ and asked, “Can you stand?”

I got out of the cot, and managed to stand for a whole few seconds before I felt all the blood rush to my head. The dizziness nearly made me fall over. She rushed over to help me, and I smiled weakly.

“Aam fine. Nothin’ tae worry yerself abit.” I shakily walked over to the chair on which my barding lay, followed closely by Zeed. The orange jumpsuit had been thoroughly cleaned of sewage. “What are ye doin’ here, anyway?”

“Checking up on you, obviously. I was working with Dr. Cold when I heard what happened. Come one, let’s get you to the room. They said you could go as soon as you’re up. The Captain has even forgiven you for effectively destroying her bathroom.”

After I’d shakily put my barding back on, we started towards the cell blocks, where we shared a decent cell.

~

“So, you chased a memory orb into a sewage pipe…”

“Aye. That Ah did.” I replied as we made our way down the corridors.

“Hmm… Maybe the head injury didn’t come from the pipe then.” She pretended to think, rubbing her hoof across her chin. “Oh! I know! You’re an idiot.”

“Aye. That Ah am.”

“So…. Did you at least manage to get it?” She continued, rolling her eyes.

“Sadly, nay. But Ah guess it doesnae really matter, now does it?”

“Come on, Knives! You tried to chase a ball into a pipe! Why? Don’t you remember what your dad always said? I mean, it’s not like he didn’t remind you of it every day.”

I pondered for a moment. “Never ferget tae eat yer veggies?”

Then I saw the Door again. I stopped and stared, feeling again that desire to leave. That longing to see the outside. That odd hope for something more. I knew it was supposed to be a lifeless hellhole, but I couldn’t help it. I just wanted to know.

“Still got that feeling, huh?” Zeed whispered beside me. “Gotta admit, I’m kinda curious as well…”

We just stared at it for a moment, in complete silence.

“I dare you to touch it,” she said.

I blinked in confusion.

“Go on. Touch it.”

“N-No! Ye can go and touch it yerself!”

She laughed. “What are you, scared?”

“What are ye, immature?”

“Admittedly? Yes. Yes I am. But…” she cleared her throat. “As a medic, I must point out that it is unhealthy to stare at doors like that. Thusly, I think you should touch it.”

“Fine, fine. Whatever,” I grumbled as I trotted over to the door, and then stood in from of it.

I just stood there.

In front of the Door.

The Door that separated us from the outside.

Where nopony could ever stay alive for very long.

Which the Guards said there was no point going to.

Where the megaspells had destroyed everything that they touched.

I felt nervous. Why the hell do I feel nervous? I thought to myself. It’s a door!

Slowly, I reached out a hoof, and froze. It was just centimeters away.

“Knives? You’re shaking, are you alright?” A look of concern was on her face.

I inched my hoof closer.

“Uh, Knives? You’re scaring me now… I was just kidding. You don’t have to… Wait, what the hell was that?”

I gave the door a light poke.

Nothing happened.

I smiled.

BWARP! BWARP! BWARP! ALERT! ALL GUARDS TO THE CELL BLOCKS! ALL GUARDS TO THE CELL BLOCKS!

I jumped back into the opposite walls, yelling in surprise, “I didn’t do anything!”

There was an explosion from the cell block area. I looked to Zeed whose eyes were wide with terror. The realization dawned on me.

Someone had just started a riot.

“Oh shit shit shit shit shit…” Zeed started pacing back and forth as the sounds of screams and gunshots began to reach our ears. “We gotta hide. They’ll barricade everything, we gotta go back to the medical bay!”

“What if they find us?” I shrieked. I was in a panic. “Where are we supposed tae go?”

“I don’t know! I was in our room last time!”

Suddenly, there was a loud click, and the door opened. We both stared at it in awe.

There was a corridor beyond the door. The walls were completely covered in ancient rust. It seemed to go on forever. I thought I saw a flash of gold near the end.

“Shit! They’re escaping!” Cried a voice from our left. Several Guards were charging down the hallway. Among them was Clothesline. Fuck, I thought, everything’s going too damn fast, what do I do?

Clothesline had that same grin plastered on her face as she levitated a shotgun out in front of her. “Blitz, Cane, with me. The rest of you deal with the cell block.”

I grabbed Zeed with my forehooves and threw her out the door. We ran as fast as we could, followed by Clothesline and her backup.

The corridor seemed to go on forever, and the three Guards were catching up fast. I was quickly starting to run out of steam, my ribs hurt like hell, I was wheezing like mad.

After what seemed like an eternity of running, we burst through a wooden door, and slammed it shut, locking it behind us. I could hear them as they slammed their weight against it. More likely, it was the two larger guards trying to break down the door while Clotheslines screamed at them.

We were in a small concrete structure. Most of it had collapsed in on itself, leaving only a few walls with tattered and peeling wallpaper. A few benches were scattered around the area, mostly lying on their backs, some had a skeletons near them. Rain was pouring in through the holes of the damaged structure.

“Oh goddesses…”

I turned to see Zeed standing behind me. She was staring upwards, through a hole in the ceiling. Taking a look myself, I saw… I saw…

Clouds…

Endless clouds…

They seemed familiar…

Comforting…

They seemed to shift before my eyes…

I could see the raindrops falling…

It was so…

Hypnotic…

Why did the clouds do that…

I knew them… Somehow.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Zeed was shaking in terror. I pulled her head towards the ground, making sure to cover her eyes. She was gasping as if she’d nearly drowned.

“Are ye alrigh’?” I asked.

She nodded and we continued on, with her trying desperately not to look up.

There was the sound of splintering wood, and I heard Clothesline screeching.

“Get back here! Nopony escapes the Prison! Nopony!”

The sound of beating hooves prompted us to gallop faster, but it was too late. They slammed us into the ground, there was the sound of a bone breaking as Zeed cried out in pain, I could sympathize with her, as the pressure against my bruised ribs made me do the same.

Clothesline was panting with rage. She looked from one of us to the other for a minute or so. I could hear the sound of radio chatter from her helmet, she was so close to me.

“Do you…” She started, but pondered her next words. “D0 you know what pisses me off most ab0ut you?”

I spat at her.

“Lift them,” she growled to the guards pinning us down. They promptly hooked their forehooves beneath our arms, holding Zeed and I in the air, side by side. Zeed whimpered as she held her one broken foreleg in the other.

Clothesline was panting. Her eyes were darting all over the place, always coming back to my face, but immediately shooting towards something else. She was muttering to herself. “What the hell is that n0ise?”

“The rain, boss?” one of the Guards ventured.

“N0 you idiot! I know what that is! I’m talking about that buzzing n0ise!” She shook her head angrily. “Never mInd.”

Turning back to me, she whispered. “Do y0u know what pisses me oFf most about you?”

“Mah charmin’ personality? Ye can’t understand mah accent?” I growled, glaring daggers at her.

She chuckled. “Cl0se.”

She motioned for the Guards to follow her. “F0r as long as I can remember, you have been theRe. And all my liFe…” She stopped and looked around. “There it is Again. Why doEs it keep coming back?”

“Boss, are you alright?”

“ShUt up! N0pony asked You!” She shook her head again. “All my life, you’Ve thought you were better than me. I hate That.”

“Ah don’t know what th’ hell yer talkin’ about,” I said. “I’ve never thought I was better than-“

I was interrupted by her hoof striking my mouth. “SHUT uP! I’m talking here! ME! ME! ME!”

She threw off her helmet with her magic and stared into my eyes. Hers, a light purple, were… wrong. There were flecks of red in the white of her eyes, and her pupils were contracted to the point they almost weren’t there. I could only assume that she was drugged up like noponys business. She screamed at the other two Guards. “THE SITE! N0W!”

We were dragged outside. The sight of the clouds had stunned me for a moment, but this… This was terrifying. All my life I’d known the walls of the prison, keeping me inside and everything out. I had expected… something… anything… But the sight before my eyes was a barren desert. There was nothing but orange sand and a few ruined buildings in the distance. An orangeish haze seemed to float just above the ground. I was pulled out of my stunned state by a rope being tied around my neck by one of the Guards magic.

The journey took hours. All the while, Clothesline was ranting, waving the shotgun around in her magical grasp. She was continuously ranting as her voice started cracking, and she kept giggling at nothing in particular. I kept wondering what the hell was going on with her. I’d seen ponies going crazy, but that usually took a while, even with drugs, but this was just too damn quick for something like that.

Her ranting became gradually worse. She kept stopping to complain about that same buzzing noise, only to screech when we couldn’t tell her its source.

“WherE is that c0ming from? What the helL iS it? H0w can you m0rOns not Hear it?”

Neither Zeed nor I said anything.

She continued on and on as we traveled. I was becoming increasingly nervous.

“Ar3 yu FUC1ng Stoop1d? U c4n’t hE4r That? It’s Fuck1NG everywh3re. Everypony #ere is Wor7hles$,” she screeched.

“Uhh… Boss… We’re here.”

We’d finally stopped, for good this time, in a large fenced-in area. The ground was covered in some sort of black concrete with white lines painted in some pattern of squares attached to lines. The fence itself had a large number of skeletons just piled up along its length. A broken sign attached to a large pole read:

“WH3R3 1S i7 c0M1ng FR0m? WhY W0n’7 I7 ST0P?” Clothesline had dropped to her knees, holding her head in her hooves. She was screeching at the top of her lungs. “m4k3 It St09 M4Ke1t s7oP mAke it ST0p!”

“Boss… what are you talking about?”

Suddenly, there was a gunshot, and the rope around my neck fell slack as the Guards head explode, the gore filling his helmet as Clotheslines explosive round punctured the plastic faceplate. The other Guard backed away slowly, dropping Zeeds rope. He didn’t get far, as Clotheslines shotgun tore through the armor on his back, killing him instantly in a shower of blood.

“N0w eYE h4ve u all 2 myself…” She started giggling, I wasn’t particularly surprised by her mood change, but her speech creeped me the hell out. “N0w 3ye c4n d0 wh473v3r eY3 wan7 2 u!”

She swapped out the magazine in her shotgun. Zeed was trembling in terror as the now psychotic mare started swaying back and forth, cradling her weapon. I stood in front of Zeed, hoping to protect her.

“4www. H0w Cut3! You th1nk 3y3 care ab0ut Her?” She let out another giggle, then started sobbing within seconds. “Y d0Es it Hurt? D0n’t u f33l it?”

“Ah have no idea what yer talkin’ about ye goddess-damned madmare!” I roared at her. “What th’ buck is wrong wi’ ye? Have ye lost yer mind?”

“l0st? N0, s1lly. 3ye haven’t lost i7. 17’s right here,” She pointed to her head, giggling. Then her eyes widened, made creepier by her pinprick pupils. “3y3 no what’s wrong! H3e3e Hiiii heEE3EE. I just h4v3 to k1ll U! That’lL make t3h buzz1nG st0p!”

Suddenly, somepony started shouting in the distance. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but they seemed panicked. Looking behind me, I saw a large vehicle moving rapidly towards us. I thought I saw a flash of gold in the distance behind it.

Then I heard the k-chack sound of a shotgun being pumped.

I turned to find the weapon in question pointed at me. Clothesline was grinning that same psychotic grin. “Eye’m gonna k3el u! Th3n, 1’m gonna go b4ck h0m3, and make everyp0ny happy! Won’t thAt b3 fun?”

BLAM!

Half my vision suddenly went dark. Behind me, Zeed shrieked.

As I couldn’t feel anything, I briefly wondered if Clothesline had missed, but immediately discarded that thought as I fell over on my side. Suddenly, my head really hurt. Zeed limped over to me with her broken foreleg, I saw the panic in her eyes. Clothesline ran off, giggling all the while.

It seemed that it was an eternity when I heard someponys hoofbeats pounding the dirt, accompanied by the sound of what I assumed to be a cart’s wheels. It makes a nice harmony with my heartbeat, I thought. Zeed was screaming something, I couldn’t tell what. I tried to say that it was okay, but my mouth wouldn’t seem to move… Weird…

I felt myself being lifted up. I saw a light green earth pony buck opening some kind of box that was attached to the back of… a thing.

Why was he carrying a box? On a thing? Who carried around a box? Especially on things?

Slowly… I was put inside….

As everything…

Faded…

Away……………
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Within the walls of the prison, a white ball, filled with black smoke, rolls out of the sewage pipes. As it rolls, it passes fighting ponies, Guards and prisoners. It stops for a moment, as if pondering the sight that lies before it, the blood splattering the walls from various gunshot wounds, the dismembered corpses that have been flung around by the blasts of fragmentation grenades. Eventually, it continues on, out the Prison's lone door, which still stands open, forgotten by the Prisons residents. The ball rolls out into the wastes, chasing down its target. 

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Footnote 1: Diamond Knives
S: 3
P: 7
E: 1
C: 5
I: 5
A: 9
L: 10

Tag Skills:
Repair
Survival
Melee

Traits:

Hot Blooded: You are generally irritated easily. Because of this, when your health drops below 50% you go into a rage, in which you get +10% more damage, but you also suffer -2 to your Agility and Perception attributes.

One in a Million: You're not particularly lucky or unfortunate, but when lightning strikes, it strikes hard! Whenever you or someone near you scores a critical hit or failure, the effects are essentially tripled!

Secondary trait:

Look ma! No hooves!: Like any unicorn, you are able to use the spell of telekinesis, but for you, it’s a bit different. When you use telekinesis, your magical field is almost invisible. The downside, however, is that the spell is weakened for you, so you can only hold less than six pounds.
 
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Footnote 2: Zeed Kazdri
S: 5
P: 8
E: 5
C: 7
I: 10
A: 5
L: 1

Tag Skills:
Medicine
Science
Energy Weapons

Traits:

Good Natured: You studied less-combative skills as you were growing up. Your combat skills start at a lower level, but other skills are substantially improved. You get +5 to each of Barter, Medicine, Repair, Science, and Speech, but -5 to Energy Weapons, Explosives, Guns, Melee Weapons, and Unarmed.

Small Frame: Due to your small size, you have +1 Agility but your limbs are more easily crippled (25% extra limb damage).

Secondary trait:
Stance: Due to years of practice, you are able to stand on your hind legs indefinitely.
 
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(Author’s note) Well… I did that… Shame on me…

I know what you might be thinking.

“Oh goddesses! Not another fucking Fallout Equestria fic! Don’t we have enough of those?”

And the answer to your unsaid and probably unthought question is:

No. No we do not.

So I made one myself. Partly because I was bored, partly because I need practice writing. Mostly,
however, it was because the idea got stuck in my head, so I figured, “What the hell, I got nothing to lose”, and went ahead and did it.

Critiques are appreciated!

Until next time! (if there is one) Toodles!

P.S.: I don’t have an editor, so that should partly explain why it’s as bad as I assume it is.

Thanks to Kkat for Fallout Equestria, and Somber for Project Horizon. Thanks to whoever reads this, and again, critiques are very much welcome.