''...Not all scars can be worn on the outside. Sometimes the worse pain, is one that you can not see..."

The moon shown through the broken slats of the small one room shack's window as I laid in the bed, enjoying the comfort of having somepony close to me for a change. The day had been filled with tears, laughing and many firm embraces that only two ponies could enjoy after such a long life's journey to find one another. Never once did we have a moment without contact today. Even now as we both snuggled together under the old sheets in Zuri's hammock, I held her close as she slept.

We had spent most of the night doing all of the bad things I'm sure we had both been dreaming of for many years, pausing only to rest for brief moments between acts. I had never even dreamed of the sort of things that she was able to do to me. She was my first, but I couldn't help but wonder if I had been her seventh or even eighth judging by her skill in the bedroom. Even
if it was, who would I be to get angry at that fact, ten years is a long time to wait for somepony who is at best, a maybe. It was a bit off putting to be in a situation where I was clearly not in my element. All the same, Zu was a great teacher and I, a very eager student.

So that was what drove Caliber to go out and make babies, with his addictive personality, it is a small wonder that he had not repopulated every planet in the known galaxy! Even though I had never been with a mar... well, anypony really, I had to admit that this was the single most incredible moment in my life. Even if my back hurt and certain other parts of my body felt raw and ready to fall off, I was ready for round nine! If Zu didn't look so cute lying here on my chest, I would wake her up in a heartbeat.

It was hours before the sun finally came up. I had been too excited by the night's events to sleep a wink, also she had my leg pinned underneath her and it had gone completely numb. Seriously, I would give anything for half the blood that had been in my crotch earlier to my in my right hoof right now. Finally, I felt Zu start to stir as she began to wake up for the day.

"Zu? You awake?"

"Hm?" She nearly grunted back to me.

"Can I have my leg back?"

"NO! Mine!" She said, now squeezing the numb limb. Gee, where did this feel familiar.

"Please? I really need to pee."

"You can hold it a little longer..."

"But my barding is starting to cut into me."

"Oh... Boo!" She said, rolling off of my side. Oh sweet relief!

I edged my way out of the hammock, feeling it slide out from under me and made my way outside. This place truly was a paradise, it is a wonder that it had stayed so untouched for so long or that Zuri even managed to make it here. I had nearly died just flying through the desert to get to this place. I found myself a place behind one of the changing rooms that littered the beach that we were on and proceeded to take care of my swollen bladder. Zebras, as I have found out, are very dominate in the bedroom. I had been holding my pee for over something like five hours because she wouldn't let me leave.

Ah, sweet, sweet release... I admired her enthusiasm, but I can only imagine that holding back nearly a gallon of pee in my current health state, could not be good. My right ear twitched, picking up a faint static that was humming ever so gently nearby. I froze, halting my much needed restroom break and slowly canted my head to the right.

"Hello Joey." Rang a metallic voice. I fell backwards from the Spritebot that had been floating near silently next to me the whole time, and now it was wanting to have a conversation with me!? I knew it! I am dreaming, last night was just a vivid hallucination! Wait! I remember something like this happening just outside of Hope! Fuck, how do I say hello to this thing?

"Hi uh... Greetings... flying toaster thing... Please don't kill me."

"You don't remember me, do you?"

"Oh I remember... You tried to kill me right before Caliber shot you."

"So that's who that unpleasant buck is... I will have to remember that. What are you doing this far south?"

"Joy? Who are you talking to out there?" Zuri shouted from the safety of her bed.

"Nopony! Just talking to myself!" I shouted back. I looked back to the Spritebot and gave it a nervous smile and shrugged.

"I see. I take it you found the Zebra?"

"Yeah... Who knew she would be here."

"I am happy for you."

"Well, thank you, but why do I get the feeling that you are not here by happenstance?"

"Oh no, I'm everywhere. I just control these things because I never leave my home."

"Oh! So you are not a figment of my imagination, you're actually a pony... somewhere."

"It's complicated..."

"First off, that is my line. Second why were you watching me pee, pervert?"

"Hey, it's not my fault that you just so happen to trot up beside me and proceed to water the flowers. I'm the victim here!"

"Ok, ok... Well, it has been nice talking to you, but as you probably heard, I have a impatient Zebra to spent time with." I said, trying to trot off.

"Take care... WAIT!" It shouted, freezing me in my tracks and prompting me to raise a hoof to my muzzle in silence.

"What!?"

"I think there is something that you should know."

"Ok, what!? But make it quick!"

"You're a Tracker right?"

"YES! I mean, yes..." I said, stifling a shout.

"I take it, you will be heading back north soon, correct?"

"Land already! What is it!?"

"Can you be on the lookout for a little colt?"

"You are going to have to be more specific than that! Unless you just want me to bring you some random colt... In that case, you really are a pervert!"

"I was getting there! Look... Light purple coat, blue mane, book cutiemark. He is probably about five or six years old. If you find him, just take him back to the coordinates I'm sending to your Pipbuck."

"Joy... I'm waiting..." Came the all too smooth voice of Zuri.

"Fine! Whatever, I'll keep an eye out." I said as I turned the corner. From the other side of the wall I could hear... whoever he was saying something to the tune of 'what an asshole' and fly away. Well screw you too, you flying toaster. Back to the pressing issue at hoof... Shit! I probably should have asked him his name so I could properly curse him back.

Finally, once I had finished, I made my way back through the sheet that she had been using for a door to her home and proceeded to strip off my barding. The metal clasps had proven too difficult to deal with in the heat of the moment last night and Zu had not given me anytime to deal with them. The buckles were digging into my hide so bad that the coat under them had been dented and the underlying skin felt bruised from the stress. Oh how good the feeling of having that sweaty, sex stained leather off of me felt!

I turned back to the hammock thinking that a few more hours of rest sounded pretty good right about now, well If Zuri was going to allow for it. But I was frozen in my tracks at the sight of Zuri staring at me. She wore an expression of quite disbelief as she sat covered in her sheet in the middle of the hanging bed.

"What?" I asked, thinking something was wro... Crap.

"You have stripes!?" Oh no... I had completely forgotten. I meant to tell her when we first met, but things got so heated so fast that it all kind of fell to the wayside.

"...Yeah..." I said exhaustively.

"How..."

"It's a long story. In short, it turns out I'm a Zony. But I didn't know until a few weeks ago, I swear! Oh Goddesses, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you right off but, everything happened so fast! And you wouldn't let me go pee last night, so we are even."

"A Zony? What is a Zony?" She asked in a flat and steady tone.

"It's a cross between a Zebra and a Pony. My mother was a Zebra and my dad... well you get the idea." I said, feeling defeated. She wasn't showing any sign of emotion whatsoever! This was maddening, I can't deal with flat, I never know where I stand when ponies do this to me.

"So your mom was a Zebra? How is it that you know?" She asked as she stepped from the bed to my side. With a look of 'Seriously?' plastered across my face, I tapped my shoulder with a hoof to the mess of stripes that were making their way across my body.

"Oh! Right..."

"Yeah, what can I say? I'm full of surprises." I said, still not sure how to approach this situation. "I wear my barding to hide them, but they just keep growing further out! At this rate, I will need a full body suit to hide them."

"But, why would you want to hide them?" She said, running a hoof over the lines on my shoulder.

"In case you haven't noticed, neither Pegasi nor Zebras are anypony's favorite pony, so a pony with wings and stripes is kind of a bad thing."

"Why would they not like you for your stripes and wings? I think they are pretty."

"That's sweet of you to say, but Pegasi left the Wasteland to rot and hide behind the clouds and we fought a war against the Zebras... A lot of that hate is still alive and well today according to many ponies. It sucks but I can't do anything about it more than just try and hide them." I said, dropping my head down.

"Hey, don't be sad. Those ponies are just being mean because you are different."

"Has anypony ever told you that you are too kind for this world?" I said with a smile. Zuri threw her hooves around me and pushed me to the floor.

"I like you too. Now, let me take your mind off of those mean ponies that pick on you for your stripes." She said, clearly not knowing what I was talking about. Where had she been all this time that she didn't understand what hate was. I mean, the mere idea that other ponies would only pick on me for being a Zony, and kill me, really speaks for how little she must have endur... Her cold muzzle landed squarely between my legs, sending one of hind legs flying skyward and forcing a yelp out of me.

"AYE! Warn a buck, would you!?" I managed to squeak out before she started doing all of the bad things that only she knew how to do. Oh well, I guess it's time for round nine!"

"You mean to say that this 'Caliber' has babies all over the Wasteland?" Zuri asked, still laughing at the idea of a buck whose sole purpose in this world was to have sex. Where around the clock sex does have its strong points, there is much to be said about being a comparable pair in the form of conversation. We had finished our morning fun with a quick swim in the ocean and I had resorted to telling Zu of all of my travels in the time we had been apart. This had been the single best day of my life, and where I didn't want it to end, my body was feeling weak and I was sore in places that I had never been before. I needed a break!

"Three by my count, but Luna only knows how many are really out there! We have been playing this fun game. You see, every town that we come to, I count how long it takes for a foal to ask 'Are you my daddy'. If it is less than an hour, he pays for the drinks." I said amidst our laughter. I had never thought that I would actually look back on everything that had happened and be laughing, but when it was all put into perspective, it was rather funny.

"I must ask. When you were telling me of where you came from, the talk with Boss? What was it he had given you?" She asked. I had completely forgotten about my necklace! Of course she would want to see that, it was the whole reason we met, where I came from and the one thing I had never been without all these years. I grabbed my saddlebags and began searching for the small golden pendant, throwing most of its contents across the floor in front of us.

"It has to be in here somewhere... There it is! Right at the bottom!" I shouted, now seeing everything that had been in the bags mounted up into a huge pile.

"Oh! I have seen these before. Some tribes will give these to newborns to warn away bad things!" She said, taking it into her hooves.

"Really? I had no clue. I honestly thought it was just some gold scrap they had left me."

"Really! These are very rare to find. The gem in the center tells when you were born. Purple means late winter, you were a snow baby. I remember seeing these when I was still with my tribe."

"Yeah, I had been told that. I know that the inscriptions are guidance poems too."

"Do you know what they say?" She asked with a smile. I thought long about blurting out about how I found a Stable full of Zebras and Zonies and how they had told me, but decided to allow her this moment of grandeur.

"Please, tell me."

"May this guide you in times of dark, when in doubt you follow your heart. Blessed be the love of your heart, may its strength bring others from apart. Oh, this side must be from your mommy." She said now placing it around my neck.

"Wait, how can you tell that just by what it says?"

"Because. It is the most sappy. Mommies always write sappy things for their foals."

"Oh..." I said now trying to gather the great mass of things I had acquired over the years back into the small bags. How did it all fit in there anyway? I had shit I had not even seen in years sitting everywhere! Ammo for guns I had when I was a colt, maps of the north west, books, books, more books, that stupid wonderbolts suit Valkyrie had given me...

"Joy... What are these?" Zu asked. Oh no. I turned to see her looking over a stack of photos of a shy looking buck in a blue and yellow... OH NO!

"Wha... Thos... I..." I stammered trying to find the words to say that I had, basically, modeled for another mare in exchange for opening the door to my room. "Those... A gift for you?" I said, shying away and falling into a nervous smile.

"Oh! I like this one!" She said, holding up a picture with me sitting spread eagle on the floor with the suit unzipped, showing... OH NO,OH NO,OH NO! I collapsed to the floor in shame and covered my head with my hooves.

"Oh Celestia... Kill me now!" I managed to say in my shocked state.

"But why? I like these pictures! They are cute. If I ever lose you, I have something to show others what you look like." She said, now stuffing the pictures into her own bags.

"NO! Please! I'm begging you... Let me burn them, I forgot I even had them!" I said, reaching for her from my hiding spot in the middle of the room.

"Oh you silly... There is nothing to be ashamed of! They make you look... Cute!"

"YOU ARE MAKING IT WORSE!"

Zuri only giggled as she secured the last of the pictures with twine and stowed them away for her later use for when she presumably lost me again. Part of me was thankful that she would always have something to remind her of me if such a thing were to happen. But a much larger part of me was terrified that if I was to become lost that all of what was left of Equestria would see me in the not so flattering positions I had posed in. What if she showed Shale!? WHAT IF SHE SHOWED CALIBER!? The mere thought of the things they would say made me start to curl up into a ball in the middle of the floor.

"Oh! This must be the suit you worn in the pictures!"

"ZURI!" I shouted, now seeing her going through all of my things. "Those things are private!"

"Oh please... You act as though you have never been around a mare who you have mated with before..." She said. What was this, more creepy Zebra mating stuff!? I had never been with anypony before her, but now I was getting the crash course on partnership. I looked up to her with a blank, 'I have no idea what you are talking about look'.

"Well... I... Uh..."

"You have never been with a mare before!?" She said, dropping the suit to the floor. I could only manage the same dumb look I had given earlier, turning a deep shade of red in the process.

"I am... NOT ANYMORE... a... you were..." I said nearly incoherently through my shaking. WHY!

"You mean to say..." She started as she sat beside me. "I was your first?" She asked. I could only reply with a hidden face and a small nod. I was frozen in shame. Me, a buck of 25 years old, had never been with anypony in such a way.

"Oh! This explains many things." She said, stroking my mane.

"Like what?" I asked through a face full of flooring.

"Your manner in bed. It is... not what I am used to seeing from other bucks." Oh, well that answers that question I had earlier. Jealousy flooded my thoughts of all the bucks she had been with in the past, even if I did understand, it still hurt.

"Other bucks?" I asked, because apparently my brain hates me.

"Oh yes. I had my first time, long before you and I had met. I was very young. I have been with four bucks and one mare." She said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to say.

"WHAT!? MARES TOO!?" Did her sexual prowess know no end!?

"Yes. She was a very pretty mare..."

"Please stop!" I said, shaking my head to the jealous and somehow very exciting thought of her with another mare. This was just too much, too fast.

"Oh. Have I upset you?" She asked, pulling her hoof away.

"No. It's just... Complicated..." I said, closing my eyes.

"OH! I see. The thought of me with another buck is making you feel sad?" She said hugging me.

"Please! Stop talking." I begged.

"Oh Joy... It is ok, I did not care for them the way I do for you. And you make cute noises and it does not hurt when we..." She started, trying to calm my nerves.

"Oh Goddesses..." I whispered, now trying to physically push my head through the flooring. Maybe if I try really hard, I can crush my skull and this embarrassing moment will just end. "How many?" I asked.

"Four bucks. But I have already told you that." She said while trying to comfort me. This had to be the single most awkward moment of my life.

"No... I mean while you and I were apart." I said, looking back up to her. I was doing my best to hide the pain I was feeling, but something in my expression must have gave me away. Zuri's calm and mothering demeanor faltered.

"Oh... Just one time. I was lonely. I had been on my own for three years after we had parted ways. I tried to go back to my homeland, but I was unwelcome there after running away. I decided to go back to the place we first met, but along the way I got lost over by a place called Ponyville. One of the Raiders forced himself on to me. Before he could finish, I ran to the woods. I believe that his name was 'Twitch', I heard the others calling after him as he chased me." She said in an all too calm manner.

"Wait... You were raped?" I asked in astonishment.

"Is that what you call it? When a pony forces you to mate with them?"

"Uh... Yeah? What else would it be?"

"I did not know that is what it was called." She said, sitting back to think.

"Zuri... How many of those times had you actually been wanting to have sex?" I asked, now curious if she had any clue to what the difference between having sex and getting raped was. She seemed to think for far longer than I would have expected.

"Three times. The mare was a close friend and my first was what you ponies call a 'coltfriend'. Oh! There was you, of course." She said, still not showing any emotion. Well, I wasn't jealous anymore, but now I wanted a list of names to track down. The idea of somepony doing something like that to Zuri... I need my rifle back.

"Zu... Earlier, when we were... you know. When you were being so dominant, is that what you know sex as? How do you even get off on that!?" I asked now sitting up.

"Is that not how you do such things? What is this 'get off' you speak of?" Oh you can not be serious... How do you even explain what that is!? Sure with me it was pretty clear when... THAT... happened. But how do you tell a mare...

"No Zu... That is not how that is supposed to be... And by get off I mean..." I said, feeling completely lost for words. Damn it! How do I even...

"Yes?" She asked, now curious whether or not she had been missing out on something fun.

"You know like... All the good feelings build and and... Boom!" I said. Awesome Joey... Great example...

"Oh... I do not know... It has only felt nice with you and one other. But I do not know of this 'Boom'."

"It is... what happens to me when..." Oh for the love of everything! "It's when the stuff comes out! It feels really, really good! OK!?" I screamed, now trying to hide behind my saddlebags in shame.

"OH! You mean what they call cu..."

"ZURI!" I shouted, cutting her off.

"Sorry... I do not think that I have ever had such a feeling. That is a good thing, yes?" Oh if only she knew how humiliating that was for me to hear. It is one thing to go for 25 years and never have sex, but finding out that you were also bad at it... How many shades of red are there anyhow?

"I'm sorry that I'm bad at..." I managed to meek out from my safe hiding place.

"There is no need to be sorry. If what you say is true, then perhaps we are both bad at it." She said, stroking my mane once more.

"No, you are really, and I mean REALLY good at... it"

"Why are you so shy? It is ok to talk to me about this."

"Stuff like this is just not in my nature to talk about. It makes me uncomfortable."

"Maybe it is that I am the one to lead. Perhaps if you were to show me how it is to be done, then maybe we can get better together?" She asked, clearly missing the point of me not knowing what I was doing. The only things I knew about having sex came from second hoof information from Caliber, not a good reference, and a book I had read in desperation when I was bored. Hell, I think I still have the book somewhere in my bags. I think it was called ''Flowers and Daisy" and was about a buck who chased his marefriend through a field of flowers. It was poorly written, well, except the sex scene. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure the author had spent the 100,000 some odd words just to lead up to the two of them having sex.

It wasn't my taste, in fact, it was one of Shale's books that I had borrowed after I had read the same magazine for the 20th time in two days. She seemed insistent that it would be 'good for me to learn about', all the while laughing at me turning red... Oh, I'm so going to kill her when I get back to Hoofington...

"Joy... Are you ok? You are doing that thing again where you stare at the wall and start drooling." Zu asked.

"Yeah... You say you want me to lead?"

"Yes, I would like to see what you think sex is." She said, acting far too coy for my liking. Was she baiting me by acting innocent?

Calling on all of my Bit Story Novel advice from over twelve years ago, I took a deep breath and stood. Zuri sat waiting, studying my every move as I made my way to her side and gently began caressing her mane. The action was met with her closing her eyes and pushing her head into my hoof. With my other hoof, I brought her mouth to mine and pressed into her with a deep and passionate kiss. I don't know what shocked me more, that I was actually going through with this, or that she was seeming to really be enjoying this.

I slowly pushed her to her back on the floor and began kissing my way down her chest, the small trail that I was making caused her to arch her back towards me. My hooves slid along her sides, bringing her body close to mine as I worked my way lower down her belly, squeezing her slender, tight frame as I did so. My heart was pounding in my chest, my hooves were shaking and I could feel the sweat on my forehead start to bead up as I started becoming just as excited as she was.

Nervously, my lips found themselves well below her belly button, just inches away from between her legs. I could feel her shudder in my hooves as they grasped her flanks and my mouth moved to the one place that I knew she wanted it to go. With a deep breath, and praying to whatever Goddess was out there for this sort of thing, I pressed my muzzle into her. Trying to remember the moves that my tongue was supposed to make, I began rolling it around, searching for that one spot the mare in my book had said sent her hooves straight to heaven.

Before long, I knew I had found the spot. Not because she told me. No that, would be too normal for her. It was because she started screaming in Zebra and nearly broke my neck with her legs. Zuri moaned loud as I continued my work, trying to imagine how nice it would be if I could do this and be able to breathe at the same time. With every caress of my tongue came more exotic moaning and squeezing from her legs. Her body began to writhe and push into my mouth with shaky, almost rhythmic thrusts as I felt her getting more and more wet. I felt her hooves on the back of my head grasp my mane and pull me up from between her legs. Oh sweet, sweet air!

"Good?" I asked, rather full of myself from making her make all those new Zebra noises that I had never heard from her before.

"UhHu!" She said nodding feverishly.

"Why did you stop me then?" I asked laughing. She pulled my face into her's and smashed our lips together, when we parted, she spoke.

"More. I NEED, More!" She said as I felt her lining herself up with me and pressing hard against her own marehood.

That was all the motivation I needed! With one thrust, I did the one thing that I knew how to do, the one thing that came natural to us both. Her body tensed at the sudden penetration, sending her shivering in my sweat-covered hooves. This wasn't like all the times before, this was much different. The two of us were not out to just achieve the simple task of an orgasm, this was wild and unbridled and felt amazing. With every thrust, I could feel her embrace me harder, with every nibble of the ear, she would moan louder and with every squeeze of her legs around my waist, so would I.

The two of us rolled across the floor, slamming our bodies into the walls and counters of the old ice cream shop that she called home. She matched my every movement with her own, all the while begging for me not to stop if I slowed even in the slightest. I don't know what it was that drove me to do it, but the more that she would scream in ecstasy the harder I would bite and thrust. Somewhere in the depths of my primal brain, this just felt right, natural even as I picked her up and pushed her into a wall, knocking over the crate that she was using as a nightstand in the process.

I could feel her grasping me tighter and tighter as the two of us came closer to the peak of our moment together. It felt as though the two of us were actually creating our own heat as I felt my whole body start getting warmer the closer I got. With one final push, I felt her body go rigid and her teeth dig into my shoulder as the two of us came together. I could feel her clenching and contracting as the waves washed over us both together at once. Even the pain that she was causing to my shoulder was numbed by the pure and simple pleasure that was racking my body as I let out an exhausted moan and fell to my knees, still inside of her.

So THAT'S what that mare in the book had been on about... No wonder Shale loved it so... Gross Joey... That's your sister. I looked into Zuri's eyes, she was still panting in exhaustion, but I couldn't help but take pride in her glowing face of approval. We were covered in sweat, breathing heavily and still coupled together in the hot mess of what was left of her small home. Even the smell of what we had just done covered us both, a mixture of love juices, sweat and burning wood... wait...

I looked up from Zuri's soft, euphoric smile and took note of all the smoke that was in the room with us. I turned to look behind me and to also see that her bed, the floor below it and the crate that the lantern had been on was now all on fire. I jerked my head back to Zuri who had not a care in the world, even with her full view of the destruction that was happening behind me, the whole time.

"Zu! The house is on fire!" I screamed trying to wiggle from her grasp.

"Yeah..." She said, still trying to overcome the moment of bliss that she was clearly still in.

"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

"Ok..." She said, finally letting go of me.

I ran to our saddle bags and barding. With a swift kick, I sent her's and my own flying out the door, followed by me carrying Zuri out on my back, the whole time with her mumbling some shit in Zebra. We nearly didn't make it out alive, she had seen the fire start from her vantage point over my shoulder and never once did anything to stop me. On the sands of the beach the two of us stood watching her home burn to the ground, me slack jawed at what happened and her lying on her belly, nuzzling my leg.

"Zu, you saw this happening! Why didn't you say anything!?"

"...Because it felt sooo good." she said, hugging my front leg from her spot on the ground.

"Bu... But... HOUSE!? BURNING NOW!" I said in astonishment towards her lack of care of the burning structure. She stood, pressed her nose to mine and whispered.

"It is just a house..." She said, as she kissed me. "If that is what you know as sex, then I wish to know more."

"What... Zu! Your house just burned down!" I said, still in shock from nearly burning to death while having sex. In retrospect, probably not that bad of a way to go. Caliber would be proud of me. Knowing him, he would even have a custom-made headstone made for me when he found out. 'Here lies Joey... He lost his virginity in a blaze of glory'. I stood there, watching the ice cream shack burn to the ground, my brain trying its best to figure out how to feel about what it was seeing.

"I love you, you know that?" She said, wrapping her hooves around me. She loved me? The statement caught me off guard, sending my brain into deep thought of whether I loved her or not. What was love anyway? Was it caring about another pony? Was it sex? Was it the cute way they would brush off burning down a house for the sake of a good orgasm? Maybe it was the way...

"Joy, you are doing it again..." She said, as she landed another kiss on my forehead. "You are cute when you are confused."

Oh who am I kidding... I don't care what love is, I just want to be with her. The two of us fell back into the sand laughing at what had just happened.

"I guess you could say, we really brought the house down!" I said, laughing at my own bad jokes.

"That's the Joy I remember!" She said, rolling on top of me.

"Well damn. Should we just sleep on the beach? I think I have a blanket in my bags..." I said, digging for the old fleece rag I called my blanket.

"Oh no. It was on the bed." Zu said, trying to seem sympathetic to my loss.

"Dang... I really liked that blanket too. That was the one that I covered you up with when we first met..." I said, saddened by the loss of yet another memento.

"It is ok, we will get a new blanket." She said patting me on the back and then, surprisingly, nibbling my ear? "I can help you break it in." Oh! Well that sounds fun.

"That's great and all. But we should probably find another place to sleep for the night, this sand is going to chafe my butt." I said while playfully tossing some on her hooves.

"There is a place one day down the beach. But it is too dangerous to trot there at night." She said, motioning to the sky and its changing colors.

"Two things... One, we don't have to trot anywhere. And two, I think I know a place and I'm pretty sure they would love to meet you." I said.

"You do? That is great! But how far away is it? The desert is not a place to be outside at night." She said as I stood.

"Oh Zu, haven't you learned anything?" I said as I pushed my head between her hind-legs and forced her onto my back.

"Wait! What are you doing? What did you mean by that!?"

"Seriously? After the last two days together you still don't know?" I said as I opened my wings and pushed off the ground.

"What!?"

"I'm full of surprises!" I shouted as I started for the skies. Zuri wrapped all four hooves around me, nearly cutting off my blood flow to my hind legs as we rose higher and higher into the cool night air.

"I don't want to die! I just had my first orgasm! I want to have more!" She shouted back to me.

"Oh relax! It's as easy as breathing, just hold on and don't let go... Wait. So that was your first?" I screamed back as we turned past the burning shack and headed west to Stable 103.

"Right now is a bad time to ask me that!"

"What's wrong? Nervous?" I asked with an evil grin. Finally, now we are in my element!

"I HATE HEIGHTS!"

"YEAH? ME TOO!"

"Joey! You are back!" Shoari shouted amidst the screaming sounds of machinery as she launched herself in my direction, crashing into my side like a striped ball of concussive force. "We missed you!"

"OOF! Yeah... I gathered as much. Hey! What's going on here? What's with all the construction?" I asked, taking in all the ponies and Zebras that were now cutting away at the large gear shaped door.

"Oh, yeah, that... We decided to try and cut through the door. HEY! Did you find her!?" She asked, dismissing the fact that they were destroying their one line of security against... Was there even anything out here to hide from?

"I did... Why are you cutting the door off the hinges?"

"Well... WHERE is she!? I want to meet her!" She said, jumping back on my back.

"She's outside, turns out that it was her first time flying and she got a little sick on the flight over. You still didn't answer me."

"Oh! Yeah, we wanted to see if it was possible to cut through the door now that it was open. Before when we tried, it filled the Stable with this nasty black smoke that killed half of the crops. But now, we can vent the gasses outside!"

"Shoari... The door is open... WHY are you destroying it now?"

"Well... To get through the other door... duh!" She said almost as a matter of fact.

"WHAT OTHER DOOR!?" I asked in anger, but was knocked from my hooves by a much larger striped ball of fury before I could get my answer. Shoari hovered in place for a moment while I tumbled down the slope towards the entrance, the whole time paddling her legs in panic.

"YOU! YOU STAY AWAY FROM HIM! HE IS MINE!" Zuri said through gritted teeth.

"Wha..." Shoari started but was bucked back against the cave's wall.

"Joy is mine, you find your own buck!" Zu said as she advanced on the stricken zebra mare.

"WHO IS JOY!? I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! WHY DID YOU HI... OOF!" Before Shoari could finish, Zuri was on top of her and had her hooves wrapped around her neck.

"ZURI! STOP, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" I shouted as I galloped to the two insane Zebras.

"She is a malaya! How dare you try and take what is mine!"

"YOURS!?" Shoari and I both shouted in unison. Well, I shouted, Shoari made what amounted to a gargled choking noise that one could only make while being... choked.

"Zuri! Shoari is just a friend of mine. She is one of the Zebras that run this Stable, she was just being friendly."

"IT'S TRUE! PLEASE, HEDU KWENDA!" Shoari said in gibberish. Wow, Zuri must have really caught her off guard to make her go full stupid like that. Was she broken? Where do you even take a broken Zebra to be repaired?

"Hukuwa kujaribu tarehe yeye? Wewe si kahaba?" Great... Now MY Zebra is speaking gibberish too... Fuck! This Stable had better have a Zebra repair facility. I mean they can fix Pipbucks, why not mentally deranged Zebras. Celestia knows they have plenty of them here.

"Hapana! Hapana! Samahani! Sikuwa na maana ya kumkosea!" Shoari said, nodding her head. Zuri kept her gaze narrowed but did at least back away from the now shaking Shoari.

"What was that!? You two started talking funny and now everything is cool?" I asked, completely lost for words.

"It is native tongue." Zuri said, trotting past me and looking very validated in her attack.

"Those gibbers were words!? What did you say!?

"It is not important." Shoari said, now trotting closer to the two of us. "You must be tired after your journey. Do you wish to sleep?" Zuri began to advance once more, but was quickly put back into submission with a hoof to her chest as I slid her back behind me.

"Yes, but for right now, food sounds better. That AND why are you cutting the damn door down!?" I asked, gesturing a hoof to what little was left of it.

"Follow me, I shall explain." Shoari said curtly as she headed for the entrance. I followed with a very pissed looking Zebra following beside me.

"I do not trust her." Zuri whispered to me.

"What!? Why would you say that!?"

"She is ilipingwa! I know her type!" She said, dropping her head as if she were hunting her prey.

"The fuck is eeleepigwa? Would you stop!? What am I going to have to do with you? Put you on a leash!?" I whispered back, giving her a nudge with my flanks.

"She is the type that takes what she wants. I do not like the way she was riding you!" Zu said, narrowing her eyes.

"She was hugging me! That is what friends do!"

"She wants more than hugs from you."

"Wouldyoushutup!" I said, seeing Shoari turn to the two of us.

"Please, observe how thick the main door to the Stable is. It will be of critical information later." Shoari said, pointing to the over two meter thick steel. "Over two hundred years ago, the door to the Stable closed, and with it, our any hope of seeing the outside world again. As I had stated before, when we would have and did attempt to cut through the door on our side, the Stable would fill with industrial smoke that would ravage our crops and cause respiratory illness. Now however, we have the ability to cut and vent the acrid smoke out of the Stable at the same time." She said as we made our way to the center of Level A, only to turn down 'Orchard Access Way'.

"...Ok. But WHY now. The door is open and without it, you will be vulnerable to threats." I said, trailing behind the short Zebra.

"I'm glad you asked that!" Shoari said, smiling over her shoulder and giving her tail a flick.

"I have been asking that for 15 minutes now!" I shouted in frustration.

"You are looking at her butt!" Zuri whispered/hissed in my ear.

"I was not!" I whispered back.

"Yes you were!"

"For the love of... It is right in front of me! The fact that her ass is so big that I can't see anything else is negligible!" I growled back to Zu.

"You admit that you were then!" Said giving me a shove.

"My ass is not big!" Shoari shouted at the two of us.

"It is too!" Zuri and I shouted back together, still wrapped up in the heat of our stupid argument.

"Sorry, I got carried away." I said sheepishly.

"Very well... As I was saying before my posterior's perfectly normal size was called into question... We are performing test cuts on the door in order to determine the best and fastest way to remove it. You see, Stable 103 actually has 2 entrances, a fact that we have known for quite some time now. When 103 was built during the war, it had an upper entrance and a ground level entrance." Shoari said as we entered the orchard and made for the double doors on the left side's wall labeled 'maintenance level access'. Once inside the rather large stairwell, Shoari motioned for us to follow her down into the dark, barely lit flights of stairs.

"Wait, if there are two entrances and one is ground level and the other top side, why are we going down?"

"That is because you entered through the top side entrance."

"Ok, hold up. This is getting confusing. The ground is right outside of the cave. You are even burying the remains in it, you have to see where this is not making any sense to me." I said as we descended the levels of the stable. Level B, Level C and finally, the doorway labeled 'Stable maintenance level' that had long since been chained shut was right in front of us. Shoari worked the key with her hooves and explained.

"That is because the ground level access Stable door is in maintenance. You see, Stable 103 was built inside of a mountain to protect its residence from attack during the war. It was meant to be a safeguard, like so many other Stables, for the workers and families of Site 103. Unfortunately, Site 103 was targeted for attack and as such, buried beneath the sands of the desert floor."

"Wait... What is 'Site 103'?" I asked, looking down to her.

"Site 103 was a research, development and production facility for the war effort. It was a protected site put in place long ago to ensure a safe and less bloody means to end the war on both sides. Outside of that, I am afraid that our records do not show anything else. The Equines of the past seemed to hold secrets as dear to them as their loved ones I'm afraid. What we do know is that the facilities below the Stable are still intact and maybe even operational."

"Ok... How in the hell do you know that!? If there really is a city down here, how in the FUCK would it not be buried in sand." This was just ridiculous! I could buy that there may have been a secret facility here at one time, but one that is buried under a mountain's worth of sand and that is still in working order? No way, no how. Shoari removed the chains from the door and paused to pull a bottle of Rad-Safe from her bags, passing out the orange colored medicine to us both. Well, she seemingly 'accidentally' dropped Zu's on the floor in front of her.

"Oops! Clumsy me!" Shoari said while pushing the doors open to the sub-level access. Why do the mares in my life have to act like this!? Can't they just enjoy one another's company? I looked to Zu who was now licking the pill from the floor with a 'I am going to eat your soul' look on her face and sighed.

"As I was saying... We have first hoof accounts that state that the Site's shield talismans were functioning at the time of the attack. From what little we have to gather, the attackers must have used a high yield, high temperature explosive device that was capable of melting sand and stone alike. It is just a theory, but we believe that the molten slag will have come to rest atop the shield itself, creating a sort of dome. Again, this is of course our eye witness accounts that are 200 years old are accurate."

"So you are basing this on dead ponies..." I said flatly.

"AND ZEBRAS! Isn't it just fascinating!" Shoari said, slipping out of her angered state just long enough to show enthusiasm towards finding what I could only guess equated to buried treasure for her.

"Explosive..." I replied sarcastically.

"This is the Sub-level Access of the maintenance floor. Down here is where the Stable's recycling, disposal and generation fixtures are housed and maintained. Unfortunately, during the blast, much of the subsequent fallout managed to blow in from the resulting winds and shock wave that it produced. You will notice a steady 1 rad per second ambient radiation as we proceed, intensifying the closer we come to the Stable's ground floor access."

"If the radiation is present down here, even this far away from the door, why would you risk trying to open it. Wouldn't that just make things worse? Call me feather brained, but more rads are not supposed to be a good thing, right?"

"Where that is true, we have speculated that the radiation within the site itself will be fairly low. Surely it will be higher near the walls of the dome, but once within the actual superstructure, it should be within the ambient levels you are feeling now." Shoari said as we worked our way past the boilers and down the large corridor towards the large gear-shaped door. All around us came the hum and hissing of generators as they processed waste and heated water for the countless stable dwellers. To our left we passed by four large, cylindrical burners that were stationed on the back wall of the dimly lit Stable. Three of them had been decorated with flowers, fruit and drawings that more resembled scribbles than actual artwork.

"Shoari, what's that over there? Why did you decorate the burners? Is it their birthday?" I said sarcastically. Despite the nature of why we were down here, the total gravity of such a display was doing its job of making me lose faith in what they were setting out to accomplish. I had thought that they merely wanted outside of the Stable to satiate their curiosity, but now they are trying to gain access to a city that most likely is no longer even there!? Shoari paused briefly and bowed her head towards the burners, kneeling down to a knee as she did so. Great... They worship them... Even better.

"Those are where we dispose of our departed. They are decorated in celebration of our loved one's lives as they pass on to the Everafter." Shoari said just above a whisper. Oh... Shit. I felt a hoof firmly plant itself to the back of my head and push me to the ground. Zuri had even been paying her respects when my untimely comment was muttered, setting aside her petty grievances to honor the dead. Great job, Joey. Just piss all over the memories of the dead with your sarcastic humor!

"Sorry. I didn't know."

"Once an Equine is lost to us, we bring them here to be cremated so that their soul may be free from their bodies to pass on. The remains are distributed in accordance with their final wishes. Some asked to be give to the families, others asked to be placed in the soil of the gardens and orchards throughout the Stable so that they may nourish the plants to give life where theirs was lost. These are the remains of the funeral from two days ago. They are scheduled to be burned with their loved ones later today." Shoari said. Excellent, making me feel worse. Not that I probably don't deserve it. We soon continued down the corridor and finally came to the massive steel door. Two centuries of attempting to cut the door open showed in the form of deep gouges and scrapes along the edges and center of the gear, looking more like battle scars than actual cuts. Up high I could even make out that somepony, or some Zebra, had even tried to shoot the door open in desperation, marked by the twenty some odd bullet holes that pop marked its surface.

The control panel was still intact, though, it showed the signs of some... Equine attempting to hotwire it in the same manner of the buck in the cave on the top side entrance. Curious as it seemed at the time, I passed it off as yet another attempt of them trying to escape the Stable's grip on their lives. Shoari paused at the door and pointed a hoof upwards at two large air vents that lead to the Stable's ventilation system just above us.

"You see, any attempt to cut through the doors sends the smoke and abrasive dust directly into the air vents. Before, it would travel throughout the Stable and into the common areas, orchards, gardens and even the resident's quarters due to the fact that it could not be shut off for any amount of time. Doing so would result in carbon monoxide building up in dangerous levels for newborns, foals and the elderly. But now that the front entrance has been opened, we can reverse one of the systems and allow for it to blow fresh air in and close off the vents to the other, allowing it to blow the contaminated air out!" Shoari said, now ending her guided tour of just how insane they really were. I knew it! Nothing in the Wasteland is perfect, not even this place.

"Just what are you hoping to find on the other side of this door? What could possibly be out there, if there even is an out there, that is worth all of this effort!?" I asked, my voice edging on anger.

"If the facilities are still intact, then we would have a means to help the Wasteland. Site 103 houses vast production factories, labs and data that has been lost to the world for far too long. Medical, magical and even mechanical knowledge that could expatiate the recovery of the land that we once called home. After reading the books that you were so thoughtful to give us, we have decided that the world is unfit as we see it now and rather than attempt at forcing it into rebirth, we wish to help in anyway that we can." Shoari said.

I wonder if she had known just how close she came to sounding like another pony who likes to scream across the radio waves in Filly, if she would have altered her statement. Sure Red Eye 'thought' he was doing a public service, but it was going to be at the cost of other ponies in doing so. No matter how good the intention, or how well the ends would justify the means, nothing good can come from opening another irradiated hell that used to make the very things that ended the world.

"Shoari... Why are you showing and telling me all this?" I asked skeptically. She paused for far longer than I would have liked and fell back into a nervous smile.

"We were hoping that once the door was open... that maybe you would be willing to lead the first excursion mission?" She said shakily.

"NO! ARE YOU INSANE!? You want me to just trot into a place that you yourself said is irradiated, 200 years old, probably filled with magical waste, just wander aimlessly!?" I shouted.

"I believe you ponies refer to it as 'taint', and you would be well compensated for your efforts, I assure you!" She said, trying to match my volume but failing to match the emotion.

"HELL NO!" I shouted.

"Please! It is important to us! It is even important to you! We only know how to help, we can not fight or even survive without the tools of our predecessors!"

"Look, it's not that I don't like where your heart is at in all of this. But you have to understand, even if what you find is helpful to all of Equinity, you will still just be left with nothing more than a radiation city that is too dangerous to work in for more than one day a year."

"We will not know until we see what is inside. We must, at the very least, try."

"Trying is good, but not at the risk of dying! I was raised to know radiation as a very bad thing to be best friends with and here you are trying to marry it!"

"I was raised to only know how to help others, to use my talents to help improve the lives of the Equines around me. I would gladly go with you, if you so desired, I would even take your dose of radiation if it meant for us to have the access to the laboratories once more." She said in a sad tone as if she had lost a dear friend behind that door.

"No. If Joy goes, I will go with him. You will stay behind!" Zuri barked back to Shoari.

"COOL IT! Nopony is going anywhere, Zuri." I shouted between them.

"Why is it that you are so protective of him. I know that he is special, but you must see that this would mean a great deal to all of Equinity." Shoari said trying to appeal to Zuri.

"He is special TO ME. I owe my life to Joy, he is the reason I am still here." Zuri said.

"You say his name in an interesting way. Why is it that you refer to him as J-O-Y instead of J-O-E-Y. You do know that is not his name, no?"

"Yes. I know this. But to me he is and always has been Joy. It is, what I feel when I am around him."

"Ah, I seen now. I wonder, what is it that you would call me?" Shoari said, halving the distance between them, leaving me in the center of the them both.

"I would call you..." She started, tapping a hoof to her muzzle in thought. "...Midget." She said, falling into a evil grin as she lowered her head to meet Shoari's now shaking form.

"My height is due to a birth defect. Thankfully my brain was able to grow to its full size, unlike your own." Shoari said through gritted teeth.

"And I would call you both mentally deranged, self centered, egotistical, bitches that are letting a petty squabble escalate into an all-out fight." I shouted to the two of them. They neither paid me attention or mind as they continued to lock eyes and try to kill one another with their thoughts.

"Kuma!" Shoari barked.

"Mbwajike!" Zuri shouted, now pressing her nose to Shoari's.

"Kinuka uchi!" Shoari retorted. Wow, how nice it must be to speak more than one language... I pushed the two apart and trotted past them both back the way we had came.

"Where are you going!?" The two of them shouted back to me.

"Somewhere..." I shouted over my shoulder.

"Somewhere... where?" Zuri replied.

"Somewhere without the two of you." Is all that I said as I started back up the stairs. Behind me I could hear the more Zebra gibberish as their argument began to reach its full height. I listened as the near constant barrage from the two of them began to fade as I placed a hoof on the door to Level B. I stepped into the Family and Foals wing of Level B and decided that this was as good of a time as any to be alone as I trotted right and past the rows of rooms. I had almost forgotten what it was like to be alone, the silence, the peace and quiet, no Zebras calling each other something or other. Just me and my brain and a huge Stable to trot through.

Soon I found myself nearing a room designated as a playground. The sounds of young fillies and colts playing helped set my mind to ease from the cacophony that was going on downstairs. I leaned into the door and let myself into the large expanse of a play area, feeling too weak to put forth any real effort at opening the door properly.

Inside, young fillies and colts played on swings and slides, running too and through from one set of playground equipment to another. Some were even kicking a ball back and forth in small groups, kicking up small puffs of sand as they made a game of keep away out of the two teams. Off in the far corner, five young ponies were playing on top of a box, the largest of the group was holding a Frisbee in his hooves like steering wheel... It was Spot. The older buck who had been playing with blocks in Twisty's room the days before was now piloting the box around the play yard with the other foals atop it.

He came to a stop at one of the club houses at the edge of the room, offloaded two of the ponies and picked up two Zebras before once again, climbing into his make-believe truck and hauling them to the next club house. He only paused once in his mission to give everypony a ride around the yard to retrieve a young filly that was about to fall from one of the windows in the smaller of the two club houses. I had to admire him. No crazy mares shouting with words he did not understand, no worries, no cares, just playing with the other foals and doing his best to make them smile. Maybe that is what Shoari was on about when she said that she had been raised to help others. Everypony and Zebra in the Stable was doing something to help somepony else out of the goodness of their heart.

Even Spot, though he was clearly not capable of more tasking skills, was doing his part by playing with the fillies and colts and keeping them safe from hurting each other. He was even wearing one of the blue and yellow vests that the other supervisors were wearing, all be it stained, crooked and covered in stitch marks from being sewn back together a few times. I found a soft spot in the sand near the other supervisors and sat down to watch the endless flow of small ponies and zebras playing together.

This is what I had missed out on as a colt. Growing up, I never had other ponies to play with outside of Shale and Lue. Even then, our play times rarely amounted to more than glorified training sessions and shooting practice. Fun all the same, but still lacking that element of care-free wonderment that young ponies get to have growing up. Part of me was thankful that Boss had spent so much time preparing us for the world we were destined to live in, but another part of me felt cheated. It felt as though I had been denied a simple milestone in life that all ponies are supposed to be allowed to have. Still, if I were to get to be a father one day, would I not do the same thing? Celestia knows that I wouldn't want them to grow up not knowing how to survive out there, but I wouldn't want them to have to sacrifice the very things that I am watching right now either.

"Charming, aren't they?" The pink mare to my right said.

"I was thinking more... Calming." I said, turning to her.

"In all of the years that I have worked this job, you are the first to say that. What is it that you find calming?"

"They are just so care-free. I guess when the whole world around you is falling down, seeing them play and have fun is a welcome change of pace."

"You must be the Tracker that I heard about on the radio the other day. Joey, is it?"

"Yeah..." I said, still watching Spot shuffle his way around the sand.

"Forgive me... But you are not what I had expected. I'm Cherry, by the way."

"Nice to meet you Cherry. What is it that you were expecting?"

"I had always thought that somepony from outside the walls would be more..." She paused to think.

"Scarred up?" I said, finishing her question for her. "Trust me, there are plenty of scarred up ponies to go around out there. Lucky for me, I get to deal more with emotional trauma than actual wounds."

"Not all scars can be worn on the outside. Sometimes the worse pain, is one that you can not see." She said.

"Just having a very interesting day. That's all."

"Don't we all from time to time. Perhaps it is something that you wish to talk about. You know, speaking with somepony you do not know can be therapeutic."

"Have you ever wanted something so badly that you would do anything to have it, only to one day get it and have the sudden realization that now you have to protect it?"

"I believe that I can identify with that, at least partly so."

"I finally find happiness, but the universe still wants to throw me curve balls and put me in situations where I could lose it all. I did my time, ten years of waiting and living in hell, but I just don't think it will ever end."

"You should consider yourself lucky." She said, placing a hoof on my back.

"How is that lucky!?"

"You are lucky because you no longer have to go through it alone. Life is a long and winding road. It will test you at its every turn, making it feel far longer than it actually is. But with the company of others, the journey is always much more forgiving. They shoulder the load that you can not possibly carry on your own."

"That is way more wise of an answer than I was expecting." I said in near shock at a pony who had spent her whole life in a Stable some how knew more about life than me.

"When you are forced to live alone, you have plenty of time to think." She said, standing to all fours.

"You are alone? But you live in a Stable, there are ponies everywhere in here! So what is a pretty mare like you doing still single." I said, throwing my hooves wide.

"Yes, this is true, but few wish to spend their lives with a mare who can not conceive."

"Oh... I'm sorry. I didn't know." I said, standing to my hooves.

"It's fine. Like I said, not all scars can be worn on the outside. You could not have known. But it is why I requested to be moved to this job. I have always wanted a foal of my own, but since I can not have one, this is the next best thing for me." She said with a smile.

"I'm sure that they know just how lucky they are to have somepony like you caring for them." The words felt nearly hollow when they left my lips. But what could you possibly say to something like that!? I felt for her, but there was nothing that I could do about it other than say 'I'm sorry' and move on.

"You are as kind as Xymol has lead me to believe." She said as she turned to stop a filly from trying to escape out of an air vent behind us. "Forgive me, but I have to get back to work and this little filly is quite the flight risk, as you can probably see. Oh! It looks like you are no longer alone." She said looking beyond me while simultaneously levitating the escape artist filly in her magic.

I turned to see Zuri sitting right beside me, her silent appearance and close proximity invoking the only response that it could from me. Yeah, I screamed like one of the foals on the playground. I'm not proud of it.

"Celestia! How did you do that!?"

"You were busy talking. The floor is made of sand." She said, kicking some of it on my hooves.

"How long have you been here, exactly?"

"I believe scarred up was the first thing that I heard."

"Sneaky Zebras..."

"Are you afraid of me?" Zuri asked as the two of us watch the foals play on the swings.

"Why would I be afraid of you? We have had sex, and where in those moments you can be rather scary, I think that qualifies you as not a threat."

"No, are you afraid of me leaving?"

"Less leaving, more losing. I have never had somepony who I wanted to actually protect before."

"Is that why you refused the midget's offer?"

"For the last time, she wasn't trying to bang me! And her name is Shoari, not midget." I said in exhaustion.

"No, no. I mean about the Site that she spoke of?"

"Oh... Partly, I guess... Ok yes, that is why."

"You do not need to be afraid for me. I can handle myself, if I could not, do you think that I would have not made it this far in life?"

"Yeah, I guess that much is true." I said, sitting back down beside her. I didn't say it, whether it be from not wanting to argue or not wanting to offend her, but the truth of the matter was that I was terrified of the thought of something happening to her. Actually, come to think of it, I was terrified of anything happening to any of the ponies that I had come to care for over my lifetime. Shale, Caliber, Zuri... All of them had come to mean the world to me, and the thought of anything bad happening to them sent my guts into knots. I had always thought that one day I would find what it was that I was looking for and finally get to be happy, but what good is it all going to be if we all can't be safe in doing so?

"Joey?" Zuri spoke, breaking my train of thought.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm drooling, aren't I? Wait, you said my name right!"

"Do you love me?"

"What!? What kind of question is that?"

"Yes or no. Do you love me?"

"I crossed a desert with a failing liver and nearly no water, I went back to the spot that we first met at, once a year, for ten years, we burned your house down while having sex... Yes, I think that I love you." I said.

"I am being serious. I am afraid too. I do not want to lose you again."

"Zu, is that why you nearly killed Shoari? Are you worried that some other mare is going to come in and try and take me away?"

"I don't want to be alone again." She said, hanging her head.

"Zu... I don't want anypony, or Zebra for that matter, else. I waited long enough, I'm not leaving you ever again." I said, wrapping my hooves around her.

"That is good, yes?"

"Yes Zuri, that is good. Although, you do know that I have a sister, right? I'm not going to have to worry about you two nearly killing one another, am I?"

"You will have to point her out to me." She said. Well, I guess a short talk on a playground about how her abandonment issues were really putting a strain on my friendship was just not going to cut it.

"You said that you have a room here, yes?" She said, looking off into the playground.

"I do. Why? Getting tired?" I asked. She turned to me with that all too familiar look that I had come to know, and very much so love, over the last few days.

"No." She said with a smile.

"Well, that WAS a nice bed." I said in my sleepy state. We had been up for all of an hour after falling asleep the night before, after the consummation of the talk we had earlier that day. Zu had spent the majority of the evening trying to convince me that bucks could in fact achieve more than one orgasm in a row, it was the single most painful and pleasurable moment of my life that I hope to never have to do again. We woke to the sounds of construction coming from deep below us in the maintenance level, prompting us to shower and get ready for the day.

Unfortunately, the showering led to kissing, followed by a failed attempt at love making in the shower, followed by the total collapse of my bed from the wall. The ponies in the room next to us were none too happy that we had made as much noise as we had at this hour in the morning. I suspect that being woken up at six am to the majestic sounds of screaming and the destruction of furniture during the act of mating was not high on the list of things that they wished to be subjected to. It is not my fault that the ponies who designed this Stable used concrete, it is a perfect sound conductor.

Zu had settled herself into combing her mane while I, on the other hoof, was plotting our course back to Hoofington. Despite her want to stay far away from Equestria proper, I had convinced her that with Shale, Caliber, me and Valkyrie watching out for one another, she would be safe. No matter how many times I ask her, she still refused to tell me what it is that she is running from. Infuriating as it might be, I had to at the very least try not to pry too far into her prior life. Every time I did, she would start trying to change the subject to anything but what I wanted answers on. If I pushed harder, she would start getting agitated and shut down on me. It was maddening to say the least, but I did my best to not let it show so that she would see it more as a misunderstanding, rather than me wanting to just do away with the threat.

I guess it was her way of trying to protect me from whatever it was that she was running from. For that, I can’t be too mad at her, but the fact that she was keeping secrets from me, no matter how well founded the reason, was really starting to get to me. We had only been reunited a few days and already we had done things that couples wait months to do, yet she was still holding onto her privacy, ironically. To be fair, if it was somepony she was running from, I WOULD want to take matters into my own hooves, and if that somepony was anywhere near her homelands, then she must know that I would push to go there.

“Joey! Open up! It’s Shoari! It’s important!”

Shoari’s muffled voice found its way through the door in a urgent tone, only broken up by the sound of her hooves pounding on the wall.

“The harlot is back...” Zuri said from her perch atop the remains of the bed.

“Look... She is a friend, I have zero plans on having sex with, dating or even doing anything more than the occasional hug. Cool it. Now I expect you two to play nice when I open the door.” I said in the most fatherly tone I could manage. Zuri snorted, turned her head and returned to combing her mane in silence. I mashed the green button next to the door and watched as it slid open, followed by Shoari flying through the doorway and in me. Zuri gave a hateful glance in our direction as I found my way back to my hooves and did my best to calm the now very ecstatic acting half sized Zebra.

“Joey! You have to come quick! It’s an emergency!” She said in a tone that made the words almost come out all as one.

“Ok, just...” I started

“Oh no. NO, no, no, no! This is all my fault! I never should have opened that damn door!” She said pacing the room on her hoof tips.

“Shoari, just try and...”

“I can’t believe this would happen! How did she even get out of the playroom!?” She continued in a state of panic.

“Shoari!”

“Oh apple slices! Oh poop! Oh horse’s pus...”

“SHOARI!” Zuri and I shouted.

“Please, calm the fuck down and tell me what happened.”

“Ok... Oh!” She said, now suddenly noticing that she had paced herself right into the shower.

“The ground floor Stable door is open. We were conducting tests to see how bad the contamination was, the door is open!”

“I gathered... What is it!? Ghouls? Zombies? Some other contrivance that seeks to kill us all?” I said in the flat tone that could only show just how much shock I had towards her problem after telling her not to do it.

“She went in there after her! Joey! You have to find them!”

“WHO!?” I shouted.

“My little sister, Maji! I was sitting with her while I was overseeing the core sample extraction! Oh kinyesi!”

“Look at me.” I shouted at her, pulling her face close to mine to try and calm her down.

“Are you sure she went in there?”

“I thought she had gone back to the play area, but the cameras show her walking through the door! I wanted to be sure that she went where she was told!” Shoari said, now welling up with tears.

“You said they... Who else went in there?”

“Cherry! Her sitter! When Maji did not show up when she was supposed to, she came looking for her! That is when we found out she had gone into the Site! Please! You have to help me!” She pleaded. I let go of her face and gave Zuri, who was now standing by my side, a long, hard, look and closed my eyes.

“FUCK YOU UNIVERSE! YOU JUST CAN’T LET ME BE HAPPY, CAN YOU!?”

To my surprise, the two of them backed away from me in slack jawed horror.

“What!?” I shouted to the two of them. Zuri, who had been silent throughout all of this, finally spoke.

“You should never curse towards the Stars. You will call down their wrath in doing so.”

“What is this... more Zebra shit!? Look, there is a kid lost in a irradiated city, UNDERGROUND! I think we have more TANGIBLE problems.”

“It is true what she says.” Shoari said, still wiping her muzzle.

“Later, ok? Just... take me to the damn Site.” I said, trotting out the door. “I swear... A kid goes missing and all they can think of are stars...”

I ran to the maintenance access corridor with Zuri and Shoari in tail, all the while trying to pry for as much information as I could get about what had happened. I had told them that nothing good could come from opening the Stable door, but of course they did not listen to me, that would actually make sense! Now there is a filly lost in a two hundred year old city filled with Celestia-only-knows-what-all living in it and I was the logical choice to go find her. Not even an hour ago I was having the time of my life and hyping myself up to fly home to see Caliber and Shale, maybe even to start my new life now that I had found Zuri. Now however, I am about to trot off into oblivion over the act of sheer stupidity!

"What does she look like?" I shouted behind me.

"Like the only filly in the city! Why would that be important now?" Shoari said as we entered the maintenance floor.

"Because I need to know what colors to be looking for while I'm down there."

"Also there are probably ghouls." Zuri said.

"WHAT!? GHOULS!?" Shoari shouted as we came to a stop at the now-open Stable door.

The large gear had been cut away in their haste to open the gateway to what they perceived to be a paradise beyond measure. Large heaps of steel debris were piled up to either side of the gateway to the old city. Their best guesses had been right. In the large expanse of darkness I could make out rivers of molten slag that had fallen down the mountainsides like great rivers of solidified lava. The exit of the cave had been draped with the stuff, burning everything that it had touched, even the ponies that were now encased in the smokey black quartz. Their hollow remains were all that was left to show what had happened here, standing like glass sculptures in the darkness.

"Celestia..." I mouthed.

"Please tell me you can find her!" Shoari said, now watching me step closer to the entrance.

"How long ago was it that she went in there?" I asked, now watching the Rad meter begin to click and rise the closer I stepped.

"About 45 minutes ago." She said, pacing on the tips of her hooves.

"How many of you morons have been in there?"

"Why would that be..."

"Everything! Every single detail is important in times like this! If you want me to go in there, then you need to answer me directly and fluently, understand?" I shouted back to her. Standing just behind Shoari, I saw a smirk begin to grow across Zuri's face, as if she was approving my authoritative manner towards the short Zebra.

"We have all been in and out regularly taking samples. The radiation is just as we had predicted, it is intense near the entrance but fades the farther in you travel. Please, there is no need for yelling." Came the calm voice of Xymol.

"Great, you're here too. How far in have you made it?"

"No further than the outer rim of the city proper. I would guess that to be no more than 300 meters."

"Great, so there are varying levels of radiation, hoof tracks everywhere and I'm guessing it is going to be dark the whole way. So basically searching for a needle in a haystack." I said flatly.

"Yes, but if you can make it near the reactor..."

"Here we go..."

"You may be able to restart its substations. We believe that they may have been shorted out during the blast, if you could turn the power back on to the city, then the street light would be powered back on."

"Why is it that when I hear you say 'If you can', I get the feeling you have already tried?"

"That is because we have. The closer we came to the structure, the more intense the radiation became. We were in the middle of suiting up to go back in when the alarm sounded."

"And I suppose that you are fresh out of suits as well..."

"Oh no, we have plenty! They are... Clean? Also lead-lined to protect from radiation." Shoari said, holding one of them up for me to see in her mouth.

"But we had guessed that you would wish to fly, rather than trot. The suits do not fit Pegasi who wish to be airborne, but as such, if you can fly, you could come in from above to flip the breaker, rather than have to make your way through the disposal yard." Xymol said, pointing a hoof to the map on the floor.

"Forgive me..." I started as I trotted up to the two of them. "Why is it... that all of this just reeks of a set up?" I said, narrowing my eyes towards Shoari.

"What!?" She said, falling back from my advancement.

"You were begging me to go in there just yesterday, and now, today, your little sister just so happens to get lost in the very place you wanted me to go."

"We... Do not follow." Xymol said.

"Oh com'on! This whole thing just stinks to high heaven of betrayal! You mean to tell me that you just so happen to have maps and plans to turn the power back on to the city, know where to go to do it and you just so happen to need a Pegasus to do it!?"

"Please, I can assure you that this is not a clever ruse to benefit our own means. If you so wish, I invite you to see the security footage of Maji entering the Site, if it would satiate your worries." Xymol said almost questioningly. This stable has been hard to put into perspective since I had found it nearly a week ago. From their overly excited attitude towards things that would upset other ponies, to their precocious nature of their doings. Outside looking in, all of this felt like the planning of a foal to trick his friends into doing something they wanted them to, but the emotions that they were displaying were far too real seeming for my own liking.

Even if they did show me the footage, it wouldn't matter. They could have put this poor filly up to this and used her caretaker as a cover. For all I know they could have killed her and sent the filly on a suicide mission based on their screwed up beliefs. Then again, there was the very real possibility that they were telling the truth, even if it did feel suspicious, there was just as much evidence to the contrary. Why do decisions like this follow me around!? Half in, half out. 50/50 choices. Flip a bit and take a guess. Just once it would be nice to be able to see through the veil of life and know which way to run, instead of 'S.W.A.G'ING' it all the damn time.

"I thought that you were a tracker..." Shoari said trying to hide a snotty sniff.

"I am, it's just... Look, if I get in there and find out that you all set this up, just so I can do you dirty work, I'm leaving. Understand? No flipping breakers, no excursions, no nothing!"

"I DON'T CARE! PLEASE, JUST FIND HER!" Shoari screamed at me. Her fear and excitement had faded to anger the longer I had stalled the mission's advancement. Looking into her eyes I could see a fury of emotions that were fighting their way to the surface. Fear, anger, confusion, all of them melding together, giving her nervous demeanor meaning. Maybe she was telling the truth, maybe this was all just a misunderstanding. These ponies don't even know what sarcasm is from what I have gathered, they just know the raw emotions and express them at their core fundamentals.

Maybe it was the years of Wasteland knowledge clashing with the ways of the past that had been preserved for so long. I had come to know ponies as, at best, unreliable. When I did have to rely on the loyalty of strangers, I had come to see it as a last resort when i had no other option. Ponies outside... They were not known for looking out for, or even helping one another. It took years of being together and a common goal just to get most of them off of their flanks to do anything that did not benefit them in the end. So to see them expect help to be given freely and without question, was clashing with any and all logic that I had come to know.

Had I become jaded or just tempered to the ways of life. Was it me that was wrong, or was it them? Clearly their emotions were not betraying them, but even if they were, I had already made up my mind on going in. Even if this was some scheme to get me to help them, there was still a filly and the mare I had spoke with just yesterday lost in there. That alone was enough to make the decision for me. Now what would come after the fact if I were to find out they were lying to me the whole time... Well, I'll get to that later.

"Ok, I'll go." I said as I shucked off my saddle bags to rifle through their contents. "I'm going to need one of those suites, cut holes in the sides of it for my wings." I said, tossing my knife across the floor.

"If you cut the suit, it will to aid in protecting you from contamination." Xymol said worryingly.

"Yeah, but the fabric is lead-lined, right? If nothing else, it will keep the rads out. I'm also going to need that map and any Radaway you might have on hoof."

"I will need a suit too." Zu said, trying to fit her way into a... Was that a foal's sized clean suit?

"Zu, I don't think that that is a good idea..." I said, trying to pull the now stuck suit from her head.

"No! I will go too. Somepony needs to watch your flank in there." Zu said, trying to pull the suit from me.

"Zu, If you come with me, there is the very real possibility that we would need to split up at some point. I'm not letting you go trotting around down here without me." I said pulling her away from the rest of the group. "Just... Look. If something happens, if they say something that would make you think that they are doing this out of malice or if they in someway try and lock me in down here... I need you do go to Hoofington and find Caliber. He will know what to do, ok?"

"I do not like this! The midget looks untrustworthy."

"Zu please, I need you to be my ears on the ground. Stay here and find out what you can. If this place is as corrupt as I think it might be, then I need to know everything. This is a small city of ponies and Zebras that, from what they have just told us, found a munitions plant for world ending weapons and tech. Not to mention that they have a very lax attitude towards working with the stuff and 'helping' other ponies with their problems. The last thing I am going to do is leave them to their own devices to blow up all of equestria all over again." I said.

"Fine, I will watch the midget."

"Forget Shoari. I want you to stick near Xymol. Use those creepy Zebra stealth things you do all the time and don't let him hear you. Try and see if you can gather any and all intel on what they are planning to do with this place." I said, digging in my bags. I found my necklace and gave it to her. "Take this with you if this all goes to hell, Caliber will know it's mine."

"Please be careful." She said, giving me a hug.

"I will."

I trotted back to Xymol to retrieve the things that I had asked for, allowing him to drop them into my bags and latch them shut. Without a word to the others, I placed one shaky hoof in front of the other and slowly made my way across the Stable door's catwalk into the darkness. The closer I came to the other side of the threshold, the more I began to notice dim lights piercing through the hazy air in the subterranean city. The cave that the door had been built into was littered with skeletons of long since dead ponies, some mere bones, others encased in that smoky quartz that draped the caves entrance.

"Here goes everything..."

There was no sound other than the faint wisps of my wings as I hovered just a few meters off the ground. The eerie silence was so overwhelming that it dulled my senses for several long moments when I entered the domed room that was not unlike a tomb in terms of feel and look. Only the distant hum of the the reactor plant that was just ahead of me was giving me solace that I was not going deaf, but rather disoriented. The air was thick and acrid, almost musty in smell, if not for the stinging that it was causing to my nose as I breathed. In the light of my Pipbuck I could see trails of hanging dust swirling in the wake of my wings as they kept me aloft.

Xymol had been telling the truth when he had said that the background radiation faded the further you went from the glass walls of this place. The clicking on my foreleg was not the only reminder that this place was irradiated however. Above me, running like long cracks in stone were vivid blue rivers of radioactive fallout, forever trapped in the superstructure of the city's shell. Even without the light of my Pipbuck, its ambient glow was just enough to make out close objects and full hoof tracks. Despite their stoic appearance, my mane tingled at the thought of one of them breaking free and raining it's hell down upon me.

I had been searching for a little over an hour now, doing my best to skirt the edges of all the tracks from the Stable dweller's traffic patterns in search of a set of that lead deeper into the city. I was able to clear the vast majority of the area of the ironically named 'Courtyard of Life' but was unable to near the walls of the mountain side due to intense radiation. I had resided myself to checking the more dangerous areas lastly, and began moving closer to Reactor 103 when I spotted a fresh set of tracks in the sand near a street sign that read, "Convergent Way".

"Finally!" I nearly shouted. My words echoed off the walls and reverberated through the city around me. This whole place was one giant echo chamber! The fact that I had not yet heard one of the two missing ponies I was after, was mind boggling. Apart from the steadily growing hum of the Reactor the closer I came, the entire room would from time to time let out faint groans and pops that sounded like glass being broken. The telltale sound of fracturing glass and random falling objects was setting my teeth on edge with their sudden reappearances.

I approached the Reactor facility and began to circle the grounds, looking for the containment yard that Xymol had mentioned earlier. Maybe if I can get the lights to come on in here, it wouldn't be so damn creepy feeling. I have been in some hairy places in my time, but this hell hole takes the cake! I looked down to the north side yard of the facility to see a thick concrete wall that had been constructed to shield against radiation for the used chemicals and magical byproducts. I know that because Xymol had written me notes on my map. Gee, it must be nice to be smart. I would have just trotted right up and taken a nap on one of the various skull and crossbones labeled containers!

I landed atop the containment wall, looking down into the yard at the various containers that presumably still held contaminates or even live fuel cells that are ready to be used. Even from up here, the radiation was enough to kill a pony in a few hours without protective gear or a health supply of Rad-away. Below me laid rows upon rows of barrels and containers, separated by color and what looked to be varying designation signs. Only to tops were visible in the waning light of the overhead radiation, leaving the sides and the bottoms of them completely shrouded in darkness. On the far end of the grounds, there looked to be some type of substation surrounded by giant looking towers with wires coming out of the tops of them. They seemed to spiderweb out from the facility from that one location. If that is where the power was going out, I wonder what the chances of the breaker being over there is...

"Ok! Just have to get through the yard of radiation, find the breaker, throw it, hope the reactor doesn't explode in my face and find two morons... Easy stuff. Now where, oh where, is that breaker at?"

I looked all across the compound, but nothing direct stood out that would lead me to believe it to be a control panel or even a switch. The darkness of the area was so overwhelming that it was making seeing anything within the place nearly impossible, cloaking everything in something akin to a black fog. All apart from the far of corner where I could see a green glow permeating from between the barrels, some byproduct of leaking magical waste I'm sure. The smell in the air attacked my senses with a pungent, vile odor of rotten flesh and acidic chemicals that seemed to be permeating from the yard itself. Even in the clean suit, I could nearly taste the thick aroma through the respirator. These things were meant to filter out particulate, not toxic gases. Thinking quickly, I set myself to work trying to find the master control room, but the smell of the place was beginning to give me a headache and making it difficult to focus.

"So... If I was giant industrial switch to turn on the power to a creepy smelly forgotten city, where would I be."

I said to myself as I trotted across the top of the wall and around the field of barrels towards the mass of cables ahead of me. A sound came from right below me, causing me to freeze in my tracks and nearly topple over the side of the narrow walk way I had been trotting on. It was a low, gurgling sound mixed in amidst the shuffling of hooves and nudging of barrels as whatever it was moved just underneath me. Cautiously, I cast a weary glance towards the ground and into the darkness. No sooner than my head had cleared the brick wall, the sound stopped.

"Easy, Joey. It is probably just everything settling." I said to myself as I slowly made my way further down the precarious path I had chosen. With another step came more rustling and guttural groaning. The closer I came to the bridge way over the entrance to the facility the louder the sounds became. Despite my high vantage point, I couldn't shake the undeniable feeling that somepony, or something was watching me. Its eyes burning into my side almost feeling tangible in its action.

I ventured another glance down, only to pull back from the ledge, nearly falling off its side to the ground below. Something was moving down there, but it wasn't anything I had ever seen before. The darkness, it was actually moving, it swirled and billowed in great black waves that pulled at the sides of the wall and washed over my hooves and side as it washed over me. What I had taken as mere shadows was something far more sinister in nature. Whatever it was that was down there, it was not just the absence of light, but a cloud. The nearer the gas came to me, the more my headache would intensify and the further I trotted, the louder the sounds became.

Curious of its depth, I looked to the other side of the walkway and could just make out that the sandy ground was something closer to four ponies lengths straight down. If that were the case then the cloud of black whateverthefuck must be far deeper than I had expected it to be. From behind me came the sounds of scratching, and clawing at stone, followed by a cold breath on my hind leg. I froze in panic, not wanting to look back, I wanted to run, fly even, but I feared any motion I made would send me tumbling into the black fog. Slowly, I chanted my head behind me, not daring to make any sudden movements.

Blue glowing eyes were looking back at me. Right next to my leg was the decomposing head of a pony, ravaged by time and radiation, its jaw dislocated and left to hang from its mouth. Its hooves were just nubs, the leg bones protruding through their cracked and worn through shoes, stained black with magical byproducts. It was actually climbing the wall! Using its leg bones as crude spires to puncture the cracks in the stone wall, it had completely gotten the drop on me. its face seemed to swirl within the black mist around it as it sat motionless beside me.

In shocked horror, I bucked back towards it with all of my might, sending it flying into the black fog and far away from me in doing so. I watched as the fog rose and fell as it consumed it. Groans began to rise from the abyss, echoing off everything around me and clouding my thoughts with sheiks and horror. I looked down once, only to confirm my greatest fears. Eyes, dozens of glowing eyes were looking up at me through the darkness with hunger and intent. Blue, green, red and even yellow glares broke through the cloud and followed my every move as I re-positioned myself to take off. With the very opening of my wings, I felt the wall I was standing on began to shake as they lunged for the edge of the wall, their sheer numbers and impact sending me skittering on my hooves forward.

What were these things!? These were not the ghouls I was used to seeing throughout the Wasteland, these were something much different. Their eyes were glowing with pain and hunger like a wild animal and even their motions seemed to be more violent in nature than anything I had ever seen before! I tried to regain purchase with my hooves amidst their constant barrage of impacts below me, but every time I managed more than a few steps forward, I would be knocked back down again. I had to get some momentum to take off, but my movements felt almost sluggish in this suit, weighing me down and making it hard to move with its tight features. Just up ahead of me I could make out the ruined metal soffit of the gateway's overhead challis work, its once decorative spires now warped and protruding out of the stone wall like great spears.

I lurched forward, doing my best to keep my hooves under me under the constant barrage that was happening all around me. Groans, screams and shrieks filled the air as I half-ran, half skipped as far as I could manage from the horde that was now seeking a tasty pony dinner. I looked back, but what I saw only confirmed my deepest worries. One of the ghouls had somehow found its way atop the same walk way as me and was hobbling far quicker than I had thought it could my way. I lowered my head and broke into a full gallop to close the small gap between me and the archway. If I could get inside the mess of bent steel, maybe I could by myself some time to get a clear run for take off on the other side.

"Why did I agree to this! Oh I am SO FUCKED!" I shouted. I didn't even have a gun to defend myself with! I had gotten so wrapped up in my quest to end the all the stupidity that I had for got the first rule of the Wasteland. Never leave home without a gun! If I make it out of here, I'm going to kill Shoari for not watching her sister closer, wait, SHIT!

"YEEP!"

I felt something latch onto my tail just as I entered the jungle of warped iron, ripping me to a complete halt and sending my chin bouncing off the concrete. I kicked and flailed my way to my back to see that one of the ghouls had grabbed my tail mid-run. It was hanging off the edge of the walkway, it's grotesque legs were grinding their way to the edge of the concrete as I reached for the other ledge to keep from being dragged down into that darkness from whence it came. With a grinding snap, I felt the weight grow as the ghoul pony fell from the edge and began shaking and writhing to try and free its prize. In sudden horrific realization, I knew all too well what Wheels must have been feeling in his last moments. Fear, no, terror at the idea of a grizzly death that would hurt the entire time you were dying.

I shook, kicked and rolled, but nothing I was doing would shake the half dead pony from my tail. The suit was holding but I found myself wishing I could somehow shake loose of it, I'll take rads over this any day. Its gruesome snarling through a mouthful of my tail sent my mane standing on end and with every wiggle and tug, I could feel my grip on the ledge faltering. There was no avoiding what I had to do If I wanted to get out of this alive.

With all of my strength, I reached my wing forward to retrieve my knife from my foreleg, and with one motion, I sent the glimmering blade flying behind me. I winced at the feeling of the blade cutting through the fabric of the suit, but I clinched my eyes shut when it started to slice through my tail. The sharpened steel did its dirty job of severing my tail half way between me and the chomping maw of the ghoul, sending it flailing to the ground with a loud thud. I scampered back to my hooves and tried my best not to mourn the loss the best I could, while I ran for the skies.

As my wings spread and I felt the sudden weightlessness of flight, I could hear a deep howl coming from far behind me. I circled the Reactor, looking down to see just how big this horde really was, but everything was still coated in the deep black fog that I had seen from the catwalk. Even from up here, I could see it moving, pulsing and every-so-often, the glimpse of a ghoul's head as it jumped in vain towards me in the air. It was like a night's sky, filled with zombies desperately trying to escape the bonds of space to get to their meal. The excursion of what had just happened sent my headache into overdrive, filling my vision with sparks of light and dulling the edges of everything in the world around me.

I flew to the junction house on the far side of the yard and perched myself on the roof. Below me in the distance, the horde had found themselves occupied with what little of me they actually managed to take as a play toy. I looked back to the remains of my tail, I was now left with a very short and jagged looking stub of what was once a hind-fetlock-long tail. Even though I knew it would grow back eventually, the thought of having to sever part of my own body just to survive the attack left me shaken. I felt cheated and defiled, yet I had done the work myself, it was even my choice to be in here. I pushed everything to the back of my head to worry about later, and pulled my head away from the stump of hair that remained.

Deciding that with a huge gaping hole in the suit, all it was going to be from this point on was a hindrance, so I shucked it off my shoulders and tossed it in a heap near the door to the roof level access door as I trotted inside. I rather die of exposure than have to deal with the thoughts of my butt being blasted with radiation for the rest of this trip. I looked to my Pipbuck, but in my debilitated state, the bright green screen forced my eyes shut in pain. Wincing, I cracked them open to see that the little health pony seemed to be sticking its tongue out at me with its eyes pointing east and west. I screwed up my face and stuck my tongue back out at it and blew it a raspberry. "Why do I even have this damn thing, it doesn't even work right half the time!" I mumbled in anger towards the door in front of me. I leaned into it, kicking the ruined suit to the side in doing so, and let myself in.

With any luck, the zombies from the containment yard will would not have managed to find their way inside of this place too... Oh who am I kidding... This is probably where they live! I bet they throw huge parties here and lick all the windows...

As I trotted down the narrow stairwell and into the top floor of the Reactor's main distribution hub, I took note of the facts that not only was the fog in this room as well, but seemed to get thicker the lower in the structure I went. I quickly set myself to try and find the room labeled "Big flippy switchy thing that turns on all the power and makes the bad ponies go away". What were those things anyhow!? I have SEEN zombie ponies before, these were not the same. The ones from my past were dumb and for the most part mindless, but these... these were something else entirely. I had never seen them with glowing eyes before, or with such an insatiable prey drive like they had. They moved with purpose, intent even, they even worked in unison like an actual horde.

And what the hell is this black fog!? It just made everything worse! It is bad enough to be dealing with a slightly more intelligent form of zombie, but one that you can't even see!? What had they opened a door to? This place was a kill-zone, worthy of nothing more than darkness and to be sealed off for all eternity and forgotten.

It was at that moment it dawned on me that the ground floor entrance to Stable 103 was now forever open to this world and all its 'treasures', and that Zu was standing right at the gate. I had to move fast and get out of here, I had to somehow find a way to block this place off and keep her from these... these things... Without me there to protect her... Easy, Joey. She can handle herself just fine, she would get out ok if these things managed to escape into the Stable. But what about the other residence of the Stable, there are kids in there, mothers and fathers even. Hell, as much as I resented Shoari and Xymol for putting me in this position, they didn't deserve to die over all of this.

I came to the end of red lit hallway to a door with the words "Breaker Junction" embossed above it, with a swift kick, the door flew open. I kept my knife held in my right wing, even if I had not heard a sound since I came in the windowless building, having it close to my side somehow comforted me. Inside I was greeted with rows upon rows of terminals, most of which were long since dead, all apart from one that was still blinking its cursor in that vivid green color. Why was it that every time I had been in a room FILLED with monitors, the one that I needed was always on while the others were completely destroyed? What magical power from on-high was responsible for such irony!?

I parked my butt in front of it and began pounding away at the keys to try and force it into revealing to me the secrets of the past. The bright display was dizzying to look at, the words almost seemed to pop off of the screen and blur together the harder I tried to focus on them. Finally, after a lot of trial and error, I managed to get to the same screen that I watch Caliber find when he would 'hack' into these damn things. Sifting through the lines of code, I tried to imagine what a smart little pony from the past would set the password as if I were them and I worked in a place like this. No doubt it would be big a scary word that I had never heard of before, nor knew the meaning to.

"Dimethylethyl? No... Cesium? No... Autoradiograph? No..." I continued through the lines of code, backing out of the terminal before it could lock me out, just as Caliber had done. Finally, after what felt like an hour I came to the last word in the list to try. I had saved it for last out of its sheer stupidity for even being listed. My hooves found the keys B-U-T-T-S and hit the enter key. The screen flashed a bright green blur of numbers, symbols and letters, forcing me to clench my eyes shut in pain at the sudden brightness. Once my brain had quit throbbing, I cracked my eyes open to see that I had in fact defeated the terminal and was met with a host of options.

...Access granted...

> Audio log 073

> Data entry 47

> Data entry 91

> Amethyst diary entry 1

> Security protocol update

> Site 103 security camera viewing

> Main power control

> Main containment gate access

"Heh... Butts. Who would set such a strange password in a place like this..." I said to myself in elation towards my victory over technology. Sure it was just a simple terminal, but given my history with these things, this was a far greater accomplishment than my first time flying. I skipped past the audio, data and diary logs and navigated to Main power control, selected it and confirmed my selection.

... Do you wish to restore power to Site 103? Y/N

I selected Y and watched as the screen went black, flickered a few times, followed by the room going completely dark. My heart sank during the momentary absence of light, save for the green glow of the terminal in front of me. After what felt like years of waiting, the lights flickered back to life in the room, this time in a warm yellow instead of the red when I had first come in here. I covered my eyes with my hooves to block out the bright lights that were about to assault my senses, but for some reason, the pain never came. I slowly cracked my eyes open, waiting for my head to throb, but nothing came from the amber glow around me. What had happened to me? Was it just sensory deprivation playing hell on my mind and giving me a headache?

I looked around the room, the black fog I had once seen now took on a dark purple hue in the glow of the overhead lighting. The white and gray walls around me had been stained with whatever this stuff was, taking on a light lavender shade about halfway up the walls. I looked down to my coat and saw that it had even managed to darken my already ashy coat with its pungency, changing it several shades darker than when I came in here, but still radiating with the faint purple glow. I looked back to the terminal and the screen in front of me had been replaced with a loading bar atop an ever changing list of processes and procedures as Site 103 slowly came back to life.

Off in the distance I could hear short whorls of industrial devices powering on, creaking and grinding their way back into operation as power flooded the circuits. The building around me began to hum with life as recirculatory fans squealed into action, moving the air around me and setting the purple cloud to dance in waves as it did so. An overhead speaker popped and crackled back to life as a mare's voice filled the room in a soft, southern tone.

...Site 103 startup protocol enacted... Four minutes and thirty-nine seconds before main reactor core starting procedure is initiated...

...Airborne pathogen detected in sector Alpha... Sector Echo... Sector Sierra...

...Unknown liquid and aerosolized contamination in Sector Zulu...

...Beginning automated air filtration of contaminated structures in priority ordered protocol... Estimated start time... Two minutes and twenty-seven seconds...

...Warning... Abnormal levels of ambient radiation detected... Please follow all safety procedures for radioactive event protocol...

...Site 103 security monitoring now online... Hostility sweep in progress... Please remain indoors until all clear is sounded...

...Time to completion... thirty-nine seconds... Some features of S.T.A.R will be offline during startup...

"Star? What the hell is Star?" I said aloud as I watch the loading bar fill at the bottom of the screen slowly. It had returned to the main screen with the audio logs and terminal functions and I selected 'Site 103 security camera viewing' in hopes that maybe I could use it to find Cherry and Maji. If this thing had access to cameras, maybe it could find them and keep me from trotting all over this place in search of the two morons. But as soon as I selected it, the speaker above me came back to life.

...Please wait for all security sweep to finalize prior to enacting surveillance systems...

"Stupid machine!" I shouted in frustration as I pounded my hooves into the table. The lights in the room went off and a deep whirring sound began to fill the room. In the glow of the terminal, I saw something move out of the corner of my vision. Slowly, I craned my head towards the corner of the room and fell back in horror. A giant black mass had began to grow, rising from the floor like a black wave. Two blue eyes gazed back at me as I shuffled my way backwards to the far wall on my haunches. The fog around me began to swirl and climb the walls towards the dark presence in the room with me as if it were attracted to it.

I watched as it grew taller and neared the ceiling, all the while its eyes glowing brighter and more vivid in color. I felt my head begin to pound with pressure as the mass began to creep along the ceiling tiles above my head, the closer it came, the more the pain grew. Frozen in fear, I coward to the ground as best I could to avoid it, but it was no use. It began to descend around me, its very presence filling the room with a cold, damp chill that nipped at my hide and stung with pain. Every part of my body it touched burned in searing agony as if it were being frozen. I forced my eyes shut and waited for it to consume me whole, but... nothing was happening. Was it waiting? Did it want me to watch as it slowly killed me?

Through my hooves I could make out the flash of light of the lights turning back on. I cautiously opened them to see that there was... nothing there. What I expected to be a huge mass of hate and destruction that sought to end my life... was an air conditioning vent? Where had it gone!? Not even a few seconds ago I was ready to be very much so dead but now... everything is fine? What in Celestia's name is going on here?

I slowly worked my way back to the terminal to see that the progress bar was nearing the halfway mark. My head ached but the dull thudding was soon reduced to a faint reminder of what had happened as time edged forward. "New priority... Just get the power back on and get out of here..." I said to myself in reassurance. I looked back to the monitor and selected the first audio file and let it play. Maybe if I heard some other pony's voice right now, it would calm what few nerves I have left. The terminal popped and hissed to life and soon the room was filled with the haggard voice of an older buck.

"...This is just beyond belief! First the higher ups take away my second lunch break, and now they want me to stop smoking? Who do they think they are anyhow!? I have to manage 5.7 kilowatts of power to this damn site, do they even have a clue how stressful working near this thing is!? I need my smokes! I swear, one of these days I'm going to lose it and have a nervous breakdown on the job and blow this place... nevermind. I forgot these things are reviewed... Hello upper management! This is Voltz here, telling you all to suck my ass!... Maybe from now on it would be best if I typed these things out, I feel stupid talking to a damn computer all day..."

The audio cut off and left me with a very distinct feeling that this 'Voltz' guy was having a very rough shift. Not just from the one audio log, but from the other two data entries he had left comprised mostly of swear words and talk of 'burning this whole damn place to the ground!'. His words, not mine. Looking back to the screen, the progress bar had yet again inched its way forward to 64% complete. "Oh com'on! Load already!" I shouted at the screen. Seeing it move forward 1%, I flattened my gaze and selected the last audio file on the list. Once more the terminal crackled to life, but this time the voice had been replaced with that of a urgent sounding mare.

"...This... this is it, isn't it? I was working in Star-Lab when... Oh Luna... The explosion took out the barracks where... Oh no. No,no,no! Shasheen! She was in there!" The mare sounded completely out of breath, but her panting stopped at the very mention of the name, Shasheen. Finally, with a much more somber tone, she spoke again. "I can't believe it! The shield held everywhere... everywhere but there!" There was another long pause followed by soft, muffled sobbing. "She was my best friend... We tried so hard to end this war! We stayed impartial to both sides! Why did they bomb us!? We just wanted peace and this is what we get!? This isn't a war, this is hell on Equis! Everything outside of the Guardian field is just... gone! The warning sounded just in time for the evacuation to begin for the town but... Goddesses... All those ponies they..." Her voice broke and she began to cry inconsolably. Several moments passed before the sound of the door opening sent me spinning in place to see what creature was trying to sneak up on me this time. The door was closed behind me, before I could even mouth the words 'What the fuck' the sound of a buck came from the terminal.

"Amethyst! We have to get out of here! Why are you even in here, the Stable door is going to close soon!" The buck said so rushed that his words nearly blurred together.

"I had to leave a message for her! Shasheen is still out there!"

"I'm sure she made it out of ok, you know how quick she is on her hooves! Com'on!"

"We have to find her!"

"There is no time! We have to go, NOW!"

"Glassglo, PLEASE!" She said in desperation.

"WE HAVE TO GO! Please... We can't stay here in your condition." He said in broken words.

"Bu...But..."

"I know... It will be ok. I promise." Even two hundred years later, his words still felt like they carried their full weight, even today.

"What if they don't let me in? I'm not on the list. I... I."

"I will get you in. I swear I will. Both of you. I don't care what I have to do, but we have to go."

"Please... Let me finish my message to Shasheen first?"

"You can record it on the way and upload it to S.T.A.R when we get there." He said, followed by the telltale sound of a Pipbuck being switched through its programs. Their voices began to fade as the sound of hoof tracks denoted them trotting away from the terminal, followed by the terminal popping once more and leaving the room silent. I sat there, staring at the screen and the slow moving progress bar, lost in thought at the sounds of two ponies who were long since gone from this world.

What kind of fear must they had felt in those moments during the attack, both trying to save somepony they cared deeply about, both trying to save themselves. I tried my best to put myself in their hooves, but every time I did, I was reminded of Zu and what it would be like to be in Glassglo's position. Could I actually protect that wild mare if the bits were down? Would she do something foolish that might get herself killed if it mattered enough to her? All questions that could never be answered without trial by fire or coming with great offense to her by me even asking. If I was going to be her buck, then that meant living with the consequences of OUR actions, and not just mine anymore.

Would I be willing to risk my life for her? Yeah, I think I would. Thinking back to that buck in the cave with the chewed up Pipbuck, I felt as though some greater power was trying to tell me something. First him, now Glassglo. Both bucks with a goal to save the mare they loved, one of them that for sure gave the ultimate sacrifice in doing so. If history is truly doomed to repeat itself, then what are the chances of me and Zu finding ourselves in such a way?

"...S.T.A.R systems are now online and ninety-three percent functional...

...Please stand by for completion of hostility scan...

The sudden announcement shook me from my reverie and I drew my attention back to the screen. A new icon had appeared in the form of the letters S.T.A.R Extranet at the bottom of the screen. With its appearance, I also noticed that the tab for 'Site 103 security camera viewing' had began blinking at a steady rate. Curiously, I selected the blinking node and accessed the cameras. To my right, a row of monitors sparked their way to life in a brilliant show of flickering images and static laden screen. The few that did seem to work showed four separate images of what looked to be different areas of the Site itself.

Only five of the twelve monitors were working with the remaining few either damaged beyond repair or soon to be judging by the levels of smoke that was pouring out of them. Below each of the screens on the monitors were little sticky notes that had somehow managed to remain in place after all these years, despite being ravaged by the purple mist in the room.

"Reactor sub-level... Outer yard... Break and rest area... Receiving... Neuro-Titan..." I mumbled to myself as I read through the list of view-able cameras, all the while cussing to myself about the fact that the one labeled 'Containment yard' was smashed to bits. Of all the monitors, the one I needed the most was completely destroyed. With a short consideration of trying to rewire one of the working monitors to that feed, I passed the idea off when I saw that they had been mounted within the wall.

...Security and hostility scans complete... Hostile threats detected in sector Tango... sector Whiskey... and sector Zulu...

...Automated security protocol has been prioritized in conjunction with threat level...

...Do you wish to authorize automated defenses?

Like music to my ears... You mean to tell me that I can just sit back and let technology do all the dirty work? Without so much as a forethought, I selected 'Y' and fell back proudly on my haunches to the fact that I had just single-hoofed enacted revenge on the dirty bastards that nipped my tail. I looked back to the monitors and waited patiently with a smile on my face for the fireworks to begin. The overhead speaker began reading out the motions of the automated defenses as I waited in glee for something to happen.

"...Sector Zulu scanning... Three threats detected... Beginning neutralization..."

My eyes darted from screen to screen, but even with the sounds of automatic fire coming from right outside the walls near me, I saw nothing. It was then that I noticed that the sticky notes on the monitors had words like 'S-A, S-B, S-C' on them.

"Oh! I get it! S-A! Sector Alpha!" I shouted to myself. Looking back to the broken containment yard monitor, I confirmed my best guess when I saw the letters 'S-Z' scribbled on the note. But my elation fell flat when I remembered that it had said that it only detected three threats in that area. I sat back down and turned my eyes to the remaining operational screens, searching them for any of the sectors that had been called out for 'neutralization'. Finally, my eyes landed on the letters S-W written just below the word 'Neuro-Titan'. I sat patiently with my eyes fixated on the screen, awaiting for any sign of movement to lock onto, but I could not see anything worthy of anything more than a hoof-stomp. Just a few rats and...

"...Sector Zulu secure... Beginning sweep of sector Tango..."

The voice from overhead faded in the distance as I galloped down the hallway for the rooftop access at full speed. No sooner than I bucked the door open, I pulled the map from my side and began frantically scanning for the Neuro-Titan Server Room. Seeing that it was on the other side of the reactor, I dropped the map and sent it swirling away in my wake of take off. I banked hard, spun to face the reactor and began to climb to clear the massive structure. I paid it, nor my now returning headache any mind as I passed over the top of the cooling towers and right through a cloud of purple haze that was billowing out atop them.

My Pipbuck began to click wildly as I neared the roof of the underground city's tomb at the sudden increase in radiation. The higher I climbed, the worse the pain in my head became. Whatever was wrong with me, had to be coming from the radiation I was exposing myself to, but again, I paid it no mind as I fell into a dive towards sector Whiskey. The loudspeaker in the room with me must have been isolated to just that one room. But when I had activated the automated security measures to try and make my life a little easier for a change, they must have gone Site-wide with its announcement.

The sudden appearance of a little Zebra and a much taller motherly-looking figure had told me that when I saw them both trot out of hiding on the Neuro-Titan Server Room's security footage. Wasting no time, I bolted for the entrance of the structure, turning my hind hooves in front of me to kick the doors open. They connected with a near bone shattering impact that sent me bouncing off the door and back into the sand. Pain erupted from my right hind leg and hip from the sudden stop the door had dealt to me. I looked up to see that the door handles had be bent in from my impact, but despite the damage, they held strong.

Limping as fast as I could, I hobbled my way to the door in the throes of a full-on migraine and a now very badly hurting right butt cheek. I hadn't even cracked the glass! In anger I pounded my hooves on the clear barrier as hard as I could, but as soon as I reared up to slam into it, I was hauled by my hind legs giving out. That and the sign that clearly read 'Pull to Open'. Now in more mental pain than anything, I flung the door open and rushed inside the dimly lit room of blinking lights and black towers. Skittering on my hooves to try and keep my balance, I did my best to regain enough composure to shout.

"MAJI! CHERRY! WHERE ARE YOU TWO!?"

...Security scan of sector Whiskey complete... High priority storage containment detected... initiating neutralization by way of Halon fire containment system gas in fifteen seconds...

From my right came the shrieking voice of a mare and the labored breath of a filly. I turned to see them both on the floor, Maji gasping for air and a very exhausted looking Cherry doing her best to pull her along the slick tile flooring. I rushed, slid and stumbled my way to them both as I did my best to shout while out of breath.

"What's wrong with Maji!?"

"She... She can't breathe! There is some... some sort of gas... leak, in here!"

I fell to my chest and slid the remaining few meters to them both, landing in a heap between the two of them. Maji's wheezing breaths came to her in short gasps as she struggled to talk. Her blue lips quivered but no words came out, instead her head fell back to the floor as she passed out from asphyxiation. With my head low to her, my nose filled with a burning sensation that bit at my throat as I breathed in the noxious chemically filled air near her. Whatever this stuff was, it had to be some form of heavy gas that crept along the floor.

"You have to... get her... out of here!" Cherry said, trying to load the stricken filly on my back.

"Com'on! Help me pull her!" I shouted as we both bit into her stable barding and began to pull.

The flooring was slick to everything but the Stable barding it seemed as we stumbled our way to the door. Seconds felt like minutes the further along we pulled Maji's limp body, any moment now the automated security system would start its 'neutralization' process, with us in the room. I have no clue what Halon is, but if it is anything like what I just breathed in on the floor... it wouldn't take long before any of us wouldn't be able to get out of here. Even now with the short amount of time I had been in here, I was already getting light headed and dizzy.

Just a few meters from the door, I felt Maji's weight grow exponentially, pulling me from my hooves and onto my belly. I looked over to Cherry who...

"Cherry! Get up! We have to get out of here before that stupid security thing starts up!"

"I... can't... Go!" She said through broken breaths from the ground.

"FUCK!" I shouted as I strained to pull the filly along the tile floor. In desperation I began to flap my wings and pull with all my strength. Surprisingly, with me airborne and the floor as slick as it was, I made short work of the remaining distance and flung Maji out the front door and into the street. Mentally apologizing to her, I turned back to the double doors for Cherry. She was pawing at the floor, trying to close the distance the best she could in her weakened state.

...Initiating containment protocol for neutralization...

"NO!" I shouted as I hurled myself at the doorway, falling just close enough to block the slowly closing door with my foreleg and elbow long ways. Cherry was just a few inches from my leg, her trembling movements slowing her progression to an absolute crawl. I brace myself with my free hoof to try and push it open, but the security system must have had some sort of ratcheting mechanism because no amount of force I used would budge it an inch.

"COM'ON! Cherry! Take my hoof!" I screamed as I reached for her.

Her grasp was as weak as a newborn foal's, but she managed to lock fetlocks with me and I began to pull. No sooner than her muzzle cleared the doorway, she began taking huge breaths, sucking in air as fast as she could as she crawled over my Pipbuck to freedom.

...Obstruction detected at main entrance... Initiating emergency lock down sequence...

The weight on my leg began to grow, compressing it slowly and so much so that I could feel the bones beginning to bend. My fetlock locked into place and began to start bending backwards at the joint as the sound of gears grinding overhead filled my ears. Cherry was little more than halfway out of the door when the alarm sounded for the emergency lockdown, still trying to regain her breath as she crawled over me. The pain started to grow more and more as the door began to close despite my leg blocking it.

"Cherry! Hurry! The door is closing on my leg!"

"I'm... Trying..." She wheezed back to me.

My fetlock let out a pop as it fell out of place under the eminence weight, sending pain up my leg and into my side. The sharp edge of the other door began to press its way through my elbow, breaking the skin and forcing me to scream in agony at the top of my lungs. This door was going to tear my leg off and cut her in half if she took any longer to get out of this place, I had to do something.

Through the pain, I reached over the top of her, and with a hoof-full of her saddlebags, pulled with all my strength, sliding her out of the doorway. Cherry rolled off of me and down the stairs to a motionless Maji as I began trying to free my le... Was that even my leg!?

The door had started to bend the bones and had forced my hoof upwards at a painful looking (and very painful feeling) angle. I wrenched and pulled but the gateway had my leg pinned to the bone. I pulled as hard as I could, but the door continued to close a little at a time. I felt hooves around my back leg and a light tugging on my hind hoof as Cherry pulled with what little energy she had left to try and help.

The pressure grew more and I was no longer bracing myself, I was pounding on the door frame with my one free leg. With is sickening crunch, my trapped leg broke right at my Pipbuck, letting the door slam hard down on the edge of it and my hoof. The impact tore something in the joint of my hoof and pushed it to the side as it clamped down on my Pipbuck's outer shell.

Tears flooded my vision as I watched on as the door slowly crushed the arcane device like a soda can. With a loud slam, the metal frame of the door tore through the casing of my Pipbuck and I fell back onto the stairs. My vision was growing dark from the pain, but I had to risk a look at my leg. I gasped at the horror the building had dealt to it and bolted upright, cradling its remains in my other leg.

The bones were protruding out of the hide with bits of sinew and muscle still attached. My hoof dangled at the fetlock, the skin torn around the joint from hyperextension. Blood was pouring from the wound, pooling on the ground around my crotch. Pain was replaced with adrenalin and fear at the sight before me, was this even saveable? Would they have to... Have to...

I broke down into tears, the trauma of everything weighing me down like a lead blanket as the very real thought of losing a leg washed over me. I didn't even have time to feel the prick of the needle in my shoulder as Cherry stabbed me with a syringe. Everything around me started to go blurry as she dropped the needle of Med-X to the ground and began trying to bandage up what was left of my leg.

I fell back on my wings, covering my face with my feathers to hide the emotions I was feeling. Even with a full syringe of Med-X pumping through my veins, the pain came flooding back as she started to work. Through it all I could swear I could hear Zuri, over and over again saying my name. I pulled my wings from my eyes, only to see nothing more that the bright blue cracks in the ceiling above me. Was I dying? What was happening to me?

I started to close my eyes again, this time with them feeling like they were made of stone. As I felt the pain beginning to dull again, I could swear I was actually vibrating with shock. My mind began to play tricks on me, my ears filling with blurry sounding words, but one kept coming to the surface. It was Zury saying my name.

"Joey... Joey..."

Over and over it repeated as I slowly slipped into darkness.

"Joey!"

...GOOOOOOD EVENING PONIES! That's right! It is I, none other than your faithful, if not slightly inebriated servant of the airwaves, Twisty! Normally I would explain my precarious behavior, but seeing as just about everypony in the Stable knows why I am celebrating, I feel that I can speak for us all when I say that we are ALL a little tipsy tonight! Not just because the entrance to Site 103 is open, oh no, not just that. But because the Site has survived! If you need proof of that fact, look no further than Essence and Ether's Bar on Level C! That's right, we have the keys to the past that we have all spoke of for years AND high quality, laboratory grade alcohol! Premium aged for 200 years in a radioactive fog too!

As if that were not enough reason to celebrate, it turns out that we have a honest to goodness hero in our midst! Ya'll remember that Trackerpony for far north? 'Shut up Twist' anypony who knows anypony knows about that crazy cat!'. Yeah, yeah. I know, ya'll. We have all been singing his praises for the last two days now ever since he managed to pull Cherry and Maji out of the clutches of that gas chamber. If it were not for him, we would have lost two very special ponies to us all, and I'm not just sayin' that because I think Cherry has a nice...

Whoa there! Almost spilt' the beans! Anyway, if it is all the same to you lot, I think it is high time this little DJ put his controls on auto pilot and played some more music from the past! Oh, almost forgot! I want to send a heartfelt thank you to that crazy Pegasus who we all have to thank for this amazing night! Not only do I have this well cultured buzz, but now I also have access to Site 103's audio files totaling over 2000 new songs! Far be it from me to wonder why our ancestors chose to save maps, documents, equipment and the sort when the door opened to this place and not any form of decent music! Shame on them I say! How dare they forget the fine arts!

There I go again... Rambling as always! This next one goes out to you, Joey! I think I speak for all of us when I say, thank you! This next one goes out to you, you insane flying stripped bastard! We all hope you wake up soon so you can join the party! Now... Here's one of the fine classics that we have liberated from the clutches of time, one of the true examples of what defines art in sound! Everypony give it up for "The Ponutholes!" singing "Mare Better Have My Bits!"...

Twisty's words came from overhead like the voice of an angel to my fractured nerves as I regained consciousness. This was followed shortly thereafter by the sounds that I can only describe as pure chaos coming from the speaker. All be them the words of a drunken, raving lunatic angel who had a seriously skewed idea of what defines classical music, but an angel nonetheless. I had thought that I had been hearing the words of Djpon3 in my delirious state, but when he screamed through the loudspeaker "I'm so drunk I could marry a toilet", I had gathered that I was listening to somepony with serious drinking problem. Not to mention the fact that the music... if you could even call this music... sounded like somepony trying to skin a cat that was being sodomized by ballbat all while being thrown at a stack of trash cans.

Oh! Ow... That sucks! I tried to crack my eyes open but no sooner than I had let even a shred of light into my world of darkness, I clenched them back shut. My head throbbed with pain at even the thought of attempting to open my eyes. Now fully awake, but unable to see, I could tell wherever I was, it had to be near the damn sun... Wait, am I back in Silver Shoe? No, can't be there, this place doesn't reek of urine, feces and failure... Oh shit... Bright room, bright light... Celestia! I'm dead! Oh FU... poop.

The sterile smell of alcohol flooded my senses along with the pungent aroma of ozone the more my olfactory senses returned. What is this place? This isn't the Everafter, at least it better not be, I could live with the music but I better not have died and still have to deal with this headache. It smells like a... Right... A building tried to eat my left leg and according to the radio, I have been out of it for two days now. I'm in another hospital. Well, at least this time I won't have to ask twenty question to figure out where I am. Wait... How the fuck did I get here!?

Cherry was barely able to move and Maji was completely knocked out cold when I passed out. They must have come in to find us when the alarm sounded for the security system. Either that or Cherry somehow found the will and strength to pull me out of that hellhole. Either way, thank you to whoever got me out of there and into this world of blinding light that is so bright that it is piercing my eyelids with its full volume.

"He's waking up. Quick get the goggles on him." Somepony said... from somewhere...

The sound of a door opening was accompanied by hoofsteps on a hard flooring... Tile maybe? It was hard to tell really, what with the blinding pain in my head keeping me company for the time being. I felt my head being gently raised from the pillow I was resting on and something being placed over my head and affixed to my eyes. The hoof that had been gently holding my head then rested it back on the pillow, followed by them quickly leaving the room again.

"Joey, can you hear me?" A mare's voice said over the speaker in the room. I tried to speak, but no words came out, instead what did was a rasping, muffled sound that could only come from a throat as dry as the desert I was in.

"Slowly now... Your throat is dry from the lack of moisture in the room. Try your best to open your eyes, you are wearing welder's goggles now so it should be considerably less painful. Nod when you can see." She said. I timidly cracked an eye open and was greeted with a dark green hue of a glowing orb above my head... scratch that... ORBS... Plural... I craned my head about, trying to gather my surroundings as best I could. I was in a... well... colorless room filled with light, laying on a bed. Apart from the one large black window to my right, the room was void of detail or items.

"Good! Do you see that tube above your head? That is a water line, when you are ready, try and drink from it the best that you can."

Oh... So I'm a hamster now... I looked up and saw the thin tube to my right. Without wasting time, I reached for it with my hoof and brought the life giving waterline to my mouth. The first swallow was the hardest, it feeling more like acid than actual water. But soon my sore throat was soothed and I drank greedily from the line.

"Easy, Joey. You don't want to fill up on water this early on. You still need to eat some actual food." Xymol's voice rang out overhead. Figures he would be here...

"Where... am." I tried to speak, but my dried and decrepit voice was still faltering.

"You are in Star-Lab's infirmary. More specifically, you are in a pressurized photonic absorption chamber that we have managed to construct." Xymol said.

"Why am I in here?" I squeaked out, finding it slightly easier to talk.

"You were exposed to... as best we can guess... A mixture of aerosolized magical byproducts that had become homogenized with radioactive off gassing and hydrogen gas. The resulting isotropic fog was able to enter your skin and began wreaking havoc with your central nervous system and cognitive abilities. Thankfully for you, the resulting toxin can be broken down by means of Photodissociation over time." Xymol said in a very proud tone. Now... If only he would speak in stupid, I would know what he said. No doubt that he came up with the idea to cram me in a room with twenty some odd small suns.

"How... How long will I have to be in here?" I asked.

"We are awaiting the blood work to come back at any moment. You have been showing signs of recovery over the last thirty hours, with the largest changes being in the last ten or so. We expect you to make a full recovery from this..." The mare said in a more somber tone, once again returning from wherever she went off to.

"Why do I get the feeling that there is more to this than you are telling me? Is Zuri ok? Where is she?" I said, mentally punishing myself for that not being the first words out of my mouth.

"The bitc... Zuri is fine. She is more than likely sleeping in your quarters." Ah... So that mare was Shoari...

"Then what is the problem?"

"Joey... Your leg was... Let us just say, very bad." Xymol's words froze me in my place. I felt my heart sink as my body began nervously checking itself for all of its limbs to be intact.

"Just tell me..." I squeaked fearing the worst.

"We were able to save the leg, but we fear that it will be of a hindrance to you for quite some time. The magical waste was able to seep into the bone structure, making it very difficult to heal back normally. We have secured the bones with titanium rods and screws but the recovery will need several surgeries to correct. Fortunately, we now have access to the facilities to perform such work, maybe even reverse the damage completely if we can find the supplies we need to fix the Alpha level healing talisman. " Shoari said in an almost apologetic tone. Even though I knew I should be ok with the fact that they had done the best that they could, I had this niggling feeling that I should still be upset with her over... something.

"Well, if I get to keep my leg, I will count that as a win. When I get out of here, I will see what I can do to get you the supplies you need to fix it. After all, I guess I have a vested interest in getting that thing working again." I said, trying to laugh, but feeling fake in doing so.

"That is the spirit! I know you can do it Joey!" Came the young voice of a filly.

"Maji! What have I told you about wondering out of your room!" Shoari shouted.

"But sissy!? I wanted to thank him!" Maji begged.

"Maji? You're alive?"

"Yup! Strong as an Ox! Cuter than one too!" The little filly said in elation.

"Joey, the blood work came back with scant traces of the toxin. We feel as though you should be able to leave the chamber soon. We will need to run a proper blood panel and physical once you are out, but after that you should be free to go. Just try and relax and drink some water, I will see about having Zuri here when you are able to visit with her and some food prepared for the two of you." Xymol said.

"Maji! Put that down! That is a very delicate..." Shoari shouted.

*Crash*

"I'M GOING TO BAKE YOU INTO STEW!"

"AH!" Maji's screams faded as she ran from the room, presumably being chased by Shoari.

"YOU CAN'T BAKE A STEW! JUST SAYING!" I shouted after them, actually feeling a bit of enjoyment from the spectacle I was hearing.

I spent the next few hours drinking water, peeing... though I have no clue where it was going... and trying not to look at my leg. The one time that I did manage to risk a glance at it, all I saw was a swollen bandage mound, accompanied with a host of tubes flowing various liquids in and out of my leg. Despite the gruesome appearance, I wasn't in any pain apart from my pounding head, but even that seemed to fade with the more water I took in.

Finally, the lights began to dim in my room, followed shortly thereafter by the door on the far side opening. In trotted a very tired looking Xymol followed in by a nurse who I had never seen before. Xymol trotted to my bedside while the nurse began unhooking the host of lines that were running to my leg and began un-bandaging it.

"Joey, how are we feeling?" Oh, that same old saying must be the first thing all doctors learn...

"Better. I don't feel any pain."

"How is your vision doing?"

"It is hard to tell... everything is black in these goggles..." I said flatly as I hooved them out of the way of my vision.

"Good, humor is a good sign of lack of mental degradation! This is my nurse in training, Heartbeat."

"Yeah, it feels normal to me."

"No." Xymol said laughing. "Joey that is her name, Heartbeat."

"Oh... Sorry." I said, giving the crimson mare a soft smile. She paid me no mind as she studiously focused on the job Xymol had given her.

"All of your blood work came back good. We will need to run another round of screenings just to ensure that you are as healthy as I believe you to be. You will be happy to know that your liver infection had cleared up nicely and that we were able to purge your system of the toxins. I just wish there was something more I could do for your legs."

"Wait... LEGS!?"

"Oh, yes. You already know that your left front leg has been badly damaged, but you also managed to tear a ligament in your right hind haunch as well. It will heal on its own, albeit slowly. Forgive me, but we only had time to save your right leg before we had to place you in isolation, had we squandered time fixing something that would heal naturally, you would have lost the other."

"Thanks... I guess?"

"You are welcome. As I was saying, due to the nature of the toxin, we had to prioritize it over your front leg. If we had been able to purge your system before-hoof, then I suspect it would have healed normally. But due to the fact that we had to do so after the operation, the recovery time will be much longer than normal."

"How much longer... Exactly?"

"I would venture a guess on it taking four weeks. During that time, you will be able to use your leg as you always have been, but you will need to take great care in not re-injuring it. The toxin will take time to be metabolized out of your bones, once it has, we will need to open your leg back up and cut away the dead tissue and re-set the bones in place. Then we will be able to mend them properly." Xymol said, with a grimace.

"Better than I expected, I guess."

"Doctor, I have finished the procedure. Should I go ahead with the physical?"

"You seem healthy enough to me. I am going to leave you in Heartbeat's hooves for now, I will see you again soon." Xymol said, trotting to the door.

"Now, please. Lean forward and we will begin. I have a list of things that the doctor wishes for me to perform and collect. I will do my best to be gentle." Heartbeat said, helping me to sit upright. I timidly placed my left leg to the bed and began bearing weight on it. Surprisingly, all I felt was an odd pressure radiating out from the mended appendage, not the earth shattering pain I had been expecting. My butt however... Sharp and burning pain was running down my hind leg with every slight movement.

"Good! Now just try and relax. Some of these procedures are... involved." She said, eyeing the chart.

"Yeah? How so?"

Her eyes grew wide and she fell slack jawed.

"VERY... Involved..."

I swallowed hard.

The exam was... well, many things really. Exhausting, humiliating, terrifying... Violating for sure, but above all, it was beyond awkward. The young nurse was trying to get a grasp (in more ways than one) on how to handle all of the things that Xymol had set out for her to do. But finally, after much time of me turning red and her running off to ask questions, we were nearing the finale of my check up, the hernia testing. This procedure too, was humiliating and involved hooves in places that I rather her not have them, but according to her, it was a crucial step in the procedures.

"Ok, just hold still and cough for me..." She said, her cold hooves... yeah... I coughed obediently as she did... things... that both were freezing cold and actually quite nice feeling to my... Stallion-hood.

"Ok, everything checks out ok... from the looks of things, you are a healthy little pony." She said, as she continued her assault on my privates.

"Could you... not say words like 'little' when doing things like that?" I asked, shaking with utter embarrassment.

"Oh? Why not." She asked very matter of factually. Just as she ended her sentence, the automatic door slid open and in trotted Zuri and Xymol trotted into the room. Xymol paid us no mind as he trotted up to the young nurse and began looking over her notes. Zu on the other hoof... If looks could kill, her's would be a whatever took out Site 103. I sat in awkward silence, eyes locked with Zuri as both the nurse and Xymol stepped to the side to discuss her findings. As they moved over, Zuri's eyes followed the mare with reckless intent and a baleful gaze.

I motioned my hooves to her, shaking my head in insistence that she not attack the poor mare for just doing her job. Even though the previous events had been degrading, it was clear to see that she took no pleasure in what had to be done. But as far as Zu was concerned, this mare was stepping on her property, an act that could not go without retribution of some form. Before I could clamber down off the hospital bed to try and calm the psychotic striped ball of fury down, Shoari took that exact moment to also enter the room. What was this? A damn party!?

Zu's murderous thoughts must have become sidetracked by the appearance of yet another opposing mare, well, at least in her eyes anyhow. Her eyes darted between the nurse and Shoari as she seemed to be trying to figure out who to attack first, all the while shaking with nervous anger. I decided that this had gone on long enough! So I proceeded to climb down off the bed, slip half way and land in a heap in the floor between them. Pain shot out of my hind leg from the impact to my haunch, causing me to carry it off the ground when I finally managed to stand. Trotting in short hops with my hind leg in the air, I tapped Zymol on the back and motioned my head to the very pissed off Zebra in the room behind me.

"Yes, Joey? Is there something that you require?" He said, looking at me over the top of his glasses.

"Yeah, hey, am I good to go here? I think I would like to spend some time with Zu before I have to fly out. I can fly, right?"

"Yes, yes. Of course you can fly, in fact, I would encourage you to stay aloft as much as you can for the next few days. Without the added weight on your leg, it will promote healing the infection much faster that way. Why is it that you wish to leave so soon? You could stay and rest here, you know?"

"Yeah... I think it would be much better if I were to, maybe get Zu out of here for some fresh air?"

"I'm sorry, I don't follow what you are trying to say." He said, adjusting his glasses.

I leaned in close, and lowered my voice. "I think it would be best for your nurse and Shoari if I were to change Zuri's scenery a bit, you know, maybe one without the two of them in it? I think she wants to kill both of them." I said quietly.

"I'm sorry. But from what I am seeing, I think she likes the current view just fine." He said with a evil grin. I turned my head back to see a very wide eyed Zuri and Shoari with her head cocked to one side, both of them with their eyes locked on to my flank...

I spun in place, facing the two of them. "H-Hey!?"

"Short tails are... they are just the best, aren't they?" Shoari asked, her blushful gaze never faltering in the slightest. Oh Goddesses... NOW Zuri is going to murder her.

"I agree. I quite like the shortened tails..." Zuri replied to Shoari with a small nod. OH COME ON!

"I... You... But you hate...UGH!" I shouted through my near constant stammering, trot... hopped out the door.

"Aw, look how cute... He is like a little hurt bunny from my books." Shoari said.

"Yes, a cute sexy bunny." Zuri replied.

You have got to be kidding me!

"I HATE YOU ALL!" I shouted into the room as I turned and trotted down the hallway. Zuri was soon to follow me as I trotted towards the exit.

"So... What did the little hussy do to you?" Zu asked as we made our way to the Pipbuck Technician's Stall. The exam was... involved... So much so that I had to conceal some of the more embarrassing details of what happened from Zu in order to keep her from getting upset all over again. I had been lucky that a chance encounter with that zombie, ghoul, pony thing had afforded me the ability to break her concentration enough to make her not only forget about it, but also play nice with Shoari, however embarrassing it was. Ok... So I held back some of them because they were downright humiliating as well, but seriously though. Why did they need THAT sample from me!? I can understand being thorough but, COM'ON! I rarely even do that sort of thing let alone IN FRONT of somepony... who I have never met.

"Oh, now you care about that... It was just the typical poking and prodding to make sure that I was still me. It is nothing to get worked up over, she is a doctor."

"IN TRAINING!" Zu barked back at me. Ever since I had come out of that miniature desert that call a Photo... Photodiv... Crap. Tiny room of damaging eyesight. She has been glued to my side and questioning everypony around me. Granted, I had my suspicions too, but I was at least keeping my cool about things. Had Shoari actually orchestrated the events that landed me in the state that I was in, there would be Hell to pay. But going off of what Zuri was displaying, Hell itself would tremble in fear of what she would do.

"Same thing. And keep your voice down, I still haven't figured this place out yet and I don't want them to think we are suspicious of them. Wait, didn't they do that to you?"

"Yes. But it is different."

"Zuri, how in Celestia's ridiculous name is that different?"

"I am a mare."

"WHA..." I started but was quickly silenced by a hoof to the mouth.

"Shh... Keep your voice down." Zu said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. How did she manage to, in one motion, not only flip my own words on me insultingly, but also manage to turn my face so red? Sneaky little Zebra.

We rounded the corner to Stable 103's Pipbuck stall and... Sweet Celestia that's the biggest buck I have ever seen! He was at least twice my size! The oversized buck was stuffed into his stable barding so tight that it looked ready to burst at the seams. His massive muscles were bulging from the leg holes, that I guess were not regulation Stable atria, but mandatory for him to even be able to wear it. Thick veins lined his brown legs, chest and forehooves like giant tunnels all over his body. The fact that such a huge buck was not only wearing a tiny Stable-tec hat that looked about twenty sizes too small and barely covered his ash colored mane, but was also crammed behind the counter of the miniature in comparison stall, was both hilarious and terrifying.

"H-hello?" I said shaking, both trying not to run and trying really, REALLY hard not to laugh.

"CAN I HELP YOU!?" He shouted at an incredible volume, but oddly, in a very polite manner.

"YE-yeah... I broke my Pipbuck, I think I need a new one."

"IMPOSSIBLE. YOU CAN NOT BREAK A PIPBUCK. WHAT IS YOUR NAME, I WILL GET A WORK ORDER STARTED." Spit and breath reeking of rotten apples washed over Zu and I both as we both stood there in shock.

"Joey, sir. I'm the one that found Maji and Cherry in the Site. I don't think I am on any of your lists, if that is why you are asking." I replied in the softest, friendliest voice I have ever used in my entire life. The buck said nothing, but instead, hardened his gaze. He... Oh great rad gophers! He had been SITTING DOWN THIS WHOLE TIME!? He stood, lowered his head out of the stall to avoid smacking it on the doorway and stepped out into the hall in front of me and Zu. I turned an eye to Zuri whose ears were folded flat back on her head and her eyes were shrunken to pin pricks... I mirrored pretty much the same expression.

"YOOOOU... YOU WERE THE ONE THAT FOUND CHERRY?" He said, in as low of a tone as he could manage.

I swallowed hard. "Ye-yes?" I squeaked out meekly. I looked back to Zu... WHERE THE FUCK DID SHE GO!? I spun in place, looking for the Zebra that had just been beside me only for my eyes to land on a suspiciously shaking trash can with two eyes peering out from under the lid.

"YOU WERE THE ONE THAT GOT YOUR LEG BROKEN BY THAT DOOR?" He said with his nose pressed to mine with a deadly serious tone. Oh Goddesses... I survived being eaten by a door and now I am going to be killed by a giant, ridiculously dressed pony. Trembling in my hooves, my body clenched up like spun steel when he reached forward and picked me up off my hooves and began squeezing me. He reared up in his embrace, lifting me high into the air with him in doing so, and began to... to-

"THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SAVING MY SISTER, LITTLE TRACKER PONY." He said, nuzzling my chest with his head and his grip tightened. He was, thanking me? If this was his way of showing gratitude, he had a funny way of showing it! "IF IT WERE NOT FOR YOU, I WOULD BE ALL ALONE. BUT YOU SAVED HER, AND THAT LITTLE ZEBRA TOO! YOU SACRIFICED YOUR LEG TO SAVE HER!" He shouted into my chest, his voice carrying so much bass with it that its very volume shook my lungs.

"You are... too kind!" I wheezed out as he continued to squeeze the life out of me.

"PLEASE, I MUST REPAY YOU FOR YOUR BRAVE FEAT! WHAT IS IT THAT YOUR REQUIRE?" I felt my back pop (actually that felt kinda good) and I let out a thin breath of air.

"AIR! STILL INJURED! GROUND!" I said through strangled words.

"YES, SORRY." He said, placing me back down to the ground. I gasped for oxygen, doing my best to refill my utterly deflated lungs with the life giving gas. Zuri, seeing that the buck was less dangerous than previously, had removed her trash can armor and once more returned to my side and began tentatively checking my leg for injury.

"Cherry... She is your sister?" I said in breathless disbelief.

"YES!" He shouted, but soon lowered his voice as best he could when he saw me and Zuri cover our ears in pain. "I mean, yes. Cherry is my sister. My name is Big Buck, friends call me Bucky. Pleasure to meet you."

"Wow..." Zuri mouthed.

"Well, I'm happy to have been of service? Is there any chance you could... fix my Pipbuck, seeing as you said these things are indestructible." I said, full well knowing that it was well beyond repair.

"I CAN...I mean, I can do that, no problem! Free of charge! It is the least that I can do for the buck that saved my sister." He said once again squeezing himself behind the cramped stall.

"If you say so..." I mumbled as I fished in around my saddlebags for the crushed Pipbuck. Finding It, I gently placed it before him. "Here is half of it... and here is the other half."

'Bucky' shifted his eye to the remnants of my Pipbuck and let his jaw hang freely. I watched one of his massive eyes begin to twitch uncontrollably followed by a squeaking sound coming from his throat. "I-I...Ho..."

"Soooo... Can it be fixed?" More eye twitching and half words came from Bucky as he began to sweat. "Maybe I could get a new one?" Still no reply, but instead he reached behind him and hooved over a brand new (new to me anyways) Pipbuck, all the while his eye never leaving the heap of parts I had placed before him.

"Thank you?" I said, backing out of the stall. Bucky just shifted his eyes from the Pipbuck to me and back again.

"We will just be leaving then. Really nice to meet you and all..." I said, my flank reversing around the corner behind me. Bucky just nodded his head and began shaking. Zuri and I ran. In the distance behind us, I could clearly make out the word "HOW!?" being shouted from the massive buck as it shook the walls of the Stable.

Soon we found ourselves at the topside entrance of the Stable's cave, our gear sorted and thanks to Xymol's scant knowledge of Pipbucks, I was now wearing my new, clean arcane device proudly on my right leg. It was taking some getting used to, I was still raising my left leg in front of me every time I wanted to access anything on it, but I was managing well enough. It took me some time to notice, but this model was quite a bit different than the old one I had been using. The outer shell was largely the same, but on this one the buttons were in different locations and it seemed to actually function without near as much lag. Zuri had set herself preparing our things for the long flight, placing the various items in her saddlebags that she had acquired. I have no clue what she had bartered for in the time that I was out of it, but by the looks of it, I was going to be totting around a little more than just water and food.

"OH!OHOHOHOH!" Shoari shouted from deep in the cave as she ran out to see us off. "JOEY! ZURI! WAIT!" Did she just shout for Zuri too? What all happened when I was getting a suntan!?

"Joey! I'm so glad I caught you!" She said, completely out of breath.

"What is it? Am I dying or something." I said, taking a few steps back from her.

"No, not that. Remember when I said I had something important to tell you but I could not remember what it was?"

"Yeah..." I said, waving a hoof in the air for her to continue. She said nothing, but instead placed a rolled out map on the sand and pointed at it.

"You have a map... Good for you." I said, going back to my conversation with Xymol.

"NONO! Look!" She said as she began tracing a hoof from Hoofington to where Site 103 was on a map. "You came here from Silver Shoe, yeah? According to this, you flew two hundred miles out of your way! You can fly due north and be in Hoofington in a day and a half!" She said smiling ear to ear. I looked at the map and where she had drawn a sad pony face next to a blue line that seemed to wander all over Equestria and finally to where I was now standing. I looked to a very happy looking pony face she had drawn with a new red line that lead straight to Hoofington. I had never even stopped to consider the fact that I had been flying by way of landmarks, going from town to town that I had known from my past in order to get anywhere. How much time had I wasted in my past doing that very thing, I have no clue, but seeing it all on a map, was doing little to stem the tide of aggravation towards the short Zebra mare. All thoughts for another time, pushing them to the side, I did my best to seem happy that she had shortened our trip.

"Thank you for this... slightly infuriating, but extremely useful gift." I said, with a forced smile.

"It is my pleasure!" She said, closing her eyes in elation.

"Will you be coming back to us again, Joey?" Xymol asked from behind me.

"I'm... not sure. I can accept the fact that I'm hurt, I made that choice on my own. But I'm still unclear as to whether or not this was all staged just so you lot could get to your precious city." I said, my words dripping with malice.

"You still do not believe us. I can not say that I blame you. I would however say that you may wish to speak with Zuri before you are to cast blame, I feel that she may have more insight than you know." Shoari said, covering her mouth with a hoof. "Thank you, if it were not for you, I would be an only child and I would have lost one that I care for deeply. I hope that in time you will see that I was honest with you." She said with a snotty sniff.

"Shoari and I had nothing to do with the ill timed disappearance of Maji and Cherry into Site 103, I can assure you. I wish that you would find reason on your trip back north to Hoofington. Please, ask Zuri, I feel as though she will calm your fears of what happened. After all, she is the one that found you after you passed out from shock. All the same, I am deeply sorry for what happened to you down there, I want to see you back here in three weeks so that I can test the progression of your healing. I intend on seeing your treatment through as thanks for finding Maji and Cherry."

"What about giving you access to Site 103?" I said accusingly.

"Some things in this world come with benefits to the means that are justified. Others come at great cost to ponies who wish to seek them out. But in your case, you stood to gain nothing more than to reunite Shoari with her little sister, and all of us with Cherry. This feat came at a great cost to you, this is a fact that is not lost on us, but rather a heavy burden that we must carry from now on. This also leaves us in a state of trepidation for what all has happened to you and what is to come from our access to the site."

"I don't follow." I said, scratching my head at all the words he just flung at my face.

"It means that we feel as though we have gotten something for free from you that ended up costing you greatly in sacrifice against your will. We help one another freely here, but if a situation arises where some Equine is going to be forced into great cost against their wishes, we see this as a sin against Equinity. Ponies of the past spoke of Friendship and Harmony according to our texts, something I am sorry to say that we have never experienced first hoof. But we all believe that they were not made to sacrifice unwillingly. You seem to have been placed into that sort of situation of unwilling sacrifice, yet you still did it without question... for the most part."

"I am only going to ask this one time, so make your answer the correct one." I said, lowering my head to the two of them. Shoari seemed to perk up at the thought of a chance to sway my opinion, but still held onto that hurt look she had been showing. Xymol however, stood stoically before me, as though to show that he was sure of himself and confident in swaying my opinion. "Was this a setup? I won't be mad, I will just leave if it was. But know this, If you lie to me, and I will find out if you are, I will burn this place to the ground with you in it. You put everypony in this Stable at risk, that's whatever to me, it is none of my business. But you also put Zuri in danger, that is something that I will not stand for." I said, my voice edging on a growl. Shoari and Xymol both looked to one another for who should speak first before finally, Shoari stepped forward.

"It was not a setup. I swear it! I will donate you my leg to prove it! I wish I could take your pain away, I wish that I could have been the one who suffered, not you, I wish I had never opened that damned door! Please! You have to believe me, I will do anything to show you reason!" She said near begging at my hooves.

"Anything?" I asked, narrowing my eyes towards her.

"Anything! Really! Just tell me, I swear to you that we did not plan this! Bad things happen to good ponies sometimes and I HATE IT! Please! Give me the chance to make this better and I swear I will." Shoari had tears streaming down her face, her expression was quivering and her words felt as though they had actual remorse in them.

"Ok, I believe you. But that does not change the fact that you just put everypony, Zebra and Zony for that matter, at risk. For that, I think the least you could do is reassemble the door." I said, pacing between them.

"But..." The two of them started.

"No buts!" I shouted, also subconsciously covering my butt with my tail. "I don't care if you make the damn thing functional or permanent, I want it back up and in place and a security protocol put in place to keep 'wandering Zebra fillies' out of there."

"So we just have to put the door back up, make it functional if we want to, and you will be ok with that?" Xymol said.

"Yes, though if you have any sense, you would close that damn place off for good. But I understand also what value it is to you, so if you at least fix it to where nopony gets in or out without authorization, we will call it all even for now."

"For now?" Shoari said.

"Take it or leave it."

"Done. We will start construction at once."

"And I will be back in three weeks to see that you are holding true to your word." I said, trotting back to Zuri who was... Of for Luna's sake! "Stop staring and fix our gear!"

"I am sorry, but it looks so cute!" She said, smiling at my glowing red cheeks. I so can not wait for my tail to grow back. I hopped to her side and began sifting through the luggage for water. Behind me, Xymol and Shoari were already talking about scheduling conflicts with the new task I had given them and the 'Excursions' they had planned as they trotted back down the cave towards the Stable. I took note of the fact that Zuri had packed my saddlebags to the fullest they had been in years, both of them overflowing with supplies. Most of it seemed innocuous, all apart from a large package she had set aside from the rest of the crap she was trying to shoehorn into my bags.

"Zuri, What's that?" I asked, pointing a hoof.

"What is what?" She said, quickly scooting in front of the large box. I flattened my gaze towards her.

"Zu... You aren't hiding anything with that scrawny butt of yours. I told you to only pack the necessities, I can only carry so much." Zuri shifted out of place for a moment before finally sliding to one side and revealing a long box labeled 'Project Peregrine"

"It is... A gift..." She said sheepishly.

"Oh? Who gave it to you?" I asked, curious to see if her and Shoari had jumped past the begrudged friend stage and straight into full blown 'Chumy'.

"No... It is, a gift, for you." She said blushing.

"For me? Why would you get me a gift? It isn't my birthday or anything I said, hopping to her side.

"I wanted to do something special for you. That is what mares do for their bucks, no?"

"Zu, I appreciate you doing this, really I do. But you really didn't have to go through the trouble." I said, with a soft smile.

"You don't like it, do you." She said, looking away.

"Zu... How can I know if I like it or not? It's still in the box, that is unless you got me a box. In which case, you and I need to have a conversation about what constitutes a gift." I said laughing.

"Oh silly!" She shouted as she reached behind us and brought the box forward. "It is much more than just a box. I know that you had to part with your rifle to find me, I wanted to gift you something better, I think." She said, sliding the box in front of me.

"You want me to open it, now?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes! Please! I want to know if you like it or not!" She said, bobbing her head nervously. I ran a hoof over the rather sturdy feeling cardboard box, lifting the edges of it to wiggle the lid free. Despite being made of nothing more than some thick paper, the lid felt as heavy as steel! I raised the lid away and... and...

"Do you like it?" Zuri asked, but her words came to me in muffled blobs as I gazed into the box in pure wonderment! Gleaming gray and black glistened in the sunlight back to me, casting reflections across my face. Meticulous Earth pony machine work melded itself with sharp right angles that fell into purposeful curves to fit its ergonomics perfectly to the user, all the while coinciding with arcane technology that had been blended into the every accesory. Perfection was not the word, there were no words that could describe something that had been build so perfectly, so beautifully, yet so baleful in intent.

I reached out a hoof and ran it along the words that had been milled into the receiver that clearly read out as "Peregrine Semi-auto .338 Lapua", all the while taking in the clear boxes of glimmering brass and copper. I placed my hooves around it and slowly lifted it from its cradle inside of the box and found it to be surprisingly lightweight in comparison to its size. I stared into my own reflection of the machine work, albeit blurry, I could clearly see a huge smile across my face, complemented by a single tear rolling down my cheek.

"You hate it..." Zu said, breaking me from my mind-gasm I was in the middle of.

"N-NO! Zu! Where did you find this!?" I said, begging her for answers. Maybe there were more of these, I must possess them all!

"I found it in the Star-Lab. It was on a workbench, so I took it. I thought that you would enjoy this rifle much more than your old one." She said, still trying to feel me out on whether or not I like her gift. I gently sat the rifle back into the box, giving it one last pat on the scope, just to reassure it that I was coming right back to it... (Her, I feel this rifle is a her) in a moment and grabbed Zuri up into the tightest hug I could manage.

"THANK YOU!" I shouted. I honestly did not have any real words apart from those that came out clearly.

"You are welcome." She said, as I let her go from the surprise hug.

"Wait... Shit! I didn't get you anything!" I said, just noticing that such a grand gesture of love needed to be reciprocated.

"You already did. You got me, you." She said with a smile.

I didn't say a word, instead I just hugged her harder. It was moments like this that made that long wait all the more worth it. Without so much as a word between us, we both loaded our things and started off for Hoofington, this time the short way... Why does that still piss me off to think about!? Once we reached a safe cruising altitude, and we both felt secure enough to relax a bit (The nice gift Zu had given me seemed to help out with that more than the height) as Zu and I settled in for the long flight.

I decided that I would use the majority of the time trying to figure out my new Pipbuck buy goofing around with the settings, exploring the files and what not. I started to access some of the more obscure audio logs to try and entertain myself, but unfortunately they were all dust old files about stuff I knew nothing about. The buck in the dairies spoke with words I could only dream to know the meaning of, so I was only half heartedly listening to them. That is, until I got to the last file. I nearly sent us crashing to the ground when I heard her voice break through the static, finding my ears in a state of shock and disbelief that I had not put two and two together sooner.

"Glassglo! What are you doing!?" Amethyst said though the sounds of scratching and clawing.

"I can't get it off! I CAN'T GET IT OFF!" He shouted through a full mouth.

"Sir! Please vacate the area if you do not wish to enter the Stable." Another buck said from far away. Judging by the authority in the stallion's voice, they must have been a guard.

"Why are you doing this!?" Glassglo shouted.

"New orders, no interracial couples will be allowed entry due to the nature of the attack. Either you or her may enter, but not both."

"NO! YOU WILL LET HER IN TOO! IF SHE CAN'T GO, I WON'T GO EITHER!" Glassglo said in nearly a growl.

"Glassglo, Please! Go in!" Amethyst begged.

"Fine by me. Sir, please stand clear! We are closing the Stable-door!" The guard said through the sound of grinding gears. Soon after followed the cacophony of cursing and metallic mechanisms moving about as Glassglo did his best to fight for entry. But before long, the audio file fell silent as the Stable door slammed shut, leaving behind nothing more than the sound of screaming ponies and pounding hooves. Some laughed in madness, others screamed obscenities until their lungs gave out. Amidst the thunderous sound of hooves on steel, I was able to just make out what Glassglo and Amethyst were saying to one another.

"Why... Why would they do this Glass?" She said with a shaky voice.

"I don't know, I just don't know!" He cried.

"You should have went in! You are going to die out here with me, one of us should have at least..."

"No! I can't leave you like that! Better it be the two of us that die than you not get access to the Stable."

"Why would you do such a stupid thing!" She said in anger.

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU! THAT'S WHY! Why can't you just get it through your head that I can't live without you!? I would mourn myself to death in there knowing I left you behind."

"We are going to die..." Amethyst said, again breaking into tears and now, hacking coughs as the air began to fill with fallout.

"Together... We will die, together... As a family Amy, just as we should." He said, mirroring Amethyst's tears.

"I just wanted us to be happy together! Why can't we just have one fucking moment of happiness!?" She screamed. The two of them seemed to fall silent for several long moments, all the while crying into each other.

"Promise me something, Glass?" She said through the tears and her now wheezing words.

"Anything, Amy."

"Please don't be the first one of us to die? I... I couldn't..." She tried to say, but was cut short by her failing lungs.

"I promise. I won't leave you alone. I'll be right here, right to the end. I won't let go of you." He said, but yet again, his words were interrupted by Amethyst's coughing.

"Glass? Wha... What name did you..." She started.

"I... I like... Amberglo." He wheezed. Several moments passed before either of them spoke.

"Gla... Glass?" She whispered.

"Ye... yes... my love."

"I... Love..." She started, but never finished. A long pause held in the air as I waited for either of them to speak, but she had fallen silent.

"I'll see... you... both soon..." He whispered back. The audio file ended, leaving me in a state of complete shock. Of all the Pipbucks... They had to give me the one from Glassglo. I had not put two and two together until the very end of what was to be their love story told through a arcane device. Glassglo had been that buck in the cave, and Amethyst, the mare. They even managed to think of a name for their unborn foal in their last moments, just as I had thought.

Without a word, I turned in the air and pointed us back to Stable 103.

"What are you doing Joey. Hoofington is that way." Zuri said, pointing a hoof behind her.

"I just need to fix something... It will only take a moment."

Author's Notes:

This chapter was both the one of my favorite and most hated chapters I have written today. Not only did I get to relive the moments my wife and I shared on our first vacation together... I also had to relive breaking my arm in 4 places and cracking it nearly to the elbow. Trust me when I say that it was one of the most horrific injuries I have had to this day.

On the lighter note of mine and my wife's first vacation trip... You can trust in my words when I way that it was every bit as fun as you think it was, but with considerably less fire. However, we did in fact break the bed at the Calypso Resort in Panama City Florida. Oh to be not 30 years old and riddled with multiple bone pain... Them were the days...