Chapter 14 - Echoes
“History rarely repeats itself, but its echoes never go away.”

I don’t know whether it was the gore of the scene laid out in front of me, or the contents of the letter, but my brain had stopped working. Simply staring at the motionless body before me, I tried to process everything that I had just been exposed to.

A hoof tapped me on the shoulder, and I jumped several inches off the floor. “What the fuck?” I yelled as I landed and nearly fell to the floor.

After regaining my balance, I looked at the pony that snuck up to me and found Silver. “Are you OK, Dust?” she said softly. “I figured I’d follow you, just in case something bad… I’m gonna be sick,” she added with a gulp as she looked behind me. Her face turned a shade of green as she bolted out of the office. I heard her retching just outside.

“Aww, c’mon!” the sheriff groaned. “Now who’s going to clean that up!”

After shaking my head to regain my wits, I walked outside. “Sheriff, how did this happen?” I asked. “I mean, how did he get a hold of a weapon?”

“Well, since he was found innocent and ordered to defend the town, I figured he should get his weapons back,” she sheriff said with a grimace. “He did not seem like the type to end it this way.” She shook her head several times. “What did the note say?” she said, breaking the silence.

“He said he was going to die either way and I should have let him die on the mountain,” I said somberly. “And that Muddy said he is heading to Whinnycrest for the, how did he put it, best stage of his little game.”

“This pony, Muddy, sounds fucked up,” the sheriff responded.

“That, Sheriff, is an understatement,” I said grimacing.

I trotted over towards Silver, who was still heaving. I grabbed her mane and held it back away from her mouth. I didn’t realize she had eaten that much before leaving the restaurant. It didn’t matter now, however, since none of it was staying down.

“For Celestia’s sake, I hope I never see anything like that again,” Silver forced out between dry heaves. “Why aren’t you nauseated by that?”

“You should see half the shit we’ve run across in raider run buildings,” I deadpanned. “This, unfortunately, is nothing compared to that.”

Silver wiped her mouth with her hoof and regained a fully upright position. “I hope I never get that accustomed to stuff like that,” she said in disgust. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it was simply a matter of time. Thinking about it further, I was amazed that this was the first time she had seen something like this.

“Never ran across any raider camps, huh?” I asked.

“No… always steered clear of anything other than the established settlements,” she said. “Seemed safer. Anyway, what are we gonna do about Muddy?”

“C’mon, let’s get back to our friends,” I said as I started walking. “We have a plan to make.”

We walked the rest of the way through the town quietly. The town didn’t quite feel the same. Colors seemed muted, sounds seemed muffled. All I could see in my mind was the bloody stump where Sure Shot’s head used to be. I had seen similar things in raider hideouts, but the, I guess the best word was freshness, of it here had rattled me to my soul.

We got to the restaurant where Brownie, Flower, and One were busy laughing and smiling. Brownie was the first to notice our return. The expression on his face soured when he saw us. The others saw Brownie’s reaction and looked at us also. Pretty soon, everypony was wearing a sour face.

Quickly, I filled them in on the gyst of what had happened in the sheriff’s office. Brownie took it especially hard. After hearing the news, he kept stirring at what remained of his stew and didn’t look up from it for a long time. Flower kept trying to snap him out of it, to no avail. One was the only one who seemed to not be affected, simply blowing bubbles with the straw the server had given him.

“Unfortunately, we have more to talk about,” I said somberly. “I know we’ve had this talk already, but are we going to continue after Muddy? He’s prepared something for us, and I’m afraid of what it could be, especially since he refers to it as a game.”

Brownie shook his head. “I don’t see what choice we have, Dust. If we don’t bring Muddy back, then ya get in trouble,” he said. “As far as ah’m concerned, nothin’ has changed here. It’s just a little more dangerous now, is all.”

Flower, nodded. “Yeah, Dust. We got inta this ta help ya,” she added.

“And Dust, don’t take this the wrong way,” Silver interjected. “But I want Muddy brought in as much as you do for what he did to me.”

An awkward silence filled the space between us. I still wanted to ask her about what, exactly, he had done. But she had made it clear, on several occasions, that I was not to bring it up. We all finished our dinner, the only sound the clattering of our flatware on the bowls.

After dinner, we quietly made our way back to the inn. Brownie walked right past the innkeeper and up the stairs. “Looks like, I’ll be negotiating today,” I mumbled to myself. I approached the rust colored stallion behind the county.

I opened my mouth to say something but he started saying something first. “You’re rooms are already taken care of, courtesy of Deputy Brick,” he said while reaching behind the counter and handing me the keys to the rooms. “He left this for you, also.” The innkeeper hoofed over a small note.

“Thanks,” I mumbled and walked away.

Silver and One followed me up the stairs. Brownie was waiting by the door, twisting the locked knob. “Brownie, here you go,” I called out while tossing the keys to him. “See you at sunrise.”

“Thanks, Dust. I plum forgot,” he said as he fumbled with the door.

I hoofed One his key. “Thanks, Mister Dust. I am so tired, and my head still hurts. I hope sleeping tonight helps,” he whined, rubbing his left temple.

“I’m sure it will, One. Good night.” I said.

I unlocked the door to our room and gestured for Silver to walk in before me. After entering the room behind her, I locked the door behind me with a gently click. Much like the night before, I shrugged off my armor and saddle bags and began stretching my wings.

“What did the note say?” Silver asked.

“Shit, forgot all about it,” I blurted out. After folding my wings back in, I withdrew the faded paper note our of my saddle bags. I unfolded the piece of paper and read aloud.

“Dust. I can’t thank you enough for bringing my brother’s killer to justice. I wanted to blame you for it, but I realized that the only pony responsible was Sure Shot. I also want you to thank Brown Root for me. He helped me to see that revenge wasn’t the way to go. It still hurts and I miss my brother, but killing Sure Shot wouldn’t bring him back. Please see me before you leave town tomorrow (just a guess you are all heading out). I have something I want to give you. Deputy Brick.”

“Huh,” I murmured as I put the note down. “I guess Brownie was more persuasive than I thought.”

“I don’t know, Dust,” Silver said as she slid into bed. “I don’t know if justice was served here. How can a mercenary be considered innocent if he agrees to kill a pony who has done nothing wrong?”

“I don’t know, Silver,” I said, shaking my head. The truth was, I didn’t know. That was the one thing I couldn’t wrap my head around while I was down here. Had things gotten so bad for these ponies that some were willing to kill others, regardless of guilt or innocence? And did they do it with a clear conscience or were they tormented by it? Things were much clearer above the clouds.

“You coming to bed?” she asked with a yawn.

“Yeah. We have a long walk ahead of us tomorrow and we have to make it to the stable by sundown,” I said while reviewing the map on my Pipbuck. The dark green display showed that Whinnycrest was a good thirty miles or so north of here. It would take us most of the day just to make it to the stable. And if the sheriff was right, the area was overrun by ghouls. But that was a problem for tomorrow.

I slid into the bed beside Silver. The lumpy mattress was oddly comfortable, probably due to the fact that I was exhausted, mentally and physically, from the day’s events. Or maybe I was dreading finally catching up with Muddy tomorrow. What did he have waiting for us? Would I get somepony else hurt tomorrow?

Silver’s body gently warmed me, melting away the tension and stress I was feeling. Her gentle breathing was comforting as well. I wished I could spend the rest of my life with her like this. But, one way or another, it was going to come to an end at some point. Either one of us would die, or I’d have to return to the Enclave.

Suddenly, a message appeared in my vision. It was amazing how quickly I became accustomed to the EFS and the random info it would display. This notification was informing me that an encrypted entry “Compassion” was decoded. Not having any interest in reading about Rainbow Dash, I ignored it. Why was my Pipbuck so motivated to teach me about her? She had no redeeming qualities and died more than 150 years ago.

I wrapped my hooves around Silver. She instinctively shuffled to get closer to me and wrapped her hooves around mine. Feeling her rhythmic breathing helped to relax me, and I soon drifted off to sleep with her.

The Wasteland daylight softly roused me from my slumber. For the first time since Coltington, I had been able to sleep the whole night with no interruptions or nightmares. Just me and my special somepony on a lumpy mattress with threadbare sheets. I dare say it was the best night’s sleep since leaving the fort.

Gently nuzzling Silver’s cheek, I slowly woke her up as well. “C’mon, Dust, just give me a few more minutes,” she groaned, gripping my hooves tighter.

“Silver, trust me. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be right now than here with you.” I told her while hugging her tightly. “But we have a long trip ahead of us, especially if we want to make it to Whinnycrest by tonight.” Her response was to simply stick her tongue out at me.

Donning my armor and saddlebags, I double checked to make sure everything was in place. The last thing I needed was to out myself this close to our goal. It took a little more coaxing to get Silver out of bed, but ripping the sheet off of her and swishing my tail in her face pretty much did the job.

“Geez, Dust,” she whined. “I’d hate to see what you’d do if it was something more important!”

We made our way downstairs where everypony else was waiting for us. Flower made eye contact with me and raised her eyebrows. I shook my head in response and felt my face flush. She broke out in soft laughter. Brownie had already picked us up some freshly opened canned vegetables for breakfast, which we all greedily ate.

“Alright, everypony. First we have to go see Deputy Brick,” I said. “He has something for us. Then we go to Whinnycrest.”

We trotted across town to the sheriff’s office and let ourselves in. Deputy Brick was sitting behind one of the desks in the office, leaning back in his chair and his hooves on the surface. A quick glance to the jail cell showed me that somepony had cleaned it as best they could. There was still a red hue to the weathered wood, but it was only obvious if you knew what to look for.

“Deputy Brick, you asked to see me before we left town?” I asked.

“Yes, Dust,” he said while kicking his feet off the desk and returning to an upright position. “Knowing you are heading up to Whinnycrest, I have something that will help you.” He opened one of the drawers on the desk and withdrew a small box. He pushed it along the top of the desk towards me.

I picked up the box and opened it. Inside was a small, steel key. “Huh. What does this key open?” I asked while flipping the key over.

“My ancestors were residents of stable 188. They were forced out of the stable more than a century ago. Most of the residents didn’t make it, but mine made it to Fetlock Flats,” he said wistfully. “My parents worked for the maintenance department. That key has been handed down from generation to generation. It will get you access to the sewer system.” Brick now pulled out a rolled up piece of blue paper. “These are the blueprints for the sewers. As you can see, you can enter the sewers on the outskirts of town and one of the tunnels leads right to the stable entry area. This should make things much easier for you.”

“Brick, thank you,” I said. “This is so generous.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to be going up there anytime soon,” he responded. “All I ask is that you look into something for me. Family rumors say my ancestors hid an heirloom somewhere in the sewers. According to tales passed down the family line, it’s hidden in a footlocker in a control room in the center of the sewers. Whinnycrest isn’t a large town sothe sewer system won’t be complicated. If you could just look for that family treasure, I’d appreciate it.”

“No problem, Deputy,” I said while offering a hoof for a hoofbump. “We will do our best.”

“I know you will, Dust,” he said, bumping my hoof back. “I know you will.”

With a last round of trading to get rid of excess junk and pick up some additional canned food, we made our way to the edge of town. A deep rumble overhead caught our attention. “Oh great, please don’t tell me…” I muttered as the first drops of rain spattered around us. “Damn weather ponies,” I muttered under my breath.

“What was that, Dust?” Flower asked.

I froze involuntarily. How could she have heard me? “Nothing, just complaining,” I blurted out. Flower gave me a sideways look, but we kept on walking.

The rain wasn’t particularly heavy, but it was steady. My Pipbuck began a slow clicking, which I figured out meant that the radiation in the area was beginning to pose a threat. Fortunately, we had packed away a limited amount of RadSafe, which we all took to help minimize our exposure. The worst part was how cold the rain was. After the first hour, I was downright shivering.

After another hour, I made the decision to find shelter, at least until the rain let up. Brownie vaguely remembered there being a small service station about half an hour off our current path. Seeing as how it was the only option, we headed towards it.

The small steel and glass building crept up on the horizon, barely visible through the now heavy rain. The ground underneath us had become a slick mud a while ago and we were all caked in it up to our fetlocks. I had stopped shivering a short while ago, which probably meant I was hypothermic.

As we drew near, I was grateful that the structure itself was mostly intact. The rolling doors for the service bays had collapsed decades ago, but the steel and glass structure of the office was fully in tact. The rain had become a torrential downpour so we galloped the last hundred or so yards. My EFS had shown no bars besides our own, so I knew this was a safe place to shelter for the short term.

We all got under the roof for the service bays and began to dry ourselves off. Brownie, Flower, and One removed all their wet clothing before Brownie began to set up a fire using the wood from a nearby workbench. Silver was doing her best to wring out her jacket without removing it. Fortunately, my armor was more or less waterproof, so I just needed to dry out my exposed fur.

Brownie had a fire going in short order, and we all clustered up around it, trying to warm ourselves. Flower and Brownie were cuddled together, trying to warm each other better. Silver and I had done the same. One found an old oil-stained drop cloth which he was using as a blanket of sorts.

“So, Dust, do ya have a plan ta deal with Muddy once we get ta the stable?” Brownie asked.

“I wish I did, Brownie. But it seems like Muddy has a plan, and he is treating this as a game,” I said, thinking out loud more than responding to him. “My guess is we will be walking into some kind of trap. But if we don’t play his game, we will never get a run at him.”

“I don’t like this, Dust. Not one bit,” Brownie said, shaking his head.

“I know, Brownie,” I said with a sigh. “No matter which way I run this through my head, Muddy always has the upper hand. The minute we breach the stable, he’ll know, and we have to assume he controls all the systems. The only plan I can come up with is a longshot and places you all at risk.”

“Well, what is it, Dust?” Silver asked.

“We split up,” I said hesitantly. Everyone, except One, looked at me shocked. “I know what you’re going to say, but hear me out. As long as he controls the stable, we’ll never make leeway. If there is one thing I learned scavving stables, it’s that Muddy will be in either the Overseer’s office, or wherever the backup control terminal is. Unfortunately, that varies from stable to stable. Anyway, if we split up, Muddy will have more trouble dealing with us. While he’s distracted, I can try to override control of the stable.”

A long silence followed. Everypony was mulling through the plan in their minds. “Look, if anypony has a better idea, I’m all ears,” I said, looking around. Nopony said anything. “That’s what I thought. If something better comes up, we’ll do it, but I think this is the only chance we have.” Everypony mumbled in agreement.

“Um, Mister Dust. What’s this?” One asked while hoofing at something on the floor.

I walked over to where One was and looked at his hooves. In the floor was a small, recessed panel. There were two hoofholds build into it. I tried to lift it, but it didn’t budge.

“One, are you able to use your magic again?” I asked.

“I don’t know, Mister Dust. My horn still hurts, but I’ll try,” he said, shrugging.

I watched as his face screwed up in effort. Sparks started to shoot from his horn and he grimaced in pain. “I’m sorry, Mister Dust. I just can’t,” he whined.

“It’s OK, One,” I said, patting him on the shoulder. “Let me see if I can find something I can leverage this open with.”

In one corner of the service station was a long metal rod. I grabbed it and walked back over to the panel. Carefully threading it through the hoof hold, I anchored the loose end against the wall and starting lifting as hard as I could. With a loud grinding sound, the hatch slowly moved upwards. Eventually, it cleared the surrounding foundation and I let it drop to the pavement with a loud thud.

Underneath the hatch was a small staircase that led underneath the service station. After a few feet, the staircase disappeared into the darkness. Cool, stale air began to wash over me as I kneeled down to try to get a better look.

“I wanna check this out,” I called out. “My EFS is clear, so it should be relatively safe. Anypony want to come with?”

Flower perked up. “I’ll go with ya. I’ll try ta keep ya out of trouble,” she said.

“Be careful down there, Dust,” Silver called out in an unsettled voice.

“Don’t worry, I got Flower with me and if it gets dangerous, we’ll head back,” I said while walking towards the opening. I began to walk down the concrete stairs, each step kicking up a small cloud of dust. The bright, green light from my Pip-Buck cast an eerie glow all around us. At the bottom of the stairs, a short hallway ended in a wall with a hatch-type door set in it. Still seeing nothing on my EFS, I looked at Flower and gave her a nod.

With a loud squeal, I turned the wheel set into the door. When it locked in place, I gave the door a tug. Fighting against the strain of not having been used for over a hundred years, I finally got the door to swing open. A very musty and rotten odor poured out of the doorway. After coughing a few times and clearing my throat, I began to walk inside the door.

A small room opened up in front of me. It was really no bigger than one of the bunk rooms back up at the fort. There was room for a small table and kitchenette area, a communal toilet and shower, and three beds set against the wall. Somehow, the circulation fan was still in operation even after all this time, circulating the rotten air. The sight of a foal-sized skeleton in one of the beds made my heart sink. It was clutching a deteriorating sock-pony puppet. One of the eyes was dangling by a thread, amazingly having survived all this time. In the next bed was a larger stallion skeleton. In the final bed, the trio was rounded out by the skeleton of a mare.

My hooves kept kicking up small clouds of dust. Ours were the first tracks in this cellar. I carefully walked over towards the bed of the mare and saw a small leather bound book and pen sitting on the bedside table. I gently folded over the cover and saw smooth and flowing hoofwriting. It was the journal of a pony named Groundrunner. The beginning of the journal was a collection of mundane entries detailing daily activities, petty disagreements, and pride in her daughter, Bean Sprout’s, achievements.

The last several entries were much darker in tone. Whereas the other entries were all laid out similarly, with dates and a greeting line, these abruptly started and were in a much more erratic hoofwriting.

The first entry read: “They fucking did it. Those damn stripes did it. They took out Cloudsdale! And Canterlot! And several other cities! I just can’t believe it. Fortunately, we were far enough way to avoid the destruction of the blasts. We have to find a safe place to stay. Rocky is out foraging for supplies. What are we going to do? How will we explain this to Sprout!

Turning the page, I found another: “Rocky found a shelter for us. The Wrenches next door went to Canterlot to try to get some friends to come back with them. They had built a shelter under their service center. I hate to say it this way, but they won’t be needing it anymore. We are collecting our things to make a run for it.”

That was followed by: “We just barely made it to the shelter today. Civilization has broken down. Shortly after leaving for the shelter, we ran across a band of outlaws. They started shooting as soon as they saw us. Rocky got shot in the shoulder. I hope he’ll be OK. I am going to search for first aid supplies tomorrow. Bean is taking it as well as can be expected, clutching onto Smarty Pants for comfort. She seems OK, but I can only imagine what is going on inside her head. Every time I try to talk to her, she withdraws and just rocks in her bed with Smarty Pants. We can’t stay down here forever.”

I turned to the next page. “Still looking for medical supplies for Rocky. Everywhere I go nearby has already been picked clean. Ponies I have stumbled across are willing to trade, but I haven’t been carrying anything. I’ll have to carry some next time I go out. For the first time, I have come across survivors from other small towns. Apparently, places like Appleloosa, Ponyville, and Dodge Junction were not hit directly. But a lot of ponies are getting sick. Everypony is looking for aid. Rocky is still deteriorating. I must find aid soon or I fear he won’t make it.”

The next passage’s hoofwriting was barely legible and the pen had formed deep gouges in the paper. “Fuck the pegasi! Fuck them! I was out today looking for supplies for Rocky. Overhead I saw the contrails of three pegasi arcing in the sky. As soon as they were directly above me, I waved at them and began yelling for help. The lead pony looked right at me and then kept on going! That fucking bastard! And to top it all off, they were actually creating clouds with their contrails. The sky was almost completely overcast. They are going to cover us over and forget we are even down here!”

The next page had small circles of water stains that had smeared the ink. “Rocky died today. His infection never healed and I couldn’t find the medicine I needed. And now Bean is coughing up blood. She sleeps all day and can barely keep down food or water. I’m not feeling well either. My mane is beginning to fall out. I must get help.”

The last entry was more lightly written. “Doing worse… won’t last long… Bean is still sick… Need to do something… Can’t leave her alone… Today I will end her misery and then do the same to myself…. Just hope I have enough Med-X for me…”

I gingerly closed the journal. What the hell was this!? How many ponies had really survived the megaspells? I thought it was a handful at best. Even if other rumors I’ve heard down here were true, handfuls of survivors were left behind. But according to this, whole towns survived the initial blasts. That means there were many ponies left behind under the cloud cover. This journal has to be the rambling of a crazy mare. This flew directly in the face of everything I had been taught since I was a foal.

“Interesting reading, Dust?” Flower asked, while rummaging through a bin across the room.

“Just a journal,” I responded. “This family died shortly after the megaspells fell.”

“Celestia bless their souls,” she muttered. “Good news is I found some medical supplies and some canned food.”

“Did you find some Med-X?” I asked, expecting her answer to debunk the journal.

“Yeah, there were about 5 empty syringes over here,” she said with a nod. “It’s a shame, we coulda used some.”

No fucking way… this couldn’t be. The journal couldn’t be true, it just couldn’t. Flower was saying something, but my brain was not processing it. The Enclave had to be right. Nopony could have survived. There was nopony down here to save at the time. The surface was uninhabitable after the megaspells.

I was abruptly broken away from my thoughts by Flower gently shaking me. “Dust, ya still with us?” she asked, staying right at my face.

“Yeah, sorry,” I blurted out. “The journal just shook me up a little. Imagining what it was like when the spells fell.”

“I don’t think I coulda handled that,” she said shaking her head. “To survive the blast and suffer the beginning of the Wasteland.”

“Yeah,” I muttered, trailing off. “Anyway, did you get anything of any value?”

“Yup, cleaned the place out,” she said with confidence.

“Good,” I said. “Let’s get the hell out of here. This place gives me the creeps.” Yeah, and in more ways than one.

We walked back up the stairs and I closed the hatch behind us.

“So what did you find down there?” Silver asked.

“Just a lot of Wasteland history and a few supplies,” I said, still muttering a little.

Silver walked over to me and placed a hoof on my shoulder. “Dust, are you OK?” she said. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Yeah,” I said softly. “There was a family that was living here right when the megaspells fell. Their bodies and a journal the mother kept were downstairs. I don’t think I’ll ever get over seeing the bodies of foals..” Silver wrapped me in a hug and squeezed me softly.

“Looks like the rain is windin’ down,” Brownie said gazing out the open doorway. “If we pick up the pace a little, we should still make it ta the outskirts of Fetlock Flats before dark.”

We all packed up our stuff and got back on the road. It was nice that my armor dried while we were indoors, or else I’d be downright uncomfortable. The others had enjoyed the brief period of time where their armor was still warm from being dried out by the fire. I, obviously, had not taken mine off.

The rain had turned the dirt covering the roadway into a thin layer of mud. We tried to pick up our pace to a slow canter, but had to slow down at times due to the slickness of the roadway. We were going to make up some of the lost time, but I wondered if it would be enough.

Quickly glancing up towards the sky, I saw a section of the gray overcast lighten a little. It almost threatened to open up and allow the blue sky above poke through. That was one of the results of the lack of full control of the SPP system. The traitor, Rainbow Dash, had locked the Enclave out when they tried to close up the skies permanently. As such, sections of the cloud cover would weaken and almost dissipate completely. This is what limited food production and kept the Enclave under the threat of near famine. It’s a shame Gilda never captured her and brought her back.

I wondered what it had looked like the day the decision was made to close it up. If the history books were correct, there were few survivors on the surface when the decision was made. The journal, though, had my mind racing at the possibilities.

To first survive the explosion of the green balefire that the megaspells had wrought had to be bad enough. The videos that had come out of Cloudsdale the day it was destroyed I saw in history class flooded my mind. I never knew that clouds could burn. But the magical balefire had even ignited the white, fluffy buildings. The lucky pegasi were the ones close to the explosion. They had simply been vaporized. Others had spent weeks in the care of doctors before succumbing to radiation poisoning.

Videos from the surface had been worse. Canterlot, Manehattan, Phillydelphia… it was the same in each. A bright green flash followed by widescale destruction. Smaller buildings were simply demolished. Larger buildings were damaged, many toppling over in the shockwave. Some early expeditions found piles of dead bodies and nothing else. It was these discoveries that led to the decision to close off the sky. Cloudsdale was the only skybound casualty of the war. And the government was adamant on keeping it that way.

But the journal cast all of that in doubt. Suspending my belief in what I had been taught in school, I asked myself what if there were whole towns full of survivors? Goddesses, to have seen the destruction happen right in front of my eyes? To see a once-great sky city completely destroyed? To watch a town erased from existence? To see loved ones die right in front of you?

And then my thoughts began to dwell on Bean. Now, I had no children, but I can’t imagine being driven to the point of killing your own child. To lose all hope and to think the better choice is murder? Granted, from the sound of the journal, they both would have succumbed to radiation sickness, but, what if one of them didn’t? What if poor little Bean had woken up one day to find her mother dead. And then how would she have taken care of herself? Even if the precursors to the raiders hadn’t found her, then some horribly irradiated beast would have.

And then there’s the supposed behavior of the remnants of the pegasi before the Enclave was formed. What I read in that journal shook me to the core. How could anypony turn their backs on that many of their brethren on the surface? If there were that many survivors, how could they have simply ignored their cries for help. And then, to seal them away under a perpetual covering of clouds? To issue the order and then having to follow it?

But that couldn’t have happened. The journal must be a fake. Ponies looked out for one another back then. Earth ponies and unicorns fought the ground battle while the pegasi cleared the air. We fought the zebras, griffins, and dragons together. We couldn’t turn our backs on each other? Could we? And to pretend survivors didn’t exist? To leave them to a fate worse than death? To hear the cries below and pretend they didn’t exist?

I didn’t know if I could follow such an order. I mean, I know the military exists to protect the interests of the Enclave and to protect its’ citizens, but I don’t know if I could have been that callous. But could I have defied an order? My head was starting to throb at all the implications.

“Hey, Dust, buddy?” Flower said. “Ya still with us here in the Wasteland?”

“Huh? Yeah,” I said, being jostled back to reality. “That journal just got me thinking about what it was like to be there when the megaspells fell.”

“Ah can understand that,” she said with a nod. “Ah’ve heard stories passed down through families, and none of them end well. Those damn cloudherders left entire towns to die. Rather than try to help all the survivors, they simply turned their backs.”

I bit down on my tongue to stifle my gasp. Flower is saying that there were whole towns full of survivors. Did she really expect me to believe that?? Did the Enclave make a mistake? Could they make that huge of a mistake? Or was the journal just overexaggerating? My head started to hurt again.

“I didn’t know you knew stable ponies, Flower?” I asked.
“Aw, nah, Dust. I know a few ponies that survived the blasts and lived on the surface,” she added, nonplussed. Her statement caused me to trip over my own hooves, nearly causing me to faceplant. “Ya OK there, Dust?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I blurted out. What the fuck was going on? First the journal, and now this? And if Flower knew family of the survivors of the megaspells, why hadn’t I heard of this before? Had it really never come up in conversation before? Or did I simply ignore it?

I looked back up towards the sky as we kept cantering towards Whinnycrest. Did the Enclave lie about everything regarding the Wasteland? Did we really have no choice or did we doom everypony else to die?

I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder which snapped me out of my thoughts. Silver had sidled up next to me and tapped me with her wing. “A cap for your thoughts?” she asked, the corners of her mouth turned down in concern.

“I just can’t stop thinking about the Last Day,” I murmured. “I mean, what could it have been like to be on the surface with the megaspells going off all around. And even if somepony survived the initial onslaught, the magical radiation probably got them. And then, the Enclave closing up shop… I just don’t get it.”

Silver visibly shuddered when the Enclave was mentioned. “Those damned featherbrains,” she spat out. “If only they cared about what was going on down here.” Her body visibly tightened with each word.

“Silver, are you OK?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s nothing, really,” she replied awkwardly. She opened her mouth as if to say something else, but then closed it.

“Silver, if…” I started.

“It’s nothing, I swear,” she said firmly. I’d have to try again later.

The next few hours passed uneventfully. The terrain, in usual Wasteland fashion, hadn’t really changed much since we left Manny’s. Flat land, rocks, dirt covered and cracked asphalt.

My mind kept wandering to the mystery of the discrepancies between my teachings in school, the journal, and even Flower’s statements. The same questions as before kept swirling through my mind. And then there was Silver’s reaction to the Enclave. None of this helped to ease my mind.

After a few more hours, the light began to dim. What little light was making it past the cloud cover, was quickly diminished by the sun setting behind the clouds. Checking my Pipbuck map for what felt like the thousandth time, we were right on the edge of what I assumed were the city limits of Whinnycrest. The first few red bars began to appear at the bottom of my vision. We found a small rise that gave us a good vantage point of the town.

Flower took out her sniper rifle and used the scope to scan the town. “Holy shit, Dust,” she said with a whistle. “You gotta take a look at this yerself.”

She hoofed me her rifle and I look through the scope. Everywhere you looked, you saw clusters of ghouls. There wasn’t a street, courtyard or fenced in yard that didn’t have at least a dozen ghouls shambling around. “Holy hell,” I gasped. “I am so glad we have a back way in. There is no way we’d be able to fight through that herd. According to Brick, southwest of town there should be an old causeway. A few hundred yards up there should be a locked sewer maintenance access. That should get us right to the stable entry cavern.”

After handing Flower her rifle back, we set out towards the west. After about half an hour, we reached the cement causeway. The only problem is that it wasn’t so dry right now. The rain from most of the day must have run off and flooded the area..

“Ah hope y’all brought yer galoshes. Looks like we’re goin’ fer a swim,” Brownie said with a smirk.

Unable to stifle my groan, I rolled my eyes as I watched Brownie and Flower tread slowly into the flowing water. Fortunately, the water only went halfway up their fetlocks, so the water wasn’t deep. One trotted in after them, gleefully splashing in the water. Flower couldn’t help but to giggle a little at One’s antics. I was glad to see it. Maybe this would be the thing that helped him break out of his funk. Silver looked at me and arched one of her eyebrows as she kicked off the ground and floated up the river while flying.

“Smartass,” I muttered under my breath.

“What was that, Dust?” she asked playfully.

“Oh nothing,” I responded with a measured dose of sarcasm.

I took my first few steps into the flowing water. Geez, was it cold as fuck! The soft clicking of my Pipbuck told me that it would be best if I didn’t linger here too long. Speeding up into a light trot, I splashed my way up the river with my friends. As promised, after a few hundred yards, a small, steel door was set unto the concrete walls of the causeway. In the twilight darkness, we didn’t see it until we were right on top of it.

Taking the key out of my bags, I eased it into the lock and was pleasantly surprised how easily the lock turned. After removing the key, it took Brownie and myself to force the door open, fighting years of rust that had almost frozen the hinges. “For once, something is going right on this trip,” I said with a small grin on my face.

“Now, Dust, let’s not get ta temptin’ fate here,” Brownie said with a grimace.

“C’mon, Brownie, don’t you think the Wasteland owes us one by now?” I asked.

“It doesn’t work that way, Dust,” he said, shaking his head.

After the last of our party made their way inside, Brownie and I forced the door closed and I locked it with the key. “At least nopony can sneak up on us from behind,” I said as I stowed the key back in my bag.

Flicking the light switch on my Pip-Buck, I bathed the sewer tunnel in front of us in a bright, green glow. The first thing that struck me was the smell. Some of the rain must have made its way into the sewers and reinvigorated the musty, rotten smell of the sewers. I heard One and Silver dry heave several times. Brownie, Flower, and I, having encountered this many times before, were comparably OK.

The section of sewer we were in continued straight for as far as the Pip-Buck light could illuminate. The old cement and brick construction held up surprisingly well over the time. The only other item of interest was another steel door, similar to the one leading back outside. Painted on in white block lettering was the word “Storage”. Brick’s key fit the lock again and this door opened more smoothly than the exterior door.

The door led to a small room ringed with large cabinets. My Pipbuck light didn’t penetrate to see what was in the cabinets, however. In the back of the room sat a console with a large, blinking red button. “I wonder what this does,” One said, coming from the direction of the button.

“One, don’t…” I managed to blurt out before I saw the light of the button disappear. From behind the wall, I heard the muffled sputtering of a generator. After several seconds of struggle, the generator purred to life and a bare light bulb over the center of the room came to life.

Able to see more clearly, I glanced around the room again. The cabinets had been forced open and left empty. Seeing as how the exterior door had still been locked, this must have been cleaned out when the denizens of the stable that had been forced out. There was a small desk in one corner with the remnants of the daily routine of whatever operator had worked here. Apparently, he had fueled up the generator the day the bombs fell. I am really glad he or she had. The only other object of any interest was a door set into the back wall, which probably led to the generator.

My attention was diverted when Brownie cleared his throat. “Hey, Dust. What’s yer plan? Rest up tonight or head right fer the stable? Mah two bits, this room would be a good place to bed down fer the night.”

I yawned as Brownie mentioned bedding down for the night. Today was a rough day, especially considering the pace we needed to maintain to make it here in time. And I didn’t want to enter the stable tired. Whetever Muddy had planned, we needed to be ready for it.

“I guess this place is as good as any,” I said as I walked over and locked the door. “Probably don’t even need somepony to take watch.” Almost as if it had been waiting for that moment, a low roar echoed its way through the sewers and though the door. “When will I ever learn,” I said as I shook my head.

“Wh-wh-what was that?” One murmured, his eyes having widened to the size of dinner plates.

“Oh, far as I can make out, just a radigator,” Brownie stated matter-of-factly. “From the sound of it, probably just a small one.”

“Oh, like a baby?” One asked, his ears still flattened against his head.

“Well, considerin’ a baby is still as big as a pony,” Brownie said, “this one’s probably a mite bigger than that.”

“Oh...” One sighed as he nervously looked towards the door.

“Well, look, One. Unless they’ve learned ta open doors, we’re safe in here, at least fer tonight,” Brownie said placing a leg around his shoulder.

Brownie and Flower volunteered for guard duty tonight, with Brownie taking the first shift. The rest of us set up our bedrolls and settled in for the night. Cuddling up with Silver, as was now usual for us, I felt as peace once again. It wouldn’t cease to amaze me how just being close to her set my mind at ease.

After nuzzling her neck, I yawned again. “Good night, Silver,” I whispered in her ear.

“Good night, Dust,” Silver whispered back.

Silver began to softly breathe next to me. Her gentle breathing was easing the muscles in my body as well. My eyelids began to droop as the world around me began to fall away. As my eyes fluttered open for the last time before falling asleep, another roar echoed throughout the sewer. My eyes shot open again. This was going to be a long night.

After finally struggling to fall asleep, I was fortunate enough to sleep through the whole night. Brownie and Flower let me know that the radigator had quieted down after an hour or so. Flower had also messed around with the generator control console, finding that the generator was indeed nearly fully fueled. At least we wouldn’t have the lights die out on us unexpectedly.

We all packed our gear up and left the little closet in which we had just spent the night. The generator had also powered up lights along the length of the sewers. I sighed in relief that we wouldn’t be walking around a dark sewer, with the only light being the one from my Pipbuck.

Brick has told us that it was basically a straight shot from the entrance to the stable access, but we did have a side trip to make. We had promised to look for Brick’s family heirloom.

Fortunately, the sewer had raised walkways on either side of the flowing runoff. Every so often, there would be a metal walkway that would allow us to cross over to the other side if needed. My hoofdrawn copy of Brick’s blueprints said we had to get to the third intersection and then make a left. We passed the first intersection and were on the way to the second when we saw that it was blocked off. The ceiling must have caved in a while ago and had completely sealed off this tube.

“I guess we backtrack and find a way around,” I said with a sigh. As the echoing of my words died out, they were replaced by another roar of the radigator. It sounded closer than it did last night. “Ah, shit,” I hissed. “Alright, everypony keep quiet.”

The echoing of our hoofsteps now sounded like gunshots. Funny how I hadn’t noticed them before. The radigator roared every now and then, the exact direction hard to determine due to the echoing of the sewers. I found myself checking my EFS more frequently than usual. If it ever found us, I wanted to make sure we had as much warning as possible.

After several turns and a few more unexpected detours, we found ourselves near the central control room. It was an elevated room surrounded by glass windows. A small, metal stairway led up to the steel door that led into the room. The sound of the echoing hoofsteps on the metal walkway were even louder than the cement, if that was possible. One, who had been trailing the rest of the group, started climbing the stairs and they let out a loud groan. We all stopped dead in our tracks, as the radigator let out a blood-curdling roar.

I quickly hoofed the key out of my bags and unlocked the door at the top of the steps. Everypony quickly climbed the stairs and dove into the control room. I quickly ran in behind them and turn to close the door. The head of the radigator turned the corner and our eyes met.

The thing’s head was nearly as big as a pony! It’s brownish, scaly body was probably about the length of ten ponies. This thing was huge! It began to run towards us at full speed. I grabbed the door handle and pulled on it as hard as I could. Before the door slammed shut, I saw the radigator rear up and swing at the handrail of the landing just outside the door. The entire thing shook and creaked at the force.

Quickly, I swung the handle downwards, engaging the locking bolts. I leaned against the door, as if to brace it against the assault. The radigator continued to strike at the metal stairway, being too large to climb it itself. The metal creaked under the assault. I was concerned it wouldn’t survive the onslaught and we’d have to jump down. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to a fifteen foot drop.

Almost as if it heard me, the radigator stopped striking at the staircase. However, it didn’t leave. I could hear it pacing the section of sewer just outside the door. I allowed myself to slide down to the floor. “Holy shit! That thing is fucking huge!” I exclaimed between ragged breaths.

“Eeyup. Gotta be the biggest ‘gator I ever seen,” Brownie said nodding.

“Well, let’s see if we can wait it out. In the meantime, let me get this family heirloom,” I said while scanning the room. “Anypony see the footlocker?”

“I got it over here!” Flower called out. The footlocker was basically identical to the one that used to be in my bunkroom in Fort Coltington. The dark green, metal box was oddly comforting. My mind flooded with the memories of days of routine duties above the clouds, with the sun shining down on me…

“Uh, Dust, ya gonna open it?” Flower said, interrupting my reverie.

“Huh, what?” I said, being harshly brought back to reality. I shook my head and saw I was still kneeling at the footlocker. “Yeah, sorry, just thinking about the radigator.” Using the same key that had opened up everything in this sewer, the key fit into the lock and it opened effortlessly. Inside the footlocker was… a memory orb. I gingerly hoofed it out of the footlocker and looked at it. I had only seen memory orbs in sealed cases. A grayish smoke shimmered inside the glass orb. I would have asked either One or Brownie to view the orb, but that would have been a violation of Brick’s privacy.

My contemplation of the orb was cut short by another roar of the radigator. It was still pacing just outside the doorway to the control room. “Now, what in Tartarus are we going to do about you?” I asked sarcastically to the radigator. “Brownie, how fast can radigators move?”

“Faster than we can,” Brownie said, shaking his head. “Ain’t no way we’re outrunnin’ it.”

“Of course,” I said, rolling my eyes while sighing deeply. “Anypony else have any ideas?”

“Umm, Mister Dust,” One said sheepishly. “I don’t want to get into trouble again by pushing buttons, but this computer is still working,” he said, pointing towards a screen filled with green writing.

I walked over and looked at the display. It seemed to be a status report of the water retention and flow control systems in the sewer. From what I could make out, most of the sluice gates were locked in the down position and were not responding to computer controls. However, there were still a handful of gates that were in the down position, but were operable. Also, the water levels behind all the sluice gates were at the maximum levels. According to the readouts, there were hundreds of thousands of gallons of water stuck behind those gates…

“Map! Somepony find me a map of the sewers!” I yelled, frantically looking around the room. My friends were frozen in shock at my sudden outburst. “We can use the water to flush the radigator away from here, but I need to see where these gates are!” I wish I had done a better job copying the blueprints when I had the chance.

“Over here! Is this what you’re looking for, Dust?” Silver called out, standing near a large bulletin board with a blueprint still pinned to it. How these things survived this long, I’ll never know, but I am not about to question it right now. After ripping the blueprint off the board, I trotted back over to the computer terminal and began checking the map against the sluice gate designations.

“Holy shit! This might work,” I cried out in glee. “Everypony look! These gates are still working,” I said as I pointed out the working gates. “These have assloads of water behind them and this one leads to the drainage culvert. If we open all those gates, the water should flush the radigator out of the sewers.” I could see the looks of doubt on everypony’s faces. Well, except for One, who just looked confused. “Does anypony have a better plan?”

Everypony else muttered under their breaths for several moments. “Ah guess we gotta give this a try,” Brownie said with a resigned tone.

Turning back to the keyboard, I began to key in the commands that would open all the operational sluice gates. The computer confirmed operation on each one. Slowly, a dull roar began to build outside the door. Even the radigator’s attention was diverted towards it.
Suddenly, around the nearest corner, a large wave of water rushed past the doorway. The roar became deafening as I watched as the water overpower the radigator and I saw it bob in and out of the water as it was dragged away, towards the drainage culvert.

After a few minutes, the water levels outside began to fall once again. The central canal was still filled with water, but the concrete walkway was visible once more. “Alright, everypony, let’s go. But let’s double time it in case the radigator wasn’t completely washed away.” Everypony nodded in agreement.

I unlocked and reopened the door and we made our way down the staircase back to the concrete walkway. The cement was slightly slick, and I felt my hooves slip a little under me occasionally.

A loud roar echoed through the sewers. My blood ran cold as we all looked behind us, towards the source of the sound. “No fucking way,” I gasped. “It couldn’t have, could it?”

“Ah don’t know, Dust,” Brownie said, his eyes widening as he peered down the sewer. “I don’t plan on waitin’ around to find out.” He then took off at a gallop.

Soon enough, all of us were galloping away from the control room and towards the door that should lead us to the stable access tunnel. The roaring behind us kept getting louder, but the radigator couldn’t be seen. Finally, the far wall of the sewer with an inset door appeared in our vision.

“Almost there everypony! Keep going!” I yelled. My right hoof gave out underneath me as it slipped on a slick section of smooth concrete. I tumbled head over hooves and ended up lying on the concrete. Looking behind me, I was able to make out the bare outline of the radigator, running rapidly towards us.

Scrabbling quickly to my hooves again, I took off with a greater sense of urgency than before. I shortly caught up with my friends and even began to overtake them a little. I was the first to make it to the door and I was fumbling in my saddlebags for the key to the door.

“Uhh, Dust, I don’t mean to be a pain, but could ya hurry please?” Flower said, frantically looking between the door and the radigator which was rapidly gaining ground behind us. I finally found the key and tried to fit it into the lock. My heart nearly skipped several beats and I dropped the key and heard the tinkling sound it made as it bounced along the ground.

“Shit!” I screamed. “The key!” I looked down in a panic and looked for the key. It had bounced a short distance away from my hooves. I quickly reached back down and got the key. Slamming it into the lock and turning it, I got the door open with a creak. The radigator was close enough that I swore I could smell its rotten breath from behind us. “Hurry everypony! GO! GO! GO!”

Everypony scrabbled through the door and I quickly joined them. Brownie helped me slam the door behind us and I locked the door. As soon as I pulled the key free of the lock, I heard something slam into the wall and door behind us. It was quickly followed by several more slamming sounds and a few roars. After several seconds of continued attacks, silence filled the cavern we were in. I released the breath I had involuntarily been holding.

“Holy shit, that was too close,” I said between my panting breaths. Everyone murmured their agreement.

Looking around at the cavern we’d found our way into, I saw that it was yet another typical Stable-Tech entry cavern. I swear they all looked the same. The sewer entrance had dropped us right in front of the large gear shaped doorway. The door itself had been retracted and I noticed that the entry room beyond was bathed in the full light of a functioning stable.

“That can’t be a good sign,” Silver said softly, peering into the opening. I simply nodded in agreement.

After I saw everypony had caught their breaths, I looked to each of my friends and asked if they were ready. Everypony nodded.

We made our way into the entry area. The first thing I noticed were several irregularly shaped red blotches. They appeared to be blood stains, but someone had obviously cleaned up the mess that caused them. There wasn’t even the typical, coppery smell that accompanied other bloody messes.

“Looks like Muddy laid out the red carpet for us,” Flower said with a nervous chuckle.

“Really, Flower?” I scoffed. My stomach doing somersaults. “I don’t like this, not one bit.”

Suddenly, the klaxons and yellow strobe lights that accompanied a stable door operation came to life. The large, gear shaped door squealed behind us as it was rolled into place. We all simply watched it close behind us.

“Brownie, see if you can reopen the door, please,” I said tensely.

“Umm, Dust, there is no control panel,” Brownie said, surprised.

I looked towards the typical location for the interior activation panel and saw that one had never been installed here. “What the hell?” I asked rhetorically.

The sound of metal scraping against metal came from behind us. We all turned as two sentry guns lowered behind us and began to sweep the area just around the doorway. The two guns beeped softly, letting us know they were scanning for targets.

The stable public address system squealed with feedback. The sound of somepony blowing against a microphone replaced the whine. Shortly afterwards, Muddy’s voice flooded the entry room.

“Welcome Dust and company,” Muddy said menacingly. “Want to play a game?”

Level up!

Stats:
Sneak: 15

Perk(?) Obtained: Butterhooves: You suffer -1 agility when attempting things under pressure.