//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: The End? 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: In a Daze 
// by qwerty841 
//------------------------------//

CHAPTER 2 - “The End?”

"It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine."





As the sparkles disappeared, I found myself in a small room. A forcefield blocked the exit. The room was sparsely furnished, with a bed in the corner and a small desk and chair beneath a small window. It looked more like my room backstage than a prison cell at least. I moved to the window, looking out. The view overlooked Ministry Walk. Not surprising, there was nopony around, most likely gone to the Stable or some other emergency shelter. I could see the shield around the city, the constant barrage of missiles causing it to flicker on impact, otherwise still holding.

Great. Got yourself in another predicament. At least we made it to Canterlot. I paced around the small enclosure. Wait, was Peony locked up too? I mentally kicked myself for not thinking. I never spent much time here, but I was sure this was the MAS hub, and if she had the right clearance she could get us out of here.

I stopped to turn on my radio. I opened a channel to Tenpony, being rewarded with static. Right, stupid. Signal jammer. I sighed and sat on the bed. I turned off the radio and waited.

Several minutes later, I heard a voice outside the room. "I thought caged birds were supposed to sing, but i don't hear singing." Peony appeared outside the doorway.

"Never really been my thing," I replied, "Nice to see you too, by the way."

"Right." She peered into the room. "Cozy place you got there."

"Eeyup. Why don't you join me? There's room for one more."

She poked a hoof at the forcefield, causing it to shimmer, but otherwise having no effect. "Sorry, as much as I would love to, that doesn't seem to be a thing right now." She paused. "Deactivate forcefield. Authorization: Peony, Ministry of Arcane Sciences, Research Department."

"Authorization denied," spoke a mechanical voice.

She groaned. "Authorization: Angel Cheeks, Ministry of Arcane Sciences, Research Department."

"Authorization acknowledged. Deactivating forcefield." The field shimmered out of existence.

"Glad somepony has clout backed by a mouthful of molasses," I quipped, getting to my hooves.

"Does come in handy on occasion. So, now that your guardian angel has saved you from certain ennui, what is your next move?"

I thought for a moment. "You didn't happen to find out anything about a signal jammer did you?"

"Hey, I'm in the same boat you are. Well, except for the fact that being in the Ministry put up one less barrier, so to speak." she smirked.

"Ha ha." I said flatly, "Well, looks like the easy way is out, so we'll have to do this the fun way." I turned the radio back on, connecting to the Canterlot signal. "Right, just trace this to the source, take it out, and be back to Manehattan by lunchtime." I switched to the map. An icon of a small dot surrounded by circles radiating from it appeared. "Huh, Ministy of Image hub. Go figure," I mused. "Right. objective acquired. Onward." I trotted to the hallway outside. Glancing around, I didn't recognize anything. "So, restricted area then? Never been in this part of the hub."

She trotted out behind me. "Holding area. Anypony teleporting in during lockdown ends up here. Surprising a pegasus has never been here before." She turned, trotting down the hall. "Now, before doing anything else, we have some items to retrieve."

I looked at her, and back at myself, suddenly noticing the lighter feeling. "Took our stuff, did they? Have to have a word with them about that." I trotted beside her.

"Standard procedure," she stated, "Possessions are sent to security for inspection. Weapons are confiscated, but there shouldn't be a problem getting everything back."

"Better not be," I grumbled. My mane was in my eyes, having had my hairclip removed.

Security was at the end of the hall. A guard sat behind a desk in front of a bank of lockers. I ambled over to the guard. "Stuff please," I petitioned, blowing my mane out of my eyes dramatically.

"Name and intention," the guard droned.

"Fleur Daze, but you can call me Daisy and we'll be best friends forever." Peony facehoofed. "I am the plumber. I've come to fix the sink."

Peony took over. "We're here to fix the radio." She shot me a glare.

The guard looked us over. "And your name?"

She grumbled, "Angel Cheeks."

"Excuse me. Say again?"

She practically shouted, "It's Angel Cheeks! All right?" Somepony sure didn't appreciate her name. Well, come to think of it, I don't totally like mine either.

"One moment please." He turned to the lockers, opening one, removing the contents. He set Peony's bags in front of her. Opening another, he removed my bags and other accessories, setting them in front of me. "Anything else?"

"Not at the moment, no. But if anything is missing, I'll let you know for sure." I replied. he huffed back.

"Right. Let's not antagonize the nice security stallion."

I went through my bags, noting anything out of place. Everything was exactly how i put it in. Huh. Either pretty sneaky or they didn't bother looking. Whatever. I put on my bags. Brushing the side of my mane back, I replaced my clip, cap, and headphones.

I looked at the guard. "So, how about that picture, huh?" The guard, still at attention, appeared to flush slightly. Peony groaned.

"Okay. Time to go," she stated.

I waved to him before trotting to the exit. Peony finished inventorying her bags, putting them on, and following.

"So do we need to check in with somepony here, or just sneak out all quiet like?" I inquired.

"We've already been logged, I'm sure, so somepony knows we're here. Probably should announce ourselves anyway, so they know we aren't spies."

"So where is administration from here?" I pulled up the floor plan. "Oh look, communications is closer. And stairs... that way." I pointed down the hall, moving in that direction. Down a couple of flights, and a few halls later, we came to a door marked 'communications'. "Easy peasy, pudding in the breezy." I pushed the door open. "Hey guys, heard you had a radio problem."

The room was filled with radio equipment and terminal screens. Several ponies working the equipment turned to look at us.

"Yes? And you are?" one of them queried.

"Daisy the repair pony. Perhaps you've heard of me?"

"That rogue Stable-Tec employee, right? Who hasn't?" another asked.

"And why would you be here?"

"Duh. To fix the radio. Kind of hard to help somepony if you can't talk to them."

The first sighed. "Okay. so our signal is being overridden by…"

I held my PipBuck to the group. "Bam! Ministry of Image."

"How did you find the transmitter?"

I grinned. "First it helps to have something not using the same frequency."

The ponies mumbled to themselves for a moment, a couple facehoofing.

"So you're going to disable it, I assume?"

"Of course. Can't come all the way from Manehattan to do nothing, right?"

"Keep us posted on the status, then."

"Right. see you on the other side." I whirled toward the door, stepping out.

Peony, staring at me in shock, finally spoke, "Jumping straight in with all four hooves, huh?"

"That's how I roll," I retorted. "Right, then. To the objective."

We made our way to the ground level, coming to the entrance. There were quite a few refugees in here. Not nearly as many as the other hub, considering it was probably not a big deal with the shield and all. We trekked through the room to the doors guarded by several ponies.

"State your business," demanded one of them.

"Taking out an overriding signal transmitter. You probably heard about a lack of communication?"

"Good luck out there. As long as the shield holds, you'll be fine. Still, be careful."

The doors opened. We stepped out, the doors closing behind us.

I looked at the marker. "Okay, it's on the statue. You'd think somepony would notice a big antenna." I cantered down Ministry Walk to the MoI hub. Circling the statue, I didn't see anything obvious sticking out. I tapped it with a hoof. Nope. Solid. Perplexed, I sat contemplating where it could be.

Suddenly Peony lit up. "Got it." She levitated a device out from under the statue's mane.

"Oh, Rarity. How could you?" I scolded the statue. I looked at the device. It was nothing but a noise generator and transmitter. "The capitol foiled by a filly's science project." There was a button. I reached out to push it, getting beat by a pink glow. "B-b-but button," I stammered.

"Too slow," she taunted. "Well? See if it worked."

I grumbled, connecting the radio to 'MAS Hub Canterlot'. "Nighthawk to MAS Canterlot: Radio check."

"We read you, Nighthawk. Good job, and thanks a lot."

I grinned. "Any time. Though you probably have calls to make, right?"

"Affirmative."

"Let you get to that then. Nighthawk out." I switched to 'MAS Hub Manehattan'. "Nighthawk to MAS Manehattan: Radio check."

Spark's grainy voice came through, "Nighthawk? Is that you, Daisy?"

"Affirmative. Would have called sooner, but the reception here was terrible."

"Glad to hear you got there safely. Also that you managed to restore the line to Canterlot."

"Eeyup. All good here on all counts except the unauthorized rainstorm above."

"So, about that. how..." He was cut off by an extreme burst of static.

"Spark? Do you read?" Nothing. "Spark? Are you there?" Still nothing.

"Well, that couldn't have been anything good," Peony stated.

After several minutes, the line crackled and Spark's broken voice came through, "We've been hit... bomb inside city... side of tower damaged... radiation exposure…"

"Spark!" I cried into the radio. "There was a bomb?"

"Zebra balefire... radiation coming in... we're all dead... goodbye." with a crackle, his voice disappeared.

"No! nonono! Not Manehattan too!" I wailed. "Spanner. Spark. All those ponies. Dead!" I collapsed onto peony, hugging her close, sobbing into her shoulder. "They're taking everything," I whimpered. Peony wrapped her hooves around me, sobbing herself. We cried on each other's shoulder for quite a while, being interrupted by cries and anguished screams.

We looked up to see ponies racing from the direction of the castle. Looking closer, they were being pursued by a pink colored mist. As they were overtaken, they were fused with anything they contacted. Ponies melted into the ground as they tried to outrun the poisonous cloud, into doors as they tried to get inside, each other as they huddled, resigned to death.

"Okay. That's not good." I broke our embrace and scrambled to the door of the MoI hub. Trying the door and finding it locked, I quickly pulled up the door override. I waved my hoof all over the door, receiving no response. "Great. and no time to get back to MAS," I fumed.

The cloud had all but reached us, spreading through the city and up into the sky, carried by the breeze. "Well, the end," I moaned, embracing her one last time, "It's been real."

"It's not over yet," she declared, raising a shield around us, just as the cloud reached us. "I don't know how long this will last, but maybe we can still get to the MAS hub."

We raced along ministry walk, while I tried to stay inside her small protective bubble. Okay. almost there. Probably can't get in without letting the poison in. Got to be quick. I could feel the poison entering my skin. Well, so much for the shield. I'm dying anyway. My heart racing, and my lungs burning, I kept running. Okay. now I'm breathing it. I looked to Peony. She couldn't be doing much better. I began choking and gasping for breath. I stumbled on my hooves and tumbled out of the shield. "Sorry I didn't make it," I gasped. I was quickly losing consciousness. I tried focusing on anything, coming to the statue of Rarity across the way. The last thing I ever see. I always thought you were worst pony. My eyes fell closed for the last time, and I drifted away on a nice fluffy cloud...


~~~


I opened my eyes. Wait. I'm not dead? Then why can't I feel anything? Except the weight on my back. I lifted my head to look back, receiving a splitting pain from my neck up. Okay. Definitely not dead. I tried to stand, the weight keeping me down. Plan B. I rolled out from beneath it, pain surging through my everything. Ugh. Why am i not dead? Ignoring the pain, I turned to see what pinned me down.

"Peony!" I shouted, crawling toward her. I felt for a pulse, a heartbeat, breathing, anything. Suddenly I noticed I didn't feel those myself. Huh. That's weird. Crazy neurotoxin or something. Okay. Maybe this isn't real. Wake up time. I smacked my face with a hoof several times before deciding it didn't help.

Back to the problem at hoof. I nuzzled her chin. "Come on. You have to be okay. You had the shield." I put my cheek against hers. "Still warm. May be a chance..." Why does she have to be the one out of it? She has the medical training. I'm the kind of pony that would do CPR for a gunshot wound. "Please wake up," I whispered, giving her a kiss. I scooted over next to her, cuddling close. Okay, bad dream, time to go away. I closed my eyes.

I don't know how long we just lay there, I hadn't bothered to check the time. I felt stirring next to me, and opened my eyes. "Peony? You okay?" I asked hopefully.

She turned to look at me. "Ow! You get the number of that train?"

"Nope. Too busy dying."

She groaned. "Too bad you didn't."

"I know, right? Those fluffy clouds were awesome."

She tried to stand, collapsing in a heap.

"Uh, yeah. Going to be a while on that." I nuzzled her. "But we have time." That awful poison cloud seemed to be gone. Oh, and so was the shield, and the missiles.

"Ugh. What even is this? I'm pretty sure I remember dying."

"Well, we might be zombies now," I half joked. It could be true. "Give me your brain and we'll see."

"Yeah, that would be easier than trying to find yours." Okay. Despite a few things, everything is still normal.

I sighed. "So do you think there is anypony left, or are we the only ones left in Equestria?"

"Why? You don't want to kiss me if there is somepony else?" she smirked.

"Something like that. Though we're doomed if there aren't any foals left." I grinned back. She punched my shoulder. Okay. She's definitely better. "So what's next, then?"

"I really have no idea. Both Canterlot and Manehattan are gone, and I doubt Fillydelphia is intact either. Might be some smaller towns survived, at least until the radiation hits."

I turned on my broadcaster. Just static. I changed to another channel. The same static. One more. Still the same. "Something's wrong with my broadcaster. Not going to be able to contact anypony."

"We should head back to the MAS hub. They should have a working radio still."

"Right. Can you stand now? If not, I'll carry you," I said, getting to my hooves.

She attempted to stand again, wincing the entire time, still accomplishing it. "Feels like I was asleep for months." She took a wobbling step forward. I steadied her with a hoof.

We made the rest of the way to the hub, both actually not bad for being basically dead. Unlike the path of unlucky ponies who had become part of the background trying to get in. "This is too creepy. How did we make it when all these ponies didn't?"

"I don't know, but I don't like it at all," she voiced her disgust of the situation.

We arrived at the entrance to the building. The doors were open, the masses having spilled in after it was too late. There was static coming from the PA. The air was tinted pink. "Uhh, yeah. Pretty sure we can skip this," I asserted, "let's get out of this place."

"That's probably a good idea," she agreed, her horn lighting up to teleport, before sputtering out. "Great. Just great," she muttered, "Plan B. This is probably a worse idea, but flying out would probably be best."

"You don't have to ask twice. Hop aboard, matey. there's adventure to be had elsewhere." I crouched down. She rolled her eyes and climbed on my back.

"Are you sure you can fly? Have you seen your wings?"

"Why? What--" I had lost quite a few feathers, and seriously needed a preening, but everything seemed right as it could be. "Probably. We'll just have to see." I took off a short distance from the ground. "Okay, a little stiff. Should have done a warmup first." I landed again, proceeding to extend and retract my wings and flap them several times before taking off again. "Okay. Better."

"So, where to, Cap'n? There be any booty worth plunderin'?" she asked.

"Aye. Yer booty always be worth plunderin'." She smacked the back of my head. "Arr. Ye set yerself up fer that one."

"Right. Should we make port in Manehattan then?"

"Should be lots to plunder there, I reckon. Least what's not irradiated to Tartarus and back."

We flew on for hours, following the railroad tracks, discussing piratey things--like finding a ship to commandeer, then who to make walk the plank, and which ports to sack for the best booty. Somepony not me was the first to notice we had been flying too long without a break. "Aren't you even tired? How long have we been going?"

I looked at the clock on my PipBuck. "Well, a beginning point of reference would help for sure, but I would say five hours or so." I glanced at the sun on the horizon. "Wow. Less than half a day ago, we were doing awesome sciencey stuff, but now the world is over. Can't say i expected that one."

"Who does really? The end of the world just kind of sneaks up on you." She paused. "Don't change the subject like that. You've been flying too long. You should stop and rest."

"Nope. Not tired at all."

"At least stop to eat something?"

"Why? You hungry?"

"Actually, no, now that you mention it. Weird."

"Well, we're almost halfway to Manehattan, so might as well go for it, eh?"

"I suppose. But if you die, I'll kill you."

"Already died once. What could you do?"

She thought for a moment. "Not sure. I'll have to think of something."

"You do that." We continued on in silence.

We were a couple of hours outside Manehattan. I broke the silence. "So what do you suppose happened? Spark said there was a bomb and it was big enough to damage Tenpony. How would you sneak in a bomb that big? And balefire. What kind of radiation does that give off? Was that the pink stuff? Tell me we at least got them back." An exaggerated snore was the reply. "Oh come on. You're the bigger egghead. This can't be that boring."

"The only thing I can figure is there were zebra sympathizers in the city. No idea about the other stuff."

"And the Stable. Something happened there. Maybe they snuck something in there too. Those zebras have really ruffled my feathers."

"Well, that's not that hard to do." If I looked back, I'm sure she would have winked. More awkward silence.

Soon we came upon the hills outside the city. They were backlit by an ominous green aura, moreso because the sun had gone down already. "So we either got new lighting or that's a bad sign."

"At least it's not pink," she declared.

Approaching the city, we could clearly see the damage done in the light of the radiation. There was an enormous crater, and significant damage was done from the shock throughout the city. "Well at least they didn't set it off right in downtown, though there isn't much left anyway." And there was Tenpony Tower. Most of it still stood, but the near side had taken damage from the blast, and radiation was finding its way into the building. "Not liking the odds of finding somepony alive here." I shuddered.

The clicking on my PipBuck confirmed the fear. "This many rads, this far out, not good."

"Do you feel strange, like a warm glow, or something gross like that?" she asked.

"Yeah, actually. That is strange. According to other ponies, radiation is horrible and painful. Don't suppose being dead makes you immune to it, does it?"

"Ehh, maybe. But we still don't know if we're for sure dead."

"We can find out." I dropped my rear legs forward, causing her to cling to my neck to avoid sliding off.

"Well, you sure will be when we land."

I leveled back out. "Is that a threat or a promise?" I grinned back at her.

"Both," she growled.

"We'll see about that. Coming in for a landing now." I circled around the wrecked side of the tower. "That balefire sure is some nasty business." Nearing the entrance, ai touched down a short distance away. She hopped off my back. I turned on my Eyes Forward Sparkle. Wow. why didn't I think to use that in Canterlot? Error messages and health alerts flashed across my vision. I hadn't thought to check my health status either. I brought up the status section. 'Error: vitals not detected', 'Health: 100%'. Right. Figure that out later.

Okay. messages cleared. Checking for hostiles. A group of green smilie faces showed up in the distance. "Group of neutrals up ahead. Quite a surprise, really. Let's go say hi."

"Another great idea. Maybe it'll turn out better than the last one."

Ignoring her, I trotted to the hub entrance. I could make out the silhouettes of ponies in the green glow. "Hey friends, how goes it?" Dozens of glowing green eyes turned to me. "Oh, that's cool. I wish my eyes glowed." I trotted closer. Okay. those ponies are more corpses. That radiation really did a number on them. Most of their coats and manes were missing, and they were covered in severe burns. "Ouch. Gnarly stuff, that." Okay. Now that's interesting. Their marks on my EFS were flickering between purple smile and red frown. "Don't worry. I'm a friend." Some stayed purple, some turned back to green, some still flickered. "Confused bunch, huh? Totally know that feeling." I moved past them to the doors. "Closed. Don't suppose you can open those?"

She replied, "Honestly, I don't know. There's always been guards here." She turned to the group. "Any of you a guard?" They stared at her. "Right. Probably not." Moving to a panel by the door, she pushed the button. She spoke into it, "Hello? Anypony there?" No reply for several moments. "Hello?" she repeated.

I connected the radio to the MAS channel. "...group of us somehow survived the radiation from the bomb, but others have turned into zombies. We have set up a barricade at the rail entrance. If they attack, we don't have any defenses. We don't know how long we can hold out here... message repeats. If anypony is out there, please help us. A group of us somehow survived the radiation from the bomb, but others have..." I turned off the radio. "New objective get. We go." I grabbed her and took off toward the railway station.

Landing on the track near the station, I moved cautiously toward it. There were quite a few purple smiles. Good, no red frowns. "Hello? Anypony there? We got your message."

A gaunt orange head with a scraggly white mane poked over the barricade. "Daisy? Peony? We thought we lost you in Canterlot. After we were hit here, we heard what happened there. They said you were out fixing the radio. Then we lost them," she said dejectedly.

"We were out there when it hit. Also the MAS hub was open, so it's doubtful anyone survived. Though somehow we did. Sort of. There may be others."

"You should come inside," Spanner suggested, "Good concealment at least." Part of the barricade slid to the side. We went through, and it was pushed back into place. We were in the dimly lit entrance to the tower at the level of the Celestia Monorail Line. At least the backup lighting works. We were surrounded by more zombie ponies. So maybe none of us were technically zombies, just undead.

Spanner looked the two of us over. "Oh. I guess we're all in the same boat then."

"Yar," I replied, "'Ceptin' ye be green zombies and we be pink zombies."

"Actually, we prefer the term 'revenant'. A little distinction between classes."

"You come up with that one?" I booped her muzzle.

"As a collective, yes. We took a poll, and that was the popular choice."

"So, as a 'revenant', what does one actually do?"

"We're still trying to decide. Everypony has a different idea, so can't vote on it." She shrugged. "Amethyst is having a time of it."

"Amethyst? She made it too?"

"Well, so far. If we can't come to a decision, she might lose it."

"What about Spark?" I looked around for him.

She lowered her head. "He's gone."

"Sorry." I put a hoof around her. "Well, we're lucky any of us made it, right?"

"Yeah. I suppose."

I looked around, spotting the pink unicorn. "Amethyst! My favorite coordinator. How are things?"

"The usual. Trying to organize a committee out of ponies who can't make up their minds. Though I suppose none of us really have one anymore." She grimaced. "Everypony just wants to keep doing their job that probably doesn't exist anymore."

"Maybe we could just let them if it makes them happy. Not like you can really do anything else with the world ended and all," I suggested. "Hey, how about we go see what's left of the city. See if they want to go scavenging?"

She shrugged. "Even if they agree to that, then what?"

"You'll figure it out, miss organizer." I winked. "How about a party? Tell everypony it's a work holiday and they can go back to business tomorrow."

"You would suggest something like that, huh?"

"Yeah, especially since I missed my show last night. Speaking of, my gear is still downstairs."

"I wouldn't recommend going down there. The zombies have taken over the place."

"Hmm. Slight problem, then." I rubbed my chin with a hoof. "We could just take them out."

"Right. With what? We've all survived a megaton bomb."

"They can't possibly be indestructible, can they?" I thought a moment. "Did you try talking to them?"

"Talking to ponies eating the survivors was definitely the thing we were all thinking. How about you go talk to them, miss silver tongue?"

"Right. Off i go." I moved toward the entrance into the tower.

"You can't be serious." Peony had appeared in front of me, next to Spanner.

"We're already dead, so maybe they won't even notice us," I replied.

"Good. At least we're sending somepony without a brain to steal," she quipped, "Maybe you should find a better reason to risk your 'life', though."

"So, you coming with, then?" I inquired.

"I don't want to, but somepony has to look out for you when you have your 'good ideas'."

"Never go anywhere without your guardian 'Angel', right?"

She groaned. "Right. Whatever."

I turned to Spanner. "You coming too? Amethyst probably has this covered."

"If you insist on going, maybe we could try to bring the radio back, too."

"So that's a yes? Right. Onward." I trotted to the doors.

Peony rolled her eyes as the two fell in behind me. "So, the doors have power still?" I asked, bringing up the door override.

"Should be similar to the other MAS hubs. As far as I know, most of them should. Not sure about opening the exterior doors from the outside." Peony answered.

"And if not?" I ran my PipBuck along a panel by the door. The doors remained closed. "Okay, fun way then. There's a terminal just inside, isn't there? Too bad my broadcaster's shot." I opened the panel, extending a cable from my PipBuck, and plugging it into a socket. I switched to terminal access. "Okay. password..." I scrolled through the terminal memory. "'bycelestiadolfsbeard', huh? Cute. Looks promising." I logged into the terminal. "Got 'im. Right. 'open door'." I selected the option, the doors swinging open. "Tada." I beamed, turning around and taking a bow. I retracted the cable and stepped through the door. The others followed.

okay, a bit dark in here. at least the emergency lighting is working. I glanced around the foyer. "So elevators probably offline by now? Anypony see the stairs?" The only worse thing than a box of death is a poorly lit box of death.

"Over there." Spanner pointed a hoof to the far side of the room. I immediately headed that direction before either could suggest an alternative.

As we made our way down the stairs, the air gradually filled with a green glow. Suddenly I felt better than I had in, well, ever. Apparently it had some sort of healing effect. "Like a day at the spa, only better, right?" I quipped.

"Right. Funny what killed you healing you," Spanner mused, noting the effect.

"Makes sense if you think about it." I paused for a moment.  "Actually, not really. Might need an egghead's opinion on it." I looked at Peony, who looked back with a huff. "Okay, conjecture time later. So who's going first?"

Peony nudged me off the landing. "We got a volunteer right here." I tripped down several steps before my wings had a chance to work. I glided to the next landing, shooting a glare back up the steps. "Safer than the steps at least, from and egghead's opinion." She smirked. I flew down the next flights of stairs, leaving them behind.

"Probably best not to be separated," Spanner shouted down to me. I could barely see them through the mist and low light.

"Right. Waiting." I sat down on the steps. "Lost without me, then, huh?"

Peony replied, "More the other way around, miss 'distracted by shiny things'."

"Don't forget big red buttons."

They caught up, and we continued down. Reaching the main level, we came to the stairwell door. "Okay. Moment of truth," Spanner said, starting to pull the door open with her magic.

"Wait." I turned on my EFS. "Nothing yet. Clear for now."

She opened the door, and we went out into a corridor. The air here was less green. Only trace amounts remained near the ceiling. "Huh. Looks like the ventilation system is pumping it straight through. Would have been nice to still have the missing side of the tower. The internal systems aren't filtered."

I yawned. Huh. kind of hard to do when you can't get tired.

"Sorry to bore you there. You prefer I talk about magic, then?"

I groaned. "No. I don't even want to think about how that stuff works. Besides we're too far down to hurl myself off the roof."

"Says the pony that tinkers with magic on that little contraption she's got there." She pointed at my PipBuck, before staring at it a moment. "When did they start implanting those?" she queried. We all stopped.

I looked down at my foreleg. There was more light here and I hadn't really bothered to look closely before anyway. "Oh, that's just gnarly." My PipBuck had embedded itself in my leg. "Always wanted to be a cyborg anyway." I looked back, beginning to panic. Huh. Should be short of breath and heart should be racing now, but nothing. Weird. "Good thing i had my saddlebags on, too." I tried to slip a wing underneath the belt, not finding any gaps. I trotted to Peony, doing the same with hers. Same. "Well, shoot. Of all the permanent additions, at least we got something practical."

With an expression somewhere between anger and terror, Peony surrounded her bags with her levitation, wincing as they didn't budge. "On there good, is it?" I asked with a worried grin.

"Apparently. This day just keeps getting better." she grumbled.

"Hey, now you have built in pockets," I quipped. She shot me lasers with her eyes. "Okay. maybe some ponies don't appreciate that as much as others."

"I hate to ruin the moment, but we may be surrounded by hostiles. Might want to keep an eye out," Spanner stated.

"Right. Tally ho. On to supposed battle." I trotted back to the direction we were moving. Near the end of the corridor, green smilies began to appear in my vision. "Okay. Neutrals ahead, lots of them." We started toward the doorway at the other end. We came out into the main foyer. I started at the scene.

"Wow. That's definitely a thing..." I declared. Dozens of the zombie ponies lumbered around the room. The room was scattered with the remains of ponies who had survived long enough to be devoured by the zombies. I backed up. "Okay. Vote time. Should we perform a tactical retreat, then?" When I spoke, several zombies close to us began to stare. "Dude. That's creepy. They don't even blink." Wait. Now that I thought, I hadn't been either. Who really thinks about that, anyway? EFS marks still green. "Still neutral, though."

"Right. So either they can't see us or don't care." Peony surmised.

"Good enough." I trotted to a group just inside. "Hey, pones. What it is?" Blank stares. "I met your buddies outside. Really great ponies." More blank stares, including others who had come closer to investigate. "Right. Good talk." I trotted to the reception desk, grabbing my equipment and stuffing it into my bags.

I turned to the crowd that had followed me. "Hey, how about we all go over to Hoofbeats. Got a great show lined up. Guess it's not too late for last night's gig." No response. "Maybe later, then."

Moving around behind the desk, I activated the terminal. "Okay. Let's open this door then. It's a lot shorter trip than through the whole building." I tapped a few buttons, bringing up logs. "Ehh, boring. Amethyst is in charge of that anyway." Okay. Open door. there it is. I selected the option, the doors beginning to swing in. "Mind the opening doors," I shouted to the ponies at the entrance. Maybe they still have enough brain to dodge large opening doors.

As soon as the doors started to open, ponies were swarming out, apparently to get back to what they were doing before the incident.

"Well, that was easy," I muttered, turning to Spanner and Peony fiddling with the radio.

"Suppose we can turn the message off now," Spanner quipped, "You just sent the crowd out to anypony else who would hear it."

"We all make mistakes." I shrugged. "At least the door is open." I looked over the radio. "So, we taking this up to your little hidey hole, then?"

"I suppose so. Though we might find a more secure location, now that all your friends are back out in the city. Some may turn out to be hostile." The radio glowed orange as she picked it up.

"Ooh, recon. My favorite. Let's go." I headed for the door. "Both coming?"

"I'll take the radio up and join you guys after," Spanner said, disappearing in a sparkle of orange. Minutes later, the sparkle reappeared and she was back.

"Must be nice," I mumbled. "Right. We off then?" They both nodded. "Onward to the objective."

We headed to the door, toward the destroyed city crawling with zombies.

"Best idea ever." Peony stated as we exited the building.





Level Up! Level 3 Reached

New Perk: Fearless Leader

Though you charge recklessly into things, your charisma allows you to convince nearly anypony to follow your ‘good ideas’.