Chapter 12: I Have But One Desire

There’s something about Stables that make you feel safe and calm. The lights all a low, sun-like glow, the smooth walls, bedrooms and apartments designed to keep families close together. Everything designed by some of the brightest minds of the war-era. All of it was designed to make you think one thing, or at least to make you forget. They wanted you to forget that everything you knew, everything you loved, and everything you thought you understood was gone and burning in the balefire we brought upon ourselves. Maybe they’d forgotten, like we all had, that we used to be different. We’d forgotten ponies used to nice, they’d forgotten ponies became killers. When these Stable ponies saw us, they remembered something alright.

Luna’s barrel was still smoking when the yelling started. A small colt was screaming at the pony I’d shot. He hadn’t been anyone at all as far as I could see now. His hooves clutched at the bullet wound in his chest, his dark purple coat become matted and clotted with blood. The colt tried to run towards him, but a similarly coated mare grabbed him in a strong embrace, turning him away. Starburst stood there, stunned I’m sure. He wasn’t a killer. That was my job now.

“Drop your weapons!” A mare’s voice screamed from the room in front of us. I looked to see two ponies I hadn’t seen before, each of them holding 10mm pistols in their magical grips. Each of them had the armor of security officers. Emblazoned on their haunch was the number 21, Stable 21. My eyes caught theirs, but they didn’t know me at all. I figured I should show them something, teach them a lesson. In a moment I knew them inside and out. The stallion to the mare’s right, he was taller and tan colored, coat and mane, his gun wavered, he was weak. The mare, short and stocky, blue coat, white tipped mane, she didn’t waver at all. She’d be trouble if she could aim. Or had morals about not killing, even though we’d already acted first. The rest of the ponies weren’t moving at all, the only emotion their faces betrayed was anger.

Starburst looked like he was trying to speak. His mouth opening and closing, wagging his tongue like it mattered anymore. I used to think talking worked magic, but some magic only gets cast in a metal casing with gunpowder. Hell, that’s probably the magic working. I heard the tap of the muzzle of Rimfire’s gun against the metal floor the hallway. I don’t blame her, not now at least.

“Put down your guns,” the mare demanded. She was looking only at me. It didn’t take much to assume that Bolt wasn’t in any shape to do shooting right now.

“No,” I said.

“Now!” she screamed.

“Don’t yell at me,” I said calmly, at least what I thought was calmly.

“Don’t start this, Short,” Starburst said, finally finding his balls, “You can worry about your feelings later.”

“I’m not going to ask again, kid,” the mare said again. I knew she’d keep asking so I cocked back the hammer of the Luna, I’d leave the Cloudsdale for now. I aimed the gun at the stallion. His eyes widened in fright.

“I’m not a kid,” I said.

“Put down the gun, we don’t need to spill any blood,” she said, stammering a few of the words. “You need to make the right choice.”

“It’s been a long time since I made a bad one,” I said smoothly. I flicked the gun. “Why don’t you drop yours?”

“That’s not how this goes down,” she said. Her eyes narrowed at me, she was getting to the end of her rope.

“We could both drop our guns,” I suggested.

“I like half that offer.” My mouth curled into a frown.

“Do you like your deputy?”

“He’s my best friend,” she said defensively.

“I’ll shoot him if you don’t put down your gun,” I said finally.

“You’ll kill us all,” she said.

“No we won’t,” Starburst said. “We’re not like that.”

“You shot him,” the stallion said, he’d found his words too. Calmly, without trying to agitate the mare more, I slowly put the Cloudsdale in its hoof-holster. With the spare magic I reached back, into my bag, and pulled out my last healing potion. I uncorked it and started to pour the red contents down the stricken stallion’s throat. He coughed a little, but he stopped writhing in agony. Ten seconds later he stood up and backed away to his colt.

“Are we so bad now?” I asked.

“You might shoot him again,” the mare said. I sneered.

“Now you’re just looking for reasons to shoot me or get shot. Can we be amicable or not?” The mare’s gun hovered in front of her for what felt like eternity. Finally, with a grunt, she put the gun back in her side holster. The stallion and I followed suit. “Now, let’s introduce ourselves.”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” The stallion who’d been healed asked, his jumpsuit was caked with dried blood. Behind him I could see is colt still trying to get close to him, but a mare, probably his mother, was keeping him back.

“Official Ministry business,” I said sarcastically.

“Tell us,” the stallion said.

“What’s it to you?” I asked.

“Because,” he said angrily, “You're strangers... in a Stable. That’s reason enough to ask you what in hell you’re doing here. Add on the fact that you shot me,” he emphasized the fact that I’d shot him, “I think it’s really fair.”

“We’re going to fix the broadcasting system,” Rimfire spoke up. “Do you know where it is?”

“Haven’t seen anything like that in the Stable,” a mare sitting at a table said. The stallion shot her a dirty glance. “It’s true,” she muttered bitterly.

“There’s no reason not to help us,” Starburst said.

“There’s plenty of reasons,” the security mare said.

“Any good ones?” I asked. “Look, we’ll be out of your manes if you’ll just tell us how to get to the broadcast system.”

“Who even are you?” the stallion asked. We introduced ourselves. The security mare's name was Minty, the stallion was Butch. The stallion I’d shot was the Overstallion, his name was Central, and it was his son’s birthday.

“I know this is a bad time for you,” Starburst said to Central. Central had taken us and his two security officers outside in the hallway.

“Bad time is one way to describe it,” he said.

“How has this Stable stayed locked?” Rimfire asked. “Enclave and NER frequently come through this side of New Pegasus.”

“New Pegasus?” Minty asked.

“Don’t you know what’s going on outside?” Starburst asked. He should have known the answer, I thought, it’s obvious they don’t.

“No,” she said, shaking her head.

“What’s it like?” Butch asked. I looked at him dumbfounded.

“Tell us about the broadcaster,” I said, “Then we might talk more.”

“Why are you interested in that old thing?” Central asked. He sounded angry, but curious.

“That’s hard to explain,” Starburst said. “200 years is a long time.”

“Damnit! What is wrong with you four?” Central exclaimed.

“Fine,” Starburst said. “The San Palomino Steel Ranger base was attacked while the four of us went to go kill a drug-lord in the ruins of Manehattan. To see if I could know anything about the attack I went to see DJ-Pon3, the last DJ in Equestria, he’s lived since the war. His assistant let us ride in a fast train here, but to use it we had to promise to fix the broadcaster. Does that help?” Central looked away from Starburst’s gaze.

“I guess,” he said.

“What you think happens out there is wrong. Now can we get some information?” He caught Starbursts gaze again.

“Sure,” Central said. “The broadcaster is at the top floor of the building. I don’t know if it got destroyed or not during the bombing.”

“Have you checked the building at all in the last few years?” Starburst asked.

“Nope,” Minty answered for him.

“Why not?” I asked.

“We’re locked in,” Central said.

“What!” I screamed. I was sure the ponies inside the room heard, but I didn’t care. “You mean we’re stuck in here?”

“Show us the door,” Starburst demanded.

“Ponies, please,” Central said, trying to calm us.

“Now,” Rimfire said, finishing Starburst’s sentence. Central glowered sadly. He lead us through the Stable. We saw a few ponies walking around and when they saw us in our strange armor and gear they tended to find some other place to be. Eventually we made it to the Stable door. A great gear embedded into the wall.

“When’s the last time you tried to open it?” I asked.

“A couple of years ago,” he said, “Before I became the Overstallion. The Overmare at the time wanted to see if we could leave the Stable yet but she couldn’t get the door to open.”

“Maybe you did it wrong,” I said. I walked to the door console and started to work on it.

“She knew what she was doing,” Central said abruptly.

“Could be,” I said. Everything on the console looked good so I enter the code to open the door. A small arm extended from the ceiling, ending in a long screw. The screw met up with and entered into the Stable door, but it didn’t secure itself or move the door. I pressed the final button again to no help. “What the...,” I said.

“I told you,” Central said, “Why didn’t you believe me?” Maybe I hadn’t wanted to believe him, I still didn’t. I entered the code on the console again, twice, three times. Every time it fizzled into nothing.

“Can we do it with magic?” I asked.

“You don’t think we tried?”

“I’m sure you tried,” I conceded, “But maybe you did it wrong!”
“You think we don’t know what we’re doing? Do you even know what we do here?” Central exploded.
“No, enlighten us, oh brilliant Overstallion,” I said sarcastically.
“We create megaspells,” he said calmly. My skin tightened and I could feel my pulse quicken. Megaspells? We were a thought away from annihilation. I waited for him to retract his statement, to tell us he was joking, but he stood still, looking at me, judging me. Even his security officers looked uncomfortable at the mention of megaspells. Starburst was the one to speak first.
“Rimfire,” he said to the mare, “Take a look at the door mechanism; see if you can work on it. Keep Bolt with you.” He turned to the Overstallion. “Take me and Short to your facilities.”
I turned to him, astounded. “They could blow us up to Cloudsdale!” I reminded him a little louder than I should have. He turned sharply towards me.
“Are you stupid?” he asked accusingly. “Do you honestly think they’d blow us up just because we want to talk? Do you think they’d blow up everyone they know and love?” I didn’t have an answer.
“Why do you want to see it?” Central asked. Starburst stood proudly in his Steel Ranger armor.
“I’m a Steel Ranger, sir. One of the Ministry of Wartime Technologies finest creations, it is our duty to find and protect all technological knowledge,” Starburst said. “Even if it’s what got us here in the first place.” Central nodded.
“Come this way,” he said.
There weren’t many ponies who didn’t shudder at the idea of megaspells. The memory could still hurt, even if you didn’t have any real reason to be afraid. Regardless, fear clenched at my belly like it hadn’t for a long time. I kicked myself in the head for letting myself at this way, but even though I still didn’t stop myself.
The megaspell facility was huge, and as far as I could tell, in the direct center of the facility. It was circular with many different levels, each connected with stairs around the central column, which was open. Twenty or so unicorns of different colors were working throughout the building. Starburst, Central, and I stood on the top ring. There were three other floors.
“What is it?” Starburst asked.
“It was an experimental megaspell ring.”
“Was?” I asked.
“It works now,” he explained.
“What does it do?” Starburst asked.
“We can use it to cast megaspells all over Equestria and further,” Central said. I stepped towards on the walls. It was filled with complex magical inscription. Every couple of feet was a console outputting lengthy data. It made my head swirl. “Don’t try reading those,” he said to me, “it takes years to read it as it outputs.”
“What kind of megaspells?” Starburst asked. “And why this? Here?” Central looked nonplussed and shrugged.
“All kinds of megaspells. We have one which outputs massive healing waves, we’ve got a balefire strike, too. Other than that we have a Singularity and a Wet-one. The megaspell ring allows for multiple megaspells to be stored in one place. Here? Where else do you think we could put this? And why ask me? I didn’t make it.” I stepped toward the inner circle and glanced up. It must have gone straight up for one hundred feet, and then stopped in a shut metal gate. The ceiling above us seemed to open up, as if this entire room could move up it.
“Can you open that?” I asked Central.
“It only opens during firing procedures,” he said calmly.
“Start it,” I said.
“Short, are you out of your mind?” Starburst asked, his voice rising.
“No, this thing’s an elevator, if we start launching one, it should bring us up to the roof of the building maybe,” I said.
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Central scoffed. I got in close to him.
“You couldn’t even open the damn door,” I reminded him. “Get Rimfire and Bolt,” I said to Starburst.
“You’re out of your mind,” he said to me. “What the fuck’s gotten in to you?” I stopped briefly, Starburst rarely cursed, but I couldn’t let him stop me. Not now, not when I could save us.
“You need to trust me,” I begged him. He started shaking his head slowly. “Fine, go see how she’s doing on the door. Tell me it’s fixed, tell me she knows what she’s doing. Then bring her back here when you realize this is the only way.” He turned and sighed heavily.
“What happened to you,” he mumbled, walking out the door. I turned my attention back to Central.
“You need to activate this thing,” I said to him.
“Are you telling me to just launch a megaspell? Do you have any idea what that could mean?”
“You haven’t been out there! You don’t know anything! And you’re trying to lecture me? I can’t count ten places off the top of my head that could use a good balefire bomb. What I’m doing is the difference between Equestria surviving and Equestria thriving!”
“You’re insane!” he screamed.
“Listen to me!” I yelled back.
“You’d kill us all,” he spat in my face. Instinctively I pulled out my revolver and whipped it across his face.
“You’re right,” I admitted, “I would kill every. Single. One of you if it meant I could save the lives of my friends. A stallion sent a hit squad after me that hurt my good mare-friend and I walked a week just to shoot him in the head.” It looked like he wasn’t getting the message. “Everything you thought you knew about the outside is wrong. Only the strong survive, only I survive.” He looked at me, true fear in his eyes, like a pony staring down a rabid Ursa.
“W-why?” he stammered.
“Because I damn well can, so I think I will,” I said. I heard the sliding door open and I holstered my gun. Starburst walked in with a frown, followed by an equally unhappy Rimfire and Bolt. “Well?” I asked.
“It didn’t work,” Rimfire said. “Some part of the mechanism is gone, I can’t fix it.” I turned back to Central.
“Would you like to hear some good targets?” I asked gleefully.
“I think there’s a sickness in your brain,” he muttered so only I could hear.
“Didn’t quite here that,” I lied. Central walked past me toward the edge of the ring, in the middle.
“Start launch procedure!” He yelled. “This is not a drill!” He took the stairs three at a time to the lower level, still shouting as he descended.
“How the hell did you convince him? Starburst asked. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Why can’t you trust me?” I asked him. He shut his eyes tight.

“No,” he said, “This isn’t just a normal thing, Short” He opened his eyes. When he talked the words of Central could barely be heard, he must have been on the bottom ring by now.

“I wouldn’t lead you astray,” I said.

“What are you talking about? Megaspells?” Bolt asked. Starburst filled him in. Central bounded up the stairs, arriving on our landing gasping for air.

“What’s the target?” he asked.

“What did he do to put you up to this?” Starburst asked Central, but Central ignored him.

“Target?” Central asked Short again.
~~~~

“You can’t fire that thing!” I yelled at the two stallions in front of me. Short didn’t acknowledge me.

“What spell are you casting?” he asked Central.

“It depends on the target. In all likelihood we’ll use the healing spell.” Short contemplated his options.

“Balefire Point,” Short said.

“Stop this, Central,” I demanded the Overstallion.

“I can’t,” he said bitterly. To Short he asked, “Where’s Balefire Point?” Short smiled devilishly.

“I’ll show you on a map,” he answered plainly, as if he wasn’t about to reveal the terrible powers here in New Pegasus. Central took Short down to a different level of the Ring. I turned to Rimfire and Bolt.

“He’s gone mad,” I said. Rimfire was stunned, Bolt looked like she didn’t know what to make of the situation. “What can we do?”

“Nothing,” Rimfire said grimly. She had a thousand-yard stare in her eyes, as if she wasn’t even seeing the room we stood in. A room that held all the deadly capabilities Equestria had held in it’s hooves not so long ago. “How could we stop him?” I lay my head on the metal railing. I heard some ponies down below us begin to chant while the sound of rushing hooves could be heard coming up. Five ponies in white coats leapt up the stairway and positioned themselves around the topmost ring we were on. Short poked his head up on the level.

“Come with me,” he said.

“Fuck off, Short,” Rimfire said. “You’ve done some shit before, but this-” She was cut short as the lights in the roomed blackened, only for the grating of metal on metal to the fill the room. Above us I could see the top of the silo opening, revealing a blue sky above. The Rings jolted and started to rise through the cylinder.

“We’re going to be fine,” Short promised, his grin was almost intoxicating, like I wanted to grin along with him. But not this time, rage built in my belly. He’d said healing megaspell too. Why could I be so mad at him for? In one short moment he was going to reveal to the world that New Pegasus still had megaspells. The Enclave would know in moments, doubtless that they watched this city relentlessly especially now the base was destroyed. Short had ruined so much, given the enemy so much.

“No, you’re not,” I said. He shot me a look of disbelief.

“I’m the finest I’ve ever been.” The elevator was nearing the top of the cylinder. I could almost see the clouds that formed out past the desert. “Maybe I can show you how to be happy, Starburst.” He reached for his gun casually, and I know that’s what saved me. I kicked off with my hind legs, a powerful shoulder blow hitting Short and knocking him to the railing. His gun, the Luna, slipped and fell down the center of the rings. The elevator stopped in it’s tracks, shuddering and jolting to a stop.

“You’ll pay for that,” he sneered into my ear. I almost didn’t hear it over the now reverent chanting of the ponies from the Stable who began casting the megaspell. A large green orb began to float lazily above the center of the rings. The orb glowed with a sickly shine. Short used my distraction to push me off him. He wasn’t as strong as me and couldn’t move me much with the weight of the power armor. I charged back into him as he drew the pistol tied to his foreleg. He’d reared up on his hind legs and I caught him in the belly. He went toppling over the edge, but he caught one of the railings in support, both his fore legs wrapped around it for dear life.

“Is this what we’ve become?” he asked. “Animals?” He was frantic, sweat pouring down his face. “You used to be sensible.”

“You used to be sensible too,” I responded in kind. Before I could bring my hooves down on his, the megaspell launched. The orb arced in the sky towards the North, towards Balefire Point. I watched it leave a trail of green ichor through the pale blue. A mile above the ground of Balefire Point the orb erupted. I heard somepony shout, it could have been Central.

“We cast the wrong spell,” the pony screamed, his voice cracking at the top of his lungs. I looked back at the blast zone, but nothing could be seen beyond a flash of light brighter than anything I’d ever seen before. I knelt down, looking away, and covered my eyes. It was quick thinking that I managed to stuff my head into my helmet before the shockwave hit, tossing me unconscious.

I opened my eyes some time later. The screen of my helmet was cracked, I couldn’t see any of the display, just what was in front of me. I was back in the cylinder where the elevator had been before it was raised. I rolled over to my back. The Rings had come off the tracks on one side and was jammed into the silo, locking it near the top. I strained my ears to hear something, anything, but I couldn't. The floor around me was covered with rubble and dead bodies. I spotted the box of repair parts for the broadcast, but it had cracked open during the fall, maybe it had cushioned me and that’s why I was alive right now. Grimly I reflected on that, I wouldn’t be alive for long, nopony survived this many RADs. At least the Ring was destroyed, but I had to do one more thing.

Getting to my legs was an ordeal. My bones felt like jelly and I felt like puking, but I couldn’t take my helmet off, it might be the only thing keeping me alive right now. I couldn’t be sure but I hoped I was getting doses of Rad-X and Radaway they would give me enough time. The power armor I wore gave me the strength to stand. I found a maintenance hatch and crawled through, crawling down passage after passage.

I don’t know how long I crawled or how far, but I saw room after room of the Stable and the building itself. It looked like the Stable hadn’t been secure after all, if only Short had waited. I wished I’d seen his body, just to know that bastard was dead. I bit back the tears, now wasn’t the time. Eventually out of sheer exhaustion I exited the ducts into a large, circular room, topped with a dome. The room was filled with hardware, and I knew it had to be the broadcaster, it just had to be.

Summoning all the will I had left I got to my hooves and trudged to the center console. Every step felt like the culmination of every step I’d taken in my life. I looked the console over and checked it twice, no button stood out except for a red switch off to the side. I flicked it with a hoof, sapping me of a surprising amount of energy. The machine hummed to life.

Laughing, I fell on my side. A coughing fit accompanied the laughter and I felt wetness coat my mouth inside the helmet.

“Pon3,” I said deliriously, not sure if anypony could or would ever hear me. “I fixed it. There wasn’t power. Don’t tell about... New Pegasus.... not safe anymore... sickness... death.” My visions faded in and out, images swirled through my vision. Soap, Rimfire, Short, Homage, all of them danced through my sight, begging me to dance with them. A pony thinks about a lot when he’s sure he’s bought the ticket, kicked the bucket, said his last. The what-ifs, the could-haves, the might-bes. All of them torture the mind and clench the belly in fear.

“Starburst?” I heard a thick, masculine pony voice come through my speakers with static interference. I could barely make out what he was saying.

“Dan...ger,” I said slowly. “Can’t talk... long.”

“What happened?” He asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I think.... I liked Ho... mage,” I made out. He didn’t say anything for what felt like a long time, but to the dying, anything is a long time.

“She liked you too,” P0n3 said flatly. I smiled a little, it was nice to know.
END OF CHAPTER