After I watched the stable door shut behind me I noticed it was dark. Not a dark that I had ever experienced in the stable even when I had my lights off. Even when the main generators were down for repairs it was never this dark. I had to resort to the lamp feature on my Pipbuck just to see anything.

A long tunnel led to the stable door. Scattered sporadically throughout the sides were skeletons. Some of them belonged to creatures I had no clue existed.

I was both fascinated at the discovery and sick to my stomach as I had just seen actual death for the first time. I had to look away before I puked.

I guessed from the skeletons around the hall that some creatures out here were not simple dangers but ones that could probably cut me to shreds.

The end of the tunnel was a 15 second trot away from the stable door. Part of me wondered if these ponies entered just as the stable door began to close.

I shook the thought of the terrified ponies running from bombs out of my head knowing that I possibly faced much worse as soon as I left this tunnel. It was best not to make the situation worse.

The tunnel ended in a staircase leading upwards to a door. One side of the door was already open. I carefully inched my way towards it as if something was waiting for me on the other side.

The good news at this point was that I knew that Onyx had indeed escaped the stable. I was only slightly relieved to know my best friend didn’t die in this tunnel.

I slowly inched my way out the door, and was greeted with more darkness. It was clear that I was in a structure of some sort, as slivers of moonlight slipped through the cracks in the walls and shined on the ground in front of me.

I glanced down at my Pipbuck to see many small lights flashing at me. Most of them I had never seen activate before. Wherever I was my Pipbuck was not happy about the radiation levels. If I were to stand in place for one more hour I would become ill.

The dim light that was available from my own Pipbuck and what was coming through the walls was enough to uncover a few unlocked ammo crates. I looked inside of them for any supplies, that could possibly help me survive the night.

I found bullets for a much larger weapon than the one I carried. As I looked around for more supplies, I noticed that other than the cracks, the building I was in seemed to be fairly untouched.

“Maybe Onyx was attacked and needed to leave quickly.” I spoke out loud without even thinking about it.

I was so used to talking to people, and was almost surprised when no one replied.

I pulled my Pipbuck again only this time to find what it called my Eyes Forward Sparkle.

Lighting up with red dots all around me. The E.F.S had marked them as hostile entities.

I drew the .32.

The door two yards to my left burst open.

The moonlight shined on a creature that resembled the old world cockroaches. I heard its thin little legs scuttle in my direction. The only problem I had with the sight of this bug was that it was a lot bigger than the tiny insect I remember reading about.

My Pipbuck informed the creature was highly radioactive. I took aim, and gently pulled the trigger. I was not expecting the sound or the kick that the little .32 had.

I had never fired a gun before this point, and my lack of skill caused the first bullet to miss. It fell short about a foot from the target. I adjusted my aim and fired the gun once again.

The creature made a squelching sound after the bullet penetrated the exoskeleton. It was dead.

A red light flashed on my Pipbuck informing that there was a way to be more precise with my shots. The new feature was called S.A.T.S. The Stable-tec Assisted Targeting System.

Time slowed around me a little bit. Two more radroaches burst through the door. I didn’t know what I was doing. I got lucky and was able to line up three more or less perfect shots.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

The radroaches exploded into piles of goo. Many of the other red lights had winked out of existence while I had been dealing with these roaches.

My Pipbuck flashed me a warning. If I didn’t leave now I would start to suffer from minor radiation poisoning. I galloped out the open door.

My Pipbuck informed me I was leaving Apple Farm 24. I didn’t have time to wonder how it was coming up with these names before I knew where I was.

I was halfway across an orchard of deadened and sickly apple trees before I heard the same noise I had made from killing those roaches.

I yelped as I felt a burning pain running along my left flank. The pain was excruciating compared to anything else I had ever felt before.

I looked back to see another pony charging at me with a gun held in it’s mouth.

A thought passed through my head. ‘What do they shoot with their tongues’. I was in fact correct as I saw him tense a little bit as he used his tongue to fire at me again. This time the bullet slammed full force into my flank. I hit the ground and rolled behind a tree.

I opened up my saddlebags and grabbed a healing potion. I was about to drink it when I realized the pony could still shoot me. It would be a waste to drink this potion if I were to get shot again. I levitated my gun up as he came around the corner. I hesitated long enough for him to turn and see the gun.

I could see the despair in his eyes as I pulled the trigger. I stopped and stared at the lifeless form before me.

A few seconds ago this had been a living breathing pony. As far as I knew I was invading his home. He could have thought I was a raider looking to kill him and take all he owned. In a way he was right. I looked away long enough to drink the health potion.

After recovering from being shot twice I trotted over to the dead raider. I was glad I was alive. I thought to myself what if I lose all my equinity and sacrifice everything and become one of them. I shuddered at the thought. The raider had a holotape in his pocket. I grabbed it and played it.

“Find yourself. Who you once were.”

I was confused but knew exactly what that meant. If part of the old me was still alive then I could never become one of these ponies who are a burden on all of ponykind.

I searched the raiders corpse for any supplies I could find.

The gun he had was a bigger more powerful version of the gun I carried. I had a tough time tearing the gun from his teeth. His jaw had clamped down on the gun after the bullet passed through his brain.

I checked his saddlebags for bullets to the gun. He had one bullet in reserve. His method to leave the world wouldn’t have worked for him. Ponies can’t shoot themselves easily unless they are able to levitate a gun. The revolver was a .44 magnum.

I stripped the armor off of him. The armor was made of leather of some sort. I was unsure how well it would protect me but I guessed it would be enough to stop small caliber bullets and at least prevent larger caliber rounds from complete ripping me to shreds.

I put on the armor. It was a tight fit on the bulkier stallion, but hung very loosely on me. Luckily enough the armor was easy to adjust to fit ponies of different size. The armor was a little worse for wear but would stop bullets from doing so much damage to my body.

I looked to my Pipbuck. I had spent a little less than an hour outside the stable and had already sustained worse injuries than I ever had before.

“If I stay out here too long I am going to get myself killed.” I spat the words out of my mouth realizing how morbid that sounded.

My gun had been emptied of live ammunition. I used my telekinesis to look over the gun until I found a way to reload it.

The cylinder rolled out the side and I was afraid I had broke the gun. The cylinder stopped rolling and I tilted the gun backwards. Six empty casings fell. I reloaded the shells one by one wishing that I had a faster way to reload this stupid thing.

I holstered my guns and trotted north east of the barn I had left.

I sat down once my Pipbuck alerted me I was safe from radiation.

I played around to see if I could access the radio. All the radio use to play down in the stable was the same eight songs all day. I wondered if the wasteland had anybody talented enough to make music. One radio station was available to me that wasn’t just a mess of static. I tuned in to see what the wasteland had to offer.

The voice of a stallion played through. The voice was familiar. Onyx had made it out of the stable and was trying to warn others not to follow him.

“To anypony in stable 24 if you can hear this don’t leave the stable to come find me. I am doing just fine on my own and don’t want to go back to the little hole in the ground that you call home. Please do yourself a favor and stay inside. No pony needs to die trying to find me. Midnight if you are hearing this. I’m sorry for leaving you trapped. I knew I could get myself out and stay out. If I were to bring the Overmare’s daughter with me I would be dragged back into the stable and punished for wanting to be free. You can’t chain a pegasus to a place with low ceilings. We need to be free. If you are out here then go back to the stable. For you the Overmare would do anything. She will want you returned to safety as soon as possible. Please go home. You deserve a better life than you’ll find out here.”

“Message Repeats.”

I chuckled to myself. My best friend was not only alive but was telling me to leave all hopes of finding him behind.

Part of me wanted to listen to my friend. He had been outside the stable for longer than I had. The part of me that was still sensible knew that I would be unable to find my friend even if I stayed out here forever. I was a bit depressed that I might never see my friend again.

I started to trot away from the one home I had ever known. It dawned on me shortly after the outside was a vast open expanse unlike anything I had ever seen in the stable. I started to freak out a little bit.

Everything I had known up to this point was small enclosed spaces that held out all of this craziness. I had to calm myself down before I passed out. My Pipbuck flashed a health alert. I hadn’t noticed the ticking of the Geiger counter. I had absorbed enough radiation to become sick from it.

My Pipbuck pulled a Radaway potion up to the top of my saddlebags. I swiftly drank the potion and watched my radiation levels dissipate. I was intrigued that my Pipbuck knew when I needed to use different types of potions.

I knew that with enough of a tweak it would automatically administer the potions. I unfortunately was not able to make that tweak without the blueprint of my Pipbuck. I took a note to remind myself to upgrade my Pipbuck when I could.

I stood up to walk away when a familiar voice stopped me.

“Hey kid hold up.” The voice was of a stable 24 guard. He had been one of the ponies who had bullied me back in school.

I couldn’t remember his name.

I waited patiently as he trotted up to me. “The Overmare has sent me to see that you are brought safely back to the stable. So if you wouldn’t mind coming quietly.”

I glared him down and said “Come quietly. I can, but not for you.” I had to suppress a laugh.

The guard was a little confused at what I meant but he eventually understood what I meant. “You have got a sick mind kid. Now move on back to the stable.” He said prodding me with a baton.

“Make me” I said sliding the baton out of his grip and smacking him across the face with it.

He went down and didn’t get up. I checked his vitals to make sure he was alive. He was still breathing.

I gathered some materials and made some camouflage knowing that if I left him as he was he would die. I couldn't bring myself to let one of the ponies I had known growing up die, even if he had been a jerk.

I decided to continue to the northeast in hopes that I could find my friend. My Pipbuck gave me a general direction in which the transmission had come from. Unfortunately for me the point of transmission could not be precisely pinpointed. The best I could get was northeast.

A message appeared on my Pipbuck. I opened it up surprised to see a message could be sent to a Pipbuck.

“Dear sir or madam, we humbly request your presence at military outpost BS3. We have need of you and your special talents. Be safe on your trip here. The road is long and dangerous. Many bandits and raiders will block your path. If and when you do succeed at reaching us we will brief you further on the situation at hand.” The letter was signed but the print was too small to read.

I started to walk towards the coordinates they had given sent me. The coordinates pointed northwest of the stable. If I was lucky it would be less than a day's trip to the unknown location.

“I best get started if I am ever going to get there.” I said trying to stay calm.

The night had progressed on without any problem. I had made it about halfway to the coordinates I had been sent. I came across a small town. My Pipbuck labeled the city Ponyville.

The city looked mostly undamaged. Although a few buildings had been destroyed in a very explosive manner.

Garbage covered the streets and a few buildings were full of bullet holes. The sun was setting on the horizon and I knew I needed to find shelter. I picked a small house at random as my place for the night.

The house had not been raided or even entered as far as I could tell. I pushed a sofa up against the door to prevent anyone from coming in while I slept. After securing all doors and windows I explored the house. I came upon a locked door.

It cost me two bobby pins but I managed to open the door. The room beyond seemed to be a storage room. Boxes upon boxes of pre war artifacts. One box drew my eye.

The box was labeled “Important, Fragile”. I opened the box and found inside a glass display case.

I pulled the case out. Inside the case were creatures I had never seen nor read about before. They stood upon two legs and all of them had close to the same color of flesh. I opened the case and pulled one out.

I felt an immediate rush of power as if I had grown stronger from just sitting in place. I flipped the trinket so I could read the text on the base.

“Be Strong. You are powerful and unwavering even in the face of danger.”

Underneath the main text were words I couldn’t quite make out. I placed the trinket back in it’s place. I lifted all the others out of the case. They were in bad shape. I didn’t feel the same rush as when I had picked up the Strength Bobblehead.

In some of the other boxes were prewar clothing. I pulled out a beautiful dress. Even in the stable I had never laid eyes upon a dress that was so stunning.

I was lucky enough that the dress did fit me. I was ecstatic. I had found something in the boring, dull and ugly wasteland that was still beautiful.

I picked up a few of the other dresses so if ponies out here still traded I might have something to barter with. Nothing else in the room was worth taking. I left the room and headed to the second floor.

I entered the one bedroom upstairs. I looked at the table and saw a pile of… Somepony had a collection of caps. I had no idea why anypony would save a worthless scrap of metal for.

A new message appeared on my Pipbuck. “Take those bottlecaps. I know it may sound weird but the ponies of the wasteland trade using those little scraps of metal. The aluminum ones are worth less than the steel ones. There are other bottle caps made of different materials but you are very unlikely to find any of those. Take those and any you find while wandering the wastes. Signed C.”

I was still totally confused about why people would use caps as money but I thought no more of it and dumped them all into my saddlebags.

I found the one and only bed in the room that did not have a corpse in it. The bed was designed for a colt. It was small but it would do for one night.

I woke up the next morning with a start. I had a nightmare of killing that raider. I was watching myself do it from an outside point of view. I saw myself becoming a monster. I was starting to lose faith in myself. I turned to myself. The look in my own eyes was horrifying. With one quick motion the hammer fell.

I got out of bed feeling sore from sleeping in such a small bed.

I glanced at my Pipbuck to see it was already past noon. I had slept way longer than I had intended to. I was also informed by my stomach that I was hungry.
I hadn’t eaten since I left the stable. I pulled an apple I had in my saddlebags out. The apple wasn’t the greatest. None of the food in the stable was ever very good. It would stave off the hunger and allow me to continue my journey.

I headed back downstairs. In the darkness the house had looked as though it had never been touched. In broad daylight I could see the walls were covered in profane language and pictures that to this day still make me shudder.

I looked over the walls. Some of the writing was fresh. A few days old at best as best as I could tell. I found myself snickering at a few of the phrases. I knew I would have to use them some time.

As I reached the front door gunshots rang out. I hit the floor as quietly as I possibly could trying to avoid being seen by anypony who may have been looking for me. I peeked quickly through the closest window.

A group of well armed bandits was searching the town. One of them was fast approaching my door.

I caught part of their conversation.

A smaller stallion was on his way to the house I was in. “The hoofprints lead over here.”

A bigger stallion easily twice my size called out to the little stallion. “I doubt anypony would be stupid enough to stick around a dump like this. Especially this late in the day.”

I was hoping that the bigger stallion had convinced him that nopony was hiding inside.

The stallion stopped right in front of the door. He turned around and nodded. “I still say we should search around more. If anypony is around here they probably haven’t gone very far.”

The group left heading in the exact direction I needed to go. I thought about yelling one of my new profane phrases but held my tongue just incase they could hear me.

I snuck outside of the house through an open window in the garage. The hole was small but I could squeeze through easy enough.

I slipped as I came out the window hitting the ground with a solid thud. I got back to my hooves and hid for a few minutes. None of the bandit ponies came running. I assumed it was safe to continue on.

I poked my head around the corner. I was met with a gun to my muzzle. My first instinct was to grab the gun and kill the pony where he stood.

“Do’t” The pony was trying to talk with a gun in his mouth.

“It is rude to speaking with your mouth full” before I could utter one more word. I was face first laying in the dirt.

The stallion didn’t shoot me. He had bucked me in the face sending me to the ground hard.

I tried to get up but was met with the underside of a stallion. I turned to see him looming over me. I was terrified of what he might do to me.

I lashed out with my magic hoping to get a lucky strike on him. He countered by moving a brick into the path of my magic. His eyes widened terrified. He dropped the gun to the ground.

As fast as he could without messing up he told me “Wow kid I was just trying to stay alive. I mean you no harm really. I just had to make sure you weren’t going to kill me. I thought a buck to the face would do it but you handled it pretty well. Most ponies are knocked unconscious from a hit like that. Now please don’t kill me. I… I…” The stallion almost burst into tears before I spoke

“Woah woah woah. Easy there. I am not going to kill you. Believe me when I say if I was going to kill you I already would have.” My words seemed to put him a little at rest.

He was still on the verge of tears.

“Now before you start crying. What’s your name” I asked him in the gentlest tone I could muster.

“Sorry miss” He returned to what I guessed was normal. “My name is Emerald Ace. Most ponies I know just call me Emerald” He spoke like he was royalty.

“Ok what are you doing out here...”

He put a hoof to my mouth. “I am looking for a mare. A specific mare. I have a message which I am supposed to deliver. Maybe you have seen her. She has a blood red coat and a purple and blue mane. In fact I think you are the mare I seek.”

I was a little creeped out that somepony was looking for me. “Is there a name to this mare?” I asked questioning if he knew my name.

“Why yes. Says here she goes by many names. Her actually name is Midnight Mane” uh oh “She will also accept Miss midnight.”

I was stunned not only because he knew my name. I was also stunned that somepony knew of my escape from the Stable. Somepony must have been watching me the entire time I was out here. I opened my mouth to speak but no words accompanied my action. Ace stared at me for a few seconds before floating me a letter.

“Dear Midnight,

I am contacting you to inform you that the wasteland needs your help. I can’t tell you much at this point. I need you to do a few things for me.

Get your hooves on many weapons. You will need them to survive this journey.Get armor. The best anypony has ever laid their hooves on.Find your friend. Make more if possible. You will not be able to do this alone.

If you are reading this because you killed the courier Ace just know I wouldn’t not be disappointed in you. Ace has a way of sneaking up on ponies that honestly creeps me out. If he is still alive thank him and tell him to return to me. I shall further require his services. You have little time Miss Midnight. All of equestria depends on you.

Signed C,L”

I read the letter over three more times before I stopped to gaze at Ace.

He knew what was on the letter. He had read it before and did not need me to tell him what to do. I was about to speak when he interrupted.

“I hope we may meet again someday. Under better circumstances. Good bye Miss Midnight.” He galloped off into the distance faster than I had ever seen anypony move.

I stood there for a few more seconds before continuing on my journey to the unknown signal.

If I wasn’t interrupted I would make it to the origin of the message before the sun went below the horizon.

The trip was a four or five hour trot from Ponyville. I was lucky enough to not run into anything on the trip.

The sun was low on the horizon making the sky a beautiful mix of red and orange. It took all the might I had and a little knowledge of the wasteland to not stop and just stare at the sunset.

My Pipbuck indicated the entrance to an old donut shop was where I needed to go. I shrugged off the ridiculousness of going into a mostly destroyed building to locate whoever sent me that message.

The inside of the shop looked a lot better than anything in the wasteland did. Some of the lights still worked. The worst of the graffiti was pictures that were, pornographic enough to scar even Celestia.

I shuddered a little bit at the sight and averted my eyes. I kept giving quick glances back to the picture while I was still in the room.

I progressed further through the building following the waypoint my Pipbuck had set for finding the origin of the message.

A trapdoor opened up as I stepped on it. I fell for a second before slamming hard against the floor. I slowly got to my hooves. I stood in awe and pain. In front of me stood the door to a stable.

The waypoint on my Pipbuck pointed me to the door. I was torn for a second. Do I enter the door to a place that reminded me of home and leave behind my friend.

I stood contemplating this for minutes before I realized the door had swung open and somepony was trying to talk to me. The mysterious pony was clad in armor I had not seen before. I shook the thought from my head.

“Ok. Look if you aren’t going to talk to me at least come inside. It is dangerous out there. I can see you have learned that a little too well.” The stranger said making me look backwards.

A trail of blood led from where I had fallen to me. Some of the shrapnel had cut me up pretty bad. I nodded my head wincing as the pain finally hit me.

I opened my mouth to talk “Sorry. Just a little bit injured from that fall.” I knew I needed a potion or a doctor. “Do you have somepony who can fix me up a little?” I asked trying to stay on my hooves.

“Yes we do. You just need to get in here. The door has already been open longer than anypony inside likes.” He was talking really quickly.

I started to hobble forward. I couldn’t stay on my hooves all the way to the door. Magic enveloped me as I slipped to the floor. I heard somepony else speak.

“We need to get her to the doctor now!” The voice spoke with more urgency than I had ever heard.

I drifted into a deep sleep.