The Metro tunnels of Stalliongrad shelter the last remnants of ponykind from the ravages of the Apocalypse. Beneath the earth, ponies struggle to survive against mutants, radiation, and each other. But when an unstoppable threat emerges from the darkness of the Metro, one pony must brave the shadows to save not just his home, but the very existence of his people.

Young Dustin Folio is severely injured while on a field trip with his classmates, and once he awakes, he finds himself nursed back to health, only to find himself forever trapped in a room by Princess Celestia, forbidden to interact with the outside world.

The way others perceive us can affect how we perceive ourselves, and the results are rarely pretty. When a couple of Canterlot ponies from her past come to Ponyville, Twilight has a difficult time revisiting a traumatic event from her foalhood.

*Now on Equestria Daily! Thanks are in order to the pre-reader(s) who put their time aside for this story. Final scene changed from "alternate ending" to "epilogue", and extended, because sometimes we only think of scenes after things see publish.

Reading by Obabscribbler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bitGUNZKNmU

Hope is the faith of the young. Losing everything she holds dear, Puppysmiles embarks on the adventure of her life to find her mother, her hopes of meeting her again driving her through the horrors of a world not of her making. Too bad the Wastelands doesn't care about hope.

It's almost Mother's Day. Scootaloo comes to Rainbow Dash with a startling question, but then backs off, feeling ashamed she asked it. Rainbow Dash, taken off-guard by the question, starts to question both herself, how she feels about Scootaloo, and about her past...