> Fallout Equestria: Magnum Opus
>  by Rusty_Kettle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Another day in paradise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Chapter One: Another day in paradise



Ever since I was a filly, I had been taught balance.

It was the strongest force that ruled over this world. Harmony and Chaos, the magical and the mundane, even something as immutable as life and death. Balance ruled all, and it ruled equally. Nothing could truly be attained without something of equal value being offered in return. And if not given willingly, it would be swiftly taken by force.

I had been taught of the terrible things that transpired in the past, of a war waged with weapons of unimaginable power. And, of course, of the devastation that they left in their wake. But I was also taught everything I would need to know to make things right once more and restore the balance. For all the chaos created, order had risen to challenge it. And for each of the horrors that we knew lurked on the surface, a hero had been prepared.

Here, in stable 75, heroes were made.

Training started from the moment we could walk. And it was a brutal regime. Our bodies were pushed to their limits time and time again. Be it in strength, endurance, or agility, there was no test we couldn't clear. And as we got older, more and more facets were added to our training. Fully transforming us into shining gems of unmatched power and ability.

Once we were big enough to hold a firearm or our horns developed enough to cast spells beyond simple telekinesis, target practice and applied magic classes joined our schedules. All in an effort to turn each and every one of us into the future saviors of the surface.

Our progress was closely monitored by our beloved grown-ups, the ‘research team’, as they called themselves. Day and night we knew that they were watching our every movement, ensuring that we were at the peak of our abilities. It was one of the stable’s mantras, after all, ‘If you aren’t the best, ponies will die’. And that was why we trained hard, to be the very best. And I was the very best. I could run faster, jump higher, and shoot better than any of my peers. My magical prowess only matched by few if any, and, of course, my above-average intelligence helped greatly to stay at the top of any and all scoreboards.

There was a slight problem, however: I still didn’t have a cutie mark.

To say that a pony as old as me still not having a cutie mark was unusual would be an understatement. My flank was infamous for continuously baffling the researchers with its vehement refusal to produce a mark. For the last year or so the research team had started to become increasingly impatient, to the point where I had been ordered to report to the medical bay daily. Hey, you never knew! Maybe I’d get a cutie mark for getting my flank poked with a glass rod.

Stable 75’s empty hallways greeted me when the door to the fillies dorm opened. It was still too early for the stable’s shift from night to day mode, so the hallway was only illuminated by an eerie blue glow. I glanced back at all the fillies who still slept peacefully in their bunks, my own bunk calling out for me to return to its warm embrace.

Come on Black Light, you need to set the example. I thought. It would do the younger fillies no good if their role model were to just ignore her orders. While not having a cutie mark prevented me from graduating, it still gave me the unique responsibility of making sure all the fillies stayed in line. This was evidenced by the fact that I had one of those fancy leg computers that the researchers loved tapping at, a PipBuck, as they called it. 

While it had basically everything I could need to help me in performing my special duties, from name lists to timetables and even maps of the stable, it was rather inconvenient to use. Whoever thought that a device that required you to stop in your tracks and lift it up to your face to read it was a good idea should’ve been fired. 

In any case, today’s timetable had a small section at the top that was marked as only applying to me. It read the exact same thing it had read for over a year: ‘Report to the medical bay for checkup’.

I groggily made my way through the stable’s halls, the low humming of machinery and my own echoing hoofsteps were the only sounds that could be heard. It was as if I were spelunking through the guts of some colossal metal creature. But I didn’t feel frightened by it in the slightest, for this was no monster, it was just good ol’ stable 75. I loved my stable, and I knew it loved me back. Yet while I hated the thought, I knew that eventually the day would come when I’d have to leave it behind as a graduate. All I needed was for my damned flank picture to finally show up.

Not like I don’t want to get my cutie mark! I thought as I stormed angrily through the stable. It was unfair! Had I not done everything I could to get it? I tried all sorts of different activities and my unique talent still refused to appear. Between my white coat and brown mane, my bank flank did little to remedy my ‘average’ appearance. The only unique things about me were my red eyes. Well… that and my rather curious striped coat pattern, which was so faint that sometimes I was sure that the researchers were just saying it to make me feel better.

I turned my head to look at my flank furiously and saw my pristine white coat, still void of any talent. My brooding, however, would have to stop for the time being, for I had arrived at the entrance to the clinic. Three knocks reverberated off the steel door, which were shortly answered by the gruff voice of Quick Check.

“Black Light?” He asked.

“Yes,” I answered simply. I really wanted to ask who else could be knocking at the clinic door this early in the morning, but I knew better than to speak out of line.

The door slid open, revealing the stallion in question. A yellow earth pony who wore a lab coat over his stable 75 barding, his stare was that of a pony who had just woken up and hadn’t had the chance to drink their morning coffee yet. But he still gave me a warm smile and gestured for me to walk into the clinic.

Most ponies dreaded having to be here, since it usually involved being wounded or needing to get samples taken for study, neither of which were exactly comfortable experiences. I had once dreaded it, but after having to drag myself out of bed early day after day to come here I had become rather desensitized to it. The clinic itself wasn’t much to look at either, just a medium room with half a dozen empty medical beds near the far wall, and a long row of light blue cabinets stretched to the sides of the door. In the middle of the far wall, there was an adult door, the blue line along its middle marking it as such and forbidding entry to any of the younger ponies.

“How are you feeling today?” Quick Check asked, his eyes fixed on his PipBuck screen.

“I’m doing great, no cutie mark yet,” I deadpanned.

The earth pony muttered something as he took notes on his PipBuck. 

“Good to know. Would you be a dear and stand over here, please,” He said, gesturing at a dark gray tile on the floor.

I walked onto the tile and turned to face the doctor again, watching as he opened a cabinet to retrieve some tools. It was a rather funny thing how, despite being at least two decades younger, I was almost as tall as him. He wasn’t even a short stallion, I was just a very tall filly.

“Okay, let’s see,” Quick Check said, donning a pair of round glasses and walking up to my side.

The stallion lifted a hoof and pressed it against my blank flank, pulling my coat aside enough to look at the skin beneath. I couldn’t stop my rear leg from twitching at the tickling sensation.

“No irritation, coat looks normal,” The doctor said aloud, “Do you feel any tenderness or pain?”

“No, nothing,” I answered, same as I had for years.

“No tingling sensation when you use magic?” The second question came.

I lit up my horn, keeping it wrapped in my crimson magic for a moment while I focused on my flank.

“Nothing,” I repeated, letting the magic fade.

Quick Check stepped back for a moment, taking notes on his PipBuck. I noticed how he had stuck several sticky notes to his screen, as if he didn’t have enough space to write inside the thing! At least it gave his PipBuck a more unique flair, as opposed to my plain and boring one.

“What’s wrong with me, doc?” I asked, my ears drooping.

The yellow stallion looked up from his screen and gave me a warm smile.

“Nothing is wrong with you, Black Light, you can’t choose when you get your cutie mark. I was a late bloomer too,” He explained, pulling up his lab coat to reveal his own cutie mark, a glass rod and a pair of tweezers in a cross shape, “The only thing that is for certain is that it will show up,”

“Yours is pretty cool, I hope mine is too,” I said, trying to smile.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” The stallion answered.

A loud whirring noise flooded the hallway outside as the stable woke up. The dim blue night lights powered down as the much brighter ‘daytime’ lights sprang to life, making both Quick Check and I wince.

“Guess I have to go wake up the fillies,” I said with a chuckle, “See you tomorrow, doc!”

“Off you go then! I need some coffee,” The yellow stallion answered, gesturing towards the hallway.

I checked my PipBuck to make sure I was on time for my first task of the day: rooster duty.

My hoofsteps were no longer alone as I briskly made my way through the stable, the adults had woken up as well. The sounds of hoofsteps and machinery resonated from behind the many observation mirrors that lined the roof of the hallway. I took a moment to look at my own reflection, confirming that I had, in fact, not gotten a cutie mark since leaving the clinic. I shook my head and kept moving towards the filly dorm, from which several complaining voices could be heard.

“Good morning fillies!” I said, hitting the doorframe with my hoof to call attention.

Two dozen groggy eyes struggled to focus on me as the fillies stumbled out of their bunks.

“Come on, you know the drill!” I ordered, trying not to sound too harsh, “Housekeeping and then breakfast!” I added, activating my PipBuck’s timer function.

I walked into the dorm, heading towards my bunk and getting to work on making my bed. The dorm was organized from oldest to youngest, starting right next to the door with my bunk. Below me was Light Show, the second eldest filly, who had already made her bed and was sitting obediently next to it.

“All done ma’am!” She said, lifting her forehoof in a mock salute.

“Good job,” I commended the smaller unicorn, patting her on the head.

Just a few minutes later, I was standing in the doorway once again, overlooking the dorm to ensure that everything was optimal. My PipBuck buzzed to inform me that five minutes had passed, right on time.

“Well done everypony, line up now,” I directed, watching the fillies form a line from eldest to youngest behind me.

With an approving nod, I led the ponies out of the dorm and into the hallway. It was my duty to lead the youngest stable-dwellers around and make sure that they always stayed in line, that was my very own Overmare-appointed task.

The mess hall was one of the two large rooms of the stable. It was, unsurprisingly, full of large tables capable of seating the entire non-adult population of the stable at once. The walls were lined with lever-activated food and drink dispensers, flanked by racks that held metal trays and glasses. I watched as the door on the other side of the hall slid open as well, revealing the off-yellow mane and steel earring of Gamma Ray, the oldest colt. Behind him marched all the other male ponies in the stable. 

“Black Light,” He said, nodding.

“Good afternoon, sleepyhead,” I teased, pointing at the clock on the wall, which showed that he had been an entire eight seconds behind schedule.

He didn’t get to reply, however, because as soon as he opened his mouth the adult door in the middle of the wall on my left opened. From the doorway came Double Helix, wearing his pristine white lab coat.

“Good morning!” The researcher said, giving us a moment to chant it back at him, “Bon appetit,” He added, finally giving us permission to enter the mess hall.

The researcher took his spot next to the adult door, watching over us as we poured into the room like a herd of hungry fillies. I took a tray and a cup from one of the racks closest to me, filling it with water from a dispenser. The tray floated under the feed dispenser and was swiftly served a portion. I let out a disappointed sigh when I saw the green chips that poured from the plastic nozzle.

“Hey, I’ll trade you half my broccolis for half your daisies,” I told the filly standing next to me when I saw the yellow chips that had poured out of their dispenser.

“What? No way!” The filly, Beaker, squeaked back, “Daisies are the best!”

I gave her a hurt look.

“Aww come on, don’t be mean!” I said, causing her resolute gaze to falter.

“Geez, okay!” She said, holding out her tray.

I gave her a grin and lit up my horn, switching half my chips for half of hers. It wasn’t my fault that the feed nozzles didn’t say what flavor they had in them on any given day!

Breakfast went by without any issues, with everypony leaving their trays in their respective cleaning racks and forming back up behind their elders. We watched as Double Helix stepped forward, stomping the ground to quiet down the children’s chatter.

“Black Light, Gamma Ray, your timetables have been updated, take a moment to read them and take your groups to where you need to go,” He said.

I lifted my foreleg and eyed my PipBuck curiously, switching to the data screen and opening the timetable. Almost immediately I saw the change, one of the fillies under my tutelage had been added to the ‘full regimen’ name list. Guess they finally got big enough to handle target practice and sparring. I turned to look at the filly in question, a tiny black unicorn.

“Good news… uh,” I glanced at my PipBuck screen quickly, “Dot Product!”

The filly’s eyes went wide with shock.

“W- what?” She squeaked.

“Today you start target practice! Give her a cheer, fillies!” I exclaimed, clapping my forehooves. The other fillies followed suit, cheering for our newly promoted friend.

The young pony could only smile widely at the shower of praise that was being hurled at her. I smiled at the memory of when I had been promoted to start target practice. The elder filly at the time, Gradient, had given me a round of applause just like the one I had given Dot Product. With any luck, she’d be as good as I was. I glanced at Gamma Ray and saw a similar celebration happening on the colt’s side, they clearly had a promoted pony too.

“Okay fillies, line up!” I ordered.

Like a well-oiled machine, we walked from the mess hall to the education wing, where several classrooms stood side by side in a wide hallway. A large door at the end of the hall had a sign above it that read ‘library’. I had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the educational blocks of the timetable. Thanks to my flank’s stubborn refusal to develop a cutie mark, I was kind of… too old for several of the subjects. With only Magic theory and Mathematics still having new things for me to learn or at the very least practice. On the bad side, it was agonizingly boring to wait outside the classrooms while the other fillies took their classes. But on the bright side, it allowed me to spend my time at the library instead.

I walked into the library and took a nice look at the many bookshelves that lined the walls. giving a nod to Meridian, the stable librarian, I made my way to the only sections of the library that didn’t bore me to tears: History and magic. Ever since I could read, I had treasured the few free moments I had to learn all sorts of interesting things. My favorites being pre-war weapons manuals and the ancient history of magic. Sadly, I had already read all of the library’s limited selection, but some of the books here were just so good I could enjoy them as many times as I needed.

“Why hello beautiful~” I whispered, my eyes finally falling upon one of the best books in the library… or rather, the best magazine. 

I wrapped the magazine in my magic, pulling it closer to my eyes. Anti-machine rifles: nowhere to hide now! The cover read, showing a lime green mare dressed in a military uniform lying on her side, cuddling with the magazine’s titular weapon. Oh what I would give to be that mare, just the thought of holding such a powerful weapon in my hooves made me feel a warm sensation in my chest.

Sitting on one of the reading couches that were placed between the bookshelves, I started to flip through the magazine. My imagination started going wild as I drank in all the detailed technical schematics and statistics. It was… beautiful, a brilliant confluence of power and elegance. I could almost feel it in my hooves, the impressive weight, the carefully calibrated sight… to think such a beautiful thing could exist was just incredible. 

Time flew by as I shifted through the pages, with every schematic deepening my ecstasy. Expansive data sheets bombarded my eyes and imagination with the sheer might that the weapon was capable of. It must’ve felt so good to brace that stock against one’s shoulder, preparing to absorb its mighty recoil.

Just as I imagined the wonderful shock that would be sent through me if I fired one, however, a series of taps on my right shoulder brought me back to reality.

“Uhh, excuse me?” Meridian called, the mare’s purple muzzle just a short distance away from my face, “There’s a group of fillies waiting for you outside,” She added, pointing at the door.

I immediately sprung back onto my hooves, placing the magazine back in its place. Paying no mind to the librarian’s quizzical look, I marched out of the library and into a sea of fillies. A quick glance at my PipBuck allowed me to take a relaxed breath, however, we were still on schedule.

“Sorry for that! Fillies, line up!” I exclaimed, stomping on the floor. I had to work on not getting sidetracked.

Through the stable we marched, headed for the next stop in our schedule. Along the way, we found a small group of adults who were busy repairing a burst pipe in the wall. That’s been happening more often. I thought as I passed the lab coat-wearing ponies. It was understandable, of course, not even our beloved stable could stand the mighty blows of time forever.

The physical test chamber was one of the most unique rooms in the stable thanks to one distinct feature. Unlike the rest of the stable’s observation windows, the ones in this test chamber were completely transparent, and they stretched out along the middle of the room instead of being on the roof. The result was a large room that was split down the middle, with one of the halves being filled with scientific equipment and the other holding several rows of tightly-packed treadmills. Half a dozen researchers buzzed around their half of the room, with one of them walking towards the middle section of the large window.

The stallion was a light green unicorn that I had never seen before, he looked… young, very young, probably younger than me! But he still wore the white coats of the adults, so his flank probably held what mine still didn’t. Nonetheless, I couldn’t shake the suspicion that something wasn’t okay with him… probably because he was new.

“Hello, ponies!” The young stallion said, “I am Sample Array, and I will be conducting today’s physical training,” He added, his furrowed brow and careful tone betraying his memorized lines.

That was my cue to spring into action. I walked to the first treadmill and took my spot, with the other fillies falling in behind me and organizing themselves from oldest to youngest. 

I have to admit, this thing is pretty neat. I thought as I plugged my PipBuck into my treadmill. I took a quick look around the room to see the other fillies wiggling into their monitoring harnesses, the long strands of cables going up into the roof and towards the other half of the room. Several displays now lit up with the vital signs of every filly in the room. I used to dread having to put all of that stuff on, but now that I had a PipBuck, I could simply plug it in and be done with it.

“Okay, warm up will be thirty minutes for ponies older than ten, fifteen for anypony younger,” Sample Array explained, making sure that everypony was on their treadmills before lifting his foreleg and tapping his PipBuck.

The treadmills started up, slowly at first, but quickly picking up the pace until we were trotting steadily. Seconds turned to minutes as the rhythmic clattering of our hooves filled the air. Once the warm-up was done, however, the real training started. Slowly but surely, the treadmills were brought up to maximum speed, forcing us into a full gallop. My heart started pounding harder, rising to a near-deafening volume as I ran. A loud banging sound made me lose my focus for a moment as I turned to see one of the fillies behind me had been thrown off their treadmill. 

Focus! Black Light! Just half an hour left! I thought, bringing my eyes back to the timer on my treadmill. Sweat started to pour from my coat, the droplets flying off my form with every impact of my hooves against the treadmill. My breathing had become ragged, but I kept going. Inside my head, the only thing that I could hear over my pounding heart was the words that were inscribed on said heart.

Be efficient, be the best. I told myself. 

Under any other circumstance, I would’ve said the mantra aloud, but I knew I needed every breath I could get. Already, I was starting to notice a dark ring closing in on my view.

If you are not the best, the ponies that are counting on us will die. 

Another thump came from right beside me, followed quickly by two more. I knew better than to get distracted and risk falling, however, so I paid it no mind.

And if they die, it means you’re a failure.

Being a failure was a fate worse than death. No punishment could ever hope to compare to the crushing realization that we had failed those who needed us most. The poor surface ponies needed us, they needed me. And not just me, but the absolute pinnacle of me.

“Test end!” A voice shouted. It had probably been Sample Array, but my mind was too hazy to make it out.

The treadmill under my hooves slowly started to power down, letting me regain my breath. When the pace finally slowed to trotting speed, I looked around the room to see how my peers were faring. The second and third oldest fillies were doing about as well as me, clearly tired but still maintaining form. Most of the other ponies were wheezing heavily, completely exhausted yet pressing forward.

Five of the treadmills were empty, their occupants strewn about the test chamber where they had fallen. Four of them were the youngest among us, so it was to be expected that they wouldn’t be up to par yet. But I let out a disappointed sigh when I saw one of the older fillies on the floor as well.

“Good results for the most part,” Sample Array commented, finally slowing the treadmills to walking speed and then to a complete stop, “Especially you three,” He added, pointing at me and the other two eldest fillies.

“Damn… right!” Light Show shouted with what little breath she had left.

I puffed out my chest in pride, smiling broadly. The best of the best. I thought.

The rest of the morning was mostly uneventful, with the only thing of note being that I got lucky at lunch and managed to get a full plate of Daisy chips. A few minutes into our afternoon rest, however, I finally felt it, that… soothing warmth in my chest. Today was target practice day.

It was the best day of the week, no question about it. On no other day were we allowed in the shooting range and test chamber. Not just that, but today was specifically a shoot house day. I could barely contain the burning in my body as I imagined how I would at last get to wield my pistol once again. I watched my PipBuck clock like a hawk, feeling each agonizingly long second tick away as I waited for the time to finally come. It was so close now… I couldn’t stop my legs from shaking in anticipation.

“Fillies!” I shouted, jumping to my hooves so quickly that I nearly hit my head on the roof, “Line up for target practice! Right now!”

The ponies that were authorized for the exercise got up as well, falling in line next to the door. I counted them quickly, fourteen ponies, perfect-

“Uhhhh, Dot Product?” I asked, remembering that there should be fifteen fillies in the target practice group now.

“Oh! I- I’m sorry!” The young pony said, shyly walking to her spot at the end of the line.

“Don’t worry about it, just try to do your best today!” I answered cheerfully.

“Okay Miss B- Black Light,” The filly muttered.

I took my spot at the front of the line and opened the mess hall door, leading the ponies into the hallway beyond. The first stop was back at the classrooms to drop off all the fillies who were still too young to participate in the more demanding exercises. The second stop, however, would be the shooting gallery.

My hooves echoed off the metal floors as we made our way to the gallery, skipping joyfully as I did. There was just something so deeply entertaining about shooting a gun. The loud noise and seeing targets shatter just made me happy. I am a simple mare.

If only my simple-ness showed up on my flank, I thought, souring my mood slightly as I glared back at my still-blank flank. What was taking it so long? I was already years older than the next oldest filly in the stable! If only there was some way to-

My thoughts were quite literally knocked out of my head when I walked directly into a little colt, falling face-first onto the soft and welcoming steel grate floor of the stable. Apparently, Gamma Ray’s group had been faster in getting here.

“Watch where you’re going!” I told the colt, who shrank back. He was the youngest one in his group, after all.

“Hey! Be careful!” Gamma Ray shouted, walking to the back of the colt line and placing himself between me and the younger pony. I looked down at the colt, his head barely reaching my chin.

“I uhhh…” I started to say, trying to think of an explanation, “I was just checking his reflexes, you should’ve taught them to be on their guard in case of… ambushes! Yes! When you’re on the surface you’ll never know if the bush you just passed was truly a bush, or if it hid an ‘am’ within it,” I added, smiling smugly at the colt.

“That makes no sense!” The dark green unicorn said, staring daggers at me.

“It will… when you’re older,” I said simply, patting the angry colt on the head.

Gamma Ray’s eye twitched in anger, but before he could continue complaining he was forced into silence by the opening of the shooting range door. He gave me a death stare before quickly walking back to the front of his line and standing at attention.

“Welcome, children!” Came the dulcet voice of The Overmare when the door finished sliding upward.

Her voice was like a lightning strike for the gathered ponies. Chatter died down in an instant as we all straightened our stances and focused solely on the most important pony in the stable. Overmare Number Crunch did not ask for attention, it was implied by her very presence, it was only natural.

We marched into the shooting range in absolute silence. The Overmare carefully watched our every step, making sure nopony stepped out of line. Even under her gaze, however, I still couldn’t fully contain my excitement at finally getting to shoot again. 

“Black Light, steady,” The Overmare commanded when I got close enough for her to hear my rapid breathing.

“Yes, Overmare,” I said, lowering my head slightly.

The range was divided into two sections, separated by a thick pane of bulletproof glass. The section we had walked into held our lockers and weapons, but the best part was what lay beyond the glass. A large open area made up the shooting gallery, which usually held our targets for practice. But today was a special day, today we were using live ammunition. 

Instead of the usual blue targets being lined up at different ranges, today the gallery was dominated by a large structure, a shoot-house. It was made up of several different modules, all holding different rooms and hallways, none of which could be distinguished from the outside. I tried to picture what could possibly be waiting for me inside, after all, building the shoot-house was one of the few tasks that the researchers performed themselves.

“Arm up, my little ponies!” Number Crunch said, taking her place next to the door in the bulletproof glass.

A shiver went up my spine at the thought of shooting live ammunition. Sure, the practice weapons we had were fun to practice with, but you couldn’t compare a low-power magic bolt with simulated recoil to a good old ten-millimeter round. I did wish we had live rifle ammunition too, but I had nothing to complain about!

I walked up to my locker, wrapping the door with my magic and throwing it open so fast that I nearly ripped it off. A wide smile cracked my face when my eyes fell on my beloved pistol. The beautiful firearm was sitting inside my locker next to my maintenance equipment, shining in all its glory. Foregoing my horn, I took the gun in my hooves, feeling its weight and admiring the gorgeous finish. 

Oh Ironshod, you absolute geniuses. If I ever had the chance to travel when I became a hero, I was heading directly to their nearest factory out of sheer respect.

“Today we will run the test in order from youngest to oldest, earth ponies and then unicorns, colts first!” The Overmare explained, touching a button on her PipBuck that made the display on her terminal light up with the day’s scoreboard. 

A warm fuzzy feeling started to prick at me from within my chest, the electric buzz of the approaching exercise and of how great I would be today. The little pony in my head bounced in place excitedly, but I was forced to beat her excitement down when I recalled the order in which we would be running the house. I would, quite literally, be the last one to go.

The first colt stepped forward, the same one that I had run into outside the range. For safety, The Overmare held his weapon in her magic in front of the colt until he was inside the gallery. The magic fizzled out when the door closed, dropping the weapon onto the floor. I watched as the colt gingerly picked up the pistol and looked around, clearly confused as to what to do next.

“Test start!” The Overmare said, pressing a button on her terminal.

A loud buzzer blared inside the shooting gallery, making the colt jump and shoot blindly into the side of the house. He whipped his head around rapidly before turning to stare at Gamma Ray with a pleading look.

“Go into the house!” The older unicorn screamed, pointing at the metal door in the middle of the structure.

We stared at the colt as he complied, trying to get a glimpse at what was beyond the door. But it closed too quickly, sealing the young colt inside the structure and warding off our prying eyes before we could get a good look.

“Gamma Ray, I want you to teach that colt about firearm safety,” The Overmare commanded, not bothering to look at the unicorn in question to see his nod.

Nearly forty seconds passed before the buzzer sounded again, marking the end of the test. Judging by the muffled gunshots, there had been at least ten targets inside the house. However, given the pony’s inexperience, some of those sounds could very well be misses. The pony walked out of the house with his eyes open wide, his jaw so tight that it was a wonder how he managed to fire the weapon. The Overmare took the gun out of his mouth before fully opening the door, not commenting on his performance at all. 

One by one all of the earth pony colts ran the test, I listened attentively to how many times they each fired their guns. Eight shots seemed to be the minimum. I could barely contain my excitement as I paced rapidly around the waiting area, all but salivating at the thought, nay, the need to have my turn. 

“Black Light,” The Overmare warned. Nailing my hooves to the metal grate floor.

I buzzed in place, trying my damndest not to hyperventilate and upset The Overmare. It was hard, but I managed to stay in place enough to watch all of the colts run the test. Gamma Ray was the last to come out of the chamber, with a final time of twenty-one seconds.

“Beat that!” He taunted, grinning at me.

“Oh, you’ll see…” I muttered, straining to contain the burning fire in my chest.

My fillies started to run the test, with Dot Product walking towards the door. She gave me a pleading look but steeled herself and turned to face The Overmare. A thin, flickering telekinetic grasp formed around the pistol while the door closed.

“Test start!” The Overmare commanded, blasting the buzzer.

I saw Dot Product trot towards the shoot house. She looked considerably more relaxed than the youngest colt, walking up to the door and cautiously stepping inside. My memories of my very first day of target practice started to flood my mind, of just how excited I had been to try out a gun. That excitement had never truly left me, and every time there was a chance of shooting, especially with live ammunition, I was as giddy as a filly. 

Almost a minute passed, with ten shots coming out of the house. Then eleven, and finally, one last shot sounded out. The buzzer went off, marking the end of the test. The door opened and Dot Product walked out of the house, her gaze cast low and a noticeable limp slowing her pace. A test failure, I realized, cringing slightly.

“Your performance is most disappointing,” The Overmare said, ripping the pistol out of the filly’s weak magic with her own.

“I- I’m sorry,” She said, her eyes welling with tears.

The Overmare walked over to the filly, a look of severity on her otherwise kind features.

“Dot Product, you don’t have to apologize to me,” She said, placing a hoof on the filly’s shoulder.

I know where this is going. I thought, a pit forming in my stomach.

“You need to apologize to them,” The Overmare finished, lifting her hoof from the sniffling filly and pointing it at the mural that was painted along the left wall of the shooting gallery.

I had seen it many times, but I couldn’t help but take another good look at it when The Overmare’s hoof pointed at it. It was rather simple, but no less inspiring. On the wall, there stood a small group of ponies, dressed in dirty rags and spiky makeshift armor. Every pony on the mural bore a terrified glance, eyes painted as if they were looking at somepony behind the viewer. Among the adults’ legs could be seen the cowering faces of fillies and colts, not much older than many of us.

“Who are those ponies, Dot Product?” The Overmare demanded.

“I- I…” The young pony sputtered.

“Who are they?” The Overmare repeated, her tone rising.

“They are t- the surface ponies,” Answered the filly, shrinking back and flattening her ears to the sides of her head.

“Stand upright when addressing me!” The Overmare ordered, making the shivering filly straighten herself, “Now, do you see how scared those surface ponies are?”

Tears started to stream down the young pony’s face, but she nodded at The Overmare nonetheless.

“Those very same ponies could have lost their beloved friends to the bandits that you were too ineffective to take out,” Said the older mare, “Do better next time,”

“Yes Miss N- Number-” Dot Product choked out.

“Yes, Overmare,” The Overmare corrected.

“Y- yes, O- Overmare,” said the filly, gaining a nod from the older mare.

“Continue the testing,” The Overmare ordered.

As one we stood back at attention, with the next filly entering the gallery. I walked up to Dot Product, who was still sniffling in a corner while the others watched the tests.

“Dot?” I asked, kneeling next to the young pony.

I got no reply, but I still placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get better with practice,” I told her, trying to make her feel better.

Two large teary eyes focused on me.

“R- really?” Dot Product asked.

“Yeah, don’t you worry,” I said, patting her tiny head.

I watched as the filly gave me a weak smile, and then we both stood back up to keep watch over the other fillies as they ran the test. I was slowly getting more and more excited as each pony entered the gallery, knowing that my turn drew ever closer.

At long last, my turn came. By this point the flames of excitement in my chest had reached critical mass, causing my entire body to shiver in anticipation. Yet despite how jittery I was, the pistol in my magic remained as steady as a surgeon’s scalpel.

The shooting gallery door closed behind me, finally allowing me to breathe as heavily as I wished without angering The Overmare. I took in several deep breaths, my breathing shaky from the emotion as my view shrunk down to encompass only the shoot house door. Everything around it seemingly fading into colored shapes.

“Test start,” Said The Overmare.

At the very instant of the buzzer’ blaring mark, I lunged forward as if I had been shot out of a cannon. The shoot house door never stood a chance when I all but phased through it like a living battering ram. Beyond the door, I was dropped into a section similar to a living room, dominated by a set of bullet-hole-riddled couches and a short coffee table.

Three light blue magical holograms were waiting for me inside, simulated to be in an idle stance. Before they had the chance to turn hostile, however, my pistol was raised and ready to bring forth my favorite song. I sent two bullets ripping through the first and second before they had a chance to get their ‘weapons’ out. The final hologram managed to produce a ghostly blue pistol and took aim at me. But it was in vain, since before it could even dream about shooting me I had already blasted half its simulated head off.

Three down, six more to go. I thought, giving the quickest of glances to my surroundings. And two ways out of here.

On instinct, I threw myself through the door on the right. I rolled on the ground before jumping back up to my hooves, gun at the ready. I saw blue and took the shot, sending my third round directly through a holographic head. I glanced around the metal crates that littered the mock warehouse and spotted a low blue shimmer coming from behind one of them. Seizing the opportunity, I bolted towards the crate and flipped around, smashing it with both my rear legs. The mighty buck sent the crate flying into another, sandwiching the hologram between them and destroying it. 

That’s two more. I thought, smiling in pure bliss. Cackling like a filly with a new toy, I ran back to the door that I had entered this room through.

But I was forced to backstep into the warehouse when a series of light blue beams shot at me from the door I hadn’t opened. My mind raced to think of a plan. Of course, I could’ve just run out and gotten shot a few times by the non-lethal hologram. But the muted zapping sensation of the hologram’s “bullets” could never compare to the soul-crushing weight of The Overmare’s disappointed gaze. So I did the next best thing: I ran to the door and threw myself onto the floor.

Just as I expected, the hologram was aiming for where my chest would be. And the fraction of a second it took for it to realign its ghostly SMG was more than enough for me to plant a bullet firmly in its forehead while I slid into the room. With a quick kick, I was back on my hooves and ran through the doorway, finding a staircase that led upwards.

Not wanting to waste a single second, I crouched and jumped up the entire flight like a white and brown missile. A hologram had been waiting to shoot into the stairwell, the keyword being had. I whirled around to face the room and stared down the final hologram through the dissipating fragments of its late friend. 

A gunshot and an electric crack filled the air as one. Thanks to sheer dumb luck, the hologram missed my shoulder by such a short distance that I felt the hairs of my coat standing on end. My opponent, however, wasn’t so lucky. The light blue magic that made up the pony’s figure shattered when my bullet punched a hole straight through the middle of its expressionless face.

Where’s the last one? I thought, alarmed. There were no other doors leading out of this large living room area. Where could-

My right ear twitched. Acting on pure instinct, my pistol whipped around to face the staircase’s landing and fired blindly. 

The loud buzzer blaring once more proved my suspicions correct. I turned just in time to see the last sparks of the hologram dissipating on the floor.

“Ain’t nopony tricking Black Light!” I exclaimed with pride.

With a spring in my step and a -mostly- satiated thirst for gunfire, I made my way out of the shoot house. An absolutely minuscule hint of a smile was on The Overmare’s face, more than enough to make my chest puff out in pride.

“Excellent performance,” The older unicorn commented.

I nodded and made my way back to the lockers. But I took the chance to lean into Gamma Ray as I passed him.

“Consider yourself beaten,” I said, grinning at the colt’s anger.

After we had unloaded any bullets left in our guns and stowed them away in our lockers, we made our way back to our quarters to enjoy a short break. I was sad to leave my beloved pistol behind, but it was a safety precaution, no matter how ridiculous it seemed.

Why can’t I just carry it freely everywhere? I thought, huffing in annoyance.

I glanced at my PipBuck, checking the last remaining activity for the day: Hoof-to-hoof combat. The fire in my chest flared up at the promise of combat. While not as fun as shooting a gun, sparring was still pretty entertaining.

“All right fillies, form up!” I ordered, watching as my ponies lined up beside me.

Gamma Ray followed suit, making the colts line up in front of him.

“See you in a bit,” I told the green unicorn, “I hope we get picked,”

“It's a date,” He replied.

I cocked my head to the side, lifting an eyebrow.

“Yeah, that’s how days work,” I said, causing Gamma Ray to facehoof.

A few minutes later we were back in our quarters, enjoying our short respite before having to head out for sparring. The youngest fillies rejoined us after their afternoon classes, their break coinciding with ours. Everypony seemed pretty happy, all save for one of the fillies, who had their face buried in their pillow. I carefully approached the sobbing filly, clearing my throat to get her attention.

“Hey Dot, what’s wrong?” I asked her, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible.

The filly said nothing, instead, she stretched out her left foreleg. Several patches of her black coat had become even darker, and the smell of burnt coat left no question as to why. I remembered that she had been limping when she walked out of the shoot house, clearly, she’d been hit by one of the holograms. More like several of them. I thought when I counted five burn marks on her tiny leg.

“It hurts, a lot,” She mumbled, sniffling, “The others s- said it wouldn’t hurt,”

“That was just so you wouldn’t be so scared on your first run,” I offered, but it was clear that the filly wasn’t buying it.

She lifted her head from the pillow, boring into me with her tear-filled eyes. I noticed how two patches of fur on her face were also scorched, with one coming very close to hitting her left eye.

“The only thing I was scared of was disappointing Miss Number Crunch. B- but now I’m scared of those blue ghosts too,” She said, planting her head back into the pillow.

“The Overmare,” I corrected, “You shouldn’t worry so much, Dot. Nopony does well on their first try, you should be getting pumped for sparring!” I said, trying to pass some of my own excitement onto the filly.

“Do I have to go?” She asked.

“Well, yeah! What else would you do?” I said with a playful chuckle.

“I- I want to go see Mister Quick Check,” Dot Product whimpered, clutching her foreleg to her chest. 

My heart faltered at the young pony’s sad display. She looked completely distraught. And the worst part of it all was that I really couldn’t do anything for her. Her little burns were nowhere near severe enough to justify skipping any activity, let alone her first sparring session.

“I’m sorry Dot,” I said, placing a hoof on her shoulder, “I can only take you to him after the sparring,”

“Will t- the sparring hurt?” The filly pleaded.

I bit my tongue, trying to think of a way to explain how the class worked. 

“Not unless you’re really, really unlucky,” I told her.

“O- Okay,” She said, sniffling.

I gave her one last pat on the head before lifting my PipBuck to check on the time. Just a few more minutes left before we had to move.

“Fillies! Get your things in order, we need to get going in a bit!” I ordered.

Before my eyes, the dorm came to life with activity as fillies stowed away their few belongings and got up to form their line once more. The youngest fillies were the luckiest, since they still couldn’t participate in sparring they got to spend the rest of the day off until dinnertime. Fortunate from their perspective at least, sparring is almost as fun as shooting! I thought with a smile, but it quickly died when I glanced back over at Dot and saw that she hadn’t moved at all.

“Come on Dot, you have to come too.”

“Okay…” She muttered, dragging herself out of the bunk.

A few minutes later we arrived at the final destination for the day, the sparring room. In much the same way as the shooting exercise, today was a special occasion for sparring. Instead of the usual hoof-to-hoof combat lessons where we were taught techniques and drills, today we were fighting one-on-one.

A square ring of reinforced bulletproof glass dominated the room, surrounded by mats where the others could sit and watch. The ring in question wasn’t much to look at, just an elevated square platform with openings on two of its sides to allow the combatants inside.  I glanced up and stared at the reflective glass that separated us from the researchers who were doubtlessly waiting to witness the fights. Only one researcher was present inside the room, standing to the side of the ring and looking at us.

“Hello again, fillies,” Sample Array said, welcoming us into the sparring room.

I eyed the stallion suspiciously as we took our positions on the mats to the right of the ring. I couldn’t shake the sensation that something wasn’t right with the way he looked at us. But nonetheless, we sat and waited for the eventual arrival of Gamma Ray and his colts. They arrived shortly after, sitting down on the opposite side of the room.

“Very well, now that you’re all here, we will begin with the selection,” Sample Array said, bringing up his PipBuck.

The sparring class worked very simply; since stable 75 had the same number of colts and fillies, one of each group was randomly selected and made to spar. The selection was completely random. Only one thing was guaranteed, that being that a filly would never fight another filly, in the same way as a colt would never fight another colt.

“Very well, let us begin the testing,” The researcher continued, “The rules are standardized. No directly lethal blows, matches will last one minute each. The first bout will be between Beaker and Deflection Plate, take your positions,” He concluded, gesturing to the filly and the colt respectively.

Lucky, they’re about the same age. I thought, looking on as the two ponies walked up to the openings on the side of the ring. And both earth ponies too. 

“Fight!” Sample Array commanded, his PipBuck letting out a loud beep as its timer activated.

The ponies threw themselves at each other, with the sounds of hoof meeting flesh quickly filling the room. But I wasn’t worried about the fight, I knew that Beaker could put up more than enough of a fight. What I was worried about was Dot Product. I spotted the filly at the back of the room, staring with horrified eyes at the two brawling ponies inside the ring.

I scooted over to sit beside her, nudging her with my foreleg.

“Don’t worry, if you’re lucky you’ll get to spar with somepony your age,” I whispered to her.

“B- but I don’t know how to f- fight!” She said in a high-pitched voice. 

“It’s not that hard, just shoot at them with magic!” I said, trying to be helpful.

Dot Product’s wide eyes focused on me for an instant before she answered, her voice barely a whisper.

“B- but Miss Black Light! I’ve never used my magic like that! I can barely move things around!” She squeaked, shaking even harder.

I bit my lip, thinking of a way to salvage this conversation before the filly became inconsolable. 

“I uhh… new strategy! Listen to me, when you get in there you need to light up your horn to throw the colt off and rush them,” I explained, but Dot’s confused expression made me stop, “What?” 

“What would ‘Light up your horn’ mean?” The filly asked.

“You know… like when you’re preparing to cast a spell and your horn starts glowing?” I answered, making sure that Sample Array was looking away before lighting up my horn as an example.

My magic simmered down and I gave another look at Sample Array, he hadn’t moved at all. I looked at the ring, where I saw Beaker throw her opponent into a wall with a suplex, leaving the colt to try and drag themselves back up.

“I don’t know any spells to do that with!” Dot shouted, making Sample Array’s ear twitch in our direction.

“Use telekinesis, try to wrap your own horn with it,” I offered.

The filly nodded and scrunched her face in concentration. A yellow glow enveloped her horn, shining brightly for a moment before it faded.

“Exactly! That should be enough to distract your opponent and give you time to get closer!” I said, smiling, “Just try to get on their back and wrap their neck with your forelegs,”

“O- okay, and t- then?” Dot Product asked, a more determined look on her face, even if the quiver in her voice was still apparent.

I spun in place and put both of my forehooves on the filly’s shoulders. Bringing my face close to her so I knew her eyes were focused on me and me alone. I spoke slowly and clearly.

“Then you squeeze tight and don’t let go until the other pony stops fighting.”

The filly gulped loudly and gave an uneasy nod.

“B- but what if I have to fight a larger colt?” Dot pleaded, shaking so hard that her stable suit’s zipper started to clatter.

“Do the same thing and you’ll do great, don’t worry!” I said, letting her go and returning to my sitting spot.

Once Beaker had beaten her opponent, the next five matches were rather uneventful. Only one filly had to be taken to Quick Check after getting hit in the face a little too hard. Light Show was up next, and she somehow lost despite facing off against a colt half her size. An ingenious kick was all it took to send her face-first into a swift knockout. 

Where most researchers would’ve given us pointers and critiques, Sample Array simply looked on. His commentary sparse and without much weight.

I for my part tried to keep Dot calm with small talk, keeping her sight away from the more violent sparring matches. Internally, I was hoping that she would get paired with one of the younger colts. Despite my best efforts, however, I could see Dot becoming more and more tense as the matches went on. 

Glancing towards the other side of the room, I saw that Gamma Ray was in a similar predicament with his own youngest pony. I hadn’t really paid much mind to Dot’s most favorable opponent until now. A tiny white earth pony colt, shorter than even the tiny unicorn that sat next to me. I smiled, Dot shouldn’t have much issue with him.

The other colts were a mixed bag, three of them -including the young white one- would be a somewhat fair fight. But the others got worse and worse as they got bigger and stronger. Her chances weren’t the best, but I wasn’t about to tell her that and ruin what little morale she had. 

Four more matches went by, one of which was a brutal fight between one of the oldest fillies and the second youngest colt. I did my best to distract Dot from the beatdown by having her tell me about what they had learned that day in class. 

Halfway through a riveting recount of how the ministries had been founded, a loud thud came from within the ring. The colt, battered and bruised, had collapsed under Axis’ mighty hooves just as the timeout buzzer sounded off.

“Excellent performance from you,” Sample Array commented, tilting his head towards the filly, “And you managed to stand until the end, good job,” He added gesturing towards the young colt.

I nudged Dot with a foreleg.

“See? He had to fight a much larger filly and still held out until the end!” I said, pointing at the colt that was currently being scooped up by an assistant researcher.

“She b- beat him to a pulp!” Dot replied, watching on in horror as the battered colt was taken away to the clinic.

“Because he clearly didn’t know the winning strategy!” I said quickly, trying to keep her calm.

“I- I want to… I want to go back to my room, Miss Black Light,” Dot said, hugging my leg tightly.

“I uhh-“ I started, but Sample Array’s voice cut through mine like a hot knife through butter.

“The next bout will be Dot Product-“ The stallion started, making my heart skip a beat, “- against Gamma Ray,” He finished.

Oh no.

I glanced down at Dot Product and saw that she was… laughing? Yes, the filly was giggling as she shook violently in my hooves. 

“It’s a joke, right? I- It has to be a joke, haha,” She whimpered.

“Take your positions,” Sample Array ordered.

I watched as Gamma Ray uneasily made his way to the side of the ring. He didn’t seem happy with the arrangement at all. 

“You have to go,” I told her, helping her stand up.

I was expecting a scream, a cry, maybe even an attempt to run away from the room. But Dot Product gave none of that. Instead, she stood shakily and made her way to the ring. Before stepping through the door, however, she gave me a determined nod. 

This is going to hurt. I thought as I looked at the size difference between the fighters. The only hope was for Gamma Ray to try and be gentle.

“Fight!” Came the command, but the combatants stood in place. Neither willing to make the first move.

Sample Array opened their mouth, probably to demand that the fighting start once and for all, but Dot had already acted. She was facing away from me, but I saw the yellow glow of her magic reflecting off Gamma Ray’s confused eyes. 

The filly let out a shout, causing Gamma Ray to flinch and backstep, probably expecting a magical attack. Dot Product instead launched herself at the larger colt, taking him by surprise just as I had expected. Two small black hooves wrapped around the colt’s neck as the filly squeezed with all her might.

Gamma Ray, for his part, quickly recovered from the shock and glared at the filly trying to strangle him. He crouched slightly before throwing himself back into the wall, slamming Dot against the clear glass of the ring’s wall. I watched as her tiny body was crushed under the considerable weight of Gamma Ray. A loud whooshing sound escaped the filly as her lungs deflated under the pressure. Her hooves, which had so adamantly clutched the colt’s neck, were thrown limply to the sides.

The older unicorn jumped forward, turning to look at Dot Product. The filly had collapsed onto the floor in a heap. A relieved gasp escaped my mouth when I saw that the filly was still conscious, as evidenced by her curling up into a ball and holding her head. Gamma Ray stood over her, looking down with unmistakable pity. Choked sobs started to come from the younger unicorn once she managed to get air back into her lungs.

“Continue,” Sample Array ordered.

“She’s not fighting anymore!” Gamma Ray shouted back.

“Irrelevant, continue the test,” Said the stallion.

The green colt looked down at the crying filly, his jaw clenching. He lifted a forehoof, but lowered it once again, shaking his head.

“Continue the test!” Sample Array commanded.

Gamma Ray said nothing, lowering his head.

Sample Array grumbled and tapped his PipBuck, forcing the timeout buzzer to sound off early. 

“Incredibly disappointing, we expected much better from you, Gamma Ray,” The researcher said, causing the colt’s ears to droop, “What a waste, whatever, get out of the box!” He finished.

I was getting ready to console Dot Product when Sample Array announced who the next combatants would be.

“Next fight will be Black Light against Polar Coordinate,” He said.

I didn’t immediately recognize the name, which could only mean one thing…

The young white colt’s eyes were open so wide that they were hard to differentiate from his white coat. This was going to be very bad.

“Take your positions!” The researcher continued, sounding significantly more annoyed than he had previously.

I reluctantly got up, passing by a sniffling Dot who didn’t even give me a side glance. Gamma Ray stopped the white colt along the way, whispering something into his ear. I swallowed hard, trying to make the knot in my throat go away and allow me to breathe fully. I hated when this happened. Fighting somepony about my age was fun, and fighting someone a little younger was entertaining, but this? This was going to be awful.

“Remember, ponies, you never know what or who you’ll have to fight on the surface. There is no such thing as ‘testing the waters’ in a fight,” Sample Array said, his tone clearly revealing the real message behind his words: don’t hold back. 

I looked down at Polar Coordinate, the colt’s glossy white coat seeming to shimmer as the pony shook. He looked so tiny that I could’ve easily missed him if I hadn’t been looking down. I need to end this as quickly as possible. I thought, trying to think of a strategy.

“Fight!” Sample Array ordered.

The buzzer went off.

At first, I was hesitant to make the first move, trying to think of the best way to approach this, but Polar Coordinate had other plans. The young colt gave a high-pitched scream and launched himself at me. Flailing forehooves desperately swinging to try and connect.

But my legs were longer. I jumped backward, swinging my right rear leg in a wide arc to catch the flying colt in the head. My blow struck true, sending the colt soaring into the wall. His small head crashed into the bulletproof glass, leaving a small red stain. I reluctantly went into a fighting stance, but the colt had to be knocked out.

A choked gasp escaped my mouth when I saw the small pony struggle back to their hooves. A small stream of blood started to fall from his forehead, staining his pristine white coat. I stared, dumbfounded, as the evidently not-unconscious colt stumbled towards me.

“Come on, just stay down,” I muttered, trying to keep my voice low enough for Sample Array to be unable to hear it.

Polar just glanced towards Gamma Ray and then focused his gaze back on me, giving another battle cry. I watched as the colt flung himself at me, this time keeping all his hooves on the ground. At the last second, he threw both his forehooves upward in an attempt to hit my face. While I could’ve probably just taken the hit with no issue, I had been ordered to take this fight seriously. My head moved slightly to the side, easily weaving out of the way while my own forehoof rose to strike at the colt’s temple.

Another direct hit. Polar once again was thrown to the floor, but he quickly got his hooves back underneath himself and threw a blind swipe at me. The attack missed completely, nearly causing Polar to trip and fall again. My horn flashed and discharged, firing a wave of magic toward the colt and pushing him back a considerable distance. The magical push made the colt stumble, but he managed to remain upright.

Okay, focus, Black Light, you need to end this as fast as possible. I thought, trying to think of a way to finish this poor excuse of a fight. I have to knock him out before I hurt him too badly. I decided, crouching slightly to prepare a roundhouse kick. Just jump and spin, straight to the head.

Polar had just barely finished shaking off his confusion from the push before already finding me jumping at him. I spun around in the air, my strong rear leg flying toward the colt’s head. But much to my surprise, Polar actually attempted to dodge the attack. Just as I started to unleash the kick, I saw the colt jump into the air, possibly hoping to jump over my hoof entirely.

A loud snapping sound resonated throughout the sparring room when my hoof connected with Polar’s foreleg. The blow made the smaller pony do a full spin in the air before collapsing onto the floor. As soon as his hooves connected with the floor, his right cannon bent into a right angle, almost as if it were made out of rubber. The colt gave a high-pitched squeal and collapsed completely, clutching his leg as tears streamed from his eyes.

Oh no. I thought.

I turned to look at Sample Array, who bore a mask of utmost seriousness. I watched, horrified, as the researcher pointed at the fallen colt. My gaze followed his hoof and saw that the young pony was still struggling to get back up. Clearly, I had beaten enough adrenaline into him for not even a horribly broken leg to keep the poor colt down.

Please stay down. I begged as I walked next to the small pony and lifted my forehoof. A full second passed, but Polar still tried to get up. I inhaled deeply and brought my hoof down. Hard. The colt’s head flew into the ring floor, letting out a loud thud. Immediately, the rest of his body went limp, knocked out at last.

Sample Array nodded and brought his PipBuck up to write something down. After a few moments, another researcher came into the room to retrieve the unconscious Polar. I stared as the bloodstained white colt was carried away on the stallion’s back, his broken leg flopping around like a broken doll’s. 

“Excellent performance, Black Light,” Sample Array said, looking up from his screen, “As I said, you’ll never know who you’ll have to fight when on the surface,” He added, staring disappointedly at Gamma Ray.

I followed his gaze, looking at the green unicorn for the first time since I had climbed into the ring. He looked furious. Eyes cast low, jaw tight, and a throbbing vein in his neck, the colt looked absolutely irate.

“Now, the next-” Sample Array started, but to everyone’s shock, he was interrupted.

“Let me fight her,” Gamma Ray said, looking up and locking his white eyes with mine.

I was expecting Sample Array to reprimand the colt, interrupting a researcher was a horrible breach of conduct. But to my surprise, the light green stallion smiled and turned his head to look at the colt.

“I’m afraid that would be a breach of proper testing protocol,” The researcher, “But if you really want to-”

“Yes.”

“Very well then, I’ll allow it,” Sample Array confirmed, gesturing toward the ring.

Gamma Ray got up and walked to the opposite end of the ring, his eyes still boring into me with unfettered hatred. I did have to wonder why he was so angry, but it was more than likely the fact that I had gotten praised where his performance left much to be desired. Not like that was my fault! He just held back against Dot when he shouldn’t have!

“Take your positions,” Sample Array ordered, a hint of glee in his voice.

I stood tall at my end of the ring, with Gamma Ray doing the same on his side. A small heat shimmer appeared on his horn when he lit it to get warmed up. I couldn’t help but get excited at the prospect of finally fighting a powerful opponent, and my own horn lit up in a crimson glow to match his.

He was shorter than me, but just as muscular if not more. His larger frame was a lot wider than mine, but that could be used to my advantage by running around him. No, the real problem here was going to be his nigh-invisible magic. Gamma Ray had a very peculiar color of magic, a white so pale it was nearly invisible other than the heat distortion in the air whenever his magic coursed through it. This is going to be fun. I thought.

“Fight!” Came the order.

The instant the fight started, I put up a magical ward in front of me. I knew that I had made the right choice when I felt a strong magic beam colliding with it, I saw the heat shimmer of the magical attack bounce off and into the glass behind me. Before I could prepare a counterattack, however, I found my face colliding violently against a dark green hoof. 

He was strong. My ears started ringing from the impact, but I managed to spot the second strike through my blurry daze fast enough to weave underneath it. I spun my neck around to headbutt the colt in the shoulder, shoving him away from me. To my shock, however, Gamma used the force of my shove to go into a roundhouse kick, hitting me in the temple just as I was intending to do with Polar Coordinate. 

“Is that strong enough for you?” He demanded after landing, taking a combat stance and charging his horn again.

I shook my head and barely managed to jump out of the way of his magic beam, feeling the heat on my right side. The magic struck the glass directly, making minuscule cracks appear on the surface. A second beam fired at me before I had landed, forcing me to put up a ward once more. The magic clashed, sending me into the glass as if I had been kicked. 

“Or do I have to break one of your legs too?” The colt shouted, running towards me.

Okay, he’s really angry. I realized, rolling out of the way of a stomp. I could feel my cheek swelling from the kicks, but the fire in my chest was burning brighter by the second. He may be angry about me following Sample Array’s orders, but that same anger was clouding his fighting. I need to capitalize on it.

“You were the one in the wrong for holding back! You know how sparring works!” I shouted back, jumping to my hooves.

Gamma Ray’s nostrils flared with anger as he fired another magic beam at me. This time, however, not only did I sidestep his attack, but I fired my own in return. The colt’s white eyes went wide as the crimson beam nearly hit him square in the head, his last-second dodge barely clearing the attack. 

I lunged at him, trying to wrap my forehooves around his neck. The green unicorn jumped aside and brought up his right rear hoof to strike at my unprotected stomach. My lungs quickly deflated under the mighty blow. And I went flying into the glass that Gamma had damaged previously, deepening the cracks.

A beam flew at me, hitting my left foreleg. The scent of burning flesh struck my nostrils almost immediately. He’s clearly not holding back, I thought excitedly as I looked at my burnt forehoof, it wasn’t too bad at least. Another beam flew at me, which I couldn’t dodge without getting a long burn along my right shoulder. That damn invisible magic! 

There wasn’t much I could do to dodge when I didn’t know what he was aiming at, and he had clearly shown it by aiming at my limbs rather than my chest and head. Well, you know what they say, the best defense is a strong offense! I thought, firing a beam of my own before he could get another one charged up. While I did miss, it was enough to keep him from letting his own beam loose.

I jumped towards the colt, managing to catch his head with one of my forehooves, but he weaved enough to minimize the impact. My forehoof came up to block a possible counterattack, but I realized that I had chosen poorly when I was sent sliding across the ring by a strong wave of magic. I suddenly found myself being tackled to the ground by the green unicorn. Two strong forehooves landed on either side of my head, pinning me in place as the colt glared at me.

“It’s their first fight, there was no need to go that far!” He said, drops of spit falling on my face from the infuriated pony’s mouth.

The instant his horn fired up I did the only thing I could think of: I twisted my head to the right and bit down on Gamma Ray’s leg, just under his fetlock. The colt screamed and fired his magic way too high, missing me entirely. I took the flinch to quickly plant my rear hooves on his stomach and kicked upwards with all my might. 

Gamma Ray landed a good distance away from me, getting up as quickly as he could manage. I rose to my hooves as well, spitting out a bit of skin that had stuck to my teeth. My heart was thundering in my ears, and my chest was so warm that I considered ripping my stable barding off to try and cool down. The burning sensation in my legs from the effort, the throbbing pain where I had been hit, and even the slippery sensation under my left hoof from the blood I had lost were just… intoxicating.

The green unicorn didn’t immediately attack, clearly trying to get air back into his lungs from the kick he had received. I noticed that he was keeping his weight off the hoof I had bitten. But even then I doubted I would be able to hit him with a magical beam. My mind raced to try and form a strategy when I finally realized that he was standing too close to me. I knew what I could do.

You may be able to dodge beams, but what about fields? I thought, my mouth cracking into a wide grin as my horn lit up.

Gamma Ray immediately jumped to the side in an effort to dodge a possible beam, but it was his turn to choose poorly. My magic wrapped around the unicorn almost instantly, encasing him in an undulating bubble of crimson telekinesis. The colt’s eyes went wide when he realized what had happened.

And then I squeezed.

I felt a strong resistance under my magic, and I stared at the colt to see that his entire body was wrapped in the heat shimmer of his magic. He was pushing back against my telekinesis with his own! Gamma Ray’s jaw clenched as he shakily stood up, staring at me through the warping and distorted air. I chuckled at the challenge and poured more magic into the spell, crashing down on the colt with all my might. I couldn’t comprehend just how good the clash felt, the more magic I channeled through my horn the more I scratched that strange itch just below it. it was like the feeling of standing under hot water in a shower. 

To my surprise, the unicorn in front of me actually managed to move his forehoof forward, taking a labored step towards me. His entire body shook under the strain of my telekinesis, but he still took another step. And a third. He was halfway to me, his eyes still boring into me with righteous fury.

Sweat poured down my face and my own jaw tightened as more and more magic was funneled through my horn. But I couldn’t stop him completely. He took two more steps, leaving him within striking distance. He had the upper hoof on me, I could feel it, I couldn’t move without breaking my focus on the telekinesis… but he clearly could. Gamma Ray’s right forehoof started to rise, heading towards my horn, I could do nothing but watch with concern as it drew ever closer. I knew that even the slightest impact on it would make my concentration disappear faster than my teeth would in the ensuing seconds. His hoof was so close that I could feel it tickling the magic wrapping my horn, just a little bit more and I would be finished.

With a deafening popping sound, however, the heat shimmer around his body disappeared. My magic crashed into the colt like a tidal wave, forcing him to wheeze out any air that could’ve been hiding in his lungs. His legs, which had miraculously managed to drag him towards me, were pressed flat against his underside from the tremendous telekinetic force.

I gave a victorious shout before slamming the colt into the ring floor as hard as I could, rattling the cracked glass around us. As if in a trance, I lifted him back up and sent him flying into the left side wall, then the right… then the floor again. By the last impact he had gone completely limp, his legs flailing around in my arcane grasp. With one final heave, I threw his unconscious body into the far wall, causing it to crack with a spiderweb-esque pattern.

“That’s enough!” Sample Array ordered, his eyes wide.

I collapsed to my knees, exhausted from the excessive magic use. Yeah, I’ll be needing some bounceback. I thought when my horn gave a painful throb.

“Absolutely astonishing performance from both of you,” Sample Array exclaimed, “These results are incredible,” He added.

The adult door opened once more, from which came Double Helix to retrieve Gamma Ray.

“Wait…” I said, still winded, “Let me take him, I have to see Quick Check too,”

“You sure you can carry him?” The stallion said, cocking his head.

I tentatively wrapped my magic around Gamma Ray, but my horn gave an agonizing throb directly into my brain. As if a red-hot nail had been driven through my skull. My eyes watered while I slowly dragged the unconscious colt closer and draped him over my back.

“I guess so,” Double Helix added.

“Come on Dot, let’s get you to Quick Check too,” I said, raising my voice so the young unicorn could hear me from outside the ring. The black filly’s ears shot up in alarm as her pinprick eyes focused on me, she looked completely terrified. A nervous nod was my only response. 

Moments later I was standing in the clinic, with Quick Check carefully casting a healing spell on my burnt leg. Around me were several occupied beds, two of which held the still-unconscious forms of Polar Coordinate and Gamma Ray. Next to me sat Dot Product, who was nervously eating a lollipop that Quick Check had given her. I wonder what’s gotten into her. I thought, looking at the young pony. Her gaze immediately dropped when my eyes focused on her.

“Do you want an ice pack for your face?” The doctor asked.

“Nah, I’m fine,” I answered, my face did sting a little, but I didn’t want an ice pack. I always forgot to return them anyway!

“Very well then, this would be it, then,” He said, pointing at a small plastic jar that sat on a nearby tray, “Take one now, if your horn is still bothering you tomorrow morning I’ll give you another one,” He instructed before turning around to check on Gamma Ray.

Without giving it much thought, I wrapped the jar in my magic and took one of the small pink pills from inside. Bounceback was very special, I hadn’t even known about it until I had become the eldest filly. They were incredibly useful for fighting magical overexertion. And if I was being honest, the light sweet taste gave even daisy food chips a run for their bits.

I glanced over at Dot Product. I noticed she had finished her lollipop and was busy nervously gnawing at the stick. She hadn’t been hurt too badly, just a small bruise, but she was still incredibly fidgety.

“You okay, Dot?” I asked, concerned.

“Y- yeah, Miss Black Light, all- all good!” She squeaked back.

I smiled at the filly, leaning in closer to pat her head. She flinched and flattened her ears against her head, clearly still jumpy from her fight with Gamma Ray. I ruffled her mane slightly.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get better in no time!” I reassured her.

“Yes, I- I guess… at least today wasn't so b- bad,” She stuttered in response, glancing nervously at Polar Coordinate’s leg.

I gave a hearty laugh, hugging the filly. She cringed away slightly but couldn’t do much to escape my comforting embrace.

“That’s the spirit! See you at dinner!” I told her.

And so I set off through the halls of my home, skipping along the way. Today had been a good day. And with any luck, I would get daisies for dinner.








STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM


COPYRIGHT 1624 - 1626 STABLE-TEC


Biographical Registry System v.147





 
Full name: Meridian 

Classification: Earth pony mare – 47 years of age – C-01796f M-B2AC88 E-0073CF

Cutie mark: Simple depiction of an undefined map

Meridian is a gentle and quiet mare with a propensity for understanding and creating maps. She was raised from a young age as an apprentice to replace stable 75’s archive keeper and librarian. Since her cutie mark didn’t give her any advantage in other roles, she fully took the job once she became an adult, replacing Rubber Stamp. Her predecessor now spends their time in the retirement wing, dropping in to help at the archive room occasionally.

She spends most of her time in the library as opposed to the archive room proper because her calm mannerisms are better fit for dealing with the subjects directly. This gentle demeanor when dealing with the subjects directly clashes with Overmare Number Crunch and her more abrasive approach. This gives Meridian yet another excuse to spend as little time as possible in the adult section of stable 75, only heading up for food and to sleep. Her own apprentice, a stallion named Paper Stack, handles the archives while she is performing her librarian duties.

Her genes were used in the creation of Gamma Ray and Sample Array. Unfortunately, only one of the two showed the correct level of intelligence to be included in the research team.
> Vaccination
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Repetition makes perfection, this has always been clear.

Routines were important in stable 75, they guided us in every hour of every day. From our carefully timed eating breaks and activities to any individual tasks we were told to do. It gave life structure, for without it, our days would devolve into aimless meandering. But while our routines were strict and careful, I knew that the poor surface-dwellers had routines of their own. After all, surviving in the desolate hellscape that I had been taught about would easily be a full-time job. 

Oh, those poor surface dwellers! Forced to coexist with terrible monsters and the horrors of the surface.

“Black Light!” Quick Check snapped, bringing me back to reality.

“I uhh… what?” I mumbled.

“Is your horn still hurting or not?” The doctor asked.

Truth be told, my horn was feeling great, barely even a bother. But then again, I should probably make extra sure that I’m at the top of my game.

“Oh yeah, it still hurts,” I said. It wasn’t a lie, lying was an evil pony thing. This was just a… preemptive health measure.

“Here you go,” Quick Check said, throwing me the jar of bounceback.

I tried to catch the jar with my magic, but in my sleepy haze, the spell wrapped around empty air. The jar continued along its journey, hitting me squarely on the nose.

“Owwww…” I whined, rubbing my nose with a forehoof.

My magic wrapped around it properly and lifted it up to my face. Where I absentmindedly popped one of the pills into my mouth and set the jar aside.

These pills are the best. I thought, chewing on the slightly strawberry-flavored medicine.

“That will be all then,” Quick Check said, writing down something on his PipBuck.

“See you later, doc!” I answered, starting towards the clinic door.

“Oh actually, I have an assignment for you,” Quick Check said before I could reach the hallway, “I noticed that Beaker Glass didn’t come by for a checkup yesterday. She took a hard hit to the shoulder, tell her to come by later,”

My PipBuck pinged in acknowledgment, its automatic task detection spell writing out the doctor’s order on my EFS.

“Will do!” I answered, smiling.

The wheel of stable 75 turned once more, lighting up the hallways with its artificial daylight as I made my way to the fillies' dorm. Today would be a slow day, nothing but classes I was too old to attend. At least it did give me a lot of time to spend in the library, not like I hadn’t read basically every book in it… several times.

I reached the dorm and opened the door to find the fillies already busy at work making their beds. It was rather amusing how they became a lot more efficient for a few days after sparring.

“Good morning Miss Black Light!” Light Show said, sitting next to her immaculately made bed like she did every day.

“Hey there!” I answered before lifting my voice to address all the fillies, “Get your saddlebags on, ponies!”

I walked up to my bunk and opened the small locker on the side that held my belongings. Since I couldn’t really take the same classes as the other fillies, I slipped on my saddlebags mostly out of habit. My PipBuck buzzed as its data tab updated with the contents of the bags, two pages of recycled paper, a recycled pencil, and a single daisy chip.

“Huh, when did I pick this up…?” I muttered aloud before eating the chip.

My right ear twitched in the silence that had befallen the room. I lowered my PipBuck and saw that the fillies had finished their housekeeping chores and stood silently next to me, waiting for instruction.

“Well! Off we go!” I exclaimed, standing tall and turning to face the door.

A quick check of my timetable laid out the day before us. Up first was history class, which, sadly, I had already finished years ago. But just because I couldn’t take the class it didn’t mean that my fillies couldn’t. And it was my duty as their elder to make sure they reached the classroom precisely when they had to.

We reached the mess hall just in time, being let in to eat once the colts arrived. I only got carrot chips, but I wasn’t feeling picky today so I didn’t really mind. The routine marked our every moment, as it had done every day, and as it would do for as long as we lived within our beloved stable 75.

I did have to wonder what my life would become once I graduated, however… once that structure disappeared. What would I find to fill my days once my PipBuck stopped updating its timetable? The little pony in my head sat on a large rock, holding one of their forehooves to their forehead to ponder the query.

Silly Black Light, remember what the research team told you, the surface is full of horrific dangers and ponies to help! There’s always going to be something to do! I thought, mentally kicking the rock out from under the pony.

Once I left the fillies at their classroom, I turned around and quickly made my way toward the library. Nothing like a good book to pass the time. 

“Good morning Miss Meridian!” I chirped when I entered the room.

“Hello Black Light, do you need help with anything?” She asked, smiling warmly.

“Not really, but I’ll let you know if I need anything!” I answered, trotting towards the bookshelves.

I considered picking up the magazine from yesterday, but that one was better saved for special occasions. Instead, I walked towards the ‘miscellaneous’ section and headed for one of my other favorite books:  ‘B. Marentine: Essentials of Alchemy, Revision by J. Marea”.

Ever since I could remember I had felt a… connection with alchemy. If I had to guess it was probably the more chaotic and experimental nature of it, after all, it was the predecessor to our current understanding of magic. Back in the ancient times when everything was new and colorful… and explosive. Truly it was night and day compared to the dull grays and greens of the technological age. 

The book’s pages were rich with history and intricate alchemical matrixes, spanning centuries of unicorns experimenting on both their own magic and that of the world. Strange diagrams adorned with long-dead languages were flanked by the historian’s best guesses as to what they all meant. According to the foreword -which by this point I had all but memorized-, alchemy had been the result of trade with zebra shamans from beyond our shores. They had brought with them a special understanding of the inner workings of magic, which we wasted no time in applying and deepening.

And to think that so many centuries later those once fruitful relationships had turned into the engine of our world’s destruction. A simple exchange of texts and spices warped into an exchange of balefire and death. I guessed it did make sense. After all, nothing can be gained without something being offered up in return.

Finally, I came to the best page in the book, a full-page illustration of an ancient periodic table, the first one that was ever recorded. Of course, it had an impressive amount of inaccuracies, such as several elements that were actually alloys of real ones, and of course the complete lack of any elements of harmony. But those problems could be easily overlooked when you considered the absolutely beautiful art that accompanied it.

Beautifully stylized symbols and epigraphs written in gorgeous calligraphy were simply too awe-inspiring to care for something as minor as glaring scientific inaccuracies. It was rather funny, however, that gold and silver were on the top of the table, completely breaking the established order of the elements that were listed below. But given how the precious metals were represented by none other than the princesses’ cutie marks, it was also understandable.

The sun and the moon, two objects that were so real… yet so mystical at the same time. Meaning had been given to both in the shape of precious metals or magical components, even if in reality they could be simply described as tools that the princesses once used to make the day and night cycle happen.

The page next to the table included images of all the properties and uses of the different elements, which, yet again, were crowned by gold and silver. A collage of artifacts and ornaments adorned the page, as well as some specialized tools. But the thing that caught my eye the most was the picture of a smiling stallion, fully decked in exercise gear, holding out a large gold medal to the camera. The epigraph read ‘Gold is still used to this very day for competition prizes all over Equestria’.

If only you knew, Marea, if only you knew… I thought, disheartened at the thought that the highest prize I could receive down here were some kind words from The Overmare. Getting a medal must’ve felt so good, the ultimate praise possible. An entire glorious medallion made out of some of the most precious metals. Represented by Celestia’s cutie mark, no less, a veritable piece of divinity bestowed upon a pony who had completed a difficult test.

I closed the book and straightened my back, feeling the deep popping sounds that came from my spine. My PipBuck gave me some relief in the knowledge that the upcoming math exam was still a few minutes away. Reading to pass the time was a double-edged sword, but it was one that I knew how to wield. 

If only I didn’t have to do that dumb test, I want to read more. I thought as I floated the book over to the bookcase. Wait… why not just ask for it? I realized, turning towards the front desk instead.

“Miss Meridian?” I asked, rousing the librarian from a light nap.

“I- uh… Black Light! Did you need anything?” She asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

The book landed on her desk with a loud thud, causing Meridian to jump in place.

“I want to take this book with me,” I explained.

She lifted the tome to her eyes and read the title.

“Why would you want to read this? You do know it’s just some made-up pseudoscience, right?” She asked, raising an eyebrow, “Why don’t you study something more enriching? Like magic?” Added the librarian, pointing at my horn.

I gave the librarian a toothy grin before answering.

“I just like it a lot!”

“Whatever you wish,” The pony muttered, “I’d tell you to bring it back in two days, but I’m certain nopony else will want to read that nonsense,”

I ignored Meridian’s criticisms and scooped up my book. There was no use in discussing such high concepts with a pony who clearly had a severely limited vision. When I went to put the book inside my saddlebag, however, I noticed a small white jar inside of it.

Oh, Quick Check is going to be angry. I thought, staring at the bounceback jar. To be fair it wasn’t that much of an issue, I just had to return it the next time I went to the clinic. With any luck, the doctor wouldn’t even realize it was missing. Surely not even a pony who has worked a job for their entire life could possibly have a list of everything in their work area! It wasn’t stealing, it was just an honest mistake. I reassured myself as I placed the book into the saddlebag.

“Thanks, Miss Meridian!” I said with a grin.

“You’re welcome,” The mare responded, readjusting her sitting to try and return to her nap.

I walked out of the library and stood in the empty hallway for a few minutes. Not having anything to do was just the worst feeling, it made me feel so… empty. As if I were a husk of a living creature instead of a complex pony full of life. Merely the demented ramblings of some higher being who, just like me, had nothing better to do with its precious time.

The sounds of fillies flooding the hallway brought me out of my ruminating, plastering a practiced smile on my face. I would be lying if I said I was nervous about the upcoming exam, something that could clearly not be said for the rest of the fillies. But just as with everything else in stable 75, you couldn’t escape the routine.

“Beaker!” I called out when I spotted the filly among the group.

The smaller pony’s eyes went wide at the mention of her name, but she relaxed when she realized it had been me who called her.

“Yes, Miss Black Light?” She asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“How’s your shoulder? Quick Check told me to ask you about it. You got hit yesterday, right?” I asked.

The filly’s face went several shades whiter at my words. 

“I’m f- fine,” She stuttered, lifting her right forehoof off the ground nervously.

“He knows you got hit, Beaker, why are you so jumpy?” I pressed, raising an eyebrow.

The younger pony bit her lip, but eventually, she couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“I tripped and hit my shoulder against the wall, it was my fault,” She blurted out.

So that’s why she didn’t want to talk about it. I realized. she hadn’t gotten hit, she’d just made a mistake. Granted, it was a stupid mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. Stable 75 didn’t take kindly to mistakes.

“Quick Check didn’t sound angry, he just wanted to make sure your shoulder was okay,” I reassured her, earning a nod.

“O- okay, I’ll go see him after the math exam,” She answered.

My PipBuck pinged in acknowledgment, displaying a ‘task complete’ message over my EFS. I loved this thing.

Noises came from within the classroom as it was reorganized into the exam format. I hope these fillies eventually become as calm as me. I thought, smirking as I looked around at the increasingly nervous ponies around me. Then again, I’m almost too smart for these tests!

At last, the door slid open to reveal none other than The Overmare, immediately casting a veil of silence over the chattering fillies. She took a moment to stare at all the young ponies before finally addressing us.

“Listen my dear little ponies, your next assignment will be a math exam,” She stated, “You will have one hour to complete it, best of luck, fillies” She added, stepping aside to let us into the room.

The Overmare sat down at her desk, in front of the large whiteboard that dominated the far wall of the room. And from there she observed as we made our way to our assigned desks.

I sat at my desk, wrapped the pen that had been left for me in the crimson glow of my telekinesis, and waited. As soon as The Overmare gave the order, I would flip my exam over and take in the complex problems that awaited me. This was going to be a breeze!

“Test start!” Said the overmare, starting her PipBuck timer.

With a crimson flash, I flipped the page over, knowing that the art of mathematics was not something foreign to me, and that I wouldn’t have any problems with passing this exam. I contemplated the black text on the page, taking in the complex arithmetic calculations that had been asked of me, and that I could easily complete.

Concentrate, you can do this. I told myself, and it was true as well. For every single year up to now, I had been at the top of my class in math, no other filly had ever come close to my grades.

I could still recall my first time taking an exam as if it had been yesterday, the nervousness, the confidence, and, of course, the knowledge that no problem could escape my grasp.

Once more I pondered over the problem before me, the one sentence that would define if my intellect was still above that of the other fillies. I hadn’t been taught much history, but I did know about the hundreds of brilliant ponies that had poured their intellect into the fine and precise art of mathematics. Truly, it was a thing of beauty, how seemingly esoteric and wholly alien concepts could merge with an idea as grounded and tangible as the apple.

“If you had seven apples, and your friend gave you four more, how many apples would you have?” I read to myself, whispering the words just barely loud enough for my own ears to hear. I felt every word as it passed through my lips, the warm feeling of friendship and the sweet taste of apples wrapping around each other to create a wholly unique sensation. 

To think something as complex as math could be whittled down to a simple interaction between friends, to a gift, given from one pony to another. It was… beautiful, really. However, there was a saddening undertone to the problem, for it had clearly been created in the days before the megaspells dropped. At what other time could a pony have simply given something as valuable as an apple to somepony else without as much as a promise that the valuable food would someday be repaid? 

Apples were a rare luxury in stable 75, only one was given to the best of the best at the end of every year. And to think at some point a pony could’ve had as many as seven apples! Not just that, but other ponies could have so many that they gave them away as gifts instead of prizes… unthinkable!

“Only ten minutes left, children,” The Overmare said, knocking me out of my ponderation.

It seemed that my thinking had taken up a substantial portion of the exam time, but it was nothing to worry about. After all, during my visualization of pre-war Equestria, I had come across the answer to the query that had been set upon me.

‘Onety-one’ I wrote proudly, grinning at how quickly I had reached the result. While I did feel slightly disheartened to know that the highest praise I would get for my excellent display of mathematical skill would be a good grade, I knew that it was just the way things were.

I strutted proudly out of the exam room, ready to enjoy my well-deserved free time. While heading back to the dorm would’ve been ideal, I couldn’t abandon my fillies. The library, however, was the second-best option.

Meridian was, once again, napping in her chair. There was no point in waking the older mare up, however, since the only thing I was looking for was a nice cushy couch to drop my flank on.

I opened the book once more, flipping through its pages absentmindedly. Gold is such a beautiful metal, I wish I had something made of gold. I thought, imagining how important such an item would make me look. No longer would I be a simple white pony with a brown mane, I’d have something bright and odd that really made me pop out from the crowd.

Maybe a headband… or maybe even a large collar or some bracelets for my rear legs, yeah, that sounds nice. I thought, looking back at the legs in question and trying to imagine what the accessories would look like. The best part is that it would draw eyes away from my blank fla-

The world exploded into colors and shapes as my head slammed against the roof in my ecstatic jubilee. A loud banging sound came from the front desk, probably Meridian being roused from sleep by a filly body slamming into the ceiling. But I paid her no mind as I shook my head to try and get my eyes to focus again and make sure I hadn’t just imagined it.

“Yesssss!” I shouted, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” 

Right there, where I had expected to see nothing but my white coat, stood the most beautiful cutie mark I had ever seen. The combined alchemical symbols of gold and silver were now plastered on my flank. A simple depiction of a sun with a crescent moon coming out of its side.

Gold and silver, the sun and the moon… it was as if the world had heard my plea for a prize and had given it to me in the only way it could! The balance was perfect, black mark over white coat, effort and skill for silver and gold. It was so beautiful that my eyes could do nothing but weep tears of joy.

“Is everything okay?” Meridian shouted, having stood back up after falling from her chair.

“It’s better than okay! Look!” I exclaimed, pointing at my flank when the librarian peeked into the aisle.

“Oh my!” The mare said, a smile parting her features, “Finally!” She said, walking over to hug me. 

“I have to tell The Overmare!” I shouted, breaking free from Meridian’s embrace.

I stuffed the book back into my saddlebag and ran out of the library, diving for the exam room like a white missile. 

“Overmare!” I shouted as I flew through the door, “Overmare Number Crunch!” 

“Black Light! What is the meaning of this?” The Overmare demanded with a bellow. Standing up from behind her desk to glare at me.

But I was far, far too happy for even her raised voice to put a dent in my joy. I said nothing, instead simply turning to the side and letting my flank do the talking.

Almost instantly, the older mare’s face warped from anger and frustration to a joy so radiant it could almost match my own. Glistening eyes and an enormous grin gave her an appearance that was so unlike The Overmare that one could’ve easily thought she was an impostor.

“Fillies! Classes for today are over, you all pass!” The Overmare announced, “We shall be celebrating Black Light’s graduation, at long last!”

My heart skipped a beat, I just couldn’t believe that the time had finally come. I had waited so long and now it was finally here.

“We will celebrate in the mess hall, everypony must be there in half an hour!” The Overmare continued, rushing into an adult door on the far wall of the classroom.

Once the oppressive presence of The Overmare had left the room, the fillies wasted no time in fully exploding with joy. They chanted my name and piled onto me, leaving me crushed under an immense group hug. We rushed out of the classroom and galloped down the hallways, eventually reaching our dorm.

“Thanks, girls! I’m going to be a hero!” I shouted at the top of my lungs when we had gathered in the room.

More cheers erupted from the crowd. It wasn’t every day that a new hero of the surface graduated from stable 75. But this time it wasn’t just a hero… it was me. It was my turn to walk up those steps and finally fulfill my mission.

“Does that mean that I’m going to be in charge of the fillies now?” Light Show asked once the cheering had died down.

“Yup! By tomorrow you’ll have your very own PipBuck!” I said with a grin, lifting my own to show her.

“Oh yeah!” She exclaimed excitedly.

We shared a laugh and finished getting our dorm in order to head towards the party. I stared longingly at my bunk, the same one that would serve Light Show tonight, just as it had served Gradient Bar before me. An endless cycle of bedding cycling as we grew older and graduated. 

“Okay fillies, line up!” I ordered, possibly for the last time.

The young ponies jumped into place faster than they ever had before, clearly excited to go to the party. My party. I skipped along with them as we paraded through the halls. Several researchers were walking along us as well, more than I had ever seen before. They didn’t say much, however, merely limiting themselves to stare at my cutie mark. 

And why wouldn’t they? It was stunningly beautiful, not to mention how clear its meaning was: gold and silver, the signs of the sun and the moon, silver and gold. It was my talent, nay, my destiny to be the very best at any time of day!

The mess hall had been converted into a true party room. Recycled paper confetti rained from the sides of a large banner that read my name. Bowls of daisy chips adorned all the tables, my favorite. 

Gamma Ray and the colts arrived shortly after, any sense of rivalry between us forgotten in the sheer joy that flooded the room. 

“Took you long enough!” He teased.

“It sure did!” I answered, immediately diving back into my daisy chip bowl. 

Moments later the adult door opened once more to reveal The Overmare, an enormous, juicy and delectable apple held firmly in her magical grasp. Despite the chaotic celebration, The Overmare’s presence was still more than enough to get us all to quiet down. 

“Fillies and colts, I want you all to give a round of applause to the latest hero of the surface, Black Light!” She stated.

A thunderous applause flooded the room, from fillies, colts, and adults alike. The Overmare raised a hoof to quiet us down again.

“It is not every day that a filly, nay, a mare graduates from between your ranks, let alone one as promising as Black Light,” The older mare continued, I couldn’t help but puff out my chest at the notion of being called an adult, “Her performance has been impeccable, and I hope she can serve as a template to create more excellent future graduates, give her a cheer!”

More applause followed her words, nearly as deafening as the thunder of my heart in my ears.

“Now we shall see her off! To go join all previous graduates in their epic quest to bring balance back to the surface!” The Overmare finished, floating the apple toward me.

I gracefully took it within my own magical grasp, bringing it ever so closer to my mouth. The room had fallen completely silent and I could feel the chills of dozens of eyes on me.

A loud, echoing crunch sounded out as my teeth broke through the crisp fruit’s skin, marking the start of the rest of my life. Cheers erupted once more from the gathered ponies. 

“Thanks everypony!” I managed to shout over the celebrating ponies.

A while later, once I had eaten more daisy chips than I had in my whole life, the party was finally starting to die down slightly. I was in the middle of my… twentieth? Thirtieth? Bowl of daisy chips when I felt a series of taps on my leg. I turned to see none other than Dot Product, looking up at me with wide eyes.

“Hey there, Dot!” I said cheerfully,” drawing a smile from the filly.

“H- Hey Miss Black Light,” She mumbled, “I h- hope you have a good time saving the p- ponies of the surface,”

The little filly’s words tugged at my memory. Many years ago I had been in her hooves, saying the same words to Gradient just before she had left for the surface. Thanks to her I knew exactly what to tell the filly in front of me now.

“Thanks, Dot,” I said, smiling sincerely, “I’ll make sure to find you out there when you graduate too!”

“Y- you will?” She asked, her ears perking up.

I nodded, making a serious face. 

“I promise,” I added.

Two small black forelegs wrapped around my left leg, pulling it into a hug.

“I’ll miss you!” She said, her voice barely a whisper.

I’ll miss you too, Dot. I wanted to say, but the words just didn’t seem to leave my throat. I decided to simply hug her back, holding the small pony in my hooves for a moment.

“Black Light?” The voice of The Overmare came from behind me.

I turned to look at the older mare, she was standing in the open adult door. The same eerie smile from before plastered on her usually serious features.

“It’s time,” She said.

I nodded and stood to address my fillies and the colts for the last time in a long while.

“Bye everypony, keep training hard! I can’t wait for you to join me and all the other heroes up on the surface!” I exclaimed excitedly, getting one last round of applause in exchange. I turned and took a deep breath before stepping into the adult section of the stable. 

Truth be told, the adult section was not so different from the stable I had grown up in. The layout was nearly identical, with the only difference being the transparent floor that allowed the researchers to keep an eye on us. You could see everything from up here, they must really care about us to keep that close of an eye!

The Overmare guided me through a series of hallways and rooms, full to bursting with strange laboratory machines. One thing stood out as strange, however, and it was the sheer number of researchers. I had always assumed them to be a dozen at most, but as I made my way through this alien part of the stable I could see a dozen new faces in every room.

Finally, we took one last turn and came face to face with a closed door. My eyes drifted downwards through the transparent floor and I immediately realized where we were. We were standing above the entrance to the clinic, so, logically, this had to be the adult clinic!

The door opened to reveal none other than Quick Check, standing tall in his lab coat.

“Black Light! Here at last!” He said with a smile that was just a little bit too wide, “Sorry that I missed your party, but I had to get everything ready for you up here, come, come!” He added, gesturing to the inside of the clinic.

The Overmare and I walked into the room, which was nearly identical to the one below. The main difference was that where the clinic I knew had many different beds, this one had a single one in the middle of the room. The entirety of the walls were covered in drawers and shelves holding all manner of tools and machines.

“Get on the bed, please” Quick Check ordered, “We just need to run some final tests and then you’ll be ready to go,” 

“Sure thing, doc!” I chirped before launching myself onto the bed.

The Overmare and Quick Check shared a look before the former gave a nod.

“I leave this to you, I have to go make sure the others don’t get too rowdy,” She said before leaving the room.

Quick Check walked up to me, a book held less than a hoof’s length from his eyes. I heard pages flip rapidly as the stallion focused on my flank.

“Do you feel any difference in the area?” He asked.

“No, not really, but I finally got my cutie mark! Isn’t it cool?” I exclaimed happily.

“Yes, yes, but are you certain you don’t feel anything strange? Like a pricking sensation?” He said, his eyes still focused on his book.

I went silent for a moment, focusing on my flanks.

“No, it feels the same as it always has,” I said, drawing a sigh from the doctor.

Quick Check pulled back and started to flip through his book again.

“Clearly symbological, but no clear symbol…” He mumbled.

“Oh, I know what it is!” I exclaimed, making the stallion raise an eyebrow, “It’s the alchemical symbols for gold and silver!” I explained proudly.

The doctor’s expression softened. He gave an understanding nod and then took a second book out of a nearby shelf, flipping through both at the same time. After a few moments, however, he let out a frustrated groan and lifted his leg to tap at his PipBuck.

“Okay then, just one thing left here!” He said, floating out a wide array of flasks and tools from the drawers around him. 

“And then what happens?” I asked, almost jumping in anticipation.

“And then you’ll get your vaccines, and go be a hero,” He reassured me, an awkward smile warping his face, “now, get ready, this will hurt a bit,” He added, floating out a strange cylindrical tool.

I did my best to ‘get ready’, but I couldn’t help but yelp when the cylinder was pressed into my back. The metal bit into my coat, its edge easily slicing through it and cutting a round chunk out. However, almost as fast as the pain had appeared, it went away under the magic that poured out of Quick Check’s horn.

“Good, good,” The stallion said, dropping the small piece of muscle into a flask and quickly pouring the contents of another into it.

“What is that for?” I asked, watching as the bloody chunk bubbled inside the flask.

“Just some final samples, we won’t see you again, after all!” Quick Check said.

“Aww, don’t say that! I’ll definitely come back to visit!” I reassured him.

Quick Check grunted in response, floating a second tool off a nearby tray, this one was substantially longer and thinner than the one before. I felt something wet press against my back, just over my kidney.

“That was some anesthetic, you’ll just feel a prick,” The doctor explained as he floated the large tool over my back. 

Just like he said, I felt a sharp stab on my back, barely even a prick. The tool was inside for a few seconds before pulling back out. Another surge of healing magic closed the small hole as if it had never been there before the stallion deposited a bloody mass into one of the smaller flasks.

“Just one more!” Quick Check said, putting the long tool inside a bag.

I braced myself for another painful sample, but was pleasantly surprised when Quick Check produced a pair of scissors instead. The doctor walked up to my face and snipped off a small lock of my mane, letting it fall into a test tube. Without saying a word, he turned and took all of the samples towards a small fridge in the wall. 

A loud knocking sound came from the other side of the door, causing me to jump slightly,

“Allele?” Quick Check asked.

“Yeah,” A voice answered from the other side.

“It’s open, come on in,”

The door opened fully to reveal an old earth pony mare. Or well… old wasn’t exactly the right word for her, ancient would’ve been more fitting. Deep wrinkles covered her face, and what wisps of mane still remained on her head had turned as white as my coat. I had never seen this pony before.

“This is the new one?” The mare asked, pointing at me.

“Yep, I don’t have anything close to hers in the manual,” Quick Check answered.

I wonder what they’re talking about. I thought as the two ponies talked in their strange scientific language. My mind wandered over the different tools that were around the clinic, wondering when I’d finally go to the surface to start being a hero! I should probably look for some of the other graduates as soon as I get there. Whichever way they may have gone.

A hoof pressing against my flank brought my attention back to the two researchers.

“-unseparated symbols,” Quick Check was saying, “But the books have next to nothing on monochromatism,” He added.

“If you ask me, I’d say it looks more like a glyph-“ The old mare started, but she quickly fell silent, “Nevermind, we’ll have time to discuss it later, we shouldn’t keep her!” She said, breaking her silence once more.

I immediately perked up at her words.

“Fair enough,” Quick Check stated, turning to smile at me, “Are you ready to be a hero?” He asked.

“I’ve been ready for years!” I said, puffing out my chest in pride.

Quick Check let out a chuckle before walking towards the door, which Allele was holding open.

“Stay right there, we’ll give you your vaccines and then you’ll be ready!” He said right before the door closed.

I could barely keep myself still. It finally happened, I was going to make it. All my training, all my hard work, all my existence had been building up to this moment. I couldn’t have been more ready, my mind was quick, my legs strong, and my senses sharp. The burning feeling in my chest was so extreme that I was sure it would melt through my stable barding at any second.

Before I got the chance to bounce off the bed, however, the door slid open once more.

“Hello,” Said Sample Array, walking into the clinic with a cart.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end at the sight of the stallion, but they quickly calmed down. He’s part of the research team, and the research team only want what’s best for us and the surface. I reassured myself. The cart that the unicorn was pushing held a large bottle and a syringe. I hated syringes.

But it was necessary, I had gone through far worse than a vaccine to get here.

“You won’t feel a thing!” The unicorn said, taking the needle out of its protective casing.

I watched as Sample Array took the bottle in their magic, reading the peeling label for a bit before placing the syringe within it and filling it with a thick green liquid.

“Hey, why does the bottle have a skull and crossbones?” I asked, pointing at a part of the bottle where the white label had peeled off, revealing a red label underneath.

“That’s because it’s… uh… very, very deadly to viruses and bacteria!” The green unicorn said with a nervous tone, turning the bottle so that I couldn’t see the label anymore.

I guess that makes sense. I thought to myself, trying to take a deep breath to calm myself down.

Sample Array walked up to my side and took my right forehoof in his magic, aiming the syringe at the veins in my knee. I hadn’t ever gotten a vaccine there, usually they went into my shoulder. I had to look away to avoid passing out, but the sensation still felt horrible, as if a burning sludge were making its way through my veins. Almost immediately, I felt sick to my stomach and tasted something coppery in my mouth, what a strange vaccine.

“It shouldn’t take longer than ten seconds,” The unicorn said as they replaced the syringe on the cart, but their voice sounded distant and distorted.

Oh, good. I thought, my inner voice feeling sluggish, as if I had just woken up. Just have to count to… ten, let’s see… one… two… uhh… what was the third one? Was it four? The thought echoed around my mind as my vision collapsed into darkness.

Slowly, consciousness seeped back into my mind. I knew not how long I had been unconscious for, but I could feel that my barding and saddlebags had been removed. My mouth felt pasty and dry, and my head throbbed painfully, what happened? I tried to move, but my limbs felt frozen and sluggish. 

“-Should do it, if you damage the cutie mark we’ll get a sharper one and try again on the other side,” A voice said somewhere to my left. 

“That would be all, I’ll take the samples to the main freezer when I’m done,” Another voice, deeper-pitched, answered from my right.

I heard a door open and close. I tried to open my eyes but I could barely manage to crack them open enough to be blinded by a bright light. Warm air hit my right flank, somepony’s breath, I guessed. What was going on?

“Okay so let’s see…” The pony said, a stallion, I realized now that my ears were working better.

The sound of pages being turned reached my ears as the stallion continued to talk to himself.

“Make an incision above the area…”

An incision?! I thought, alarmed. Straining against my frozen limbs, I desperately tried to move. Who is that? Where am I? 

I must’ve managed to twitch, because the pony next to me fell silent after giving an alarmed yelp. I continued to struggle, but couldn’t manage to move. The low buzzing of telekinesis reached my ears when something cold was pressed against my snout, just under my nostrils.

The sudden sensation shocked me, flooding my body with cold as if a bucket of icy water had been poured on me. My eyes finally opened fully, blinding me with the bright white light that hung from the ceiling. They quickly refocused on the small glass pane that had been held against my snout, probably to check if I had been breathing.

“What the-?” The stallion’s voice asked.

I forced my head to the side and saw the recoiling face of Sample Array.

“You!” I shouted, quite a difficult task considering my jaw wasn’t responding yet.

The unicorn’s eyes shrank to pinpricks as they panickedly scanned the room. A flash of telekinesis erupted from his horn and a scalpel floated off the tray that had been left by my bedside.

I managed to heave myself off the bed mere instants before the scalpel sank into the spot where my throat had been. What little air I had been able to draw into my lungs was quickly knocked out when I hit the floor, forcing me to cough.

I knew there was something fishy about that bastard! I thought, rolling away from the bed when the stallion in question swung the scalpel blindly at me. My legs sluggishly tried to lift my body off the floor, but I was forced to roll again when the scalpel flew at me.

A snapping sound escaped from the medical tool when it hit the floor, sending the deadly edge flying out of the stallion’s magic field. My own horn sputtered and sparked when I tried to channel magic through it, leaving me with nothing but a headache. Sample Array threw his broken weapon to the side and quickly replaced it with a bonesaw, glaring at me with murderous intent.

The saw swung in an arch towards me. My foreleg dragged itself up just in time to catch the tool. It hurt, but it wasn’t a serious injury. The pain, however, injected warmth back into my legs. I flicked the saw aside, completely ripping it out of the unicorn’s magic.

I whirled on the ground and placed both my rear hooves on the side of the bed that separated me from my opponent. With a groan, I sent it flying into the stallion. Slowly, I struggled back to my hooves, but the green pony remained under the medical bed.

Something was wrong with me. My vision was blurred and my ears were ringing. I could feel my heart thundering in my head, but its rhythm was off. 

I quickly glanced around the room I was in, trying to spot any other hostiles. For now, I was alone. The glance had also revealed two things: In the first place, I was still in the stable’s adult clinic, In second place, I should’ve really thought twice about moving my eyes around so quickly.

“Owwwww,” I whined, holding my throbbing head in my hooves.

As if my own foolish actions hadn’t made my headache bad enough, an incredibly loud alarm started blaring from the hallway. Was the stable under attack? I turned to look at Sample Array, watching as his right forehoof pulled away from his PipBuck. 

“Damn it!” I shouted when I realized that he had probably signaled his co-conspirators.

I jumped at the pinned stallion, launching myself into the air. A loud banging sound came from the unicorn’s head when the dropkick connected, whipping his skull into the floor. That should keep him out of commission.

He couldn’t have been alone, I need to find the other baddies before they hurt one of the fillies! I thought, the pieces of the puzzle slowly falling into place. I knew this stallion seemed off from the first second! I had to tell The Overmare right away. 

I looked around the room again, spotting a familiar pair of saddlebags that sat on a neatly folded set of stable barding. With practiced ease I slipped back into my clothes, my hooves still slightly sluggish.

My ears picked up the thundering of hooves outside the door, too heavy to be one of the researchers. I looked around for anything I could use as a weapon. Glancing over the tool-covered trays before letting out a triumphant chuckle when I found the perfect weapon.

The door started to slide open just as my magic finished wrapping around a steel tray that had been left next to my near-autopsy bed. I quickly threw away the many, differently-sized scalpels that were littering the tray and brought the metal rectangle to bear in front of me.

I didn’t immediately attack, after all, I didn’t know if this was a researcher that had come to see what the problem was! 

My eyes went wide at the sight beyond the door. A pony stood before me, completely covered in black and blue armor. Their head was protected by a helmet, its visor concealing the features beneath. The only exposed part of the pony was the mouth, which was holding onto a ten-millimeter pistol.

On reflex, I swung the tray at the pony before they could take a shot. Their gun and several teeth went flying to the side with a loud gong sound.

The pony collapsed to the side, bringing both forehooves up to hold their broken jaw. Their misery didn’t last long, however, because in a single motion I replaced my tray with their discarded pistol. A single shot rang out, right between the helmet and the neck of the armor suit.

This had to be some kind of cue, there was no other explanation. Where had this strange pony gotten that armor? And why were they attacking me?

“Think Black Light, think!” I said aloud, my mind fighting against its own slowness.

I’ve got to Tell the Overmare, I hope she’s safe. I decided it was the best course of action. Whenever something wrong happens, we are to tell The Overmare. But where is she?

I walked up to the open clinic door and peeked outside, trying to see if there was anypony out there. Maybe I could find a researcher and get some help! I just had to-

A gunshot rang out from the hallway, followed by a searing pain in my right ear. My head whipped back into the clinic as quickly as I could, avoiding a second shot entirely. There were more of these ponies out there, at least one more. My mind raced to formulate a strategy.

Being a unicorn, I could easily blindfire down the hallway to make whoever was shooting at me take cover. But what if they had hostages? I couldn’t just hope for the best! I didn’t have enough time to think about it fully, I’d just have to trust my gut.

The gun flew out of the door, drawing fire from the unseen enemy that missed completely. I quickly whipped the pistol to the side and downwards, firing twice. I hoped the shots would bite into the grate floor instead of bouncing into a possible hostage, and that the sound alone would make the shooter take cover. I jumped out of the clinic and launched down the hallway, running away from the shooter. Several shots rang out behind me, but none connected. 

I blindly ran through the alien adult stable. While some parts were essentially a one-to-one copy of the stable I was used to, many hallways and rooms were completely foreign. There was no sign of the many researchers I had passed on my way to the clinic. Could they have been taken hostage by that armored pony and their associates? 

Eventually, I came to a small room with only one other staircase leading out of it… and up. Many lockers lined the walls, filled with yellow rubbery suits held firmly in plastic bags. A single sign hung from the staircase, reading ‘entrance’.

I turned to look back at the hallway from which I had come. Three black figures turned the corner behind me, guns at the ready. I fired twice at the first pony. Both bullets hit, but they did little other than slow the charging enemy down. I, on the other hoof, was very much not armored, a fact that was swiftly brought to the front of my mind when the attacking ponies opened fire.

There was only one way out of here: up the staircase. With the sound of bullets ricocheting off the walls and steel steps around me. My rear right leg suddenly started to feel sluggish, with a muted feeling of pain coming from halfway up my thigh. Of course I would be unlucky enough to get a muscle cramp while getting shot at!

The stairs ended in a large room. A large machine hung from the ceiling, pointed towards the cogwheel-shaped door of the stable. 

Okay, you’re going to get out there, find the others, and come back here to save everypony! I thought, the plan falling into place now that my head was clearer. All I had to do was open this damn door.

I gritted my teeth, fired up my horn, and wrapped the entire bulk of the door in a crimson haze. I grunted loudly, clenching my teeth in effort as I pulled on the door with all my arcane might. A loud hissing sound came from the door as a yellow alarm light started to flash above it. My neck started hurting from the magical strain, but the door barely budged. Who designed this damned thing?

The sound of hoofsteps forced me to rethink my strategy, looking around the room for something I could use to try and pry the door open. My eyes finally fell on a small console that flanked the door, and I wrapped my magic around it instead. If I could pull it out of the floor I could use it like a makeshift crowbar. Right before I started pulling, however, I noticed the large red label reading ‘Door controls’ that was on the top of the console.

“Perfect!” I said aloud, switching my focus from using the console as a crowbar to figuring out the controls. There! A large green button that said ‘open’ was swiftly crushed under my hoof.

After a loud buzzer noise, the device in the middle of the room started to extend towards the stable door just as the three impostors reached the top of the staircase. I quickly brought my pistol up to bear and let off two shots, forcing them to retreat down the stairwell and take cover.

The door was slow. Painfully slow. Bullets ripped past me, pelting the wall near me with holes. I jumped to the side to avoid becoming a pony-shaped strainer, but quickly got back up on my hooves and shot back several times. I had to keep them out of the room as long as possible. They definitely knew I didn’t have much ammunition left.

Movement drew my eyes to the stairway, so I moved my gun on instinct and fired off a shot at the figure. A cacophony of noise came from the stairwell, I had either hit a weak spot or the pony had tripped in the shock of the shot. I took aim at a second figure, but the gun didn’t let out its wonderful song, instead giving me a dry click.

I turned around desperately to look at the door. It had finally inched open enough to maybe let a pony though. Before the imposters realized that I had run out of ammo, I threw myself at the crack in the door, barely fitting through. I started to drag myself through the opening, my back pressed hard against the edge of the door frame and my chest touching the rough steel of the door. The cogwheel shape kept turning, for a moment, I worried that it could crush me, but the sounds of gunfire blasted that worry out of my mind.

The door suddenly came to a stop. What the- I started to think, but the plate of steel started to move again… in the opposite direction. I doubled my efforts to drag myself through the gate as the rapidly closing door slowly started to press on my chest. Just… a little further…

“Gha!” I exclaimed as I finally slipped free of the stable door.

My heart was beating loudly in my ears, but even over its thundering drumming, I could hear the colossal door closing completely. Had they given up on killing me? Or had they decided that it wasn’t worth it to risk losing more of their wretched numbers? Either way, it didn’t matter, I had to get help as quickly as possible. 

That, of course, would imply getting out of… wherever I am. I looked around the darkness, trying to see if there was anything I could make out. The darkness was absolute, for all I knew I could’ve actually died and become stuck somewhere in-between.

The inky void of darkness pressed down on me like barding that was too tight. My breaths became shakier as the adrenaline from my escape started to wear off, filling me with shivers and cold. My right rear leg was still terribly cramped, an intense burning feeling that went straight through it.

I just need some kind of… light! I thought, triumphantly, after remembering that I had a computer strapped to my foreleg.

I brought the device up to my face, its monochrome screen lighting up when it detected the movement. The dim green glow pierced the darkness tentatively, but the screen didn’t have enough strength to reveal anything other than the leg it was attached to. A window popped up on the screen, showing a limping pony with their rear right leg wrapped in bandages and a sad face.

What a dramatic diagnosis program, I’m not even hurt that bad. I thought with a chuckle while I flipped through the options menu.

At last, I found the ‘flashlight’ option and turned it on. Like a green sun, the light dawned in the strange space I had come into. The first rays of light struck the surfaces around me: concrete, twisted rebar, and rusted pipes. Some kind of basement, I realized. 

Another notification brought my attention back to the PipBuck screen, where I saw a message reading ‘Discovered: Red school of Baltimare’. The tag marked itself on my map screen, it then dawned on me that I had no idea where I was supposed to go. My top priority had to be rescuing all the ponies in the stable, but I had no idea how I could do any of that!

“Okay Black Light, you can do this…” I told myself, listening to the ominous echo of my voice in the damp basement, “First thing’s first, you need to get out of here,”

My PipBuck pinged yet again, detecting the verbal task the moment it left my lips. The line of text on my EFS read ‘find a way out of the basement’. It was simple, but it helped greatly with calming my breathing.

I raised my foreleg, pouring my green light on my surroundings to try and get a better look. The derelict remains of several machines lay directly in front of the immense stable door, possibly generators or some kind of water pumps. The door itself was essentially identical to how it looked from the inside, with the only difference being the large yellow ‘75’ that was painted on its center.

Directly across from the stable door, I spotted a series of metal bars that didn’t look like pipes or like wreckage. A closer inspection revealed it to be the railing of a staircase, the rusted steps leading up into the darkness, outside of my light’s range. It was a rather daunting perspective… going up into the dark and away from my beloved stable. But what else was I to do other than charge towards the surface and finally fulfill my destiny?

“Let’s do this!” I exclaimed, resolute.

The second I tried to take a step forward, however, my rear legs slipped back, sending me tumbling onto the floor once more. I got up again and shook my head, apparently I had been standing in a puddle of some black liquid, probably sewage or something equally disgusting. But I wasn’t going to let a small slip-up put me down! I was going to do this!

I walked towards the staircase and started to make my way up the steps, hoping that the ancient structure didn’t collapse beneath me. The heads of rust-encrusted bolts taunted my every step, would they disintegrate as soon as my hoof fell upon their step, or would they hold fast and allow me to continue my advance to the surface? Truly there was no way to know until I finally committed and not only planted my hoof firmly on the poorly maintained surface of the ancient steps, but actually took the leap of faith needed to rest my prodigious weight upon them as well. Be it fortune, be it fate, but as I continued to press on, the stairs held fast until I had finally reached the top.

The light that poured from my PipBuck lit up the metal rectangle of a door. It wasn’t a sliding door, like the ones I was used to in the stable, but a hinged door like I had seen in historical pictures. I gave the knob a twist with my magic, just in case. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t budge, the thick layer of rust on the doorframe holding it firmly in place. For my second attempt, I wrapped the entire door in my telekinesis, grunting with effort while I tried to pull it free of its hinges. 

I didn’t start all out, not wanting to put much pressure on the platform beneath me. Slowly I started to increase the pressure, and a bead of sweat fell down the side of my face while my magic intensified. 

With a mighty creaking sound, the door finally tore off the wall, flying off into the darkness below from the excess force. A clang came from the depths as the door collided with something metallic, most likely the stable door.

The now-doorless doorway opened into a small room. Some natural light poured into it from a doorway on the opposite wall. It appeared to be some sort of storage area, judging by the rows of boxes labeled ‘storage’ that stood on rusty storage racks around me. 

I walked up to one of the boxes, pulling it out of the rack and taking a look inside. A couple bottles of Moke glue were all I found. Why use an entire box to store a few bottles of glue? That’s pretty wasteful. I thought, looking into the next box over. My sight was met by three small black devices, red and yellow wires came out of them, with a spiral antenna poking out from the ‘top’. Why was this in a schoolhouse? I wondered, but it didn’t matter, I had to focus.

The door leading out of the storage room led me into a lobby area. A large U-shaped desk dominated the room, with a closed door on each side. Directly across from the desk, stood the remains of a double door that may have once been made out of glass. The entrance to the school. As soon as my gaze passed over the doorway, my PipBuck’s compass pinged and marked it with a light blue arrow, confirming that the door that led into the sunlight outside was, in fact, the exit.

Sunlight bled into the building through the shattered crystal, lighting up the hundreds of dust particles that had been stirred up by me for the first time in who knew how long. However, aside from the thick layer of dust that coated the furniture and the glass shards that had fallen onto the floor when the door broke, the room was remarkably well-preserved. I walked out and into the lobby proper, taking in the benches that were placed on the sides of the front door, and the long-dead potted plants that still sat in their pots on the desk. The glass shards on the floor reflected the light further into the building, showering the roof and walls with minuscule dots of brightness.

I knew that I should get to work immediately on finding the other graduates, but I’d be damned if the steel jaws of curiosity hadn’t locked themselves around my head and turned it towards the interior of the building. After all, what was just a few minutes of exploration in the grand scheme of things?

The door on the left of the desk was already slightly open, sliding completely open with only the smallest of pushes. Behind it was revealed a simple hallway, with doors numbered from one to four on either side. At the end of the hallway stood a fifth door, which was completely ajar. 

I walked up to the door curiously, poking my head inside. The room beyond was a spitting image of a stable 75 classroom, with identical desks and layout to boot. A large blackboard hung on the far wall, with the faded remains of an ancient class still somewhat distinguishable on it.

“The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell…” I read aloud, the rest of the board was completely illegible.

The only thing of note in the classroom were the discarded saddlebags that lay beside each desk. Some were completely undisturbed, others had clearly been kicked aside in a hurry. Out of curiosity, I opened one, finding nothing but a pencil and a clear plastic bag with some unrecognizable sludge inside, maybe it had been food at some point.

I didn’t see a point in going into the other classrooms, not like there would be anything of note in them anyway. Instead, I made my way back towards the lobby and turned to face the other door. This time, however, I noticed something behind the desk that I hadn’t seen before. A small pit formed in my stomach when my eyes fell upon the skeleton that was draped on an overturned office chair. The remains of what may have once been a colorful shirt rested among the bones, with a small plastic pin that read ‘Miss P’ still attached to it.

Like all the other colts and fillies of stable 75, I had been shown photos of dead and grievously wounded ponies in an effort to prepare me for my duties as a surface hero, but this was… vile. To see a lifeless body was one thing, in some cases, you could almost think that the pony was just sleeping despite their injuries. Or in other cases a pony that had clearly died in the line of duty from all manner of weapons. But to see a completely degraded skeleton however, especially one that seemed to have just died while doing their job as a receptionist, felt deeply wrong.

I averted my gaze, unable to bear the sight any longer, my eyes tried to focus on anything other than the bleak scene behind the desk, eventually falling on the crimson puddle that was starting to accumulate underneath me.

Huh, that must be the sludge I stepped in outside the stable. I thought, staring at the dark red trail that had been left in my wake as I walked through the room. Some of it almost looked like droplets-

That’s blood, isn’t it? I thought, the little pony in my head facehoofed. Indeed, on my right rear leg, which I had foalishly believed to simply be cramped, I saw a small hole that was currently in the process of bleeding profusely. The sight of the wound seemed to remind my body that it was supposed to be feeling pain, sending me to my knees in an instant.

I was forced to lift the leg off the ground when the pain got too great to stand. Somehow, the lack of strain seemed to worsen the wound, making blood pour out of it at an even faster rate. With every beat of my heart, blood splattered the floor around me, covering the long-abandoned tiles in a fresh coat of crimson. It was ironic, really, that I had started my journey injured and with nothing but an empty pistol and myself for defense.

Should probably stop reflecting on the floor and focus on not bleeding out. I told myself, shaking my head. I looked around desperately for anything I could use to stop the bleeding, giving a tentative glance at the skeleton’s bow next to me. This was a school where fillies studied, there had to be some kind of first aid kit. Wait a second… I thought, glancing at the door with the classrooms. If the classrooms are similar to the ones in the stables, shouldn’t the bathrooms be the same too?

Hoping that the school had a bathroom, I dragged myself through the other door and was met by another hallway that led to a staircase. I looked at the other doors that lined the walls, seeing a maintenance closet, a teacher’s room, and…

“Bingo!” I exclaimed when my eyes read the ‘bathroom’ sign.

I stumbled into the small room and tried to wave my PipBuck light around the darkness. This was no easy task, considering I had to balance myself on just two legs. But it paid off when I spotted the first aid box. It was hung on the wall where it had been in the stable’s bathroom. The only difference being that it was a light yellow color as opposed to the stable’s plain white.

My crimson magic wrapped around the metal box, opening the lid with such desperation that I nearly ripped the entire thing off the wall. One of the rusty screws that held the box against the wall gave way under the force, leaving the container hanging from a single point. I lifted my PipBuck to light up the inside of the box, trying to find anything of use.

A roll of bandages was the first thing I saw in the box, and it was all I needed to see. I took out the roll with my magic, ripping it out of its spot so quickly that several items went flying out of the box alongside it. 

There we go. I thought as I finished wrapping my leg with the thin fabric. The magic that had been woven into the bandage immediately got to work on alleviating my pain, almost letting me set my leg down again.

I looked around the floor for the items I had sent flying, but all I could find was a small metallic object. I picked it up in my magic, bringing it up to my eyes to see it better. One of those little mane pins, I realized. There was also a single bottle cap, with another two still inside the first aid box. Who in their right mind would just chuck garbage into a first-aid kit?

“Okay, let’s get going, I need to find the other graduates,” I said out loud, making sure my PipBuck picked it up. 

The text appeared in my EFS. I doubted I could forget it, even if I tried, but it would still serve as a reminder. All I needed now was a direction. I looked back at the hallway, noticing how I could easily make out my tracks among the drops of blood. I hadn’t noticed any tracks leading out of the school, so this dust was probably new.

I tried to think of who I could look for rather than where. Sunbeam had been the last graduate before me, but he had been gone for several months now, there was no way to know what direction he had gone in. Or… I realized, looking at the open front door, is there?

Slowly but surely, I limped my way towards the entrance to the school, peeking into the cracked street outside. A long, single-story housing building stretched out to either side in front of the school, as far as I could see.

A ceiling of thick clouds hung above me, bringing back memories of the pictures I had seen in history books. Pictures of cities in the clouds, buzzing with pegasi. I looked up and wondered if there were any pegasi up there. Would they look at us? Observing and examining in the same way the researchers had done with me and the other fillies? From a certain point of view, it was a comforting thought. 

Not everything was comforting, however, an eerie veil of silence hung over my surroundings, gone was the low hum of the stable’s ventilation ducts and the buzzing of lights, replaced instead by a horrid stillness. An intense feeling of paranoia flared up inside me as I stared into the empty street, it felt too quiet, it felt… wrong.

I stepped through the shattered glass of the front door and walked into the emptiness that lay before me. Not even a hint of a breeze was blowing outside, the entire world seemingly frozen in time. By all means it felt as if I had walked into a photograph from the past.

The clouds above took on a new sensation now that I was in the open. No longer was it a ceiling, instead, it was as if a curtain of sadness had been drawn over Celestia’s sun. And there too, time was stagnant, with even the clouds seeming to be frozen in the sky. I stepped forward once more, stepping onto a few shards of glass that were sprinkled on the ground outside the schoolhouse. I winced at how loud the sound was in the dreadful silence of the street.

“Come on Sunbeam… where did you go?” I asked out loud, looking to either side of the deserted street. My voice echoed back to me ominously.

There didn’t seem to be any indication that a pony had gone through this street for centuries, let alone months! A glance at my EFS compass revealed that the street ran from east to west, but that was all the information I could get from it. My wounded leg forced me to sit on my haunches, letting me concentrate. My PipBuck pinged, informing me that I had, in fact, gotten out of the schoolhouse.

If the others didn’t go east or west, what direction could they have gone in? I thought. We had been sent up here to serve as heroes for the poor, defenseless surface-dwellers, meaning that everypony before me probably headed straight towards trouble. But there seemed to be no trouble here, or anything at all, for that matter.

That was when a realization struck me like a freight train, I did know what direction trouble was in! Whenever things went wrong, ponies said that things had ‘gone south’. Something about that direction was clearly associated with chaos and mischief, perhaps the maregnetic field of our beloved world concentrated all the trouble in that one singular direction. Why else would it always be referred to as an omen of bad luck?

It was so obvious that I couldn’t believe it had taken me so long to realize. Emboldened by my intelligence, I turned around to face the school once more, seeing the path that led around it. 

“I will be back as soon as I find help!” I proudly announced, my gaze fixed on the spot where I knew my stable lay. And I was off to adventure!

The streets of Baltimare were… unnerving, to say the least. Something about the vast emptiness felt terribly wrong, and worst of all, I could all but swear that I wasn’t alone here. Be it the ominous dark depths of broken windows, or the empty alleyways, I couldn’t shake the sensation that at any given moment I would turn around to spot something just barely slipping out of my sight.

I knew it was nothing to worry about, my empty EFS was all I needed to be certain of my loneliness. But while the isolation remained, the silence did not. Not two blocks away from the schoolhouse,  my PipBuck started to let out the most grating clicking noise I had ever heard. I lifted the screen to my eyes to try and find what it was trying to tell me, but there was no warning window, no message at all.

What’s wrong with this thing? I wondered, whipping my leg down and hitting the machine against the sidewalk. The noise persisted. If there was one thing that you could be certain of with Stable-tec it was that their products were hardy. I stared intently at my EFS, trying to figure out what was making that damned sound.

“What is it? What do you-” I asked the device, but just as I did I spun around enough for my compass to display the eastern direction. There was a single blue bar on it, pointing at one of the abandoned single-story houses. My gaze hardened and focused on the building.

I cautiously approached it, listening carefully for any sound from the inside. My forehoof fell on the door steps, pulling me closer to the door. I held my breath and placed my ear as close to the door as I dared, but heard nothing.

“Show yourself!” I said, pulling out my pistol and cocking it. The gun had no ammo, sure, but the sound may be enough.

No reply. I watched as the bar in my EFS moved slightly, clearly whatever was in there had heard me. But the lack of an answer could mean that they were waiting to ambush me. Not wanting to give them the chance to get ready, I took a couple of steps back and crouched, taking a deep breath. 

I flew at the door like a bullet, hitting it with my full body weight. The ancient wooden door exploded inwards along with me. I lit up my horn, charging a magical beam, but I couldn’t spot a target. My eyes scanned the area where the blue bar was pointing at, finding nothing.

“I can see you!” I shouted at the bar.

The room I had come into was some kind of living room, as could be clearly seen from the furniture. I followed my EFS and came to look at the kitchen, which was connected to the living room with a counter. Whatever was in there was definitely hidden behind that counter.

I took a step forward, but a feeling like an ice pick stabbing into my back made the hairs on my neck stand on end. On instinct, I threw myself to the side and fired my horn into the counter. The thin wood gave way immediately, sending the crimson beam directly through the piece of furniture. 

A cacophony of noise came from the kitchen, proving that there had been something there. And not just that, but the wood had been thin enough to allow them to shoot at me through it! My horn fired up again, sending three more beams into the counter. The sound of pots and plates falling finally stopped, sinking the house back into silence.

I walked up to the kitchen cautiously, keeping my horn lit and ready. A strange smell reached my nostrils, a peppery, sour scent. Just for good measure, I shot another beam through the counter, adding a fifth scorch mark to the brown wood. There was no noise this time, and my EFS was quick to confirm that the bar was no longer there.

On the other side of the counter I saw multiple metal pots covering the floor, probably kicked aside by whatever had been hiding there. But where I expected to see a bandit or some other dangerous creature, I saw a strange brown mass. A mess of twisted legs and scorched wings made up the form of an almost unidentifiable creature. Clearly, it was some kind of giant bug.

I crouched next to the creature, trying to get a better look at it.

“Wow… that’s one ugly-” I started, but was forced to jump back when the creature twitched.

I screamed and fired at the creature, hitting it with four beams. As soon as the last one hit, the entire bug let out a crimson glow before disintegrating into a pile of ash.

“Showed him,” I huffed.

I looked around the house for a bit, trying to spot anything that could be of use. However I did find it odd how the nearly-intact house hadn’t been looted. The kitchen especially held all manner of rotten food and cooking utensils, completely undisturbed. The incessant clicking of my PipBuck did little to alleviate the feeling of unease as it echoed through the empty building.

After checking the cupboards I finally found the door to the house’s pantry. A foul smell seeped into the air from behind the door, something had probably died in there. Just to be sure, I charged up my horn and turned on my PipBuck light, putting a hoof on the door to open it. 

With a grunt, I pushed the door open, revealing the inside of the pantry. It immediately became apparent what the source of the smell was. The floor was covered in a puddle of black sludge. In the middle of the puddle was a small animal carcass, about the size of my head, firmly held in a rat trap. My horn powered down now that I knew there wasn’t a threat.

And to think a rat could come to its end so long after the trap had been set. I thought, pulling my gaze away from the trap and towards the racks on the walls. Oh yeah.

I smiled when my eyes fell on the rows of what seemed to be food cans in the pantry. They would probably pale in comparison to stable food, but a quick check revealed that they were still centuries away from becoming inedible. I still need to find ammunition. I thought as I moved my empty pistol out of the way to fit a can of tomatoes into my bags. With any luck I should be able to find some ammo before needing to use the thing. Not like it would be needed anytime soon with how deserted everything looked. 

My PipBuck’s clicking eventually came to a stop once I crossed into a more destroyed area. The effect was almost instantaneous, gone was the sensation of wrongness and of being observed. Melted away by the picked-clean ruins of the streets of Baltimare, now this was what I expected of the surface, not eerie deserted houses. 

“Shouldn’t be much longer before I find somepony, I need to find anypony that needs help,” I said out loud, getting a confirmatory ping from my PipBuck.

A sound made my right ear twitch. It wasn’t my PipBuck clicking, it was a different sound. Gunshots! I realized, whipping my head around to look in the direction of the noise. Conflict! Here I come! 

Over rubble and cracked pavement I ran, slowing down only when I was certain that the fight was taking place just one street over. The house that separated me from the battle was almost completely destroyed, but it would serve as cover. My EFS finally picked up on the combatants.

Two clusters of blue bars appeared on my compass, one on each side of the ruined house before me. I walked up the remains of a staircase and got as close as I dared to the edge of the collapsed wall, peeking out to take in the scene. 

Closest to me, on the left, I saw a large pile of rubble behind which were seven figures, all draped in deep blue robes with reinforced patches of armor. All of them except one. In the middle of the group stood a large stallion. An incredibly bright yellow mane poured out from under a golden headband, flowing down and onto a bulky chestpiece like a cascade of gold. I felt my jaw dropping at the mere sight of him.

Something about the pony’s armor stuck out to me, possibly the color, but I couldn’t help but focus on it. The boxy outline, the scratched up logo on the chest… A steel ranger! I realized.I remembered reading about those some years ago. But this suit of armor was rather… incomplete, from what I could recall the steel ranger armor was supposed to cover the entire soldier from hoof to head. Yet the stallion before me wore only the chest piece, leaving his legs and head unprotected.

Well even if he doesn’t have the whole thing on, it’s probably some damn good armor. I thought, admiring the white finish that had been applied to the metal. But that didn’t answer any of my questions. Who were these ponies? And who were they shooting at?

“Sir! The supply caravan is gone!” One of the robed ponies told the tall stallion.

“No matter, we will follow them to Junkyard,” Said the armored pony.

Another one of the robed ponies crawled closer to their leader, speaking just barely loud enough for me to catch the words.

“We have them outnumbered, sir, should we advance?” One of the robed ponies said.

“I am aware,” The large stallion said, his voice drowning out the other pony’s, “There is no need for us to attack, if they are truly that desperate for the supplies, they will come to us,”

Desperate for supplies…? Just who were they fighting?! I raised my head over the wall to try and get a good look at their opponents. And my heart dropped.

Oh no… was the only thing I could think of when I finally caught a glimpse of the others. Hiding behind a twisted scrap heap was a group of five ponies dressed in dirty rags. They looked starved and frightened, firing with weapons that seemed closer to scrap heaps than actual guns.

One thing was clear to me, they looked nearly identical to the ponies in the shooting gallery mural. They had to be the surface ponies. But if those were the surface ponies, then who were the others? I looked back at the group that was underneath me, they were clearly too well-dressed to be the defenseless surface ponies that I was meant to protect. Nopony could dress that well in this horrible wasteland without something sinister being involved.

I recalled what the ponies had said, pieces of the puzzle falling into place. Whoever the robed ponies were had clearly separated the poor surface-dwellers from their supplies and were planning on killing them when they tried to fight back! And it doesn’t help that they’re hopelessly outgunned. I thought, watching as the robed ponies returned fire with their well-maintained guns.

My PipBuck seemed to ping in agreement, marking the surface dweller group as my objective. They need my help.

“Remember, we want to capture them, not kill,” The leader said, keeping their head down as the surface ponies gave another valiant attempt at recovering their supplies from these tyrants.

Capture? It was worse than I thought, not only were these finely-dressed miscreants trying to take their things, but they also wanted to enslave them! A burning pit of rage lit up in my chest. 

My mind raced to form some sort of strategy, I was heavily outnumbered. But I noticed that they seemed to depend on their leader a little too much. I needed a plan, and I needed it now!

“They’re moving!” One of the ponies next to the armored stallion said, poking her head out from the rubble and hiding it quickly when a couple of gunshots rang out.

“Wait until they get closer, then we’ll do as we practiced,” Instructed the leader.

Not on my watch!

I waited until I heard the surface dwellers start firing again, planning on using their gunfire as a distraction. Immediately, I started to feel that buzz inside me, as if I were standing in the shooting gallery. My body was ablaze with energy, my heart slowly becoming more and more deafening.

In a clearly practiced motion, the robed ponies organized themselves into a V-shaped formation with their leader at the rear. A good formation to defend their leader from the approaching ponies, but a terrible formation to protect him from any attack from the rear.

I lept from the ruined house, rolling onto the cracked remains of the sidewalk. Like a spring I bounced back to my hooves and charged the armored stallion. You’re mine! I thought triumphantly as I closed the gap.

“Sir!” One of the robed ponies shouted, turning their battle-saddle to take aim at me. But I was too fast.

A bullet fired from a unicorn’s revolver flew past me, but I was already making my way up the debris pile. I launched at the blonde stallion like a white missile, aiming at his exposed neck with the only weapon I had available. His eyes went wide and he opened his mouth to shout something, but he quickly found himself unable to speak when my horn’s tip pierced his neck. A spurt of blood flew out of the wound, covering my face and the stallion’s once-immaculate robes. But I didn’t relent, pushing harder and harder. My horn broke out of my opponent through the stallion’s cheek, but even then I didn’t stop. Dragging the stallion’s body along with me up the last stretch of the rubble pile.

Many gunshots sounded out from the recovering robed ponies, but by the time they managed to aim at me, I was already jumping over the edge of the rubble pile. I rolled down the debris along with the lifeless body of the armored stallion, ripping my horn free of his neck as we fell. Bullets flew past me, missing me by sheer dumb luck. But my luck wouldn’t last much longer, not unless-

A second set of gunshots came from further down the street, causing the robed ponies that had charged after me to collapse. I peeked over the fallen Stallion to see that the surface dwellers had charged the rubble pile, capitalizing on the chaos from my attack.

I can’t let those defenseless ponies do the fighting for me! I thought as I quickly looked over the armored stallion’s body for any weapons. My eyes fell on a revolver that still sat in its holster and I grinned as I pulled it free. Now I was in business.

“For the surface!” Was my battle cry as I ran back up the debris mountain.

A shocked pony met my gaze as soon as I broke the crest, trying to aim his battle-saddle at me, but I was faster. A loud shot rang out from the revolver, blasting the pony’s head apart. An instant of shock hit me at the sight of the damage. This thing was powerful.

A wicked grin split my face as I jumped onto another robed pony, crashing into them with my full weight. We collapsed onto the floor, but I was quick to get up and raise my revolver. Three opponents, way too much for even me to aim at properly before getting lit up. Fighting against my instincts, I begrudgingly fired up my PipBuck’s assisted targeting spell.

SATS immediately took charge of my magic, speeding up my perception to a point where time seemed to stand still. All the more time to feel just how wrong this damned spell was. Where was the fun in letting a machine aim for you? Whatever, it would have to do. I selected my targets and released the spell, feeling it whip my weapon around and quickly send a shot into each of the robed pony’s foreheads. With how close I was to them there was no chance of missing. But even still, I hated using SATS.

I now stood proudly over the last remaining pony, the one I had tackled to the floor, my hoof firmly planted on their chest. I need to say something inspiring for the surface ponies… But what? I thought, before the ideal words came to me, hopefully the rather slow-looking surface ponies would be able to grasp their meaning.

“In your blind pursuit of possible slaves, you became yourselves slaves to your own lack of rear vision!” I told the robed earth pony.

“Get off me you insane bastard!” The pony screamed, clearly missing the point. 

I pulled the trigger, sending one last oppressor of the surface-dwellers to the afterlife. Blood, brain matter, and bone fragments splattered the floor and rubble around the pony. I had to admit, I was impressed with this revolver, from the frightening power to the beautiful engravings.

“Drop the gun!” Somepony shouted from above me.

An audible harrumph left my mouth at the demand, I had literally just gotten the gun! I turned my head to look at one of the surface dwellers. The stallion looked even more sad and pathetic up close, extremely malnourished and dressed in what could barely be considered a harness. A strange contraption was strapped to the pony’s side, attached to his battle saddle. Some kind of rifle, I realized, no doubt assembled from parts taken out of at least four other weapons.

The pony’s right eye was concealed by a crude eyepatch which, while succeeding in covering the eye, did little to cover the hideous scar that took up half his face. His dirty red coat stuck out among the grayish rubble, drawing even more attention to him.

With absolute care, I unloaded the last bullet from the revolver and left the gun and ammunition on a nearby rock. I then turned to look at the stallion again, where I noticed that two of his friends had joined him. One of them was a mare, her yellow mane held in a messy bun by a piece of electric wire. The other was a deep blue stallion, who seemed significantly less battle-ready than his companions.

“I mean you no harm,” I explained, talking slowly so that their surface-dwelling minds could understand me, “I want to help you get your stuff back!”

The stallion that was aiming the strange rifle at me shook his head in confusion, obviously shocked as to how I had grasped the situation so quickly. I slowly rose to my hooves, giving the ponies a wide smile. 

“Whut?” The eyepatch-wearing stallion asked, somehow managing to raise an eyebrow despite only having one.

I sighed at the need to explain myself further, but I wanted these poor ponies to trust me, after all.

“I overheard these miscreants saying that they were going to follow the supply caravan to a place called the junkyard, those were your supplies, right?” I asked, trying to be helpful.

The stallion that had asked for clarification cocked their head to the side and raised an eyebrow. Eventually, he turned around and raised his voice.

“Uhh, boss? We ‘ave a problem,” He said.

“What is it now?” A stallion’s voice asked from behind the pile.

The sound of hooves climbing up the rubble brought my attention to the side of the red stallion. A dirty orange mane held in place firmly by a red bandana appeared from behind the rocks. By the time the pony finally came to a stop atop the debris pile, all the others had fallen silent. He wore a blueish vest, held against his chest by a long bandolier. His left foreleg had a leather bracer that was so thick I nearly confused it for a PipBuck. He eyes me up and down, raising an eyebrow at my discarded weapon and ammo.

“Are you insane?” He asked.

“Oh don’t worry, I am completely sane!” I said, tilting my head a little to try and shake off a chunk of pony flesh that was still impaled on my horn.

“O… kay?” The stallion replied, looking at his companions.

“The point is, have no fear, I will help you for as long as I live, have no fear while Black Light is here!” I puffed out my chest with pride at finally being able to be a hero. I had been planning these phrases for years now.

The bandana-wearing looked behind him for a moment at the bodies that covered the debris. He looked back at me, his dirty orange mane falling over his eyes. After a moment of consideration, he gestured for his companions to stand down.

“You got any more weapons on ya?” He asked, keeping his green eyes on me.

“A ten-millimeter pistol in my left saddle bag, but it has no ammo,” I answered. For an instant, I thought about taking the gun out of the saddle bag myself, but drawing a weapon with no ammunition in front of a pony aiming a gun at me didn’t sound like a great idea. 

“Burning, go check,” The stallion ordered.

A fifth pony poked her head out from behind the leader, 

The mare that stood to the leader’s right, who I assumed was called Burning, slowly made her way towards me. She was pretty short, her head barely reaching above my haunches, and her coat was a pale yellow. Her deceptively strong jaw bit onto my saddlebags, pulling them open.

“Yep, she’s tellin’ the truth,” Burning confirmed after checking the gun within the bag.

“Okay then how’s this sound, if you give me that little bullet you left next to your revolver I’ll let you keep your guns,” The leader stated.

Immediately I wrapped the tiny bronze object in my magic and threw it at the stallion, grinning. He appeared suspicious, but quickly relaxed his expression.

“Well then,” He continued, seemingly surprised by my cooperation, “Name’s Double Cross, pleasure to have ya on board!” He grinned at me, showing that he had a couple of missing teeth.

Less than a day on the surface and I’m already helping ponies! This has to be some kind of record! I thought, making a mental note to ask the other graduates when I met them how long it had taken them to find ponies to help. Surely they were nowhere near as good as me!

“She’s my second in command, Burning,” Double Cross explained, gesturing towards the mare who had just searched my saddle bag, “These two are my muscle, Shrapnel and Barbed Wire ,” He added, pointing at the eye patch-wearing pony and at the mare with yellow mane in turn.

“And I’m Pot, the cook,” Finished the stallion that stood on Double Cross’ left. That would explain his large cooking pot cutie mark. The blue stallion had a bit of an odd inflection in his voice, almost as if he were singing the words instead of just speaking.

“Pleasure to meet you!” I said happily.

“Just stay out of the way and follow us… Or something,” The stallion said, lifting his hoof to point at the horizon, “We need to move if we want to get to them, especially if they’re really headed for Junkyard,”

I nodded, trying my damnedest to keep myself from exploding into a joyful screech. I still couldn’t believe it, I was actually on the surface, just like I was supposed to!

“Move it, ponies!” Double Cross boomed. And we were off









STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM


COPYRIGHT 1624 - 1626 STABLE-TEC


Biographical Registry System v.147






Full name: Tempered Jubilee

Classification: Female unicorn – 27 years of age – C355E3B-MD0F0C0-EFF7F7F

Cutie mark: a bar of differentially tempered metal

Tempered Jubilee was a joyful and energetic mare who served under Temperance’s command. Having grown up in the downtown ruins of Baltimare, she always saw the virtues as the ponies who had allowed her parents and her to live peacefully. This admiration became devotion once she was old enough to join up with the followers of virtues.

Her seemingly endless patience and cool-headedness were the driving factors behind getting assigned to Temperance. The stallion in question chose her specifically to journey with him not just for their aligned worldview, but also for her impeccable aim with her pistol.

Tempered Jubilee passed away during a gunfight in the eastern Baltimare ruins, a skirmish that would take the lives of her, six other followers of the virtues, and Temperance himself.
> Failure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I gleefully skipped alongside my new companions. Shrapnel, the stallion with the eyepatch, grumbled something under his breath about me staying closer. Clearly, he hadn’t realized that the roles of protection and protectee were the other way around! I couldn’t fault his enthusiasm, however, every time I slowed down to look at anything he bumped into me with his rifle, reminding me to keep moving.

We had been walking for the better part of two hours, carefully following the trail left by the cart. I counted five sets of tracks around it. As long as I have more bullets than there are bad ponies, everything should be okay! I thought.

After the skirmish against the strange robe-wearing ponies, the surface-dwellers had replaced some of their crude scrap weaponry for shiny and well-maintained rifles and pistols. As well as filling some of their saddlebags with medical supplies, food, and bottle caps, which I now knew served as currency in the wasteland.

“Aye, Black Light, was it?” The stallion trailing me asked.

“That’s me,” I said, stopping to stare at a boulder that had fallen on the sidewalk.

A cold object was pressed against my flank, pushing me forward. I turned to see an annoyed-looking Shrapnel. Understanding the gesture, I got up and kept moving.

“So where exactly did ya come from? ‘Cause you seem awfully clean and… uh… well-fed,” The stallion continued. He tilted his head slightly to look at my ribcage, which, unlike his, wasn’t visible through my coat, a confused expression plastered on his face. It was rather amazing how a pony with a single eye could still convey so much expression.

I was even more amazed by what he had said, however. I was wearing my stable barding, with its big yellow ‘75’ clear in view.

“I’m from stable 75!” I explained, showing off the number, “You know… heroes of the surface? Defenders of the defenseless? Never heard of us?”

“Can’t say ah have,” Came the disappointing reply, “But tah be fair we never really stick around one place enough tah hear stuffs, and we don’t got no radio,” The earth pony explained.

Oh, well that makes sense, I doubt these surface ponies have any way of spreading news quickly. I thought, understanding the situation a little bit more. That would be a little bit of a problem, my plan kind of hinged on capitalizing on the goodwill garnered by the other graduates. But if what Shrapnel said was true, there wouldn’t be that much goodwill among the smaller groups, and that was if I could even track the others down!

“No radio?” I asked, maybe they had some other way of spreading information.

“Nah, we used to have one, but ol’ Shrapnel here blew it up,” The mare who was walking next to me, Barbed Wire, interjected, “By accident” She added, giving Shrapnel a disappointed glance as she said the last word.

“Aw come on, Ah just thought it was a-” The stallion started, but he was cut off by the mare once more.

“You? Thinking? Now that’s hilarious!” She all but shouted, busting into another fit of laughter.

A frustrated grunt came from the red stallion, but he remained quiet. The conversation about the radio, however, had tugged at my memory. I glanced at my PipBuck for a moment and opened up the data menus, trying my hardest to remember what I had read in the instruction manual.

“I think there’s a radio in here,” I commented.

“Ya can fiddle with that thing later!” Shrapnel ordered, jamming my back with his rifle barrel again.

“Okay, okay!” I said, getting back up. No need to be so pushy!

That was when the dark blue stallion in the back spoke up, Pot, I remembered.

“That’s an impressive piece of gear,” He said with his odd singsongy voice, “I’ve never seen one myself. They’re called PipBucks, right?”

Now that was a good sign, PipBucks were exclusively stable technology. If he knew what a PipBuck was, he could have some information on the others. But then again, he didn’t say anything when I talked about my stable specifically.

“Yeah, that’s right, have you heard of them?” I asked, showing off the device.

“Aye, they’re from those stable-tec places, right?” He answered.

“Exactly, every adult in my stable has one,” I explained.

Shrapnel leaned in again, raising his eyebrow.

“This stable place sure seems nice,” He commented, “Ah’m surprised it’s still around,”

“What? why?” I asked.

“Probably the steel rangers, if they knew there was a big group of ponies strutting around with pre-war tech they would’ve probably attacked it,” Pot explained.

That would partially explain why they didn’t know about my stable, perhaps the others simply avoided saying where it was to keep these steel rangers away. I was surprised to know that the steel rangers were still a thing, I had assumed they disappeared just like everything else did after the war. Seems like the wasteland has warped them into something more akin to a raider group, that could be a problem.

“Wait a second, wasn’t that stallion I killed earlier wearing steel ranger armor?” I asked, remembering the blonde leader of the robed ponies.

Now it was Double Cross’ turn to laugh. I turned back around to look at the group leader, wondering what could be so funny.

“That was no steel ranger, that was Temperance. Why’d you think we didn’t shoot you on the spot?” He said.

“So he was with some other group?” I inquired.

“With? He was one of their leaders,” Double Cross answered, chuckling to himself, “He and the other six call themselves the Virtues, nasty lot. They want everypony to live under their rule, whether they like it or not,”

Huh… that’s strange. I would imagine that a consistent stream of strong graduates would’ve kept any oppressors at bay. But the fact that it was apparently not the case was… troubling, to say the least. Maybe they tried to stop it, but had to flee… or maybe they…

I shook my head to try and clear out the bad thoughts, I couldn’t let anything lower my morale! The other graduates were definitely alive, and either hiding to gather strength or actively resisting these Virtue ponies. I had to do my part as well!

“Tell me more about them,” I demanded, “If they truly are as unjust as you say, then I must do everything in my power to restore true justice!” I lifted my forehoof triumphantly for added effect.

Double Cross looked at me with a raised eyebrow, but nonetheless, he continued to explain.

“I don’t know much other than them being a bunch of nutcases in robes, they take whatever they want in the name of ‘keeping everypony safe’. They have seven leaders… or, well, I guess they just have six now that you took out Temperance,”

No wonder they trust me! I killed one of the evilest ponies in the wasteland right in front of their eyes! I thought, ecstatic, I was already one step closer to bringing justice back to the wasteland!

We continued walking, making our way out of the ruins and into the open wasteland. Buildings were replaced by dry shrubs and rocks, the cracked sidewalks giving way to tightly packed dirt. It was a shocking change, going from the comfort of being surrounded by walls to the vulnerability of being out in the open.

The darkness didn’t help in the slightest. And even less considering there wasn’t much of a warning, the clouds went from dirty gray to slightly orange, and then rapidly to black. Back in the stable, ‘nighttime’ just meant that the bright white light of the halls was replaced by a softer blue light. Out here, it seemed to be pitch-black darkness.

“It’s getting awfully dark, I can turn on my PipBuck light if you want,” I offered to my companions.

“No, it’ll draw too much attention,” Double Cross responded, “But it is getting dark, we should stop for the night,”

“Are you sure, Cross? If they know we’re after them they’ll just take a short breather and keep going,” Burning commented, walking forward to stand side-by-side with Double Cross.

“They will, but the tracks will still be there. If they keep going they’ll be exhausted by the time we catch up,” The leader answered, stopping to point at a small semicircle rock formation, “We’ll make camp there,”

We walked to the rock formation, where I had the privilege of watching the group set up their camp. The first object to come out of the saddlebags was a lamp, which Burning placed in the center of the campsite. She turned it on, but dimmed it to the point where it was just bright enough to see, but not so bright as to let anyone on the other side of the rocks see the glow. The others started to take several things out of their own saddle bags, canteens, and empty tin cans and quickly gathered in front of Pot.

I hadn’t really noticed how large the saddle bags that Pot had been carrying were until I saw him produce some kind of portable stove from its seemingly bottomless depths. Atop the stove, he then set down his namesake, a decently sized cast iron pot. Bedrolls were unfurled around the lamp as Pot stirred the soup, all covered in the same strange aluminum-esque coating. I eyed one of the rolls curiously, noticing that the metallic sheen was painted on.

“What’s with the paint job?” I asked, picking up a flake of paint that had fallen off a bedroll.

“What, this?” Barbed wire asked, gesturing towards the silvery bedding, “It’s camouflage, but we won’t be needing it for some time,”

Shining silver metal doesn’t exactly sound stealthy. These poor surface ponies truly had reverted to a nearly tribal point, they didn’t even know how to hide properly! I really had my work cut out for me with trying to make this place just and civilized again.

The sound of metal whining brought my attention to Pot, who had just finished opening two tin cans. Some dark red sludge went into the large cooking pot, along with a canteen’s worth of water. That definitely doesn’t look like food chips. I thought, disheartened.

“Anypony up for some music?” Shrapnel asked, lifting a strange wooden flute.

I looked at the instrument curiously, somehow feeling drawn to it. It looked as if it had been carved out of a single piece of wood, separated into three sections and wrapped in some white material. An intricately carved snake head could be seen on the end. With every small movement that Shrapnel made the flute filled the air with a low whistling.

“I swear to Celestia, if you blow that thing again I will blow your brains out,” Barbed Wire answered, shooting the eyepatch-wearing stallion a death glare.

“Aye, fair enough,” He answered, setting down the object, “Ah need more practice anyway,”

“I think you’d need an entire lifetime to make that thing not sound awful,” Barbed Wire stated, laughing to herself.

Shrapnel put the flute back in his backpack. I couldn’t help but feel sad about it, I was really curious as to what it sounded like. Gotta wait for a chance to get him to play it.

“This soup is almost done, get your cans ready,” Said Pot, who had been absentmindedly stirring the mixture up to this point.

I looked around as the others dug around in their saddlebags, eventually producing five tin cans. My lack of can was quickly solved by picking up one of the containers that Pot had discarded when he started to cook. The cook in question dug into his own saddlebags, producing a pair of tongs.

“Boss?” He said to Double Cross, who gave him his can.

The dark blue stallion took the empty tin can with the tongs and dipped it into the pot. One by one, the other ponies and I passed our cans to the cook, who dutifully filled each one with the off-red mixture before giving them back. I would be lying, however, if I said I didn’t stare with mistrust at the bubbling substance in my can instead of digging in like all the others did.

“It’s just tomato and carrot soup, nothing weird there,” Pot said with an almost insulted tone, before taking a sip from his own can.

Once more I pondered the container in my hooves, feeling the heat radiating from the rusty metal. It wasn’t that I wasn’t hungry, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t have preferred some daisy chips. Tentatively I raised the can to my lips and took a sip of the hot mixture. 

Oh my goodness. I thought as I desperately gulped down the entire can, it was… delicious. I drank the entirety of the delectable broth, ignoring the slight burns it gave my mouth. The standard rations from the stable, which I had once considered the pinnacle of flavor, now felt like a hazy memory of my time before entering the world of exquisiteness that this scrumptious mixture afforded. Completely overflowing my mouth with the divine mixture of taste that this stallion had produced from seemingly corporeal ingredients. In a frenzy, my horn lit up and started to painstakingly collect every last dollop of the mouth-watering soup, shoving it directly onto my tongue in a delirious fever. Once my body finally stopped shaking from the transcendent experience, I looked up to see four and a half pairs of eyes fixed on me with extremely concerned expressions.

“You uhh… you want a bit more?” Pot asked, clearing his throat and looking down nervously.
A couple of minutes later we were all sitting around the lamp, having finished the ambrosial concoction that Pot had insisted ‘Wasn’t that good’, and cleaned our cans with a bit of sand and water. Not that mine had needed much cleaning after my horn had finished ripping every last morsel of flavor off the metal. 

Burning had lowered the lamp a bit more, leaving the campsite in near-darkness, but we could still see enough to make out each other’s faces. Double Cross sat closest to the lamp, cleaning out his pistol with meticulous care. I sat by his side, admiring his work. Despite his cleaning tools being of less than acceptable quality, the effect was evident when compared to the weapons that his companions were touting.

I wondered why they hadn’t thrown away their makeshift weapons now that they had the evidently better-quality ones that the robed ponies had been wielding. But after seeing the care with which they maintained their weapons, the answer became clear. Much like me, they had favorite guns. My heart ached at the loss of my beloved pistol, but at least now I had a beautiful revolver to try and fill that hole. I took out my own weapons as well, setting the pistol and revolver down beside me. The latter of the two drew my attention almost immediately. Not that there was anything wrong with a normal ten-millimeter pistol, the revolver was just shockingly beautiful.

It was incredibly ornate, engravings covered the firearm in complex patterns of black and gold. It almost seemed to dance in the light of the lamp, beckoning me to take it and use its incredible power. I recalled how it had blasted the evil ponies apart, smiling at the thought of such a powerful weapon. The gun’s mouth-grip was made out of some dark red wood, polished to perfection, on it there was a depiction of two cups pouring liquid into each other, with a simple line of text.

“In balance, all becomes clear,” I read aloud, drawing the attention of Double Cross.

“That’s the revolver you took from Temperance, right?” He inquired.

“Yeah, it’s beautiful!” I said, passing my hoof tenderly over the barrel’s engravings.

“Sure it looks pretty, but looks aren’t everything,” The stallion chuckled.

I gave him a hurt look, how could he say such an insensitive thing about a gun? Of course, the engravings provided no real tactical advantage, but just the knowledge of the gun being so beautiful was more than enough to make me want to cherish it all the more. The weapon in my hooves seemed to vibrate in agreement.

A whistling sound drew my attention to Barbed Wire, who was lying on her back some distance away from the lamp. The tune she was whistling sounded oddly familiar, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint how. She kept running her forehoof over her left flank, where a long white scar crossed over her concertina cutie mark, cutting it in half. Most likely the aftermath of a terrible wound. 

“What happened to your leg?” I asked, trying to sound as respectful as possible.

The purple mare raised an eyebrow and looked down at her flank for an instant.

“I don’t like to talk about it,” She said, finally, taking her hoof off her flank and turning over to face away from me.

Touchy subject I see. I thought, making a mental note to try and get the story out of her someday.

I turned over to look at Shrapnel, who had just come back to the camp after going around the rocks to go to the bathroom. I chuckled slightly at how strange the thought of doing one's business out in the open was. The eyepatch-wearing stallion walked up to Pot, who was busy organizing whatever loot they had gotten from the robed ponies.

“Aye Pot, can ah ‘ave a swig o’ that weird booze we got?” He asked the cook.

“It’s not booze you idiot, they’re healing potions” Pot replied, rolling his eyes.

Shrapnel stood quietly for a moment before speaking up again.

“Do they got any alcohol in ‘em?”

If looks could kill, that stallion would’ve keeled over the second Pot looked up from his saddlebag.

“Fair, fair,” Shrapnel said before walking away.

Pot ignored the stallion, focusing on wrapping the pink potions in rags and carefully storing them in his cooking pot.

“Those aren’t going anywhere,” He said, proudly, “Hope we won’t need them tomorrow,”

“Nah” Barbed Wire said, looking up from her spot, “We have this menace with us!” She finished, gesturing towards me.

“I was wondering about that, actually, where did you learn to shoot like that?” Pot asked, cocking his head at me.

I gave him a smile before responding, puffing out my chest.

“Down in stable 75 we are taught how to shoot as soon as we can pick up a gun! And we run shooting exercises every couple of days, I was the best in my class!” I explained.

“So there’s just a factory o’ supersoldiers sittin’ underground?” Shrapnel asked, lifting his only eyebrow.

“Yup!” I said cheerfully.

“Huh… ain’t that a thing,” The stallion mumbled, staring back at the way we came.

Pot finally finished storing all of the supplies and got up to stretch his legs. He took a second to get a bedroll from the pile of saddlebags before walking closer to the lamp and unrolling it on the ground, lying down on the silvery bedding.

“Oh hey shrapnel, what happened to your eye?” I asked, not contempt to go to sleep without learning at least one story from my new companions.

“Ah got into a fight,” The stallion mumbled, kicking the floor.

“No you didn’t,” Barbed Wire said, interrupting the stallion before turning around to face me, “He got a little too touchy with a waitress and got an icepick shoved in his eye”

Shrapnel looked down and muttered something unintelligible. 

“Ah didn’t even mean to, ah just fell,” He said, staring at Barbed Wire angrily.

“Yeah, because you were half-blind on booze!” The mare retorted, “And now you’re literally half-blind,”

Barbed Wire and Pot gave a hearty laugh, with Double Cross just letting out a low chuckle. Shrapnel lowered his head, but raised it again when I walked up to him and placed my hoof on his shoulder.

“For what it’s worth, I think it makes you look cool,” I said.

“Aye, thanks, Black Light,” He said, giving me a smile full of crooked teeth.

We sat around in silence for a while longer before Burning finally came down from the spot on top of the rocks where she had been keeping guard. She wiggled out of her battle saddle and went to grab her own bedroll, stretching it out next to Pot’s. Instead of lying down, however, she turned around to face away from the sleeping cook.

In a single, lightning-fast motion, the mare gave the stallion a kick in the ribs. Pot went flying into the air from the shock, screaming in terror before landing on his hooves. I had to give it to him, his acrobatics were impeccable.

“Gha! What is wrong with you?” He exclaimed, looking around with unfocused eyes.

“Nothing, you were just too comfortable,” The mare answered, drawing a chuckle from the other ponies.

I looked at Burning for a moment, trying to get a good view of her flank. The other surface-dwellers' cutie marks had been relatively easy to see. Shrapnel’s was a depiction of an exploding grenade, and Barbed Wire’s remaining one showed a concertina. Pot’s was, unsurprisingly, a pot. Double Cross’ cutie mark was a simple black rose. The flower did compliment the stallion’s more refined demeanor when compared with his companions. But Burning’s? Hers was still a mystery. She was the only one in the group whose strange harness-like barding covered both of her cutie marks. Maybe it’s something fire-related. I thought. It made sense, but it didn’t explain why she would go out of her way to cover them.

“So, who’s takin’ the second watch?” Burning asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“Ah will, y’all get some sleep” Shrapnel offered, getting up and walking towards his weapons.

Once the stallion had strapped his battle saddle onto himself, he turned to look at me and pointed to the sleeping roll he had just vacated.

“Ya can use mine to sleep until ah’m finished with mah guard,” The eyepatch-wearing stallion said, smiling at me before heading up the rockpile to keep guard.

“Good night,” Pot grumbled before reaching out to turn the lamp completely off.

“Sleep tight!” I answered, completing the phrase.

“Uhhh… thanks?” Pot muttered.

The night was uneventful, but I couldn’t say I was a big fan of sleeping on the ground. Once Shrapnel’s guard had ended I thought I’d get to sleep on the next vacant bedroll, but the others seemed far less keen on lending theirs. Yet time went on, and night slowly turned into day, flooding the wasteland with what little light could break through the thick clouds above. It took a surprisingly short time for the group to pack up their camping gear, rolling up their bedding and stowing away any items they had taken out.

“Hey, Pot?” I asked the dark blue earth pony as he struggled to fit his cooking pot back into his saddlebag.

I saw a shiver go up the stallion’s spine at the sound of my voice.

“Need anything?” He asked cautiously.

“I just wanted to say that I can carry some of your things for you. My saddlebags are almost empty and yours look really heavy,” I said with a smile.

“I prefer to keep my stuff on me,” He answered, not lifting his gaze to meet mine.

“Okay, let me know if you change your mind!” I answered cheerfully, I couldn’t blame him for not trusting me with his stuff, he did meet me yesterday, after all.

I looked at the rest of the group, seeing that they were all ready to move out. Double Cross stood some distance away, staring at the horizon. A soft breeze blew the leader’s mane and bandana back as he plotted our route.

“We should be in Junkyard by tomorrow morning,” Double Cross said, “I don’t see any other campsites, so we either set up too far away from them, or they kept going through the night,”

“I doubt even they would keep going that long, but we still need to pick up the pace,” Burning said, walking up to Double Cross.

We set off at once, keeping the same trot we had kept the day before. However, this time I noticed the difference between me and my companions a lot more. We took a lot more breaks than we had the previous day, all ordered by Double Cross, who insisted that we had to ‘preserve our strength’.

Not too far from where we had set up camp, we came across an empty ration packet, proving that the robed ponies had at the very least stopped for a rest the previous night. This only bolstered our resolve to keep going, trudging through the wasteland with our gaze beset on reclaiming our supplies.

The deserted wasteland was inescapable, cracked soil stretched out in almost every direction, yet all the openness only made me feel… exposed. At least back when ruins littered my surroundings there was a slight sensation of comfort, but here? There was nothing out here. The crushing silence didn’t help either, everypony was so focused on marching on that they left little room for small talk.

What the silence did give me, however, was a glimpse of… something behind the group. It wasn’t large enough to be a pony, but I could never get enough of a look to be sure.

“I think something’s following us,” I told Double Cross during one of our rest stops, looking over my shoulder at the wasteland. There was nothing there, but I could’ve sworn I had seen something dipping just behind the pile of rocks that we had passed a while back. Whatever it was, it had stayed outside the range of my EFS.

The stallion looked back as well, but he let out a single chuckle.

“It’s probably a bug or something. There’s not much out here, not yet at least…” He stated, I was going to ask what he meant, but before I got the chance to do it he straightened out and addressed the group, “We keep moving, now!” 

I started along with the rest of the group, staying on my guard for any creatures or other groups that we may find. Yet it seemed like nothing lived here, or at least that’s what my EFS said. I tried fiddling with my PipBuck radio a bit, but all I could find was static and a single channel that played some grating marching music. All in all, this was starting to be rather… uneventful. I itched for something to do other than follow blindly behind the guide of wagon tracks.

“So I was wondering,” I started, desperately trying to break the silence that had befallen the group, “Why are you all traveling together?”

“We uhh… you see…” Barbed Wire stuttered, but she was interrupted by Double Cross.

“Burning, Pot, and I used to live in Fillydelphia, had to leave after a drought,” The stallion explained, “We joined up with these two to uhh… settle a score,” He added, gesturing to Barbed Wire and Shrapnel.

“Have you been to a lot of settlements?” I asked, hopeful at the prospect of having somepony to point me in the right direction once the task at hoof had been finished.

“We’ve been around quite a bit, but most ponies don’t trust us- er strangers, I mean,” Double Cross explained.

“That makes sense, they’re probably scared of raiders and the like,” I commented.

Double Cross fell completely silent for a few seconds before speaking again.

“Yeah, that’s why it’s important to be around ponies you trust. Nopony lasts long in Baltimare on their own,”

I nodded in understanding and continued dutifully marching along, trying to think of some method of making my good intentions clear to any settlement I came across. A clear option would be to just outright say it, but what raider would come out and say that they were up to no good? Nopony would ever believe it without my innate ability to judge character on sight.

Guess I’ll just need to let word of my exploits reach them before me. What an excellent idea! All I really needed was some big flashy exploits that ponies could talk about. Hopefully, this junkyard place held some glory in store for me. With any luck, those virtue ponies would try to take the residents hostage! That would be a perfect opportunity.

At around noon we took the longest break of the day, finding a crashed sky carriage to rest under. The vehicle had been picked completely clean of anything that could hold even a sliver of usefulness. I even noticed how the largest pieces of the wreck had had large squares of metal cut out of them. What remained resembled the picked-clean carcass of an enormous beast. A beast whose bones now served as our shelter.

Lunch was a simple affair, our last two cans of tomato soup went into the pot. That didn’t make it any less delicious, however, and I once again ate every last drop. 

“I could eat this stuff for the rest of my life!” I told Pot, who once again lowered his head.

“Yer outta luck, then,” Shrapnel interjected, pouring a hoofful of sand into his can, “Those were our last two cans o’ the stuff,”

My heart shattered.

“Please, tell me he’s joking” I cried out, jumping towards Pot and grabbing him by the shoulders.

The stallion’s pupils shrank to pinpricks as he tried to jump away, but he was way too slow to get away from my aching heart.

“D- don’t worry, mushroom soup is j- just as good, I- I swear!” The cook blurted out.

I let go of the stallion, who promptly collapsed into a heap. I’ve got no choice but to believe him, he is the cook, after all.

We kept moving as soon as we could. I had to give it to these surface ponies, they had some impressive stamina. I had no doubts that my legs could carry me with no issue for days on end, but I wasn’t expecting these ponies to be able to go on for so long without any complaints. Then again, they had been robbed of their hard-earned supplies, which were probably the driving force behind this seemingly endless desert hunt. But even the vast openness of the wasteland slowly started to retreat, as a massive figure appeared on the horizon. I racked my memory for what little details I could recall of my geography class, estimating that we must be nearing the tail end of the Foal Mountains.

However, no matter how much ground we covered, I was still certain that whatever that thing I had sensed behind us was still there. Of course, none of the others seemed to have picked up on it, but I couldn’t shake the sensation no matter how hard I tried. At the very least I could always rely on my EFS to let me know if anything was actually there. Unless whatever it is knows the range of a PipBuck’s EFS. I thought, but that was a ridiculous notion.

“We will make camp in that cave there,” Double Cross said, pointing at a small rock formation that opened up in the increasingly rocky terrain. Daylight was already starting to fade as night took hold.

“Are ya sure, boss?” Shrapnel asked, “Bit of a bad spot if anythin’ comes in the night,”

Double Cross nodded, turning to face the eyepatch-wearing stallion.

“You have those landmines with you, right?” He asked.

At his words, Shrapnel’s single eye sparkled so brightly that I could’ve easily mistaken him for a stable 75 filly who had just gotten their cutie mark. With a wide and cooked grin, the stallion produced two flat yellow disks from his saddle bag.

“Mah favorite alarm clocks,” He said with a grin.

Shrapnel and Barbed wire made their way into the cave first, weapons ready and mouths on the triggers. A bright flashlight was strapped to Shrapnel’s rifle, illuminating the inside of the cave as he trudged through the dirt. My EFS insisted that the cave was, in fact, empty, but it wouldn’t hurt to be extra sure. The cave itself wasn’t too deep, merely a short drop into an open area within.

“That ain’t good…” Shrapnel said as soon as everypony was inside the vaulted chamber within the cave. I followed the beam of light that poured out of his flashlight to try and figure out what he was talking about. 

The wall of the cave was covered in markings. Deep grooves that had been carved into the dirt and white scars covered the large boulders that made up the formation. This wasn’t a natural cave, something had carved out this chamber intentionally.

“It’s abandoned, there’s no stuff in the back,” Double Cross said, pointing his own flashlight around the room and showing that it was, in fact, completely empty. 

“Aye, fair enough,” Shrapnel conceded, “But Ah’m still gonna put these up,” He added, dropping his saddlebags onto the floor and taking both of the landmines out.

“Yeah, try to put them somewhere where we won’t step on them when we switch guards,” The leader said. I wondered if that warning was simply a preemptive measure, or if some accident had happened in the group’s past.

I was expecting the camp to be similar to the one we had set up the previous night, but I was pleasantly surprised when Bruning set the lamp to maximum power. The warm glow of the light filled the cave and bathed us in warmth. Warmer still was Pot’s cooking pot, which was quickly filled with the contents of several water canteens, as well as some canned mushrooms.

“Hah!” Shrapnel exclaimed after leaning in to smell the mixture, “Good thing we found those two-” He continued, but he was cut off by Double Cross, who quickly whipped his face around towards the stallion.

“Traders! Which we traded with,” He clarified.

“Uh yeah… that,” Shrapnel said, giving me a strange look.

“Good to know that there’s ponies out there still willing to trade,” I commented, smiling.

Truth be told, I was expecting the mushroom soup to pale in comparison to the tomato and carrot goodness that I had experienced before. What with its odd gray color and its smell of dirt. But once again my taste buds were enraptured by the mind-melting flavors that Pot had managed to conjure from such simple ingredients. My own watering mouth only added to the torrent of delectability that I gleefully guzzled, mixing with the unbelievably flavorful soup.

“You were right!” I whimpered, breathing heavily, “It really is better than tomato soup,”

Pot was too busy staring at me with a concerned expression to register my compliment, his own can of soup all but forgotten in his hooves. I paid him no mind, however, completely focused on the food. The only thing I could complain about was that I didn’t get to eat another portion.

“We need to rest,” Burning said, standing up and stretching, “I’ll take the first watch, who’ll do the next one?”

“I’ll do it,” Double Cross said, receiving a nod of confirmation before the mare set off towards the entrance of the cave.

The remaining surface-dwellers started to set up their shining bedrolls around the lamp, placing them in a circle around the light source. I grabbed Burning’s bedroll and unfurled it as well. I need to get one of these for my own. I thought. My thinking was halted when I noticed that Pot had finished cleaning his cooking equipment. My mouth instantly started watering again at the mere memory of the soup. I walked over to him and tapped his shoulder to try and get his attention.

“I- I don’t have any more soup, I swear,” He exclaimed.

I gave a hearty laugh at the cook’s outburst, the sound echoing slightly throughout the cave.

“Don’t worry, I can wait,” I said, playfully hitting his shoulder.
Pot let out a groan and lifted a forehoof to rub the shoulder I had hit, turning his head to face me directly.

“Well, then what do you want?” He asked.

“I just wanted to know how you became such an excellent cook,” I said with a smile, sitting down next to the earth pony.

“You- you really think I’m that good?” Pot asked, raising an eyebrow.

I looked at him with a wide-eyed stare, shocked at how he could possibly doubt his skills.

“Are you kidding? Your soup is so good I could kiss you!” I exclaimed, hugging the earth pony stallion.

The beads of sweat that had been forming on the cook’s forehead started dropping slowly as I felt him shiver in my hooves. Clearly, he wasn’t used to being shown affection, poor thing!

“T- thanks,” He said, trying to get my hooves off his neck.

“Can’t wait to try what other delicious feasts you can prepare!” I said, finally letting the stallion go. Almost immediately he got to his hooves and took a couple of steps away from me.

“Sure,” He muttered.

That was all I needed to hear. Nothing that tomorrow held could possibly be bad enough to sour the promise of more delectable food. The cook in question reached out and dimmed the light, just as he had done the night before. However, despite how tired I was, I couldn’t sleep. The excitement for what awaited tomorrow was simply too great.

What wondrous adventures awaited beyond the crack of dawn? Peril, danger, panger, ponies threw those words around frequently in the glorious legends of old as if they were tennis balls. Well, I was going to crush those balls! No threat was too great for Black Light to face!

They must know their leader is dead, there’s no way that we’ll recover those supplies without a fight. I thought, excited, the warmth of impending combat filling my body and making my horn buzz in anticipation. Not just that, but I’d also get to see my very first settlement. True, the name didn’t exactly conjure images of pristine buildings and marble palaces, but the wasteland was a harsh place.

I twisted and turned on the ground for what seemed like two hours before a low light started to approach the group from the entrance to the cave. In my feverish battle-ready state, I nearly reached out for my revolver with my magic before remembering that I had no ammunition. Not that it was needed, anyway, since the light drew closer and revealed itself to be a flashlight attached to Burning’s battle saddle.

“Pst, Cross,” She whispered, poking the stallion.

I watched as the sleeping figure shook his head and got up groggily. Burning must have a soft spot for him, anypony else would’ve gotten a strong kick. I thought.

“Is it my turn already?” He asked.

“Yeah, and we need to talk, come on,” The mare said, helping him up.

Huh, I wonder what they want to talk about. I wondered as I watched the two ponies making their way further and further away from the camp. Could it be some sort of strategy for the attack tomorrow? No, it couldn’t be, they would share that with the rest of the group… But then what? I could always just go and listen to them, not like I was going to be sleeping anytime soon.

No! That won’t do! I reprimanded myself. Eavesdropping was something evil ponies did, not me… but then again, I really wanted to know what they had to sneak away from the group to discuss. Maybe I could go outside to get some fresh air and just so happen to listen to them talking. I smirked at the plan, it was just too perfect.

Very slowly I rose to my hooves and started walking towards the cave entrance, where I spotted the two ponies sitting next to each other. The smaller silhouette, who I assumed to be Burning, passed a canteen to Double Cross. I crouched behind a portion of the cave where I would be completely cloaked in shadows and listen attentively to the conversation.

“Are you sure?” Burning asked.

“Yes, tomorrow we’ll get the things that we need to get Bluebeard off our flanks, and we’ll never have to worry about anything again,” Double Cross answered, taking another swig of the canteen, “Besides, if we’re lucky, our problem might just sort itself out,” He added, passing the canteen back to Burning.

I wonder who this Bluebeard pony is. I thought. Judging by what Double Cross had said, they were somepony that he had a debt to. He had said that they traded with some ponies for food, perhaps the supplies that had been stolen were trading goods, and this Bluebeard pony was the leader of a trader group. Oh, those dastardly virtues! They really were throwing wrenches into every single small business that tried to keep their head above the water in the wasteland. I had to stop them!

“And if it doesn’t? I mean I can’t say I’ve ever known a pony who fits the description ‘loose cannon’ better,” Burning said, bringing me back down to the conversation I was eaves- listening to. Eavesdropping was an evil pony thing, I just happened to be standing here and hearing them talk.

But as for what she had said, what did she mean by that? Perhaps this Bluebeard pony wasn’t as organized as I’d expect from a trade group leader. Then again, this was the wasteland, organization was just too much to ask for from these poor ponies.

“If it doesn’t then I will take care of it myself after we get the supplies,” Double Cross answered, stomping on the ground, “I don’t think we’ll be able to get the stuff without her, call it a hunch, but my gut has never let us down before,”

Oh my, were they talking about me? Did he really think I was going to be that important tomorrow? I thought, grinning. I also wondered what this ‘problem’ they were talking about could be? Perhaps it was the remaining robed ponies that had taken the wagon to the junkyard, not that they would be much of a problem assuming Double Cross gave me some ammo for the fight.

The mere thought of getting to fire Temperance’s revolver made the buzzing in my body deepen. My knees weakened under the imagined sensation of firing that beautiful firearm again, feeling the recoil against my magic… seeing the evil ponies keel over under my righteous onslaught… Focus! Black Light! I told myself to try and reel in my mind. I may need to get back to the campsite soon, and the last thing I wanted was for my wobbly knees to make me trip onto one of Shrapnel’s land mines.

“Maybe you’re right…” Burning said, helping me break free from the fantasies that entrapped my thoughts, “And once we pay him off, what’s next? We can’t keep going forever,”

“When we pay him off and become free to roam again, we can leave this horrible place,” Double Cross said, “Trust me, it’s all going to work out,” He added, cutting through Burning’s silence.

The mare seemed to think for a moment before letting out a sigh and speaking.

“I trust you, Cross,” She said.

“I know you do, Fillies,” The stallion retorted.

I watched as Burning got up to her hooves and kicked the stallion in the side, making him wheeze.

“I told you not to use that name,” She said, irate.

Double Cross let out a hearty chuckle at the mare’s outburst. I knew it! Nopony could possibly be named Burning! I thought. Clearly ‘Burning’ was a nickname she had chosen for herself. I was left to wonder however about why she’d go so far to conceal her identity. Covered cutie mark, nickname, what was next? Perhaps her mane was actually a different color!

“It does make you give some strong kicks, I tell you that!” He said before both ponies joined together in a laughing fit.

“You’re a bastard, Cross,” The mare said, still chuckling.

“Guilty as charged,” The stallion replied, giving her a bow, “Go get some sleep, you’ll need it for tomorrow,” 

My eyes widened at Double Cross’ words. I turned tail and started walking back into the cave as quickly as my legs could carry me without making much noise. Silently praying that I wouldn’t trip or walk over one of the other sleeping ponies. I fumbled around in the dark until I found the spot I had been lying in and dropped onto it, closing my eyes and trying my best to stay completely motionless. I heard as Burning walked over to me and gave me a kick in the leg. Making use of my award-worthy acting skills, I ‘woke up’ and stared at her with half-closed eyes, mumbling something that I hoped was incomprehensible.

“Sleep somewhere else, I want the warm spot,” She said, dragging her bedroll over.

Stumbling slightly I dragged myself to the side, flopping down onto the dirt with a heavy thud. Fortunately, after some time I finally managed to calm down enough for my drowsiness to take me away and into the wonderful land of dreams. Just as had happened on my first night on the surface, the deep darkness of night gave way to the muffled glow of the sun when dawn broke. Unlike the first time, however, the group of surface-dwellers didn’t put their camping supplies into their saddlebags, instead opting to leave them all in a neat pile.

“Shrapnel, put the landmines closer to the supplies, we don’t want anypony digging through our stuff while we’re away,” Double Cross ordered, getting an affirmative nod from the red stallion, “Make sure your guns are loaded,” He added, directed at the group this time.

Barbed Wide topped off an SMG magazine before passing the rest of the nine-millimeter bullets over to Pot, who put them away after making sure his new pistol’s magazines were full. Burning and Shrapnel’s battle-saddle mounted rifles used a larger caliber, but I didn’t get a close enough look to make out which one specifically. Double Cross topped off his own battle saddle, slinging his bandolier across his chest with the rest of his ammunition. I eyed the .454 rounds with an expression that I really hoped didn’t come off as malicious intent.

“If a fight breaks out, I’ll give you some,” He said, noticing my staring.

My ears drooped at his words. I guess he still doesn’t trust me completely. I thought. It made sense, he had said that ponies in the wasteland weren’t too trusting. But I couldn't be too sad, after all, I was certain that there would be a fight.

We slowly crawled out of the cave, where I realized just how close to the settlement we had actually made our camp. I expected it to still be quite some distance away, but I couldn’t help but be shocked when we went around the cave and were met by a frequently used road. The path led into what could only be described as a fortress nestled inside a horseshoe-shaped hill formation. A large wall of carriages and odd-shaped metal plates surrounded the settlement on the only side that stone didn’t, hiding its interior from the wasteland. A veritable sea of smaller scrap heaps littered the surrounding area like large, rusted, pimples.

“Move in a line, keep your mouths off your triggers,” Double Cross ordered. Given the groans that the others let out, I assumed the suggestion was mainly aimed at me.

As we drew closer, I spotted several figures moving around the top part of the scrap wall. Five ponies in total, one of which was a unicorn. None had their weapons bared, but I knew that could change in a matter of seconds. At any second one of the ponies could take a shot at us out of suspicion!

The thought of a gunfight breaking out lit a fire in my chest. My breathing became more labored as the heat spread throughout my body. I tried to take a deep breath, but the buzzing was too intense for it to be anything other than shallow. My heart was already beating rapidly, like a constant drum in the back of my head.

“Who goes there?” One of the ponies shouted from atop the wall.

“We are traders!” Double Cross shouted back.

“Traders?” The pony atop the wall said, “I don’t see no trade goods with you! And no brahmin either!”

What’s a brahmin? I wondered.

“We have our goods in our saddlebags, our pack brahmin was killed!” Double Cross offered. The lying didn’t sit well with me, but given the circumstances I guessed it was justified. And it wasn’t me doing the lying either.

The ponies on top of the wall pulled back for a moment and talked among themselves. I couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying, but they sounded serious. My eyes drifted across the immense door of the settlement, made from welded-together plates of metal. I was amazed by my EFS’ ability to scan the inside of the settlement even through the thick metal wall. There were a lot of blue bars on my compass, way too many to count.

My eyes were drawn back to the top of the wall when the pony peeked out again, this time there was a second pony with them. For an instant, I had genuinely thought that they would open the door to let us in. That thought was quickly dissipated when I realized that the new pony had their face concealed by a blue cloak.

“They are raiders!” The pony shouted

“Ah, shit! Get down!” Double Cross shouted before drawing his pistol. The gun sang, giving the head of the pony that he had been talking to a brand new hole in the forehead. 

I dove behind cover almost as quickly as the bullets started to rain from the top of the wall. Shrapnel peeked out and took a potshot with his rifle. A loud thump came from somewhere behind my makeshift barricade to indicate that he had shot true. 

We had been split up, Shrapnel and Pot were hiding next to me behind an overturned sky carriage, while Double Cross, Burning, and Barbed Wire had taken refuge behind a larger pile of scrap. A two-pony-wide gap separated the two refuges, a veritable no-mare’s land. The guns fell silent after that initial barrage, but I could all but sense the sights that were fixed on our hiding spots.  

“Throw your weapons away and nopony gets hurt!” A voice shouted from above the wall.

None of my companions appeared particularly inclined to meet these ponies’ unreasonable demands. It was only a matter of time before one of them managed to hit somepony while they had us pinned. But they probably weren’t counting on one thing: my horn.

“Pst, Double Cross, throw me some ammo!” I shouted at the stallion, who was currently pressing his entire body against a large piece of metal.

He looked down at the bandolier that hung across his chest with a conflicted expression. He didn’t get to make a choice, however, before a burst of gunfire forced him to press himself against the barricade harder. None of the shots connected, but a few had come terribly close to hitting the group’s leader.

“Okay!” The bandana-wearing stallion shouted, puffing out his chest towards me. I wondered what he was trying to do until I realized that he was offering his ammo belt.

“Take it!” He commended, and I obeyed.

Six cartridges flew across the gap, wrapped in the crimson glow of my telekinesis. As each bullet found its place in the cylinder with a metallic click, so too did my heart flood my ears with its thundering beat. A deep shiver ran down my spine and I began huffing with excitement at finally getting to fire the gun again. And I could shoot it completely guilt-free, because these ponies were clearly robed-pony accomplices.

I spun the weapon around in the air for no purpose other than to admire it. The golden engravings showered my eyes with their beautiful, entrancing reflections. Moving as quickly as I could, I poked my head out from behind the carriage, hiding it almost immediately. Bullets ripped around me, but they did little other than bite into the metal I was hiding behind. A wicked grin split my face as I turned to look at Pot. Now I know where they’re standing.

My eyes scanned the area around us, falling on a piece of scrap metal that was nestled between Pot’s rear legs. I pointed at it and spoke up, just loud enough for him to hear me. 

“When I tell you, grab that piece of metal and throw it away from us” I instructed, getting a silent nod in response.

“Now!” I said, poking my head out the side of the carriage to capitalize on the split-second distraction that the scrap metal would offer. 

Temperance’s revolver sang its beautiful song, making my teeth clatter slightly from the sheer power of the shockwave. This was no ordinary weapon, this was a work of art. Its parts moved with a precision so perfect that I could feel my eyes start to water by its sheer beauty. Sadly, I had to hide my head too quickly to really appreciate the effect. I would have to be contempt with just the sound of splattering pony to confirm my kill. Only two guards remained now, including a unicorn, and the virtue pony.

I looked over at Double Cross and saw that he was talking quickly with Barbed Wire and Burning. Before I could ask him what he was planning, however, all three peeked out from behind the scrap heap at once and pelted the spot where the earth pony guard stood. The sheer volume of fire was enough for one of the shots to find an opening. As was clearly revealed when a loud metallic thump was heard from the other side of the wall.

“All right, we just need to-” Barbed Wire started, but she was forced to the floor when a bullet ripped through her right shoulder. 

Credit where credit was due, the mare managed to remain behind the rather small cover despite her injury. Double Cross turned to look at Barbed Wire, pulling out a bandage from his saddlebag and throwing it at her.

“I’ll live!” The mare said, grabbing the bandage.

The stallion tried to say something, but his voice was quickly drowned in the sound of rapid gunfire. I dared to take a peek and saw what had happened. The last remaining guard, the unicorn, had picked up the weapons of their fallen comrades, and was currently firing them all blindly while they hid behind the battlements. I smirked when I realized that the desperate tactic had only made her a bigger target.

“What’re ya thinkin’?” Shrapnel asked, a concerned look on his face.

“This!” I shouted, jumping out from behind the overturned carriage and into the messy hailstorm of blind fire.

Before my hooves had touched the ground, I went into SATS. My perception slowed to a crawl as the spell took hold, letting me aim for the single part of their body that the last guard had not only carelessly left exposed, but also clearly marked by using it to channel magic. I took aim at the tip of the unicorn’s horn, finally letting the spell run its course and watching as the revolver once again graced my senses with its entrancing song. The world returned to its normal speed, and a piercing shriek came from atop the wall as the off-green magic that held the weapons up imploded. A now-hornless unicorn lurched upwards, grabbing their forehead-stump with both forehooves. In their violent thrashing, however, they overshot and sent themselves flying off the wall.

As the mare fell, I saw a chance to fire the revolver again and took it. The gun spun in my magic before letting out a third powerful blast, hitting the falling pony directly in the head. A large red stain appeared on the wall moments before the rest of the pony hit the ground with a thump.

“Wicked shot!” Shrapnel said, patting me on the back as he too walked out of the carriage’s cover. 

The others walked into the open as well, keeping their weapons trained on the wall. I opened Temperance’s revolver and took out the three spent cartridges, shooting an inquisitive look at Double Cross. He raised an eyebrow at me but eventually realized what I meant. One nod of confirmation and three ner bullets floated into place in my revolver.

We approached the gate cautiously, with the gate itself being made similarly to the rest of the wall. Several large plates that were held together by screws and poorly-done welds rose up in two vaguely square doors. Double Cross took one glance at it and immediately turned to face Shrapnel.

“Do you have anything to blow this up?” He asked.

Before the eyepatch-wearing stallion could respond I jumped into the conversation, having spotted an opening to earn more of Double Cross’ trust.

“Wait, I can open it!” I exclaimed.

Both stallions turned to stare at me with inquisitive looks.

“Uhhh, ya sure? Because I gots a grenade for it,” Shrapnel said, sounding almost disappointed.

“Let her have a go at it, save that thing for a better moment,” Burning said as she helped Barbed Wire wrap her shoulder in bandages. They weren’t magical, but they would have to do.

I waited for Double Cross to give me a confirmation nod before I shifted my attention to the gate, firing up my horn.

“ Open it fast, there’s definitely some of them in there, they’re going to riddle us with bullets if you open it too slowly,” Double Cross warned.

“I’m counting on them being there, don’t worry,” I said with a wide grin, “I’m going to blow the door into them, get ready,” I added, making sure everypony took more favorable positions around me before letting my magic loose.

The spell I was planning would be cast in two stages, both nothing greater than simple telekinesis. My magic was strong, but even I couldn’t cast multiple different spells at once. Power surged through my horn and shot at the door, wrapping around the entirety of the gate, crushing and pulling throughout its surface. Rusted screws and poorly done welds gave way as the entire object creaked and groaned. But I made sure that every piece remained mostly in the same place. 

Making sure to hold the gate in one piece, I cast the second telekinesis spell just a hoof’s distance in front of the door. More magic poured out of me, collecting into a nearly solid crimson field in front of the door. By this point, the strain was starting to crush my head as if it were in a vice, but the spell was ready.

My head throbbed painfully from the effort, but I willed the first field to start moving as if I were trying to open the door normally. Hoping that the movement would lure any would-be ambusher into abandoning their cover to take aim. And finally, with a laugh, I sprung the trap.

The field that was holding the door together dissipated. Chunks of metal started to fall down, but they didn’t get far. I stopped pouring magic into the second field as well, causing it to implode on itself. A deafening cracking sound came from the magic before a crimson shockwave exploded onto the door fragments. Chunks of scrap metal went flying into the settlement with the force of a gigantic shotgun blast. 

Part of the wave washed over us as well, pressing us into the ground slightly. But that was nothing compared to what happened to one of the robed ponies who had been standing behind the door. I thought I saw them aiming at the gate before they were ripped into mincemeat by the flying shrapnel. Further inside, the other two robed ponies threw themselves back behind their cover as they were pelted by the sharpened scrap and blood from their former evil colleague.

“Go! Go!” Double Cross shouted, firing blindly into the settlement.

We charged into what was clearly the town’s main area, where a couple of barricades had been erected to protect the town’s defenders. Or in this case, the cowardly robed ponies. With the tables turned, now it was us who had them pinned. We didn’t push fully into the settlement, however, cautious of any possible ambush.

Shrapnel’s rifle sang, with the bullet biting into one of the opposing ponies' exposed leg. A yelp came from behind the barricade before being drowned out by the roar of Barbed Wire’s SMG. Some of the shots must’ve punched through the defense, because the pony dropped to the ground with another scream. Just for good measure, however, I took aim and fired at its head, splattering the ground behind them.

We carefully approached the last remaining barricade. My EFS still marked the last pony as being right in front of me. They had nowhere to go, the instant we saw them they would be doomed. If they’re smart, they’ll realize that evil isn’t the way and they’ll surrender. I thought, keeping my eyes bolted on the barricade. Either that or they’ll try to-

A battle cry came from the rusty barrels that the last pony was hiding behind. And behind the challenging roar came a revolver encased in an orange magical glow. The last pony had been an unicorn.

Time slowed to a crawl when I saw the floating gun, almost as if I had entered SATS again. Four shots whizzed past me before I managed to raise my own revolver and fire. My aim was precise, blasting the gun apart before it could fire again. 

“F- fuck…” A stallion said from behind me.

I whirled around and saw that the virtue’s aim hadn’t been as bad as I thought. Shrapnel was on the floor, a dark red liquid pouring from under his mane. The stallion’s single eye was wide with shock, but completely unmoving.

If you are not the best, the ponies that are counting on us will die.

All sound around me faded into nothing, all save for the thundering of my heart.

And if they die, it means you’re a failure.

Before my mind even managed to formulate a plan I had already sprung into action. This robed pony had killed one of the innocent surface-dwellers who were under my protection, and that was unforgivable. I let out an incomprehensible battle cry as I closed the distance in an instant, not giving the pony enough time to do anything other than scream.

My entire body slammed into the barrels, denting them as the barricade disassembled. Among the exploding cover, I spotted my target: a robe-wearing coward, barely older than a filly. The mare landed on her back, being thrown onto the floor by one of the barrels.

“You!” I bellowed.

The mare, whose cloak had fallen back to reveal a terrified light pink face, desperately tried to drag herself away. I slammed into the robed pony like a bag of bricks, tackling the young mare to the floor. Her horn lit up, but whatever she was planning to do with it was quite literally slammed out of her when I brought down my forehoof on her horn. The zap of magic dissipating sent a tickle up my leg. Before she got the chance to try anything else, my hoof struck again, hitting her squarely in the muzzle. All I could see was the image of Shrapnel being caught by this pony-shaped monster’s bullets.

I felt the mare throw her hooves up to try and cover her face, nothing that a quick telekinesis spell couldn’t prevent. Another hit landed on the pony’s face, sending a tooth flying to the side. Again and again my forehooves fell on the mare’s face, making it let out several wet crunching sounds. I could feel the pony thrashing violently against my telekinetic field, but I wouldn’t let go, I couldn’t let go.

“I am not a failure!” I shouted at the bloodied mess that was once a pony’s face. She didn’t give me any reply.

With one final bellowing shout I stabbed into the mare’s bloodied neck with my horn. I pulled with all my might, lifting her now-lifeless body off the floor and craning my neck to send her flying through the air. The pony landed among the remains of the barricade from which she had taken my friend’s life.

Almost lost my cool. I thought, slightly disappointed in myself.

I turned around to look at the rest of the group, hoping that nopony else had been wounded by that monster. All I got in return was four pairs of horrified eyes. Poor things! They were probably reeling from the loss of their friend! I ran towards them and looked at the fallen stallion, lowering my head in respect. A single tear fell from my eye, landing on Shrapnel’s lifeless head.

“We can’t let his death be in vain, we have to get those supplies!” I said, trying to sound confident.

“Y- yeah,” Double Cross said, clearly still shaken from Shrapnel’s death. 

Burning flinched and jumped away from me when I got back up to my hooves. Her bulging eyes locked on my horn. I realized that the blood on it was probably reminding her of Shrapnel, so I shook my head to try and throw some of it off.

I looked around the area to make sure that no other miscreants were in the area. According to my EFS, there were two or three ponies in each of the huts around us. The biggest hut was a large marble building with a strange object on its roof. A large marble hoof, I realized, the building had clearly once been the base of a statue.

The other huts were constructed in a similar manner to the wall. I carefully scanned each of the windows with my revolver at the ready, making sure that nopony made any foalish decisions. 

“Come on, we need to move,” Double Cross said, seeming to have regained his composure, “We’ll split into two groups. Wire and Pot, you two go search the huts here for anything useful. Burning and I will go directly to try and get the supplies,” He explained.

“Which group do I go with?” I asked, cocking my head.

Burning shot a concerned look at Double Cross, and the stallion responded with a resolute nod.

“You’re with me, let’s move out before anypony gets any ideas,” He ordered.

I nodded in understanding. There would be time for mourning later. I watched as Burning took the ammunition from Shrapnel’s battle-saddle and two metal apples from his saddlebag. 

Double Cross, Burning, and I made our way to the back of the settlement. There, built into a cave in the rock wall, stood the largest structure I had seen. An empty cart was parked outside the building, almost as if placed there intentionally to mock me.

“If I were a betting mare, I’d say that big hut there is where they keep the goods,” Burning said,

“Yeah, but stay on your guard, you never know when-“ Double Cross started, but he was swiftly interrupted by the demented screams of a pony.

I barely had enough time to register the rusty knife in the mare’s mouth before my horn had already drawn Temperance’s revolver and fired at her. Just one shot, and the top of the charging pony became a fine red mist. You bastards won’t be killing any more innocents. I thought, furious.

The lifeless body of the would-be attacker had just finished collapsing onto the dirt by the time Double Cross and Burning turned around. The stallion took a look at the knife the mare had been brandishing and then looked at me.

“We never know when something like that might happen,” He finished, “Thanks,” 

“I wouldn’t let anything happen to the ponies I was sent to protect!” I said, stomping the ground for emphasis, “Can I get some more ammunition?” I added, much more sheepishly.

The stallion’s eyes went wide before he answered.

“Y- yes! Take as much as you need,” He stuttered.

“Thanks!” I answered, wrapping ten rounds in my magic.

With my revolver reloaded and the additional ammo stored safely Inside my saddlebags, we finally turned to face the large hut’s door. Burning took the lead, pressing her ear against a large piece of scrap for a moment before turning to face Double Cross and I.

“There’s definitely ponies in there,” She said, keeping her voice as low as possible.

“Yes,” I confirmed, looking at my EFS compass, “Five of them”

I double-checked just to be sure, but there was no chance of there being any more ponies in there since there were no other buildings behind it. That didn’t make me feel any better about moving into another possible ambush. What if the cave twists and turns enough to throw off my EFS? There could be a whole army of bad ponies in there! I thought anxiously. 

“How’d you-“ Burning asked, but she fell silent once more when I lifted my PipBuck, “Oh,”

“What’s the plan?” I whispered at Double Cross.

The stallion’s gaze hardened for a moment as he stopped to think. The slightest hint of a smile then graced his face when an idea undoubtedly spawned within his mind.

“Here’s the plan,” He explained, “Burning, you will buck the door open, then Black Light and I will rush in to take out the ponies. Or at the very least force them to take cover,”

“I like the idea,” Burning said, a strange grin on her face.
 
“Wait, why don’t I just bust the door down with my magic?” I asked, giving Double Cross a confused glance.

“I uhhh… b- because they could see the magic and be o- on their guard,” He explained.

“Oh! You’re right,” I whispered back. The stallion let out a sigh of relief, clearly from clearing up any possible misunderstanding of his brilliant plan.

Burning took point, walking up to the door and pressing her ear against it again.

“They’re still talking, we can take them by surprise,” She said, getting nods from both me and Double Cross.

Despite the crushing failure of Shrapnel’s death, I couldn’t help but feel the burning of imminent combat in my body. You won’t fail this time, Black Light, you are going to run in there first and take out those bastards! I burned the positions of the five blue EFS bars onto my memory. 

“On my mark,” Burning whispered, turning around to face away from the door, “One… Two… and three!“

The mare bucked hard against the door, both of her rear hooves connecting with the rusted metal. But as soon as the door shot open I realized that something was terribly wrong. An almost invisible string was tied to the door. Burning’s mighty buck made it go completely taunt and then go flying into the hut along with the door, a tiny ring of metal attached to the other end.

“Fillies, no!” Double Cross shouted, but it was too late.

Chunks of gore went flying everywhere as the grenade bouquet detonated, sending me flying amidst a hailstorm of Burning’s remains. Both of my ears popped, making my head spin wildly as I soared through the air. I came to a stop when my head slammed into the wall of another hut, filling my vision with distorted shapes.

Through my ringing ears and blurred vision, I could barely make out the shape of Double Cross, who was firing into the hut’s ruined entrance. I tilted my head to the side, where I saw that Burning had landed next to me. Or well… Burning’s front half.

I watched helplessly as several bullets ripped through Double Cross, sending the stallion to his knees. He turned back to look towards me and what was left of Burning, a single tear rolling down his cheek. 

A muffled scream came from the inside of the hut. I looked up once more to see a large brown stallion charging out of the building with a sledgehammer. Double Cross tried to fire at him, but his wounds had made him slow. The hammer swung in a wide arc, catching Double Cross in the temple. The stallion’s neck seemed to turn into rubber under the intense blow. With a desperate groan, I tried to light up my horn, maybe he wasn’t dead yet, I had to do something.

My magic misfired, driving another spike of pain through my skull. I tried again, getting a shower of red sparks to pour out of my horn. It was too late, the larger stallion brought the hammer down on Double Cross again, splitting the bandana-wearing pony’s head clean open.

No! No! Not him too!

Finally, my horn managed to ignite. Crimson beams of pure magical energy flew out of it towards the large stallion, I was too shocked to even think of a spell to cast. And I missed. I never miss. 

However, my effort wasn’t in vain, for the sudden attack had been enough to make the earth pony retreat back into the hut. I started to shake. And not the good kind of shaking, this was different… The cold tendrils of terror had worked their way into my heart, holding it in place and not letting my blood move. I dragged a hoof upward, feeling as if it were wrapped in a lead boot. 

Come on Black Light! You have to get out of here before you die too! I screamed at myself internally. Another hoof went forward, slowly dragging me away from the pair of corpses that littered the street. The corpses of the ponies that I hadn’t been able to save. I scooped up Temperance’s revolver off the ground, for all the good it had done.

Get to the others, keep them safe! One more step, I was slowly breaking through the molasses that had wrapped my limbs. 

The large marble building came into view, Pot and Barbed Wire were already there, looking at me with concerned expressions. They had definitely heard the explosion. Pot reached me first, placing a hoof on my shoulder and saying something. My ears were still ringing too much to make out the words.

“What happened?” Barbed Wire shouted, but her words were hazy, as if she were talking from a long distance away.

“Cross and Burning… dead,” I finally managed to let out.

“What? How?” Pot demanded, shaking me vigorously.

“I-“ I started to say, but Barbed Wire interrupted me with a horrified scream.

“Get down!” She shouted, throwing herself to the ground.

I stood still, unable to move. Slowly, I turned around to look at what had spooked Barbed Wire so much. I saw the stallion with the hammer that had killed Double Cross aiming at us with a battle saddle. Just what was attached to it was anypony’s guess, a mess of wires and metallic parts hung from his side. The end of the device was glowing with an ominous green color. My eyes slowly closed, accepting my fate. 

“Get down you idiot!” Pot shouted, somehow managing to tackle me to the ground.

The impact with the ground forced all the air out of my lungs. As I regained my breath, I looked up to see Barbed Wire peeking out of her cover to fire at the attacking stallion. A barrage ripped out from her SMG, but it was quickly answered by a blinding green beam that struck her directly in the chest. The force of the impact sent her reeling backwards, disintegrating before my very eyes into a shower of sparks and ashes.

Life flooded back into me. One of the surface ponies had just lost their lives to save me. That wouldn’t do, that wouldn’t do at all! I could feel the weights that had piled on my shoulders with the deaths of my companions fall away. Cowering in fear wasn’t what a hero did, a hero stood tall in the face of adversity.

There would be time to feel sorry for the dead. But that could only come once I had taken care of the living.

“Pot! Run!” I shouted.

Temperance’s revolver flew out and fired blindly at the stallion. I could only get two shots off, neither of which managed to pierce the pony’s reinforced barding. As if that weren’t enough, several of the settlers ran out of their huts, armed with knives and a variety of tools. I can’t take them all. I realized, that I had only one option.

I turned tail and ran, ran as fast as I could.

My heart’s pounding matched my hoof’s unsteady beats on the ground as I desperately tried to escape this terrible place. This was all wrong, I was supposed to be better, I was supposed to be the best. Another green beam flew past me, nearly hitting Pot, who was running in front of me. The energy blasted the ground, scorching and cracking it where the gun had hit.

I didn’t even know where we were running to, my only thoughts were to get away from the crazy pony with a big gun. I turned my head to look at our pursuer and saw that they had climbed onto the junkyard’s wall, still aiming the terrible weapon at us. Another beam flew out of the cannon, barely missing me. 

But I realized that the beam had struck true when I turned around and saw that Pot was rolling on the ground in a mess of limbs. A mess of limbs that was one leg short.

The stallion collapsed onto his side, screaming bloody murder. His front right leg had been reduced to charred bone and carbonized flesh from halfway down his thigh all the way to his hoof. I didn’t think, I just acted, wrapping the pony in my magic and draping him over my back. I recognized where we were, the cave where we had set up camp last night was straight ahead.

With a screaming and kicking stallion on my back, I set off towards the campsite, running as fast as my hooves could carry me. Another beam struck the sand next to me, turning the area into spiky glass. I was almost there, I just had to make it a little further.

That was when a horrible sensation struck me, as if I had felt the reaper’s call. Overcome with this strange feeling, I wrapped Pot in my telekinesis and heaved him as hard as I could towards the cave. The earth pony sailed through the air, desperately trying to turn so he could absorb the impact. But I never saw if he managed it or not. My whole body was set alight, every nerve screaming in agony as a beam struck me directly in the back. My vision filled with green light and the scent of charred flesh completely invaded my senses. 

I fell to the floor, increasing my torment as my freshly charred flesh rubbed against the rough sand below. I stared at the sky with a partially molten eye, a single tear trying its damndest to push its way out of my destroyed tear duct. Why had I ever thought that any of this was a good idea? I wasn’t a hero, I wasn’t anypony. All I was going to be was a charred corpse on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere.

No. I thought, gritting my calcinated teeth.

My right forehoof dragged forward, the cold agony seeping into my bones as I dragged myself over the sand. My coat had turned black as coal, but I still pushed my left forehoof forward, dragging me a small distance forward. I was almost to the cave entrance, just a little longer. My vision blurred, my ears rang, and my breathing was becoming more ragged with every breath. But I kept dragging myself to the cave, I had to at least make sure that Pot wasn’t dead before I could die.

One of my charred hooves reached over the edge of the small hill that marked the cave entrance. I tried to reach it with my other forehoof, but my body had apparently decided that it had taken enough abuse. I tried to move my forehoof again, receiving nothing but the numbing cold of the wind. 

Something wrapped around my forehoof. I glanced up and made out what I supposed to be another pony, dragging me into the cave. The moment my torso passed over the edge I rolled the rest of the way down. By this point, the only sensation I could feel was the cold, the terrible, terrible cold.

I turned to look at the blurry dark blue figure that I assumed to be Pot. His rear leg was completely gone, with a constant flow of blood seeping out of it. He flopped onto his side, breathing heavily.

“Can’t… reach…” He struggled to speak, “Potions,” he said, weakly lifting a hoof to point at the entrance to the cave. 

I understood what he was saying, but I couldn’t do anything about it. All I could do now was wait for my end.

No no no! I roared.

My horn fired up, aiming at Pot. I closed my eyes in one last desperate attempt to focus before the magic discharged. And with a massive surge of arcane energy, I blacked out.









STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM


COPYRIGHT 1624 - 1626 STABLE-TEC


Biographical Registry System v.147






Full name: Tumble Weed

Classification: Male earth pony – 37 years of age – CFFBA00-MCC7722-E806AEC

Cutie Mark: A tumbleweed

Tumble Weed was a wandering trader that operated in the eastern Baltimare region. Unlike most other traders, he preferred to roam alone with nopony but his brahmin and his guitar for company. This was a rare occurrence in the wasteland, as lone wanderers rarely lasted long.

Despite his unorthodox approach to traveling, Tumble Weed always had a spot to hunker down or a friendly settlement ready to take him in for a night or two. All of these hidden and safe locations were written down on his hoof-drawn map, an object that was all but legendary in the trader’s guild thanks to the sheer amount of information it contained.

Sadly, both Tumble Weed and his map would never be seen again after the trader decided to travel to the recently abandoned Junkyard. Those who knew him said that he liked to rest in a cave near the settlement, but when other wanderers passed through the area to check all they found was collapsed rubble.
> A pocket of good
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A solitary drop of light fell through an endless darkness. I couldn’t see where it had come from, nor could I see where it was headed. For all I knew, it could just be a static speck held in place by its shaded surroundings. But that couldn’t be, I could clearly see that the ‘top’ of the light was stretched upward like a water droplet. That could only mean that it was falling.

But falling towards where?

The pressing question was answered when the drop hit a shiny surface. Ripples formed from where the light had struck, just like a drop hitting calm water. The light itself seemed to dissipate into barely noticeable smoke under the surface. Somehow, the minuscule light made me realize that the darkness around me was spinning. There was no point of reference for me to make the assertion fully, but I could just tell that I was stationary while the endless black nothingness spun.

Another drop appeared in the darkness, larger than the first. It, too, dropped into the liquid below, disturbing the surface further. The vague smoke became thicker.

There was nothing here, nothing that could possibly be blamed for the disruption of the inky darkness. Yet the light still fell like white ink, dissolving into the liquid below in an almost taunting fashion.

A third drop. The smoke under the liquid’s surface had become bright enough to illuminate the vague figure of something that was beneath it. But it was not yet bright enough to make it clear. Not much more than a shape, a suggestion of form, rounded yet somewhat angular.

As more drops fell, the figure in the water became clearer. Before long I could finally make out the shape of ears and a single, white horn. A unicorn.

The unicorn’s coat was white, the same as its horn. I thought that perhaps the white light was painting the pony’s colors, but I disregarded the notion when I noticed that a light brown mane barely concealed the pony’s eyes.

I knew that pony.

Memories poured into my mind as if a dam had exploded. The unicorn was me. I was Black Light, the hero of the surface! I raised my hooves and saw my reflection… or was it a copy? Do the same underneath the water.

Where am I? I thought, the question echoing throughout the dark space I was in as if I had shouted it inside a cave.

The drops of light were replaced by a continuous stream. Slowly bringing me more and more into focus. I moved my head from side to side, seeing my reflection do the same.

Where am I? I asked again, feeling the words echo back at me.

Was this some kind of dream? A vision? Or was I truly dead? I really hoped it wasn’t the latter. If this was the afterlife then I was going to be bored out of my mind. No, this had to be a dream of some sort.

My reflection moved on its own, pulling aside her mane and revealing my eyes. Only they weren’t my eyes at all. What I saw under the water were two orbs of glistening gold, focusing directly on me. The irises held a kaleidoscope of prismatic hues that spun wildly around. And the pupil was of a black so deep that it made the darkness around me look blindingly bright by comparison.

That’s dumb… my eyes are red! I thought, rather annoyed at the vision's inaccuracy, I’m out of here!

The light that was pouring into the water suddenly grew blindingly bright. And with it, came the pain.

My entire body was in a state of complete agony. As if my entire coat had been violently pulled off and I had been made to roll over broken glass. The only part of my body that didn’t hurt was my… mouth?

A soft, slightly warm and rather fruity liquid was pouring into my mouth. It’s radiance slowly crept into my stomach, spreading its goodness around. My eyes fluttered open, finding a vaguely pony-shaped blur.

More sensations came to me as my senses were mended. Mainly pain, of course, but to it I could also add the garbled mess of noise that my ears were picking up on. The fruity concoction that I was drinking suddenly halted. I watched as the dark blue blob in front of me shifted around before jamming something into my mouth. A bottle, I realized.

The soothing mixture started flowing into me again, this time spreading the warmth into my eyes and face. Slowly but surely, the image of Pot came into focus, crouched over me and holding a potion to my mouth. My coat started to itch horribly, but it was a welcome change compared to the agony I had felt moments ago.

“Come on!” Pot said, looking around with clear anxiety.

I started to gulp the potion down actively, causing the stallion’s eyes to light up. 

“Yes! Get up!” He said, his voice a mixture of desperation and relief.

I finished the potion and rubbed my forelegs together, seeing that underneath the scorched surface there was still some white. Whether it had been the potion forcing it to regrow or just my luck preventing it from being fully destroyed, I couldn’t help but be happy. Sure, it may be an uninteresting color, but it was better than no coat at all! I looked back, seeing that my stable barding was essentially destroyed. My saddlebags, however, were mostly untouched. Stable-Tec reinforced fabric was no joke… if only they had made the barding out of the same material.

My eyes focused on the blue stallion, who was glancing at the cave entrance with an uneasy expression. His right foreleg was gone, only the tip of his charred humerus poked out of the burnt stump on his shoulder. A field of thick crimson magic was wrapped around the leg like a rubber band, acting as a tourniquet. He was very clearly in extreme pain.

“Was that…?” I asked, my throat feeling sore. My hoof weakly rose to point at the two empty bottles next to the stallion.

“Yeah, both of them… you’re welcome,” He said, looking at his stump, “But you need to get out of here before they come finish us off,”

The memories of the disastrous attempt at recovering the supplies came back to me. I lowered my head when the images of the ponies I had failed flashed in my mind.

Can it, Black Light, Pot needs you. I reprimanded myself.

“W- we need to get out of here…” I said, shaking my head in an effort to clear it, “Do you know anywhere we can go?”

Pot moved his burnt stump slightly, wincing with pain. A single tear rolled down his right eye as his jaw tightened.

“With this leg? The only place I’ll be reaching anytime soon is Celestia’s gates,”  He sighed, “As for you, I don’t know, do whatever you want,” The stallion added, waving his remaining forehoof dismissively.

“What? No! I won’t let another surface dweller die!” I said, stomping on the ground. My coat didn’t like the rapid movement, pulling painfully along my joints. 

Pot’s expression hardened into a furious frown.

“Cut the crap, lass. I don’t know who you work for or what you want, but you’re free now. Go back to whoever sent you to kill Temperance, get your caps, and move on!” The stallion shouted.

His words hit me like a kick to the face.

“What are you talking abou-” I started, but the blue earth pony didn’t let me finish.

“You can drop the fucking ‘helpless filly’ act,” Pot said, stopping for a moment to press on his stump with his other forehoof and hissing in pain, “You saved me, I saved you. We’re even, get lost,” He finished.

“I am not leaving you here to die,” I answered.

“Then we’re both going to die here! My best bet is getting to that damned medical center, and I am not getting there on just three legs,” The stallion huffed.

I perked up at his words.

“Medical center?” I asked, “Where’s that?”

Pot tilted his head, staring at me with a look of absolute bewilderment.

“MareStar medical, there’s a group of crazy ponies holed up there that help whoever needs them,” He said weakly.

“If that’s true then all we need to do is get you there!” I answered, keeping my eyes focused on him.

 The stallion considered me for a moment. My eyes did not move away from his, I had to show him that I was as serious as could be.

“The place is a day’s trip east of here, we’ll never make it… I’ll never make it,” He said, cautiously.

“We’ll see about that!” I exclaimed, “Stay here, I'll go see what I can salvage from the campsite,” I instructed.

The blue earth pony looked directly at me for a couple of seconds before speaking.

“Drat, I was just thinking about going out for a walk,” He said, wincing.

I stared at the stallion with concern, putting a hoof on his shoulder. Hopefully he wasn’t actually serious about walking.

“I mean it, if you move around too much you’ll hurt yourself more,” I explained.

The earth pony remained silent, staring at me with a deadpan expression. I could only hope that he understood how serious his injury was.

I got up and walked deeper into the cave, hobbling slightly to try and spare myself from the odd feeling of my skin being pulled tightly around my limbs. Speed was of the essence, I had to get the supplies before any of those Junkyard ponies decided to come see if there was anything of value here.

A thick veil of guilt fell over me when I reached the campsite. Pot had already dragged his saddlebags out to the entrance, but the others’ packs still remained. I doubted that even I could take all this with me, I’d have to make sure to only carry what I needed.

But what would become of the rest? Would it sit here, undisturbed, as a testament to my failure until somepony else stumbled across them? I could only hope that whoever did find them could give them the use I was unable to provide.

Two bedrolls were fastened to my sides, tied together by a single strap. I filled my saddlebags with mostly food, but I gathered some other items as well, mainly as memoirs of the ponies I had failed. I took a set of barding from Burning’s saddlebags and a spare bandana from Double Cross’. Barbed Wire’s pack didn’t have anything useful other than a small knife.

I guess I’ll have to learn how to play this myself. I thought as I put Shrapnel’s strange flute into my saddlebags as well.

Pot raised his head to look at me when I emerged from the cave’s interior. 

“Do you have everything you need in your saddlebags?” I asked, pointing at the pack on the floor.

“Y- yeah… are you really taking me with you?” The stallion asked. I noticed how he sounded more vulnerable than before, as if he had finally realized that I was serious about helping him.

“Of course I am, I need to get you to that medical center,” I stated, stomping the ground.

I had to get us out of here, and I had to do it fast. I wrapped Pot’s saddlebags with my magic and draped it over my own. The weight was considerable, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I had to adjust it slightly to balance the weight of the cast iron cooking pot better.

“Are you going to help me walk?” Pot asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“No, too slow,” I answered, “We need get out of here as fast as we can,”

“Then what- whoa!” The stallion started to say before I wrapped his entire body in my telekinesis.

I floated the pony as close to my horn as possible, holding him up in the same position that he had been lying in. While carrying him in my magic wouldn’t be much of a problem, the added weight of both our saddlebags and the sleeping rolls would drag me down significantly. Come on Black Light, you have trained all your life to be a hero, you can do this! I yelled at myself mentally.

“Okay, I need to take Pot to the medical center in the east,” I said, starting towards the entrance of the cave. My PipBuck pinged in acknowledgment, placing a marker on my compass that pointed in the right direction. I didn’t actually need it since the compass already had the cardinal directions on it, but it would serve as a reminder.

“Uhhh, what?” The stallion asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” I answered. 

We set off immediately. My legs settled into a steady canter. I could’ve probably galloped for some time, even under the large weight on my back, but I decided to err on the side of caution and not risk an injury. Quick Check was far, far away. If I got hurt, we wouldn’t be making it out of here.

The first hour was a mad dash to the east. Even my impressive physical prowess couldn’t keep up this pace for much longer under so much strain. I would need to rest soon, and the final nail came in the form of something sticky dripping onto my face. Up to this point, I had all but ignored the pony I was levitating in front of me, contempt to just focus on carrying him. But the drop of blood brought his well-being to the forefront of my concerns.

“Are you okay?” I asked the stallion, setting him down on the dirt.

“N- not really…” He said weakly.

My eyes went up and down the stallion, quickly spotting the problem. The tourniquet spell I had cast on his leg had worn off. The wound slowly oozed blood onto the dirt, staining it in a deep crimson. That’s not good, I thought, proud of my first aid knowledge, I can’t spare the magic to reapply the spell, I need something else…

“Wait, I got it!” I said, lifting my foreleg and looking at the tattered and burnt remains of my stable barding. It wouldn’t do me much good in its current state anyway. 

I tore off the barding sleeve, ripping a long strap off the side along with it. Pot let out a pained hiss when I tied the fabric around his stump. The once blue cloth quickly became caked with blood, but the bleeding seemed to be contained. For now, at least.

“Come on, we need to keep moving,” I told the stallion, hoisting him back up in my magic. My horn throbbed painfully with the strain, the spell sputtering.

I need to… keep going. I thought, rummaging through my saddlebag and taking out the jar of Bounceback. One of the pink pills floated into my mouth and immediately took the edge off my throbbing headache, letting me wrap the stallion in my magic once again.

The eastern ruins of Baltimare appeared over the horizon at about… some time, I guess. There was no easy way to gauge the passage of time without looking at my PipBuck. And I knew that if I stopped to check it I wouldn’t be able to keep going for quite some time. The only other way of telling how long I had been running would’ve been my stomach crying out for sustenance, but that, too, was absent.

That was concerning. If there was one thing stronger than my body, it was my appetite. The healing potions probably did something to me, I thought, trying to keep myself calm. But that was not the only strange feeling I was experiencing. My legs felt heavy, and it definitely wasn’t because of the extra weight or the magical strain. It felt as if I had run thrice the distance. This wasn’t helped by the fact that, despite us being very clearly alone, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were in danger. As if I could just sense that something would be popping out to attack us at any second. My eyes darted to my EFS compass every couple of seconds, expecting to see it alight with blue bars, but it remained empty.

My horn’s constant throbbing didn’t help in the slightest. Every third step of my gait was punctuated by a shock of pain directly from its tip to the base, stabbing itself into my skull like a barbed arrowhead. I wouldn’t be able to continue much further at this rate, let alone at this speed.

“I need… to rest,” I told Pot, nearly out of breath.

The stallion could only let out a soft groan as a reply. As carefully as I could manage, I set the stallion down on the ground beside me. It turned out that I couldn’t manage much, however, as my magic imploded around him when he was still some distance off the ground. The blue earth pony dropped to the ground with a wheezing sound, but he didn’t let out even the slightest grunt.

“Sorry!” I said, earning a weak sound in response that I took to mean ‘It’s okay, I know you’re doing everything you can,’

I dug through Pot’s saddle bags, taking out the first piece of food I found in it. It was a small can of rice and beans, simply labeled with black letters over a white background. I wasn’t actually hungry, but I still opened it with the help of Barbed Wire’s knife. 

“Here, eat,” I told the blue stallion, floating the can over to him.

Pot looked at me with an expression halfway between asleep and angry. I wondered what could be wrong with him for a moment before it finally hit me.

“Oh, sorry,” I apologized, floating the can up to his mouth. He couldn’t exactly hold onto it with just one hoof.

The stallion gulped down several times before nudging the can aside with his forehoof. He looked at me with concern.

“You look exhausted, eat the rest,” He said, his voice still weak.

I floated the can towards me. The brown paste inside looked less than appetizing. I tried to pour some of it into my mouth, but the smell of food hit my stomach in all the wrong ways. The can was placed on the ground just in time to avoid me dropping it when I turned around to vomit. My stomach emptied itself onto the dirt, flooding my mouth with the disgusting taste of its contents.

“Black Light? Are you okay?” Pot asked, dragging himself closer.

“Y- yeah, don’t move so much,” I answered, gesturing for him to stay back.

Once my stomach settled, I turned around to look at Pot again. He looked very concerned, that’s no good, he shouldn’t worry about me. Put on a brave face, Black Light! I reprimanded myself. 

“I’m not hungry!” I said, trying to sound cheerful, “You take it,” I added, floating the can up to the stallion.

Pot didn’t complain. He simply ate the rest of the food, only stopping to ask for a sip of water from his canteen. I considered taking a swig as well, but my stomach lurched ominously at the thought. 

You’re just tired, Black Light, I told myself. My eyes once more wearily scanned the horizon and my compass, but there was nothing there, and maybe a little paranoid.

“You’re… a lot faster than I thought. I think we’ll be there before nightfall,” Pot said, clutching his bandaged stump. 

The improvised bandage was completely soaked, but still holding. I ripped off my barding’s left sleeve as well, trying it over the bloodstained fabric. 

A ping from my PipBuck drew my attention, and I flicked the device on to stare at the status screen. The pony in the middle of the tab had their head held low with a frowning face. That seems pretty accurate, I thought, sympathizing with the little blue mare. I did wonder what it was trying to tell me though, all the status bars on it were at least two-thirds full! 

“Okay, we need to keep moving,” I told the stallion once I had regained my breath. I wouldn’t be able to levitate him for much longer without burning my horn out, but I had to at least give it a shot.

“Are you sure?” Pot asked, “I think I can walk a bit if you help me,”

I shook my head. That would be way too slow. Instead, I wrapped the stallion in my telekinesis and draped him over my back. I felt my spine give out a series of deep cracks when my magic dissipated, balancing the stallion on top of the two sleeping rolls. The weight was considerable. I took a tentative step forward, trying to gauge the best way of moving on.

Walking would probably be the safest bet. And it would be faster than helping Pot limp his way forward. But that didn’t mean that my back would be happy with carrying all this weight. Regardless, I dutifully made my way forward toward the east, keeping my eyes peeled for anything that popped up in the distance. This was not an easy task when my guts decided to start sending sharp pangs of pain through me, it wasn’t hunger… no… this was something else. I felt as if my midsection had been run through with knives that were now digging their way deeper into my flesh with each heavily laden step.

Hours later, my hooves felt like they were on the edge of splitting open. My legs burned as if I had been running for an entire day. My head throbbed painfully despite me not using any magic since I’d stopped levitating Pot. The best way I could describe the feeling inside of me was that it felt as if my intestines had become a snake that was now painfully constricting around my other organs. The only saving grace of the entire trip was that we hadn’t encountered anypony out here. I doubted even I could fend off attackers with how exhausted I was.

But it had paid off. From the seemingly endless horizon a large building surrounded by smaller ruins had appeared. I hoped that it was the medical center, but even if it wasn’t it would at the very least provide a nice spot to rest.

“H- hey Pot… is that the place?” I asked, turning to the side so Pot would be facing the large building.

The stallion said nothing.

Worry gripped my heart as I took the stallion off my back. The concern managed to dull the sharp pain that erupted from my horn from the strain. I placed Pot on the ground and raised a hoof to his face, feeling an extremely weak breath escaping from his nostrils. 

“Come on, wake up,” I mumbled, shaking the stallion’s shoulder.

I couldn’t risk waltzing into the ruins without being certain that it was a safe place, what if it was full of raiders? I just needed Pot to wake up and tell me. Come on… come on… I thought as my shaking became harsher. The blue earth pony drew in a deep breath, fluttering his right eye open. It had an ugly yellow color, but it still turned to focus on me.

“Yes!” I exclaimed, “Please, Pot, is that the medical center?” I asked, pointing at the building in the distance.

The stallion stared for a moment before opening his mouth, but no sound came. Instead, he nodded weakly and closed his eyes again. Okay Black Light, time to shine, I thought, standing up and draping Pot over my back. My PipBuck updated its task detection spell and moved the marker to sit in the direction of the ruins

With a groan, I tried to walk as quickly as possible toward the medical center. The distance seemed to stretch out in front of me. Every step forward only gave me the sensation of moving away from my destination. But onwards I pressed, I had to get help, and I had to get it now.

Despite the seemingly endless distance, I did manage to make some progress. The ruined buildings were now close enough that I could see a few ponies walking near them. Much like Junkyard, the medical center was surrounded by some kind of protective wall. This one was substantially less impressive than the scrap metal fortifications I had seen before, however. It was just some mismatched chain link fences that were placed in between the ruins of houses.

My EFS compass started to light up with blue bars as we drew closer. I looked directly in the direction of some of them, seeing that we were being aimed at by several ponies. The idea of having guns pointed at me was not a fun one, but I had to trust that Pot had been honest about the ponies here being able to help.

“Stop where you are!” Somepony shouted at me when I reached the fence.

“Please! He needs help!” I shouted back, noticing that the pony who had shouted at me was a stallion with a shotgun attached to a battle saddle.

“Are you armed?” The stallion shouted back, turning to stare at somepony that I couldn’t see, “Go get Care, I’ll check them,” He said.

I saw a red mare run from behind the ruined house she had been standing behind and towards the large building. The stallion caught my attention again, keeping his shotgun aimed at my head.

“Are you armed?” He repeated, but my exhaustion had already caught up with me.

The comforting embrace of the rough, cracked road beneath rose to meet me. Or at least that’s what I thought when I collapsed onto it. 

My perception became muddled and irrational. I felt the weight of Pot being lifted off my back, along with the saddlebags and sleeping rolls. Magic wrapped around me and hoisted me onto a stretcher. Flashes of light and blurs of color were the only thing my eyes could see despite being wide open. A bright blue blur appeared in my vision, probably my PipBuck informing me of something.

I was brought into a building of some sort. The Pony-shaped blobs swarmed around me, poking my body with a wide array of items. For a moment, I almost felt like I was back in the stable 75 clinic, being tested on by Quick Check. I wondered what had become of the stallion, hopefully he had survived the impostors.

My heart throbbed painfully at the realization that I was nowhere closer to helping my stable. I was nowhere closer to helping anypony, for that matter. That’s a lie, Black Light, you helped Pot. I told myself. But had I really? For all I knew he could already be dead.

“-Hear me?” One of the blurs asked me, waving a light in my eyes. 

My eyes closed from the strain, shying away from the light.

“I’m… fine…” I managed to say, waving my hoof at the pony to get them to leave me alone.

“No obvious injuries, likely overexertion. Leave her in observation,” A voice said from… somewhere.

I was moved for a moment before finally being taken off the stretcher and onto some kind of cot. The bedding engulfed me like the jaws of an awaiting predator, sinking its teeth of relaxation into my flesh. Comfort seeped into my aching bones as I drifted off slowly into the land of dreams.

My dreams, however, would afford no rest. Time and time again I was back in Junkyard, seeing the ponies I had failed to protect die in front of me. There was nothing I could do, just as there had been nothing I could’ve done before.

I could feel my body being moved around even through the warping veil of sleep… or at least what I assumed to be sleep. Small shots of pain went up my foreleg as something was pushed into it, and my body suddenly got colder when the few remaining scraps of my barding were removed. I didn’t know what had been done to me, but what I did know is that I got better. Sure, the pain was still there, but at least the fog that had enveloped my brain was rapidly losing strength. I couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but judging by my lack of hunger, it couldn’t have been longer than an hour or two.

More sensations returned, voices. Somepony was talking next to me, and my right forehoof was being held up, possibly by magic. The muffled sounds of clicking let me know right away what was going on: they were fiddling with my PipBuck.

I cracked an eye open and immediately spotted a light blue unicorn stallion. He was sitting next to my bed, with both of his forehooves busy with my PipBuck’s many buttons. I tried to speak, but my mouth was horribly dry. Instead, I shifted in place as much as I could, seeing the pony’s eyes go wide. The stallion opened his mouth to say something, but he went silent after a door opened somewhere in the room.

“Tourniquet? Didn’t Bleeding Heart specifically tell you that you were not allowed to come in here?” Another stallion’s voice said, I couldn’t see who it was considering the position my head was in.

“All the more reason why I had to come,” The stallion next to me answered, letting go of my foreleg, “And with good reason, when were you planning to tell me about this?” He asked. Something about his voice was just so… soothing, probably the clear way he pronounced every word.

“We were waiting until she recovered, we know nothing about her,” The newcomer said, his voice taking on a slightly more defensive tone, “Knowing you, you’d just ask to chop her leg off to get that fancy computer thing,”

“I find the implication insulting, you should watch your tone,” The blue stallion said, standing back up, “She’s awake, by the way,” He added before leaving.

Almost as soon as he had left my view, the newcomer stepped into his place. He was a light brown earth pony, slightly short. He was dressed in a stained lab coat that sported so many patches it could easily classify as armor.

“You really are awake,” He said, sounding almost… surprised? “Give me a second,” They added, digging through their lab coat pockets. While they did so, I tried my best to lift my chest off the bed so that I could look at them better.

The short brown stallion had a yellowish mane that appeared to have been cut by a rather untalented manedresser, but it did the job of not falling into his eyes well enough. His lab coat was surprisingly white, with only moderate stains along the sleeves on his forelegs. It didn’t take him very long to find what they were looking for, a clipboard and a pen.

“I need to ask you some questions, you can choose to not answer them,” He said before clearing his throat, “What is your name?”

“Black Light,” I answered.

I heard the scratching of the pen on the clipboard.

“How old are you?” He asked.

I went silent for a moment, trying to recall just how long I had been around. We didn’t really celebrate birthdays in stable 75, that tradition was mostly relegated to anecdotes in the history books. But I had to be around… uhhh…

“I… don’t know?” I offered. To my surprise, the stallion simply nodded.

“In that case, can you tell me approximately how long ago you got your cutie mark?” He inquired.

“Oh! I got it less than a week ago!” I answered, grinning.

This time I did get a reaction from the stallion. His right eyebrow shot all the way up as he looked at me.

“You do know how long a week is, right?” He asked, confused.

“Four- no! Seven days!” I answered, grinning.

“Okay…” He said, taking the pen in his mouth again and writing on the clipboard, “And how are you feeling?”

“I’m just tired… and my stomach hurts,” I answered slowly.

“That’s to be expected, you were well on your way to becoming a ghoul with how much radiation you had soaked up,” The stallion said.

“W- what?” I asked, confused.

The brown stallion let out a sigh.

“Nothing, we took care of the problem, you should be recovered by tomorrow at the latest,” He said, dropping the clipboard back into his coat pocket, “Oh, and… if you feel sick… please use the garbage can,” He added, pointing at a small metal bucket that was next to my cot.

The stallion left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts and my aching joints. I tried to think of where to go next to pass the time, but all my brain could muster was a deep need to sleep. More time slipped away, but I couldn’t exactly tell how much. Perhaps a couple of hours… yes… that sounded about right. Slowly, gently, I cracked an eye open. The room looked the exact same as the last time I had seen it. I was lying in a cot that was pressed on the right side, next to the closed entrance door. Something had woken me up, but I couldn't quite put my hoof on what. 

My confusion was swiftly dispelled when a low knock came from the door. That’s probably it.

“I’m awake…?” I answered, not sure as to what exactly I should say.

Slowly, the door crept open to reveal the light blue face of Tourniquet. The stallion was dressed in an immaculate light brown lab coat.

“Good morning,” He said with his clear, soothing voice, “Are you feeling well?”

I took a moment to move around slightly, smiling when I realized I had no pain… other than my legs feeling stiff of course.

“Yep!” I chirped.

The light blue stallion smiled at me before speaking again.

“Wonderful! Would you mind accompanying me to my office? There are… some things I need to ask you,” He said.

“Uhhh… sure?” I answered, turning to get off the cot.

“Wait you have a-” The stallion shouted, but it was too late.

My left foreleg suddenly caught on something, giving me a sharp spike of pain. A small shout escaped my mouth and my eyes watered slightly. I turned around and saw what had happened. My left foreleg had once had a tube stuck in it, a tube which I had very violently ripped out of myself with my sudden movement.

“Ouch,” Was all I managed to say.

The unicorn stallion grimaced, but he quickly straightened himself out.

“Don’t worry about that, for now just follow me… and try not to break anything along the way,” He said, shaking his head slightly.

My coat stood on end at the image of a disappointed adult in a lab coat.

“I’m s- sorry,” I muttered, looking at the floor.

“I said there was no problem, now come,” The stallion said, his voice a mixture of confusion and frustration.

“Yes, sir” I answered, keeping my head low.

The stallion’s eyebrow went up so high that it nearly met his black mane, but he turned around and walked out of the room, gesturing for me to follow him.

Marching out of the grimy room I was met by a mostly empty hallway. An effort had clearly been made to keep it as clean as possible. The effort had, understandably, failed miserably. Cracked floor tiles and stained walls didn’t help to sell the idea of an aseptic hospital. 

There were doors lining the hallway, most were empty, but some held sleeping ponies in them. At least seven patients, a surprising amount, considering how minimal the accommodations seemed to be. If what Pot had said was true, however, then it made sense that there would be sick or injured ponies here, it may not be much, but it was the best the surface had.

I followed diligently behind the blue unicorn stallion. I tried craning my head to the side slightly in an attempt to see his cutie mark, but I was unsuccessful. With a name as specific as ‘Tourniquet’ there wasn’t really much of a doubt as to what his mark probably was.

Not much further, we stopped in front of a door marked with a large number ‘21’, it was the second to last door in the hallway. I looked at the end of the hallway and saw nothing other than a closed curtain and an empty garbage bin with an open door that led to a small storage closet. The sound of jangling keys brought my attention back to the moment as the blue unicorn opened the door, stepping aside once he had entered to let me walk into the room as well.

The interior was surprisingly clean, a medical bed rested on the left wall, covered in piles of neatly organized books and papers. A large wooden desk commanded the middle of the room, behind which the stallion sat. The walls were much cleaner than those of the hallway outside, still covered in weathered posters showing anatomical diagrams. A surprisingly well-maintained terminal sat neatly off to one side of the pony’s desk.

“So… Black Light,” Tourniquet started, reading off the terminal monitor, “Is it okay if I call you Miss Light?” He asked.

“Y- yeah,” I answered, feeling increasingly nervous about the lab coat-wearing pony’s presence.

The stallion adjusted his sitting, wrapping his magic around something within his lab coat and bringing it up to his eye. It was a simple chain holding what at first I thought to be a monocle like the ones fancy ponies wore in photographs. After looking at it more carefully, however, I realized that it was actually just half of a set of glasses that had been carefully turned into a monocle.

“Fantastic,” He said, “Well, Miss Light, I have to say, I did not expect you to be such an intriguing mare when you were first brought in. Truth be told, I believed you to be just another outlaw, down on her luck,”

I found the implication highly concerning. How could my heroic self dissolve into the backdrop of savagery? It was madness!

“You thought I was a raider?” I asked, incredulous.

Tourniquet looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

“To be fair, you did show up here dressed in rags and covered with grime, carrying a half-dead stallion on your back. You being an outlaw was a natural assumption to make,” He explained, “But regardless, it became quickly apparent that you are no ordinary wastelander,”

My nervousness had slowly started to disappear under the stallion’s kinder tone, letting me relax slightly.

“Well, I’m glad that was sorted out. What was it that changed your mind about me?” I asked, curious as to what his reasoning had been. I have to keep whatever happened in mind for the next time somepony thinks I’m a raider.

“I was fully prepared to ignore you and let the other doctors here give you their charity. I may disagree with their practices, but I am a guest here, questioning my hosts is not a wise choice,” The stallion said, tapping his forehooves together over the desk, “No, what made me suspicious was the fact that the others specifically forbade me from seeing you,”

A hazy memory from earlier resurfaced in my mind.

“You came into my room and started tapping at my PipBuck,” I recalled.

“Indeed, but we will get back to that in just a second, I have other questions that need answering first,” The blue unicorn said, levitating a small metal box out from behind his desk and setting it on top of it, “I hope you don’t mind, but we took the liberty of going through your belongings, it’s a security measure, no ill-intent,”

“It’s fine,” I said. I knew better than to question ponies in lab coats.

Tourniquet smiled at me and opened the box, taking out my saddlebags and setting them down on his desk.

“For starters, these bags are of exceedingly high quality, little to no wear, and they have the stable-tec logo,” The stallion said, “Inside it we also found these,” He added, floating out Temperance’s revolver and my ten-millimeter pistol.

The guns were set down on the desk next to my saddlebags very carefully. Tourniquet took a look at them and spoke up once more.

“I trust that you know how rare Ironshod firearms are in Baltimare… let alone ones with this level of preservation,“ He said, keeping his eyes fixed on me, “Are they yours?”

I considered his words carefully. Truth be told neither of them were mine, I had taken both from their previous owners. But then again… I had taken them and used them, so they were technically mine.

“Yes, they are,” I answered.

Tourniquet adjusted his monocle again.

“Looking at this logically, I shouldn’t believe you. Your bags have no maintenance tools to keep these guns this well preserved, and you have no ammunition for one of them. Not to mention that the saddlebags are the only thing you or your friend were wearing that wasn’t held together by a couple of strings,” He started, “If you asked me, I’d say you killed somepony and stole the saddlebags, the guns, and that PipBuck from them,”

I was about to open my mouth in protest, but I kept it closed when I realized that the stallion was not done talking.

“This was, of course, disproven when I actually got to look at your PipBuck. You see, I know quite a bit about the things, and one important detail about them is that the only way to properly attach or detach them is with a PipBuck key,” He said, tapping on the desk with one of his forehooves, “That key, however, was not in your saddlebags either. So I’ll ask you this, where did you get these things?” He finished, staring at me.

He definitely doesn’t seem like a bad pony, in fact, he said he was distrustful because he thought I was a raider, that’s all! I thought, trying to gauge whether or not I should tell the stallion about my stable. If he didn’t immediately realize where I was from then chances were that he didn’t know about it.

“I got the PipBuck and the saddlebags from my stable,” I answered, “Stable 75,”

Tourniquet looked at me with disappointment.

“This is a serious matter,” He stated.

“I am serious,” I replied, “Mister Sprocket attached the PipBuck to me when I became the eldest filly. The gun I took from a bad pony that tried to kill me when I escaped,” I added, trying to show that I was being honest.

The unicorn stallion let out a sigh and adjusted his position. His forehoof started tapping even faster on the desk as he thought.

“How long ago did you leave your stable?” He asked, adjusting his monocle.

“The same day I got my cutie mark, less than a week ago,” I said.

My words immediately made the stallion’s eyebrow shoot up.

“An exceedingly late bloomer, I see,” He commented. I wanted to interrupt and explain that I hadn’t been that late, but he kept talking before I could, “But where exactly is this supposed stable?” 

I racked my memory trying to recall what the place above my stable was called, my PipBuck had marked it as… wait, my PipBuck.

“I have the location here on my map!” I exclaimed, lifting the device.

“Well, what is it?” The unicorn stallion asked, growing slightly more impatient.

I lifted the device to my face and started flicking through the menus, trying to find the map function. Just as the green screen flicked to the map of Baltimare, however, many frantic knocks sounded off the door behind me.

Tourniquet let out a disappointed sigh before standing up and walking around the desk towards the door. I turned around to look at the door as the unicorn stallion opened it.

A short unicorn mare stood at the doorway. Her light blue mane was tied in a messy bun, keeping it out of her eyes. A pair of glasses sat on her muzzle, the right side was scratched and stained, and the left side had no lens to speak of. She probably can’t see anything through those. I thought.

“Tourniquet! Who gave you permission to take my patients out of their rooms?” She demanded. Her glare quickly softened when her eyes fell on me, “Miss Light, I apologize for my… associate, would you mind coming with me? The stallion you brought with you is awake,” She said.

The mention of Pot being awake immediately dispelled any other thought from my mind. I jumped off the chair I was sitting in and skipped over to the mare.

“He is? Can I see him?” I squeaked.

“Yes, yes, come with me,” She said, raising an eyebrow at my reaction. Her gaze hardened as she looked behind me, however, glaring at Tourniquet, “I will talk with you, later,”

The mare led me out of the office and back down the hallway. Her rapid movement made the torn bottom part of her lab coat flutter slightly, revealing her cutie mark. I was expecting some kind of medicine-related mark, but the mare’s flank held a helix of thorny vines instead. I wonder what that means. I thought, staring at the cutie mark.

“Please tell me you didn’t tell him where you came from,” The mysterious mare said when we had walked some distance away from the other doctor’s office.

“I- what?” I asked, my attention being drawn away from trying to decipher her cutie mark.

“Tourniquet, the stallion you were talking to, did he ask where you’re from?” The mare insisted.

“Oh! Yeah, he did, but I didn’t get to tell him where,” I answered, confused as to why the mare was asking these questions.

“Good, you shouldn’t tell him,” She answered, stopping in her tracks and turning around to face me, stretching out a forehoof, “My name is Bleeding Heart, I’m the pony in charge of this place,” She stated.

I sat on my haunches, shaking her forehoof energetically.

“Pleasure to meet you! I’m Black Light, hero of the surface!” I said, grinning.

The mare raised an eyebrow and kept her eyes fixed on me for an instant before speaking.

“Okay… In any case, I need some information about the stallion you brought in with you,” She said, taking out a clipboard.

“Oh! Sure!” I answered, cocking my head to the side.

“What can you tell me about him? What is his name?” She asked.

“His name is Pot, met him a few days ago. I… don’t really know much about him other than he came from Phillydelphia,” I admitted.

The name ‘Phillydephia’ seemed to make the doctor shudder slightly, it was barely perceptible, but I picked up on it nonetheless. Her expression quickly returned to the warm smile she had held before as she talked again. 

“It's okay if you don’t want to answer this but… how exactly did he get hurt like that?” She asked, cocking her head slightly. Her horn lit up for a moment to adjust her glasses, making me jump in surprise. 

That was odd, why am I so nervous? I thought, confused. I shook my head slightly before answering the mare’s question.

“A bad stallion shot him with a really big magical energy gun,” I tried to explain. 

Bleeding Heart’s expression changed, going from inquisitive to confused and then finally softening with… realization?

“How… How old are you?” She asked, her voice becoming significantly softer.

I lifted my forehoof to my chin to think.

“That’s the second time I’ve been asked that! I don’t know exactly…” I answered, but then I remembered what I had been asked by the other doctor earlier, “Oh! But I got my cutie mark about a week ago!” I added.

Bleeding Heart’s eyes widened, and she nodded in understanding. She sat on the floor in front of me and carefully put her forehooves on my shoulders.

“Listen to me, sweetie, we are taking good care of your friend,” She said, her voice filling me with comfort, “I need you to stay where I can see you, okay?”

“Yeah, okay!” I said, excited, “Are we going to go see Pot now?”

Bleeding Heart smiled at me.

“Yes, come with me,”

I followed closely behind the nice mare. Eventually, we reached the end of the hallway, coming into a large room that may have once been the center’s reception area. Rows of chairs had been pushed against the walls to free up the middle portion of the floor. There were a few ponies walking around, carrying trays with either sickly-looking fruits or medical supplies. None seemed too shocked by my presence… or like they had noticed me at all.

“So uhh… why don’t you trust Tourniquet? He seems nice,” I asked the mare.

She sighed, but still replied with her soft voice.

“He is from a certain group of ponies, call themselves Steel Rangers. You wouldn’t know, given how he conveniently didn’t wear his little medallion today,” Bleeding Heart explained, “They are obsessed with pre-war technology, and will do anything to get their hooves on it. That’s why I told Tourniquet that he couldn’t see you as soon as I saw that computer on your leg,”

I looked at my PipBuck for a moment. Something about what the mare said was.. strange, however.

“Wait, how do you know that I got this from my stable?” I asked, not really concerned as much as hopeful that I had finally found somepony that knew about it.

“Stable?” Bleeding Heart asked, cocking her head.

Damn it.

“Oh, sorry, I thought you knew,” I muttered.

“I don’t know where you’re from, but I know you’re not from around here,” She answered, still keeping the same soft tone from before.

“How?” I wondered.

Bleeding Heart threw her head back in laughter for a moment.

“Have you looked in a mirror? Nopony in the Baltimare wasteland has a physique like that,” She explained.

That makes sense. I thought as I looked at the ponies around us with renewed attention. Visible ribs, sunken eyes, and thin legs. They all looked hungry and ill, nothing like me.

“In any case, you really shouldn’t tell Tourniquet where you came from, if the ponies there have pre-war technology, the Steel Rangers will swoop in like a hungry dragon,” Bleeding Heart added.

The mare’s words sparked an idea in my mind. If the Steel Rangers like pre-war technology so much, maybe I can set up a trade with them and get them to help my stable! I smiled at the genius plan. All I had to do was talk to Tourniquet about it!

We made our way to the other end of the lobby, where a closed elevator door sat covered in warning tape. Bleeding Heart kept walking, reaching a spiral staircase that stood next to the dysfunctional machine.

The first floor of the building was pretty much the same as the ground floor: Dirty, old, and dark. The only difference was that the rooms were much larger, with a single bed in the middle. A few ponies walked up and down the hallway, pushing carts with medical supplies around. Bleeding Heart stopped in front of one of the doors, pushing it open slightly.

“He’s still a little sleepy, try not to talk too fast,” She said, stepping aside to let me through.

“Okay, okay,” I said, walking past the orange mare.

A single bed stood in the middle of the room, where Pot was resting. His head was turned to the other side of the room. I cleared my throat, trying to draw his attention to myself. 

“Black Light?” Pot asked, turning to look at me. His face immediately lit up at my presence, “You’re still here?”

“Of course I am! I’m not just going to leave you,” I said with a smile.

The blue earth pony’s smile slowly vanished as he lowered his gaze in… shame? Repentance?

“I’m sorry for what I said, I wasn’t feeling well,” The stallion admitted, “I can’t believe you actually brought me here,”

I walked up to the side of his bed, noticing the RadAway that hung by his side. He flinched away slightly at my approach.

“Of course I did, I swore that I’d take care of you,” I said, chuckling, “How are you feeling now?” I asked.

The stallion raised their right foreleg… or what remained of it. A crudely cut yellow plastic cap had been placed over the stump, barely longer than my hoof. 

“I’ve been better. But at least I won’t be dying…” He said, chuckling to himself before continuing, “I don’t think I have much of an option other than staying here for a while, I can’t really travel like this,” He stated, looking down at his stump.

I looked at the stallion. He seemed so weak… but he had made it, all thanks to me. A smile stretched out over my face. Still, I hadn’t been able to save them all, I had to be better!

“I’m… I’m sorry about your friends,” I admitted, lowering my head.

“Don’t be, if anything I should apologize to you for dragging you along,” The blue pony said.

“Wouldn’t that make us… even?” I wondered, raising a hoof to my chin.

Pot raised an eyebrow for a moment.

“I guess…?” He muttered.

“Yay!” I squeaked, hugging the blue earth pony.

The stallion flinched away slightly and then let out a pained yelp.

“Oh! Sorry, sorry!” I said after I realized that I had squeezed his stump.

“Maybe we should let him rest,” Bleeding Heart’s voice said from behind me.

I turned around to look at the mare, who stared at Pot with a kind smile.

“Somepony will come to assist you soon, don’t worry,” She told the stallion before staring at me, “Would you like something to eat?”

The word ‘eat’ resurrected my stomach with staggering speed, making it roar like a starved beast. 

“Please!” I chirped, skipping out of the room.

We made our way back to the lobby, where I noticed that a small group of newcomers had arrived. There were four in total, all wearing ragged leathery clothing that was so crudely made it nearly looked like a cavepony costume. All of them had some sort of injury, with the worst one being an old stallion whose head was almost completely wrapped in bandages. Next to him sat an equally old mare, who had a bandage wrapped around her left rear leg. I wonder what happened to them? I thought. The other two ponies were nearly identical. Twins, I realized. They didn’t appear to be in much pain, but both sported bandages on their forelegs.

I wanted to ask what had happened to them, but Bleeding Heart cleared her throat and gestured for me to keep walking. I followed the mare up to the front desk, where a short stallion approached with a raised eyebrow.

“Spoons, can you get us something to eat?” Bleeding Heart asked the stallion.

“Aye sure,” The pony answered, crouching behind the desk and pulling out a tray with some sickly-looking apples.

The fruits didn’t look very appealing, but my hunger had been reawakened. I chomped into one and had to force back the urge to vomit. It was as if the apple had been filled with a barely-sweetened brown sludge. My stomach started to turn so quickly that it almost reminded me of the stable’s washing machines. But nonetheless, I swallowed.

“It’s not the best, but starving is worse,” Spoons said.

Bleeding Heart lifted the apple to her eyes for a moment before taking a small bite.

“This is a lot worse than usual, is the orchard malfunctioning again?” She asked the red stallion.

“I… don’t know actually, everything looked okay when I picked them this morning,” Spoons answered.

The mare adjusted her glasses and looked at the apple again, contemplating the sickly fruit. My growling stomach left me with no room for contemplation, however, and I quickly devoured the rest of the apple. Don’t puke don’t puke don’t puke. I told myself internally as I battled my stomach’s protests.

“No! Spit that out!” The mare demanded, her eyes going wide.

I tried to spit the apple out, but I had already swallowed.

“I’m s- sorry Miss Heart,” I said, scared that I had antagonized the doctor.

Her concerned glare quickly melted away into a more understanding, softer look.

“It’s okay, you didn’t do anything wrong,” She said, “Sorry that you had to eat that, it probably tasted terrible,”

I shivered slightly at the memory of the apple.

“Yeah, it kinda did,” I admitted.

“I’ll go down to check on it later, we won’t last long if all we can eat is this slop,” Bleeding Heart told Spoons, leaving her apple back on the tray.

“Do you need any help?” I offered, hoping to make myself useful.

Bleeding Heart gave me a concerned look for a moment.

“I don’t see why not, stay here where mister Spoons can see you, I’ll be right back,” She finally said, smiling. She turned to face the stallion, who gave her a nod in affirmation.

The ponies here are surprisingly nice. I thought, happy to know that there were some pockets of good out here. Not just that, but a seemingly functional settlement. I watched as Bleeding Heart walked away from the lobby, leaving me sitting next to the front desk. 

“Mister… Spoons, is it?” I asked, looking at the short stallion, “Can I go sit over there?” I added, pointing at the chairs where the new group of ponies was sitting.

“I- uhh… sure?” The stallion answered.

“Thanks!” I chirped, springing to my hooves.

I approached the sitting ponies, intent on hearing whatever they were talking about. But I quickly realized that they weren’t talking at all, rather they were all sitting around a radio. 

“- The bee, of course, doesn’t care, and flies anyway… Or at least that’s what the voices tell me, there hasn’t been a bee out here for centuries!” A heavily distorted voice said from the speaker before being overtaken by a low-bass ticking sound, as if a massive clock were sitting right next to the microphone, “And that right there marks ten in the morning, you ponies know what that means?” The voice asked.

The next couple of seconds were nothing but an incomprehensible cacophony of noises. Among them I could only pick up the sounds of gunfire and a looped mare scream.

“This is… ten A-M whispers, with your host, DJ No-Neigh!” The mysterious pony said, or at least that’s what I thought he said. The sheer number of modulation effects on his voice made it nearly indecipherable, “The voices… they speak to me…”

Something about the way the pony said those words made a chill run down my spine. The eerie ethereal music in the background didn’t help at all. A much deeper voice started to talk again, crushing the music like a sledgehammer.

“I hear that a witch approaches the castle, tricking the knights in shining armor to let her through. But they couldn’t see that her words were poison,” The deeper-voiced stallion stated, his voice quivering as if in a trance, “From the rubble emerge none but the witch and a hideous automaton!” The voice added.

“What is that pony talking about?” I asked aloud, hoping that one of the wounded ponies could shine some light on what I had just heard.

“The radio?” The old mare said, turning around to look at me, “Nopony knows, it’s just some insane stallion that rambles into a microphone all day,”

I considered the radio again, listening to the strange music that played from it.

“Is that the only source of news you have?” I asked, curiously.

The old mare gave a hearty laugh before answering.

“Heavens no! I’d hardly call that news anyway. No, there’s this other stallion, DJ pon3, he actually knows what happens out here… No-Neigh just barges into the radio waves and drowns out the news with his babble,” She explained, smiling.

“Curl, don’t speak to her,” The old stallion said, glaring at me.

Hostile. I noted, taking a step back.

Fortunately, the tension was broken when Bleeding Heart returned to the lobby. The mare was now sporting a set of utility saddlebags loaded with tools. She walked up to me quickly and gave me a smile before speaking.

“I’ve got everything I need, would you mind coming along with me?” She said.

“Yeah, sure!” I answered, still not entirely sure why she allowed me to accompany her.

The mare smiled, but her gaze quickly hardened as she focused on something behind me. Once again I had that strange sensation in the back of my neck, as if I were in danger. The floor beneath my feet quaked as monstrous hoofsteps sent shockwaves through the lobby floor.

I turned around to try and spot the origin of the noises, only to be met with a towering wall of steel and machinery. It suddenly dawned on me that Temperance had, in fact, only been wearing some plates taken from a suit of power armor, because the machine standing before me now was, in a word, monstrous.

The pony was nearly a full head taller than me, completely encased within a full suit of power armor. Two scope-esque eyes bored into me with inscrutable emotion, the only movement at all that I could see from the armor was an incredibly large weapon hanging from its side, whose ammunition selector was shifting around menacingly. I immediately recognized the shape of the barrel, it was an Ironshod-52 automatic grenade launcher. If it weren’t for it being aimed directly at me, I would’ve immediately thrown myself at it just to get a good look at the weapon.

“Is this one bothering you, Heart?” The distorted voice of the pony inside the armor asked. While the armor’s design was pretty stallion-esque, I wasn’t sure whether or not the user was a mare or a stallion.

In fact, other than the sigil of the steel rangers, the armor bore no markings at all. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was the right pauldron, which was a lot more rounded than its left counterpart. Taken from a different model, I assumed.

“I have told you several times to not come in here with your weapons on!” Bleeding Heart shouted at the armored pony. It was almost comical to see the orange mare standing up to a pony encased in a multi-ton weapons platform that towered over her.

“And we have told you several times to stop letting raiders in here unless you plan on getting stabbed. Yet here we are,” Came the garbled reply.

The kind mare sighed in frustration before glaring at the steel ranger again.

“You will let me run my medical center in whatever way I see fit.” She stated, “Why are you even here? Shouldn’t you be at your guard posts?” She asked the pony, sounding particularly annoyed.

“We were called down by Doctor Tourniquet,” The armored pony said.

We? I thought, but the question was quickly answered when I craned my neck around the imposing figure and saw a second steel ranger that had just come into the medical center. The pony’s armor appeared significantly more battle-worn than the one with the grenade launcher, but no less imposing. The weapon on its sides were a pair of machine guns, glistening ominously in the unsteady lights. 

The newcomer walked up to me and Bleeding Heart, staring at me for a moment before speaking.

“Are you Miss Light?” They asked.

“I uhh… yeah?” I stuttered, not expecting the question.

“Doctor Tourniquet told us to bring you along as well,” The weathered ranger said.

Bleeding Heart stomped forward and placed herself between me and the armored pony.

“I’m afraid that won’t be happening, she is helping me at the moment” The doctor answered, “I’ll send her to him after we’re finished,”

“Very well,” The ranger stated before stomping off. I wasn’t able to tell whether or not they were angry through the filter on the helmet.

My eyes were immediately drawn to the two armored ponies’ backs. That armor is beautiful, I thought, silently hoping that I’d someday get to wear a set… or at least look at one without the wearer being hostile.

“Those two are good for protection, but their manners could use some serious work,” Bleeding Heart said, lowering her head.

So that’s why they’re here. I had to wonder how bad things had to be to require weaponry like that to protect a medical center. Using an automatic grenade launcher to take out what could at most be a starving pony with a pipe pistol just sounded like egregious overkill.

“In any case, come with me, I don’t want Tourniquet singling you out for any more questioning,” The mare added, turning around and walking off.

I hurriedly followed her, skipping slightly as I did.

“Why do you think mister Tourniquet wants to know where my stable is so much?” I wondered as we walked through the hospital.

“I’ve told you, the ponies he works with are obsessed with technology,” The mare answered, “Don’t worry, just stay near me,”

I smiled at her words, she seemed like she really cared for me. Not even just me, but my whole stable as well. Speaking of…

“Have you really never heard about stable 75?” I asked, curious.

“To be honest, given your impressive health I can’t really doubt that you came from a place like that,” She commented, “But it is strange that I haven’t heard of anypony else,”

“Yeah, I haven’t had much luck with that either,” I mumbled.

The mare adjusted her glasses with her magic slightly before her ears perked up.

“Actually come to think of it… I do remember the radio saying something about a pony coming out of a hole a few days ago, could that be one of yours?” She asked.

A few days… No, that had to have been me.

“Probably me if anything,” I said. The knowledge that there was some kind of radio system and still there was nopony who had even heard of stable 75 was slowly shifting from strange to concerning, “There should be dozens of us by now, normally we get two graduates every year,”

What could’ve happened to all those graduates? There had to be thousands of them by now. I thought, but my thoughts revealed a troubling realization. Perhaps they have been hiding the fact that they’re from stable 75 entirely… but why?

“Graduates?” Bleeding Heart asked.

“Yes, in my stable we are trained from birth to be the strongest, fastest, and bestest fighters ever!” I explained, “My aim is impeccable, top of my class!” I added, puffing my chest out in pride.

Bleeding Heart looked at me with a look of profound concern.

“I imagine that there were adults supervising at least?” She said, almost in a plea.

“Oh yeah! The adults looked over us all the time, making sure that we were the best,” I said, grinning.

The doctor went silent, her gaze cast low.

“That is… concerning, to say the least,” She muttered before stopping in place, “We’re here,” She added

We had reached the end of the hallway, where we were met by a large metal door that led to a descending staircase. The stairwell was completely dark, forcing Bleeding Heart to attach a flashlight to her lab coat. I just flicked on my PipBuck light and followed the mare.

“That machine on your leg is full of tricks,” The mare commented.

“Yeah, just wish I knew what most of it did!” I answered, chuckling. I should take some time to see what else is in there. I thought, glancing down at the shining device.

I noticed that the stairwell was wrapped around a large hole with a hooffull of cables hanging inside. Bleeding Heart noticed me staring and was quick to explain.

“This orchard was put here to feed the center’s patients and staff, that elevator was used to bring the fruit up. It’s broken now, but the orchard doesn’t produce enough food for us to need it anyway,” She said as we finally reached a door at the bottom of the stairs.

The door opened into a rather strange scene. I had been expecting a dark and cramped environment, not… this. A large vaulted chamber opened up in front of us, almost as large as my stable’s atrium.

Several sickly-looking trees were spread throughout the room, basking in a bright yellow light that came from lamps hanging above each one. The entire scene looked like it had been taken directly out of a history book’s pictures. Only instead of large trees with thick foliage and large red apples, these had only a couple of leaves sticking adamantly to thin, frail branches. The fruits themselves looked more like large raisins than apples. No wonder they were so bad, it’s a miracle they even managed to grow.

Three or four metal baskets stood under each tree, possibly to catch the apples during harvest. An odd design choice, but from what I could recall from my history lessons it was just because ponies had always harvested their apples that way.

“These lights are always going out, never seen one explode though,” Bleeding Heart said aloud, opening her saddlebag and producing a large yellow light bulb.

I noticed what she was talking about, one of the trees had an empty light bulb holder hanging limply above it. Somehow, it looked even more sickly than the others. 

“So this is where you get all your food?” I asked, looking at the orchard curiously.

“Yeah, if it were working properly it could easily deal with all the ponies in the medical center and even have some left over for trade,” Bleeding heart explained as she replaced the light bulb.

Something about the mare’s words stuck out as strange to me, but I couldn’t exactly pinpoint what. That’s when it hit me, why was she telling me all this?

“Shouldn’t you keep this uh… as a secret?” I asked, confused.

“You seem like a good pony, and if the ponies in this stable place are anything like you, I think it’s important that we have a good relationship,” She explained, “Now comes the hard part,” She added, walking towards a console that was hidden in a wall panel on the far side of the orchard.

“Is that why you had to come here yourself?” I asked, watching as the mare’s hooves danced over the console’s keyboard.

“Yes, I’m the only one who can use this. I just need to…” She said, but something on the screen made her slowly go quiet.

“Is everything all right?” I asked, confused as to the sudden silence.

Bleeding Heart adjusted her glasses and started furiously typing away at the terminal.

“Yeah… it’s just strange… for some reason, the output has been set at minimum,” She explained, not taking her eyes off the terminal.

“What does that mean?” I asked, raising a hoof to my chin.

“Oh! Sorry,” Bleeding Heart answered, “Basically somepony has told the machine to make the apples worse, I don’t know-“ She started, but her head whipped to the side after hearing something.

I followed her gaze and spotted a metal vent. Something was scraping on the metal on the other side. The doctor and I exchanged looks before I walked closer to investigate. My EFS showed a single blue bar coming from the vent, something was skittering behind it.

Before I could move or say anything, the vent exploded with a mass of hair and legs. The creature charged directly at us, a massive rat.

“Stay back!” I shouted at Bleeding Heart, stepping into the rat’s way as I lit up my-

Something’s wrong.

A shower of sparks flew out of my horn instead of the magical energy beam I wanted.

Fortunately, I managed to throw my forelegs up before the rat made contact. The creature clawed and bit into my legs for a moment before I could kick it off.

My horn flared up again, shooting another rain of sparks that poured onto the floor. The rat, for their part, got back to their feet and squealed at me. 

“What is wrong with this thing?!” I shouted, crossing my eyes to try and look at my horn.

“You have a-“ Bleeding Heart shouted from behind me, but I stopped paying attention to her words when I saw the rat charge me again.

Okay, magic may be out, but I still have a horn! I thought as I angled my head towards the rat and jumped into its charge. The creature jumped as well, swinging its little claws wildly, but it was in vain. The tip of my horn struck true, right under the rat’s jaw. I felt my horn rip through the skin and the muscle before it struck something hard. 

One final, wheezing squeak escaped the creature’s maw before it went limp, completely impaled on my horn. I whipped my head to the side and threw the dead creature into one of the trees.

“Are you alright?” Bleeding Heart demanded, trotting up to me.

“Yup, just a rat!” I chirped back, smiling.

The mare looked at my face and horn for a moment, concerned.

“You should really go get yourself cleaned up, who knows what diseases that thing could’ve had,” She stated.

“But what if there’s more rats?” I asked, shooting a concerned glance at the open vent.

Bleeding Heart looked at the vent as well before walking up to it and pushing one of the metal baskets closer to cover it up.

“There, I’ll be fine,” She said with a kind smile, “Spoons should be able to give you some water,”

“Yeah, okay, but I’ll be right back!” I answered before turning to face the staircase again.

I flew up the staircase two steps at a time, not feeling entirely confident in leaving Bleeding Heart alone. What if the rats push the basket aside? I guess she could defend herself with magic, assuming her horn actually works, unlike mine. I thought as I kept walking up, what was wrong with my horn? It didn’t hurt or feel strange, in fact, it felt as if it wasn’t there at all!

My thoughts were quite literally knocked out of my head when I slammed into a hard surface, and my sight exploded into lights and shapes for a moment before I managed to focus on what I had ran into.

“Watch where you’re going,” The garbled voice of a steel ranger said.

The imposing, steel-clad figure took up almost all of the stairwell, towering over me from the steps higher above.

“Why are you covered in blood?” The ranger demanded, followed swiftly by the echoing sound of their grenade machine gun cocking, “Where is Bleeding Heart?”

Oh no.

“S- she’s down in the orchard, she’s completely fine! I just killed a rat and was heading up to get cleaned!” I explained, hoping that the ranger believed me.
 
The armored pony went completely quiet. I couldn’t help but hear some muffled mumbling coming from within the helmet, as if the pony were speaking but the sound wasn’t getting out. Before I could ask, however, they spoke up once more.

 “I will go check that you’re telling the truth and guard Bleeding Heart until the repairs are complete,” They said, remaining completely still, “You will clean yourself and then head to Tourniquet’s office, understood?” 

“Uhh… yeah, sure!” I answered, confused about the request. I was slightly concerned about the arrangement, but then again, if I had to leave Bleeding Heart alone with somepony it would definitely be one as clearly capable as a steel ranger.

The armored pony stepped aside to let me keep going up the stairs. Eventually, I came back to the hallway, where I calmly made my way back to the lobby. The family of four was no longer sitting around the radio, they’d probably gotten whatever they were there for. I walked up to the front desk, where Spoons widened his eyes in shock at my blood-covered face.

“Hello Mister Spoons!” I said with a grin, “Miss Bleeding Heart sent me here to ask for some water to clean my face,”

“I… uh… what?” The stallion sputtered.

“I had to kill a rat in the basement, could I have some water?” I repeated.

The stallion turned to look behind himself for a moment before looking at me again.

“There’s a pot back here where we clean bandages, use that,” He said, pointing at a door that was directly behind the desk, “It’s not too dirty, just make sure not to drink it,” He added quickly.

I nodded and made my way around the desk, walking into the small room that was behind it. It was clearly some kind of washing area, judging by the piles of dishes and clothing. A large metal vat stood atop a counter, full of brownish water.

I stepped in front of the vat and noticed that a small mirror had been hung above it. I quickly realized why the doctors had been so shocked at me, my mane and horn were completely caked with blood. Several stains covered my face as well, like brownish-red freckles. But what really caught my attention was the base of my horn.

“So that’s why it didn’t work,” I said to myself.

The base of my horn was covered by a ring of metal with a single blue stone in the middle, a magic nullifier. I brought my hoof up to touch the ring, unable to move it in the slightest. I guess it makes sense, probably a security measure. I reasoned, looking at the odd accessory.

I carefully cleaned my face and mane as much as I was able to, something that inexplicably caused my PipBuck to start making those annoying clicking sounds again. Truth be told, I was merely stalling for time, Bleeding Heart’s repeated warnings about Tourniquet were still clear in my mind. But I couldn’t stall forever, cleaning off some blood wasn’t an excuse that could buy me much time.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were here,”  A stallion’s voice said from the doorway.

I turned to see the same brown stallion that had talked to me when I woke up. He was carrying a strange set of saddlebags that were full of bloodied bandages. The sight of the doctor immediately gave me an idea on how I could stall for some extra time. If I wait enough then Bleeding Heart will come back up and know what to do! I thought with a grin.

“I was about to go looking for a doctor, actually,” I said, smiling at the stallion, “I’d like to visit my friend again, could you take me to him?”

The doctor grabbed his saddlebags with his mouth and pulled them off his haunches, setting them down next to the vat. 

“I don’t see why not,” He said, “Just give me a second to get these cleaned up,” He added, gesturing at the bandages.

I watched as the pony stepped forward and sat next to the vat, carefully unfurling the bloodied bandages and slowly working them into the water, rubbing as much of the blood off as he could.

“So… I don’t think I caught your name before,” I said, trying to break the silence.

“Hmm? Oh, my name’s Intensive Care,” The stallion answered.

“That’s a nice name, where are you from?” I asked, smiling.

The stallion chuckled slightly as he unrolled another bandage.

“I’m from right here, nice place, isn’t it?” He answered.

Ohhh that makes sense, there are researchers here after all. I thought, thinking about my stable, it was remarkably similar. All foals did come from laboratories, after all, the research team said so, and they never lied!

“It’s lovely,” I replied, smiling, “I did want to ask though, how much do Pot and I owe you ponies?” I added, realizing that with all the work these ponies were doing it was only natural that they’d need payment of some kind.

Care chuckled slightly before answering.

“We don’t charge for our services, that’s Bleeding Heart’s first rule. We accept donations and help, but we never outright demand it,”

I took a moment to think about it, it was something really noble, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps it wasn’t the best approach considering the state of the wasteland.

“Don’t evil ponies take advantage of you?” I questioned. After all, it would be very easy for me and Pot to just up and leave after getting medicine and food.

“Many do, but it’s a mutually beneficial thing, we help them, and they don’t mess with us and keep others from doing it too.” He said.

“And how do you get enough supplies for everypony?” I wondered, looking at the bandages.

“Our resources are stretched a little thin, we’ve been diluting our healing potions and RadAway a lot lately. But there’s always scavengers and traders that come along, and many of our former patients stick around to help,” The stallion explained as he worked more bandages into the vat.

The stallion finished washing the last bandage and set them all off to the side so they could dry. He dried off his forehooves and gave me a smile.

“So don’t worry about paying us back if you don’t have anything to spare. Come on, let's go see your friend,” He said.

I nodded and followed behind the stallion as he made his way out of the small room and back into the lobby. We walked up the stairs and towards Pot’s room, where the doctor opened the door to let me in while he stood outside.

“Don’t bother him too much though, he needs to rest,” He said.

“Yeah, okay,” I agreed, stepping into the room.

Pot was surprised to see me again, as evidenced by his confused stare when I walked into the room. 

“Did something happen?” He asked, eyeing me curiously.

“Oh no, no,” I reassured him, “Just wanted to make sure you were okay,” I added.

“Yeah… I’m fine,” The stallion said, wincing slightly as he adjusted his position, “In fact, I think I know what I want to do next,” He admitted.

“Oh? And what would that be?” I asked.

“There’s this place where me and the others holed up one time, Bretton Farms, I think the name was. As soon as I can walk again, I’ll try to get there,” The stallion said, rubbing his stump absentmindedly, “Assuming I can walk again, that is,” He added in a whisper.

“There has to be something the ponies here can do for you,” I answered, looking into the wounded stallion’s eyes, “And if not, then I’d gladly carry you to wherever that place is, it's the least I can do,” I promised.

The blue stallion looked up at me, his face one of confusion.

“Why are you so nice to me? You don’t even know who I am, do you have any idea of what kind of pony you could be helping?” He demanded, his tone picking up.

“Yeah,” I stated, stomping the floor, “I’m helping Pot, a cook from the surface who just lost his friends and his leg.” I stated, “Not just that, but those things happened specifically because I was too ineffective to stop it. It will not happen again, and I will help you reach that farm.”

Pot raised an eyebrow.

“You’re one strange pony, lass,” The stallion answered.

I was going to reply, but my attention was brought to the door when I heard a strange noise. A series of deep thumping sounds… the hooffalls of a steel ranger! I got up to my hooves and turned around just in time for a series of knocks to sound off the door. The sounds weren’t loud enough to be a steel ranger’s armored hoof, however. Sparks flew out of my horn as I instinctively tried to open the door with my magic, forgetting that I had a nullification ring on. 

It didn’t matter, however, as another pony’s magical glow enveloped the doorknob and opened it, revealing a… particular set of sky-blue eyes.

“Miss Light…” Tourniquet said, boring into me with his gaze.

“Oh, hey there!” I answered, smiling, “Is… there a problem?” I asked when I realized that the pony’s serious expression was probably due to some bad news.

“I don’t know… is there?” The stallion asked, not looking away from me.

I wonder what’s got him so worried.

“Not… that I know of…?” I offered, cocking my head to the side.

Tourniquet stared at me in silence for several seconds, almost as if he were thinking about each word I had just said individually. I could all but see the cogs turning inside his head. I guess even doctors on the surface struggle sometimes.

“I believe you will be surprised to know that Miss Bleeding Heart has just died,” The stallion said.

The news hit me like a sack of bricks. How could she be dead? I had just seen her!

“B- but how?” I demanded.

“I was hoping you would know about that,” The unicorn said, his clear tone taking on a slight edge.

I took a step back as if I had been struck. This couldn’t be. I was supposed to be the hero, I couldn’t just dissolve into the savagery of the surface. This had to be a set-up… or something.

“She was alive when I left the orchard, and I ran into one of your rangers on my way up-“ I started, but the stallion cut me off before I could continue.

“Yes, Knight Star. They reached the orchard and found the door sealed with Bleeding Heart pounding on it from the inside,” Tourniquet said.

I fell onto my haunches. How? When? Had I accidentally closed the door behind me? No! It couldn’t be, I didn’t know the password. But then again… what if it had been motion-activated or something? No, it had to have been somepony else… it just couldn’t be me.

“I swear by Celestia’s sun that I did not kill Bleeding Heart,” Was all I managed to say.

“I know you didn’t,” Tourniquet answered after a short pause.

“You… you don’t?” I asked, confused.

“You don’t strike me as the type of pony who uses traps and the like, more of an up-close kind of mare,” He commented, adjusting his monocle, “However, you probably understand that the ponies of the medical center don’t see it that way,”

My ears drooped.

“What am I going to do…?” I whined, holding my head in my forehooves. I just couldn’t stop failing, could I? First Pot’s friends, now Bleeding Heart… I just couldn’t win. This isn’t how it was supposed to go, I was supposed to save these poor defenseless ponies, not stand by as they were killed!

But then why have I only messed things up? i asked myself. I didn’t want an answer, truth be told all I wanted was to crawl into a ditch and die. Was this the reason why the other graduates disappeared? Had they all been struck down by this cruel, uncaring land?

No, shut up. I thought, beating the moping pony in my head out of my sight. If you failed then you need to improve, you are the best, but you have to be better. I reprimanded myself.

“What can I do?” I repeated, reinvigorated by my thoughts. 

Tourniquet smiled at me before responding.

“I’ll tell you what you can do, but we must discuss it in my office,” The stallion said, “Knight Star will remain here and guard your friend while we chat, is that okay?” He asked.

I was about to ask why Pot may need protection, but the doctor’s words echoed in my head, ‘The ponies of the medical center don’t see it that way’. Yes, protection for pot was probably for the best.

The doctor led me through the hospital at a breakneck speed, with the other steel ranger staying close by. Many of the ponies in the lobby gave me a disgusted look, but they didn’t speak up. 

We made it to Tourniquet’s office, where he ordered the steel ranger to stand guard at the door as he walked inside, gesturing for me to follow.

“Very well, Miss Light, I believe I have a proposal that may interest a mare in your… peculiar circumstances,” The stallion said, flicking his terminal on, “My offer is very simple, I ensure that you and your wounded friend are protected while he recovers, and in exchange… you give me the location of your stable,” 

I raised an eyebrow at the stallion.

“You mean it?” I asked.

“Yes, of course,” The unicorn said, his voice flooding me with calmness.

“One of the last things Bleeding Heart said to me was that I shouldn’t tell you where my stable is,” I said, hoping that the stallion could offer something that would make me trust him.

He took a moment to rest back in his chair. I could see those many cogs inside his head turning like a well-wound clock. 

“I believe I have an idea,” He said at last, smiling softly, “An exchange, if you may. I will reveal to you the exact location of the Baltimare Steel Ranger headquarters. An equivalent exchange, wouldn’t you think?”

That did sound like a good trade. But something about the offer tugged at my memory. An old, faded image popped into my mind, of me being a little filly and reading one of the many comic books that were kept in the Stable 75 library. The hero of that book had been given a similar offer, but he had seen through the villain’s ruse. 

I stared at Tourniquet. Sure, the monocle and slicked-back mane gave him a slight villainous look, but he couldn’t actually be evil, could he? He was planning on helping me and Pot!

Then again, better to be safe than sorry. I thought, trying to recall exactly what the hero in the comic had said.

“And how do I know you gave me the right directions?” I asked, remembering the lines, “You could just send me out into the middle of nowhere after I told you what I know,” 

Tourniquet’s eyes went slightly wider for an instant, but they quickly softened as his smile grew wider.

“Clever girl,” The unicorn commented, “You are correct, you’d have no way to know. However, unlike the late Bleeding Heart, I do know what ponies to put my trust in. Here’s my final offer, I will tell you the location of the Steel Ranger headquarters, and you will travel there and deliver the location of your stable to them, does it seem fair now?”

The stallion’s baby blue eyes bore into me like focused lightning. His offer did feel fair now, after all, if the location of his headquarters were well-known, he wouldn’t have used it for trading.

“Yeah, that sounds fair…” I started, but just as the stallion stretched out their foreleg to shake my hoof, I continued talking, “B- but I want to be able to take Pot with me,” I stated.

Tourniquet considered his hoof for a moment, but eventually, he nodded and stretched it out once again.

“Deal, you shall depart as soon as he has been cared for. You will sleep beside him and I’ll have one of the rangers guard the room,” He said.

I shook his hoof excitedly, but my mood was soured when the full implications of the unicorn’s words hit me. The ponies of the medical center no longer trusted me.

Something about my face must’ve betrayed my thoughts, because Tourniquet gave a chuckle as another grin parted his face.

“Worry not about your image, I am certain that once the doctors cool down and actually take the time to check Bleeding Heart’s body they’ll understand that it was nothing but an unfortunate accident,” He said.

I smiled, this stallion was not bad after all! If only Bleeding Heart had been able to see it, perhaps they could’ve been friends. But alas, for now at least I would have to trust him and lay low. 









STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM


COPYRIGHT 1624 - 1626 STABLE-TEC


Biographical Registry System v.147





 
Full name: Stethoscope 

Classification: Earth pony mare – 37 years of age – C-9b9b93 M-d1a7ac E-4d5359

Cutie mark: A stethoscope

Stethoscope was a nurse at the MareStar medical center in the Baltimare wasteland. Her medical skills were not the best, but she complemented them with her excellent patient care. Ponies at the medical center often remarked that ‘Her smile could heal just as well as any potion’.

After the Steel Rangers took over the medical center and put a stop to their free care policy, Stethoscope was given the option to either improve her medical knowledge or leave the center. Not feeling comfortable with the Ranger’s new policy of selecting who they provided care for, Stethoscope took the second option and left the center, setting up her own small clinic in the Blatimare suburbs.