We enjoyed our bottle of wine, laying out on our bed wearing our dirty pajamas. The room no longer filled with crimson light as it filtered through our curtains and veils, the carpet wasn’t clean and soft, and the windows were not giving us a clear view to the bustling city outside. Instead, we were given blackening boards, dust and toxic snow, and a world in which every drop of water could easily be your last. At least I still had a warm mare to hold on to.

I gently kissed the back of her ear while running my hoof through her mane, my eyes slowly opening to the world around me. She slowly rolled over, speaking in her grainy morning voice.

“Five more minutes, Angel, please.. Oh I don’t feel like getting up this morning.”

I couldn’t blame her, I know that I was going to stay home all day. There was no reason for me to go outside, not today anyway. Her lips pressed to mine, then she whispered to me.

“Happy birthday, Angel.” She rolled onto me and wrapped her hooves around me, allowing me to wrap my wings and own hooves around her.

“Twenty years old. It’s hard to imagine that some sharpshooting contest in my youth would get so much attention. I mean, I go and shoot a few soda bottles from a few hundred meters and everypony loses it!” I had to giggle and give my darling wife a nuzzle, admiring her shape.

“Well, it was with the built on sights, uhm. Steel sights, is what they’re called? Your eyes are amazing Angel, and your reflexes too. I wish I could move the way you do sometimes.”

I just rolled myself onto her now, smiling while pulling her into a kiss. Romance couldn’t be killed by the wasteland, and love would always blossom on. At least in this broken, filthy world, I still had the one I loved.

We spent a little more than an hour rolling around in the bed, tiring us out before even starting to day. Vogel was sitting in the main room, using our kitchen table to shape a pouch of the dried apple chunks into a cupcake. He added small amounts of water to it, keeping the use to a minimum while he made what I assumed was my birthday cake.

“Good morning Angel, I was going to knock on your door to bring this into you but some things give enough reason to avoid opening a door, if you know what I mean.” I couldn’t help but blush, knowing that he heard us. Rose also turned a little red in the face, but then started to giggle.

“That’s what married ponies do, Vogel.” Rose was right, we had every right to be able to love on each other, especially with how stressed I had been from the previous days. The ground still occasionally shook, and more dust went into the air. If the map on the console in the filtration room would prove to be accurate, it would continue to crumble entire the market was in the black pool as well. We were safe, and our graveyard would be as well. Sleep well, dear friends.

I listened to their playful song while strumming the cords on my guitar, softly smiling as they were set on celebrating my birthday. Vogel had given me another bottle of wine, and Rose, I had assumed, already gave me her gift. I took a bite from the cupcake made of our rations, and both of them cheered. We didn’t have a candle, but I still made a wish to myself. Hopefully, some day, it will come true.

We sat around our table with the fire burning, old books and throw rugs were fuel for the large fire, and even smaller shreds being used in a lantern. The sky was especially dark today, but we still felt like playing cards and just enjoying ourselves. What was wrong with taking a day to just relax? So, we played with cards while Vogel drank his whiskey, Rose and myself preferring the wine that had a smooth, clean flavor.

The day was rather quiet, the occasional splurge of signals through the radio and the sound of gunfire in the distance was pretty normal, so hearing screams really didn’t get our attention either. We were just trying to survive, and we were getting along. Vogel had fallen deeper into his habits, and Rose was still showing signs of grief for her friend, and brother. I had to be stronger for both of them, even if it did put massive stress on me.

Rose set her head on my shoulder while we played, I wasn’t certain if it was to comfort her, or if she was just trying to take a look at my cards. I nudged her with my hoof, making her giggle and lift her head up before batting her eyes at me.

“Oh you little cheat! How could you, on my birthday too!” I playfully started to poke and nudge her with my hoof even more, Vogel watching and grinning taking both of cards and reshuffling them. We both looked at him and then slowly went back into our seats, poking and tickling each other as we did.

“Yeah yeah well I mean you let me or uh something!” She was really happy today, of course, I couldn’t say I was too happy to be another year older, even if I was just twenty. Rose sat on me instead of staying her own chair, blocking my view from the table. I leaned my head around her, and wrapped my hooves around her.

“Okay Vogel, you versus us!” Rose grinned with me as I spoke up to him, watching as he ran his talons over the cards, mixing them all together with ease. Vogel started throwing cards our way, letting them slide across the dirty table to us, right over the blood stain of where I amputated Shadow’s leg. I looked down at the deep red spot among the dark wood, sighing before letting Rose lift the cards with a telekinetic spell.

I looked up at her, and the expression she gave me was one of almost the utmost carelessness, even when the cards slid over the blood stain left from her brother. It just didn’t feel right, he had only been gone a couple of days and she was already completely over it? I know that today was special, but something wasn’t right. Then, I saw the little prick in her arm.

“Rose. You.. You didn’t.” She exhaled, and Vogel went from grinning to gazing at me, then he saw the little red dot against her white fur. I lifted her up from me, then sat her back into the chair beside my own. Up I went, going to the door to put on my uniform and other items.

“I’m going out. I don’t know where or why, but I am. Don’t bother coming after me. I’ll be back when I feel like it.”

Vogel lifted his talons, almost as if he were about to say something to stop me. It quickly lowered, and he stared down at his cards. First was my uniform, then boots, armor, bags and packs, finally my cloak and rifle. I stuck the mask to my face, then slid the hood over my mane. Out the door I went, into the freezing wasteland outside. My emotions were fried, and I wasn’t going to go through everything to get her clean just if she would do that again.

I heard the door open behind me as I had some distance, so I went faster and faster until I hid in an old home, the walls crumbling and cracking, glass shattered across the decaying furniture inside. Picture frames lined a stone mantle above their fireplace, showing happy moments of a family standing beside each other, all having smiles plastered over their faces. The steam coming from the end of my mask fogged up the cracked glass, hiding the image from the world. It only felt right to set it face-down, hiding their eyes from what the world had become.

Rose started to call out to me, the mask on her face muffling her words. I love that mare with everything that I am, but this had set me over the edge. After all of the effort, time, even the supplies I went through just to get Candy and Rose clean, or.. So I thought. If Rose kept it up, she’d end up right next to Candy in the frozen soil, right at the base of our Elder Tree. Just the thought put me on the rough wooden floor, my head lowering down. I needed time to think about what I was going to do, every word would make the difference. I stood again, and went deeper into the home.

The kitchen had white tiles (or what was left of them) littering the floor and cracking countertops, the fragments cracking like glass under my boots. The thought of it didn’t phase me anymore, any sign of weakness would be exploited by this wasteland faster than a filly by a raider. I ducked my head under the swung-open cabinets, each wooden box completely emptied out and filled up with dust and waste. This place was already looted, much as many of the other homes around here would have been. I could assume that my team simply went through our supply of food while I was out for those three weeks, or that they found a way to get out here. The latter seemed impossible.

Up the rotting wooden steps I went, minding my step as the roof above had given way, and let the snow fall onto the steps. Each drop of my boots lead to a creak, then a crack, and I went up those steps faster than I ever expected I could. Here I was in a short hallway, a door on either side of me with a shattered window before me. The left door was missing pieces of its wooden construction, giving me a peek inside. I opened the door, and surveyed the room.

It held a small, foal-sized dresser that had been painted over by a little one, butterflies and flowers covering it entirely, the white paint beneath chipping and cracking away. A smaller chair made of cleaned tree branches sat in the corner, across from the bed that was the final resting place of a foal, presumably a filly. Her skeleton lay out on the blankets, just as though she was sleeping when her life ended far too early. Rest in peace, darling.

I turned and closed the door slowly, taking a breath and a moment before opening the other door. In the very middle was a large bed, two dressers on either side of the bed. Their bedframe was clearly carved by hoof, made of similar tree limbs that had scenes of wilderness carefully cut into it. Somepony put some real time into this, but there was only one pony that could actually do that around here.. I was in the home of Maple Heart, a mare that had done fine wood working around here. Her skeleton was laid out on its side, a larger skeleton holding her from behind. The wastes didn’t care if you had a family, or if you were in love. It only took from you, ripping out every single bit of your soul and twisting it around, then throwing it back in.

The door shut slowly, and back down the stairs I went. I took a deeper breath, and started to walk down the street once more. Every breath blew out an opaque mist, the cloth I wrapped around the stem of my mask catching it to keep anything from freezing over. I didn’t know where I was going, or how I would get there, but I was walking.

If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.

The snow was packed down, crunching under my steps. I didn’t care to brush my prints away, as the falling flakes would cover my path within minutes it seemed. It wasn’t coming down quickly or in mass, but a steady falling that would keep everything from becoming too covered. I looked up to the sky, and almost jumped as I watched a small hole open up, and down came a pegasus. He was screaming as he fell, his wings just barely opening in time to stop him from turning into a fine, red paste in the snow.

Without thought, I ran to the landing sight. He had fallen right into a bank of snow that piled up on top of the roof of our clinic, the one that I had recently looted to gather supplies to save.. Rose.. dammit. I jumped off of the ground, letting my wings spring out to carry me silently to the site. I hadn’t a clue if this pegasus would try to kill me, or if he would simply run. I had to do what I did best, and that was hide until I wanted to be seen.

He was groaning and grunting in pain, each sound echoing softly from the steel roof. I neared and gently set myself down, lowering closer to the snow beside the building.

“Are you okay up there? I’m a pegasus like you, what happened?” He was silent for a moment, then I could hear shuffling. Finally two metallic clicks, what sounded like weapons.

“You’re a Dashite, like me? How long have you been down in this.. This fucking filth!”

Dashite? I had no clue what this word meant, possibly something that was only done up above the clouds, or..

“Dashite? I do not know this word, and I have been down here one month, and a couple of weeks. I was stuck down here with my team when the Balefire hit just over that mountain range, we’ve been surviving down here.. Or at least trying to.”

His head poked over the side of the roof, two revolvers held up by his feathers. I looked back up at him, my rifle trained right at his head in return. Then, I could hear him coughing, choking, even wheezing. The air was starting to get to him.

“Come with me, we must get you indoors! The air down here is toxic, and the snow holds all of it down!” He didn’t pause another moment, as he jumped right down beside me. I galloped beside him, taking the fastest route back home. He was struggling just to breath, his snout even starting to bleed. I moved over to him, and took one of the folded cloths I had in my pack. My wings wrapped it around his snout, both to catch the blood and to filter the air the best I could.

In the front door we went, Vogel training his shotgun at the stallion’s head, and Rose looking at me with a saddened gaze. The red stallion started to take off the cloth from his snout. He shook out his black and white mane, then coughed as he smelt everything around him. I could see water forming in his emerald eyes.

“Sweet Celestia what is that smell! Oh dear princesses..” He reached down into his black back and started to search around in it, grabbing his black, wide brimmed hat. On it went, his hoof brushing the snow off and adjusting the dark brown belt that held a few smaller bullets against the black hat. I could tell he was gagging, either from the air outside or the smell from everything inside.

“It’s called the lack of clean water to bathe, and that’s the smell of blood, vomit, death and radiation. You’ll get real used to it really quick. We’ve already lost three, they’re buried out by the Elder Tree. Anyway, what’s a Dashite?”

He turned and showed his flank, a cutie mark of a cloud with a lightning bolt branded into his coat. “It’s because I decided I wanted to help some ponies held up down here, I think it was right in this area too.. I was part of a small group that left a bundle of crates and supplies because we heard some old military unit was down here-” He stopped and looked around, then out of the window.

“It was here. With you, we left the crates. We weren’t supposed to, and somepony higher up heard about it. That’s why I’m down here, right now.. Was it.. Was it worth it? Everything I did, everything that happened to me, did I make the right choice in doing this?”

I stepped forward, taking off my mask and lowering my hood, stretching out my wings. “Without those supplies, we’d all be dead. All six of us would be dead instead of just three. I’ve spent time exploring things, and.. Rose.” Now my focus was on her, Vogel coming over and speaking with the stallion that I had just saved.

“Rose, my dear. I’m sorry for acting the way I did. I need to support you, and help keep things steady. If you did this to be sure you were happy for my birthday, then I can understand.. But dear, just being with you, even in this fucked up world, that’s enough for me to be happy.”

Her eyes welled up, and my hooves wrapped around her. I lifted her up from the ground, and sat on the sofa with her.

“Guest, what is your name? I have a feeling you’ll be down here awhile.” He looked over my way with Vogel, the griffin sitting back at the table to shuffle up some cards.

“My name is Star. You can call me Star, and nothing else but Star. I’m a gunslinger from up top as you can tell. Once somepony up top heard about what I did, they killed my friends in front of me and branded me, then threw me down here. Down into this.. Hole.”

Rose started to speak up, her coat pressed against my own. “It’s not the cleanest, and you may not even know if you’ll eat or drink anything that day, but it isn’t that bad. Of course, when your wife provides for you, things can be pretty nice.”

He looked over at us, taking a closer look. It was like he was surprised to hear the word “Wife.” His head shook, then he took a seat at the table by Vogel. “Okay, so you two are married? Huh, that’s pretty sweet. One question, where is your restroom? I think this smell is about to get to me.” Rose pointed, and he ran.

I gave Rose a soft kiss and gazed into her eyes, holding onto her hooves. “We’ll get you feeling better, dear. I promise, I will do everything I can. There’s a hospital, it’s a three day walk from here. Perhaps Star could fly us there, and I can find the potent drugs to clean Rose up for good this time. Of course, I would need to pass it by Star when he wasn’t vomiting from the smell of this world below.

He wobbled out a few minutes later, wiping his lip. I could tell he had lost the one meal that was made somewhere clean, or at least I thought. He sat on the floor near the wall, panting softly after gagging once more.

“How do you.. How do you get used to this smell..?” He was going to have a lot of time to adjust to everything, the smell and blood, the death and filth, all of it came rather quickly and was numbed out just as fast. I knew he would either become like us and not care as much, or stay too sensitive and end up hanging upside down.

“Easy, you live in it for a while. That’s all it takes, once you step through enough blood and smell things that are basically like death but filled with radiation and disease, then you’ll stop noticing the smell. Just takes a few weeks.”

That wasn’t the response he wanted, but he gave a slow nod. Welcome to the wasteland, the place that would test every single morale and belief you had, but then go and shatter them in a single, swift move. I never expected to be slaughtering orphans or ponies so high on whatever they could, but I had to. That’s what all of this was, necessity. At least, that’s what I told myself.

Star didn’t sleep well at all, groans coming from he as he opened his eyes. He had taken the sofa, Vogel on his own cot. There was something different about Star’s groans though, they sounded.. Lighter, even for being heard through my door. I had to go and check it out, perhaps the toxic air had a quality to it that we were unaware of. After slowly getting out of bed and giving Rose an affectionate tap, I opened the door to the main room just past our door. Needless to say, I was speechless.

“Star? Star what in the holy.. Sweet Celestia what happened to you?” The red mare looked up at me, scratching her mane before sighing, and giving a rather interesting response.

“Oh well you see, one of the unicorns they actually had up there, they ordered her to cast a spell on me, of course I didn’t actually believe it would work. Something that would change my gender every day. Well, look at me. I sound so.. Gah, I sound so weird.”

She did sound way differently, the deeper voice of a stallion going to that of a smaller mare, and her form fit that rather closely.

“So.. It was some kind of spell that actually worked, and now you’re stuck in this strange cycle? Okay.. I think I understand it? Vogel is going to flip, and Rose is probably going to want to inspect you just to see how this works. Speaking of Vogel and Rose..”

The griffin was staring at us, wiping his eyes a few times before looking at the bottle of liquor next to him. He sat up on his cot, and shook his head, making sure that he wasn’t dreaming. Next was Rose, her eyes going extremely wide before she came galloping over.

“Oh my gosh! This is so interesting, how did that even happen? Is this for real, no jokes here? I need to see if your vital signs are different from normal, and and and-” I cut her off and giggled, poking her side.

“My darling, you should be resting. As interesting and just.. Strange, strange is the word I’m looking for. Anyway, we need to find some medicine for you, dear. Once we get you cleaned up again you can take a look at Star, okay? Rest, dear.”

Vogel just kept staring, not even sure how to react other than just laying back down. I wasn’t sure if he was just thinking that he was still in a dream, or that the best way to deal with this was sleep, but I doubt that would fix anything. My eyes went down to Star, and I spoke once more.

“Gear up, you’ll need some food and water, survival items. Cover almost every single part of your body, your hooves and legs are the most important to keep the snow off of you, and then something to keep it from falling on you. Next will be a mask, you can’t breathe out there without one. You probably know that.”

She gave me a nod, but a confused one at that. I pointed at each of the box piles, explaining where to find what. Off she went, digging through the boxes and crates. Out came one of the uniforms, then a few bags and boxes, supplies that were stuffed into pouches, then worn. My eyes went back to Rose, and my hooves draping around her.

“Don’t touch that stuff anymore, Rose. I don’t even know if we will find what we’re looking for, or if there’s enough. We may need to do it the way I’ve done it before.. That isn’t something I wish to do again.” She shut her eyes and gave a quiet sigh, then a single kiss was shared between us.

“Ready to go, Star? We’ll have to make it there, camp out for the night, and return in the morning. I hope you can handle it.”

She gave me a slow nod, then started to check over each pouch. I did the same, counting off my filters and cans of water, then my pouches of food. I wasn’t the most organized pony, but I knew what I needed and where it was.. Most of the time. One went our masks, the red coat of the changing pegasus mare contrasted heavily on the dark uniform, so I grabbed some of my stockpiled cloth and wrapped it around her. A scarf to keep her neck warm, and to keep us from being seen. Out the door we went, and then into the sky we flew.

Star had to carry me up, then let go for my wings to catch enough air to keep me up in the sky. They were just too heavy for me to actually fly with, but a little gliding was simple enough. I could see the ground below from here, and just how horrible it was. The snow coated everything, save the massive black pools that were consuming a portion of the city, melting away the snow around the edges of the sludge. Green fog covered everything, and gave me the realization of just how little hope everything had. There was no saving this.

Off in the distance we could see the towering buildings of Stadt, a rather boringly (and simply) named city. Skyscrapers and highrises dominated the skyline, even when some of the buildings had collapsed and fallen over completely. They were less fortunate than us, the mountain face pointing more in their direction than ours, and the hills around us had blocked most of the explosion and shockwave. Just the sight was sickening, dust still in the air in the area, and the snow.. It looked like somepony dropped ice cubes filled with steel onto the ground. We were flying right towards this.

Star lowered herself down a bit, flying right beside me, her black and white mane flowing in the wind. We knew that if we said anything, it wouldn’t be heard, not even slightly. Instead, we just pointed off into the distance, right at the tall building with a butterfly symbol plastered right on the top of it. There was our target, the hospital standing beside crumbling walls of glass, and fallen, twisted steel. Stadt may as well have just been hit by the bomb itself, because it looked worse than Germaney. Time to play.

Everything was already becoming darker, the cloud-filtered sky not offering even a slight sliver of light during the nighttime, we had to get into the hospital, and soon. As we neared, we could see just how damage was caused to the housing on the edges of the smaller city. Brick buildings stood stories above the white streets, their edges crumbling apart, windows shattered completely. The steel balconies had either melted from the extreme heatwave, or shattered and cracked from the immediate freezing afterward.

Around the homes we flew, traveling right above the covered streets and fallen posts, fallen piles of concrete and steel that had made up the sides of buildings. Everything here was far more desolate and dead, not to mention it was crawling with the glowing, ghoulish creatures. Star just looked down at them, and puked. Even if I was one of those glowing things, I wouldn’t want to be rained on.

The crawled through the streets, lining the collapsed buildings and crumbling skyscrapers, making a modern city look more like some kind of artistic film on something like sexually transmitted diseases. Luna help me, what am I thinking? What am I even doing? Then I started to see little dark figures on the edges of my vision, sending my head in every direction just to avoid seeing them. I think I was starting to lose it. Star had started to watch me, but I didn’t even notice. I was trying to escape the figures.

Once they had stopped, I had another look around at my surroundings. More shattered glass and crumbling concrete, lines of the ghouls and rebar, it looked like a demolition site for old buildings. Then, there stood the hospital, tall and grand. The windows were broken up or caked in enough grime to be considered non-existent, others being boarded over completely. Looks like somepony was inside, hopefully somepony that wouldn’t want to kill us. Time to teach Star how to be stealthy.

The metal frames that once held glass were chained together, but the gaps in the glass allowed us right into the front lobby. A large, round wooden desk sat right at the middle with pillars on either side, a butterfly right in the middle of it all. To my left, the cafeteria that was filled up with broken furniture and plastic trays, empty boxes and wrappers lining the tile floor. No food here. To my right, the stairs that lead down into the basement, probably were the morgue was. No reason to go through an old steel door to look at some rotting corpses and bones! There was enough of those above ground..

Finally, forward. A glass chandelier feature was right in the middle of the disgustingly filthy carpet, shattered glass and empty bottles lined the floor, more chairs and stools were just broken down and left there for later. Looks like we were dealing with more raiders, nopony else would just destroy these things and leave them. I looked ahead once more, Star standing with revolvers at the ready, something I had to instruct her to keep low, and stay low. Two staircases were on either side of a middle door, the glass broken out and a pornographic image in its place. At least it was hot.

I could hear the voices behind it, and down I went. The flooring didn’t exactly feel nice, even against my durable uniform and armor. Star followed my lead, but was clearly awkward with movement of this degree. I just waved for her to wait where she was, and to fire if I needed a hoof. I silently crawled across the floor, being careful not to break glass under my boots, or to knock around any rubble that would give me away. I neared the door, and looked through a small crease in the bottom of the poster.

Inside was a stallion, blood across his face and a few layers of hospital masks on his face. My eyes scanned the room, but only found filing cabinets and a dirty old desk, then a.. Oh what was she doing to him! Down my head went, my face completely red underneath my gas mask, at least no pony could see it. The blood across his face was enough reason for me to act, and to take them out. The door slowly opened, and in I went. One clean sweep with my wing was enough to get the job done, leaving four pieces of two bodies behind, and one hell of a bloody mess.

I shut the door behind me as there was something showing that nopony needed to see, especially Star. She looked my way, and simply nodded as she saw the blood dripping from my steel wings. Any one of those raiders should be killed on sight, no matter what the circumstance may be; that’s the way I saw things.

We slowly made our way up the stairs to the second floor, scanning the halls and walkways for any sign of movement. All we got were broken windows and shattered lights, save the occasional broken down chair or coffee table. Star was looking around at the smaller things, such as how many broken chairs and tables there were; I was too busy searching for any sign of direction. On the cracked wall was a directory, showing direction for three locations. O/B, Emergency, and Storage.

O/B and storage were down the same direction, and I couldn’t find any other way to pass right through O/B and make it to storage. I wasn’t looking forward to this. My hoof waved to Star, and forward we went, passing through two large wooden doors that had been covered in graffiti, then into the dark and dirty halls. The once white tiles were now gray, every wall seeming to be cracked or damaged from the rapid heating and cooling the explosion had, followed by the snow. Old paintings and photographs were lining the floor, some even stacked up in front of the dark wooden doors. Here we go.

Many of the doors were shut completely, blocked off or boarded up for whatever reason, possibly having some patients that went ghoul. There just wasn’t any sign of certainty as to if anypony else was here, but those two downstairs couldn’t have gotten this much done, then had time to paint up some pictures of things that I didn’t really want to see. If there were more here, where were they? Star carefully followed behind me, her eyes going wherever my mask started to point, scanning the same doors and broken lights above us. Then, we passed the nursery.

A large, cracked glass window filled up a large space, enough to take up two of the exam rooms, the entirety of it covered in dust and grime. The door wasn’t boarded, but I didn’t need to open it. I could see through the glass, and I could see every single one of those small hospital cribs that had a wrapped set of bones resting inside, the young that were born just as the world fell apart. Two larger piles of bones rested inside, torn nursing uniforms covering them, but not enough to hide the small, wrapped up remains of foals in their arms. Star just stopped and stared, her masked face hiding her emotions. I didn’t dare to stay here and look at the Ministry of Peace’s posters inside, or the young that had passed before they could even enjoy a moment of their lives. I had to go.

I found myself inside one of the exam rooms to catch my breath and clear my mind, the recent sight more scarring than anything I have previously seen. Down on the bed I sat, taking a look around the room. The bed itself was somewhat comfortable, but I wasn’t a pregnant mare or one whom had just birthed so I wouldn’t know. Beside the rather plain bed on wheels was a small rolling stool with a foam top, something that I would probably sit on and roll around with if things were different. Next, the television up on the wall that had been broken out, and the lights above that no longer worked.. Not to mention more pink ponies staring into my very soul by the means of a poster.

Star came in and looked at me, and up I went. I wasn’t about to show weakness, especially in a place where there could still be some of the undesirables just down the hallway. We started to make our way down the rest of the hallway, avoiding piles of bones and shattered glass, more of trying to avoid making noise rather than being respectful or worrying about bleeding hooves. The shadows danced on the walls before us, the intersection of the hallway that went down into storage. Time to fight.

I rolled back into the room of which I sat for a moment, Star following closely behind me. We gazed out into the hallway, watching closely for any confirmed sign of danger, and it came to us rather quickly. A group of raiders were making their way to us, talking amongst themselves through their scarves and multi-layered hospital masks. All of them sounded disgusting, especially the two mares that were outnumbered by three stallions in the group.

“Boss wants us to get that thing open, but there’s no fucking keys. I don’t suppose you have a grenade on you or something?”

“Nah, I ain’t got no grenades. I’ll I’ve got is some shells for one of those shotguns.”

“You fucking idiot! We can just shoot the thing open you.. Uuggh! Why did we decide to bring him along? Celestia and Luna come on!”

They certainly didn’t sound very happy with each other. This was the perfect time to attack in my eyes, they’re distracted and oblivious to their surroundings. I gave a hoof signal to Star, and we began our attack. Star rolled out with her revolvers held up in her feathers, and I leaned out from the doorway with my rifle. Together we fired into the crowd, watching them fall over and scream, gurgle and groan as holes filled them, their blood seeping through their torn clothing. The crimson substance splattered on the walls, and pooled around the fresh corpses. We worked pretty well together!

Together we made our way over the pile of corpses and to the hallway intersection, coming across another set of signs. Emergency and elevators were to our left, and storage was to our right. Right we went, stepping over empty bottles and boxes that once held food and drink, then down the hall. This hallway seemed more like it was for the doctors and nurses here, and little signs on the door read: “Resident Resting Quarters.” We could stay there for the night, so we took a look inside the rooms.

Steel framed bunk beds on both sides of the room, with a couple of small chairs and tables in the middle. Posters for the MInistry of Peace were everywhere, but we didn’t care as this would make the perfect place to rest. We took note, then went down the hallway, and to the stairwell that went down.

Steel railings and dark, damp walls made this area feel completely alien from the rest of the hospital, sure the entire hospital was dark and gray, but this felt different. Caged lights stuck to the walls, only one in three actually seeming to flicker and produce some degree of light; it was just enough to keep us from tripping and falling on our flanks. I had taken point once more, and I scouted ahead past the base of the stairs. There were only a few rooms down here, some seeming to be dark wood, while a single one was heavy steel. Looks like the morgue had a second entrance.

I simply stuck my hoof around the corner to signal out, and I could hear the light patter of hooves coming up behind me. Around the little markings I looked again and I had seen the most beautiful sight the wasteland had given me yet. Medical supply storage was right in front of us, and I wasted no time to jump right in. Of course, when I saw the three raiders standing in front of me with pistols pointed at me head, I had to think. One mare, two stallions, very little to no armor, looks like they’re starved.. Easy kills.

They all started to fire at me, bullets hitting and ricocheting off of the armor set I had previously found, save one or two that had hit my front legs. I could hear the clicks of empty pistols, and then the rolling of heads on the floor.

“Star, be a sweetheart and grab a few supplies for me. I’m bleeding.”

She jumped in from behind me, missing the fight completely. I could see that she was shocked, but followed my orders closely. In front of me sat forceps, disinfectant, a suture kit, and then thick, heavy bandages to wrap it all up with. This armor saved my life, but there were certainly weak points in some of the weaving. I’d have to change that.

“Okay Star, now I need you to follow my orders. I need you to get some gloves and cover your hooves in disinfectant, before and after putting the gloves on. From there you’ll pull the bullets out, and suture the wounds shut. Wrap them up to the best of your ability, and we’ll just have to see if infection takes me. I’ll guide you through every step, Rose has taught me enough about medicine to consider myself a low-level practitioner.

She removed her boots and soaked them in the cleaning solution, then slid gloves on only to do the same with them. Her red wings started to move around, a little less than perfectly swift but I didn’t care. It stung, and I wasn’t going to stick myself with any Med-X. I watched closely as the forceps dug into my flesh, sending me jumping as the little chunks of lead were pulled out. Blood followed behind, and now every second mattered.

Disinfectant was splashed over my entire leg, the sanitizer mixing with my blood to make for a messy experience on my uniform. I guess those repairing kits for it would be nice, and maybe I could use enough to make this weave somewhat useful. My thoughts quickly went back to the pain as a needle stuck into my flesh, pulling behind heavy thread to close the wounds shut. Each pull of the needle and thread sent shivers through me, and I could feel my teeth biting down on my lip.

The heavy bandages finally came and wrapped up around my leg, covering up the two stitched wounds. I took a deep breath, and Star helped me back up to a standing position. Every step stung and burned, but I still had business here. I looked around at each of the small labels on the boxes and crates lining the steel shelves, until one finally stuck out to me. Addiction removal medications, right here! The box flung open as I greedily dug inside, only to find a single syringe sitting inside.

“Is this it? No no no, one dose! Oh come on!” Star jumped back at my sudden yelling, but then came back after I had looked away, and her gaze focused on the box as well.

“Angel, we can make this work. I recognize this, it’s rather powerful in usage. The Grand Pegasus Enclave had to use this stuff on a few ponies who had addictions before they could really settle in up above, more for security if anything I suppose.”

Star had been here for about two days now, and was actually coming right in to help. Sure she or he, or both, may have had to deal with a few firefights and a near asphyxiation from the toxic air, then had to mend my wounds.. That’s a lot to take in on top of being cast from home. I admired this pony.

“You really think so? I mean.. If it does, then I’m going to officially welcome you into our little group. We need numbers, and you can follow leadership well enough. If we get back and this works, I’ll be sure the others know.”

I could tell she was smiling, even under the mask. These gas masks were great for breathing and survival, but speaking and showing any form of emotion by expression were left behind. Not a bad trade, if you ask me. We started to loot the other boxes for supplies we could see use for, such as more cloth bandages and disinfectant bottles, even a box of gloves. Not a bad haul, but we had to get some rest and get out of here early.

We found ourselves resting on the bunks, my bags and pouches sitting above me as I lay on the bottom, a fresh filter in my mask, and a fully loaded rifle beside me. Star was following my example and sleeping the same way, we were pretty comfortable here. The other sets of bunks were pushed up against the door in case any undesirables decided to come by, this made us sleep even better that night.

When I awoke, I had watched the stallion in a new uniform, the other tossed out on the top bunk.

“You brought an extra one just for that, pretty smart of you there.” He just gave a nod, and I sat up. I started to search through my items, finally pulling out one of the uniform repair kits. I stuck the dark patches in the torn holes over my leg, sealing the bandages from the outside air we were going to soon encounter. Next was my bags, cloak, then rifle. We were both ready to start pulling the bunks aside, and out the door we went. Both of us were full of surprise as we saw the group of raiders coming down the hall. Time to play once more.

Star stuck his pistols out and started to fire them rapidly, his feathers pulling back the hammer after each pull, only adding to the flare of his gunslinging style. The hat added to that as well, but I feel like he could step right out of an old western movie. When his weapons stopped firing, it was my turn. I took a lower angle, shooting upward into their skulls as they came galloping to the room with shovels and IV poles, anything they could fit in their mouths and use as weapons.

It felt like they had just kept coming, their group needing to have been at least fifteen large. Pony after pony fell to our fire, sending blood and makeshift weaponry sliding across the tile floors before us. They didn’t even offer a challenge, even for raiders. Pathetic, despicable creatures. Star and I left the room, stepping through the blood and over piles of corpses, going back the way we came to to the front lobby. Of course, we stopped rather quickly as a group of heavily armored ponies started to walk inside. Great, more Rangers.

I pushed Star back down the hallway rather quickly, as my cloak had jammers to counter their E.F.S. and nothing of his did. Three of them stepped inside, two armed with light machine guns, the third with something that I wanted. A semi-automatic rifle with an adjustable scope on top, mounted up to avoid blocking the built on sights. Adjustable stock and bipod, even a suppressor on the muzzle and magazines fed into the rifle and held by a bandolier. I wanted that.

I waved back at Star, and then took aim. My first target was originally the armored pony with the rifle, but I found it more beneficial to take down the other two first, as a bullet storm would keep anypony pinned down. They were scanning the area with their headlamps lighting the railing and stairways up, giving me the perfect time to strike. I took a breath, and everything seemed to slow as I took aim. My first round went flying, striking the first right through the eye, the bullet bouncing around inside of their skull. My second had similar results, flying right through another eyepiece and causing an instant death. The third fell behind cover, and took aim.

Bullet after bullet started to fly in my direction, tearing apart the walls around me, the silent sound of it only drawing me to it. I wanted that damn rifle! I counted each bullet that was meant for me, sizing up the magazine size. Twenty holes shredded up the walls, and then I could hear the quiet clicking of another being put in. Not a moment too soon my head was peering around the corner, and I could just see her freeze up. A single bullet came from me, and shattered her eyepiece. Looks like all of the time I had spent shooting really did add up to extremely accurate fire, of course, being training didn’t hurt either. I waved to Star once more, and started to run down the steps like a filly on their birthday, even if mine was two days ago.

The weapon was even more beautiful up close, specialized grips for better control, railing on almost everything, which wasn’t my favorite, but I could make it work with lights. I lifted it up, and started to feel it in my hooves and against my shoulder. The dark steel didn’t give a single shimmer in the light, perfect for me. I pulled on the stock until it felt just right, and then I lifted my wings to prepare myself to fire it. Everything felt perfect, even the scope was just the right height for me.

“Angel, when you’re done having a maregasm over that thing, let’s get out of here, yeah?” I wanted to slap him so hard, but he did have a point. I lifted up the ammo bandolier, then slung this rifle over my back with the other.. Then I slapped him. The mask took most of the blow, but my point was made. We gave a final look around, looking at the mess I had made of the Steel Rangers with no effort at all, then he lifted me into the air.

The glide back home was easy, save the occasional ghoul down below that would shriek at us as we flew above. I would’ve stayed and searched through everything, but supplies were short and I was hit. There was no way I could take any more abuse and still walk around like it was nothing, sure I may be extremely good at staying out of sight and hitting my target, but taking a bullet was never something I handled as well. Everypony had their downfall, mine just happened to be taking a few hits.

I stumbled into the house, taking my mask off in a clean pull and taking a breath as Star came in and shut the door behind me, Rose nearly jumping on me, and Vogel raising up his bottle. All of my breath was knocked out of me as she tackled me down, leaving me scrambling to take a breath.

“R-Rose calm down.. Ugh!” I gasped for air and shivered, slowly and carefully taking my things off and setting them aside once I had stood back up, then sat down on the sofa that was starting to tear in the upholstery. “I need you to take a look at something before you give this injection..”

I still found myself trying to catch some air as I rolled up my uniform, showing the bandage that was soaked in blood. Rose gasped and pulled away the wrapping, then looked at the rough suture job. “Angel! My Luna what happened to you?”

“Well, as you can see, I got shot a couple of times. There’s one here, oh and here too!” I was exhausted from the trip and just having two craters punched into my leg, that didn’t feel very good either. We only really had one time to actually eat during the whole time, and that just added to it all. Rose gave me an awkward look, but then simply gave me a soft smile.

“Okay Angel, I’ll need to redo these sutures and wrapping, it will sting.” Star cut in, and showed Rose to the small stash of medical supplies we had scavenged. Once again, my fur was coated in disinfectant. Vogel came over and passed me his bottle, and I drank enough for him to go and pop open another bottle. Whiskey only numbed me so much.

Rose started with cleaning herself up, then her horn began to glow as it pulled out the suturing. I jumped with each pull, then I could feel talons and hooves holding me down as she worked. This was extremely uncomfortable for me, and I was going to show it. I watched as the blood started to flow out of the holes, coating my fur in my own crimson life. It felt like something was pressing down on my chest, even after I had caught my breath.

“Hey Rose, don’t be alarmed or anything but it looks like she’s going white in the face, might wanna hurry.” I couldn’t hear what Vogel had just said, everything felt like it was slowed down and sped up over and over. How could two little bullet wounds actually have caused this much bleeding? My head was slowly tilting side to side as everything became blurry, and then Star held up the bandage that was once wrapped up. It was completely crimson. Everything faded out into nothingness, and I could feel myself standing on a void of complete darkness.

“Angel? Oh please don’t tell me that you’ve gone and gotten yourself killed already.” I turned and jumped, two large alicorns standing there. White and blue, flowing manes. The Princesses were here to give me another visit. They almost looked disappointed in me, yet had understanding in their gazes. Luna stepped forward and took the stage in the nothingness, then she began to guide me through the darkness.

“Angel, when we had Twilight put that heart into you, we knew that you would be beat up once or twice afterward. The regenerator built in was made for more than just keeping your body from rejecting it, but it was made to help heal wounds. Of course, it’s a very slow and dull process, but it does take some time to do it. Honestly, I wouldn’t rely on it. You should keep in mind, however, that it will fight away infections.”

I could see some beams of light starting to break through the void, filling everything with a dull light. “So.. so this will help me fight away infection? Looks like I can keep my leg.. er.. “ I felt horrible for saying that, especially considering we had to bury Shadow. Then, I could see him stepping from the darkness. There was Jacks and Candy too! I felt myself jumping up, all of their smiles focused on me, but Luna had put her hoof on my chest.

“You can’t stay here, Angel. You need to pass back into the world of the living. All of us will be here when you arrive, darling. You just need to hold on for us, and paint the world with something that will keep the wrong-doers from doing it again. You must protect those who find themselves stuck out in the wasteland and not down in the Stables.”

I could feel my heart shatter as I knew that I wasn’t going to be staying here with my friends, but Rose and Vogel were probably flipping out, same with Star.. that curious pony. Luna gave me a nod and stepped back, then I could see their horns glowing. Jacks, Candy, and Shadow all waved and smiled, cheering out their goodbyes as the darkness turned into light, and I could feel myself gasping out for air.

“Ack.. my head.. And my leg..” All of the voices in front of me went silent, and then they started to cheer. Rose wiped off her forehead and let out a deep exhale, gazing up at me.

“Dammit Angel you almost left us entirely.. Again. You need to hold onto life a bit better, yeah?” I wrapped my front hoof around her, my left hoof just sitting there as it was wrapped up tightly with white bandages. She seemed surprised at first, but then tightly wrapped herself around me. I could hear Vogel and Star speaking to the sides of us, conversing about what had just happened. Instead of letting them speak, I decided to cut in and tell them what happened.

“Everything was black at first, but then I could see the Princesses standing there. Luna started talking to me, she told me that my heart could help fight away infections, and that I had stuff to do down here for them, but then.. Then I saw the others and I.. they’re with them..” My voice went flat as I had to think about it in the real world, I knew that they were waiting for all of us.

Rose carefully lifted me up with her magic aura, carefully guiding me into our room and onto the bed. The door shut behind her as she sat beside me, her hoof wrapping around my back.

“Angel, didn’t you say something about seeing something like that when that heart was first put into you? I think you may be more connected to the Princesses than anypony else down here, or at least.. I think. And the others, you saw them too? You must’ve passed over then came back, my love.”

She was right, I had just went into a different world entirely, and for what? Two gunshots? I really needed to work on this armor a bit more. “You’re right, Rose. I did pass over for a bit there.. Everything felt so different, so peaceful and just.. It was where I really wanted to be, but they wouldn’t let me stay. So, looks like I’m stuck down here with you.”

We shared a quiet giggle, and laid down to rest for a while. The trip and near-death was enough to put me to sleep just as I laid my head back, and whatever Rose had to do was clearly rough on her as well. At least we were together, even in this crumbling world that was once home to so many beautiful ponies, both in mind and spirit. They were all dead now.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5: New Friends Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 59 Minutes