I must admit, the crow seemed fairly intelligent for an animal and followed us all the way to the southern border of the ancient forest. To say that I was happy to be out of there would be an overstatement, it would be more accurate to say that I was relieved. There were three of us, in the wilderness, and not one of us were functioning as we should. Right before us was an avenue of old beech trees, regular non haunted trees, inviting us west. And beyond it was rolling hills covered in increasingly dried grass, like the land itself was dying, leading up to towering mountains that pierced the cloud cover. Evil forest in the north, threatening mountains and freakish cultists in the south, slavers in the east... Yeah, west was nice.

Turns out the rules from the forest still applied on this road, or at least it was the only explanation I could figure out as we encountered absolutely nothing on the road. The sun managed to gleam through the clouds, and as we walked towards safety in silence my patience ran out again and I turned on the radio.

"....The scandal...resolved...grif...oth...mark...nort...car...speaking of...sunset...roadfor...gol...aft..."

"Well, that is useless..."

I switched to DjPon3 with similar results, then I switched through the stations with weird indicators such as EM-001 or EAC-HI and got just random noise. As my frustration got worse a new station appeared as we moved out of the radio shadow of the southern mountains, and my frustration gave way to curiosity as I selected Radio New Pegasus. The tune that came on was soothing, the voice was enchanting and the lyrics were bittersweet. From what I could understand it was about a buck betraying his partner, and her becoming more and more jaded as she hunted him down. As I pondered traveling down south to visit New Pegasus another beautiful voice came on, sounding somewhere between the cool familiarity of Pear Cider and the overly charming voice of Golden Starlight...

"And that was Dare Master, a cover sung by the former Courier 7, telling a tale we are all too familiar with. A pity that she refused my offer to perform in the Hive, would have been a fantastic diva and these days we all could use a little beauty to forget the horrors of the world. sigh When the wonderful ponies in our lives decide to leave, never easy. Regardless, I do have the latest news report for you. Slaver sightings are down, including zebra sightings. From the words of Sunset and Farstrider Caravans the cause is most likely the eastern warlord known as Red Eye, supposedly he is drawing the entire slave market towards the east coast. Otherwise it is a golden age in the firearms market. Not only are they selling like healing potions in Appleloosa, but the situation up in Vanhoover is getting more and more volatile. Oh, and lest I forget. Mr Golden Orange wanted me to clarify that his manor doesn't own any slaves, in fact they are 'indentured servants'. I do wonder if local royalty cares about such semantics, and speaking of royalty. In case anypony considers themselves to be experts in medicine, engineering or arcane theory. Goldstar has positions open for all three and, as everypony knows, Princess Starlight does not care about your past. And now, we dedicate to Luna. Blue Moon, by Skybolt...

A calm and peaceful wartime tune came up, lightening my anxieties a bit, and just about then I felt a sharp gust hit me in the face as the road reached the ocean. If you have never seen it, then don't. It was by far the most terrifying sight in my life, and I have been through some shit since then. The building in front of us stood atop a cliff, with the roaring waves below and screeching wind above. The sea was a pitch black void stretch as far as I could see, with the raging waves threw themselves against the sharp cliffs. Anything caught out there would be devoured in an instant. Then I paused, sat down.

"Stars..."

The wild weather over the ocean kept ripping apart the clover cover, and there they were all over the west. A myriad of stars, I never knew how many there were. To my disappointment I couldn't see the moon anywhere, but there was something else in the sky that drew my attention. A star in the northwest, shining brighter than the rest with its seven sharp points gleaming towards me. Hold on.

"No way, nope. Not buying it."

"Not buying what?"

My short orangy friend asked in a tired voice.

"That star over there, it's Starlight's cutie mark. Nearly a perfect match."

"So? It happens from time to time with unicorns."

"Can the two of you stop arguing so we can get inside?!"

Shouted a moderately stressed Violette at us.

We did just that, and I noticed something that looked like an oversized artillery gun sticking out of it at some point. As I stared in that direction three white bars appeared on my E.F.S. right in front of me. A lightning bolt struck across the sky, revealing three winged pony shapes with dark carapaces and insectoid eyes. I blinked and they rapidly flew past us towards the south, ignoring the terrifying winds. So changelings DO exist, what do you know? This makes the whole political mess a lot more complicated.

We walked straight through the shattered glass doors, the walls on this side had suffered the same fate. As a result the lobby was utterly ravaged by the weather, looking like someone had thrown several grenades into the room. The rest of the interior was in a far better shape, downright comfortable apart from the crying and the cold brought by the wind.

"Wait... So you are saying is that the zebras think celestial bodies are sentient creatures? Evil spirits even?"

Our explanation had baffled Violette and we had to restate things a few times.

"But... Equestria is located on a celestial body?! Zebras are insane!"

I shrugged.

"Yep, pretty much. No wonder the war ended as it did, lunatics with balefire bombs."

I took a deep breath

"However... There is weird shit going on around here. The Van Hoofs were some form of cultists, there are soul sucking ghosts all over the place, there is a monstrous pony in charge of Flood Town and then we have this self declared princess who is supposedly unreasonably competent. And her cutie mark just happens to be the brightest star in the sky!"

"Still completely illogical. Both Celestia and Luna had similar cutie marks, far more important ones. As I said, it isn't all that rare that unicorns get that sort of cutie mark. We even got one or two back home."

Amber pointed out once more. Then Violette stunned me.

"Speaking of your stable... I have been thinking, do you accept applications? "

I blinked in surprise.

"I suppose, I could talk to mum or grandpa about it."

I scratched my neck in thought.

"Wouldn't be the first time."

Our discussions died off soon after and they fell asleep from sheer exhaustion. Me, my brain was working overdrive so I ignored my medic's orders and strolled around in the darkness with my pipbuck light. The howling of the wind was unsettling and most annoyingly, interfered with my headphones for said pipbuck. During my late night stroll I encountered a thick resolute wooden door that blocked my way, it was locked of course. It stood strong against my bucking, and turns out that I wasn't all that good at lock picking. I was about to spit out my screwdriver in frustration when I noticed that the hinges of the door was on the outside, I looked at the pattern of the screw and glanced at my screwdriver.

The office was a bit dusty but remarkably comfortable and in good condition. A desk with a terminal, a chair, several bookshelves filled with well kept books and various art objects. What do you know, a small fortune of prewar artifacts. We might even need to take several trips to carry it all, would take a few days just to read it all. Glancing over them I found stuff on astronomy, legends, magical theory, arcano-tech and...where those romance novels? I brought out a few, dusted them off. "A Night in an Enchanted Garden", after further inspection it was about a young mare starting to work in the royal palace and a female royal guard. Down in the saddle bag it went.

After finishing my sweep I noticed that the power button on the terminal was glowing. So naturally I clicked it, and it glowed to life. I knew the basics in hacking stable tech terminals, it was mandatory teaching for some reason. And after the 13th attempt I figured it out, "Canterlot". First step when into a foreign terminal, download EVERYTHING. It took a minute but meant I could lay down on the sofa whilst browsing the files. Lots of text messages that I couldn't bother to read, and a specially marked audio file.

I heard the rapid tapping on keys followed by a series of four knocks.

"It is unlocked, my dear Pear."

The voice was dark yet gentle, definitely belonging to a mare of my taste.

"Must you insist on using that phrase? It is childish, and ill befitting of an aristocrat."

Answered a mare with a slight southern country accent, clearly annoyed.

"You are of higher breeding and are several years older, so why do I have to be the mature one?"

"Because this is our little castle, palace and fortress both. The petty complaints of my family are irrelevant. And besides, you are cute when you are like that."

OK, that is flirting. Definitely flirting.A soft chuckle.

"So is this a fun visit or?.. Good riddance, I had stumbled upon a private recording. Good thing my travel companions were asleep.

"It is in the middle of the day! Work hours. Try to be professional, you are at least in theory the director of the facility. SIGH Anyhow, Stable Tech sent their intended plan as well as a provisional inhabitant list. Dual Overmare structure as we discussed, and we have the final say in terms of who we let in. All of our personnel are in, any changes you want to make?"

A silent minute went by, only broken by the whirr of the terminal and the soft noise of paper being browsed.

"I suggest that we try fit Helia in here somewhere, she deserves better."

A short pause.

"Scratch that, she rather live in that haunted wood to the end of her days than live among strangers. What about you, you got even more relatives than I do. What about the Oranges, some of them live not all that far from here?"

"I talked to them, but no. From what I can gather, they are confident that they will live through things to come. From what I can gather they got their own plans for the apocalypse. Do we have a date on that by the way? It would make planning a lot easier."

"...No, but we do have a timeline of sorts. Celestia will abdicate, Luna will take her place and the war will reach heights never seen before in history."

A long slow sigh.

"There will be at least a decade before somepony dares to push the button. But don't worry, between Stable Tech's engineering and my family's lore Vanhoover will survive. I have seen it."

"And the... the other subject. We have managed to get hold of a few talented doctors from Tall Tale and Hoofington, are you sure that your spell can unify bloodlines seamlessly?"

"A complete and stable genetic make up, the biologist was confident that the blood sample was from a living pony. Don't worry beloved, we will have children yet."

The next day, all of us went through the the office. Violette was browsing the technical books whilst Amber tapped away at the keyboard of the terminal. This was indeed a goldmine, but the mention of a stable was even more interesting. The goal was figuring out exactly this stable was located, thus far we had little luck. We did figure out that it was Stable #74, personally requested by the two mares from the Van Hoof and the Pear family. To my great dismay Violette forbade me from helping with sorting through the room, so I was relegated to the sofa. Being bored out of my mind as the radio signal was spotty within the office. So I took a nap, all the way to lunch. I was woken by repeated poking in my stomach, and decided to ignore it. After the debacle in the forest I kind of deserved it, especially with how patient they were with my concussion. When I walked towards the kitchen I froze, thinking that I saw movement somewhere to my sides, I turned my head. Tried focusing, walked over, found nothing and then remembered that I was literally hit in the head.

"Any progress?"

I asked as I wibbled and wobbled into the kitchen. Stomach growled and I was thankful that I didn't have to cook in my sorry state.

"Nothing. Since the Stable was specifically built for this place I thought that maybe it was connected to the same network but it doesn't seem that way. I can't find anything regarding the location of the entrance or how to get it open, but I do know that it is probably right below us. Stable Tech built the whole thing, even topside."

Amber stated flatly.

"And I found some decent books on arcane theory that I am keeping, but nothing about any stables. Lots of trashy romance novels, and a few more personal books. Take a look at this, it is the thing you are interested in right?"

Violette continued in a tired voice.

She pushed a small purple notebook to me, it was covered in dust but decorated with what seemed to be actual gold. No title, no description. I opened it with my wing and carefully turned the pages to what I found to be the title of the mysterious booklet. Journal of the End, by Midnight Van Hoof. I was stunned silent and could no longer hear my companions as they continued talking. It had taken a while but it finally dawned on me that the author knew about the doomsday years if not decades before it happened. If any other pony had said such a thing I would have just dismissed them as a lunatic from the war, yet... I had a nagging feeling that there was definitely something larger going on with that family, something important yet nobody seemed to care about. Turning the page I tried reading the opening paragraphs at least.

The one defining feature of my family is not our history, nor our culture or traditions. It is the extremely high frequency of ponies born with an aptitude for astral magic, in Equestria at large such a pony is born at a frequency of roughly one in a hundred thousand if not even less. Yet every other Van Hoof is burdened with such a gift, it simply the legacy we were tasked to bear. Although the full details are infinitely complex and would hardly fit in this token I leave to the future, it is necessary to explain a little.

Astral magic, or royal magic as it is known in Canterlot, isn't just an advanced and more powerful version of the spells cast by your typical unicorn mage. In simplified terms, every aspect of astral magic relate to the fundamental structures of our reality in one way or another. A misapplied teleportation spell or an unfettered time travel attempt can bring disastrous consequences. For a typical mage this isn't an issue as they are seldom capable of devising such spells on their own. Instead they rely on Starswirl's Grimoire, and his spells have countless of contingencies in effect in order to avoid such calamities.

I'm getting off track... A talent for astral magic is something you are born with, and it will define your entire existence one way or another. Being born with any particular form of magic results in passive abilities such as a pegasus' ability to walk on clouds or earth ponies reinforced resilience. In the case of astral magic it typically manifests as low frequency telepathy, a temporal maladjustment, an affinity for a particular element or in rarer cases: Ascension. In my personal case it is a farsighted temporal anomaly, viewing the future is barely any more complex than viewing the present. As of my writing the war is little more than a large scale brawl, but I have seen the children breathing the pink gas, I have seen the emerald fires, how our city will descend upon itself...

So here I will write of our family in this era I live, and what I know of the three children on whom the survival of our family depend. I know not what their actions will be nor how the war will affect them. Just that we are set in our ways, and like the princesses our eternal domain can't adapt to the coming catastrophe. These three however... May She guide and protect them in the time to come.

I could barely follow the text and felt a headache coming up, but the last bits at least explained some parts. So the Van Hoofs DID have weird magic, Midnight could see the future and... what was the rest of it, which ponies were she talking about? Really didn't like the idea of reading the whole bloody thing, and yet something told me to not ask my friends for help. I lazily began browsing the thing hoping to find some helpful pictures, and was pleasantly rewarded with a grainy old photo of three foals in some fancy wooden prewar building. Two earth ponies and one unicorn. After three attempts at figuring out context I managed to find three names. Amethyst, Aurora and Etoile. The first one I recognized, but what had happened with the other two?

My mind was already overloaded and I decided I needed some music, so to my two companion's frustration I started blaring out an unusual song on my pipbuck. It was loud, emotional and sung by a trio of mares and very badass. Then it was outdone by a metal grinding noise from the main hall, rusted and tired yet so very recognizable. The sound of a stable door being opened. We glanced towards each other and hastily scrambled towards the sound. We reached the main hall and saw that the wall had somehow split apart, revealing gear shaped hole and a spiral staircase going downwards.

"I guess we found it."

I stated flatly.

"bu.. wha... how... WHAT DID YOU DO?? I sat at the computer for hours!"

"Did what?"

Why would I have done anything?

"I have no idea, but who else? You mess up technology all the time, it has to be you. Did you flip a hidden switch or something? Enter a secret password? It can't randomly open just because we are here."

"Oh will the two of you shut up. We are going to meet ponies of a new stable, and from the looks of it they haven't had visitors in a while. So try act like civilized people and don't embarrass yourself!"

I guess Violette is the sensible one in our group. Then I noticed her frowning. "Are stables supposed to have this dusty air? It is downright unhealthy."

I blinked in suprise, there was a fair bit of dust flowing out from the staircase. Sure, the air in Stable 33 was a bit stale but nowhere this bad.

"No... the ventilation must have shut off. I don't think there is anyone left alive in there."

A few moments of silence I went:

"Let's check it out!"

And began trotting forward.

There were considerable protests from my two companions I continued downwards, and was met with an atrium. This stable clearly had a different layout from our own. I stopped and gazed out into the room, expecting everything to be a ruin but it looked untouched. As if the inhabitants had just disappeared instead of dying in some form of struggle. Sure, there were dust everywhere but I could still see intact tables, chairs, even a field of grass that wasn't all that in bad in shape. The magic lantern in the roof shone with artificial sunlight, so very close to the real deal. Not sure if I should enjoy it or be confused I instead took a long hard look at the rad detector of my pipbuck. Nothing, it couldn't detect any toxic materials either, just dust and undisturbed air.

"Don't... run off... like that!"

Amber shouted before being equally stunned at the scene. Then he stared at me in horror and said:

"Windstriker, No."

"Windstriker, yes."

I answered and began my investigation of the stable.

"The director should have any important info so where is their office?"

I wondered as I began reading the signs.

"Orchard and Granary, Habitation and Offices... Medical and Education... Maintenance."

A long slow sigh from Amber.

"E.F.S., weapons ready, and we stay together. Got it? No running off in here."¨

"Yeah yeah."

I waved a wing at him, turned on my E.F.S. and found nothing. Then trotted left towards the door with the offices, and began regretting entering the forgotten stable. The drab grey walls of Stable 33 were boring, the same walls in Stable 74 were downright suffocating. Door after door, hallway after hallway, it began feeling like a maze. The variation in signs were the only thing that kept the feeling of being lost away from me. In due time we found our way to the Overmare's Office (what did they do if a buck was in charge? Swap the sign?), unlike at home the windows weren't directed to the atrium but instead out towards the sea. These windows were made from far sturdier stuff than the glass panels above, there wasn't even any scratches on them. Looking out i could see the stars in the sky and realized how much it would mean for the inhabitants to be able to see the outside, to know the sun and moon were still out there.

The office was enormous by my standards, half the size of the atrium by ease. It didn't just fit the two desks, the bookshelves and the servers. There was also a conference table with a dozen or so chairs around it by the largest window, a a beautiful sofa and a door leading directly to some private quarters for the pony in charge.

"Nicer than expected. I could live here, way larger than my room and natural sunlight."

I mused.

"Just don't touch anything this time."

My crystalline friend warned whilst he tried to get the terminals to work properly. Within a minute or two both of the terminals glowed and he stated.

"OK, we only need one active. They are synchronized is seems. Let's bring up the latest entry... OK, seems that they decided to leave and moved to New Pegasus for some reason."

I felt immensely relieved, I had heard the stories from caravaners and prospectors about how Stables are cursed. That none of them survived, all of them collapsed or fell ruin to some great calamity or other. Stable 33 and our Institute was infamous for surviving, it isn't supposed to. And as such all sorts of weird rumors started. So I walked over to the screen and started reading.

So this is it, we are finally doing it. Our second group of scouts confirmed that there is a town down southeast, they even got in contact with the mayor of the place. Apparently New Pegasus is the only settlement left in Equestria with a dominant pegasus population, and she offered to do everything in her power to help with our relocation. Seemed too good to be true, and I suppose it was. Turns out that New Pegasus is getting harassed by a small army of zebras and they desperately need both population and the technological knowhow to get the old munitions plant running again. Zebras... destroying the world wasn't enough.... Either way, we are finally free of this graveyard. I rather deal with the striped bastards than live another day in this place. Everyone is on the same page, we are getting out and never looking back. If there is anything left of Stable Tech somewhere, then we will find the bastards and make them pay. Thank Celestia, the nightmare is finally over.

I facehoofed for a full minute. Felt horrid, confused and suspicious.

"Are we the only functional stable in Equestria left?"

They just looked dejected at me, tired. No, emotionally exhausted. I could definitely relate. Every part of me just wanted to go home, and by the looks of them they held the same emotions. Amber opened his mouth but shut it when I held up my wing in protest.

"Let me just read through this a bit more, then we go straight home."

He nodded and walked over to the window, Violette followed after. I tapped a few times on the terminal, found the oldest entries. With my concussion I wasn't going to read all of them, not a chance. All I needed was... Last Words. Now that sounded like an interesting entry.

Conference is dead. Murdered. Stable Tech are... evil. How could I have missed it? I know how, this isn't about anger, xenophobia, paranoia or anything else. This... It's pure malice. Never believed in true sociopaths, even when the war was at its worst. Yet Conference is dead, and I am dying. The doctor has confirmed the symptoms, not that he had to. I can see my eyes going yellow, it is getting hard to focus. The med team can't identify the disease nor come up with a treatment, we figured out that the food is tainted. All of it. Fortunately, pegasi are either resistant or immune for some reason. The stable will survive, in some way. I have made the chief Doctor my successor, he promised to save those he could. He also promised that Stable Tech will pay. By the mother of Luna... I am feeling hungry, for meat! At least Conference is already dead, and I get to go out on my own terms. Sorry, love.

"Let's go." was all I said, and we left the room. Screen still glowing.

Between my concussion, wartime conspiracies and the latest tragedy I had even forgotten our trek through the haunted forest. To say the least we weren't paying attention to our surroundings and trotted right past the figure tracking us with a rifle barrel, despite being almost on top of us.

"CONSISTITE!!"

I froze. Scratch that, the world froze. Must have triggered my S.A.T.S. somehow. Which was handy, seeing as I had a gun barrel aimed my face at about a foreleg's distance. Holding it, in some strange pose, was a zebra. Not a zony, I knew zonies and this one wasn't one of them. Fortunately, the spell is pretty strong stuff and the zebra couldn't pull a trigger until I closed it. So there I was, frozen in time, with my companions not reacting yet and a zebra trying to kill me. A long look at them, clad in some red uniform with steel barding. What do you know, the goldstar troops really do dress like zebras! Never seen that kind of rifle before, and that was one wicked curved... knife? Sword? No helmet, and the face...

Now that is interesting. The zebra buck? Mare? Either way, they didn't have look of anger or hatred. It was like looking in a mirror, or at my friends. Tired, in every meaning of the word. What was the word they shouted? Consistite? Hm... HMM...Wait, by context it should mean halt or stop. E.F.S, just us four... But it might have blindspots. Anyhow. Let's do this. Exiting S.A.T.S.

I shut my eyes and sat down, barrels pointed away from the zebra.

"We're not going to hurt you."

I said as calmly as I could.

"Just needed shelter."

My companions were on the verge of panic.

A stream of orders or questions. And my poor head had no chance to catch up or translate, never really paid attention to the language lessons.

"Sorry, my zebrecian is rusty. Can you do equish?"

A scowl. Followed by a mix of caution and confusion.

"You are hunter. Yes?"

I blinked. "

Tell no lie. Caesar sent you?!"

"What?.. WHAT?? Ahahahahahaha...."

Clearly not the reaction my assailant was expecting.

"Do I look like I work for a zebra warlord? I'm from a stable, look: barding and pipbuck and everything. From up north."

There was that stare again, just what is up with it.

"You... are equestrian?"

"Yep, more than most I could argue."

I stated proudly, not everyone is a thoroughbred stable dweller.

"And you are not afraid of me. You do not hate."

That is the most confused tone I ever heard, I was thankful for the gun being lowered at least. "You are strange. But honest." The zebra relaxed and sat down as well.

"I... will you help?" I am...coward, I ran. Legion hunts, so I run more."

I blinked in surprise.

"You are a deserter?"

"I not know word."

The zebra angled their head in a weird way.

"You used to fight for someone, but you don't want to anymore. So you stopped, and ran away."

"Yes. That is it."

Well, a zebra less hostile than most ponies. Now that is ironic. And those are some tired, desperate eyes. I was supposed to be a hero right? Being a bad ass stable dwelling, defender of the weak and all that?

"Sure, what do you need? We are a bit messed up at the moment but I'll see what I can do."

"Just let me travel pony lands. North. Away from Legion."

I could hear a loud gasp from my side. I shot glance at Violette who looked very offended by the idea, not scared, offended. Great, the whole stripe thing is a problem even our own group.

"OK. Fair enough."

I made the most dramatic sigh I could.

"Just be ready that many ponies go nuts when they see stripes."

"My life is in your hooves. Noble One."

The zebra held up the rifle horizontally as if presenting a gift.

"As is my loyalty. And my rifle. May stars pass you by."

Just a little bit creepy.

"I am Xera, Vates and Exploratores from 93rd Legion."

Level Up:
Skill Note: Science - 50%

Perk Added: Ferocious Loyalty

You lead by example, and inspire remarkable levels of loyalty and ferocity from your companions. When your health falls beneath 50% your companions become virtually bulletproof. Rainbow Dash would be proud.