"Not one step backwards! If they want this city, their going through US first!"

Rubble.

That is what remains of the City of Stalliongrad. I swung my helmeted head around, aiming my headlamp's into an alleyway. A cloaked figure cringed and scooted further into the alley. A Ghoul most likely, but my E.F.S marked it as friendly. I learned quickly not to question my armor's computer.

It's a whole lot smarter than me, that's for certain.

Continuing down the street, I stepped around or in some cases through, the trash and debris that littered the streets. I'm not a fan of above ground patrol, never have been, never will be, the dead city gave me the creeps. Sometime's I swore that I was being followed by the ghosts of the Pony's who died here.

The air that filtered through my suit's re-breather tasted bitter and stale, and dim light filtered through my visor. My suit assured me that the air was breathable as long as I kept my helmet on, but I longed to pull it off and breath real, unfiltered air, If only just for a second. As if my suits computer knew what I was thinking, an air toxicity warning flashed across my vision and a little animated filly put her hoof over her muzzle and shook her head.

Sighing, I chinned the control for my radio and spoke. "This is patrol four to command..." There was usually a decent sized delay from me speaking and Command responding. The fact that my superior's were deep underground probably had something to do with that.

"Patrol four this is Command, what do you have?" Came the static laced response. "Nothing but toxic air and a possible Ghoul." I replied. The line cut to static, and a low signal warning flashed on my display. Frowning, I held very still, the slightest movement could sever the connection altogether. The radio screeched, and the garbled response came through. "Return....base..."

I turned, and the signal disappeared. The little filly held a headset to her ear and scowled. Whoever designed the computer's on this thing sure had a sense of humor.

I trotted at a brisk pace towards the entrance to Silo 4, my home. It took awhile, and the feeling of being followed never left me. Maybe I'm paranoid, but so what? Being paranoid was better than being dead.

The entrance to the Silo glowed, automatically highlighted by the armor. I punched in the password, a difficult feat with an armored hoof, and the door opened, creaking and groaning in protest.

I switched off my headlamps and walked down the musty hallway. Ceiling mounted sentry guns followed me the whole way. I didn't like those things, and I had the feeling they didn't like me either.

Walking through another set of double door's, I was greeted by a tired looking Mare, Lily I think her name was. "Welcome back..." She said with a slight grin as she moved to help me out of my armor. The helmet came off first. I blinked and breathed in the Silo's dry air. "Good to be back."

Getting into my armor was pretty easy, but getting out of it was a pain. Thankfully we had a robot that could hold me up and take my armor off for me. The thing kept pinching me.

Machine's and I don't get along most of the time.

The door slid open, and a neon green Stallion ran in, a goofy look plastered on his face. "Aw, did I miss it?" He asked as the Robot set me down.

"Miss what Sparky?" I grumbled as I stretched my sore limbs. He gave a foal like chuckle and put his arm around my neck. "Seeing you get undressed by that robot, it's like watching a present get unwra-WHOOF!"

I cut him off with a hoof to the gut. Sparky was my best friend, but by Celestia he was a pain. He laughed and wheezed at the same time. "Ahh, are you going to give me a bruise every time I hit on you?"

"Yep."

"Your a Bi-OUCH!"

Later that night I was stretched out on my bunk staring at the clock mounted above me, its soft green glow was the only source of light in my room. A double tap on the wall surprised me out of my near stupor.

Tap-Tap.

It was Sparky, tapping on the other side of the wall, asking to come over.

Tap-Tap.

With a small grin, I tapped my response.

Tap-Tap-Tap.

Not a minute later, my door slid open and Sparky ran in and jumped on my bed. "Hey Ice, guess what, I-" A crimson glow surrounded him, and he floated off away from me. My other, and only other, best friend Whirlwind stood back and grinned, her horn glowing the same color as the aura that surrounded Sparky.

"Thanks Whirl." I said with a small laugh. Whirlwind smiled and tossed Sparky like a sack of potatoes. He landed on his hooves and gave us a fake hurt look. "Aww, I can't even get a sentence out before I get punched or thrown, why do I even hang out with you guy's?"

"Cause we're the only ponies in this Silo that will put up with you." Whirlwind stated bluntly. Sparky just shrugged. "Meh, good point."

The night dragged on as we talked about anything that came to mind. The food here, other ponies here, how much the food sucked here, how much the other ponies here annoyed us, our experiences above ground...

There wasn't much else to talk about, but that was fine by me.

"Do you guy's ever wonder whats beyond the horizon?"

The question caught me by surprise, and it made Sparky shut up for more than thirty seconds. An admirable feat indeed.

Whirlwind looked at me and Sparky expectantly before repeating the question. "Do you guy's ever wonder what's beyond the horizon?" She said, more force behind the question this time.

"Like...beyond the mountains?" Sparky said quizzically. "Nothing, I thought that was obvious..." Whirl shot him a look and looked at me.

To be honest, the thought never really crossed my mind..."Wasteland, just like what's above us I guess..." By the look on Whirls face, she didn't agree with either of us. "What if it's not wasteland? What if it's bright and green, like in the books!" Whirl said, growing excited.

Now that was a thought...from what we learned in class, the rest of Equestria was hit far worse than us...the odd's of Whirls suggestion being true where pretty slim...

But the thought was still there.

"Maybe I can talk command into..." Whirlwind said, her tone excited.

"No way!" Sparky cut in, his eyes wide. "Command would stick you in the Psych Ward! Even if the didn't, they would never agree to let you, or us, go!"

Whirl bit her lip and looked down. No matter how much it hurt, and how annoying the fact that Sparky had said it, it was the truth. Ponies who wanted to leave generally weren't appreciated, and were thrown into the mental ward until they changed their mind, willingly...

Or by force.

Sitting up, I gave Whirl a caring hug. "Maybe someday Command will consider letting us go...but not today, or even tomorrow...." I said, my tone softer than I usually allow it to be.

Whirl nodded. "Yeah...I guess..." Her tone was even, but I could tell she was disappointed that we weren't supporting her idea.

Love hurts.

Sparky left first, then Whirl not long after him. Alone once more, I started to fall asleep, Whirlwind and Sparky's words bouncing around in my head.

What was beyond the horizon?

Why did Whirl really want to leave? It wasn't just curiosity.

...

Maybe...no. No way. Unless there was a damn good reason to send a group out.

Despite the fact that things were starting to fall apart here, I could find no reason why a pony would even need to leave. We were safe here.

And unless something went horribly, horribly wrong, that wasn't going to change.

Level Up!

Name: Iceheart

Strength: 9
Perception: 6
Endurance: 8
Charisma: 7
Intelligence: 6
Athleticism: 8
Luck: 5

Perk unlocked: Armor Pro.
Years of working with power armor has given you advanced knowledge on how it works and how to use it. This perk applies to all variants of power armor.