Everything was silent, yet it wasn’t even remotely quiet. There I was, staring up at Rose and Vogel, a hanging bag of saline went from the plastic tube into my arm. The only thing I could muster up to say, “My head..” that got everyone’s attention.

“Hey! Hey she’s awake! Angel things are bad out here, you need to see..” Rose generally didn’t lose her cool, but this time.. This time was different. I slowly sat up, every vessel in my head throbbing from the impact. My hoof went up to touch my forehead, only pulling back after feeling a rather nice indentation on my skull. Rose said that it only looked bruised and there was no real visible damage other than that. The second thing I had noticed wasn’t the screaming in the streets, or the chatter from the radios. It was the temperature.

Everything went from Autumn to Winter in an instant, the layers of blankets that covered my lower body hardly made any difference. Rose helped me to my hooves, then pulled the intravenous fluid bag. I looked up to where the table had fallen from, and saw the torn furniture that had clearly hit my head.

Jacks was leaning against a wall, puffing on his smoke, Candy was loading up her machine guns. Vogel watched me with an empty bottle in his hand, and Shadow was simply staring out some of the windows that had survived. Scrapped boards laid in a pile, the same boards that sealed up our windows. Some of the glass was intact, though most was shielded off by black, and rather expensive furniture. Rose wrapped her hooves around me, then quietly whispered in my ear.

“Angel, they destroyed everything. Canterlot is gone, Hoofington has gone dark, even Manehattan and Fillydelphia are silent..”

The metal heart in my chest felt like it was about to fall out of my rear, I just didn’t want to believe a word she spoke to me. Each member of my squad just gave a nod, and lowered their heads. She wasn’t joking on this one, even if there was a joke to be made. Every fiber in my body just wanted me to wake up from this horrible nightmare, from this despicable train of thoughts that flooded my dreams. Luck - 0.

“I-if it helps any, Angel dear.. The pegasi dropped us some supplies before making it into the clouds. I think they’ve sealed off some areas, almost as a blast shield.”

At least some of my fellow pegasi didn’t abandon us entirely. The supplies were drug in from outside, a neat packaged pile of crates were now sitting on the carpet that I so enjoyed to keep clean. I saw the soft flakes of snow lying on top of the pile of the goods, only furthering my question as to what had happened. Vogel looked over at me, almost as if he was reading my thoughts.

“Listen up Angel, whatever dark magic was in that bomb wiped out most of the population I would bet. I can imagine most of the survivors are down in those Stables that were meant for the more wealthy that could afford their ticket in. The integrity of your home seems as though it held pretty well, but the glass is mostly gone.”

I’m sorry, what? Everything and everypony was dead now? Yeah, fat chance. “Whatever kind of elaborate scheme this is, cut it. Now.” My voice cut like a knife, hissing poison at the extremely unfunny joke. I opened the front door, then stepped one hoof outside.

The air was so thick with dust and smoke, every flake of falling snow only held it down closer to the soils. The once beautiful city lay in ruin, our grand orchards were uprooted, homes and businesses missing windows and even roofs, some of the walls crumbling down onto the lifted stones that were once our streets. I watched as some figures that were once kind, loving ponies went out to brave the fallout, but appeared to be sickly, almost as though their fur was melted off. I watched closely while one of the putrid, rotting creature came charging at me. Vogel pointed the barrel of his shotgun out, and put the load inside into the skull of the pony.

The door quickly slammed behind me as I stepped back in, finding myself gasping for air. “What the actual fuck was that thing? It looked so.. That used to be a pony!” I only got saddened expressions and sighs, Rose being the one to comment on my shouting.

“Angel, the command centers send out emergency radio signals. We spent the last three weeks in here, watching the snowfall.. It looks as though many of the ponies who were outside were turned into those.. Things. We believe it’s the radiation and taint that floods the mountain range.”

Not only was everything dead, the undead were now roaming around in the streets. Great, this only lead me to more questions.

“Three weeks? I was out for three weeks? Okay, nevermind that, I believe it. Is it safe to even go out there, will the radiation kill us all?”

Shadow answered me this time, his eyes focusing out of the window once more, off into the pile of crumbling stone where the missile had hit. We were a safe distance away, but the immediate blast send enough toxicity to turn those poor ponies. “Well, readings from the geiger counters say that it is indeed safe to go out there. We just need to steer clear of the actual detonation site, and we need to wear protective gear for our lungs. I’m sure there’s some gas masks in there.”

Jacks and Candy started disassembling the neatly stacked crates, reading off each of the labels. Food, ammunition, water, medical supplies, even protective gear. Some of the other crates were labeled as misc, probably filled up with random items such as uniform and cloth repairing kits. I didn’t feel very hopeful, even with the supplies. If the pegasi were sealing up the clouds and dropping snow to keep the polluted air from reaching them, I doubt we would make it to see the day the clouds open back up.

We all went through the crates together, using the bathroom mirror and whatever light was coming from the cracks in boards that covered the skylight as a flashlight to accurately count out everything we had. A month’s worth of food for all of us, same with the water. A gas mask each, even one that would fit Vogel with several spare filters and matching black carry bag. Plenty of shotgun shells and rounds for Rose’s submachine gun and Candy’s machine guns, there was even a stockpile of larger rifle rounds for Shadow and me. The ‘misc’ box held a couple of spare uniforms for each of us, repair kits for our weapons and gas masks, sewing items for repairing other items we may have, and weapon cleaning supplies.

At the bottom of the pile was a box marked as ‘survival’ and was filled with items matching that description. Heat reflecting blankets, fire starters, even seed packets. Those would come in handy. We all split the gear among ourselves, yet I ended up with two shares of everything. Rose was far too busy cataloging our medical supplies, both what we had on hoof and what was dropped for us. I felt her gaze as she looked at a rather alien object, something that resembled wings.

“Angel, these are for you. A note here says that these will fit right onto you. We just need to snap them on, and.. Well there’s no way to take them off, but you’ll have wings again!” We both knew the steel replacements would be too heavy to get me off of the ground, but we went right to it anyway. I sat on my haunches as Rose snapped the devices onto me, then watched as I spread out my wings.

“They’re pretty comfortable, I bet they’d make operating my rifle that much easier. The steel looks flexible, yet strong.. I think I’ll get used to these.” My first thought was to sit down after grabbing my guitar, then giving it a few chords worth of play. I was given new wings and yet my first reaction was to look at my guitar and see if I could play it? I get my mind was trying not to focus on the business at hoof, but still.. I was almost ashamed my mind did that to me.

Rose simply gave me a smile and came to sit right beside me, leaning her weight my way. “We’ll make it through this, Angel. We just need to stick together. We were and still are Luna’s greatest fighting force.. That never existed.” The soft laughter and chuckles from everypony around broke the tension, but was quickly dissolved as we labeled our piles of goods, stocking up our bags and packs with everything we could fit before taking a container each, and using it for storage. Well there’s a couple of problems solved, sleeping arrangements would be something that needed addressing though. Rose and I obviously had our own bed, but sleeping bags and bedrolls would only work so long for everypony else.

We needed to go scavenging in through the city to find more suitable items for that purpose. Jacks was throwing together lists of duties we needed to accomplish to increase our odds of survival. Candy and Shadow would stay back to hold down the base while Jacks and Vogel would go to test the rivers nearby that were once clean. Rose and I were assigned to basic supply retrieval, searching for food and other supplies we would need to get through the month or two we would be stuck down here.

For the world coming to an end, we still functioned just like any other special operations squad, that didn’t exist.

Rose and I covered ourselves in gear first, securing our uniforms, she had her medical supplies hanging from her sides, I had my cloak over my back with the hood over my mane. Our supply pouches lined our chests, buttoned shut to keep everything secure. Our combat knives would now really have a use, neither of us really had a use for them other than having something that looked cool on our hind legs. That really didn’t make a difference anymore. Next were our weapons, the scope on my rifle would be useless at these closer ranges, and the bipod would no longer have a scope to compliment, so I resorted down to the built on sights. Rose let her submachine gun hang from a more forward position, one that a single whip of her magic would pull into firing position.

Finally, the gas masks and their carry bags went on. They had a horrible scent of rubber, but at least they were easy to see out of and were mildly comfortable. We screwed in a filter after breaking the seal on it, then stepped outside. The clouds were black, only small beams of light were piercing through the black veil. This was the first time any of us actually wore our boots, most of the grassy and mountainous terrain never called for anything more than our hooves, but snow was different. The stone roads we once walked to the bakery were uplifted, stones roughly showing their edges to the sky above.

The glow from the mountains far ahead of us was almost enough to make for a secondary sun should the clouds continue to hide the real sun. It was a sickly green that radiated off the once beautiful mountain range that sealed all of the Germanian cities and villages from the rest of the pieces and parts that made up our world. The small flank-high stone walls had mostly fallen over from the sheer blast the missile had to blow back at us, reflecting off of the mountains. Large boulders and rocks littered the fields surrounding our city, the force from the missile had to have flung them at us. Now I wondered what would’ve happened if one of the bigger Balefire bombs we saw went off here. Nothing would be left.

Our weapons constantly reported, the amount of the zombie-like ponies felt almost like half of the city or more.. Poor bastards. I considered the combined luck of my team the reason we didn’t get a face full of radiation, I knew that I wasn’t one for that kind of thing anyway. I can’t stop thinking about that reading of ‘0’. Killing these zombies didn’t feel right, and that’s coming from a professional soldier that had killed plenty of zebras and even traitorous ponies. I knew these ponies, some of them even had shreds of clothing glued to their flesh. If we didn’t kill them, they would kill us, and I sure as hell didn’t want that horrible smell all over me.

Green pools of blood flooded the streets and covered the snow on them, smaller but more frequent splatters came from Rose’s kills, and single, large messes of blood from my rifle. Our mission was more important, and I didn’t have time to keep thinking about all of these little things. It was time for action. I bucked open the door to the bakery first, kicking down the locked, wooden door. That didn’t feel good on the hips, but we had our orders, and our objective. Rose fired on the two zombies inside, splattering them against the wall they stood before.

“Mr. and Mrs. Cobblestone.” Her words pierced my heart, I knew that they would be here but.. I was buying their apple topped treats for years, nearly my whole life. At least we put them to rest. Rose started to check the storages, my own interests on looking for any information I could use to find.. Something. Maybe they had their secret recipe or their finest ingredients in a safe somewhere. They didn’t have a terminal, but they did have a safe buried underneath the mess of papers and folders that once filled their shelves. “Business ledgers. These will make good fuel.” I lifted up the papers, and stuck them in my pack. The safe was locked up tightly, keeping any would-be thief out.

Rose looked over at me as she poked her head out of the storage room, stuffing her bags with canned apple chunks. “Maybe you could open that safe up, I know that you’ve had experience in opening things that were meant to keep you out.” I could hear the playful tone of her voice, but she was right. I wasn’t exactly the best filly, but I wasn’t the worse either. Instead of the classic bobby pin technique, I dug some of the smaller, almost non-existent needle feathers on my steel replacements into the lock and went to work. Click, click, click. The door popped open. Success!

I pulled the heavy door open and peeked inside, digging through photos and other family keepsakes that were stored in there. Rose’s hoof gently ran across my cheek to wipe the tears I didn’t even know were coming from my eyes, her soft touch comforting me as I dug through this family’s most valued belongings. There wasn’t a single recipe, but there were plenty of family photos and drawings that were done by foals. Damned those striped devils for doing this to us. At the bottom of the safe, I found a small postcard. On it was Rainbow Dash and a squadron of pegasi dressed in the black carapace armors that were being sent to the elite teams.. That were on paper. I turned it over, and started to read the letter.

“Mom and Dad,
I’ve enlisted with one of the best pegasi divisions that we have to offer! They accepted me in with welcoming hooves, putting me one of those new suits of armor almost instantly! It made me feel so accomplished to know I would be killing the zebras that threatened our great kingdoms. I hope you are as proud as I am.

Mossy Cobblestone.

I didn’t even know how to feel after reading that. Here was this young pony, their parents lying in pools of green blood. For their sake, I hope that a trip home wasn’t planned. Rose stood close to me, guiding me out the door with our small gatherings. Our next stop was the market, on most days it was just a bunch of stalls that were set out on the stone streets, but we all knew they had an indoor location, one that wouldn’t be covered by the snow. Steam came from our breathing, blowing out of the secondary valve on our masks. The occasional shotgun blast could be heard echoing from the valley that held our river. Sounds like our other team was running into these zombies too.

The closer we got to the market, the more of these green monsters we came across. They were concentrating around the larger, more modern building in our city, the fields were only a trot away. Looks like they found their way over here, I couldn’t figure out why they would do that, but they did. Rose and I both aimed our weapons at the crowds, Rose letting her aura surround her weapon, my own up to my shoulder as I stood on my hind hooves, these new metal wings making it easier to use my weapon.

The steady bursts Rose put out filled the air in front of her with steam, even the barrel on her weapon was putting off the clear smoke. My single puffs made it much easier to see, even more so considering I needed to work the bolt to put another round in. Zombie after zombie dropped to the streets, filling the creases between stones and the ice atop them with green fluids. The market stalls that once sold everypony fruit and vegetables were now laying piles of scrap wood and nails. They became even more useless to us as they fell into the snow, the white flakes that were soaked green. I was disgusted at the green snow they created once they were dead, but a dead zombie is better than a living one.

We waded through the piles of green ponies, the smell nearly enough to make us vomit in our masks. Rotting flesh mixed with filth and taint, it wasn’t exactly my idea of a pleasant scent. The doors to the steel-sided building were locked up tight, but that didn’t stop a good buck from knocking them open. I wasn’t the strongest, but it only takes technique to do many things in life. The metal doors with glass paneling broke right open, letting the falling snow and build up that was on the ground pour in onto the cheap, and rather ugly tile that made up the floors. No wonder nopony shopped here.

Rose checked the smaller, closer aisles while my focus was on the more distant areas. There was only so much a bolt action rifle could do for you in a situation like this. We were clear after breaching in, none of those green beasts were anywhere to be seen. Rose shut the doors behind us, dragging a newspaper box in front of it to keep things shut. We moved side by side, checking every stocked aisle and display, the emergency lights that made up for a third of the ugly fluorescents were keeping things lit for us to navigate. Boxes of foods and cans filled up with Luna knows what were knocked from the cheap metal shelving, lining some of our paths with noise makers.

Everything was dead silent, not even as much as a murmur came from anywhere inside, not even the offices to the back that always had somepony in them. They must’ve had an emergency generator buried in here among the fully stocked market we moved through. Jackpot, there must’ve been years worth of canned food in here. My radio started to buzz, Vogel reaching through from the other end.

“Angel, you and Rose need to get back here. Jacks took a sip from the river and he’s sick, he’s very very sick. He’s been bleeding from the eyes..” The sound cut, and Rose was the first one out of the door. Only now had I taken the time to read the massive red sign above the doors, the building being completely obsolete when we had the open air stalls. “Okie-Dokie Mart.” What a stupid name for a grocer.

Rose nearly bucked our door down to come into a scene of ponies and a griffin standing above a squirming stallion, both of his hooves pressed against his face while he rolled on our floor. We took off our masks and put them in our carry bags, Rose leaning down to tend to Jacks. His cries of agony sent chills down all our spines and right into our tails, leaving even Shadow sitting a distance from our squad leader.

Vogel started communicating with Rose, feeding her details and his symptoms after he drank the toxic water. “He took off his mask for just a moment, he didn’t even give me a chance to put my geiger counter in the water. It was like he was choking on nothing, then his skin started to peel off..”

I pulled Rose away from her patient, almost landing me a buck to the face. “Rose. He’s going to turn into one of those things out there. The radiation must’ve gotten to the water. Dammit I thought that was the one thing that would be clean..” She still fought with me, her oaths only making her wish to treat him even more. Vogel came and held her back, trying to keep her calm while I put my mask back on, then grabbed my rifle. I reached down and started to pull Jacks by the hind leg, taking him outside. Shadow watched me from the window, Candy trying to get a clear view as well.

The barrel of my rifle was hovering above his head, ready to fire. He only muttered out a single phrase, something that would haunt me forever it seemed. “Nopony wins o-out here..” Coughs of blood and other bodily fluids came from his maw, bloodied vomit starting to cover his coat, the fluids slowly melting into the snow. My eyes shut, head turning away from him. The rifle reported itself to me, the roar followed by what sounded to be a watermelon being dropped onto stone. I only barely lifted the mask in time to lose my lunch, then slip it back on.

We buried him next to the Elder tree, pulling up stone and shoveling away the toxic snow just to make a place for him under our worshiped statue of nature. There stood four ponies and a griffin, garbed in dark uniforms, two with their cloaks blowing in the wind. One with her golden locks flowing, another with metal inserts in her uniform. Our griffin stood the tallest, and the most hurt by the loss. He didn’t pull the trigger, and I don’t think he could.. Even if Jacks tried to bite him.

Everything was dark, save the glowing splatters of blood on the snow from the zombies we had to clear out just to get to the Okie-Dokie Mart. The leafless tree’s branches blew in the breeze with our tails and clothing, acting almost as if it was mourning with us. Five survivors of this blast, standing around a monument to the glory of the world. At least, the world that wasn’t being hit with Balefire explosives. The first to leave was Shadow, then Candy. Rose and I followed behind, leaving Vogel to stand at the impromptu grave of our leader. The griffin raised up a stone, then plowed it down into the earth Jacks was buried under. He scratched “Jacks. Leader of the greatest” into his headstone. Our hearts broke when he told us.

The wind was blowing especially hard today. We could hear it whipping the side of the home, sometimes even sending stones into the boards that were once glass panels. Vogel was so drunk he couldn’t even stand, Shadow was completely silent, I was almost certain that Candy was doped up on something. Then Rose, she was counting each and every bandage we had. She only did that when something seriously bothered her. Personally I was just listening to old tracks we had for a wind-up radio. I didn’t feel like playing them myself on my guitar that day, I don’t think any of them wanted to hear it either.

“Hey, Candy?” I was trying to get her attention, but only got a loopey stare. I wanted what she was having. “Can I uh.. Can I get some of that?” Rose’s ears laid flat on her mane, her eyes piercing right through me. Her voice felt like a dagger had punched through me.

“Don’t you dare, Angel. You know what that shit does to you.” I only let a sigh, but grabbed the small glass vial next to Candy, and stuck a clean syringe into it. I was going to have some of these painkillers, whether Rose approved or not. I wasn’t sure if this small vial came from our medical supplies, or if Candy had her own little secret stash she hid from the rest of us. It didn’t matter anymore.

I gave Rose a warming smile, but only got ice in return. “Rose, I know that it’s not great for my health.. But it’s the end of the world. Come enjoy yourself with me.” My hoof was reached out, ready to help her up. She let a soft sigh from her muzzle, and stood up with me. We walked into our bedroom with the small radio, setting it on the foot of our bed before laying out, the needle lifting up with a magic aura around it. She started with sticking it into her fore hoof, letting out a slow exhale before she stuck the needle in me, and pumped the other half of the fluid into my veins. She was worried about my health, and we just shared a needle.

The cool liquid ran through my vessels, slowly numbing the sensation in them before I had started to watch vibrant colors appear all around me. Music was flooding my ears, the sounds so deep, everything sounding like an echo. Rose crawled over to me, laying herself on me while we shared a near-overdose of Med-X. I don’t think I had actually enjoyed a day in this wasteland until then.

Coming down as I woke up as horrible, my head throbbing.. Everything felt like it was throbbing. Rose was drooling on my shoulder, leaving a mess on me. It felt like ice water running across my fur, causing me to jump up a little. Her head lifted up, and she let out a groan. “Angel..? Why does my head.. Er.. Everything hurt..?” I couldn’t help but give her a soft kiss before answering her question. I don’t think she felt very good about herself afterwards.

We made our way back into the main room, moving slowly but steadily as we regained feeling in our hooves. Vogel was shuffling through the deck of cards. Shadow was playing with the turrets on his scope, scooping bits of dried apple chunks from a pouch. Candy looked like she was still in a trip, her body still while drool ran from the corners of her muzzle. Rose stepped closer to the mare, and then started to rub her chest, increasing in roughness until she was panicking.

“Rose? Hey, what’s wrong? Is she okay?” Frantic groans were my answer, her hoof only going faster and faster, just until Candy took a breath. The mare gasped and lifted her head up, wiping her lip while looking around. She still sounded like she was on the moon.

“What are you.. Why’d you do that? I was enjoying the trip!” I felt my hoof pressing to my face.

“Candy, you weren’t breathing. You took too high of a dose.. I’m going to lock these things in my medical box. You won’t have access to it.” Rose then took the vials scattered around Candy, empty or full, and all of the needles with their caps still on. Candy waved her front hooves in the air, making odd sounds that only a high mare could make. I certainly wasn’t guilty of the same.

The boxes with butterflies soon had locks holding them shut, keeping Candy sealed out. I could still get myself into it, but I decided against it. The trip was relaxing and quite fun, but I couldn’t do it unless Rose was onboard. Considering how much she enjoyed it, I hoped that it would be soon. I just sat on the floor, then laid out. We didn’t have anything to do right now, supplies were falling from under our tails, there was even a fully stocked market just up the stone road. We could go and loot the inn and homes that were still intact, but any waste of a mask filter could be fatal.

Despite that fact, I still geared myself up, taking the filters that would’ve gone to Jacks. He wasn’t going to need them anymore. I stepped outside once more, setting my boots in the snow that held down the chemicals and taint that could poison cities worth of ponies. If that missile were any closer.. My cloak blew in the mild gusts of wind, the hood over my mane shuttering in the gusts. Down the rows of homes with shattered windows i went, homes that were crumbling down, and even foundations that once held up a home.

I stepped down the very middle of the torn streets, watching everything carefully. If any of those zombies came charging, they wouldn’t catch me by surprise. The city that was almost never silent had fallen to the quiet crumpling of snow under my hooves, and the quiet whistles of the wind. The inn came into view after following the pathway for a few minutes, a two story building in our traditional architecture. Some of the windows held up from the blast, but the clean white paint was peeling from the walls, curling and cracking under the long, wooden planks.

I bucked open the wooden door, my rifle turning and snapping around to check every little corner that came into view. Not a zombie in sight, but a single, brown coated mare was laying on the floor. Her white mane was sprawled out across the dusty wooden planks that made up the floor. The planks were on everything, siding the counters and making for small pillars around the interior. The white walls were already dusty, not showing any signs of blood.. And the stone construction that was a place for fires with a chimney climbing up the wall had a fire in it. What happened here?

My hoof tapped against the mare, her body still.. And cold. No blood, no signs of abuse to her, not a single fucking clue. The only thing that made sense at this point with suffocation. Her ribs weren’t showing, but she didn’t have a breathing mask. A single breath outside would fill your lungs with everything buried beneath the snow, and probably burn them from the inside out. Poor thing was a blank flank too. I didn’t bother stepping around the corpse, I just went right over her. The rectangular room had a few chairs made of shaped branches and logs, positioned to circle around the fire built in the center. If she wasn’t alone, there’d be more ghosts floating around with her.

The inn was still in its original condition on the inside, the dust didn’t help but there wasn’t much that could be done about it. Empty cans and boxes that once held food littered a corner of the warm room, some of them looking to have been tossed in the fire. A few paintings were still on the walls, but I didn’t care about those. I went to the staircase that was build from smoothed planks, stepping my way up the rooms. Door by door I searched the rooms, grabbing the sheets for the cloth, and the pillows just to take them. My wings folded up the pillows and many of the balled up sheets into a single length of the cloth, making a bag to carry it all. Into the last room I went, and there were the friends she had.

Two more blank flanks were laying there, dead, but these ones.. There were signs of cannibalism. Chunks of their flesh were torn clean off, showing bones and rotting organs underneath. I guess that blank flank downstairs had more meals that I had realized. The sight itself didn’t even slightly phase me, I’d seen worse. They were just casualties of the final strike the zebras used against our homelands.

Everything was gray and green, not a single touch of blue in the sky. It was a sickly sight, the beautiful sky wasn’t even a shadow of its former self, instead it was already six feet under with a customized headstone. It was becoming difficult to see outside, yet my watch was clearly telling me it was twelve o’clock, PM. The green hue blanketed everything, even the bright white exteriors on nearly every building appeared as a sick green.

The sound of running water was echoing from a wall of rocks, my ‘expedition’ bringing me closer to the river that gave our city most of its water, save the Okie-Dokie Mart that nopony ever bothered with. There it was, a beautiful stream of green and black, touches of rust colored muck showing itself where the white caps should’ve been. Why the fuck did Jacks drink this shit? I stepped closer to the river, sliding down the snow-covered hillside to get closer. Then, it hit me. If he had to take his mask off for a moment to take a drink, perhaps the air was neurotoxic.

Upon that thought, I checked my gas mask bag to count my sealed filters. Four were lining the pockets, and the filters seemed to have a decent life to them. I’d already spent a few hours out here and haven’t had as much as a smell of the world around, which would more than likely lead to me vomiting to death. Drowning in my own puke, what a way to go. Not only do you lose the contents of your stomach, you breath them in and die by aspiration. Fucking glorious.

The climb back up the hill was proving more difficult than I expected, the poisoned snow making for a rather slick climb back up. Two steps up, three steps back, until I drove the steel feathers of my wings into the dirt. My makeshift climbing picks allowed for me to easily scale the slope, not bothering once to even look back behind me. It was toxic, and the forests beyond were either crumbling apart, or burning from fires sparked by the blast. If anypony was camping out, they were either melted or turned into one of those zombies.

The mild warmth of my home was highly welcoming, the fire stocked up and burning to keep us all warm, even though Candy was wrapped in her heat reflecting blanket. That could’ve just been her coming from her high, or even withdrawing from it, but weakness would be exploited in this new world, and she couldn’t dare step outside. The straps on my mask loosened up, then my hood fell back onto my shoulders before the gas mask came off, and sat in its bag.

“How are supplies looking, Rose?” Her eyes looked around at each of our supply stashes, rating them based on size and our original rationing plan.

“Enough for us to find a way to bring the food from the market back here, if we had a way to carry large amounts at a time quickly. We can’t waste our filters, we can’t even safely touch the snow with bare fur. We’d almost instantly turn into one of those.. Things, outside.” Her eyes lowered, then she took a breath, knowing she’d disappoint me. “Angel, I didn’t lock the Med-X up to keep Candy out, I used it to give myself a supply. It just felt good, you know..?”

I couldn’t physically be upset with her. There was just no way I could be emotional at this time, even if my wife was hooked on supplies we would need for injuries. I don’t think she was as resistant to the substance as I was. All I could do was let a sigh, and wrap my hooves around her.

“Let me help. I gave you your first dose, so I should be here to mop up the mess. I need to the key to the boxes, Rose. If you can do that, I can give you a little at a time to get you taken down from it.” Three weeks and a few days, two chem addicts, a drunk, some silent stallion that wasn’t himself anymore, and then me. We were already falling apart, something that could take us one by one. Jacks was the first. Candy was almost the second.

“Alright everypony, look. I’m not the most qualified to lead this squad, but we’d better not fucking let a little obstacle like this take us out. Jacks had to have taken a breath outside of his mask, and then drank from a river that looks like a battlefield. Vogel, there’s not really any other alcohol in this area unless you really look for it. Keep that in mind. Shadow, you can’t stay fucking silent forever, stallion the fuck up. Candy, we’re going to get your stupid ass off that shit, and Rose. We’re going to give you some help.”

Silent and surprised gazes were surrounding me, I was no leader, but each of them stood up, and then bowed their heads to me. They had all accepted I was in charge now, and that I wasn’t going to just let us wither away.

“Now with that in order, Shadow we’ll need you to get into the old military recruiting center about a kilometer to the west, you and Vogel will scavenge any weapons, ammo, and supplies you can find. Get moving, and remember to move quickly through the Wasteland. Luna knows what lives out there now.” And with that, a pony and griffin were geared up and went out of the front door. I sat next to Candy, gently stroking her cheek with my hoof before letting her rest again. Now, it was Rose’s turn. Down I went again, but this time I gave her a soft kiss. The cold sweating and shakes were enough to diagnose a clear addiction.

I took the two mares into our bathing room, and sat them both in the empty bath tub. I threw a blanket over them, and grabbed the small medical box. It was going to be a long few days. Every couple of hours I gave them a smaller dose in size, then a cup of water to keep their mouths from becoming dry. Going from a soldier, to a survivor, to a leader.. And now a doctor. I was surprising myself.

The boys came back within a few hours, their packs full of essentials. Hundreds of bullets and shells, a few pistols and cleaning supplies, even repair kits and a few explosives. They started to unload the haul onto the floor, carefully laying it out for us to inspect when we had a moment. Of course, they knew that would be a few days away, especially considering I was sitting with two shaking mares in a bathtub. They sat and watched as I carefully stroked the mares’ manes, hushing them when they would try to get up.

“So, what did you fine males haul back from that place?” They gave a quiet chuckle, and then Vogel chose to speak, his words still slightly slurring.

“We got some handguns, an’ some ammo. A few things for our guns and then explosives.”

Shadow gave a nod, and then I gave a nod in return. “Alright, go ahead and start to clean those up. I’ll want one of those pistols and some of those rounds, so portion everything out. I’m going to try to break the addiction these two have.. “

The males turned and went back to their business, the sounds of cards being shuffled and hoof or talon slamming on the table showing they were keeping busy. I was stuck in the bathroom with these two, keeping track of time to the minute to give them another, smaller dose. They calmed for a few minutes, but then went right back to their cold shivers and groans. This was going to be a long fucking night.

I was woken up multiple times through the night by my watch’s alarm, giving me the signal to give them another dose. Neither of them slept much, if at all, and I had to get a bucket for them to vomit into. It was getting worse, and I had to sit here with them through it all. For my wife, I would do anything, but this was getting to be excessive. The lack of sleep, the constant cleaning of a puke bucket, and the occasional groan from my patients, I was about ready to just toss them the vials.

The following morning was just as horrible for all of us. Shadow and Vogel had to listen to heaving and gagging from the two mares I was treating. Rose took it especially hard, just the smallest bit and she was hooked, a single time is all it took for her. I felt even worse about myself. It got to the point where I was tossing bucket after bucket out, the still-functioning toilet let me just dump and flush. I had to go as far as tie their manes back, with no real bathing water, even the smallest bit of vomit on either of them would make the entire house reek. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any such luck.

Both of them were losing fluids quickly, the inability to actually hold anything down took me to desperate measures. I had to go scavenging through the city’s clinic.

“Vogel, Shadow, you two are on duty. Give them exactly one milligram of Med-X each in exactly twenty-four minutes. If they vomit, catch it in the bucket and flush the thing. Best of luck to both of you.” On went my gear, piece by piece. I received a few rather strong complaints, but there simply wasn’t time to argue. I went out the door, feeling the frozen air blowing against my neck.

Snow was falling once more, but every flake felt more like a raindrop than a snowflake, but every raindrop felt like a cigarette was being put on my fur. My pace was picking up exponentially, almost at a full gallop just to avoid the water touching me anywhere. I followed the little blue signs that were already showing signs of rust and serious damage, jumping over piles of rubble and the skeletons of those who were fortunate enough to fall over dead instead of turning into one of those rotting ghoulish creatures. Ghoul.. That wouldn’t be a bad name for those things.

The clinic was a smaller building, the low occupancy numbers always kept it quiet, save the days when foals would get out of school. More scraped hooves and bloodied snouts were treated than anything else, easily. That didn’t stop them from keeping it stocked up, and my hopes were rather high of finding antibiotics and the nutrient mixes with IV bags. The clinic itself was put together with cinder blocks, then had basic morale posters stuck over any cracks and imperfections that came from the years of weather. A small, steel roof topped it, with a single butterfly as a sign. This was it.

I bucked open the glass doors, the steel frame bending right open at my kick. I crawled inside, instinctively holding my rifle up, checking every corner to be found. It was still just as clean as I remembered, white tiles lined the flooring while white paint was covering the walls, little color coded lines simply going to “Rooms.” and “Supplies.” I took a left at the round, wooden front desk, going right for the supply closet. Then a single shot came from behind me.

I opened the closet door and dove inside, panting from the shock of actually running into anypony else, let alone one that wanted to kill me for whatever reason. After the shot, I heard clicking, then a plastic object hitting the floor. A single-shot weapon, probably a shotgun. I could deal with this. My mind was racing, looking for any object that I could find to give me the advantage I needed. A metal clinical tray leaned up against a steel shelf filled up with plastic tubs, all with the labels I wanted to see. Supplies were here, but I had some more pressing at hoof.

My wing lifted up the tray, holding it in front of me as I peeked around the corner, the steel sheet taking all of the shot. Perfect, now to kill this pony. It was a light blue coated mare, a pink mane falling down in front of her eyes. She looked rather shocked from my tactic, her weapon now empty, and then on the floor. She fell with a single thud, her blood pooling around her. I let the sheet drop while I started to rummage through the tubs, taking everything of use I could find. Healing potions, bandages, more Med-X and syringes, then IV bags filled up with saline, and more importantly, bags filled up with the blends that kept me alive during the three weeks I took a nap. The weight of my bags was getting to me, throwing me slightly off balance as I galloped out the door, my boots splashing right in the blood.

The house smelt even worse when I returned, my items piling up on top of each other as I set them near the door. The bags were hanging above my head, the steel feathers holding them up. Shadow had both of his hooves on Rose’s chest, and Vogel had his talons on Candy. They were performing chest compressions.

“Whoa whoa whoa holy fuck okay okay what happened?” My ability to control situations just went to nothing, the sight terrifying me to no end. They both shot me back responses.

“They just stopped breathing! First it was Candy and then Rose started to do the same, we started doing these, like what? Maybe five minutes ago!”

I pushed Shadow out of the way, knowing that Rose was our more experienced nurse. I directed him to start setting up the bags, but to wait on inserting the needles into the mares. My hooves pressed down and lifted up, over and over again, the sensation of her ribs cracking under my hooves sent shivers down my spine, and almost stopped me from continuing all together. Rose lifted her head up, gasping and groaning all at the same time.

“Rose, you need to help Candy! Your hearts both stopped and she needs you to revive her, please!” The white unicorn weakly made her way over to the laying mare. Vogel moved out of the way, and Rose started to let her magic do the work. Candy took a breath almost instantly. A relieved sigh came from my muzzle, my head lowering for a moment before guiding them both back into the bathtub, where the nutrient bags were then sent into their hooves by a little tube that hooked up to a needle.

I spent the whole day just sitting there, dozing off until I would hear a heave or a grunt. Neither of them were in any shape to haul supplies over from the market. I had to send Vogel and Shadow again, but warned them about the mare I ran into. They gave me a nod as they geared up, then went out the door. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat either (oh Luna the smell..) so I just sat there. Their stomachs slowly settled, and their breathing started to return to an acceptable level. This was far harder than I had ever expected.

It was night before the males had come back, filled bags of food lining their sides. I could hear the door open, then I could smell the blood as it shut behind them. Shadow limped himself my way, falling over on the tile floor after gazing at me. That stubborn bastard thought he could just walk away from taking a shot to the front leg. Now I had three patients.

“Hey Angel, could you care to remove the bullet in there? Some of the smaller feathers you have there could probably dig this out..” It only took me a moment to stick a rolled rag into his maw, then I started to dig around in the wound. His muffled groans made me wince, but I had to pull it out. Who knows what that bullet was sitting in or around before it got embedded into his leg. The digging was pointless, the width of the steel feathers was just too great. He floated his sharpening stone over, and started to drag it across the feather.

It went right back in, wedging under the lead chunk before popping it right out. Now I had to disinfect it. I stared at Vogel, using my eyes to tell him to share his booze. He only poured a shot’s worth onto the wound, but it was certainly enough to make Shadow jump and groan into the rag. From there, I just gave him one of the healing potions, making him guzzle it down before I started to wrap it up. “Vogel, make sure he lays here for a bit. You can carry him to the sofa, but make sure he doesn’t bleed on anything.” That earned me a grin.

Back into the bathroom I went, the dark bags under my eyes getting larger and larger the longer I just stayed up. The moment they both showed stability, I fell asleep almost instantly. Sometimes I heard Vogel stepping in to check on things, and then walking right back out. As long as they were stable. Rose started to rub my shoulder, bringing me back to the land of the living.

“Huh? Oh, Rose.. How are you feeling today?” She was looking far better, her pupils back to normal size, her mane shining once more. I glanced over at Candy, seeing similar results in her as well. They still smelt like vomit, but there wasn’t enough water to sacrifice for that cause. I couldn’t imagine any of us smelling at least somewhat decent anymore, between the vomit and blood, the radiation and ash, even the snowfall that was full of smoke and acidity..

“I’m feeling alright..” Her voice was lighter, softer, not all of her energy being put to speaking. “When was the last time you slept, Angel? You were only napping when I looked at you, but your eyes.. You need to sleep.”

I gave her a soft smile. “I won’t go to bed without you, love.” I pulled the needles from the now-empty bags, helping both of them out of the tub, and onto their hooves once more. They were wobbly, but could make it. Candy went right for the sofa, just to find a bleeding Shadow. Instead of trying to move him around or ask him to reposition, she just sat on the floor. Rose saw his leg, and her expression dropped.

“Angel, do you see that little red line going upward from the bandaged area to his upper leg? That’s blood poisoning.” Candy, Shadow, Vogel, and Rose were all staring at me now. It didn’t take a genius to know you needed powerful antibacterial medicine, something we were currently short on. Every other kind of medicine was right there, but blood poisoning.. No such luck.

“Alright, Rose you need to gather up bandages and the saline bag, plus some Med-X. Refrain from using it, darling. Vogel, you go and heat up a frying pan. The fireplace is a good place to do that. Shadow, I need to amputate that.” I was given stares from all of them, but got nods. “Shadow, use that stone of yours and sharpen up all of my steel feathers. Get them to be as razor sharp as possible, it’s for your own good.” The stone drug across the steel, whining and screeching while the others followed my orders.

Rose asked question after question when she brought back the drug, the bandages, and the saline IV bag. “Are you really going to do this? If it gets infected he’s dead either way, if he--” I just cut her off. “Rose. If we just let him die from this, it will haunt all of us. If we try to do something about it,even if we don’t save him, at least we’ll have tried. Now Rose, I need you to lift him up and set him on our dining room table. Lay down a few towels first, we won’t want the blood staining the wood.”

Vogel stood with an iron pan in the fire, hotpads on the standby. We were ready. Rose filled a syringe with the painkillers, then filled his veins with the fluid. I used my wings to lift up one of the towels that lined our table, then Rose set him on it. I rolled up the towel and stuck it into his maw, the drugs slowly kicking in. His eyes half-closed, and it was time. I let my razor-edged steel feathers line up above the spreading infected area, then without hesitation, I quickly started to use it as a saw.

Through the flesh, then muscle, finally I reached bone. Up went my wing, then it came right back down, chopping his front leg off. Vogel came running over as Shadow was groaning and grunting into the towel, his head slowly moving around on the wood while the hot pan touched the bleeding stump. We had to hold him down. “Hmmmph! Mmph Nnfffhhh!!” The smell of his burning flesh almost made me sick, his now black limb-stump had stopped bleeding, and Rose was right on it to tightly wrap it. I let a sigh of relief, even when he let out groans of pain.

We took shifts watching him that night, looking for the smallest sign of infection. When everything started to lighten up, we knew that he had made it through the night. If any infection were to have killed him, it would’ve been right then and there. I took his gas mask filters, stuffing them in my own pack. He wasn’t going to be leaving the house, and somepony always had to be there to watch him. I was putting on gear to return to the market to search for anything that may’ve been missed, and he spoke up.

“Angel.. You.. you just lead them. You lead them to save me. Thank you..” I just told him to shut the fuck up and that he didn’t even need to thank me. We had a laugh about that one.

The door to the market was clearly sealed up with boards, something that none of us had done. They had shot Shadow, and I wanted what was inside. Time to get operating again. I looked around at the windows seeing boards all around them as well, some of the shelving from inside even being used for barricades. My only way of entry would be from above, and that’s what I would do, even if I couldn’t just jump up and fly my way up here. Whoever was inside forgot to destroy the service ladder up, because it stood tall for my use. Up I went, using my wings to take a second grip as the steel was icey, the constant falling of snow blocking off pathways that anypony could take.

The roof was flat and easy to step across, save the patches that were extremely slick. I looked around at everything that I stepped across, only to fall through one of the skylights of the market. My wings flew open to slow my descent, keeping me from shattering anything as I hit the floor. Yelling came from aisles across from me, my landing zone right in the middle of the store itself. No cover, nowhere to run. A single bullet is all it took out here.

My instinct was to climb, going from beside the shelving to right on top of it. Garbage littered the floor, profane and rather sexual images painted over the propoganda posters and signs. Looks like I was stuck with delinquents that had weapons, what a perfect way to start my day. I saw the shadows of ponies running down the halls and aisles, yet none of their shadows had any masks over their faces. They must’ve used one-time emergency breathers or just wrapped their muzzles up with scarves. If the windows were to break, they’d be choking with their lack of actual air filters.

I jumped across the tops of the shelves, keeping myself low to avoid being spotted immediately, and as expected, bullets started to whiz by my head, a few lucky shots bouncing off of the steel portions of my wings. It stopped the bullets, but the impact of the steel feathers on my ribcage knocked the air from my lungs, my will to survive being the only thing that kept me upright. I jumped and tossed a grenade at the base of the front door, kicking off of the wall for my wings to take me away from the blast radius.

Shouting came from behind me as I flew over the empty boxes and bottles littering the floors, even spots that I assumed were.. Oh Gross! My path took me to the main office, giving me the perfect set of hallways to hear screams and groans of pain coming from the front entrance of the store. Looks like that grenade was more than just a distraction and a way to open up the interior to the exterior. The screams turned into coughing, choking, even wheezing to the point I knew they were spitting up blood. It sent chills down my spine, but it had to be done. They shot Shadow, and I wasn’t going to let them use up all of the precious items inside.

I let the coughing go to silence, not even a single hoof step remained echoing through the market. It was time to move now, but only after I look around this office. It was a basic set up, a desk with a name tag, a chair with little wheels to roll around, even a counter lined with coffee making supplies. Nothing even remotely interesting here, not even the safe he obviously had behind a painting of his grandmother, or at least.. She looked like it. I looked around closer just to be sure I was leaving nothing behind, rummaging through the drawers and cabinets that were scattered around, pencil, spectacle case, a rotting banana.. So, I made my way outside of the smaller room to gather what I could. Curiosity took me to the front entrance first, almost excited to see what I had caused. Ponies all of colors and shapes laid in growing pools of blood, shards of glass and steel peppering their jacket clad bodies. Metal pipes, a shovel, and then the pistol that was used on Shadow were scattered around, but nothing even remotely useful on them.

Down each aisle I went, searching through the empty boxes and trash that were once filled food items. Not a single damn thing was here anymore, not even behind the desks of the cashier’s stations. All of the food, the precious food that would’ve lasted us months was now all gone, and to what? A few ponies that just couldn’t see far enough ahead to ration out the food, or to keep themselves from trying to help other survivors. It was like they were there just to raid the food and fuck it all up. Raid. I was going to call ponies like this “Raiders” from now on. Though all of this though, I wondered.. Where was Candy?

With nothing in hoof, I came galloping back home. I nearly bucked open the door and slammed it behind me while yelling through my mask, the sounds nearly inaudible. “Where’s Candy? I didn’t see her when I was operating on Shadow, where is she?” Two ponies and a griffin shot looks back at me, all being the similar “Oh, shit.”

Shadow did Shadow things, trying to walk with a missing front leg. He wobbled, even fell over a couple of times, but he insisted on walking on his own. The four of us searched through the house, finally coming into the bathing room, where an empty needle hung from the arm of a small pony, her body lying in the bathtub. I sighed, and then gave her a shook. Not a single sign of response.

“Rose, get in here, now!” The mare came running in and almost dove down on Candy, pounding down on her chest over and over with her hooves. Vogel followed in not a second later, followed by the wobbling Shadow. We all just watched as Rose pounded and pounding on her chest, trying to restart her heart.

I was the one that had to etch into her makeshift headstone.

There we stood, excluding Shadow, (he just had to watch through a window) the breeze blowing our loose clothing and hair around, snowfall leaving thin, white sheets over us. Two of us in a single week, at this rate we wouldn’t survive this dreaded wasteland. Here lies Candy, death of drug overdose. She just couldn’t deal with reality, and we all had to pay her ticket to the stars. Rose was a mess, nearly flooding out her mask. Vogel stood silent and tall, but we watched as his heart broke all over again. Candy lay next to Jacks in the ground, both at the base of the Elder Tree.

Two marked rocks with names, date of birth to death, and a carving of their cutie marks. I was beginning to feel that death was the only one who ruled these wretched lands, who was to say what was happening on the other side of our mountain walls. The night had crept upon us, and our memorial had ended.

All were nearly silent that night, the occasional grunt from Shadow and the clinking of a glass bottle from Vogel were the only things we heard. Not even the lanterns were even hissing as their fuel burnt. I picked up Rose and carried her to bed, lying quietly with her. We would split the rations and supplies another way in the morning, but for now.. Now we sleep, hoping for brighter days and peaceful nights.

“Yes, but will she actually make it through this, Doctor?” I watched as a nurse in her white clothing stood before a lab coat clad stallion, speaking to him about.. Something. “Of course she will, this newest technology is the best that the Ministry Heads have to offer, and that’s saying something. Well, the ‘top secret’ Crusader mainframes are a rather fun topic as well, not that any of us are supposed to know..”

They stepped closer to me, my eyes wandering downward to see where I was instead of staring into a doorway. There I was all over again, laying in a clean clinical bed. A light blue blanket was pulled over me, covering most of my body from the world.

“You see nurse, the secret to profit when it comes to running one of these Canterlot hospitals isn’t to treat the problem directly.. Of course in this case it was direct order by the Princesses. Now, we have her original heart..” He lifted a beating, red organ in his hoof. It pulsed out blood, covering his hoof and arm with the crimson substance. “.. but I feel like I could do so much more with it.”

I jumped out of bed when I watched him bite into it.

I opened my eyes slowly, gazing at the back of a golden mane. She slowly wiggled around, trying to get herself up and out of bed. My eyes closed once more before I stepped up with her, running my wings through my mane to keep it from looking too frazzled. None of us looked very well that morning.

Rose was almost an ill gray, Vogel was severely hungover, and Shadow was missing his front leg. Of course, I couldn’t have been any better. No words were exchanged for a few moments, Rose and I were sitting on the sofa next to Shadow, Vogel sitting on one of our dining room chairs. Vogel was the first to speak up, his throbbing head more than likely impairing his judgement.

“You know.. I was starting to divide up her rations and supplies, more than half of our original Med-X supply was buried in her things.” I ran to the restroom only to puke, wipe off my face, then come back once more. I looked, and probably smelt worse than before.

“Vogel, we don’t want to know those things. Just put them back in with our medical supplies..” I wanted to slap him across his beak into forty different cities. “..How many filters did she have left?” He gave me an almost sickened look, my priorities were in different places.

“Angel, she didn’t really use any of them up. There’s five, you can take them all. You go out more than any of us, and now with these.. What did you call them, Raiders or something? Shadow can’t fight them off, so Rose and I will stay here. Why don’t you look for something to do out there.. Or something..”

It was easier to take her filters and gear up, then leave the situation. A drunk griffin isn’t great for somepony that just wants to forget any of this had ever happened.

I chose to take a look into our old city hall, who knows what would be stored away there. It was directly above our town, a straight north shot to the building from the Elder Tree. On my way past the dying tree, I took a look down. Two graves, two headstones. I may as well just dig four more for the rest of us when the time comes. Up the snow covered streets I went, watching the disgustingly yellow haze kick up from the snow. Thank Luna I had more filters. I counted them out, a total of eight. This should keep me going for a while.

Our city hall building was crumbling into nothing, the lack of anything to catch some of the blast really showed. It sat atop a hill, the white painted building falling apart. All four of the front pillars were cracked and crumbly, chunks of the concrete piling up around the bases of each pillar. More of the sick paintings were covering what was left, the simple rectangle building with what was once a topping dome was now collapsed inward, crude plastic sheeting and boards were used to patch the gap.

I lowered myself down, keeping myself from being in any direct sightlines. Of course, with all of the windows boarded up, that wouldn’t be too much of an issue. Up the hill I went, dodging over bits of fallen concrete that had rolled from the inclined surface, leaving little obstacles in my way. I felt the tip of my boots hitting on the edges of some of them, the coating of snow obscuring their shape. As I reached the side of the building, I looked through some of the small cracks between boards in the windows to see if I could get in.

There was a single window that allowed me to see well enough to know that I wouldn’t run into trouble the moment I hopped through, so I used my wings to cut through the boards, and jump in.

“Hey! What the fuck was that!”

Looks like these assholes had ears. I looked around rather quickly, trying to find anything I could conceal myself with. To my left was a dust-covered desk, the perfect place for me to roll under and take my time to assess the situation. I hid in the shadows and filth, looking around at everything I could. Staircase up the middle that went to the second story, more pillars inside.. Floors that were obviously expensive that had things left on them.. Oh gross..

Light just barely showed itself, seeping through the small cracks between the boards and destroyed dome that left a pile of rubble in the middle of the room, of course the window I had just broken into had plenty of the sickly green light to flood the area. I watched as two stallions made their way over to the window, muttering to themselves with scarves around their muzzles while they used traces of magic to board the window back up. I could tell they were suspicious, but weren’t actively searching for me.

I simply muttered under my breath, “Oh come on..” as I saw the lack of my suppressor on the end of my rifle. I had taken it off with the bipod and scope back at home, now I had to improvise. No suppressor was stuck on my pistol either, and my combat knife must’ve fallen out somewhere. Then, I thought of my wings. I slowly crawled out from under the desk as they finished boarding up the mess, taking advantage of their obliviousness. Up I went, slowly coming to a standing position before jumping up and dashing forward, my wings fully expanded. They didn’t see it coming, and they weren’t going to see anything any longer as their heads rolled around.

Blood soaked the ends of my wings, some even splashing onto the lense of my gas mask, partially blocking my vision from my left eye. I turned and started to search the stallions, staying as quiet as I could at this point. Their coats were covered with shredded clothing, and their scarves were nothing more than cut bedsheets. I used the tips of my wings to pull the scarf from the neck-stump, and used it to clean off my lense. Instead of leaving it there, I tied it around the filter stem of my mask, right behind the filter.

My hood was becoming frayed in areas, the end of my cloak almost completely shredded off. Patches of my uniform were starting to wear thin, almost tearing in some places. I was looking horrible, almost as if I were a nightmare that young foals would have after watching a horror film. Just to further this image in hopes to frighten whomever else was in here, I dipped the tips of my wings in the growing pools of blood, and drug stripes across my mask.

Every shadow was my friend, allowing me to slip right up the stairs, my figure staying low and close to the banisters that were clearly bucked around as a game. As I reached the top, I heard another set of hooves clopping around in one of the offices to my left. There were only five doors, three before me, and two to my flanks. The good stuff would be in the main office, perhaps even the basement, but my primary goal now was to silence those hooves. I crept along the railing, glancing over each of the walnut doors to be certain there weren’t any cracks that would reveal my position.

I slowly opened the far left door, prepared for anything as I stepped inside. Only bookshelves were in this room, save a few stools and even bean bags to take a seat on. The filthy, ragged raider stared right at me, dropping his can of spray paint he was using to defile a painting of Celestia.

“N-No! Fuck fuck fuck I must’ve taken too much go away! Go away!”

Did he really think I was a monster? Beautiful, my little plan actually did work. His orange coat had stains of crimson and brown all over, his mane completely shaved off. I only stepped forward, one hoof at a time, watching as he fell to the ground, almost screaming in my presence. Back into a corner shelf he went, knocking over a few clean books onto the wooden flooring around him. The minimal light that came from the windows was reflecting from my lenses, the green glow consuming them entirely.

I stood tall in front of the balling pony, knowing that what I was about to do was in the name of mercy. The edge of my wing went forward, and slid across his throat. He just stared at me in disbelief, blood pouring from his neck and muzzle, the light from his eyes fading away into nothing. Only a few books in here interested me, enough so that I stuffed them into my bags. A very certain book caught my eye even more, almost like somepony had put neon lights on it (though I was certain he was dead). “The Pony Sutra.” Into my bags it went.

Now I was listening once more, hearing nothing for now. I was clear to explore for the time being, as long as I remained as silent as possible, of course if anypony was around, they would’ve heard the young stallion’s screams. The next door I entered was a secretary’s office, the old phone sitting on a simple steel desk. The walls were covered in propaganda posters, the most notable being a rather content pink mare staring into what felt my soul. “Always Watching!” For the love of Luna, please don’t.

I shut the door rather quickly, nothing in there could be interesting enough for me to sit and be stared at by that.. Thing. For now, I skipped over the center door, moving onward to the right side of the building now. The door went open, and inside was another desk, this one being much finer. Behind on the wall was two large flags, one being all of Equestria, the one beneath, the flag of Germaney. A shield with two ponies on either side, purple and black checkerboarding filling up the surface of the shield. More posters were in this room, but none were as frightening as the one I felt was staring back. Into the room I went.

I felt myself stepping over broken glass and legs of chairs that had been torn from their owner, nails sticking up from every large shard of wood. My hooves were being especially careful around the area now. Posters of heroic poses were around me in every direction, some showing off the armor of the Steel Rangers, others were presenting Rainbow Dash in a black armor, something that I was rather familiar with. The thing looked like it belonged on a beetle, not a pony. I stood behind the desk, going through the drawers. Inside I found plenty of dust, a few pencils, forms to enlist, and finally, a photo.

My wings lifted the dark frame, looking into the paper that held a memory. Here was a mare in officer’s fatigues standing next to her husband, and their child. I looked closely at the young stallion in the photo, his parents on either side of him. Orange coat, preference of a short mane. I dropped the frame and stepped out, closing the door as quickly as I could. What had to be done was done, and I was going to stick to that.

Finally I found myself at the right door, inside was a simple restroom, scratches all over the mirrors, and the smell.. I felt myself gagging. The door shut just as soon as I opened it, closing off the smell of something so strong that it could pierce through my filter- oh fuck. I quickly unscrewed the current canister, letting it drop to the ground before my wings reached into the black bag and pulled another from its pouch, breaking open the seal and screwing it in. No worries about dying to toxic air today, even if this place was pretty well sealed up.

My focus was on the center door now, almost certain that somepony was inside, I opened it and stood with my wings flared out. There sat a dirty mare, her sea blue coat marred with dirt and blood, traces of green paint all over her. She turned around in the chair behind the desk, and took a look at me. Her green mane was folded over her left eye, showing a single red eye that was sizing me up. A scarf was wrapped around her muzzle, hiding her face from my gaze. Her voice was almost as rough as her appearance.

“So.. You’re the one that’s been giving my guys trouble? Hmm.” I could tell she was thinking, her own set of wings unfolding in the chair. “You know, you left quite the impact on them. At the market, and now in here as well. It wasn’t easy, but we got the cameras working again. You’re quite the slippery one, and the lack of a heart.. Oh you’d be perfect to join up.”

She had me intrigued, but for all of the reasons she wouldn’t expect. I kept my mask on, but spoke loudly through it to keep my speech as clear as possible. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell me what exactly you’re doing here, and why you’re doing it, will you?”

She snickered, then shot me her response. “Well you see, it’s the end of the world and no pony has to care about anything anymore. So, we figured that we’d go and have some fun, break things, cover other things with art, no big deal. You see, that becomes a problem when you run out of food and water. Not sure if you’ve seen the river recently, but I don’t believe I’ll drink from it like that stupid maneless did.”

She was talking about Jacks. I felt hurt, but at the same time, I agreed with her. I let her continue on with her speech, my ears focusing for the sound of hoofsteps behind me. I didn’t hear anything, so she was actually being serious.

“When you need more food, you find it. When the food is in the hooves of other ponies, you have to think about a few things. Do you let them live, or do you value your own life more? You see, the world has changed so dearly. There isn’t a single reason to do good deeds, or to even care about the life of others. So, what will it b-” She was silenced rather quickly as my pistol barked.

I didn’t care to listen to her anymore, no matter how much I had agreed with her. Things were different now, and there wasn’t anything we could do about it. I slapped myself a few times, bringing myself back to Angel. Hello, how are you Miss Angel, please don’t do what these ponies did.

Into the room I walked, getting look at the bookshelf behind her corpse, blood and gray matter covering the spines of books that appeared to have been in mint condition. The desk had scratches and other damage on the surface, showing that it had seen plenty of use. The drawers were full of varying pills and tablets, some even full of syringes. Candy.. No, Angel, back to reality.

I slapped myself again, and dug around in the top drawer. There was a single golden key, exactly what I was looking for (or so I told myself.) I took a closer look at it, reading a small inscription dug into the ring of the key. “Vault.” There was a vault here? So that’s what must’ve been in the basement that I suspected was here completely, no thoughts otherwise.

Down the stairs I went, not bothering to shut the final door behind me. I looked under the primary staircase, seeing the steel security door standing in my way. In the key went, and the door swung open. I made the descent down the concrete tunnel, covering my eyes with my wings as I passed deep red lights. When I stopped climbing stairs, I stared at a massive vault door. It was unfortunate Stable-Tec didn’t come building over this way, or we’d all be spared this trouble. No such luck. Luck - 0

I looked around for a way to open it, I guess the red button behind a small cage was the place to start. It had a keyhole, one that fit the little golden key, then my hoof slammed the button. The door started to scream in my ears as the rusting metal was drug across a track that probably had never seen maintenance. Inside was a simple square room made of thick metal, shelves lining the area.

To my left was caches of food like I had eaten back before everything was bombed, pouches of dehydrated, vitamin enriched apple chunks, oatmeals, even wheat cakes. My bags were almost overflowing as I stuffed them full with the food, even grabbing a few cans of water marked as: “Emergency Water.” The rear wall only held filing cabinets on the shelving, whoever had to get papers done was a lifetime late. And finally, on my right, a wall full of weapons. I looked through the racks of rifles until one had caught my eye, something from times long before. I lifted the old bolt-action rifle from its place, rotating it around with my wings. It had a clean, bright wooden stock with no wear at all, the steel was still fully blued, even the markings were still crisp and clean. The bent-down bolt handle rested above a small recess in the stock, giving me plenty of room to mount a scope, should I choose to do so. The sling was a clean material, probably canvas from what I could gather. The crowning jewel was the bayonet stuck to the end, matching the rifle almost perfectly. I would never get use of the dagger on the end of the gun, but I didn’t care. I was taking this one.

I dropped my current rifle and all of its ammunition, simply letting it fall to the floor beneath, the dim fluorescent lights reflecting on the barrel. The label showed me the ammo type that was in stock, small box after box was stashed under the shelves, giving me more than enough to do whatever I could possibly need and more. From curiosity, I looked inside the small brown boxes, seeing steel strips attached to the bottoms of the rounds. This was for speed loading, something father had told me about.

Everything else hardly interested me, only the grenades had even taken a place in my belt among hundreds of weapons. To be sure nopony else would come across these, I tossed one of the steel balls inside. I don’t think I’ve ever ran my flank up stairs so quickly before.

It was clear that this place was being used as a hangout by these raiding savages, something I had to take care of. I went into the library, and started to pull books from the shelves. I tried my best to ignore the corpse of the orphan, but what had been done was done. Book after book was being piled up in the main office, coating the entire floor with hard covers. Next was fuel, something I had no issue with. My wings unscrewed the stem that came from the steel ball grenade, powder pouring out onto the books. Should this light up, the entire building would be a shell in moments. Looks like those wood furnishings and floorings were going to waste. I went right back to the window I had busted in, tearing the planks down once more. Before I climbed out, I took one of the grenades and gave it a good throw, watching it bounce off of a doorframe and into the main office. Out into the night I went, hearing the explosion behind me.

Rose nearly tackled me over after stepping in the doorway, my back closing the door as it hit against it. “Looks like somepony is happy to see me.” She looked at me rather puzzled, then pulled the mask from my face.

“What was that darling, I couldn’t hear you through your.. Is that blood? Is that blood on your wings too? Angel, what happened?”

I don’t think anypony had ever been so interested in one of my stories before. Rose, Shadow, and Vogel sat around, listening to every word, showing excitement, terror, even joy in their faces, even more so when I had shown them the rifle.

“Happy one month survival day, friends.” And with that, my story was over.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3: Collapsing Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 14 Minutes