Butterscotch stared into the large gear-shaped hole where the Stable door used to be.

It was past curfew, and we weren't supposed to be outside of our rooms. Most of the Stable lights had been turned off, so the area was particularly dark. The two guards standing in front of the hole were either too lazy to report us, or just didn't care.

“I still can’t believe the door is gone. I didn't even get to watch it open.” Butterscotch frowned a little. “Aw well. At least I can drink water without worrying about my bladder mutating.”

“Yeah. It is pretty unbelievable. This place feels so open now.”

We sat in silence, and listened to the wind that flooded the entrance of our stable,now doorless, for what felt like almost an eternity.

Butterscotch was the first to break the silence. “Do you think anyone is ever going to come by, now that we're opened up to the world?

“I have no idea. When the scouts went out to look around the landscape, they didn't find a single living thing for a mile.”

“Did they even report what it looked like?”

“Barren. Dusty. Dark. Lots of adjectives. They also said the Stable is apparently located under a train station. Go figure. A Stable full of geniuses living under a train station.”

“I… I wanna go out there.”

I looked at Butterscotch. “Y-You’re joking, right?”

She shook her head. “No. I'm serious.”

Something wasn't right. This wasn't like Butterscotch.

“Butterscotch, are you ok?”

“Vanil. I'm going to go.”

I stepped in front of Butterscotch to block her path. “What's wrong with you? This isn't like you.”

Without another word, Butterscotch effortlessly pushed me down and started to walk toward the open hole.

I rolled back onto my hooves and turned toward her. The guards weren't doing anything. They just stood there, staring at me.

“Butterscotch!” I could feel the tears coming. “Butterscotch, come back!”

She walked past the doorway, and disappeared in the shadows. I ran toward her and stopped just before the doorway.

And then she screamed.

And the screams were followed by the cracking sound of bones breaking.

The shadows started moving. The darkness seemed like it was trying to swallow me. I backed up, and my rump bumped into something jagged.

I turned toward what I bumped into. Just where I was standing a half a minute ago, black crystals had appeared, and they stretched all the way toward the ceiling.

Panic, fear, and sadness were swelling up inside of me. What in Tartarus was going on?

I turned toward the door. I hoped that the guards were doing something. No, they had disappeared entirely. And a cage of the black crystals had surrounded me. And…

In the center of the cage was Butterscotch’s head, mounted on one of the crystals.

Tears filled up my eyes, and my vision became blurry. I started to hyperventilate.

The shadows started moving toward me. I backed up as far as the crystal cage would allow me.

The darkness started to gather in a pile in front of me, and formed a solid mass.

The… thing that formed looked like a large stallion. It looked like a unicorn, except its horn was curved, and was a fiery red. Its eyes were glowing a dark red, and it had green smoke trailing out from its eyes. It wore metal armor on most of its body, and it had a red robe on its back. It had a dark gray coat, and a black mane.

The thing spoke to me. Except, when it moved its mouth, it's voice seemed to come from everywhere at once.

“You've opened up your home to the outside world, pony.” It sneered at me, revealing it's sharpened teeth. “Soon, your home will be part of my empire. I hope you look forward to it”

One of the black crystals manifested beneath me, and grew at an alarming rate. I tried to move out of its way, but it changed its course, and wrapped around me, holding me in place.

“Your worst fear is losing your sister, hmm? Good. If you ever try to stop me, pony, I will take her life.”

The black crystal began to inch closer toward me eye. I tried to move away, but it was useless.

The dark stallion sneered again. “I'm not strong enough to reveal myself yet. But you can look forward to my coming soon.”

The crystal jetted forward into my eye, broke through my skull, and pierced my brain.

I woke up instantly when the ground met my face. My heart was pounding in my chest, and my breathing was heavy. My sheets clung to my sweaty body.

I rolled over onto my back, and stared into the darkness to let my eyes adjust.

That was a strange dream, yet it felt so real. I looked towards my sisters bed; seeing if she was okay.

Butterscotch was still there, tucked away underneath her covers. Breathing. Still alive.

Breathing a sigh of relief I stood back up, and as I did so a small dark object fell to the floor. I moved toward it, but it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

I blinked, and shook my head. That dream must have still been messing with my head.

I moved out of the room, slowly, so I wouldn't wake Butterscotch up. I worked my way through the dark, and eventually made it to the small workstation I had set up in our quarters.

I clicked the lights on. Bad idea. I flinched back as the light blurred my vision. I shut my eyes, and kept them closed, seeing nothing but the soft glow of the lights through my eyelids.

After my eyes adjusted to the light, I opened them.

I levitated a wrench on the worktable, toward me, and started loosening the bolt connecting my right wing to my back. I winced as pain shot through my back from the electrical receptors in my wings disconnecting from the nerves. I pulled the wing out, and did the same with my left.

Then, I started removing the stainless steel plate covering off my back. It came off easily, but the pain was still there.

I set the covering down on the worktable, and started moving toward the personal restroom in our dorm. I had it put there thanks to a special request I put in to the overmare. She didn't hesitate to accept it, thanks to all the contributions I’ve made in the past years to Stable 81.

I pushed open the door to the room, and turned on the light. I approached the sink, and turned on the nozzle to cold. Once it became cold I splashed some water onto my face.

I turned showing my back to mirror. My body had tried it's best to fill up the missing space for the past ten years. Despite its efforts, a good eight inches of the top of my metallic spine was still exposed, and the pink flesh surrounding it still looked squishy and weak.

I gave a sigh. “Great. Now comes the hard part.” The shower. Now i’m not acting like a colt who hates baths. Showers caused me pain. My back was sensitive, but it did need to be cleaned lest I catch an infection.

After a half hour of gentle yet painful scrubbing, I got out of the shower.

I dried myself off, and wrapped my mane up in a towel. When I walked out of the bathroom, I was greeted by the smell of breakfast.

I smiled, and walked toward the kitchen. “Whatcha makin?” I asked as I walked through the doorway.

Butterscotch looked over her shoulder, gave me a bright smile, then looked back toward her cooking.

“Just some blueberry flapjacks. I wanted to try something new, so I had Gardens give me the recipe.”

I let out a light chuckle. “Alright. I'm going to go put my wings back on. Then, I'll enjoy your cooking. Oh, and what time is it?”

Butterscotch took a look at the oven clock. “6:50. Jeez, we both got up really early this morning, huh?”

“Well, why'd you get up so early?”

“I… I had a nightmare.” Butterscotch’s voice grew shaky. “You… you died. And then… a r-really scary stallion threatened me…”

I hastily trotted toward her. “You had a nightmare? With a dark stallion?”

“Y-yeah…”

“I did too…”

Butterscotch looked toward me, her eyes glistening from the tears building up. “R-really? Wh-what does it mean?”

I shook my head. “I don't know… in my dream, you were killed. And then he told me that was my worst fear…

“Y-you were killed in my dream… he said the same thing…”

We sat in awkward silence contemplating the realness of our dreams.

“I'm going to go put my back on now.” I said breaking the silence.

“Y-yeah.”

Butterscotch returned to her cooking as I left the room.

“A rumor is going around that everyone in the Stable had a nightmare about a dark stallion last night.” Butterscotch said, as she tossed the dice onto the game board.

“Eleven. Good roll.” Said Fix Ser.

Fix Ser, the brown unicorn stallion that created my spine and back, and Igloo, the light blue perverted earth pony from second floor maintenance, both intered our dorm, and somehow we began playing board games. I suppose this was supposed to be a celebration for the repair of our water purifier, but the mood was more somber than cheerful. Probably because of the nightmares.

Fresh gardens, the pony from the moving crew; Butterscotch’s friend, was also there. She wasn’t playing the game with us. She wasn't even in the room. Celestia only knew what she was doing.

I stood up. “If you’ll excuse me. If you come up to my turn, just go ahead and skip me.”

“Alright.” said Butterscotch as she moved her game piece eleven spaces up the board.

I walked toward the bedroom. Celestia may have been the only one who knew where Gardens was, but that didn't mean I didn't have a guess.

When I walked into the bedroom, I found the light green mare. She was rolling around in my sister’s bed. And she was touching herself.

I rolled my eyes, and looked away. I waited for her to either finish, or notice me for a minute, before I decided to end it prematurely.

“Either you're giving the canyon a massage, or you're masturbating.”

Gardens shot up and looked at me. She tried her best to cover up her privates with her hooves, and her face turned a bright red.

“I suppose you could be doing both.”

She looked down, probably ashamed of herself. “Sorry…”

“Am I the one you need to be apologizing too?”

“No…”

“Get yourself cleaned up, and then you should meet Butterscotch in the room.”

Gardens nodded, and then climbed out of Butterscotch’s bed.

I walked back into the front room. “How many of my turns did you skip?”

“Three.” answered Fix Ser.

“Good. I'm playing all three of those turns right now.” Collected groans of disgust sounded from everyone sitting around the gameboard.

About five minutes later, Gardens walked into the room. She tapped Butterscotch on the shoulder.

Butterscotch looked over her shoulder at Gardens. “Oh, hey. Whatcha need?”

Gardens swallowed. “I wanted to… no, I need to apologize.”

Butterscotch tilted her head. “For what?”

“Well… I-”

Gardens was interrupted by the Stable alarm going off. Everyone jumped up, startled by the sudden noisy blaring.

Igloo looked at the red flood lights going off on the wall. “Maybe it's just a security protocol, or a test.”

His question was answered immediately.

The Overmare came on over the speaker. “This is not a test. Hostiles have entered the Stable. The guards posted at the door are M.I.A. If you are in your room, lock all doors. If you are unable to find a place to hide, please turn on your Eyes Forward Sparkle on your Pip-bucks. And avoid red bars that may appear on your E.F.S. Please remain safe until the threat is disposed of. This message repeats.”

Butterscotch looked around, fear apparent in her eyes.

I turned on my Pip-buck, then turned E.F.S. on. Immediately in my field of vision, four green bars appeared. One for each of the ponies in front of me.

The others did the same, and lulled behind for probably a minute.

A red bar appeared on my E.F.S.

“The door!” Gardens blurted. “We can't forget the door!” She ran toward the door, so she could shut it.

Gardens screamed, and ran back into the room. And it followed her in.

It looked like a pony, except its flesh was rotting and its hair was falling out. I reeled back from the putrid stench of decaying flesh the moment it walked into the room.

And it was also fast. Faster than Gardens. It tackled her to the ground before she could make it to us. Gardens rolled over, trying to buck it off. Somehow, it was stronger than her too, and it didn't even react to her struggling.

The thing leaned forward and bit into her neck, and jerked its head back, tearing out a chunk of Gardens’ throat.

At that moment, Butterscotch took action. She ran toward the thing, turned mid run, and bucked it in the head. A violent crack followed the powerful kick, and it went limp and fell over.

“What the fuck is that thing!?” exclaimed Igloo.

That, however, was not my concern right now. I ran over to Gardens, her chest was rising and falling. Slowly.

“Fuck. Someone watch her. I've got to grab some of my gear.”

Fix Ser took my spot next to Gardens, and I ran into the workroom. I pushed a secret button located underneath the right side of the worktable, and a wall panel opened up over the worktable. Inside the panel were my projects. My wings, the pylons, and a buzzsaw and drill attachment for my back.

I pulled out each object, and stuffed all of them but the pylons into nearby saddlebags.

I threw the saddlebags into my hip, and buckled them down. Then I levitated a wrench over toward me and connected the pylons to my back. That's right, back when I perfected them, I made it to where I could attach them to my back.

I winced as the nerves connected, and the pylons powered up. A line of jagged blue electricity started to run between the two pylons.

Perfect. Now if I could just…

I concentrated, and electricity shot out from the center of the two pylons. Lucky for me, it fired just high enough to go over my head. It left a large star shaped burn in the lead wall in front of me. Better than perfect.

I ran back into the front room.

“She’s bleeding everywhere. We need to take her to the med bay.” stated Fix Ser.

“Yes, I know.” As carefully as I could, I levitated Gardens and put her on my back. I rested her gently between the pylons and my saddlebags. “The closest med bay is the one across from my workplace. I'll bring her there. And Butter-”

I looked around. Butterscotch was missing from the room.

“Where's Butterscotch?”

Fix Ser rubbed the back of his head. “Er… she rushed out of the room. Went down to the eighth floor, I think.”

“You just let her leave!?” I questioned, anger rising.

What are you thinking Butterscotch? They may have been fast, but there was no way they made it that far already. Second floor, at best.

“I'm dropping Gardens off at medical, and then I'm going after my sister.”

“I think Igloo and I are fine here.” Igloo nodded in agreement. “We’ll shut the door, and wait for you here.”

I nodded, and then trotted out of the room. I heard it close behind me.

Gardens gave out a grunt of pain. “Please…” She gave a wet cough. “Please don't run…”

I slowed down from a trot to a walk. “Are you ok, Gardens?”

“No. I have a fucking hole in my neck. There's blood in my mouth.” She coughed again. “And the only way I can keep myself from drowning in my own blood is to cough it out. Which is messy and hurts, thanks to the hole.”

“Don't worry. I'll get you to the med bay. They’ll give you some med-x, stitch up the wound. They'll make you better.”

“Don't bother.”

I turned my head to look at her as best I could. There was blood all around her mouth.

“Why not?”

“Set me down.”

“But-”

“Do it!” She coughed particularly violently this time. “Just do it…”

I did as she asked. I made sure to lean her against a wall.

“Thank you Vanilla.” Another cough. I saw the blood fly out of her mouth when she did it. “Don't worry about me. I wasn't going to make it to medical. Go after your sister.”

“No, I need to-”

Gardens shook her head, then shut her eyes. “Please… go find your sister. Make sure she's safe.

Gardens took a deep breath. “Do it for me…” Her body slouched, and the green bar representing her blinked out of my vision.

I nodded, and tried to fight back the tears building in my eyes. “I will. I would never let anything happen to her.”

I walked away from Gardens. I'd have to to tend to her body later. For now, I needed to find my sister, and kill every single last monster that snuck its way into here.

I started walking down the hall, toward the closest staircase. The moment I turned a corner, I was greeted by the flank of one of those undead bastards. It didn't appear on my E.F.S. Looks like they didn't appear on it unless they were aware of my presence.

I blasted an electrical beam straight into the cadavers head. The head exploded and bits of skull and mushy brain flew everywhere. My face got caked in its blood.

I kept walking toward the stairs. Every time I saw one of those zombies, I went straight toward the zombie. There’s a zombie. Zap. Look, there’s another. Zap. Their bodies were so brittle that even after the pylons lost most of their power, I was still able to kill most of them in a single shot. I didn't leave a single one standing, until I confirmed they were dead.

I worked my way down to the fourth floor, still killing every zombie in my path.

I was once again greeted by the backside of a zombie further down the hallway. This was the only one I saw on the entire floor. I worked my way toward it until I slipped on something wet, and mushy. Of fucking course. I was able to catch myself, but I made too much noise..

A red bar appeared on my E.F.S., which meant it heard me. It turned around, and gave a bloodcurdling howl, then rushed me.

I tried to fire off a shot, hoping to at least slow it down before it could get to me. The pylons give out a small spark, and then shut off.

“Son of a bitch.” Was all I could say.

As the zombie tackled me to the ground, I landed onto a pylon which propped me up. The angle I had gave me an advantage over the zombie, and I was able to flip myself over backward, throwing the living corpse off of me.

It hit the ground hard, but still managed to get up. This is one of those times I wish I had my sister’s strength.

I shifted my weight off of the pylons, and got back on all four hooves. By the time I got back up, the thing was already rushing at me once more ready to rend my flesh from my bones.

I opened up my saddlebag, and levitated out the drill. Let's hope these things were at least stupid.

Just before it reached me, it lunged. Just as I was hoping for. I jutted the drill forward, spearing the zombie clear into the eye.

It's body went limp, and it slid off of the drill. A gush of blood spurted from its eye socket when it hit the ground.

I sighed. Great. I won. But I'm also completely out of power in the pylons. It’ll probably be another ten minutes before they're able to fire another blast.

The alarms in the Stable shut off. Why?

The Overmare’s voice came on over the speaker system.

“The threats within the confines of the Stable have been dispersed. I would like to thank all of you who assisted with the dilemma. I would also appreciate it if Vanilla Cream would report to my office, immediately.”

I looked around for a nearby camera. When I found it, I looked directly at it, and pointed at myself.

“Yes Vanilla. You.”

I stared at the camera and felt the adrenaline leave my body. I placed the drill back onto my saddlebag, and began walking towards the Overmare’s office, wondering what she had in store.

“Vanilla Cream. Thank you for coming to my office.” said the Overmare.

Those guards standing on both sides of her desk seemed really inviting.

“No problem, ma’am.”

“I’m banishing you from the Stable.”

I took a moment to register what she just said, before I stared at her in disbelief.

“Banishing. This… this is some kind of joke, right?”

“Unfortunately, no. It is your fault the Stable was left so open. So, I'm kicking you out, effective immediately, until you scour the land outside for a way to replace the door.”

I could feel my face turning red from anger, “Y-you're the one who approved this!” I yelled stamping my hoof down. The guards got a little closer pulling out their batons. “Yes.” She began “And look where we are. Ruin.”

“So a death sentence? You're giving me a death sentence?”

“Now, I never said-”

“You saw those things in the Stable. I'm sure you were watching them from the safety of your fucking office.. How do you expect me to survive with things like that out there?”

“How do you expect the Stable to survive with things like those coming inside?. Three ponies were killed today, Vanilla. And several more were injured. They may not make a full recovery.”

“So, you're going to send me out there, without any way to survive, and hope I come back with another twenty ton Stable door?”

“No. You're going out there with a way to survive. We will send you out there with food, water, medicine, potions, a gun, and barding.”

The Overmare reached underneath her desk, and pulled up a saddlebag that seemed to be packed almost full.

“Leather will protect you. Unfortunately, it was also all we had to offer.” She said almost sarcastically.

I scowled at her, but levitated the saddlebag and put it on by back.

“Is there anything else you would like to take before you leave?”

I looked at the two saddlebags on my back. The first one was still stained with Gardens blood.

“Yes. I want you to give Fresh Gardens a good funeral.”

The Overmare raised an eyebrow. “You don't want to take your sister with you?”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t want her to be in danger. I want her to stay here. And I want you to make sure she doesn't leave.”

The Overmare nodded. “Very well. I trust you won't be needing an escort outside?”

“No.”

“I hope to see you soon, Vanilla Cream.”

“Fuck you, and everything you stand for.” I said, walking out and letting the door slam behind me.

I stared into the gear shaped hole where the Stable door used to be. The memories from my nightmare last night threatened to push through, but I was able to push them back.

I took a deep breath, and walked into the hole.

Dirt. The first thing I touched when I walked through the door was dirt. It was a foreign feeling. Different, but new.

I managed to push myself forward. I kept walking, deeper and deeper into the cave. After a while, the walk steepened, and I was eventually climbing more than walking.

I finally reached the end, after what felt like thirty minutes. The last obstacle in my way to the outside, was a wooden double door in the ceiling above me.

I simply stared at it for a minute, before I powered up my Pip-buck interface, and sent my sister a message.

Butterscotch,

I’m leaving the Stable and going outside. Please don't hate me for doing it. I'll be back soon. Please don't follow me. I don't want anything bad to happen to you.
~Vanilla Cream

After sending the message, I pushed open the double doors. How did those zombie things even manage to get in here with this set up? Maybe they they were somewhat intelligent.

I climbed out of the cave, and took my first steps into the outside world. It was dark, barren and dusty, just like the scouts had described it.

I looked around, and checked the time on my Pip-buck.

19: 58

As I stared at my Pip-buck, a message popped up on the screen.

It wasn't from my sister. It was a foreign address to me. There was no writing. Only a single attachment. I opened it.

A picture of my sister, lying unconscious in a medical stretcher came into full view on the screen.

And her back legs were missing, both cut off halfway up the thigh.

Level Up

1>2

Perk gained:
S.A.N.S
Let Stable-Tec guide you The path to your closest quest target is displayed in S.A.T.S.

Author's Notes:

Well, now that I've published chapter 1, I think it'll be safe to write a bit more slowly now. I still hope you look forward to ch 2.

Please, if you like it, add it to your favorites, and keep up with it. Also, thanks to Kkat for writing the original Fallout Equestria, and thanks to many other authors with their own Fallout: Equestria fanfiction for inspiration to create my own.

Also, a huge thanks to Ernest Wood for editing my story, and making it 20% cooler.

Please, comment on it. Constructive criticism is accepted, as well as positive comments.