These hallways are familiar to me... I think I used to be a resident here in better times. I wish I could remember more, but I'm afraid it's all a blur...

After a series of trips of us hauling gear and saddle bags filled with books to the abandoned, eerie subway station in silence, we had stopped side by side. Though, I made sure to keep myself a few feet away from him, at the very least. I still didn't know what to think of ghouls...

Not to mention the pink mist...

"I assure you, when the helmet is on, I am completely safe to be around." He said calmly, keeping his armored head facing the tram. "Embark. I'll bring the supplies on board, seeing as you're..." He paused and looked down at my stump, then at me through that black visor. "... More impaired than I."

I nodded in agreement, then limped inside.

"And for the record, your help was not taken in vain. I greatly appreciate it."

My lips curled into a brief smile from that, before taking the same spot I had taken before; sitting in the same position as I had earlier as well. It seemed to be the only way I could sit that came even close to comfortable.

I watched as he made a series of trips back and forth, setting the inventory on the floor in the middle of the aisle.

When he had finished, he gave me one long look, then wandered off to the vending machines. He put a few bits in the soda machine, hit a button with his hoof, and waited for his selection to drop. A few seconds had passed, and he pulled out three Sparkle Colas; each one different than the other in terms of color.

He came back and put the bottles on the seat next to me, then faced me directly. "For you."

I smiled and took a bottle, which read 'Sparkle Cola Rad,' while he went off into the cab. The other two were Sparkle Cola Cherry, and White Grape.

I opened the bottle and started drinking the fizzy goodness from within. Not long after he disappeared from my sight, I heard him talk.

"Initiate commanding override, Petiole 78396510308."

Wait... did he just say Petiole...?

"Access granted." A female A.I. spoke over the intercom. "Welcome back, Dr. Petiole."

I raised a brow after gulping down what was in my mouth, keeping my ears open. I didn't know that was a feature...

"Transport to Gamma Station 5.8-4."

"En route to Gamma Station 5.8-4. Please standby."

The doors to the outside closed, and the tram started moving forward. Not long after, did this... Petiole step out and sit across from me. He took a deep breath and looked at me.

"You're Petoolee?" I asked, balking.

He stared for a few seconds, before answering. "It's Peteeole, actually. But yes."

I raised a brow. "Are you sure it's Peteeole? Looks more like Petoolee..."

"I'm sure how my own name is pronounced, thank you." He said in a slightly snappy tone.

I laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of my head, before putting the bottle to my lips and taking another swig. "Um... I could have sworn you were a female... in the pictures I saw you in, back in your... living quarter... I mean, the name just..." I smiled faintly and took another few gulps from the rad, to which he sighed.

"Two centuries..." He muttered. "Two centuries alone, and the first real contact I get is a pony who has trouble figuring out how names are pronounced and gets caught up on gender identity... Nice." He shook his head as my brows knitted, and continued. "The mare in the pictures you saw was my love." He looked down at the metal bracelet around his forehoof that was none other than a Pipbuck. A 9000 model, by the looks of it. I noticed that the hud was in red, instead of the standard issue green, while the body was black. He wasn't really doing anything on it. Just... pressing buttons. Must of been out of boredom.

"Well, that's obvious now. Unless... turning ghoul also changes gender."

"It doesn't." He replied flatly.

"I didn't think it did." I looked outside for a few seconds as the lights scrolled past. They hardly lit up the dark space outside, which meant there wasn't really anything to see. I turned back to him after taking in the last few gulps of my rad. "So what was all that command stuff about? Where are we going?"

"I can't have you slowing me down." He looked down at my stump again, to which I raised a brow.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're considering either leaving me behind or killing me."

He shook his head and scoffed, raising a hoof halfway up, right after turning off his Pipbuck screen. "Please. I may take the form of a monster, but that doesn't mean my mind is that of one." He broke into an abrupt, violent cough, slouching over and putting his hoof to his chest. "Ugh... Damn it..."

"You okay?"

"I'm never okay..." He looked back up at me behind that pitch dark visor, then cleared his throat from the raspy tones his voice carried.

"You said that you take the form of a monster..." I started, and he stared silently. It was impossible to tell what his body language was behind that armor. "Do you see ghouls as that? Monsters?"

"Yes."

"But..." I paused. "You're a gho-"

"I know what I am." He interrupted. "You need not remind me." He looked down. "If it were up to me, I'd kill them all. Feral and non-feral alike."

I frowned. "But... you..."

He sat firm before me, looking back into my eyes through that visor. "You think I haven't tried? I don't appreciate what I am. When I died, I wanted to stay dead. Instead, I'm this... thing." He looked away quickly.

"Sorry..." I hung my head down, and for a while, things went quiet between us. I guess some ponies valued death more than others...

"No... I'm sorry..." He sighed, then coughed a little. "I'm just tired of thinking about it. Gets me in a bad mood... That, and... thinking about her..." He grew quiet for a moment, before continuing. "Thinking about Mansia..."

Okay... time to change the subject. I didn't come all this way just to make someone feel like shit. I caused enough of that as it was. But then again... I didn't want to seem insensitive, either...

So instead, I just sat there quietly, not knowing what to do in this situation I got myself into. Eventually, Petiole spoke again.

"Sorry. I highly doubt you came all this way just to hear an undead pony venting about their past. I'm just rambling... Happens after two centuries in isolation, I suppose."

"Don't worry about it." I said with a shrug, smiling faintly. "There's no need to apologize."

He took his helmet off, smiling back a little. "So, did you find anything useful on your way over here?"

I took the pouches off and handed them over. He opened one of them, and his eyes went wide as he pulled out a certain... comic book...

He stared at me in mild disgust, to which I smiled nervously. "I know what you're thinking..." I started, raising a hoof halfway. "I only have that because Fluky was looking through it behind my back, and I took it from her."

"Fluky?" He raised a brow.

"The filly. The one I was traveling with?"

He sighed, releasing a small portion of pink cloud. Thankfully, he was far away enough that it didn't matter. "You gave the filly porn?"

"Hey, I didn't know she was looking at it until later!" I blurted defensively.

"And so you kept it." He stated with a flat expression.

"Well..." I paused as I felt my cheeks start turning a shade of red. "Yeah. I mean, it could be useful..." I looked down, now nervous.

He rolled up the magazine and tossed it at me. It struck me in the head and would have landed on the floor, had I not rushed to grab it. "Useful for what?"

"Well... you know... a man gets lonely sometimes..."

He quickly raised a hoof and looked away. "Please stop. I regret asking." He resumed looking through my inventory once more, but found nothing of interest. He gave the bags back to me, which I attached back to my barding. "What was with the suicide note?"

I put the magazine back in the pouch that once held my ammo, before it exploded. "The code on it. I think I saw where the locker was that it belongs to. I want that rifle... and the health potions."

He shook his head and laughed softly. "She was always an odd one..."

"Who?"

"Bouncy House. She was a security mare. Kinda crazy, and had a serious sex addiction, not to mention alcohol, but... she was loyal, at least. Not just to her job, but to her personal life, as well. Didn't go around sleeping with everypony. Only had room for one, and that was all she needed."

"Why was she nicknamed Bouncy House?"

"Why do you think?" He replied with a smirk.

"Well... because she was hyper?"

"Ohhh..." He chuckled.

"What?"

"She was hyper, alright. Hyper in bed. I could hear her through walls. Other security personnel had to respond to noise complaints because of her."

"Well, she sounded... fun." I laughed softly.

He nodded before looking serious again. "What's your name?"

"Charger."

He nodded again, then paused. "Do you get headaches often, Charger?" He started to rasp, but cleared his throat before his coughing started up again.

His question made me tense up. "Uh... Y-yeah, actually... Why?"

"How long have they been occurring?"

"For as long as I can remember..." My brows knitted as I looked at him.

"Mhm..." He stared for a few seconds as he nodded slowly.

"Why are you asking me these questions?"

"No reason." He said quickly. "What about night terrors? Are nightmares common?"

I shook my head with disbelief and sighed. "Y-yeah... Seriously, man. What's all this about?"

"Anxiety? Depression?"

"Yes!" I snapped, now glaring at him. "Now are you going to answer my question? What's with the whole analysis?"

"No reason behind it." He shrugged calmly, then sighed. "Tell me a bit about yourself."

Uh... what?

He continued upon seeing my confused expression. "Call it a way to get to know each other better."

I nodded in agreement, then spoke. "Well, my name is Charger. That much you know already. I was a Steel Ranger, back on the surface."

"A Steel Ranger?" He raised a brow.

"Some advanced force in the wasteland." I stated, not wanting to get worked up on the details... and for good reason...

"And what happened to make you split up from them?"

"What makes you say I did?"

"Well, if I didn't know any better..." He looked around at our surroundings. "I'd say you were lost. Something must have happened to have you get separated from the rest of your group."

I sat there in silence for a few seconds, staring, before I came up with an answer. "We didn't see eye to eye on some things."

"Hm..." He stared back for a while, but the more it did, the creepier it got. I wasn't used to... ghouls. "And this... Fluky. Is she your daughter?"

"My daughter?" I balked. I swear, I've never turned as red as I was right now. "I... no. I uh..." I looked down and closed my eyes, sighing. "I never had a daughter before..."

"Are you a virgin?"

My brows knitted as I looked up at him with an uncanny expression. "Uh... definitely not." I cracked a smile, but deep down, I was feeling miserable... "There was a mare, back in my bunker. Her name was Snow Star. Most beautiful mare I'd ever known."

"Why the past tense?"

I shook my head and sighed. "Because... I can't ever go back... I've been condemned." I lied. Not about being condemned. All that was true. No, I lied about the past tense. I didn't want him knowing... I didn't want anyone knowing...

"So you've been living underground too, huh?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"Do you miss it?"

That question gave me pause. I loathed Bristle, Crimson, Fire, and any other Steel Ranger that was stupid enough to follow through with the orders that were given. But... it was home... Once, it was home... It was all I really knew.

"I think a part of me will always miss it, but like I said, I can't ever return..."

He nodded. "I'll admit, I don't really like your type... but I know what it's like to lose a part of yourself..." The sincerity in his non-scratchy voice said it, too. I swear, I remembered hearing that ghouls weren't supposed to have such smooth voices. His sounded just fine. Another one of the ranger's lies, most likely...

"My type?" I asked, raising a brow. "But you're an earth pony too!"

He paused for several seconds, before continuing. "What an unfortunate circumstance..." He lowered his head. "My deepest condolences for whatever happened to you..."

Uh... okay? What the hell was he talking about...?

With that, I looked down at the stuff he brought on board and lifted one of the bags of books up to me. The first one I pulled had most definitely caught my attention.

The Happy Murder Case.

The cover was black and made of leather, while the text was red.

"This." I quickly turned it over, looking at him in desperate need for answers, pointing a hoof at the title. "What can you tell me about this."

He smiled faintly. "Ah yes... The Happy Case. Dentist gone crazy, back before the bombs. Constantly changed his looks to sway the authorities. No one knew how he did it, but it was done. Always left the sticker of a smiley face next to his victims..." That smile vanished completely as he looked down. "Said victims were left smiling themselves. The book could definitely knock out the duration of this train ride."

I opened the book to the first page.

'Written by Arum Petiole.'

I looked back up at him. "You wrote this?"

He nodded. "I did. I was around when he was, so I figured the knowledge I carried of him could go into text. Plus, the detective that studied the case was in the stable with us. He told me more than his career would have allowed him, but seeing as the world ended..."

I put the book back in the bag and looked outside. "You still haven't told me where we're going."

He rasped, then coughed, turning away from me, as to avoid hurling pink cloud my way. Once he calmed down, he looked back at me with a blank look. "Don't worry about it."

"You know... telling me not to worry about only makes me worry about it." I quickly interjected. "So come on. Enough with the mysterious crap. We gotta work together." I smiled faintly. "Spill it, man."

To my surprise, he nodded in agreement. "Where we're going is for your own benefit. Then we'll find your Fluky and destroy this place once and for all."

Well... that didn't really reveal much, other than it's for my own benefit. Guess I wasn't getting a direct answer from him...

"What is the surface like?" He asked softly.

"Dying." I muttered, to which he slouched.

"Should have figured." He entered another fit of coughing not long after, turning his head away from me. Wisps of pink cloud made their way to the back of the tram. That's when I noticed it was starting to build up. He calmed down and looked back at me. "Word of advice? Don't become a ghoul."

"How did you even become one?"

"I thought I told you. I was experimenting, and it backfired."

"Yes, but you didn't specify how. I mean, where's the scratchy voice? Why aren't you like the ones I kept hearing about?"

He sighed, glanced at the rear of the tram, gritted his rotted teeth, and looked back at me. "Sorry..." He put his helmet on and continued. "I was trying to find a cure for the F-virus."

"F-virus."

"Fungus." He replied simply. "I was trying all these different components, but nothing was working. I had even gone into cold storage and picked out some samples to see if anything would." He shook his head. "No luck there. I went to the one last place I dared to go." He paused and shuddered. "The tree..."

"Is that why there's a small branch sticking out of your head?"

He nodded. "Unfortunately. The T-virus-"

"Wait, T-virus?"

"Short for Timber. Stop interrupting. It's rude." We both went quiet for a few seconds, and he resumed. "Anyways... the T-virus didn't exactly work with me too well. Upon letting it interact with the F-virus, there were... complications."

"Like?"

"They fought each other for control. But through their fighting, they became stronger simultaneously. They were helping each other, even if by accident." He sighed and shook his head, looking down. "There are infected around the stable that are... stronger than just a normal one. Should we come across any, I strongly advise you to turn and run the other way."

I nodded slowly. "Alright... But what about you? What happened to you?"

"Since I was infected with the T-virus, I put a halt on my research on the F-virus to attempt finding a cure for myself. In doing so, I came across a discovery in the lab notes, prior to the infection of 32. It was strictly prohibited to be made, but I was running out of time, and there weren't a whole lot of other options left."

"What did you make?"

"The pink cloud... I knew how dangerous it was, but if I had just a small sample of it... maybe it would work. Maybe."

"And it did?"

There was a brief pause before he answered, almost as if he were trying to find the right way to say it. "Within a manner of speaking... See, the T-virus couldn't continue the spread of infection, or the stages of infection, if the host was dead. I was already halfway through the stages before I would have succumbed to it. But upon dying from the pink, it halted the infection."

"So you intended to kill yourself?"

"Absolutely not. I knew the risk, but I was hoping to have survived through its effects. I had reason to believe that if it could kill fairly easily, that it could kill off the virus. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. I both underestimated and overestimated its power."

There was a brief pause between us, before I started up again. "Have you ever tried to tear out the branch in the side of your head?"

"Many times. But it's both excruciating and a waste of time. It'll just grow back."

My brows knitted as I looked at him, confused. "But wait... you just said that the infection-"

"Came to a halt, yes. I can't quite explain why the branch keeps growing... As for my voice, I was lucky enough to keep my original one. The T-virus had messed with my vocals to the point where it canceled out certain elements of ghoulification. Most of my vocal cords now consist of... well, the best way to describe it is 'vines.'"

"Is that why you're coughing all the time?"

"No." He shook his head. "That would be from the pink."

"Why not just call it the P-virus?" I smirked, but something told me he didn't share my sentiment under that helmet, which made my smirk vanish after a few seconds of silence between us.

"It's not a virus." He replied in a cold, harsh tone. "It's a chemical-based weapon. There's a distinct difference between the two." He paused, then added, remaining still as if moving would hurt him somehow. "The pink was used in certain areas around Equestria, when the bombs dropped. I heard Canterlot was hit pretty hard by it... but those are just rumors. A nation-wide terror, some of the channels on the radio said. The rest said it was worldwide, reaching all the way to the Zebra Lands and beyond. As far as I care, the media was all just full of rumors too."

"Actually..." I started, looking down with a somber expression. "It's true. We got video footage from another chapter of the Steel Rangers. Celestia and Luna's shield still surround the area, and there was a massive cloud of pink held within. I saw it myself. I don't know about the disaster being worldwide though."

"Hm..." He looked out the window and went silent for a short while. "I suppose that means the princesses are dead, then."

"One can only assume. I mean, no one's heard from them in over two centuries."

"Only makes sense." He rasped, then coughed for a bit. "I imagine the world would be a lot better, had they still been around. They would have done something to make life better for all of us." He put a hoof to his throat and groaned. "I'm going to rest my voice for a bit. Talking too much strains my vocals..." He pointed his other hoof at the several saddle bags between us. "Feel free to look through anything during the ride. It'll take some time before we arrive."

I nodded, then reached down for one of the bags, bringing it up with me, doing my best to not move my injured leg. All the books in here were leather journals, all of which had Petiole's name written on the inside, followed by an issue number. They started from 1 and ended at 5. He kept it all organized, seeing as the first book I had pulled out from the selection was issue 1, and the last one was the fifth.

Most of the first journal consisted of stuff about medical procedures and theories on different medicines. There were notes here and there, which belonged more in a diary than it did a medical journal.

This would be my first week in Stable 32. First week underground... I can't believe they actually did it... I imagine by now that the world is no more than fire and ash, consuming all.

There are some here that are claustrophobic, which isn't helping any of the others cope with what happened. Mansia and I were lucky enough to get a spot reserved for us on that list, when we did. Otherwise, we... Well... no point in getting into that.

The lab equipment here is top of the line. Stable-Tec went all out with this place. I guess considering this stable was specifically designed for medicinal research, it was to be expected. The labs here are very spacious, which is good for operations and experiments.

There's a rather... unusual elevator, however. I discovered through the map layout of the stable that it goes in all directions, instead of just up and down. How weird is that?

Another thing I discovered is that this stable was equipped with its own subway station that, by the looks of it, goes all around the structure. That'll definitely come in handy. So long as everypony gives others the chance to use it. I'm still not sure how I feel about that elevator...

Mansia is distracting herself with her studies. It's not going so well for me, unfortunately. Sleepless nights, despite how tired I am... I work myself too hard, I wouldn't be surprised if I just died from exhaustion.

I noticed through the subway maps that there's an unmarked station in the stable. The tracks just lead to a dead end, but I feel like there's something more there... Something that we're being kept in the dark about.

I looked for more on that, but for a while, the pages just showed diagrams of plants, descriptions, and more medicinal facts that went right over my head. Serves me right for not being a scientist know-it-all. This stuff was beyond boring to me.

Eventually, I came across another entry.

The overmare called everypony up for a meeting, maybe a month after we first moved in. Honestly, I don't know what day it is anymore. We don't get out much...

Anyways, she spoke of the dead end in the subway. Guess I wasn't the only one wondering about it.

She went on to say that the dead end had led to a farm of sorts. A... get this... mushroom farm. She had kept it closed off from even security personnel until she deemed it safe for entry. Guess she was worried about cave-ins or something like that. Who knows...

Anyways, it turns out that Stable-Tec wasn't able to complete the tram system to the farm, so she's hiring any security and maintenance to create an end to it, so that when we go down there, we won't race right off the tracks and kill ourselves. A sort of expansion for 32. Smart thinking, hoss.

Me? I'll keep to my science. I didn't come here for heavy lifting. I'm a scientist, not a bodybuilder.

I flipped the page, expecting more science notes. I had been right. Too right, actually, seeing as the rest of the book was filled with science stuff.

I closed the book and went to the second issue. After several pages of more gibberish that I couldn't wrap my head around, I found another entry.

There's rumor going around that deep beyond the farm, they found a mine. There was the beginning of a track for mining carts, but the rest of it was blocked off by a cave in. Security and maintenance went to the overmare with this news. According to Bouncy House, she demanded it be opened and searched.

There are some, however, who feel something darker at play here. Omegas won't go in the tunnels again, and he's the chief of security. To think he'd be spooked by this. Said he keeps hearing something on the other side. Everyone else is just telling him it's rocks falling from the blockage, but he won't let it go. He's been pretty snappy lately, too. I can't say I blame him, really. The world blew up about five months ago (I think).

Iron and Bouncy are more on the curious side, but they told me they've been hearing some things too. They say they're more on the skeptical side, but... I can see the worry in their eyes.

The overmare ordered everyone down there to keep it hush hush, and even though they shouldn't have, they told Mansia and I anyways. We can keep a secret though. It's nice to know they trust us so easily.

To my surprise, the next page contained another entry. No scientific data was in the way this time.

I've been debating on what to give Mansia on our four year anniversary. She's been 'subtly' hinting that she would like a new accessory for her mane. However, I'm afraid that the stuff in 32 wouldn't really suit her. I've been pondering on giving her something to satisfy her sweet tooth. Just need to make sure it doesn't contain tree nuts. She would never forgive me for nearly killing her... not that I want to. Ever.

Honestly, I might get her some pomegranates. They're expensive - especially now that the world ended - but anything is worth it if it means making my love happy. Mansia's been craving sex a lot lately, I noticed. I'm not really big on the whole thing, but I like making her happy.

I'll see about stocking up on extra bits to get her the best accessory on the market, and some pomegranates. Might only be able to get one of the two, anyhow.

I looked through the rest of the book, but there was nothing about his personal life. Just more notes on science. I did, however, find a small note on the second to last page.

A pony has 32 chromosomes. This place, which is meant for the research on biology and growth, is called Stable 32. Coincidence?

Huh... The more you know...

I closed the book, then went to the next. There was nothing of any real interest to me, so I moved on to the next. Still, there was nothing. I moved to the last issue, and towards the end, I found another entry. One last entry, on the last page filled with scientific data.

Hey, Mansia. I'm writing to you because... well, I'm alone now. Everyone is dead... yourself included... But you're the closest one to my heart, and writing a letter, even though it'll never be read by your eyes... it brings me some small comfort... Almost like I'm talking to you.

Funny how our lives turned out in the end, huh? Everyone gets infected with that damn fungus... All our friends... Our neighbors... The machines going berserk and killing everyone that hadn't already been infected... They seem to be building more models with that stupid assembly line the overmare ordered to be built, once that mine was opened. Turns out Omegas was right about the mine being a mistake, after all. He's probably dead, too. I imagine Bouncy is as well. Hopefully Iron and the others got out of the station, but I doubt it.

I'm... afraid this may be the end for me, too. I don't want to die. I'm scared, Mansia... And I miss you. I miss everyone. I wish things could go back to normal...

I'm infected with the T-virus. I've been trying to find a cure, but... nothing so far. I have one last idea, but it's extremely dangerous, and there's a very good chance that I could die from it. But if it works, and I live... maybe I could bring you back. Bring everyone back... and we could put an end to this nightmare once and for all.

I love you, Mansia. If I die with this one final desperate attempt, then I'll see you in the Everafter, should that be where my soul ends up.

Goodbye, my love.

Petiole.

I gently closed the book and tucked it back in the saddle bag, along with the others; making sure to keep them all organized. I put it back down with the rest of his stuff as if it were fragile glass and kept my head down.

I shouldn't have read something so personal. I should have stopped once I found out this was more on a personal level. It wasn't my business.

"You read my entries." He stated softly; his voice hoarse.

"Yeah, uh..." I looked out at the faint lights that scrolled past outside of the tram. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. They were written long ago." He looked away from me, towards the front of the tram. "I still miss her, though. I always have... and I always will."

"Did you and her ever...?" He looked at me for a few seconds, waiting for me to finish my question. "You know... have children?"

He sighed and shook his head. "No... We tried many times, but... it never worked. We both had an analysis done on us, but there was something wrong on her end. They couldn't figure out the cause, but the foal would always come out stillborn..." He shook his head again. "Can we not talk about it? Two centuries later, and it still brings tears, even as an undead monster."

"I'm sorry..." I said softly. "I'll drop it."

The two of us went quiet. There wasn't much more to be said. Even if there was, I didn't think he was really in the mood to talk anymore.

I laid my head against the wall behind me and looked out the window, watching the dim lights of the tunnel zoom past, until my eyelids forced themselves shut.

At once, I shot up gasping, flailing my arms around as the high pitched tone of an alarm woke me from my slumber.

I was sitting in the tram, and it came to my attention that we were coming up to another subway station. I turned to Petiole, who was watching me silently behind his visor.

"Nightmare?"

I sighed, closed my mouth, and then smacked the back of my head against the wall behind me with a light thud. "More like a memory..."

"Must have been a bad one, then." He stated. He wasn't entirely wrong. It was nice at one point in my life. But after a while, it just hurt to think about. Things went quiet between us until the tram came to a complete stop. "We're here. Can you walk?"

I sat up straight, then landed on three hooves. "Let's hit the road." I said with a pained smirk and groggy tone.

He regarded me for a short while before leading the way.

"Hey, what about your stuff?" I pointed at the various saddle bags he brought with him on the tram.

"Leave them." He said calmly. "We'll be coming back here shortly."

I looked back at his supplies, then hesitantly followed him through the station we had stopped at. This one was much smaller than the one we were at previously, as that one was more for the public. This one seemed more... reserved.

There weren't any vending machines, ticket booths, or turnstyles. Not even a second floor. Just a restroom and a door at the end of a short stretch of corridor. Everything was of metal instead of tile, but it looked rather grimy, rough, and uncared for.

Probably because it was uncared for.

The lights flickered and buzzed overhead, but it was nowhere near as bad as the entrance to the stable.

He started for the metal door on the other end of the corridor, and I followed; doing my best to stay off my stump.

The trip was made in silence. He had nothing to say to me, apparently. I had a lot of questions, but I had a strong feeling in my gut that at this point, they would go unanswered.

We stopped at a door, and he looked up at something that could only be described as a complicated intercom. I had never seen anything like it before, which was weird for an ex Steel Ranger to think about. It was built in above the door.

"Initiate commanding override, Petiole 78396510308." A red light flashed next to the apparatus he spoke to, and a loud buzzing echoed throughout the station, causing me to jump back in alarm. I looked around, expecting something to come out and ambush us from behind, but so far, nothing showed. I continued to keep watch on our six, just in case.

The obnoxious buzzing came to a sudden halt, and he spoke to the system again, as if he were waiting for the noise to cease. "Open lab door to Gamma Station 5.8-4."

The red light turned green after a few seconds of metal clicking from within the lock mechanism of the door, and it slid open with one metallic scream.

"Follow." Petiole said, walking in calmly.

Reluctantly, I did as he said, taking in my new surroundings.

Inside the room, which also consisted of a steel interior, were three tables; one in the center, and two more pressed up against the left wall. The first one to the left held a series of tools and equipment. If I didn't know any better, this was an interrogation room...

Straight ahead, there was another door. But it remained shut.

"Uh... what is this?" I looked around the room warily; my ears folding back as I lifted one forehoof a bit and rubbed it along my other nervously.

"This... Charger..." He turned and regarded me; his rear now facing the startling display of tools. "Will help you." He turned around, picking up a syringe off the right table. There was a clear liquid held within, but I didn't know what it was. He nodded his head to the table. "Strip and lie down."

"Wait, hold on... what is that?" I pointed at the syringe that had been attached to his hoof by a metal brace that I hadn't quite noticed was there until just now. It looked to be a part of the armor he wore.

He released an exasperated sigh behind his helmet, staring at me. "It'll help you."

"How do I know I can trust you?" I asked defensively, backing up towards the door.

"The same reason I can trust you, Charger. You, a complete stranger, came here, even through all the danger you had to face. That earned you some level of trust, at least. I just want to help you." He paused, but my expression wasn't changing for the better. He shook his head and looked down. "Please, let me help..."

I glanced behind me, then back at him. "If you kill me, I'm going to come back as a ghost and haunt your ass."

"Duly noted." He replied with a single nod. "Take off your armor and lie your back against the table."

I sighed before, with a great deal of hesitation, I stripped from my barding and got up on the metal surface of the table, rolling over on my back.

I looked over at his masked figure, finally realizing something he had said to me when we first met. He was in the process of cleaning an area with some alcohol, which gave a beige spot on my coat, surrounded by red. I really needed to take a shower after this... if I survived, that is.

"Hey, before you stab me with that..." I started, and his visor met my eyes. "You said something earlier about me... finally arriving. Did you mean me specifically?"

He laughed softly and shook his head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Oh yeah?" I smirked. "Try me. I have enough crazy stuff happening in my life that chances are I will believe you."

"No." He said firmly, making me frown. "We're on the clock. Maybe someday, I'll tell you. But not right now." Without warning, he gently stuck the needle into my skin. It didn't hurt as bad as I had thought it would, actually. It didn't feel good, but it wasn't horrible, like some people made it out to be.

... Then I felt myself getting strapped down to the table by my limbs. "H-Hey!" I called out. "What gives?"

"This is for your own good." Petiole replied. "You... might feel a tiny pinch." Then I heard something sizzling as he walked to my legs, as if metal were burning.

"L-let me go you psychopath!"

"I really am sorry about this." Before I could say anything, the hissing of a hot, metal surface amplified at the touch of my stump. I screamed and thrashed around in the binds, but he kept it there for a long period of time that felt like forever to me. The corners of my vision were quickly growing darker, as they had many times before in certain, recent situations. Sounds became muffled, and despite the horrible burning sensation against my skin, I found myself too weak to fight it anymore. The stench of my burning coat filled my nostrils as my eyes closed.

All went dark...

My eyes shot open wide as I took deep breaths, groaning. My stump felt like it was on fire, and the air still reeked of burnt flesh.

I looked to my left and right, but Petiole wasn't on either side. Tilting my head up, I was only greeted by the closed door that led to the station.

First ghoul I ever met, and I ended up getting tortured by him... Lovely.

Clenching my teeth, I forced myself to sit up, realizing I wasn't strapped down anymore. "Goddess damn it..." I opened my eyes and immediately froze at what I saw.

I had a hoof again. Not my hoof, but it was a hoof...

I ran the tip of my left fore against its metal surface. It was black, like the upgraded sentries I had seen earlier. That's when I noticed another addition to my body. I had a black Pipbuck locked around my left forehoof. Well... at least that was detachable...

There were six tiny furrows that ran up and down the metal structure of the hoof, and in each one were two small tesla coils; one on one end, and the other on the opposite, pointing at each other.

I gently traced the tip of my forehoof along the edge, where it began to meet burnt, scarred flesh. The seering pain in my leg flared up, immediately causing me to pull it back and hiss behind my teeth. "Okay... No touching..." I shook my head and whimpered, tilting my head to the ceiling. "Fuck... why...?"

This wasn't what I expected... I didn't want this...

A small, red light lit up on each end of the trenches simultaneously, and quite suddenly, everything grew lighter. Like it had been before losing my real hoof. The one I wanted back...

I heard Petiole speaking in the distance, and looking ahead at the door I had made note of earlier, which was now left open, I saw him standing there alone, facing away from me. All around him was a small field of flowers and trees, and a single light shined down on him as he whispered to himself.

I rolled off the table, and upon impact, a loud, metal bang occurred. More of that agonizing torment shot through my leg, causing me to raise it a little so that it didn't have to interact with the floor.

Why did my head hurt so much...?

I limped through the open doorway after slipping back into my barding and made my way through the field. Like the park in 32, it was as if I stepped into a completely different area in Equus that was left untouched by the bombs or their aftermath. Perhaps even another dimension. That wasn't the case though, and I knew that.

Once Petiole was in hearing range, maybe a few feet away, I stopped. He was talking to someone else. Something that was once living...

She stood before him; her head bent down, and her horn pointing at him. Her solidified mane sheltered her eyes. Vines wrapped around her hooves, and flowers grew around her. Even in her situation, I couldn't help but think of her as beautiful. The others showed pain and anguish, but she looked like she had gone peacefully.

"-love you, my shining star." Petiole whispered as he caressed her cheek with an armored hoof. "I... I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you... I failed... and I'm sorry..." He hung his head down and stood there in silence for what felt like minutes, until he finally resumed. "I'll carry you in my heart, always. I hope that one day, we are to meet again..." He leaned in for a gentle, loving kiss on the cheek.

I shouldn't have been listening to this. It wasn't my business... but... surely he knew I was there, right? I mean, I wasn't exactly quiet on the way here. If he had a problem with me being here, surely he would have said something.

He grabbed his helmet from the ground before him and slipped it on over his head, before continuing. "I have to go now, my love... I'm so sorry, Mansia..." He placed a hoof under her chin, but shortly after, backed away from her, just out of reach. He sighed and looked straight ahead. "You're awake."

I limped forward a few steps. "Yeah."

"Does it hurt?" He asked simply before looking back at me.

"Yes." The entire time I stood there, I had been fighting to keep my hoof off the ground, but my leg was starting to ache.

He pulled out a syringe from a pouch in his armor and stepped forward. "Lucky for you, I have a Med-X supply. Helps soothe the pain."

I kept my ground as he approached, and he poked my raised hindleg with the needle, injecting the medicine into my system. It acted quick, for sure. I was already feeling it simmer down the moment he took the needle out.

"That should do it." He said in his monotone voice as he put the syringe back in his pouch. "Now, do you have any questions?"

"Yeah, actually." I stared flatly. "Quite a few." I pointed an accusing hoof at him, glaring now. "You never mentioned turning me into a cyberpony! I mean, how the hell am I supposed to get anywhere like this!?"

"You got this far on your own, didn't you?"

My mouth opened, then closed as my brows knitted. "I... oh... you... Urgh!" I sat my rear down hard, wincing a little. Without the Med-X, I wouldn't have even tried. "I didn't ask for this!" I pointed at the metal hoof that was now a part of me. The Pipbuck was actually pretty nice, but the metal hoof... That was a deal breaker.

"Would you rather go without a hoof, period?"

I took a deep breath and shook my head, trying to calm myself. "Well... no... but... surely there could have been other alternatives!?"

"I'm afraid not. Not at this moment, anyways. We don't have the right equipment, and we don't have the time. This was the quickest way."

"Fuck!" I slammed my hoof on a bed of flowers, and quite suddenly, came the sound of electricity crackling. I looked around in a panic. "What is that!?" I really didn't want to have to fight something...

"That's you." Petiole stated casually, then pointed at the metal hoof. I looked down to find red electrical currents dancing between the coils in each slit.

"W-what the fuck!?" I stared at him in bafflement. "Why is it happening!?"

He rubbed his chin. "Well, the implant I put in your brain is working, at least."

I was quickly back to glaring, and the electrical current grew brighter. "The what?"

"I put a chip in your head that reads your emotions, and sends the signal to your hoof. Depending on how you feel, the charge will activate. Like right now, for instance." He paused, then added with a slight chuckle under his breath. "A fitting trait for a pony with a name such as yours... Charger."

"Okayyy..." I gritted my teeth, trying my best to ignore his little comment about my name suiting this new... ability. "That's great... Now how do I turn the bastard off?"

"By calming down." He started to walk past me casually. "I did you a favor, Charger. I hope you come to realize that soon." There was a short pause before I heard him stop in his tracks. "Let's go. We must act with haste. There's not much time. I imagine by now that the infected have already reached the park on the surface. It'll be difficult just finding all the ones that escaped before they reach other ponies... Hopefully the blast will wipe them all out."

I nodded slowly before standing up and turning around to follow him.

Our trip back to the tram was made in silence. That was fine by me. I didn't want to talk. Not now. I was definitely not in the mood, judging by the raging electrical storm in my new hoof.

When we stepped out of the room and into the corridor to the station, he looked back for one long moment at his wife, who stood in a spotlight, surrounded by nature. For one moment, he just stared. Silently watching her, as if he were waiting for her to come back.

But that moment passed. He turned his head and spoke as he walked down the hall. "Seal lab door to Gamma Station 5.8-4"

The alarm buzzed, and soon after, she disappeared behind a wall of thick steel. The green light overhead that had flashed when the alarm went off soon turned red, and then turned off completely.

I stared at the door for a few more seconds in silence before turning away and following close behind.

The replacement was a bit weird to work with, and each step both sent a sharp pain in my leg, along with a loud metal stomp.

The two of us got back in the tram and I sat down in my original spot, while Petiole went in the cab. Throughout the time we were stopped at this station, the pink cloud in the back of the tram had escaped and dissipated. I hoped it didn't linger as an invisible danger.

Petiole poked his head out of the cab and looked at me behind his black, thin visor. "Retrace your steps. What are all the places you visited since you got here?"

I looked back at him, thinking for a few seconds. "Well... we came in through the main entrance."

"Obviously..." He muttered.

I stared at him flatly, and the electrical current boosted. "You want me to be thorough, or are you gonna make little remarks like that?"

He paused for a second, before continuing with a slight nod. "My apologies. Please, continue."

I told him of all the places Fluky and I had visited along the way, making sure to keep it short.

His only response was, "Oh my... This may be harder than I thought."

"Yeah, you think?" I faced the back of the train again, closing my eyes.

"We'll need to make a stop at another station, then. You're gonna need a gun if you're going back there."

I cracked open an eye, looking at him. "You don't have a gun on you?"

He shook his head. "Didn't think I'd ever need one, seeing as I never really had to deal with the threats once I learned how to cloak myself from the machines." He traced a hoof along the green, glowing lines along his suit.

"That actually works?" I opened my other eye and studied his armor. "The machines leave you alone?"

"So long as I keep it on and lit, yes."

"Great." I grinned. "So then we can go back to that room that Bouncy House was talking about and get that rifle. And by we, I of course mean you." I pointed a hoof at him, keeping that grin.

"Me?" He said, taken aback as he pointed a hoof to his chest. "But..."

I interrupted him with a nod to my metal hoof. "You really think I'm fit to be going anywhere? I'm a target. Unlike you. Who can walk through all of Stable 32, all willy nilly, no harm done. So you can go get it, and I'll sit here on my sweet ass napping until you get back."

I heard him grumble under his breath, and then finally sigh. "I suppose that's... fair..."

"Good." My smile returned. I didn't realize I was clenching my teeth until my lips curled. I relaxed my aching jaw and groaned from the slight pain in my leg that refused to go away entirely. "I'm glad we agreed on this."

"I'm not..." He muttered, turning back to the controls of the cab. "But... I will admit, it does make more sense if I go. Like you said, you're in no condition for battle."

"Looks like we have a new manager for the stating-the-obvious department, folks."

I heard him sigh, just before the doors to the tram closed. We started moving back the way we came as he stepped out of the cab. "Are you always a smart ass?"

I smiled faintly and shook my head. "Nope. Only sometimes." I pointed a hoof at him as my smile widened a little. "I do, however, have a sweet ass."

He looked away, and I imagined he rolled his eyes behind that helmet. "I should knock her upside the head for it. It's unbecoming."

My smile faltered. "Believe me, I'd do it myself, just for the sake of it." I looked out the window as we made our way down to the residential part of the stable. "Fucking piece of shit..." My hoof started crackling louder.

"I sense conflict."

I looked over at him, then sighed. "Long story. Not gonna get into it right now." I glanced at my electrically charged hoof, then back at him. "Probably for the best we avoid talking about it anyways."

"Judging by the way your hoof is acting, I second that."

"So... is there any real purpose to the light show?" I pointed at the active teslas, but kept my hoof a safe distance away from the dancing bolts of electricity. "Or did you just add them as some sort of sick joke in regards to my name?"

He shook his head calmly and replied. "That was just a bonus feature. Static charged bucks. Hit something, it discharges the energy that's built up and sends it all to the sorry loser that had the misfortune to cross you."

... Okay, that was actually pretty useful. I was still upset about having this forever be a part of me, but at least I had a silver lining. My head was still pounding like crazy, though. I didn't feel any scars around my head.

"How did you get the chip in my brain?" I asked, rubbing my temple gently.

"Needle injection."

"So... it's-"

"-of a microscopic level."

A microchip...

I nodded slowly, and we both seemed to notice that the electrical storm in my hoof was slowly starting to calm down.

"So why is it red then? That doesn't make sense. Electricity shouldn't be red."

"Yes. It's odd, isn't it?" He looked down at my hoof. "I suppose that's what happens when we use tungstian as a conductor."

"Tungstian?" I raised a brow in response. "Don't you mean tungsten?"

"No. I mean tungstian. It's a rare metal." He looked down and spoke softer. "It's the reason 32 is how it is now. Had it not been for the overmare's obsession for the resource, we wouldn't have been slaughtered. Now machines are building themselves, and viruses run rampant."

"Tell me more about that." I adjusted myself to sit more comfortably. I was starting to grow aches from sitting still too long. "The machines, I mean."

"What would you like to know?"

"Well... how did it get out of control? How did it all start?"

He paused for a few seconds, thinking to himself. "Hm... At first, we had Robronco's robots to help us around the place. Everything was fine with them. But once the tungstian was being put to use, and the overmare decided to make an assembly line for more, using the new metal from the mine... we were asking for trouble. By the time the machines turned on us, we had built an army of them. We were going to use them to fend off any intruders. Anything that managed to break into the stable from the surface, or the things from the mine. Instead, they went haywire with security protocols and started gunning everypony down to 'contain the threat of infection.' Their orders were in the right place, but the way they executed those orders was most unorthodox."

I imagined other ponies that had once lived here getting their guts torn open by Gutsy and Handy units. With that mental image, I shuddered and shook the thought away. "What about the original models, though? What made them go crazy?"

"They were all connected to the same server." Petiole said simply. "So they all went corrupt. Something I can't quite describe, however, is that Robronco models and the Tungstian models seem to be at war with each other. They've been going at it ever since the outbreak."

"Sounds like jealousy." I smirked.

"If they had emotions, I'd agree."

There was a brief moment of silence as we looked at each other, to which I spoke. "I was... kidding..."

"I know."

Shaking my head and rolling my eyes, I decided to change the topic. This guy didn't really know what a joke was, did he? "So what happened to the overmare?"

"I'm not quite sure, honestly. I imagine by now, she's either a ghoul or dead. The latter is more possible than the former though. As far as I'm aware, she wasn't exposed to the pink, or any gamma waves."

The stable door's been left open for a long time, by the looks of it. Do you think maybe she could have opened it and escaped?"

"It's possible." Petiole nodded. "If that's the case, then I only hope that someone gave 32 justice for all the damage she's caused. She was never fit to be in charge of anything this big..."

"Sounds like someone I knew." I said under my breath, looking ahead.

A spotlight moved in the distance before us. I stopped and stared, and soon enough, I realized it was getting bigger and brighter.

"Petiole, make the tram go the other way..." I pointed a hoof at the light that moved dangerously close, and upon looking over, he jumped to his hooves, groaning as he walked to the controls. The wheels of the tram on the tracks screeched as we slowed to a halt, but the light didn't slow down.

Petiole stopped by my side, watching it. We were slowly starting to move the other direction, but we weren't picking up enough speed.

"It's going to hit us." He stated simply.

I grabbed a hold of one of the bars next to me and held on, ready for the impact.

The sound of wheels and something heavy rolling through grew as time went on. The blinding light shined through the windows of the tram.

With an ear deafening crash of metal against metal, the tram jolted about. Petiole collapsed on his stomach, and I was thrown around in my seat, before feeling the back of my head slam against the wall behind me...

I found myself sitting in a theater. All the seats - which were red - were empty, save for mine. The walls to my left and right were of red velvet, and stretched out before me was a clean, black screen. The lights in the corners of the room allowed me to see all around, but there wasn't much to look at. It was lonely in here... Cold, quiet, and lonely...

Looking behind me, I found a small window. A camera pointed at the glass pane, but that was all I saw from where I sat, which was fairly close to the back row.

The lights went dim, and not long after, did I hear the reeling of a film. The screen lit up, showing a countdown that started from 5.

4.

3.

It hadn't reached 1, or even 2 for that matter, before the screen went black, followed by an abrupt beep, which only lasted for a fraction of a second.

An image popped up a few seconds later, showing from a first person view, a small, tan colored fox and a white, furry stomach with big, pointy ears atop it's head. It lied on the host's legs, sleeping. A tiny, grey coated hoof stroked its head gently as it snoozed happily.

The scene quickly changed to the host - who was now a little bit taller than before, judging by how high up the view was from the floor - walking through a park that flourished with life. Colts and fillies ran around, laughing and playing. Other ponies, such as the host, took in the beauty of this place. The nature. The fresh air.

Birds - real, living birds - sang as they soared through the calm breeze that brushed against the leaves of trees. The sky was a bright blue; a few clouds here and there.

The host seemed to admire their surroundings. A little too much, as they weren't paying attention to what was ahead of them.

Before they knew it, he slammed into another, making an 'umph' sound as he fell back. The unicorn mare before him was on the ground; a series of papers scattered around her, looking a little dazed.

She shook her head and looked at him with a simple expression after blinking once, to which he stood up and reached out a hoof. "I am so sorry... I wasn't paying attention."

She grabbed his hoof and smiled faintly as she rose to her hooves, then spoke in a soft voice. "Oh, it's okay... I suppose I wasn't really paying much attention either..." She looked around at the mess, and her horn lit up. The pale brown aura from her horn wrapped around the papers and levitated them into one, neat stack. She sighed and smiled, then looked back at the host. "Sorry for... all this." She laughed under her breath and look around. She turned back to him with a raised brow and a smirk. "What's your name?"

"Petiole." The host replied. "And yours?"

"Mansia."

The scene quickly shifted to another; showing her in the entrance of a cave with a drenched mane, looking out at the dark, rainy forest outside. Petiole was beside her, laughing softly.

"Well... look at the bright side." He started. "It could have been a lot worse."

She looked back at him and smiled. "How optimistic of you."

"You still have a dorky first name." He laughed more aloud, and her ears folded back as she frowned.

"I should have kept you believing Mansia was my first name..."

"Oh, come on." He poked her chest with a hoof. "I still like you. A lot."

Her smiled soon returned, and she hugged him tight. "I like you too, Petooee."

"It's Petiole, actually."

That earned him a giggle behind his ear.

The scene changed; this time, it showed a letter from a medical school. I didn't get to read it all before he tore his eyes from the paper. Turned out he was a faster reader than I.

He looked up at Mansia, who seemed eager to find out what it said.

"I got in!" Petiole said happily, to which she cheered and hugged him tight.

"I knew you would!"

A new scene took place, showing her in a wedding dress, staring into his eyes lovingly, with a smile that told him she was the happiest mare in the world. A stallion stood in a tuxedo between Petiole and Mansia, awaiting her response.

"I do." She said with that same, soft voice as earlier.

The scene changed again, showing her in a red, velvet dress. Much like the walls of the theater I sat in.

She stood in the doorway of a high end hotel room, giving him seductive eyes and a bite of her bottom lip. The room was dimly lit by candle light.

The next scene that followed was of her out of that dress; her back pressed up against the bed as her body was pushed up and down along the sheets. Her eyes were closed as she moaned his name, and in the background, I could hear a distinct, wet slapping sound that I knew all too well with my experiences with Snow Star, back in the bunker.

I missed her... I missed sex, too... But I missed her the most. I missed her company...

Another scene took place, showing him standing on a stage, looking out at a small audience, while another pony announced his graduation. Mansia was in that crowd, smiling up at him.

The next scene quickly came up, showing her holding a pregnancy test in her magic. It came up positive. She was jumping up and down in excitement, cheering and laughing, before looking at Petiole, who was laughing as he watched her.

She moved in for a deep, passionate kiss, and he embraced her. The screen went dark for a few seconds, but when his eyelids cracked open, she was looking deep into his eyes, smiling.

"I love you so much, Petiole..." She said in a whisper, before hugging him tight.

"I love you too, my shining star..."

Another scene was revealed, showing him performing surgery on a patient. There were a few other doctors in the room with him, watching from a distance until he gave orders.

Not much happened, before a new scene took place. He sat in a waiting room, but for what, I didn't know.

He looked over to reveal Mansia sitting beside him. "I'm sure things will be okay..." He put his hoof over hers, and she looked over with a worried expression.

"But what if... what if it's not...?"

"Then..." He took a deep breath. "We'll keep trying. I won't give up on this..."

She nodded slowly, but there was no smile of reassurance on her face. She looked away and sighed. "I mean... we could always adopt... if it ever came to that... but..." She froze.

"But it wouldn't be the same..." Petiole finished, looking down.

The scene changed again. Mansia was sitting at a table, covering her face with her hooves as she broke down in tears.

Petiole sat beside her, reaching his arm out across her shoulders and holding her close. "I'm so sorry..." He spoke softly. "Surely there's something we can do..."

She turned to him with red, puffy eyes. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "I don't believe him! It can't be true!" She shouted. "It's not!"

"He's a doctor..."

"Doctor's have been wrong before!" She shook her head hard and looked down. "No... I don't believe him. I want to try again." She looked up into his eyes. "I need to. Please..." She hugged him tight; her snotty muzzle buried into his chest. "Please, let us try again..."

He nodded slowly and kissed the top of her head. "We'll try for as long as you wish... Anything for you, Mansia..."

She shuddered and whimpered under her breath, but through all that, she kept reiterating the same thing.

"It's not fair..."

When the scene changed again, so did her mood. She was smiling. She was happy. She was tucked in bed with a bulge for a belly. Petiole walked in with a tray of breakfast and set it down before her.

"There you are, my queen."

She laughed and blushed. "Such a charmer." She leaned in and kissed him on the lips. "I don't know what I'd do without you, my king."

He opened the blinds to let the sunlight pour in, then turned around to face her. "How are they doing?" He looked down at her belly, and she murred softly.

"I felt a kick earlier." She stifled a giggle with her hoof. "They're excited to meet you."

"I'm excited to meet them." He said happily before sitting beside her, looking into those beautiful violet eyes of hers.

The scene changed.

This time, it was of her sitting in bed, looking down at the sheets before her, in a dark room. Rain pattered against the window outside. The blinds were closed.

Petiole stood in the doorway quietly. She didn't seem to notice him.

"Mansia...?" He asked in a near whisper.

She looked up at him with a blank expression on her face. "Hey... Petiole..."

"What... what's going on...?" He stepped forward, then noticed the surgical scar on her flattened stomach. "W-what happened to our baby...?"

She choked and gasped, wincing as if she were just burnt.

"Mansia... baby, please..." He rushed forward and sat down before her. "What happened?" He spoke louder out of worry.

"Oh stop." She rolled her eyes and lifted a bottle of whiskey to her lips, taking a few large gulps, before coughing and dropping the bottle on the mattress, spilling a good portion over the sheets. "We both know what happened..." She looked back into his eyes as tears broke free. "I'm broken." She smiled sadly, tears forming. "Nothing but damaged goods..."

Tears obscured his vision of her as he sobbed, getting onto the bed with her and hugging her tight. "Mansia... Y-you're more than that. A lot more... Don't... don't say that about yourself..."

"Why do you even want me, Petiole?" She snapped. "I'm no good!"

He looked at her for a few quiet seconds as she continued to break down. "I want you, because I love you for who you are..." He moved in close again and hugged her. She sat there, stiff for a short while, before she gave in and hugged him back, bawling her eyes out.

"I love you too, Petiole!" She cried out. "Please don't ever leave..."

"I'd never..." He spoke softly in her ear, followed by a kiss on the cheek. "We can... we can keep trying if you'd like..."

She looked back at him, smiling sadly, but nodded. "I want to... I can't give up..."

"I can't either. I won't."

The next scene showed a rather intriguing headline.

HAPPY CASE CLOSED, CULPRIT APPREHENDED

As of the 24th of October, the terror of the Happy killer is no more, as he had been caught and arrested for several unfortunate deaths around Saddle. Rumor has it that he had been targeting children, but Omegas, the chief of police of Saddle claims otherwise.

"Happy was very proud of his work, and he made sure we knew it," Omegas went on to say, a few hours after the capture of the infamous Killer Grin. "He always left behind a sticker of a smiley face. It was his trademark. The recent, unfortunate disappearances and demise of the children of Saddle are not of his doing, however. There's another at play, and I can't help but think about the Angel of Death, back east."

He went on to talk about the 'Angel of Death,' and how they usually targeted children, but then made note of their capture.

"I had contacted Hightower prison, and sure enough, the real Angel of Death had been killed. Which means we may have a copy cat killer on the loose. An admirer of her work. Stay safe out there, kiddos. Lock your doors. The world gets more dangerous each and every day. We just do what we can to make it as safe as it can get for the ponies of Equestria. With Happy gone, things will be looking up."

The Happy killer is now being delivered in a block of ice in a skywagon, en route to Hightower prison, which ensures the most durable security measures, should anything try to escape. The mare that successfully captured Happy was none other than Floe Glaze, a specialist in cryogenics whom Happy tried making another victim to his cause.

"It all happened so fast. He was right behind me, so I did the only thing I could think of..." She continued to point at her cutiemark - a blue chemistry flask of ice - as she spoke. "Ice, ice, baby. But all jokes aside, I'm glad I was able to do some good for the community. There's enough going on in the world already, with the war. We don't need more chaos."

Petiole tore his eyes from the paper as Mansia swung the front door open, breathing heavily. She looked at him with heart stricken fear...

Just then, did he notice the panicked voices outside.

"We need to go." She said sternly, rushing into the bedroom.

"Wait, what?" He sat up, putting the paper down. "What are you talking about? What's with the noise outside?" He approached the window and looked out to see ponies running all in one direction. Wagons had crashed into each other in the streets.

She levitated a suitcase on the bed and started throwing clothes in when he walked into their bedroom. "Hun, what-"

"The zebras!" She blurted, breathing heavily as if she were trying to prevent herself from crying. "They frickin' did it... It's over..."

"What? What's over?"

"Turn on the news, Petiole!" She dumped a tin of bits into the suitcase next.

Petiole walked back to the living room and turned the tv on to show a pony standing behind a desk, looking down.

"-erlot has been hit... If you are hearing this, make your way to the nearest stable immediately. If your name isn't on Stable-Tec's roster, then find the nearest underground shelter, such as basements, cellars, and metro stations. Bring food, water, medical supplies, batteries..." He sighed and shook his head. "I can't believe it... I never thought I'd see the end of the world for myself..." He got up, shaking his head again. "I have to go... I need to spend my final moments with my wife and son... If... by some chance I don't make it there in time... and you're hearing this..." He looked into the camera lens with sad eyes; his lips trembling. "I love you..." With that, he ran off screen.

A klaxon began to roar through the city, raising in pitch for several long seconds, then lowering, only to repeat the process over and over again.

A film leader took over on the screen of the tv, showing a variety of numbers and circles. The center of the screen read 'PLEASE STAND BY.'

Petiole continued to stand there, frozen at the image displayed before him. Not long after, did Mansia rush out with two heavy looking suitcases wrapped in her magic.

"I packed your stuff, love." She said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "We need to hurry... There's not much time left..." She left his sight.

"I... can't believe it..." He murmured.

"Petiole!" She called out, and looking over, she was already at the door, which was left wide open. Other ponies were racing around and crying out in a panic.

He nodded quickly and raced after her as they ran for the shelter from what was going to obliterate the surface of Equestria.

Ponies ran across the street. Many wagons were left abandoned or even destroyed from impacting one another, leaving pummeled meat at the wheels. Petiole froze and stared at what was once a pony, caught under the wheel of a wagon...

Or... had been, before they were split in half along the torso. Intestines spilled out onto the asphalt.

The world around him started to go muffled as he stared at the deceased civilian before him. He was just a kid...

A tan coated hoof reached out and turned his head, making him look at Mansia. Her mouth was moving, but he couldn't hear what she was saying. I didn't read lips too well, but it looked like she was calling out his name.

He didn't register any of it, however. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "PETIOLE! LET'S GO!"

He shook his head and blinked as he looked around; the sound much clearer now. Ponies were screaming, but it was soon drowned out by the siren's high pitch.

A filly stood in the middle of the sidewalk, looking down at what I assumed was her father, screaming for him to come back. Tears washed down her face.

His head had been bashed in, and the weapon that was used to do so lied beside him; a metal rod, which had been severely damaged. Blood stained one end, while more gushed out the side of his head, forming a pool on the sidewalk around him.

Petiole's head was turned to his love again. "Come on!"

"Y-yeah, let's..." He looked back at the girl, then shook his head, closing his eyes. "No..." He started running after Mansia.

Halfway down the street, he heard a DJ speaking through a radio.

"-ucking cowards! Yeah, that's right! FLY! Hide behind your clouds, you flock of feather brains! I hope the blast sweeps over your precious little homes and kills you all, you fucking assholes! Cover the skies all you want! It won't save you from your guilt!"

Petiole looked up at the skies, but it was broad daylight. There were clouds here and there, but nothing was being covered up. There were, however, a bunch of pegasi racing off the east. Some, faster than others.

That's when he noticed in the far distance, to said east, was a thick layer of cloud that shrouded the land underneath in a dark gloom. It was spreading out.

Several blocks later, Mansia was about to cross the street to the park. Petiole glanced right, then lunged forward, pulling her back just as a wagon raced past, nearly crushing her. Their luggage dropped on the street, slamming against the wagon. The locks broke upon impact, and all their belongings went airborne, scattering along the ground when they landed.

She quickly got back up and started levitating their belongings with her magic, shoving them back in the broken suitcases.

"Mansia!" Petiole called out, running to her side. She didn't stop trying. "Mansia, leave it! We need to go!"

"We need them!"

"No!" He turned her to face him. "I need you to be safe... We need to go!"

She glanced back at the mess, then at the gate that everyone was rushing through, before resuming her long run.

Petiole looked down at a photo album tucked away in one of the suitcases, along with a framed photograph. Hanging out of his, was his old saddlebag, with five journals in one pouch, and nothing in the other. He quickly grabbed it, put it on over his flank, and slipped the photo album and framed picture in the other pouch. From there, he ran after his lover.

The park was much too familiar... Not just to me, but through his eyes, as well.

This was the park where he and Mansia first met...

He ran past the spot where they had first bumped into each other because of their distractions.

Mansia was waiting in the back of a line of terrified, anxious ponies. One of them was in a police uniform. The label on his outfit, when he looked back at the clouds that were moving in, read 'Omegas.'

At the entrance of the stable was a pony with a clipboard, wearing a Stable 32 jumpsuit. On both sides of him was one sentry, and a pony dressed in the armor that the Steel Rangers would eventually base themselves around.

He trotted up to Mansia who saw him coming, as she was looking around for him desperately, before her eyes met him. Judging by the way she looked, she was about ready to risk not getting into the stable and go back to look for him.

Once her eyes met his, she looked mildly relieved.

"Where were you?" She asked worriedly.

"I was getting something." He answered, then unfolded one of the flaps to the left saddle bag, revealing the picture and the photo album. "There's some things we do need with us..." He closed it again.

She hugged him tight and sniffled into his mane. "I love you, Petiole..."

He hugged her gently. "I love you too... my shining star..."

The line shortened, one pony at a time. Every so often, one of them would get denied, because they weren't on the list. When they protested, the barrels to the guns built into the sides of the steel-clad ponies would spin with a whir that shut them up instantly, causing them to run back.

Eventually, it came down to Mansia and Petiole.

"Name?" The pony with the clipboard said in a surprisingly calm, yet annoyed tone.

"Mansia."

He read over the list carefully, then looked at her behind his glasses. "Brug Mansia Petiole?"

"Er... yes..." She admitted nervously.

"Go on in."

As she passed by him, she muttered to herself. "I always hated that name..."

"Name?" The pony asked, looking at the host.

"Arum Petiole."

He looked at the list of names on the clipboard carefully once more, then nodded. "Go on in."

Petiole stepped past, and just before he was about to step through the entrance, there was a sudden roar, followed by an abrupt shake of the earth he stood on. His shadow was cast before him as a bright, burning light lit up behind him. He turned around, covering his eyes with a hoof as a mushroom of green stood tall from the horizon, constantly growing. A ring expanded around the stem.

The attendance pony gaped at the imminent destruction, then ran for the entrance of the stable. His shadow was bleached into the ground, as, when he ran, the shadow stayed.

Petiole ran inside shortly after, but the guards stayed, save for the two sentries, who followed him inside.

He looked back as the giant cog wheel of a door rolled into the place. A red light flashed, and an alarm blared. His last view of the outside was spent looking at his own shadow stained on the entrance floor. Most of it was inside the stable, while the rest was left outside.

The two ponies that stood guard. They didn't bother trying to get in. They knew what their orders were, and they seemed to be okay with what was going to happen to them... They seemed to accept it, anyways.

A wind rushed through the closing gap, and the roar grew louder, causing the others around him to panic.

"Close already!" One of them shouted.

"Hurry up!"

Others cried, wondering if they were going to die regardless of making it to the stable.

A mechanical arm moved into place, and a bolt on the end inserted itself into the slot in the door. With the push of the arm came a loud shriek of metal, and the door slid in, sealing them off from the outside for good. The alarm stopped, and the red, flashing light turned off. The arm retracted from the door and ascended back to the ceiling.

The scene ended, and the one that took its place was of him setting down the framed photograph of Mansia and him on the desk.

It quickly shifted to another scene. Something I hadn't entirely expected at that moment.

Mansia was on top of him, sliding up and down along his shaft, moaning and having the time of her life. He wasn't really one for making noise, even when he was alive. But even then, there were a few times I caught him panting and moaning from the pleasure.

However, he seemed more pulled in to her beauty. Her white, messy mane draped over one eye as she looked down at him, smiling. A shade of red had grown on her cheek. The other was covered with her mane.

I didn't see much of their surroundings, but if I had to guess, they were in their sleeping quarters, on the bed that I...

Oh... Oh fuck... Fluky slept in that bed...

I hope the sheets were changed before the stable went to shit!

He rubbed her flank with his hooves, admiring her cutiemark - a circuit chip - as they had their fun.

For a split second, the scenery changed to the atrium. A tree had grown in the center, and other scientists and security personnel stood around it, observing it closely. Past the tree, the overmare was seen looking down through the circular window that led to her office.

The scene changed again. Petiole was talking to a security pony as they walked down the medical wing of Stable 32.

"I don't know what to think anymore, Bouncy... I just... I keep letting her down..."

She glanced over and looked at him behind the visor of her half-face helmet, before looking ahead again. "You do realize that what you're saying is... pretty much going against everything your career stands for, right?"

"I'm telling you... I feel there's something foul at play here..."

She sighed and shook her head. "Omegas gets a stomach ache over the mine, and now you're freaking out that you might have a curse on you that brings misfortune to everyone around you. Come on, man... You're a scientist. Aren't you supposed to be smarter than this?"

"And in most cases, I don't believe this crap myself." He said defensively. "But it could be possible, right...?"

She laughed under her breath and shook her head again, looking down. "Man... did you go to the other lab coats with this idea?"

Petiole quietly looked away. "... No..."

"Keep it that way. Otherwise, you'll be the laughing stock of the century... and the next. And the next..." She smirked.

"Bouncy, I'm serious!" He looked back at her.

"I fucking hate that name..." She muttered with an irritated look as she stared at him. "Are you intentionally being a douche, or does it just come naturally?"

Petiole sighed. "Azure, please listen..."

She rolled her eyes, but awaited what he had to say.

"Everything around my life has been falling apart, one way or another. When I was a kid, my pet died..."

"Which is bound to happen." She interjected. "Animals die."

"Let me finish."

"Fine." She huffed, then looked ahead as they continued walking.

"Rose... my pet. She was a fennec fox. Cute little thing. Always liked to cuddle up with me." He paused and took a deep, shaky breath. "One day, I couldn't find her. I looked all over, but she was just... gone. Then I went outside, and that's when I saw her... Legs broken..." He shuddered and closed his eyes. "She was alive, but there was blood... Lots of it... I..." He gulped and looked down. "She died in my arms... and it came to my attention that someone did it to her..."

"What?" Azure cocked a brow.

"There was a sticker of a smiley face stuck to her fur. And ever since I saw that sticker, everything turned to shit..." There was a brief pause before he resumed, seeing as Azure had nothing to say. "Back just before the bombs dropped, there was this little girl... She was at her father's corpse, crying out for him. I could have helped her... I was right there. I could have asked her to come with us. Try and convince them to let her come in with us..."

"... So why didn't you?" She asked, looking over with curiosity.

"Because I was absolutely certain that if I asked her to come along, she'd have died on the way there."

"... Okay. And she wasn't going to die just sitting there?"

"She probably had better chances of survival than she did being around me. I'm a bad omen..."

"You and your belief in curses... Next thing you're gonna tell me is that there's an evil star spirit hiding underneath Equestria." She waved her hooves in front of her, poorly imitating ghost sounds. "OoooOOOOooooOOOOoooo..."

Petiole shook his head hard, and she continued.

"Look, man... I can't understand what you're going through with Mansia. I've never experienced it myself... and I'm sorry it's happening." She patted him on the shoulder. "But don't go making up a guinea pig to dump all the blame on. You're looking for an excuse that doesn't exist. It's just life... and life is a sadistic, fickle bitch. No morals. No sympathy. No. Exceptions. So what if Mansia can't have children? It's up to you to make the most of what you got. And you got her. So quit messing around with these lame thoughts about how your life is 'cursed' and go love her."

"But-"

"Nah, ah, ah!" She put a hoof over his mouth, glaring at him. "No buts. Unless it's her butt against your nuts. Got it mister?"

Things were quiet for a few seconds, and she took her hoof away, still awaiting a response.

"My life is cu-"

"HER BUTT AGAINST YOUR NUTS!" She shouted, looking stern but smiling. Her muzzle was pressed up against his. "NUT. HER. BUTT. AND NUT IT GOOD!"

One of the doctors had been walking down the corridor when she shouted, and he froze, just staring in confusion. Azure looked over and beamed at him. "Carry on!" She said in a cheerful tone.

The doctor shook his head as he walked past, pulling out a clipboard from his coat pocket and reading over the info it provided. "Fuckin' weirdo..." He muttered under his breath.

She looked back at Petiole. "So what'll it be, broski? You gonna keep bitching about how miserable your life is, or are you gonna go tell fate to suck a smelly donkey dick and hold that sexy mare tight? Cause let me tell ya, you got someone great in your life, who loves you for who you are. Even if she can't carry to term, she's still happy, because she has you. Don't ever let that go, my dude."

"I'd never. I love her."

"How much?" She kept her eyes locked with his.

"More than anything. I just wish I could do more for-"

"NAH!" She was glaring at him again. "NAH NAH NAH AH AH AH! NEIGH! NO! Stop. Thinking. Like. That!" With each word, she poked him in the chest. "No curses! No 'I wish I could do more' crap! You are doing plenty for her, and she's noticed. Trust me. So... Her butt." She pointed at his crotch. "Your nuts."

"Stop saying that." He looked down a little, and she laughed.

"Why should I stop?"

"No curses."

"That's right." She lifted his head up to look at her. "And if I hear another word about you saying you're 'cursed,' I'm gonna have Mansia convince you otherwise. In bed. Strapped down. Gag in mouth." She winked, and he looked away quickly.

"Whoa, holy shit..." She laughed. "You're blushing!"

"Am not... Just... ate something sour..."

"Bullshit. You're a terrible liar."

He shook his head and sighed. "I gotta go look over the patient from the mine."

"Alright, alright." She trotted up alongside him. "I got guard duty down there anyways. Gotta hoof it if I'm gonna make it to my shift in time. We still on for movie night?"

"Yes."

With that, she started running. "No curses, Petiole! Remember that!"

From there, the scene changed yet again.

Plant life had spread across the stable's corridors and rooms. Petiole sighed as he walked down. "Sick of all this... When are they gonna cut all this down...?"

And then the scene changed again.

Red lights flashed, and an alarm blared, just like when the thick, steel door of 32 was closing them off from the outside world. Doctors, scientists, and engineers ran one direction, while security ran down the other, fully equipped for battle.

There wasn't a whole lot of plant growth in this area, it seemed.

Petiole stood just outside an office, looking around in what I assumed was bafflement.

"What in Celestia's name is going on?" He asked, but didn't receive an answer.

Gunfire sounded off in the distance, causing Petiole to focus his attention on the security ponies at the far end of the long stretch of corridor. They blasted away at something out of his view. Gatling laser fired back, but that didn't seem to be their primary focus. Some of the security personnel got struck by the incoming fire, but they retreated behind cover before there was any real damage inflicted on them.

Not long after, some of the red streams of energy abruptly stopped, and the crumpled up remains of a sentry was thrown at the ponies, striking one unlucky mare and crushing her against the wall, leaving behind a great big patch of gore.

"Fuck! Fall back!" A dark blue unicorn stallion shouted as he ran across the hall to the other side. Before he could make it, a writhing mass of... something... lunged out and wrapped around him. He screamed, trying to break free as the other security ponies backed away, firing at the monster before them.

I looked closer, and... horrifying would be an understatement. There were no words to express my terror over the beast on the screen. A writhing mass of ponies - some infected, others not - had been fused together by their coats, becoming a unified being of horror. The infected ones worked as a muscle... and the ones that weren't infected?

They were being fed the infection forcefully... Just like the griffin from earlier. Only, these ones weren't pulled into their stomach. I saw it all. The fear. The tears. The torture.

The stallion that had been grabbed screamed and fought, firing blindly at it. But it was to no avail. Within seconds of being grabbed, his skin was already melting with the others. One of the flower-like suctions whipped out and wrapped around his muzzle in an instant, pumping the virus into him.

The group of security personnel that survived were retreating with the rest of the ponies as the creature started moving further into view. It crawled on four limbs, and its entire mass consisted of other ponies, infected or otherwise. Its head was comprised of three massive tentacles, made up of bone and organs.

"Petiole!" A familiar voice called out, and upon turning around, he was staring at his wife. Omegas and Azure were right behind her, aiming at the beast that slowly made its way forward.

"What the hell is that thing!?" Petiole shouted.

"Don't know, don't care!" Omegas replied. "We need to leave! You and Mansia get to the tram station and get out of here! This stable is no longer safe!"

"No longer sa-"

"Move it!" He interjected, backing up as Azure fired at the beast in the distance. Like earlier, it didn't have any real effect on it.

The four of them ran down the corridor that everyone else had gone down to escape the monster, and at the next intersection - which looked rather familiar to me - turned right. Just ahead, at the far end of the hall, was the door to the tram station. Security ponies stood guard at the closed door, wielding their guns. For a second, they aimed their weapons at the four, then lowered them a little, though they were still expecting something to be following, judging by their stance.

A roar echoed through the station, and the two security ponies in front of them grew uneasy expressions of dread. They raised their guns and started firing.

"Fuck!" Omegas shouted as the four of them ran. "Keep going!" The ground shook with each thunderous stomp, and with each step, the beast seemed to be closing in on them.

Bullets whizzed past them either from the sides, or overhead. Petiole dared not look back.

One of the bullets had buried itself into Azure's barding just as they made their way past the last intersection, causing her to stagger as she put a hoof to her chest. "Damn it!" She bolted for the right.

"Azure!" Omegas shouted, looking back. His eyes said he was about ready to go back for her, but she quickly replied.

"Just keep going!"

He shook his head hard as he looked forward, staying on task.

Petiole and Mansia ran into the station once the door opened, and upon looking back, Omegas had his back turned to them, aiming at the beast that charged down the corridor after them. The door closed and sealed the panicked scientists, doctors, and engineers away from whatever that monstrosity was.

Petiole turned to look ahead at the tram car. Everyone was in a rush to get in and get out of here, but five security ponies stood guard, keeping things relatively under control. Or... trying to.

A stallion rushed forward, pushing a filly out of his way so he could get in the tram car faster. She fell on her side, and four of the security guards pushed the stallion back out of the vehicle, while the one went to help her up.

"One at a time!" One of them shouted as they held a scanner over the stallion's eyes, who fought to look away. One of the others held his head in place. When he tried to close his eyes, they were forced open telekinetically. When the scan finished, the guard looked over to the others and nodded. His mouth was moving, but it was hard to figure out what he was saying through all the panic. The stallion was escorted away by two others as he screamed to be let go, and went on about basic pony rights.

The girl continued to lie there on the cold, tile floor, motionless as the guard that went to check on her grew concerned. He looked back to the others that stayed with the tram, and as one of them started to walk forward to investigate, several black tendrils slipped out of her maw, wrapping around the guard's leg and tightening its grip.

He looked back at her, screaming as he felt his hoof getting severed from the rest of his body. The crowd hastily vacated from the scene, trying to get as far away as they could from her and the security pony. But there was little to no room.

Blood gushed out from his armor, around his hoof as he fought to pull away. The other guards started firing at the infected girl; whose body started twitching uncontrollably as it growled. Her hide bubbled, and something crawled around beneath the seams. Several somethings...

She roared as pustules began to form, and then burst; spraying that same white gunk that I had a rather unfortunate encounter with. Upon bursting, came the writhing maggoty parasites. Many had landed on the pony who couldn't escape her grasp, while the others landed around the area, crawling for the crowded ponies.

There was a gunshot... and then another. And another. It was at ear deafening levels. With each shot, one of the parasites exploded into a white, pasty substance.

Petiole looked to his left to see a light blue coated stallion standing beside him, firing at the creatures. His horn glowed bright blue through his helmet, wielding the pistol that hovered in front of him. He looked to Petiole and his wife, then glared back at the creatures that looked to infect, firing carefully placed shots, as to not waste his ammo.

"Where's Bouncy!?" He shouted through the gunfire.

"She got hit by a bullet on the way here!" Mansia answered. "She's alive, as far as I know! But she got shot!"

He shook his head with a grimace, killing off the last of the parasites that made their way to the crowded ponies. "Get on the tram! Both of you!"

"What about you, Iron?" She asked in a worried tone.

"Overmare's orders! Gotta stay put!" He aimed at the little girl and started planting shots in the back of her head as she removed the ponies' rear hoof entirely. Blood gushed out, but the tendrils quickly cut off the circulation. One of the parasites left on him crawled in through his injury, and a bulge traveled up his leg as he screamed, trying to pull away. Another one of the parasites quickly crawled into his mouth and traveled down his throat, while another went in through an ear.

"Fuck..." Iron said before driving a bullet through the afflicted stallion's head, putting him out of his misery. For a second, the other guards looked at him in disbelief, but quickly regained their motives to kill the creature, as black claws formed out of its hooves, digging into the floor as it stood up. The tendrils let go of the corpse and lashed out at one of the security ponies, knocking them back and tearing a chunk of meat from their shoulder, right through the barding.

Iron looked back at them. "Get the fuck out of here! What are you waiting for, Hearths Warming? Go!" He turned to the crowd and started to give the same order to them.

The security ponies near the tram lured the creature away from the transport, while several dozen others ran for it. Mansia and Petiole quickly joined them, but there were still many who were too afraid to move. Iron urged them on to go, but they wouldn't.

The tram doors slid shut behind Petiole, who was the last one in the crammed vessel. He looked to Mansia who, in mere seconds, whimpered and hugged him tight, pressing the side of her head against his neck. He held her close and kissed the top of her head, before looking out the window as, one by one, the security ponies were being killed off.

The tram started to proceed down the subway tunnel of 32.

The next vision consisted of the remaining survivors that had escaped, standing around in the atrium. More so as an angry mob staring up at the overmare's window on the second floor, than as a concourse of ponies trying to cope with what just happened on the lower floors.

"I'm sorry, but this is for your own safety, everypony." The overmare called out through the speakers as she looked down at everyone through the safety of her window, out of reach from them. The unicorn mare had a purple mane with a black streak running along it, and a dark blue coat under her skin tight, blue and gold Stable 32 jumpsuit.

"There's nowhere else to go, damn it!" One of the ponies among the crowd shouted. "Everyone's dying!"

"And I assure you," she interrupted with a glare as she stared down at them. "That if you attempt leaving this stable, you will all die! If the sentries don't kill you, then the surface will!"

"You're gonna get us all killed!" Another shouted. "At least give us the chance to try and make it to the surface!"

"This place isn't safe! The F-virus is spreading like wild fire!" A scientist stated. "Please, let us go!"

"No!" She stomped her hoof down. "The stable will be safe again! You'll see! Security will take care of everything!"

Petiole stepped up. "If you're so sure of that, then why are you cowering in your office? Come out here and join us, if you're so convinced that things will turn out fine." She glared down at him and opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Exactly." His calm tone seemed to have been carried with him when he had died. Everyone else was shouting out of anger and fear when they tried getting a point across, but he stayed calm and collected, offering more logic to the argument for the other ponies' freedom. "You haven't seen it for yourself, Haze. It's chaos down there, and it's spreading. We may as well have opened the gates of Tartarus when we opened that mine. That was your doing, overmare." He pointed a hoof up at her, and she gasped, raising one of her fores halfway in shock. "None of this would have happened if we left it alone. And now we have belligerent machines and infected ponies melting into one another. Our friends are dying down there to save us, and their deaths will only be in vain if you continue keeping us locked away like sheep in a pen. And that'll be on your conscience until your last, dying breath."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but no." She concised. "There is nowhere else to go. This debate is over." With that, she stepped away from the window, out of view, while the other ponies around him protested. Petiole hung his head down and sighed, then looked over at Mansia, who placed a hoof on his shoulder as she smiled at him faintly.

"It doesn't matter..." She said softly, which was surprisingly heard throughout the angry concourse. "We have each other." She wrapped her hoof around the back of his neck and pulled him into a loving embrace, to which he returned to her the comfort she gave to him, in the middle of a panicked room of ponies.

And then the clip changed...

The view was from within what I assumed was Petiole's suit, looking at his lover, who stood before him; her head hung down. All around them were the ponies that I had seen protesting against the overmare's motives, just a few seconds ago... turned to wooden statues.

Mansia had branches sticking out from her. Wood had covered almost all of her body, all the way up to her neck. She was trembling... Aching...

"All we have is each other..." She muttered, and I caught her smiling a little, underneath her mane.

"There has to be something I can do..." Petiole started to walk away. "I will find a cure."

"Petiole!" She called out; her voice wobbling. "Don't go."

He stopped and looked back, then sighed as he approached. "But-"

"I think we both know it's too late for me." She kept that smile as her hide continued to solidify into wood. "Just... want to spend my final moments with the stallion that made my life worth living."

"Mansia..."

"Petooee..."

He paused and stared, and she giggled under her pained voice.

"I'm sorry I couldn't... give you everything you wanted..." Petiole said.

"Don't sweat it. I don't want my last moments crying about the sucky things. Let's just... enjoy life, while it's there." Petiole sat down before her and wiped the mane from her eyes. She looked up at him - unable to move her head - and smiled a bit brighter. "There's my hottie." He started to remove his helmet, but her eyes went wide, and her smile quickly vanished. "No! I can't have you getting sick..." He shook his head, but kept it on. She sighed with relief and closed her eyes. "Your touch is perfect enough as it is." Her smile came back as he caressed her cheek. For several quiet minutes, he sat with her. They said nothing to each other. All she needed was his company.

Eventually, he broke the silence.

"I love you, Mansia... You'll be in my heart always."

"I love you too, Petiole. More than anything." She winced, and he took his hoof away, letting her mane hang over her eyes again. "It's happening..." She groaned.

Petiole hung his head down, shedding tears as he heard her whimpers and struggles. Her pain.

And then... nothing.

He looked back up to see she was completely turned, just like everyone else in the room, save for him.

His vision became obscured as he wept. He stood up and wrapped his hooves around her still form as the clip blurred into a new one.

His hooves were cracked, and branches were starting to stick out from his coat as he worked carefully at removing the lid of a jar, containing the pink within. He tossed the lid to the side and watched as the cloud broke free from the opening.

He took a deep, shuddering breath, before moving his mouth closer to the chemical and breathing it in. In an instant, he dropped the jar, gasping and wheezing. He stumbled around the room, crying out in pain as it spread through his system.

It didn't last long before the video went dark.

The lights in the theater I sat in flickered a bit, before shattering. The velvet walls became torn and dirty. The seats reeked of rot and decay, and the window to the camera that played the video cracked. The screen before me received a variety of tears, and the footage became grainy.

When the video started up again, Petiole was tearing himself off the floor.

Actually tearing himself off the floor. Ripping parts of himself off the metal surface where he had fallen as he cried out in agony. His skin was wrinkly and old, and his white lab coat seemed to be fused with him.

He stumbled out of the room. Each breath he took generated some of the pink from his lungs as he wheezed, yet his voice was as it had always been before.

The next clip was of him sitting at a radio, speaking into the mic that it came with. Making the distress call that I had heard so many times before, on my way to Stable 32. I made note of something.

After he had made the S.O.S. and sat there, listening to his own voice on loop, followed by the iteration count, starting at 1, I noticed that there was no song in between. There was no Address Unknown. At all. Period.

After the second iteration, he got up and started to leave.

The next part showed him continuing his research, observing a small sample of the blue flowers from the tree that stood in the atrium. He moved on to a sample of a mushroom, jabbed a needle into it, and sucked out yellow, pus-like innards. He pointed the same syringe over the flower and started to release the contents down over it.

Halfway through, the lights shut off, and the humming of the power went quiet. His breath was all that could be heard, before he spoke to himself.

"Here we go..."

For over 200 years, he stayed there... alone...

"Robutt!" I felt two small hooves pressing against my chest, along with a tiny body sitting on my stomach. "Wake up!"

I cracked open my eyes to see Fluky was on top of me, nudging me until she saw my pupils come across hers. She sighed and relaxed, smiling faintly. "Man, you were out of it. You and him both." She looked over at Petiole, who was sitting across from us, where he had been before, staring at me in cold silence behind his visor. "What have I said about you dying?"

"Wasn't dying... just knocked out..." I paused for a few seconds, before clearing my raspy throat. "P... Petiole..." I groaned, rubbing my head. Felt like I had a hangover...

"Charger." Petiole replied in a cold tone, sitting there frozen.

"What..." I looked around. We were still in the tram, so that was... well... the next best thing to pleasant. The catch was we weren't moving anymore. One of the doors was left open. "What happened?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. We were hit, and the next thing I know, I black out. When I wake up, I'm in a bunker I've never seen before."

I looked at him and froze, and he continued.

"I was in a bunker I'd never seen before, in a body that wasn't mine." He looked down a little. "I'm sorry about Snow Star..."

I nodded. "I'm sorry about Mansia..."

I looked back up at Fluky, who still remained on top of me. She looked down and rubbed her forehoof. "I don't... remember anything that happened either. We were fighting off that... freaky pony thing, and I saw it grab you and do icky things to you... and then I just blacked out. Next thing I know, I'm sitting in a minecart that crashed against your train, clutching a teddy bear."

"A teddy bear?" I raised a brow.

She pulled up a stuffed teddy bear from beside us. I was thankful that it wasn't the one in the infested subway station I had went through earlier. This one was still in pretty good condition. She hugged it tight to her chest, kissing the top of its head and smiling as she looked down at me with those cute eyes of hers.

I smiled back and soon noticed worry grow in her eyes. She rushed in before I could say anything and hugged me as tight as she was hugging that bear, which was now crammed between us.

"I don't know what happened..." She started in a soft voice. "But I'm glad you're okay..."

Surprised, I lightly hugged her back, to which she resumed.

"This doesn't mean I like you. I'm still pretty upset..."

"I know..." I whispered, giving her a bit more of a squeeze.

Hey... wait a second! My hoof stopped emitting electricity! Finally! It was getting really annoying to hear...

"So who's the horn head?" Petiole asked, looking at her. He spoke in that same, cold tone.

I looked over, smiling faintly. "Her name is Fluky."

"Keep your freaky magic to yourself, unicorn." He spoke with disgust, catching me off guard.

"Hey, wait..." I started.

"I never really liked unicorns... I don't agree with how Bristle ran things, but I can agree with him that unicorns are... foul."

Fluky pulled away from me a bit and looked at me with hurt eyes, but before she could reply to Petiole's statement, I ran a hoof through her mane.

"Watch what you say." I snapped. "Fluky is fine just the way she is!"

He scoffed and looked out the window for a few seconds before getting up from his seat. "I need to get the tram running again."

"Mansia was a unicorn!" I blurted.

He stopped dead in his tracks, looking forward. He didn't say anything. He didn't look at me. Just stared ahead in empty silence, facing the cab.

Moments passed, and without saying a thing - without so much as a deep breath - he stepped into the cabin, closing the door behind him.

And locking it.

Author's Notes:

Another chapter done. Thankfully. It took a lot of time getting this one finished, but it was worth it, I think.
I don't know about Pines, but here is how my writing process goes.

STEP I

Brainstorm.

STEP II

Start writing and brainstorm along the way.

STEP III

After finishing up the chapter, send it to Pines for reviewing.

STEP IV

Once he's confirmed it's good, start rewriting it on fimfic. Otherwise known as copy edit (I do that with all my work).

STEP V

Along the way of the copy edit phase, sometimes we'll get a better idea on a certain part in the chapter, and so we have to go back and change it up, which takes a bit more time.

STEP VI

After the copy edit phase is complete, I go back and read the chapter over from top to bottom thoroughly to ensure that I am not leaving any typos or mistakes in the story. This does not mean that I'll catch every error/typo. But it really does help a lot.

STEP VII

Once everything is good, I submit.
_______________________________________________________________________________

This chapter was meant to wrap everything up in Stable 32, buuuut... if I went through with that, then this chapter would be far too long. So I had to cut it short. The next chapter should wrap up 32.
I want to say that while I know Petiole's story is pretty much told in full, which is... odd for me to do with a character, especially this early on from their introduction... I never really saw his character being a mystery. Hope this was worth the read!
Special thanks to Kkat for making Fallout Equestria, Somber for making Project Horizons, Pines for taking time to work with me on this and brainstorm like crazy (cause there was a crap ton of that going on, which is another reason it took so long to get this chapter out, apart from the length and time it took to edit), and Alchestbreach for killing the radios and keeping us safe.

Pines: You know, respecting and liking someone are two different things. As a man going into the military, I experience this daily. Just remember, just because someone might be spiteful or rude, doesn't mean they don't respect you. They just suck at being polite. Anyway, Catch you viewers later, in the next chapter of RADIO STATIC!