Oww… this really really hurts. ‘What really hurts?’ Me? ‘Can I be more specific?’ Ummm, yes. Me. I rolled my eyes. Hey why can’t I see anything? ‘Cos your eyes are shut.’ Oh yeah.

I cracked open my eyelids without any real pain. There was mainly darkness, but I could see the outline of numerous objects picked out by weak green lights that seemed to come from several points around me.

I moved my left hoof that was trapped underneath my body with an audible grunt, reaching for my other hoof and my PipBuck, before pulling on my right hoof and dragging it up to greet my left. With a tap my PipBuck flared into life, blinding me with its white illumination. I blinked, clearing my vision, a mixture of fear and confusion settling in my gut as my surroundings were brought into contrast; shrapnel and debris, twisted metal punctuating shattered and splintered support beams, and everything covered in a grimy layer of dirt.

I mentally checked my body to see if anything was broken, but thankfully there were no stabs of pain or shifting bones. ‘It’s a worrying thought that you know what you’re searching for.’ My inner pony noted. Yes, because I was getting hurt far more than usual.

I took a breath of dusty air and forced myself to my hooves. More debris clattered off my back, falling to join the pile beneath me. The light from my Pipbuck illuminated close steel walls that were in far better condition than the rusted and grubby floor. There were racks for gears set into the middle of each wall with lights at periodic intervals, though none of them were on. I turned around to find the light sources and suddenly leapt over the the debris.

Foxglove’s frail form lay limp on the rusted chequer plate floor. I shoved as much of the material aside as I could to create a clearing around her. Leaning down, I pressed an ear to her chest. A wave of relief hit me when I heard the reassuring beat of her heart. There was a lot of blood splattered across her face and barding, but there were no immediate signs that it was her own.

“Foxglove?” I coughed through the dust, which continued to fall around us. “Foxglove?” I repeated a little louder giving her a shake. No response.

“Okay. Think positively Fran.” I instructed. “She is alive. You need to get her out of here so you can get her help.” I activated my PipBuck’s Radio. “Francium to Helix, over….” Static. “Francium to Tungsten, over?” Same static. Well, it was worth a try.

I decided to try and work out where we were and what situation we were in. My last, slightly fuzzy memory was of leaping away from a grenade that had been tossed through the window, and that was it. With no window or even building in sight, something had gone seriously wrong. Or right. I wasn’t sure which yet.

The light was coming from six green glow sticks. I recognised them as standard emergency type from Stable Seventeen, which meant that somepony had dropped them down to us. Looking up, I could only see metal extending up into the blackness.

“An elevator,” I said to myself. “That must be where I am. In some kind of elevator. That explains the racks and lights on the walls.” I turned around. “And that door would confirm I am at the bottom.”

The door was built a little into the wall of the elevator shaft and looked oddly familiar. It was rectangular with rounded top corners, a faded strip of yellow paint down the centre and was made of a very familiar shade of steel alloy.

“This is a stable door,” I said out loud, comforted by my own confidence. “I recognise the colour and the shape. It matches those in the core of Seventeen, right down the the yellow strip and the milling machine marks on the inner edges of the recesses.” I looked to where the control panel should be. It was missing. “Damn it.”

I glanced around and spotted a stump of metal near Foxglove’s head that came up to about shoulder height and had a slanted top. I picked my way over to it and cleared off the dust. It was a simple control panel. Just a few big buttons, no screen at all. the buttons read ‘Up’, ‘Down’ ‘Lock’ and ‘Door‘. “Yep, it’s an elevator.”

I gave the Door button a hopeful prod. Nothing happened. I prodded the Up button with the same result. I then realised that the buttons were made from a translucent plastic and were supposed to be illuminated. no light means no power. I was fine with that.

“Ok Fran,” I said settling down next to Foxglove and prising open the control panel. “Just like old times.”

To my relief, everything was as I was used to. It took only a few minutes to work out that it was just a pair of blown fuses on one of the main control boards. The only problem was, I had nothing to replace them with. I searched through the other boards to find matching fuses that I might be able to pinch.

The issue was, I could only take educated guesses at what the other boards did. So far as I knew, I might need all of them. I plucked two out of what I surmised to be linked to moving the lift up and down. Since we had clearly dropped down the shaft without power; it was a safe bet that the mechanism was either broken in the fall or was so old and rusted it wouldn't move anyway. I also didn’t want that moment where we got half way up the lift for it to suddenly fall again.

I slipped the fuses into place, and instantly the console lit up. “Well that was nice and easy.” I smiled to myself and turned to give the door button a expectant prod once again.

There was a click, a grinding sound, and then a small crack of light appeared behind me. I turned and felt my heart dive again as the door stopped leaving a mere three inch gap between the doors. I thumped the button again, but nothing happened.

“Oh great.”

I felt something rub against my hoof. Foxglove stirred in the sliver of light falling across her body.

I knelt down to the young mare. “Foxglove? Can you hear me?”

“Fran? Is that you?”

I gave a sigh of relief. “Yeah, it’s me. Can you open your eyes.” Her young eyes flickered open, looking up into mine. “Good. Now don't move and just tell me: are you in any pain?”

“Yeah.” She whispered, her voice dry.

“Where, just tell me.” I stroked her mane comfortingly.

“My left fore leg. It aches a lot, and I’m not sure I can feel my own hoof.” Oh, that was not good.

I picked up a particularly sharp splinter with my magic. “I am going to just porod along the bottom of your hoof. Tell me if you can feel it or not. I pushed quite hard into her frogs.

“Yeah, I can feel that.” Foxglove coughed. I moved round a little further, again and again. I was half way up her lower leg when, “Stop. I can’t feel it any more.” I pushed a little harder. “Still no.”

“Well. Ummm, I would say that you have a clean fracture half way up your lower left foreleg, and I think Helix would say the same.”

“Where is she? Why can’t she say it?”

I faltered, trying to stay calm for her. “Foxglove? What is the last thing you remember?”

The young mare closed her eyes, thinking. “You fell, or, we fell through the floor. But we stopped. But then I just remember falling. A long way.”

I bit my lip. I knew this is going to be hard on her but she needed to know. “Foxglove, the others are not here. It’s just us. I am pretty sure we’ve fallen down some kind of elevator shaft. Not sure how.

“I’ve managed to get the controls working but since we just dropped what seems to be a really, really long way, I’m not going to raise us back up.”

Foxgloves eyes took on a desperate look. “But why not. The others could be waiting for us at the top?”

“When I say a really, really long way,“ I took a deep breath of dusty air. “I mean potentially thousands of feet. We were on top a six thousand foot mountain ridge, we could have dropped to the bottom or perhaps even further.”

“Then why are we not dead?” Foxglove snapped, lifting her head. I could hear her fear rising in the tremble of her voice.

“I am not sure.” I cast my mind around for an explanation. “The elevators in Stable Seventeen had all kinds of safety features: electrical, mechanical, and magical. On a lift this tall, I would be willing to bet there were some even more extensive features.”

“Typical.” She dejectedly dropped her muzzle back down into the dirt. “I just wish the wasteland would just get it over with.”

I flinched at her harsh voice. “Get what over with.”

“Me. It’s taken so much already; is my life so difficult for it to manage.”

Oh no, you are not going there!

“No! You are not going to think like that!” I yelled. “We’ve all lost a lot recently, and I will not have some beautiful young mare, one of my friends, wishing death upon herself. Have you got that?”

Foxglove cowered under me, looking up at me with tearing eyes.

“Fran. I didn’t mean…” She stammered desperately.

“Didn’t mean what?” I pressed. I hated myself, but she needed this.

“I just… I meant…” She whimpered.

“You meant?” I knew what was coming.

“I dont want to die!” Foxglove cried out. “I didn’t mean it Fran. I don’t want to die. Please, dont let me die.”

I lay down beside her and took her good hoof in mine, letting her cry herself into silence and her breathing become heavily and regular. I felt bad for scaring her, but I couldn’t have her thinking like that if we were to survive. We had to stay focused. Stay alive.

“I’m here Foxglove. It’s alright. You aren’t alone.” I cooed soothingly over and over, stroking her soft mane until she her features relaxed. She looked so content, almost like she was asleep. It was a beautiful sight. Unfortunately we needed to get out and start trying to find a way back to the others.

“Foxglove. I’m just going to be at the door. I’ve managed to open it a little. I’m going to cut through the rest of it so we can get out.” I carefully stood up, making my way over to the door. It was nowhere near as thick as the doors in Stable Seventeen, only four inches rather than six, so cutting through it wouldn’t take too long.

“Foxglove, keep your eyes closed. This’ll be very bright.” She gave a slight nod in response.

“Fran, before you start. Did you mean what you said?” The young mare looked at me hopefully. “You see us as friends?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle slightly. “Of course, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Foxglove beamed before covering her eyes with her good foreleg. I turned back to the door, bring up a filter spell before my eyes. Light from my horn filled the tunnel, accompanied by the fizzing of paint and crackle of melting metal. The alloy was slightly softer than I’d anticipated, I surmised that Stable Seventeen’s was probably marine grade to resist the water, allowing me to make steady progress. After half an hour I’d chopped one side of the door off, but I left a small tab at the top and bottom to keep it in place until I was ready.

“Foxglove?” She didn’t move. “Foxglove?” I raised my voice.

She twitched slightly and then opened her eyes. “Oh, sorry Fran, I must have nodded off.”

“No problem. I’ve cut through the door, but I need to splint your leg so we can move. This is going to hurt.”

Foxglove just nodded, biting her lip. I picked a pair of sturdy looking planks and snapped them to length, then pulled out a bandage and healing potion from my saddle bags. I paused.

“Foxglove. I can splint your leg and then give you a healing potion, but I am no doctor. It might heal incorrectly.” I looked down at her leg. “What do you want me to do?”

“Could I walk on it when its splinted?” She asked.

I wrinkled my muzzle. “I don’t know. It might cause even more damage.”

“Splint it for now. We can work out what situation we are in and then heal it if necessary,” she replied confidently.

“Alright.” I slid one plank under her broken leg, watching her bite back a hiss of pain. I then carefully grasped either side of the break and straightened it. Foxglove screamed like tearing metal, piercing the air and drowning out the sharp crack of the bone. Damn it, I wish I knew exactly what I was doing. I clamped her leg between the two splints eliciting another high pitched cry before wrapping the bandage tightly, pinning it all together.

“There, we’re all done. No problem.” I grinned, hiding my anguish. Foxglove just nodded back, still gritting her jaw. “I’m going to help you up. You should be able to lean on it.” I used my magic to help Foxglove to her hooves. She hissed again as she applied weight to her broken leg, but she managed to stand.

“Cover your eyes again. I am going to finish cutting through this door.” I then realised what I had said. “Or just turn your back.” Again easier said than done. After helping her turn round, I focused on the door, recasting the filter spell and cut the tabs. I checked once more that I had cut through everything before placing my hooves against the chunk of metal and heaving with all my might.

With the grinding of metal, the chunk of door ever so slowly began to slide on the smooth cut surface. A moment later it slammed down landing with an almighty thud on the steel floor kicking up dirt and flakes of rust in a plume of dust and spray of water. I looked into the room beyond and felt my whole body go cold.

Rust. Rust on every surface, the floor, the walls, the pillars. Drips of water off a perimeter balcony disturbed a near continuous pool of orange stained water. More water ran down the walls leaving lines of green slime and fungi growing on at the base of each leak. A bank of computers on one side had all their screens smashed in, the desk draws ripped out and their contents no more than decomposed mush on rusted floor. I fearfully poked my head out and stepped over the threshold. My PipBuck began to click. I brought up my EFS and the HUD; two rads per second. This was really not good.

I heard a horrified gasp behind me. Foxglove had turned herself round and was now backing away up against the elevator wall. This was not going to be pleasant, but I needed her to focus.

“Foxglove. Stay here. I am going to try to find a way out. Turn on your PipBuck’s radio. I will keep mine on, too, so we can be in constant contact. Do you have a gun?”

“I did. Seafire gave me her old 10mm.”

I searched through the rubble for a moment, before I spotted a glint of metal. I picked up the pistol and checked it, ejecting the magazine and cocking it to expel the loaded bullet. A quick tap cleared it of any dirt, and I passed it to Foxglove. “Still seems to work. There are no marks on my EFS but better safe than sorry. You only have one clip of twelve, so make them count.”

With a stab of anguish I suddenly realised that I didn’t have Jury.

“Foxglove, have you seen Jury?”

“I shot a raider with it before we fell. It must be around here somewhere.”

I frantically searched through the dirt for my precious gun. Eventually, I found her– well I did prefer mares to guys in general– a little scratched but otherwise intact. I fished out four fresh spark batteries, one for Jury and three for my EVA suit. Again, better safe than sorry. I also took a pair of Rad-X tablets, I didn't want to go wasting the Rad-Away if I didn’t have to.

“I’ll only search for ten minutes, then I will come back. So, if I’m not back in say fifteen minutes, then give me a call on the Radio.” I stepped back over the threshold into the rusty room.

I stepped carefully across the floor, incase it was just a layer of iron oxide, but it seemed that whoever had built this used some seriously thick plates. The centre of each plate was concave, creating a puddle in the middle of each one. The level of radiation stayed constant as I moved across the room. It was large, about forty metres square. There was a balcony running around the edge, but it was three times higher than the height of the door I had come out of, around six metres at a guess. I looked up, and up, and up.

The room was vast, vertically anyway, all lit by red emergency lighting that exaggerated the rust engulfed room. Eight balconies stretched up at massive intervals to a roof that was about sixty metres up. I ran the numbers in my head, eight levels at six metre intervals would make it fifty four metres to the roof. Jutting out of each balcony was a small platform with a barrier across the end to prevent any pony from falling. At first glance, there was no sign of a lift. What’s more, the amount of rust reduced the higher up the room you went, fading from a ruddy orange to shining steel, like rough orange spikes clawing up the walls toward the pristine silver ceiling. What on in Equestria was this place.

“What can you see?” Foxgloves nervous voice called.

“It’s a massive room, taller than the core of stable seventeen. It’s just huge.” I looked around almost in awe.

“Any clues as to where we are?” She asked slowly.

There were numerous doors in addition to the one I’d cut through. Stable Seventeen had labels and numbers on every single door, maybe it was the same here. I moved to the nearest one that didn’t look as rusted as the rest. The paint was totally gone but there was no mistaking the outline of the numbers.

“Twenty five. We are in Stable twenty five.” I looked round. “We’ve dropped all they way into Stable twenty five.”

Foxglove seemed to think for a moment. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“I have no idea.” I really didn’t.

The door where I was expecting the doors designation to be. I could just make out the word ‘Maintenance’. My territory. The doors control panel and was surprised to see a hole, with 2 lights underneath it. Both of them were dead. The hole was at just the right high so that if I tilted my head forward I could slide my horn into it. Well here goes nothing.

I slid my horn into the hole and waited. Nothing happened. Drat. I might just have to cut my way through it.

“Maybe it needs your magic or something?” Foxglove called out as pulled out my horn and looked thoughtfully at the minimal controls.

Seemed logical. I slid my horn in again and called upon the most basic spell I knew: illumination. The green light sprang to life and the door started sliding upwards into the ceiling. Brilliant.

I pulled out Jury and stood before the opening door. With a click, the door locked up. I looked down the corridor and gulped again. More rust. Rusted pipes, consoles, trolleys and carts. More doors branched off left and right before the corridor split in a ‘T’ at the end and into darkness. The lights were long spent. I fired up my illumination spell on my horn and held Jury in front of me. My EFS still had no contacts on it.

I turned and looked at Foxglove, just hidden inside the elevator shaft. “Like I said, if I’m not back in fifteen minutes give me a call on your PipBuck.” I smiled reassuringly at her.

“What if you don’t come back?” She replied with a whimper.

“I am coming back.” I said forcefully. I really hoped I was.

With growing trepidation, and trying to keep my fear to a minimum, took a calming breath and walked into the gloom.

Opening each door I passed revealed nothing worthwhile, racks, rusted spare parts, and caved in metal boxes. I reached the junction and turned left, only to find more storage rooms. Well, I was in maintenance, but Stable Seventeen’s spares were kept in an ESO 4 cleanroom with an automated collection and stacking system. Clearly Stable Seventeen was a special case.

After only a short distance, I found a cross junction. Signs on the roof, now dangling by their power cables, gave me some clue as to where I was. Left was labeled, in rusted steel and cracked red glass, ‘The Rise’ which I assumed was the large area I had been in previously. Straight on was ‘Reactor’ and ‘Power Management’. Back the way I came was labeled ‘Water Plant’ and ‘Environmental Processing’, but to my right was ‘Archive1: Celestia Era Mechanics’. Now that sounded interesting.

Right around the corner, I found the bodies of a pegasi buck and a unicorn mare, judging by their builds, lying on a copious smear of dried blood. They didn’t look like they had been dead long, a month at most. Their stable work clothes clearly emblazoned with the number ‘25’ were still reasonably fresh. It’s a shame the rest of them wasn’t.

The tough fabric of the clothes had only covered their torsos and their flanks with holes for their tails, that were now reduced to torn tufts of ragged hair. All four of their legs ended in bloody torn stumps, and I could only guess that the pegasi had been. What scared me the most was that everything showed signs of teeth marks. I felt my guts squirm at the hoof marks in the dried blood, leading away from the bodies and round the corner towards the reactor.

“Well…” I whispered to myself. “I guess I’m not going that way.” I checked my time, it had only been five minutes, but I had built up a massive one hundred rads. I needed to be faster. A working terminal would save me from searching this place step by step.

The turbines in Seventeen all had a main computer terminal near them, so it seemed logical that the reactor would, too. ‘Ok, maybe you are.’ I turned round again and began to walk cautiously towards the reactor. My Rad counter went berserk. Five rads per second. I kept walking. Six, seven, eight.

I got the message.

Dashing back to the junction to escape the deadly radiation, and the relative safety of two rads per second, I downed a sachet of rad-away as I considered my options. I couldn’t go to the reactor, and I doubted the Water Plant or Environmental Processing would have anything I wanted. Celestia Era Mechanics however sounded very tempting.

A short distance down the corridor, light from my horn and Pipbuck illuminated another heavy door with two large windows set into it. I approached cautiously, looking around for a control panel or a horn lock. Neither were present. Drat. I peered through the grimy glass as best I could, redirecting my illumination spell and broke into a massive grin.

Pedestals. Row after row of pedestals stretched on and on, out my horns light, each topped with a glass box enclosing anything from farming and hoof tools up to basic flint-lock pistols and powder rifles. It was more than that, the room was a link back to a time before war, before hate and death. The technology was so innocent, so simple, and somehow that tugged at me in a way I had never felt before. I’d never liked ‘history’ back in the stable. It was all diplomacy and politics, but this was the kind of history I could get into. I needed to get into!

“Foxglove.” I whispered excitedly to my PipBuck.

“Yes, Fran? Are you alright?” She whispered back.

I laughed. “Oh yeah, I’m good. I’m coming back now, and I’ll tell you what I’ve found.”

I turned around and headed back the way I’d come. I passed the two dead ponies on the floor, feeling my spirits droop slightly: what had gone wrong with the stable, how had they survived, and how had they met such a gruesome end?

Wait...

They didn’t have PipBucks? That didn’t make sense. All Stable ponies had PipBucks, Typhoon had identified my as one without a second thought. I cast around with my horn, the shifting light making the shadows leap and warp as I moved. A glint caught my eye, and I moved in to find a PipBuck still attached to the remains of a deep blue hoof.

I picked it up in my magic and turned the controls to face me. The screen lit up in response to my magic to display a small pony with health bars hovering over each major limb. All read zero. I navigated through the menus comparing it with my own device. The model number was the same as mine, a 3000B, but the OS differed slightly. The user didn’t have root access like I did, though I’d never messed with it to that extent. It also was not NARS capable, which seemed logical since the stable wasn’t underwater. The device also couldn’t broadcast PipBuck to PipBuck without the long range communicator attachment and was limited to emergency transmit and receive on an preset open frequency. Well, this was about as close to an emergency as you could get when you were dead.

“Hello, is anypony receiving me?” I waited a moment. “This is an emergency broadcast, can anypony hear me?” Nothing. Well, I hadn’t really expected anypony to—

“Mulberry! Mulberry, is that you!” A buck’s frantic and desperate voice snapped from the speakers. “Thank Luna you’re alive! I thought you were dead. Where are you? Are you trapped? Did the mutants cut you off from us?”

I didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry, I think Mulberry is dead.”

“Wait, what?” The buck’s voice was suddenly fearful. “Vortex, is that you? Is Mulberry ok?”

“My name is Francium. I’m standing over the bodies of a deep blue unicorn mare and a light grey pegasi buck. I’m sorry, but they are both dead and have been for some time.”

There was a confused whimper and some burbling. “But, who are you? Why are you using Mulberry’s PipBuck?”

“My own PipBuck wasn’t tuned into the right set of frequencies that your stable uses, but if you give me a moment,” I whizzed through the mare’s PipBuck to find the broadcast frequency, then quickly added it to the list of pre-set’s in my own, labeling it ‘Stable Twenty Five Emergency Frequency’.

“This is Francium. Can you still hear me?”

“Who is this!” Another bucks voice demanded. “Identify yourself.”

“My name is Francium. I’m a wasteland explorer.” Didn’t want to give it all away.

“Says here that you are maintenance engineer at a water testing facility.” What the hell? How did they know that?

“I was.” I said, it was true enough.

“How in Luna’s name did you get in here?” The buck demanded again.

“I fell down an elevator shaft with a companion of mine. She’s injured and needs medical attention.”

“An elevator?” His tone had changed. “Which elevator?”

“It comes out on the ground floor and was behind a sealed door. The other walls each had three doors, the elevators only had one.”

There was a moment's fervent muttering. “What did you do to Mulberry and Vortex?”

Wait? “What did I do? I found them.”

“Found them where?”

“Ummm, ground floor, at a junction in the maintenance area down a corridor from the door far left from the elevator door.” More muttering.

“You said they were dead?”

“Yes. Ummm, excuse the following, but they’ve been eaten.” I decided it couldn't get much worse. “Their legs are missing and their tails have been reduced to stumps.”

A wail began to come from my Pipbuck as somepony started to cry . I could only imagine that it was the buck who’d so desperately answered. His wife, sister or even mother had been eaten, probably alive. It echoed horribly in the abandoned corridor.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t give you good news.”

“How long have you been down here?”

“I am not sure.” I checked the clock on my PipBuck. It was now eight in the morning “Oh my… I would guess we fell down the shaft about three hours ago.” Again, muttering. I jumped at a sudden sound behind me, a clunk of metal. I turned and screamed.

Ghouls. Dozens of them. All looking at me like I was radroach on a stick. Everyone was salivating. Everyone was creeping towards me out of the darkness. Intent on eating me alive.

I ran backwards, firing Jury as fast as I possibly could. Voices were suddenly shouting from my PipBuck, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Ghoul after ghoul fell with missing legs, decimated craniums, or collapsed chests, only to be crushed by the hoard behind them.

They were gaining on me. I had to turn and gallop, but then I would be blind firing. I had no choice, it was turn or die. I careened around the corner towards the door. If I could get enough of a gap then I could shut the door. My legs and lungs stung from the sudden exertion, but it was dulled by huge quantities of a adrenaline.

I had no idea how close they were behind me as I skid, sending flakes of rust and orange water everywhere. I turned and jammed my illuminated horn into the socket. The light turned red. The door began to close.

I crunched down hard on my back as a pair of ravenous ghouls slammed into me, sending the three of us tumbling and splashing through the grime. Two pairs of rotten jaws bit down on my legs. I awaited the excruciating pain but none came. The repulsion spell was preventing the ghouls from biting into me. It didn’t stop them from pulling me apart. A third ghoul grabbed my other hind leg, and the tio began to pull in opposite directions, trying to rip me limb from limb. I screamed as my body was twisted to its natural limit.

Gore splattered everywhere as two bullets blasted the head off the nearest mutated pony. I turned to see Foxglove taking aim from inside the elevator shaft. She fired again, slowly and deliberately, making each shot count as best she could. Five ghouls fell, jabbering frantically. She emptied her clip. Now the hoard was focused on her. I fired Jury blindly into the oncoming mass of ghouls to turn their attention back to me.

“Grenades! Use the grenades!” I yelled out.

I stumbled to my feet, blasting at another ghoul that tried to rip me off my feet. I felt cold as I saw the door. It had closed partial, but at some point a pair of ghouls had got trapped underneath it, one atop the other, leaving more than enough from for the others to squeeze through and continue swarming into the room.

A icon in my EFS flashed urgently.

Jury was out of power.

I scrambled backwards once more, discarding the spent cell and slamming home another. I brought the pistol back only to have a ghoul bite down on the end of the barrel, attempting to rip it in two. I didn’t bother with SATS and fired, sending searing hot bone fragments and brain scattering out in a lethal shower that hit two more ghouls in the face, ripping their muzzles to shreds.

An explosion near the door blasted away a whole group of monsters in a colourful cloud of red blood and orange water. Foxglove tossed another grenade, which scattered long and sent its case ripping into steel and concrete. I had to put three shots right into the neck of one massive ghoul before it stopped chasing me.

With help from SATS, I blasted away six more ghouls that were squeezing their way under the door. My magic ripped the two dead ghouls from under the door, well half of them, but that was all the door needed. The door crashed down on the hooves of desperate ghouls as they reached under the shrinking gap.

Exhausted and gasping for air, I collapsed into the mixture of rust water and gore, Jury falling beside me with a clatter as steam rose up from the glowing gems, boiling the water. I rolled over onto my back, my legs flopping outwards and vaguely saw a yellow shape descending towards me.

“She’s alive. We need a stretcher down here. She’s been bitten.” Bitten? I haven’t been bitten. I looked round slowly and spotted blood leaking out of my EVA suit on my right hind leg. Oh, that’s not good. The yellow figure looked down at me. “It’s alright, we’ve got you. You’re safe now.”

“Foxglove.” I pointed. “Get Foxglove.”

“We are. Just hang on. We need you two live.” Ok, yeah. I’ve been attacked by a giant black fish with three jaws and survived. A pony bite was going to be…

‘Oww… this really, really hurts.’ What really hurts? ‘Me?’ Can I be more specific? ‘Ummm, yes. my head.’ Better than last time. ‘Hey, why can’t I see anything?’ Eyelids? ‘Oh yeah.’

I opened my eyes only to snap them shut at the bright white light all around me. I blinked quickly, trying to get used to the intensity. Slowly, the wall of white began to focus into an array of strip lights set into the roof, made of a familiar steel alloy. I did my second mental check of the day for bodily pain. None was to be found except in my head where I had a thumping headache. At least my leg seemed to be healed. The ghouls must have…

It all came back.

I pushed myself up in bed, searching desperately for Foxglove, but she was nowhere to be seen. In fact, no pony was to be seen. I took stock of the room: more beds, some with curtains, glass fronted cabinets, IV stands, medical apparatus, all of which looked brand new. I spotted blue and looked down at the rest of my body. Somepony had removed my EVA suit and replaced it with Stable Twenty Five barding; the same kind I’d seen on the two ghoul gobbled ponies. A horrible image of my own corpse flashed through my mind. No, don’t think about it.

Getting to my hooves, I made my way through the pristine ward towards the door. One thing that stood out was that many of the glass cupboards were empty or running low. Even some of the beds were bare mattresses rather than being covered and ready as they always had been in Stable Seventeen. With a hiss, the door slid up as I approached. I lifted my head to look, and stumbled backwards.

The pegasus buck looked impassive, but his eyes were suspicious, blue-grey and cold, they stood out against his coat which reminded me of an apricot but slightly browner. Well defined muscles moved smoothly underneath his stable barding. His tousled mane looked like it hadn’t seen a comb in months, brown with a hint of orange; the opposite of his coat.

“Are you fit to walk?” His voice was calm enough, but he still seemed cautious.

I nodded quickly. “I am fine. Thanks.”

“Follow.” He turned curtly and was off, flexing his wings gently. I hesitated, caught between the uncertainty of trusting a pony I’d never seen before and being alone inside a strange stable. He disappeared around the corner and I knew instantly: I didn’t want to be alone.

Stable Twenty Five seemed to be very grid like in its layout: every junction was perpendicular, every room squared off. I supposed it was exaggerated by the fact that I’d lived in conical or circular structures for most of my life. We walked, passing storage rooms and rooms filled with banks of glowing computers, back to the The Rise and followed the parameter round to one of the platforms jutting out over the edge. With a flick of his wings, the buck tapped a pair of buttons on either side of the platform and the barrier swung upwards.

After a pause he looked back at me. “Well?”

“Well, what?” I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.

“We need to go down two levels. Unless you can levitate yourself I suggest you climb on my back.”

“Don’t you have lifts?”

“Yes, but they don’t work.”

“Oh, right.” I felt stupid for a moment and then realised what I was about to do. “Umm, you don’t mind?”

He turned to face me. “No.” he replied like he was speaking to a very slow foal.

“I just.. It’s not normal where I am from to get so close to another pony, especially a stranger. Unless of course you’re partners.” For a split second, my mind went back a week. I couldn't help but smile, then felt my gut wrench as I wondered here my love was now.

“Are you alright?”

“Ummm, yeah. I’m ok.”

He cocked his eyebrow as if to say ‘really’ but he let it lie. “We wear the barding. It prevents any... embarrassment.” he turned his tail to me again. “Now get on.”

Carefully, I placed my forehooves just in front of his wings, lined myself up before kicking with my hind legs and pulling myself up onto his muscular back. I pulled his tail out from under me with my magic, which made him twitch—probably shouldn’t have done that. I wrapped my hooves round his barrel as best I could, and then put my head next to his neck.

Instantly, his wings snapped out on either side. I could feel whole collections of muscles shifting underneath me like waves during a storm. He took a single step back before pushing forward towards the lip on the platform. Then I realised exactly what was going to happen.

I let out a scream as we dropped, twisting left, turning into a downwards helix. A single flap of the bucks muscular wings propelled us round full circle in a graceful glide. I closed my eyes, knowing how far the drop was beneath us. Then we were down. I heard hooves hit metal and click to a hault. I opened my eyes and saw him looking back at me over his shoulder with confusion.

I quickly slid from his back, taking care not to catch his wings or tail. My heart was still beating fast. I’d never felt anything like that before. His strength and power were one thing but that notion that we had chosen to fall twelve metres was just strange. ‘You have just fallen five thousand feet.’ my inner pony pointed out. ‘Yeah, but I was unconscious!’

“Are you alright.” I jumped and looked at the pegasi.

“Yes. I’m fine. Just a little shocked, that’s all.”

He rolled his eyes and turned down the nearest corridor.

I took a moment to peer over the edge. The dead ghouls still lay down at the bottom, their blood turning the rusted water a pinky-red tone. Some pony would need to get rid of them before they began to decompose, but given that there were more waiting on the other side of the door, I didn’t think it would happen any time soon.

I quickly caught up with the apricot buck. I noted that the corridors were the full six metres high and so were the doors, a pegasi could easily fly above ponies walking below without having to worry about hitting them, which I supposed was the point.

“Hey, when you said the lifts don’t work, do you know why?” I trotted along beside him, trying to be as happy and approachable as I could.

“They’ve been broken since before I was born.” He made a sharp left turn, forcing me to jump out of his way. “Around twenty five years after the stable was closed.”

“How many lifts are there?”

“There were four plus the emergency lift you and your friend fell down.”

“Have you ever tried to fix them?”

He let out a disgruntled snort. “I haven’t personally, but yes, we have.”

“And?”

“We are here.”

I stumbled as he jutted his left wing out in front of me. We’d stopped besides a double width door that was again the full six metres high. With his wings at full extension, he simultaneously tapped a pair of buttons built into the face of the door. The door rose up to reveal a large room containing one giant circular meeting table and around twenty ponies. All them looking very intently at me.

“Fran!” I turned and saw Foxglove sat at the edge of the room flanked by two ponies that I guessed were part of security. She made to get up, but one placed a stern hoof on her shoulder and pushed her back down.

“Hey, leave her alone!”

“We are just taking precautions, my dear.”

I turned to see the pony who had addressed me. At the far end of the meeting table sat an elderly mare, just as old as Arc had been. Her white coat went well with the blue stable barding, and even the grey of her mane and tail had a blue hue to them. I suspected that it had once been a similar shade to mine. Her wings were tucked neatly at her sides, shifting as she breathed.

“Hello there. My name is Gracious Wings, and I am the Overmare of Stable Twenty Five. Please, sit.” Gracious pointed vaguely at a pair of empty chairs across from her. The guards stepped aside allowing Foxglove to come and huddle close to me, her eyes darting from stranger to stranger. “It’s alright little one, we will not harm you.”

I moved with Foxglove to the two seats and we both settled down to complete the circle of ponies. My eyes quickly took in the lot of them. It was a balanced ratio of earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi and an even balance of mares and stallions. It was quite an unusual sight. Most were of Smoking or Mantis’ age, but there was a young white mare who I doubted was even Foxglove’s age.

“Now. A quick question first, have your legs healed fully?” Gracious tilted her head expectantly.

“Yeah, mine feels better than it has in weeks.” Foxglove smiled, if a little nervously.

I looked down and gave my own leg a quick flex. “Um, yes. It seems to be fine. Thank you.”

Gracious gave a dismissive flick of her wing. “It’s nothing dears. We’re all equal here. Though my son did mention that you and your companion are particularly beautiful.” Foxglove and I looked at each other for a moment.

“Um… thank you,” I replied with a confused smile.

“Oh, don’t thank me, thank Mighty Wings here.” She gestured to her side and the buck who had escorted me here. Mighty Wings cleared his throat but otherwise looked impassive. Wow, he had some self control. Any of our group would be blushing like crazy, except Smoking.

“So that you understand,” Gracious continued. “The ponies in this room represent each family name inside Stable Twenty Five. Once you’ve both answered our questions we will decide what to do with you. Please answer truthfully, we will know if you’re lying.” Foxglove and I both nodded slowly. “And now I must ask the difficult questions.” I gulped. “Who are you? Where do you come from, and what do you want?”

Well, this was going to be difficult.

“Where would you like me to start?” I asked.

Gracious smiled politely. “How about your names.”

“Well, my name is Francium Actinium,” I replied clearly.

“And you little one?” Gracious smiled politely at the very nervous mare still clinging to my foreleg.

“Foxglove Purpurea.” she replied, her voice barely audible.

“Both very scientific and complex names for a pair of water analysers.” A mare got to her hooves, her chair screeching as she stood. I was briefly distracted by her intense indigo coat and gloss white mane. It was truly bizarre.

“Ladies, this is Indicia Quarter, our Specialist Equipment Analyst.”

She eyed the pair of us, making Foxgloves grip tighten. “Is that where you come from? Your PipBuck is registered to,” She looked down at his own PipBuck, “a water analysis station at Eternity Lake.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Then where did you get something like this?” Indicia gestured to a unicorn at her side and he levitated my EVA suit onto the table along with Jury. “Our database identifies this suit as an Advanced Submerged Activities Suit or ASA Suit. But it seems there have been several major upgrades and modifications. Your PipBucks are rarely seen 3000-C class, barely off the production line in the last days of the war, and they’ve been modified. As for this, “ She pointed at Jury. “No mouth grip, so for unicorns only and identified as a experimental energy weapon. No name, class or statistics.”

I didn’t know what to say. I would have to set aside this mares astounding knowledge of my equipment and work out what was safe to tell them. I didn’t want to expose Stable Seventeen, since Stable-Tec had gone to such trouble to keep it hidden, and even though it may be lost, it was still my home, in a way. Then again, these ponies were in no position to go after it, and being stable dwellers themselves would most likely sympathise with us. Whether they would believe us was a different matter.

I took a deep breath.

“We come from a stable concealed underneath the water research station, Stable Seventeen.” Close enough to the truth. “Approximately one month ago an accident forced us all to leave the stable. Less than a day later we were attacked. Foxglove and I escaped along with several other ponies, and now we are trying to track down who has taken what remains of our stable and get them back.”

“How did you end up in the emergency lift?” Mighty Wings asked.

“We fell. From the top. I have no idea how we survived, but we have dropped some five or six thousand feet from the top of the mountain range which your stable is built into.”

“The elevator was concealed in the basement of a building.” Foxglove piped up. “We were under attack from Raiders, I think, and we fell into the basement, landed on the elevator platform and then it just dropped.”

“Who are these Raiders?” Gracious asked curiously. “Why were they attacking you.”

Foxglove and I looked at each other nervously. “You know nothing of the Wastelands?” ‘Remember, you knew nothing beside sensor readings back in Seventeen’ my inner pony highlighted: true.

A teal buck cleared his throat. “We have sensor readings from a variety of locations, feeding real time data back to the Stable: radiation levels, wind speed, pressure, humidity, sunlight hours.”

“Well, that’s what we had back in Seventeen, but a Raider isn’t something that you put on a graph or take statistics on.” I thought for a moment. I didn't want what I said to be ignored or dismissed. I couldn’t let it be. “I don’t know where they come from but…” I took a deep breath as images began to come to the surface. The bodies, the blood, the brutality.

“A raider is a pony who has been turned by the wasteland. They’re sadistic to the extreme. They will attack without provocation. They kill, rape, torture, butcher, burn and dismember any pony that is not one of them. And if you’re lucky they will do it in that order.”

The whole room began to murmur. Some looked confused, others shocked and a few looked like they didn’t believe me. I couldn’t let them be ignorant of what was out there. If they were if could be the warehouse all over again.

The young white mare to Gracious’ right suddenly screamed. She toppled from sight as she kicked out with her forelegs, like she was trying to block an invisible assailant. I launched to my hooves and watched the mare, eyes wide with terror, continue to scream. I couldn’t escape the horrible thought that this was how most of my stable had died; on their backs, screaming in fear as some raider rammed a knife into their stomach, or worse…

She screamed louder. Mighty Wings swept over to her and in a display of immense strength picked her up in his wings and cradled her before him. Slowly, she calmed down. At a nod from Gracious, Mighty Wings carried her out of the room and disappeared out of sight.

Foxglove looked from the doorway back to Gracious. “What… what happened to her?”

“She saw something terrible,” the old mare replied.

“What do you mean, she ‘saw’?” I asked confused.

“I would assume, your experiences with these Raiders.”

Foglove and I looked at each other. “I don’t understand.”

“Shade is a seer.”

It took me a moment to put the pieces together, but I couldn’t think of an alternative. “You mean she can, read minds?”

Gracious nodded. “In the most basic sense, yes.”

“But… she’s an earth pony.” Foxglove muttered with confusion. “Surely only a unicorn could do that.”

“She is a unicorn.” I jumped at Mighty Wings voice as walked in behind us. “Technically.”

I made the connection. “She was how you would tell if we were lying or not.”

Gracious spoke next, her voice firm and authoritative, "I feel it is safe to assume that you have been honest enough. However, I believe that it would behoove us to wait for Shade to recover before continuing. Mighty, if you would show our guests to their rooms and return their belongings. I am sure you need time to think.”

I just nodded politely.

Gracious stood as a member of security approached her. He turned and let her place a wing tip on his flank before leading the older pegasus round the table.

“She’s blind,” Foxglove whispered. “Look at her eyes.”

Once Gracious was safely out the door, the other ponies filtered out after her. Some gave us looks of sadness, others curiosity, some just avoided us altogether. Mighty Wings held us back until everypony else had gone.

“Follow me, please.” Mighty beckoned with a wave of his wing. “We’ve set aside a large double room for the pair of you on this level so you do not have to move up and down. The kitchens are here, with a lounge and swimming pool as well. Follow the signs, they will tell you where you need to go.”

“How did your mother lose her sight?” I asked, hoping that I wasn’t intruding. “Ponies in seventeen have never had eye issues, in fact we rarely get sick.”

“Radiation.” Mighty replied curtly.

“Was any other pony affected like her.” I added trying to keep a dialogue going.

“Some, but few remain.”

‘Sounds exactly like us, a few remaining survivors’ my inner pony sighed sadly.

I mentally kicked myself. I did not want to start thinking about that now. I would do that when I was alone and could so what I liked. But I had no idea what happened after I got knocked out. Foxglove would know but I would wait until we could speak privately.

One thing worried me though.

The only way I knew of getting out for the stable was the lift shaft. But with the lift now broken I had no way of getting back up. It was possible one of the pegasi could give me a lift to the top but I seriously doubted that I could persuade them to do that.

Mighty Wings gently lifted a wing. “Here we are.” He prodded a button beside a regular sized door and it slid aside. “I’m afraid both of you will have to sleep in the same bed. The living quarters for unicorns and earth ponies were on the lower levels, and this is one of the few accessible pegasi rooms. It’s not much, but it’s home.”

“It really is home…” I just about managed to gape. “Really, really is.”

“Are you ok?” Mighty waved a wing in front of my eyes, but I wasn't interested.

Only two things were different. The floor was bare metal like the rest of the stable, rather than the blue carpet I was used too. The round windows were square, showing a beautiful meadow glistening with a gathering frost in the waning dusk, seemingly projected onto a surface mounted where the glass ought to be. ‘A far cry from the murky blackness of Lake Eternity’ my inner pony seemed almost stunned. Aside from that, I could have sworn that I was walking into my own bedroom.

The table, chairs, lights, shelves,

“It’s just like…” Foxglove had exactly the same expression of shock and surprise on her face that I did. “It’s just like home,” she muttered.

“Your room looked like this?” I scanned the space again.

“Yeah, it’s near identical, but we had a green carpet and no windows, just lights.” Slowly, Foxglove wandered around the room in daze, examining everything. “Hey Fran, did the sofa in your room have bad stitching on the left arm?”

“Yeah, they all did. A mass manufacture defect.”

Foxglove smirked, stroking the fabric. “It’s the same here.”

“There’s a selection of food in the kitchen and towels in the bathroom. I would say where, but it seems you both know your way around.” Mighty Wings smiled politely.“Shall I leave you both too it?”

“Yes. Thank you, Mighty.”

“My name isn’t Mighty.” I turned to him confused. “That’s just the name my mum uses. It’s kind of a family thing.”

“Then what is it?”

“Minor Wings.” With a tap of his wing, the door closed behind him.

I signed and turned, taking in my familiar surroundings. Even though I knew it wasn’t my room, I felt calm and content in a way that only home could really bring. I stroked the duvet covers with a sweep of my hoof, admired the furniture and fittings that I knew like the bottom of my hoof.

“Fran?” Foxglove asked, staring. I followed her gaze to the windows and the fake meadow on the far side of the glass. “Do you think somewhere in Equestria, places like that still exists?”

I didn’t know what to say. “Ummm, I am sure they do somewhere. Perhaps not as lush and green, but close.”

She sighed. “I hope they do.” She turned to me slowly with a strange look on her muzzle. “Fran, how can we be here. We should be dead.”

I was taken aback by her forwardness. “What do you mean?”

“We fell. A long way. I don’t remember when I blacked out, or why, but somehow we fell five thousand feet and survived. I know I asked back in the lift, but, how do we know we’re alive?” She shuffled nervously. “I’m sorry, Fran. I just… it’s like being home again. Perhaps this is our minds creating a final fantasy of comfort before we die. How do I know I didn’t got shot back at the hostel, that I’m not bleeding to death on the floor. How do…”

“Foxglove!” I yelled. “Please, just stop.” Her blue eyes looked into mine as I flopped onto my rump, trying hard not to cry. If I started, I knew she would too. “I don’t know. I have some ideas why, but we can’t prove it, or disprove it either way. So, let’s just accept it. Ok.”

With a gentle nod, Foxglove moved off to the kitchen area and began to search through the cupboards. I looked longingly at the bed for a moment, then realised what I really wanted. Turning on the shower as I entered, I draped the bath mat on the floor and unwrapped the fresh bar of soap on top of the clean white towels before pulling off my new Stable Twenty Five barding. Dropping it carelessly to the floor, I took a long breath and stepped into the shower.

Five seconds later I was curled up on the floor, crying my eyes out under the ice cold water.

* * *

“Did you sleep well?” I looked up listlessly from my bowl of cereal. Minor Wings had entered our room and I hadn’t even heard him. He stood there smiling for a moment in his barding before his ears dropped at my forlorn expression. “What’s wrong, Francium? Why didn’t you go with Foxglove to the Mess hall? We still manage a hot breakfast every day. Did you have porridge back in your stable. It’s quite tasty, especially with a little salt.” He pricked his ears up again, but they fell again as I just stirred my wheat flakes.

“She was gone by the time I woke up.” I took another spoonful and had it hovering just in front of my lips, but I just wasn’t interested. “And no. No porridge in Stable Seventeen. Apples, algae, berries, mushrooms, grapes and a few other things from time to time. That was it really.”

“Doesn’t sound too bad.” Minor Wings cautiously approached the table before slowly pulling out the opposite chair and sitting down. “What’s wrong, Francium? I don’t know what you have been through, but at the moment you are safe and warm, with food, fresh water, and a soft bed. Surely, you should be happy.”

“I think I’m happy. I have every right to be, but...” I dropped the spoon into the bowl with a whimper, rubbing my eyes with my hooves. “Foxglove, she has become so, I don’t know. She constantly thinks about death and dying. She suggested last night that we were bleeding to death on the elevator floor and that this was all some kind of happy fantasy of rescue and last comforts. A young mare like her should be full of joy and life and love and energy but,” I waved a hoof dramatically at the fake meadow behind me, “the wasteland has just broken her. No, not broken just… I don’t know, but it can’t be good for her. I want to help, but I just don’t know what to do.”

Minor Wings smiled hopefully back at me. “I am sure we can talk to her, find some way to help her out. But I will say, you could be over analysing this. Seeing things that aren't there, but,” he quickly changed his tone at my expression, “I’ll see what we can do anyway. Now come, let’s get you some proper food.”

* * *

“Feeling better?” Minor Wings cleared away my plate for me with a sweep of his wing, sliding it onto a passing trolley with practised ease. “So, do you like porridge?”

I looked up at him with a forced smile. “Yeah, I liked it. Salt makes it taste weird in my opinion, but to each their own.” He didn’t buy it. I decided to just steer away from the subject. “Can we go find Foxglove? I want to see her. I need to see her.”

Minor Wings nodded slowly. “Sure. We also have some things we would like you to take a look at. Your skill in engineering and mechanics far outstrip anypony here.”

Minor Wings held the door open for me and we proceeded towards the The Rise. “Yeah, what do you have in mind?”

“The reactor for a start. It’s still producing power, even after the accident, but we need to know what the real damage is. Then there are the lifts. They stopped working about twenty five years after the Stable was closed. No warning. No reason. If you can fix those, then that would be incredible. And finally,” Minor Wings stepped onto the one of the small flying platforms and opened the barrier, “the security cameras for the Stable went off line shortly after the accident. Last thing we have on record is a group of shapes at the main Stable door, and then everything went out.”

I said nothing. None of those sound good, but I was more focused on finding Foxglove and making sure I didn’t fall off Minor’s back as we climbed up to the top level of the stable.

“I think we should start looking in the rec-rooms.” Minor Wings began to lead me round the far side of The Rise. “It’s Sunday, so most of us have the day off.”

“Wow, it’s been a while since I had a proper day off,” I mumbled to myself.

“Can I ask what life has been like since you left your stable?” Minor Wings asked after a considered moment. “Clearly you’ve experienced some horrible things, but it can’t all have been bad, can it?”

I sighed and looked at my hooves tapping lightly against the plate steel floor. My eyes were drawn automatically to every fixture and fitting as I passed, examining them for damage or wear. I noticed a cluster of wall sockets and a badly routed water pipe which really needed seeing to, then I remembered it wasn’t my job to be fixing somepony else’s stable. So what if they had used the wrong bolt sizes and made the pipe double back on itself. So long as it worked it…

I collided head long into something. Dazed, I flopped back on my rump and looked up to see Indicia Quarter dripping with apple juice.

“Watch where you’re… oh it’s you.” She held out a hoof to help me up. “Well, I suppose I can let you off for this first indiscretion.” She did her best to pat herself down, but it didn’t do much other than rub the sticky liquid into her coat and mane.

“Sorry, I was just, thinking.” I curled my tail in, taking a step back.

“It’s fine. Really. I can go one day smelling of apples.” Indicia looked at my stance. “What's wrong mare? I told you not to worry.”

To my relief Minor Wings stepped in. “She isn’t feeling to good. We’re trying to find her companion, the young earth mare.”

“Oh, she’s in the Soft Room with Shade. Well she was when I dropped Indigo off at the playgroup. She may still be there if you’re quick.”

I smiled at her gratefully, still shuffling. “Thanks.”

“This way Francium.” Minor Wings set off and I followed. I couldn’t help but glance back at Indicia, and to my surprise she was doing the same to me.

The Soft Room was exactly what it said on the tin. It probably had a range of functions, from sport and exercise to relaxation, but at the moment the whole place was filled knee deep with soft hoof size balls in a rainbow of colour. The floor, which I couldn’t actually see as I waded through the squidgy rainbow, was soft and pliable. I expected, without the balls, the room would be great for martial arts practice or a game of hoof ball.

Young colts and fillies leapt and ran, scattering balls as they did so. A few mares and stallions stood at the edges keeping an eye on their little ones. In the far corner of the room, I spotted Foxglove sitting opposite Shade. For a moment I felt sad that they were alone, but, as I drew nearer, I saw their expressions. Neither of them were saying a word and yet both of them were smiling ecstatically at one another.

I made it all they way to Foxglove’s side before she looked round at me. “Hey Fran,” Foxglove said cheerfully. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah…” I replied looking between the two of them. “I wanted to talk to you. Serious talk.”

“Oh, what about?” I could tell I’d broken her happy demeanor.

“A range of things, but it can wait if you want.” I looked at Shade who was avoiding my eye. “What were you doing with Shade?”

Foxglove paused for a moment. She exchanged a meaningful glance with Shade before taking a deep breath. “I was showing her Stable Seventeen.”

I blinked. “How?”

“By just thinking about it. My room, the food hall, the Core, the views from the windows.”

“And you can recall it in enough detail for her to understand?” I asked, surprised.

“I can’t remember much, but I don’t need to. Shade can pick up more than just what I can remember.” Foxglove licked her lips, as though to savour her next words. “And even better, she can project it back, she can fill in all the little details. My room, my toys, my brothers, my sisters… my mother. She can bring them back!”

Foxglove smiled like she was the happiest mare alive. ‘That probably isn’t far off,’ my inner pony added but my focus was drawn to Minor Wings’ stunned expression.

“She can project images into your mind?” Shade coward behind Foxglove, peeking over her whither at Minor Wings “What did I say?”

“She’s always been able to do it,” Foxglove said slowly. “She’s just never had anyone worth sharing her life with.” Foxglove looked round to the young mare. “Shade, it’s ok. You dont need to be scared. Oh, you don’t want everyone to know. But they were ok with your mind reading, you don’t need to worry about this.”

“Foxglove, is she talking to you?” I asked cautiously. “Inside your head?”

“Talking… no. Communicating, yes.” She shook her head, as if trying to clear it. “It’s hard to explain.”

Minor Wings cut in. “But why did she cower?”

“Your first thought was the need to tell your mother.” Foxglove replied like she was struggling to read a book, her words slow and steady. “Once she knew, everypony would. She’s afraid of that.”

Minor Wings knelt on one knee to Shade. “You know you can’t hide it forever. Help us understand you. Let us know how we can help.”

Shade nodded and looked at Foxglove for support and was greeted by a gentle hug.

Foxglove held her tightly. “She still doesn’t want everyone to know, but she can see our reasoning. I think the best explanation is ‘In her own time and in her own way’.”

“Why isn’t she talking?” I whispered to Might Wings as Foxglove and Shade reengaged in silent conversation. “She hasn’t said a word since I we got here. ”

“She never talked much, even when she did talk. The last time I heard her talk was with her mother about four years ago.”

“Where is her mother now?” I asked, but I could see where this was going.

“She was killed by ghouls in one our expeditions to the lower levels. I haven’t heard her say a word since.” Minor Wings turned from her and Foxglove. “Come on, let’s go start on the reactor.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to start with the camera’s first?” Minor looked at me curiously. “Then we don’t have to go down there to see what may be wrong, and we can see where the ghouls are.”

Minor Wings nodded approvingly. “Good thinking. We don’t know if they still work, but if it can save us going down there blind every time, that would be great.”

* * *

The monitoring room on the top floor of the stable should have been in good condition. However,twenty years of abandonment had left it in a very shabby state. A plume of dust had risen as I swept the thick layer of dust from the banks of monitors and keyboards that occupied one whole side of the extensive room. I had been sat on the squeaky and stained office chair for over an hour, examining and familiarising myself with the system. Now I was sure I was interpreting all the information correctly I could begin to diagnose the problem. But that was easier said than done.

The deeper I delved into the security cameras last few minutes of operation, the more worried I became. Minor Wings had been watching me politely as I worked at the main console in the monitoring room, occasionally clearing cobwebs with a wave of his wing, but now he was looking at me intently as though he was expecting me to collapse from stress at any moment.

Thankfully, no pony had really touched the system since its sudden shut down, aside from the occasional system diagnostic which I could filter from the logs. After they were removed, I was left with five hundred and twelve video streams that just all blacked out simultaneously, with data loggings of voltage, current, temperature, focus and rotation in two axis which was just a string of numbers.

But it was these numbers that were bothering me. They were all identical. In fact, everything about every camera was identical right down to the incoming data of the blackness they were all supposedly recording.

I glared at the green CRT monitors before me thinking deeply. “Do you have a circuit diagram for the system?” I glanced over my shoulder at Minor wings who shrugged. “Would you mind tracking one down for me. In fact, if you’re looking for that kind of thing, grab the reactor plans and everything to do with the lifts while you’re at it.”

“I can set people on the search, yes. I’ll just pop outside and make the call.”

I waved a hoof as a thank you and considered my options. It was possible that the data storage for the cameras had been fried or corrupted, or that the incoming signals were being misinterpreted by the computer. I still didn’t know where all of the information for the cameras was being stored. The obvious place to look was in the large banks of metal cabinets that made up most of the room.

Getting to my hooves, I moved to the nearest one and carefully unbolted the pressed steel panel from the cabinet. Pulling it aside, I looked in and promptly dropped the panel.

Memory orbs. Banks of memory orbs; well I couldn’t think of what else they could be. Each resting in their own padded recess and connected to the system by arcs of light that lept up to arrays of metal pins on the bottom of the shelf above. The colour of the arcs was exactly like that of a plasma globe. I remembered placing my hooves on the surface of the ball and watching as deep blue energy lanced out and turned red just beneath the glass where my frogs made contact.

But there was something else. I had only ever seen two memory orbs and both had been a crystal like white. These were pure black. So black that they prevented the highly polished surface of the crystal from reflecting back almost any light. It was surreal, like each was its own black hole from which no light could escape.

I wanted to examine the balls more closely, but I knew the arcs were probably high voltage, or at least high energy. I didn’t want to get zapped if I could help it. I did consider just pulling it out with my magic but for all I knew it could conduct through my magic and get to me. After a moment of searching around, I found a tray at the bottom. Pulling it out revealed an array of labelled dip switches. The labels indicated what camera they were linked too, such as ‘Stable Door 01’, ‘Hangar bay 01’, ‘The Rise L1 01’ and so on.

I chose the top left switch, assuming it was linked to the top left orb, and gave it a flick. The energy arcs on the orb petered out, and I carefully pulled out the orb between my hooves. Besides the colour it was exactly the same size and weight as the other orbs I had encountered. To all intensive purposes, it was a normal memory orb.

“I managed to find the circuit diagram you… what is that.” Minor Wings stood in the doorway looking in confusion at the orb in my hooves.

“It looks like a memory orb. Seems to be the storage device for each camera.” I rolled it carefully in my hooves, checking it from every side.

Minor raised his eyebrow. “What’s a memory orb?”

“They’re used for storing memories so that they can be viewed later.” I placed it gently back in the cabinet an reactivated it. “I think they’re only intended for unicorns, but there may be a way for earth ponies and pegasi to view them too.”

Minor Wings shrugged. “So, do you think you can fix it?”

“I have no idea what is wrong.” I reattached the panel and turned to him with a sigh. “The circuit diagram may help, but for now I need to think on it. Let my mind mull it over. Shall we have a look at the lifts?”

“Sure, it’s just a few doors down.”

I turned off all the monitors and followed Minor down the corridor. The camera covering the corridor drew my eye and something occurred to me.

“How do you get the information into the orb?” I stood beneath the camera then carefully unbolted it from the wall before floating it down. “You’re not like the camera’s in Seventeen, that’s for sure. So how do you work.”

“Francium?” Minor Wings appeared next to me. “What are you doing?”

“I am just curious to see what is inside the camera itself.”

I tucked the bolts I removed into a pouch on my new barding. The pan and tilt mechanism was in the camera mount so I popped off the main case and blinked. Three lenses with tiny servos to change the focus, onto a tiny version of a memory orb but this one was the familiar crystalline white. I tipped the orb out onto my hoof to inspect it.

“Is that a normal memory orb?” Minor almost knocked the orb his muzzle was so close and he leant in to examine the tiny object.

“No, a normal orb is about six inches in diameter, this has to be less than two.” Rolling it carefully between my hooves, I gently dropped it back into its hole in the camera.

As I reattached the camera, I knew I was missing something. The cameras in Seventeen were standard electro-magical cameras that I knew were used in buildings all over Equestria, if the stables data base was to be trusted. However, they required a physical connection to the system they were part of to view the image. The fact there were no wires coming into the camera meant they required no power and that they didn’t need power to get the signal out. The only thing entering the camera’s was light which meant…

“The orbs must be linked to the orbs in the storage room… or maybe they were even part of them,” I muttered, ignoring Minor’s confused looks. “Light enters the surface of this orb and is somehow copied to the black orbs. But maybe they’re not supposed to be black. What if they are supposed to be clear. It would be like trying to view a memory when the person is wearing a blindfold. It would be only audio, but these cameras don’t do sound…”

Minor placed a firm hoof on my shoulder and turned me. “Francium. What is it?”

“The cameras still work. They were never broken. It’s like they have just been blindfolded. Somepony knows how to exploit the magic of a memory orb.”

“And what is that exactly?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, but remember when you said that all the camera’s went at the same time and that the last thing you saw on the cameras were a group of ponies at the front entrance.”

“Yes?” Minor prompted.

“Then perhaps one of those ponies was able to somehow infect your system to stop the cameras working. Once they had done that then they could have done whatever they wanted. They could have cut through the door, blown it open and you would never have known.” My mind was racing. If this was all true then the whole stable could be in danger but…

“Minor, when did the accident take place?”

“Maybe twenty years or so ago?” His worried tone made me look at him.

“And in that time nothing else has happened?”

“No.”

“And the cameras failed after the reactor accident?”

“Yes, the next day.”

Ok…

My mind continued to churn. The stable was some kind of storage experiment, why else would it have so many different areas and such a extensive and unique camera system. Perhaps somepony considered the standard equipment to easy to hack into so they devised this new method. If somepony knew about all the equipment stored in the stable then the chances of them trying to gain access to it would be very high. Even some of the most basic technology could give a massive advantage in the wasteland, and I was sure that the stable planners never included raiders in any of their calculations.

“Minor, is there an inventory of everything that is stored in the stable?”

“Yeah, we check it and monitor it constantly. The items we can get at anyway.” A few prods on the keyboard and I was met with the same interface that was used in Stable Seventeen to keep track of spare parts. “You can arrange it by almost anything. Materials, cost, date of manufacture, location of manufacture, type.” He let me take the seat and I began to scroll through the options.

“The areas we can’t get to are all the pre-war Celestia era sections and the vehicle section on the bottom floor. Here,” He arranged the list by date last checked. “All these items we haven’t been able to log and sign off since the accident.”

“Can you add more than one filter?” I asked, “There is still a lot here.”

“Sure, what do you want to add.”

“Get rid of anything you can check, the arrange what is left by cost. If you were going to steal something it would probably be expensive for one reason or another. And then can you arrange it by type alphabetically just to make it a little easier to read.”

“Ok… there you go.” Minor stepped back and let me scroll through. “I am not sure what we have that somepony would want. Most of the interesting and dangerous stuff is on the upper levels; weapons and that kind of thing.”

“Hmmm… “ I replied nothing really listening.

19Y 8M 7D - 30’000’000 - Agriculture - Baler

19Y 8M 7D - 30’000’000 - Agriculture - Combine Harvester

19Y 8M 7D - 30’000’000 - Agriculture - Tractor A - Hydraulic arm

19Y 8M 7D - 30’000’000 - Agriculture - Tractor B - Hydraulic Forks

19Y 8M 7D - 17’000’000 - Business - RAID Array - Blueprints

19Y 8M 7D - 17’000’000 - Business - Computer Array - Blueprints

“Can you remove civilian equipment?” I asked “We still have over three thousand results.”

Minor looked at me cautiously. “What is it, what do you think they have taken?”

“I… I don’t know, just do it, please.”

The screen finished updating and I looked down. The list was much much shorter.

“There you go.” Minor smiled. “Most of the military stuff is on the upper levels. The only things that are down below are the experiments and the vehicles. Fran… Fran are you ok?”

“You said you have vehicles, right?” I mumbled. “Where are they stored?”

“There is a hanger on the bottom floor, through a set of doors. Opposite the lift you fell down.”

“Do you have access to it now?”

“No, the doors sealed during the accident. Why? Fran? Fran?”

Author's Notes:

Just merged part 1 and 2 together to keep things neat!

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