The Crystal Empire. A small kingdom, a large city, located in the Frozen North. The only ponies want to be there are feral ghouls, and everypony else is only there because they have no other choice.
Stable 27 is one of four Stables built in the Crystal Empire. Intended to last for eighty years, the Stable is now more than a hundred years past it's use by. The machines there weren't made to last forever. Two of its inhabitants are sent out to comb the ruins of a once mighty empire for a water processor, and in the process, discover a device that may just save all of Equestria.
There comes a time in everyponies life where they realise they have had something wrong their whole life. Sometimes it is something simple, such as mispronouncing a word or mistaking the meaning of a word for another. Not very major and easy to fix. But there are also those, like me, who have been brought up to believe something, and then find out that they have been living a lie. I suppose a bit of context may help. Many years ago, Equestria underwent a technological revolution. Equestrians started using electrical lights, fuel powered vehicles and so on. The only problem with this is that Equestria has very little in the way of natural resources, so Equestria developed the need to trade. They established their first and strongest trade routes with the homeland of the zebras, trading the quality gems so common in Equestria for coal, oil and other such fossil fuels. Then zebras started to complain they were getting the short side of the stick.
Equestria had become so used to a life of luxury that had been brought to them through the resources they got from the zebras that they couldn’t just drop trade, and those who were in charge thought that giving in would show weakness. They were so confident with themselves that the foolishly declared a war on the zebras, joking that it would only take week to pummel them into submission. But they were wrong. Soon Equestria was in the middle of war that it started.
It was too much for Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria. After a thousand years of peaceful rule, she wasn’t ready for a war and handed control of the country to her sister, Princess Luna. Luna then formed six ministries to help her run the country: the Ministry of Arcane Science (M.A.S), Ministry of Wartime Technology (M.W.T), Ministry of Morale (M.o.M), Ministry of Image (M.o.I), Ministry of Awesome (M.o.A) and the Ministry of Peace (M.o.P). In charge of these ministries she put six of Equestria’s biggest pre-war heroines: Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. And then there was the Office of Interministry Affairs (O.I.A), run by Goldenblood.
At first the ministries were focused on ending the war and protecting Equestria. Then Littlehorn happened. Zebra forces massacred the students and teachers of Luna’s personal school for talented unicorns. After that, they put everything into winning the war.
Some ponies knew that this would all end badly. One of these groups was Stable-tec, run by Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Stable-tec built giant underground nuclear shelters in the event of a nuclear apocalypse. That day came, and the only survivors were those who made it to the shelters. The Stables closed, only to open when it was safe for the occupants to exit, which was around eighty years after the war. There was, however, a darker side to Stable-tec. Every Stable was a social experiment, used to create the best society for future Equestria, and to prevent another nuclear war.
My Stable was Stable 27, located on the Equestria/Crystal empire border. Before entering, the occupants of my Stable had to undergo a massive memory modification that made them believe that the reason behind the Stable was a massive disease that had wiped out much of the planet. It was in fear of this illness still being out there that made the Overmare over-ride the Stable door when it was scheduled to open, closing the Stable indefinitely. The machines in the Stable weren’t meant to last much more than eighty or ninety years, and the wear and tear finally caught up with them. And that is where I come in. This is how my story starts…
“There’s aliments all around us, in everything we touch and see…”
I looked at the clock on the wall for what must have been at least the seventh time within the past five minutes. I still had ten minutes until knock off time, and time was passing slower than a snail going backwards. A dead snail at that. I started to fiddle with the display on my PipBuck, turning the usually green screen to a pleasant shade of blue. A sudden blast from the device knocked me backwards off my chair. I looked at the screen. I was just a reminder that I had some guy called Rid-Flee coming in for a blood test. I looked over to the door as he entered. “Make this quick. I ain’t got all day.” He growled at me. “Fine. Just take a seat.” I grabbed and empty needle and walked over to him. I reached over to roll the sleeve of his barding up a bit, only to find my hoof smashed out of the way. “What the fuck! That freaking hurt!” I yelled at him. “I don’t like Pegasi touching me.” He reasoned. “I’m the only freaking pegasus to be born in this Stable! You’ve never been touched by a pegasus before.” I shouted back. It had always been this way. Many decades ago, a plague had struck the planet, wiping out almost all life. Equestria was the last country infected, so hundreds of clinical Stables had been built to protect the citizens. However, when the disease started to get serious, the majority of Pegasi and gryphons had abandoned the world and flew away to live in the clouds, away for the disease. Many see that as the Pegasi betraying the nation and it seemed as though I got all the blame.
I stuck the needle into Rid-Flee’s arm, withdrawing some blood. I then proceeded to remove the needle in the most painful way I could. “AHH!” Yelped Flee. “Sorry,” I said sarcastically, “I couldn’t focus because, you know, my hoof hurts.”
He left the room glaring at me. I capped the needle and placed it in my delivery tray. Some mail pony would deliver it to the labs later. I returned to my chair and slumped back down into it. I hated my job. I hated my life. I hated Stable 27. I hated being a Pegasus, and being blamed for all the death that had occurred during the days of the disease. If I had one chance to change my life, I would take it. I grabbed a blunt pencil off my desk with my mouth. I them proceeded to sharpen it with my wings. One neat trick I had learnt from my years in the Stable was how to turn the feather on my wings into blades as sharp as any scalpel. Very handy for surgery and warding off bullies. Once I had sharpened the pencil to a nice point, I grabbed some spare paper from a pile on my desk and started to draw. I sucked at drawing, but it was a great way to past the time.
An alarm sounded on my clock, signalling the end of another days work. I heaved myself off the chair and strolled to the door. I wandered through the twists and turns of the Stable until I ended up in the cafeteria. I pulled some food chips out of my barding and swapped them for an apple and some coffee. I walked over to a table on the side of the room, far away from the rest of the tables. I sat down and started drinking my coffee. The warm liquid slid down my throat, warming me from the inside.
“Yo, Octavius!” I heard a voice call, turning at the sound of my name. A lone blue unicorn stallion walked up and joined me at the table. “Hey Bluebuck. Anything new happening in PipBuck repair?” I asked. Bluebuck was Stable 27’s leading, and only, PipBuck technician. PipBucks were basically mini super-computers attached to the front leg of anypony in the Stables. It could do all kinds of things, from being able to detect and locate ponies that wanted to harm you via something called E.F.S. (Eyes Forward Sparkle), to being able to label and evaluate the value of anything the wearer had on them. All useless in the Stables. All I used mine for was reminders for appointments.
Bluebuck was one of the ponies in Stable 27 that didn’t wish I would die. We had grown up together, as our parents were close friends. He had taught me how PipBucks work; I’d taught him how to make simple healing potions out of everyday ingredients. When we weren’t working, we would often hang out in the cafeteria, or down in the Stables maintenance tunnels.
“Nothing ever happens in PipBuck maintenance. These things are built to last. You feed one through furnace and it would still come out in one piece. It’s a miracle I ever get work down there.” He explained as he pulled a small flask out of his barding and took a long sip from it. “What’s the poison today?” I asked as he handed me the bottle. “You’ll love this one, some home-made vodka. Nice and fresh from those potatoes we found the other week.” “They were half rotten! Is it safe?” “That stuff I had last week, it was made from some stuff I found in the bins behind the kitchen.” “You lying bastard! You told me it was made from fresh stuff you snagged from the kitchen!” “Well, it still tasted pretty good, didn’t it?”
He had me there. Even though I was a doctor, and knew the negative side effects of drinking, nothing beat a good swig of an aged alcohol. I raised the flask to my mouth, pouring some of the clear fluid in. I smiled as the vodka crept down my throat, enjoying the warmth now spreading to my body. “Hey, Octavius,” Bluebuck started, “I was messing around with some of the files on my PipBuck and look what I came across. This program, when plugged into any terminal, allows me to easily overwrite virtually all forms of encryption and security. I can hack everyponies PipBucks and break into almost everyponies rooms with this program. Give me your PipBuck and I’ll give you a copy.” I held my hoof out to him, and he plugged a cord into my PipBuck, connecting it to his own. A few seconds later, a small beep sounded the end of the download, and he unplugged me and put the wire back in his pocket. I brought up the data screen and checked the download, which he had named ‘Blue’s Skeleton Key’. He had never been known for his originality. He passed me a cord, similar to the one he had just put away. “You’ll need this to connect to the computer.” He said as I tucked it away in my barding.
I looked to the side as another stallion sat next to me. “Handy’s throwin’ another one of ‘em poker nights. Ya’ll both invited.” He said in a thick Texhorse accent. He grabbed out a small rag and tried to rub some black grease of his dusty brown hooves. “Well,” Bluebuck stated, “We’ll be there. Anything new in maintenance, Oilcan?” “Well, we’re startin’ to have some real problems with them water processors. If the Overmare won’t let us tear apart some of the more useless machines, there’s a small chance it’ll blow.” “Why won’t she let you pull them apart?” I asked. When I was younger, before I got my cutie mark, Bluebuck and I had all sorts of adventures down there. It still amazed me how big the machines were that were needed to operate the Stable.
“Some of the machines down there don’t even work anymore. There’s machines down there that produce guns, or would if we had supplies. We don’t need ‘em, but the Overmare keep bitchin’ about how they may be useful one day.” “Why don’t you just pull them apart and not tell her?” I asked. “She gets some of her guards to make sure we don’ touch her precious scrape heaps. If we pull even one component off another machine, she gets cranky.”
Oilcan looked up and attempted to wipe some oil off his horn. Unicorns often got jobs doing maintenance, as they were able to do multiple things at once with their magic, and could operate with extreme precision. Earth ponies often had jobs relating to the arts, or Stable politics. I was a medic because they needed more medics. Being a Pegasus sucked. Usually a pony got their job from what their cutie mark depicted. Oilcan had an oilcan on his flank; Bluebuck had a PipBuck, and me? My cutie mark was a treble clef in a blue heart on top of crossed syringes. I mean seriously, what the fuck is that supposed to even be? None of the leading cutie mark specialists knew, so the put me in medical due the syringes, and the lack of medical ponies. I also played music at some of the low key poker matches my friends would have, and had the ability to be able to pick up almost any instrument, and be able to play it within a few minutes.
Oilcan looked at his PipBuck, took a large swig of Blueback’s vodka, then stood up. “I’m sorry ta leave ya both here, but some of have ta work. I’ll be seeing ya both at the poker match.” With that, he turned around and walked off. I reached over and grabbed the vodka, taking one last swing myself, before standing up. “I’d better go and check my paper work. Had another pain come through today. Hit me because I am a Pegasus. I’m gonna file a complaint.” “Well then, see you at the poker match.” I nodded, then turned and walked back to my office. After filing a complaint about Rid-Flee, I walked back to my unit to get some sleep in before poker.
)))))))(((((((
I walked through the twisting hall of the lower maintenance tunnels to the usual poker spot, a small nook that was hard to find if you didn’t already know where it was. I found the door, and entered. As soon as I passed through the door, however, I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t smell cigarette smoke or alcohol; I couldn’t hear laughter or cards. Instead I heard crying. I walked around the corner into the main room and saw the eight of the nine ponies I play poker with sitting around the table. One of them, an earth pony mare named Rosebud, was sobbing like she had lost a loved one. Bluebuck looked up at me when I walked in, a tired look on his face. “The water processor exploded earlier and killed Oilcan.” He said, giving a sympathetic look to Rosebud. It made sense now. Rosebud and Oilcan had been very close. Then it dawned upon me. “If the water processor’s broken, how will we get fresh water?” “That’s just it,” Bluebuck said, “We will only have fresh water for a few weeks. Then everypony will starve to death. The Overmare released a statement over the Stable radio saying that everypony is to vote for one pony to go out of the Stable to find a new one.” I turned the radio on my PipBuck on to hear the end of a broadcast.
“…nies are to return to their jobs tomorrow. At 3pm the result of the vote will be presented in the atrium.” The Overmare’s voice said, before some cheery music started to play. I turned the radio off. No pony was in the mood for that kind of music. I took my seat and slumped over the table. Bluebuck brought out his flask, and Hold’em brought out his cards. He dealt us all a hand and Bluebuck passed his flask around, before pulling another from his barding. I looked at the two cards in my hand. an eight of hearts and ten of clubs. I looked at the two cards on the table, a queen and two of spades. I folded, then took a long swig of the flask. And so our poker night went on, Bluebuck disappearing now and then to refill his flask.
)))))))(((((((
I woke up at midday the next day with a terrible hangover. I walked into my bathroom and pulled a tablet out of a container next to the sink. My own hangover pills. I took one, then ran to the toilet and vomited all over it. After a while my throbbing headache receded to a manageable twinge, and my stomach was no longer trying to crawl out my mouth. I took a shower and headed off to work, two hours late. I was lucky, as I didn’t have any appointments until 2pm.
I sat in my desk, looking up at my clock, but instead of wanting time to speed up, I wanted it to go backwards. I wanted to stop Oilcan from returning to maintenance. I wanted to stop the water processor from exploding, which would also save that one unfortunate soul from being sent out into the world from which the probably wouldn’t return. The hand moved and 3pm crept ever closer. 2pm came, and I was required to look away from the clock to give a young colt a vaccination. I then returned to staring at the wall. 2:15, 2:30, 2:45. Time crept forward until a bleep came from my PipBuck alerting me that it was 3pm. I got up from my desk and started to walk to the atrium. The atrium was packed. It wouldn’t be able to fit everypony, and ponies were starting to fill the hallways. I took to the air, hovering above the crowd so I could get a better view of what would happen. Ponies would occasionally glance up at me, some in awe, but most in anger. Here they were, crammed into the halls like garbage in a compactor, while I flew overhead.
As I flew into the atrium itself, the Overmare walked out onto the stage. She was a white unicorn, and had a blue mane, with pink highlights. She walked up to the microphone and looked across the assembly before her. “As you all know, there was an accident yesterday, which killed nine maintenance ponies: Spanner, Oilcan, Bang, Powerswitch, Bright Light, Engine, Dent, Hammer and Tongs. We mourn the loss of these ponies, but we have also now a much bigger problem. The explosion has destroyed the only water talisman in the Stable, without which, the Stable will soon run out of water. I am mostly to blame for this incident, as I was told by three of the ponies who died that they needed to scrape some of the unused machine in order to get parts for the water processor. I didn’t allow them, which I believe led to the explosion. I have called you here to tell you who it is who shall go out into the world to see if the can get their hooves on a new water talisman. They will supplied with some provisions and a gun, plus the coordinates for the nearest Stable-tec office, where I believe a functioning water talisman can be found. Yesterday, I asked everypony to vote for this pony should be. Not everypony voted, which I can understand. Now, without further ado, the pony selected to go on this mission is… Octavius.”
It took a couple of seconds for reality to sink in, as everypony in the atrium stared up at me. When I had processed what she said, I slowly sank down into the crowd, as if hiding from the sight of everypony would make them forget I existed, and that somepony else would be selected. All the ponies around me stepped away to the best of their abilities, squishing other ponies. I felt my wings grow tight as I looked to the stage. “Octavius, please, come up here.” The Overmare said, the crowd ahead of me parting, forming a path. I slowly walked down the road, looking at the ground while secretly trying to lift my wings. They would not budge from my sides, no matter how hard I tried. The muscles in them contracted, and I felt the air being slowly pressed out of my lungs. I walked up the stairs and stood next to the Overmare, the entire Stable watching me.
“So, Octavius, are you prepared to go out and serve your Stable?” The Overmare asked me. My jaw locked, so I just nodded instead. Suddenly, a mare called out from the back of the crowd. “How do we know he isn’t just going to flee into the clouds to live with the rest of the Pegasi?” The crowd parted and a young, white unicorn mare stepped forth. Her name was Click, the Stables resident locksmith. Ever since I had been a young colt, she had constantly bullied me for my Pegasus heritage. Her family was one of the most loyal to the Stable. Why she wasn’t going on this quest, I didn’t know, but I did know that she would be a far better candidate. She could pick locks almost as easily as she picked fights, and despite her small build, she was a very powerful kicker. I knew from personal experience.
“Well,” the Overmare said coolly, “why don’t you go with him. He could probably use the help.” I could have laughed, If I could get my jaw to work. The Overmare was suggesting that Click and I should team up. Even if the life of everyponies in the Stable relied on it, which it sort of was, she would still say n… “Fine. I will.” She stated firmly. That fixed my jaw, which now dropped. Not only was I being kicked out of my home, my worst nemesis was volunteering to babysit me. At this rate, as soon as I exited the Stable, disease ridden zombies will probably attack, I will fall sick, then the world would blow up for good measure. My life could suck sometimes.
Click walked to the front of the atrium. “We all know the story of the Pegasi. They abandoned us to live a safe life in the clouds. They left Equestria to die. How do we know that this Pegasus before us won’t do the same?” She exclaimed to the crowd. She spat out the word Pegasus much like one would say spider, or sewerage. Some of the crowd cheered in agreement, but most just sighed and shook their heads. There was such a thing as being over patriotic, and Click often passed that line. She walked up the stairs and stood next to me. “I will go with him to make sure that he completes his quest.” “No, you really don’t need to.” I whispered, finally getting my jaw to work. “I will. I don’t trust you, or any of your kind.” She snapped back. “You realise that this means you will be stuck with me for the next few weeks.” “Yes, but I will do anything for the Stable.” I sighed and gave up. Click could be one of the most hopelessly stubborn ponies you could ever meet.
As the crowd started to dissipate, the Overmare took us to a small area behind the stage. “Octavius, Click, you have about three or four weeks to get this talisman and return to the Stable. I know you two have had your differences, but please try to work together. I don’t know what you will find out there. I will supply you with guns, ammo and data, but that is all I can do.” She turned and started walking, indicating us to follow her. We walked through the twisting passages of the Stable until we reached her office. She led us inside, and then closed the door. “In the terminal over there are some map locations where you may find a talisman. Please only download those, as that is my private terminal.”
I walked over and pulled the connection cable Bluebuck had given me, connecting my PipBuck to the terminal. I then did the most logical thing and overrode every security and encryption and downloaded the entire contents of it into my PipBuck. It only took up an iota of the PipBuck’s near endless memory. Seeing that I had finished with the terminal, the Overmare led us out of her office and into the Stable armoury.
I had never seen an actual gun before, and yet here they were lining the wall like a weird 3D wallpaper. “Select two guns each while I go and get some supplies.” The Overmare said as she left the room. I walked through the rows of guns with no idea of how what each one did. Some were long, others short. Over at one side of the room there where some ammo crates holding so many different types of ammo that there must have been a different type for each gun in the room. I picked up a small pistol, feeling the grip in my mouth. It was comfortable enough, and the gun didn’t look too special, so I slipped it into my barding. I then looked around until I found a nice looking gun, with a wider barrel. Now I had my two guns, I returned to the door, where Click had already returned with her pair. The Overmare returned and gave our guns a look. “Octavius, I see you have chosen a simple laser pistol Grenade launcher. Click, you have 10mm pistol and a laser rifle. If you go over to those ammo boxes, I’ll show you the ammo your guns require.”
We followed her to said ammo boxes and the Overmare began shuffling through the pile of ammo, throwing us an assorted collection of magazines, grenades and small metal boxes. “Those magazines are for the 10mm and those Microfusion Cells, or MC’s are for the laser rifle.” She said, pushing two piles of ammo to Click, before turning to me. “Grenades for grenade launcher, Energy Cells, or ECs for the laser pistol.” She said, pushing the remaining piles of ammo to me. “Now, if you could follow me to the kitchen, we shall get your final supplies, and then you shall say your last goodbyes.”
The kitchen staff had supplied us with an assortment of cakes, biscuits, apples and carrots as well as a full canteen of water each and the medical staff supplied us with a decent amount of Med-X and Stimpacks. After that we split up to say goodbye to our friends and family. I wandered the halls until I found my parents unit. Upon opening the door, I was surprised to all my friends had arrived and were packed into the small apartment. As I entered, I found myself in the middle of a big group hug.
“I don’t suppose you can talk the Overmare into letting you stay?” Bluebuck asked me as he let go. “No. She has already geared us both up as much as she possibly could.” I said, as my mum burst out crying. I walked over and hugged her, allowing my eyes to tear up. No pony would think I was weak for crying. I was about to leave my entire life behind. Slowly, everypony in the room started to break, until we were all sobbing, crying, weeping and wailing. I pulled myself back together as I looked at my PipBuck’s clock. I pulled myself away from the group and went to my old room for one last look around. I had been brought up in that room until I was old enough to move out. I looked over the objects in the room, seeing if any would be useful. There was nothing much, just a necklace that Bluebuck and I had made from a shard of blue crystal we found down in the maintenance tunnels. I put it on, before having one last sweep of the room. After my small nostalgia rush, I walked back out into the main room of the apartment to see all my friends and my parents lined up hiding something behind their backs.
“We thought we would all give you something before you left.” My dad told me as he presented me with some sort of crown with a black rock of some sort in the front. My mum gave me a goldish-white orb. My dad had told me what they both were when I had been younger, a memory orb and a recollector. My friends from poker gave me assorted gifts including two packs of card, some food, some pre-war money, a few bottles of Sunrise Sarsaparilla and a bottle of hoof sanitiser. Then Bluebuck gave me two flank flasks, filled with his finest vodka.
“You absolutely sure there’s no way we can get you to stay?” He asked as he handed me the metal bottles. My answer was cut off as a security guard came into the room. He nodded at me and I knew then that my time in the Stable was up. It was time to go.
))))))))(((((((
Click and I looked at the bulky door that blocked the entrance to the Stable as the Overmare typed something on the small terminal off the right. I looked back over my shoulder at my parents and friends, and everypony else that had come to see us leave. With a flourish, the Overmare finished typing on the terminal, and large jets of steam hissed from around the door as it slowly pulled back into the stable, then rolled open. Ahead of us was a dark cave of sorts. I stepped forward, up to the door with Click following closely behind. Taking a deep breath, I became the first pony to step outside of Vault 27 in about 200 years.
The door to the Stable finished locking itself back into position as I turned on my PipBuck light. The device released a soft glow, not enough to pierce the blanket of black, but enough to illuminate a small circle around me. If not for that, I would have tripped over all the skeletons in the cave. There were piles of bones slowly rotting away and the occasional sign, covered in scrawled profanities aimed at those fortunate enough to make it to a Stable. I crept past the bones, careful not to touch them. I looked behind me for Click, but she was nowhere to be seen. “Click? Where are you?” I called into the shadow. “Octavius! How do you turn the that light thing on? I’m stuck in something!” Came her panicked reply. “Just press and hold the button on the side.” I replied, slowly making my way to where her voice was coming from. In the darkness, I saw dim light suddenly appear and made way towards it.
As I approached the light, I could hear Click’s fast, shallow breaths. I lifted my hoof to get a better view of what she was caught in, then dropped my hoof with a gasp. Some of the bodies in the cave were fresher than others, and Click had tripped over one such body and landed in the half rotten stomach of another. Being the reasonable pony I was, I leant to the side and vomited as hard as I could.
Once my stomach had kind of settled, I reached down and helped Click back up, her barding stained red from the blood, with patches here and there from liquefied organs, and her own vomit. Then we set off to find the exit together. We walked slowly uphill, and the air got colder with every step. We walked up that slope for what felt like hours, until we saw a small makeshift door, and a harsh white light leaking through the gaps. We stumbled up to the door, only to discover it was locked. I knew it was possible to pick locks, but had never invested any time into it, so I had no idea what to do and was ready to quit when Click pulled out a screwdriver and one of the bobby pins out of her mane. She carefully unfolded the pin slightly before jamming both into the lock. Within seconds she pushed the door open and we stepped outside.
The bright sunlight temporarily blinded me, causing me to trip over a rock and land face first in something cold and soft. I lifted myself back to my hooves and looked around me at the landscape. A thick layer of snow coated the earth like a jacket, only with the opposite effect. The glare from the sun made it hard to see and hurt my eyes. I looked around me until I saw Click. She had fallen on her flank, seemingly frozen while looking up. My eyes followed hers and I saw one of the most wonderful sights I had ever seen. The wide open sky. “Isn’t it beautiful?” I asked her, breathlessly. “Please tell me you are joking. It is literally scaring the shit out of me right now.” She replied, not looking away. “I’m sure you don’t mean literally.” I said in a half-assed attempted to reassure her. “No, I actually do. I just wet myself.”
)))))))(((((((
It took a lot of convincing, and all of my strength, to get Click to move. Once she was certain she wouldn’t fall into the sky, we started to set out to find some shelter. Click trudged through the thick snow for ages while I effortlessly flew around in the sky, no longer restricted by a roof. I had never felt truly free in the Stable, but it wasn’t until I first took off into the open air that I realised how restrictive it was. Out here, the world looked to go on forever, as cliché as that saying was.
I was brought back to earth when Click shouted up at me, causing me to lose track of where I was going and to hit a lamp post that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. “Octopus, there’s some intact buildings here.” She said with a slight snicker as I rose, rubbing my sore head. I looked around the small town in front of me, no more than some rickety looking shells of buildings and some smashed up cars. “Two hundred years didn’t do this place any good.” She stated, looking at the mess in front of us. “You know, these cars look burnt. So do these houses. Maybe the town’s citizen went rioting when they couldn’t get to the Stable?” “Possibly. Still, that’s a lot of damage, even for an angry mob.” I replied as I looked for a relatively sturdy building in which we could hunker down. The only building that still had all its walls (though no door or windows), was what appeared to be a small shopping complex.
A quick look on the E.F.S showed that there wasn’t any form of life in the building, so we entered carelessly. In doing so, the floor gave way beneath us and we wound up in the building’s basement. Down here there were a couple of beds, a fridge, a desk and a light. I walked over to the desk and opened one of the draws, finding a pair of polarised sunglasses and a small bag of bottle caps. I placed the bag of caps in my saddlebag and put the sunglasses on, deciding they might help with the glare of the snow. As soon as the glasses were settled on my face, a small notice flashed up from my PipBuck reading “Compatible Device Detected”. A small load bar appeared, then as quick as it appeared, it disappeared. Then I noticed all the red bars on my E.F.S.
“Click!” I whispered urgently to the sleeping unicorn, shaking her vigorously. She opened one sleepy eye and moaned. “Click, we’re surrounded!” “Don’t be an idiot. I can’t see any bars on my E.F.S except for the orange one. Is orange bad or good?” “Good. That would be me it’s picking up, and mine is picking up a whole lot of red.” “Don’t be stupid.” She responded. “There’s nothing there.”
As if on cue, bullet bit into the bed head, only missing Click by centimetres, flinging chips of wood up into my face. I quickly ducked under the bed, and was soon joined by Click. Her horn ignited in a dark blue glow the same colour as her mane as she pulled out her 10mm. “Where are the red marks?” She asked me, braving a quick peak from behind the bed. She duck back as a shot tore through the air, barely missing her. “There one that way, that way and that way.” I said, pointing in the corresponding directions. She quickly ran from behind the bed to the desk before running straight towards one of the red dots, shooting wildly. She then quickly turned to another red dot, repeating the same practice. Deciding I would help, I ran out from under the table and pulled out my laser pistol before a sharp pain in my leg made me tumble and fall flat on my face. The second red marker on SATS disappeared and Click ran towards the final one, before it disappeared as well. She walked back to me as I sat in a dazed heap, my foreleg hurting, and crippled limb warnings flashing in my vision. “What happened?” She asked me as she approached. “I just shot myself in the leg. And it fucking hurt!”
)))))))(((((((
One Stimpack later, and I was able to use my leg properly again, though it would still need some time to recover. Once Click had sat back down on the bed, she had muttered something about killing other ponies before lying down. The sun was starting to set, so I decided to look at the bodies, to see if they had anything useful on them. I managed to snag myself some more Stimpacks, some RadAway and a bottle of vodka, as well as some more bottle caps. Each body had a fair few on them, so I collected all of them. They must have some form of importance. One in particular caught my attention. It was an old Sunrise Sassperella cap with a blue star on it. Each of the ponies also had a gun, but all the guns where in such bad condition, that it was not wonder they missed all their shots. I did however pull a neat scope off one, which I attached to my pistol. Once I had finished scavenging around the bodies, I returned to Click, now asleep on the bed. I slumped down on the mattress next to her. Closing my eyes, I reviewed the day’s events. I had left my home, helped my worst enemy out of the remains of a half composed body, shot myself and scavenged dead bodies for useful items. Too much, too fast. I felt my eyes tear up. I had witnessed the deaths of two ponies before raiding their bodies as easily as if they were trees filled with fruit. I hadn’t really thought about what I was actually doing at the time. Tears rolled down my face as I tried to get to sleep, to escape from the guilt that now hit me. I didn’t kill them, so why did I feel like I was responsible for their deaths? Slowly, sleep overcame me, and I fell into the bliss darkness.
)))))))(((((((
I woke to find myself alone in the basement. After a quick freak out, I smelt something horrid drifting down the stairs, followed by a long string of profanities that may have ended with a lesbian threesome with the princesses. I followed Clicks voice upstairs to find her near a stove with a pan full of goddesses know what. I looked at the bench next to her to see an assortment of Nuka-cola bottles, Cram and some Sugar Apple Bombs. Not the usual breakfast for somepony from a Stable, and from the smell, anypony else either. “I cooked breakfast for us, but burnt myself on the oven.” She explained, easing my confused look. “That’s nice. Why are you cooking us breakfast?” “I aim to get back to the Stable alive. With the processor. You seem to know your way around a PipBuck, so I need you too. Otherwise I would take your gun and leave you.” That shut me up.
After a quick breakfast of Fancy Buck Cakes (Click had tried her meal and decided it wasn’t worth eating), we grabbed our stuff and headed out again. For a while we didn’t speak, but the silence was broken when Click brought up my gun skills. “How do you freaking shoot yourself?” “I have never used a gun before. I guess I just got a bit twitchy.” I replied lamely. “You are fucking retarded. I should just take your weapons and go.”
At that comment, I flapped my wings and started to fly off. “Where are you going?” Click yelled after me. “I’m leaving you. Screw the Stable!” I yelled back. I was finally free from that hole in the ground. No more rules, no more restrictions on flying. I could just find a high peak and live on that. I had read that Pegasi could also live on clouds, but I wasn’t too sure about those just yet. “Please come back!” Click cried out. “Why?” I yelled back, not even looking, but slowing down enough for her to catch up. Once she had caught up with me, she promptly shot me in the wing. My barding had been designed for a unicorn, and so my wings were uncovered and the shot went straight through. I fell from the sky like a bag of dead cats thrown out of the window of a tall building. I landed in a groaning heap on the ground.
“I’ll take your guns, ammo, food and water.” She said, pointing the gun between my eyes. I had learnt in my years in the Stable that being a hero was bad for your health, so I handed everything over to her, excluding my recollector, memory orb, Sunrise Sassperella, vodka, Stimpacks, RadAway and my growing collection of caps (I had snuck the caps off the Nuka-cola bottles Click tried cooking with into my bags) before she stood up and walked off. As I watched her walk away, I grabbed a Stimpack and injected into my wing, which dismissed the crippled limb warning on my PipBuck. As I wasn’t a hero, and wasn’t stupid, I didn’t follow her and instead went a different way. I was, after all, the only one with the location of the Stable-tec office on their PipBuck, and she was heading in the wrong direction.
I walked back to the super market and grabbed the guns from the dead bodies. They were similar enough models, and each still had an array of decent parts. So I set about pulling the guns to pieces and swapping out parts until the gun was working as well as it could. Thanks to Bluebuck, I knew how to disassemble and reassemble machines well enough. Maintenance, what would we do without them. I quickly grabbed whatever ammo I could from the bodies, before grabbing some of the still edible packs of food off the shelves, and raided the tills, finding some good solid bits like the ones that could be found in the Stables. Once I was satisfied with my loot, I set off in a roughly south-west direction according to my PipBuck, and didn’t stop walking until I reached the next city.
)))))))(((((((
Apart from a group of weird mutant Parasprites, and a hungry dog (I had finally figured out how a gun works), I reached the city walls of New New Newtown without much action. The cities walls were a hodgepodge of wooden planks, old signs and vehicles. The gate was guarded by two stallions not much older that I was. A quick check over proved I wasn’t a raider, and they let me into the city. New New Newton was the first town I had come across in my life, and I was impressed. The housed were made of a variety of old pre-war buildings, buses, train carts and shacks made of debris. Buildings were built on top of other buildings, all connected with and intricate cobweb of metal walkways, all crawling with ponies. As I stood there with my mouth open, a mare walked up to me.
“Pretty impressive, isn’t she?” She asked, standing next to me, looking over the town. “Eeyup.” I replied slowly. “She started as just some old buildings that were barely standing. Now everything is so reinforced, it’s probably stronger than the original structures were.” She turned to face me, so I turned to face her. “The name’s Rosewater. I own the local pub, The Thirsty Brahmin. Feel free to swing by and get a drink, or bed, anytime. We have a bit of everything, and some of our produce is even radiation free.” With that, the white mare with the pink and red mane left me standing there. Once my eyes had finished feasting on the view of the town, I realised how tired I was. I walked down the slope into the town centre where there was a signpost with signs pointing in every direction. I looked over the signs trying to find where The Thirsty Brahmin was, while also taking note of some of the other shops I might need to visit. There was an armoury, weaponry, a blacksmith, a silversmith, a wordsmith (??) and a general store. A sign also pointed to the church of the local cult. Finally I saw the building I was looking for.
The pub took up a whole two story building, the beds on the higher floor, and the actual pub on the ground floor. The pub was busy, empty enough to make moving around easy. I saw Rosewater behind the bar, so I strolled up and took a seat. “Oh, howdy again.” She said as she came to serve me. “What’ll it be? Whiskey? Vodka? Scotch? Or maybe an atomic cocktail, or Nuka-cola Victory?” “I’ll have a whiskey please.” She grabbed a cup in her mouth, than filled it up with a hose of sorts, before handing it to me. “Enjoy. It’s on the house. Anything else?” “Yeah, can I have room?” “Sure. That’ll be ten caps a night.” I reached into my bag to pull out some of the pre-war bits to give her, before I registered what she said. “Caps? What’s a cap?” “What is a cap? Do you live under a rock?” “Well, it’s more of a highly fortified hole in the ground, but sure.” “Caps are the main currency of the wasteland. Their just bottle caps.” Now I understood why the raiders had so many caps on them. I reached into my bag and pulled out an assortment of Nuka-cola and Sunrise Sassperella caps. “Your room is the first one on the left when you go upstairs.” She said as she gave me a key.
The room was small, but nice enough. The bed was soft, and that was all I really cared about. I dumped my saddle bag on the floor, shrugged of my barding, and then fell onto the bed. My wing was still sore from where Click had shot me, and would need time to heal properly before I could fly on it again. I flicked some of my purple mane out of my eyes as I lay on my back, and looked at my PipBuck. According to the item sorted, which had sorted everything in my inventory alphabetically, I still had a decent supply of Med-X and Stimpacks. I also still had the tube of RadAway. Why anypony would need to carry around Radiation sickness medicine confused me. Still, you never know when such a thing may be useful. In an extreme case, it could be used to help fix sun cancer. I checked my Stats and saw the small picture of a pony with a frowning face, with a crippled limb warning next to its wing, a small bar under the wing completely empty. Deciding to listen to some of the Overmare’s recordings, I pressed the button labelled data. A map appeared on the screen, showing my current location in New New Newton. I also noted small markers that showed the locations of Stable 27 and some Super Duper Mart. I opened up the folder with all the downloads and flicked through until I found one that was sent to the first Overmare of the Stable from Stable-tec. With nothing else to do, I selected it, and the recording started to play.
“Hello, my name is Scootaloo. I am one of the three founders of Stable-tec. You have been appointed as Overmare, or in the case of Stable 24, Overstallion, of a Stable-tec life preserving Stable. You have been chosen for your sense of loyalty and duty, so on so forth. These things are so boring and tedious. Your Stable has been selected for a social experiment, yarda, yarda, yarda. Ahh, here we go. Inside your Stable, you will find a set of instructions and stuff that will help you with running the stable. These are in the safe in your office. If you do not obey these instructions, you are putting the lives of everypony in your Stable at risk. So on, so forth. Can we just mass produce the first one of these? They’re all basically the same.”
The track cut off, leaving me with more questions. What were the instructions given to the Overmare of Stable 27? What was that about a social experiment? I scrolled through my data, but didn’t find anything that might have provided an answer. A wave of tiredness overcame me, and I shut my eyes. All the questions could wait until the mornings.
)))))))(((((((
I woke the next day when I rolled off my bed and onto the hard floor. After a two minute struggle to extract myself from the blankets, I slipped back into my barding and grabbed my saddle bags before heading back down into the pub. There was a different pony behind the bar now, a stallion with a rick brown coat, and a black mane. As I approached, he grabbed a menu and handed it to me. There were all sorts of meals available from Brahmin steak to Bloatsprite sandwiches. I found it odd that the was a radiation free option for each meal, at a rather inflated price. I ordered a toasted cheese sandwich with a cup of purified water for a small fee in caps. After I had finished my meal, I left the pub to explore New New Newton. Finding the signpost, I soon set off for the armoury. It was a small shack made out of two train carts on the third story of Newton that had been roughly wielded together. The stallion behind the desk introduced himself as Steel-plate, and claim that his good were the best you could find in the wastes. I left the armoury with a few less caps and a new suit of lightweight metal amour. I had also sold my Stable barding, as I wouldn’t be needing it anymore. Satisfied with my new armour, I decided it was time to hit the wastes again.
I headed in the general direction of the Stable-tec facility, deciding it was my best shot for answering my questions about the Stables Finding an intact working water processor would be an added bonus. I came across the occasional little shack or hamlet here and there, but decided against scavenging in most of them due to the red marks on my PipBuck. They were probably just radroaches, but better safe than sorry. Occasionally, if I got close to a shack, my PipBuck would bleep and tell me the name of the location. It was like this for most of the day, the only threats I encountered being bloatsprites and the occasional dog.
The sun was setting as I found a small shack with no signs of life inside. I opened the door and stepped inside, getting a noseful of the musty air. There were serious signs of decay on the walls, and the whole house swayed with the wind. There were some filing cabinets and a bed, but not much else. I opened the filing cabinets and found a stray 20 gauge shot, some caps and a bag of RadAway. I scooped all of them up into my bag before lying down on the bed. I pulled the crystal shard necklace out from under my barding and looked at it.
Bluebuck and I had annoyed some of the school bullies, and decided to hide from them down in the maintenance tunnels. Whilst we were down there, we stumbled across a small crook in the pipes, just big enough for us to fit through. There, we found a small nook filled with Mintals and Buck. While Bluebuck admire the large collection of drug, I spotted a small shard of blue amongst the boxes. It was the gem. As soon as I picked it up, I felt stronger. It was weird, but whenever I had that necklace on, I felt stronger and more powerful. But that wasn’t the only reason I kept it. When I picked up that shard, my cutie mark appeared. For my cutie mark party, Bluebuck and my dad had made a necklace for the shard, and I had worn almost every day until I move out. I thought I had lost it in the packing. Somehow, I had found it in my last minutes in the Stable, a small reminder of the life I had left behind.
As I lay on the bed, I gave the room a quick scam, trying to see if there were any lootable containers that I had missed. My eyes stopped on an unusual bulge in the wall. Getting off the bed, I walked over to the wall, then scraped off the outer layer of fading wallpaper. Underneath was a terminal, screen glowing like a bug zapper light, luring in its prey. I clicked a key on the keyboard, and the terminal asked me to type in a password. I brought the cable Bluebuck had given me out of my saddle bags and connected my PipBuck to the terminal. I then selected the program ‘Blue’s Skeleton Key’. A series of numbers flashed on the screen, then the terminal opened to its home page. There wasn’t a whole lot of links on the screen. Just some mail and link to open a safe. I downloaded the letter into my PipBuck before clicking on the safe unlock. The terminal folded away into the wall, revealing some energy cells for the energy pistol that Click had stolen from me, some pre-war bits and a shard of light blue crystal, almost identical to the one in my necklace. I placed everything from the safe and into my bag, then went back to the bed. For some reason, I felt luckier than before. Maybe it was the safe in the wall, or the uninhabited house, but I felt like my luck had greatly improved.
)))))))(((((((
My stomach woke me early the next day, so I walked into what I assumed was the kitchen, and started to root about for any food. In one of the cupboards, I found an unopened box of Sugar Apple Bombs, and some water that looked clean enough to drink. I even found a toilet. I ate the cereal as fast as I could, before gulping down a bottle of the water. Now that I had eaten and relieved my body of unneeded fluids, I started on my way again.
There was a light snow falling when I exited the house, though being a pegasus gave me a greatly increased resistance to the frost. I trudged through the bleak white landscape, feeding the occasion bloatsprites a lead sandwich. There was also the occasional dog, and some hideous creature that looked like a giant zombie mole. The trip was once again, uneventful, until I ran into another pony.
He was a tall and well-built earth pony stallion, with a dull golden mane, and a pale blue coat, both barely visible from under his thick insulated barding. His eyes covered in a strange pair of goggles. But the important thing was, he showed up as friendly on my Pipbuck. I gave him a small wave, and he walked over to meet me. “How’re you?” He asked, pulling down a scarf from over his mouth. “As swell as I could be in this frozen shithole.” I replied. My answer seemed to humour him, and he held out his hoof as he gave a little laugh. “The name’s Red Snow.” “Mine’s Octavius.” I took his hoof and gave it a small shake. “What brings you out here to the frozen north?” He asked me, pulling the scarf back over his mouth. “I’m just exploring. How about you?” “Not a whole lot. Just trying to find my way around. I come from a small town down in Equestria. Arbu, it’s called.” My next sentence was cut off as a gun shot hit the snow between us. I reached for my gun, quickly using my wings to hold it, while I aimed at the red dot on my PipBuck. Then, in a quick explosion, the dot was gone. I looked over at Red Snow, and saw his weapon of choice. A grenade launcher, much like the one I left the Stable with, but was robbed of. He started to walk towards the smoking crater in the snow, so I followed him. As we reached the crater, I saw bits and pieces of pony spread around in a large circle. I had never seen a pony in so many piece before, so I leaned over and threw up my breakfast. One my puking episode was over, I looked back at Red Snow, just in time to see him putting something in his bag. “Feel free to raid the rest of the corpse. I’ve got my share.” He said, patting his bag. That’s when I was hit by an idea.
“Do you want to team up?” I asked him. He looked at me curiously. “I gathered that you were a city pony from the Pipthing, but you must be really fresh out of the city to be so keen in teaming up. Rule one of the wasteland is trust nobody.” Red Snow gave me an evil grin, making me back away slowly. He then burst out laughing. “You seem decent enough though, so yes. I don’t have any plans for my life. I just wander. So maybe I will tag along, see what happens.” He gestured for me to start walking.
“So, what brings a cloud pony such as you out here?” Snow asked, sparing me a slight glance. “I’m not from a cloud. I’m from a Stable. My Stables water processor has broken down. I have been sent out to find a new one.” “Wait. Are you telling me there are functioning Stables still out there?” “Well, yeah. Aren’t you from a Stable?” “Not specifically. I am the great something descendant of a Stable pony. Most ponies out here are. But most Stables that were successful opened over a hundred years ago.” “Successful? What do you mean by that?” “Being fresh out of a Stable, I suppose it isn’t something you’re familiar with. Stable-tec used the Stables as social experiment, trying to produce The best society for the future, and to limit the chances of another war.” “Another war?” “Well, yeah. Had you never thought it may happen again? There are that many gangs and tribes at war out there in the wasteland, that a massive war doesn’t take that much to imagine. I have heard there are still a number of functioning war heads scattered around the wasteland.” Warheads? Like, giant bombs?” “What else would they be? Haven’t you been taught why the Stables were built in the first place?” “Yeah. To help preserve equinity from the killer virus that wiped out most of the life on the planet.” Red Snow gaped at me, before tripping over a rock. “You mean, you were taught that bunch of crap? And you believed it?” He asked, not bothering to get up. “Well, yeah. I was brought up being taught that that was the purpose of the Stables.” “Take a look around you, at the burnt buildings, the radioactive landscape, the ghouls and other mutated life, the lack of plant growth. Does that look like it was caused by a disease?”
I looked around the wasteland, and remembered what I had seen in Newton. And what I had heard. Back then, I had barely paid any notice to it, but now it hit me in the face like an angry girlfriend with a toaster. And it hurt. I fell to my flank and looked around. My entire life had been based of a lie. All that torment in the Stable for being a pegasus was lie. My reality cracked, and so I sat there, staring ahead.
After what felt like a couple of seconds, but was two hours according to my PipBuck, I finally finished processing the news that my life had been a lie. I turned to Red Snow, who was cooking something over a small fire. I noticed I was in a building I didn’t remember from before. “So, if the whole disease thing isn’t true, that means Pegasi didn’t betray Equestria.” I said slowly, trying to make sense of the whole nuclear war idea. “Ahh, finally back to the world of the living. As for your question, no. In many ponies’ eyes, the Pegasi did betray the nation. They flew up into the sky and sealed it up. Only a few Pegasi ever come back down the wasteland. They’re called dashites. I presumed you were a dashite at first. They haven’t a clue about what is happening down here on the surface.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a bloody hunk of meat, throwing it onto a rack in the fire next to another. “What is that? I asked, curiously. “Just some, um, radroach meat. I think. It could be mole rat. You probably wouldn’t like it.” “Can I have a try of it? I might like it.” “NO! Um, trust me, you won’t.” “If there aren’t any plants out here, then I’m gonna need to try some other foods. Can I just have a little bit?” “Okay, I was hoping to avoid this, but there is a little something you need to know about me. Like you say, to survive, you need to expand your diet. I come from a town of ponies who have developed a particular liking for one type of meat, rarely touched by other ponies, but in mass supply in the wastes.” I didn’t like where this was going, but pressed him for more details anyway. “Well?” “Where I come from, we eat ponies.”
So, my new friend ate other ponies. I sat there watching him eat what I assumed was the pony we had killed earlier that day. My guts churned, but I had already vomited my breakfast up. Sugar Apple Bombs only taste good when they are going down into the stomach, not coming back up. As much as I had disagreed with the idea, he had explained his lifestyle choice in such a way that it was hard to fault him.
Arbu was a small town in Equestria, mainly comprised of two donut shops. Nearby was a radigator farm that the citizens used for trade. Meat was not all that popular, and so in order to get enough money to afford armour and weapons to protect the town, the ponies living there would need to sell all they caught. This was fine as there was a lot of food there, as well as supplies to make more food. However, over the years, Arbu ate away the supplies, and its citizens were starting to starve. It was in a most desperate period of time when they started to eat the bodies of the dead, and only the dead. They also wouldn’t kill a pony just to eat him or her. And so it was, Arbu became a cannibal town. Once a citizen had made their first kill, be it radigator, mole rat or even pony, they would eat its heart and gain their Arbu mark. The Arbu mark symbolised that pony’s ability to fend for himself or herself. Once a pony got their Arbu mark, they were allowed to leave Arbu.
Red Snow had helped defend the town from a group of slavers when he made his first kill. He had remained in Arbu for a few years after that before deciding to wander the wasteland. He had wandered ever since. Not belonging anywhere, never staying anywhere. A monster amongst the males, a fiend amongst the female. Or so he described it. He had been brought up on the taste of meat and found he dislike the taste of most foods other ponies ate, hence the reason he continued to eat it.
Most ponies found it reasonable to kill cannibals on sight, and many even promoted the practise. Arbu had become one of the most friendliest towns in the Equestrian wasteland in order to make other ponies less suspicious. So far, so good.
And so there I sat, watching him eat cooked hunks of meat. I barely blinked, and found that, as disgusting as it was, I couldn’t look away. He sat there, eating it like a drug addict sniffed coke. Which is to say, absolutely no grace at all. Once he had finished eating the remains of a fellow equine, he looked up at me with a small smile.
“You’re taking it better than most.” “How do most take it?” “Like somepony trying to rape them, By shooting the offender multiple times.” Normally, such a comment would make me laugh, but all I could do was stare ahead and nod. “If you would still like to try some, feel free.” I shook my head slowly, but it was too late. I was already picturing the taste and texture of the meat in my mouth and it was enough to make me retch again, emptying my body of a bit more of my dwindling supply of bile. I managed to lift a bottle of water out of my bag in order to wash the feral taste out of my mouth. That made me a bit more responsive to life, and I was finally able to move again. I looked around the room I was in, and found myself wondering how I got here, so I asked Red Snow.
“One advantage of such a high protein diet is that the ponies of Arbu are usually stronger than most ponies. I carried you here.” “How far did you have to carry me?” “Only a kilometre or two. Not all that far. Besides, you are lighter than a pony of your size should be.” “Pegasus composition. My bones are filled with air, making me extremely light. Makes flying easier.” I found some stairs leading to another floor (Surprise surprise). Fleeing like some time alone would do me good, I walked up said stairs onto the second floor. Being around Red Snow seemed to bring to many life changing situations upon me, and I could only handle so much.
I soon found an old bedroom, rather run down and thoroughly scavenged. There was a bed in the centre of the room, so I took refuge on that, and started to mess around with my PipBuck. I looked in the data section and opened up the radio. It had only every picked up the Stable broadcasts, but the Stable was far behind me now. The wasteland was massive, so I was surprised when I found four different radio signals. I scanned the names and tuned into one named ‘Crystal Clear Radio’.
“…owdy wastelanders. It’s me, Mr Noise bring you the news of the wasteland up here in the cold crystal north. Rumours say a unicorn mare form a stable is going around looking for a water processor. That’s right, there’s a functioning Stable out there, and they need help. As for the mare, I would caller her The Stable Dweller, but that names been taken. Instead I’ve heard she’s bein’ called the Wasteland Wanderer, and she’s been wandering ‘round taking out a whole flock of feral ghouls near Parks. In other news, the feral ghouls of Old New Newton have recently been rumoured to let ponies by safely in exchange for bottles of Nuka-cola. And I thought Super Mutants addicted to PTM’s was ridiculous.” “Anyway, that’s all for now young’un. Now for some music. Here’s an old classic for you, Butcher Pete. Mr Noise out.”
With that, a rather perky song about a serial killer came through my PipBuck. So I flick to another channel, which played a smooth jazzy tune. Another played what I thought was an old blues song. Then I tried the last radio station.
“This is DJ Pon3, and that was Sweetie Belle, singing about that one great truth of the wasteland: every pony has done something they regret. And now, my little ponies, it’s time for the news! Now you ponies remember when I told you ‘bout those two ponies who crawled themselves out of Stable Two? Well, I’ve been gettin’ reports that one of those little ponies took out the raider nest in the heart of Ponyville, and saved several pony captives -- including the beloved author of The Wasteland Survival Guide, Ditzy Doo! Hey kid, thanks! From all of us! And now the weather: cloudy everywhere, with a chance of rain, gunfire and bloody dismemberment...”
I didn’t really focus on the rest of the report. There were more ponies fresh out of the Stables in the Wasteland. But hadn’t Red Snow told me the Stables opened years ago? I flicked my radio off and thought back to the first broadcast. Click had been making quite a name for herself out here in the wasteland. Maybe I should just abandon my quest to find the processor. Then again, if I found it first, and returned to the Stable, I would be treated like a hero, and Click would be left to rot in the wastelands for shooting me. Besides, Click had headed off in the wrong direction when we had split up.
I soon returned to a state of boredom, so I lifted the shard of crystal I had found out of my bag. The shard was about the same size as the one on my necklace, and seemed to be the same colour. I lifted the necklace out of my barding and held it up next to the shard. As I held them near each other, I noticed a faint glow coming from both shards, and so I moved them together slowly. As I did so, the glow got brighter and brighter, until both pieces were touching. A bright flash made me wince, and as my gaze returned to the he crystals, I saw that they had fused. I gave the pieces a few quick tugs, but they didn’t budge. Then I noticed the feelings of luck and strength the individual crystals had given me grew stronger. While this raised more questions, I decided that I had had enough major events for the day and went to sleep.
)))))))(((((((
The first thing I checked when I woke up the next day was that all my limbs were in the right place, and none of my insides were out. The second thing I checked was that the two crystals were still cemented together. A few more quick tugs told me they weren’t separating any time soon. I had only been out of the Stable for a few days and I had already shot myself, found out everything I knew about the past was wrong, befriended a cannibal, been shot by an ally, discovered there were other functioning Stables in the world and learnt that wastelanders were really bad at naming things. So far I had discovered New New Newton, which meant there was both a Newton and a New Newton out there, as well as this Old New Newton. Unless Old New Newton was the original Newton. As a slight headache started to set in, so I stopped thinking and walked back downstairs to join Red Snow, who was eating a can of Cram.
As he had some more wasteland experience then me, I decided to ask him about the whole Newton thing.
“Well, you’ve got Newton, a small town in Equestria. A pony from there came up here and founded New Newton. Somepony thought that was a great idea, and named another town Old New Newton to make it look like they came up with the idea of a New Newton first. Now both towns are overrun with slavers and ghouls respectively. Then there’s New New Newton, which I presume you’ve been too. It was named that in homage to New Newton and Old New Newton. Then there’s New New New Newton, further north, named after New New Newton, and there’s Old New New New Newton, west of New New New Newton, named as a joke. I also think there is a New New New New Newton in the Badlands south of Equestria, and a New New New New New New Old New Newton somewhere in Griffin territory, which means there are a whole lot of Newtons I don’t know about.”
I nodded, now more confused than when I had asked him the question. I pulled out a box of Fancy Buck Snack Cakes, my appetite returning to me like a puppy attached to a boomerang, thrown straight up. The sugary taste of the cereal bombarded my tongue, making me thirsty, so I washed it all down with a bottle of purified water. Feeling refreshed, I was ready to set back out into the wastes. I was going to find the Stable-tec building and find this water processor. If I solved the mystery of the crystal shards, that would be pleasant too. Urgh! Why couldn’t life be as simple outside the Stable as it was inside!
“Are you ready to make a move?” I asked Red Snow, who was drinking some sludgy brown water out of a tap. “Yeah.” He said, wiping his mouth with a large hoof. “We are about one day off the reaching the Stable-tec factory. Once there, we’ll locate the water processor. Then return to the Stable. They’ll welcome us like heroes.” “So we have a plan. Let’s get going. I don’t like the feel of this place.”
We gathered our equipment, packed our saddlebags and then headed back out into the wastes. There was a light snow falling from the ever-present clouds above, and Red Snow had his scarf up over his mouth. One advantage to living in a frozen wasteland was that the meat he stored in his bags would be kept nice and cool. I don’t know how long I would have lasted if I could smell the rotting pony meat. His eyes were covered by his weird goggles that kept snow out and reduced the glare of the sun. He looked quite formidable in all his gear. As we trudged through the thick snow, I checked the condition of my wing. While the area that Click had shot was still quite tender, it had healed enough for me to take to the air once again. I drifted around above Red Snow, enjoying the feeling of freedom that only flying seemed to give me. I had my gun slung around my back, so as to provided minimal interference with the up and down motion of my wings.
From my vantage point in the sky, I could see the remains of another small settlement in the distance, and alerted Red Snow. I then flew ahead to scout it out. I kept a close eye on my PipBuck, seeing no red marks in the direction of the town. I slowed my flight speed as I grew closer to the town, in case there were any trigger happy ponies in the rubble. I looked at the rubble as closely as I could from my vantage point in the sky. Suddenly, a loud crack sounded out of the ruins, and I started to see red marks appearing left, right and centre. With another crack and a flash of light, I felt blinding pain in my recently healed wing, before finding myself falling straight for the ground. I smashed headfirst into a lamp post, and blackness overtook my senses. I hit the ground, and let unconsciousness over take me.
)))))))(((((((
I came too in a basement in a cage. I gave the room a quick survey, and saw three other cages just like mine, all with a pony residing inside. I flicked on the light for my PipBuck, and saw Red Snow in the cage next to me, stripped of his armour and weapons. I noticed then that I two was unprotected and unarmed. The light in my PipBuck didn’t quite reach far enough for me to see the other two ponies. I heard some hoofsteps on stairs above me. A quick look around confirmed that I was in a basement of sorts. A door opened, and a pony in some rag-tag armour made of what looked like street signs entered.
“Ahh, prisoner 003. You’re awake.” He said in a slippery voice that made me feel sick. And violated for some reason. “Who are you?” “I am Blackheart, champion slaver of the North! I have captured you, and plan to sell you. As of now, you belong to me.” “Shut the fuck up, dick.” Came a new voice from another cage. It sounded like a young mare, and in another cage, I saw a pony stir and sit up. “You’re so not the best slaver up here.” “And what would you know about slavers, filly?” He asked, his slippery voice underlined with frustration.” “I know that as far as slavers go, you know shit. I still have a screw driver in my tail, and bobby pins through my mane. I you really were the best, you would know that I could pick a lock with those.” “And can you?” He asked, frustration giving way to shock. “No.”
The bickering had woken Red Snow, and he slow rose to a sitting position. “You do realise that once I get out of here, I am going to cook you and eat you.” He threw into the conversation. I think I was the only one there who took him seriously. The slaver and the mare were still arguing about lock picking. Eventually, the pony in the fourth cage woke up.
“I know how to pick locks.” Said Click. My mouth dropped open as she spoke. I had never expected to see her again, and how here we both were, captured by the same group of slavers. Her comment seemed to have finally done it. Blackheart dropped the sicking voice all together as he turned to her. “Do you have what you need to pick a lock?” “No, it was all in my bags.”
I felt it was a fine time to put in a comment of my own. “If you are the best slaver in all of the North, why haven’t I ever heard of you before?” That seemed to make the slaver regret coming into the room and he made his exit fast. I took this opportunity to tell Click that I was here.
“When we get out of here Click, I am going to shoot you.” “Oh shit, Octopus. I thought you’d be dead by now for sure.” “Apologise for shooting me in the wing, and we’ll let bygones be bygones.” I knew if she wanted to, she could kill me faster than I could kill her. “Naa, I don’t regret it, either.” “You are a right dick. You know that, right.” I looked at my wing, once again showing up as crippled on my PipBuck. The slavers had wrapped it in some bandages, and from the numb throbbing, given me a hearty dose of Med-X. I suppose there isn’t much use in an injured slave. My ears pricked up as I heard more hoofsteps coming down the stairs. Another slaver in a slightly grander version of the street sign armour came into the room.
“Okay you bitches. I heard you’ve been slamming the newest member of the Blackhearts.” He said, his voice deep and gravely, just radiating danger. “Yeah, and what you gonna do about it?” Said Click, now sounding impatient. “Now I’m gonna teach you little fucks how we treat bad slaves. I’m gonna rape you two mares, and I’ll get some mares to rape the stallions. That usually sorts slaves out.” I gulped. I had never had sex before, and I didn’t want my virginity stolen from me without my consent. Right when I was trying to prepare my body for what was to come, Click came up with something I didn’t expect her to say.
“Oh, yes please. I need a good ploughing.”
She said it without the slightest hint of sarcasm, and I could tell she was being serious. So could the slaver.
“Wait, what? That’s not how disciplinary rape works! You aren’t supposed to want it. Why do you want to be raped?” “I have spent the past few days stuck in a post-apocalyptic hellhole, I have killed more ponies than I can count, I found out that I was taught a lie about how the world ended, I have shot the only link to my past, who has now found me and threatens revenge and to top it all off, I am held ‘captive’ by the most incompetent slavers in the wastes.” “Why did you say captive like that?” He asked, growing nervous as his threat backfired. “Because my pony friend here just gave me her screwdriver and bobby pins, and I am now free of my handcuff, and the door to my cage is unlocked.” The Slaver pulled a gun, but he was too late. A small green beam flashed from behind Click, blowing his head into oblivion. “And you forgot to check my tail for weapons.”
))))))))(((((((
Click worked away at my cage door. The lock was rather dodgy, and she was having trouble positioning her bobby pins just right. It had taken some smooth words from Red Snow to get her to release me. I had tried to pull the whole only I have the Stable-tec location on me PipBuck, but she had rebutted that she could just kill me and take my PipBuck. Red Snow. That had shut me up, and try as I might, I couldn’t argue with that logic. I don’t know what Red Snow had said to her to get her to release me, but there she was, opening the door.
“Just to check, was that all true, the whole ‘need a good ploughing’ thing?” I asked her. She had convinced me, but I still didn’t believe my ears. “Hell no. Even if I did, I wouldn’t let that creep do anything. And, before you ask, no, I would sooner sleep with a cactus than you.” “That wasn’t the point of the question.” I mumbled lamely.
We stopped bickering when we heard some more hoofsteps on the stairs. This time, there was more than one pony, and we only had two guns between the four of us. Red Snow picked up a long plank of wood from a broken shelf and held it in his mouth, getting ready to attack. The other mare did grabbed the fallen slavers gun. I hid in the corner. The door handle started to move, and the mare started to shoot rounds through the door. Although I couldn’t see what was happening on the other side of the door, I could hear the rounds punching through armour and flesh. The door opened, and three slavers ran in, stepping over the two dead bodies in front of the door. Click shot one with the laser pistol, and Red Snow plunged the plank of wood straight through the other two. I hid in the corner. When the room was once again empty of slavers, I quickly ran forward and grabbed the guns off the slavers. I tossed a mean looking pistol to Red Snow, and grabbed a service rifle for myself. I glanced at my E.F.S and saw ten or so red marks swarming around us. There were faint hoofsteps up above, but nopony seemed to be coming down the stairs. I used the peace to grab anything else off the bodies that might prove useful. There was some Med-X, a stimpack and small pile of caps between the six dead slavers.
“They’re waiting upstairs, about ten of them.” Said the mare. How she knew how many there was, I didn’t know, but what she said checked out with my E.F.S. Red Snow crept towards the stairs, the others falling into a single file line behind him, with me bringing up the rear. We reached a small landing in front of the door into the next room. Red Snow indicated for us to press up against the wall as he opened the door and started shooting. He would deliver a few shots before ducking back behind the door. After a couple of shots, the shooting died down and he slipped into the main room, quickly followed by the rest of the group where we found cover behind and upturned desk. There were only four more ponies left, according to my E.F.S, and the mare, soon found two of them and shot them. Red Snow ducked out from behind the desk, he scouted ahead, followed closely by Click. Two more slavers popped up from behind a couch. A quick exchange in fire left the two ponies dead, and my PipBuck clear of red marks, but we weren’t without our wounds.
Red Snow, tried to get up, but a bullet had ripped through his leg, rendering it almost completely useless. I quickly ducked out from the desk and ran to help him. I breathed in deeply, turning all my feathers into sharpened blades. I then plucked one out carefully and used it to scrap the bullet shrapnel out of his leg. I then grabbed the stimpack I had found on the slavers and jabbed it into the wound, administering the healing potion. I then grabbed the bandages off my wing and used them to secure the wound, tying it tightly to stop the bleeding. Once finished, I gave him a jab of Med-X.
He got up slowly, keeping as much weight off his leg as possible. “What about your wing?” He asked, looking at all the bandages. “The sniper was using a laser weapon. The heat of the weapon has seared the wound up. It hurts, but I don’t need anything save a stimpack and some Med-X. Both of which I could create if I needed too.” “A bit of an alchemist, hey?” The Mare asked. “I suppose so. I’m useless in a fight, but I can fix up almost any gun wound. I’ve seen much worse.” The mare held out her hoof, so I shook it. “My name is Orea.” She said. “I’m Octavius.” I replied. “Orea is a weird name. Where does it originate from?” “I come from an old Stable down in Equestria. The Stable was solely run by earth ponies, so we didn’t have the fancy unicorn magic. We made machines, and lots of them. Most of the ponies from that Stable are half machine themselves. My name is based on the word ore.” She held up her hoof, and I saw a PipBuck screen on it, but nothing else. Seeing my confusion, she gave a small laugh before explaining. “My PipBuck has been built into my leg. Killing me instantly disables the device. If a pony kills me, the chances are, the world would be better if they didn’t have a PipBuck.”
Click returned to use, with some gear off the dead raiders. She was also floating all our gear alongside her. Everypony grabbed their gear and slipped it back on. I pulled apart my old rifle, and the slavers service rifle, and replaced bits and pieces until I was left with one weapon in much better condition. I slung my new weapon on my back, as the rest of the group finished slipping into scarves and jumpers.
“So, now we just need to find the Stable-tec facility.” Click said as we walked outside. “Where is it, Octopus.” I pointed in the direction of the facility with my good wing, keeping my bad one tight against my body. I didn’t want anypony to start taking pot-shots at it again. Click started to walk off, followed by Orea, them myself and Red Snow.
)))))))(((((((
We had been walking for under an hour when the snow started to pick up. Ten minutes later, it had started to get really heavy. We had sought shelter in a cave inhabited by some bloatsprites, which Red Snow was now cooking over a small fire. I don’t know how he started them, as there wasn’t any kindling in the cave, and he didn’t have matches, but he seemed to be able to make them whenever he wanted to. Orea had started working on her weapon and was completely silent. Click was sleeping. And me? I was sitting there doing nothing, bored out of my skull. I had already fixed my weapon up as best as I could. I found a small rock and was now rolling it around under my hoof, making a circle on the ground. I threw the rock up and caught it a couple of times. I drew more circles. I held it up to my eyes and stared at it. I threw it at a wall. As it wasn’t bouncy, the rock hit the wall and fell to the ground. I was now without my rock. I glanced over at Red Snow, who was now taking the bloatsprite off the fire. He tossed me a piece. “Try it. It has a weird texture at first, but you’ll get used to it.”
I put the small chunk of radiated meat in my mouth and chewed. It wasn’t the best food I had ever eaten, but it wasn’t the worst either. It had a chewy consistency, most unlike the crunch of cereal or the juiciness of an apple. I swallowed it and found myself wanting more. I could see why Red Snow liked it. I wouldn’t be able to live off it alone, but if I had no choice I wouldn’t complain. Red Snow grinned at me and chucked me another slab. This time I ate it with a bit more gusto, enjoying the different taste and texture. The radiation counter on my PipBuck rose fractionally, but a small sip of RadAway would solve that problem if it got out of hand.
“Orea, would you like some bloatsprite.” Red Snow asked the silent pony. “Naa, I’m not a huge fan of meat. Besides, all I need is a new Electron Charge Pack, and my body runs itself. No need to sleep or eat.”
I found myself once again amazed at what the wasteland could throw at a pony. A little under a week ago, I had been a loner who drunk his nights away at a poker table. Now I had just found out that there are ponies that ran on electricity. Or something like that. I wasn’t sure how Electron Charge Packs, or ECP, worked. I had never really slowed down enough to appreciate how different the wastes were to the Stable. Down in the Stable, life followed a very routine pattern. Go to work, work, eat, go home, sleep, wake up, work. Never varying, except for on the occasional holidays that the Overmare would throw. I had never faced anything bigger than small gangs of bullies. Having wings, I could just fly away from them. But up here, a pony’s life was constantly in danger. There were monstrous animals out in the open, raiders and slavers in the ruins of towns, these feral ghoul things and probably much more that I hadn’t even heard of. My best friend was a cannibal, my worst enemy had saved my life, I had met a cyborg pony. I had even been captured by slaves. All in a matter of days. I hadn’t even really appreciated the true splendour for New New Newton. A town built out of the ruins of an old town. To salvage that much scrape must have taken years. And to put it all together would have taken decades. The walkways between the shops on the upper levels, the structural support needed to secure the buildings, the feeling of safety the place gave you. I realised that I had never felt as safe in the wasteland as I had there. But I was too swept up in other things to notice.
I also realised how lucky I was that I had met Red Snow. He had the know-how of the wasteland that I didn’t. He was experienced. He had also saved my life more than once. I was useless with a gun, but he had years of experience. Then there was Click. Good with guns and locks. She had been out of the Stable for the same period of time as I had, and already achieved so much more. She had made a name for herself taking out slavers. She had even been given a nickname. Orea I didn’t know much about, but she had proved to have survival knowledge. She also seemed to know her way around a weapon, as she was proving right now, pulling apart multiple guns to not only replace parts, but to add and modify her weapons. And then there was me. A musician and medic who was out of his zone. I wasn’t a fighter, and couldn’t even use a gun properly. I had shot myself the first time I tried to fight. I was a coward, as I had proven to myself in the last battle. I had hidden while the others fought. It felt like I was just a sentient bottle of hydra, or a stimpack. At least stimpacks didn’t need food, or medical attention and could be stored in a saddlebag. I was drowning in a tide of uselessness. Now I had time to sit down and think, I realised that my friends would probably do just as well without me. I couldn’t even fly at the moment.
I pulled out one of the flasks of vodka Bluebuck had given me and started to drink. I didn’t have a particularly high alcohol tolerance, and I knew that half of the flask would get me quiet drunk. The whole thing should knock me out for a good few hours. This in mind, I guzzled about three quarters of the bottle. My head felt lighter, and my mind felt brighter. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
)))))))(((((((
My body felt dead and my head felt like my brain was trying to rip it apart from the inside. I dug through my bags to see if I had packed any of my hangover pills, but none surfaced. I glanced outside the cave to see the snow still falling thick. Red Snow and Click were fast asleep near the back of the cave, and Orea was sitting near the exit, looking out into the blizzard. With nothing left to do, I went and sat next to her.
“Drinking is never a good idea when you’re not in a safe town.” She said, not even shifting her gaze. “I was having a mid-life crisis.” I replied, holding my head to try and keep my brain in place. “You don’t look that old.” “I’m not. But at this rate, I’m going to die before too long.” “With that attitude, probably.”
I didn’t know too much about this half robot mare, and decided now would be the time to get to know her. The others were sleeping and with the blizzard we wouldn’t be going anywhere soon. “So, Orea. What’s your story?” “What’s to tell? I came from a Stable, I wandered the wastes. I heard of a mysterious land up north and came to investigate. Here I am, in the cold frozen north.” “That’s a short story. Any other details?” “Not really.” “How did you come to get caught by slavers?” “I met Click in a town called Grassy Hill. My life had basically come to a stop in the town, so I jumped on the opportunity to get back out there. One thing I have found is that us Stable folk have a stronger sense of wrong and right. I felt bad sitting around doing nothing. So I started to go with her. We took out some slaver nests, fought feral ghouls, then one night found ourselves helping a small child before BAM, we get ambushed by some slavers. We would have won the fight, but they had sleeping darts with something powerful on them. We got knocked out, then woke up in that building. You know the rest of that story.” “You speak very little.” I observed. “I don’t really feel the need to talk to often. I can usually sum up a whole plan into a sentence. If I don’t need to talk, I won’t. I am in a bit of a chatty mood at the moment, however.” “I feel like you’re not telling me something.” I pried. “Well, if you must know. I find that I often say too much if I am not careful. Got me in heaps of trouble in the Stable. It wouldn’t have been much of a problem, but most ponies there interpreted the thing I said as ‘overly sexually oriented’ for my age. I didn’t even know how ponies had sex until I was well out of school. I was never the dirty minded one, it was everypony else.” I blinked slowly, a universal sign for not understanding. She took the hint.
“When I was a young filly, I always loved words. I knew so many. I had read the Stable dictionary so many time, just looking for words I could spring in everyday conversation. But as you know, many of these word have been given other meanings. My Stable seemed to like making up slang for sex and such. There are only so many combinations of vowels and consonants that work together, and so these slang terms were also often words with completely different meanings. If a pony asked you what you were having for lunch and you said sandwich, then instantly everypony assumed you were making some kind of sexual joke. I don’t even get half of the jokes they made. I was often falling into the trap of saying the wrong things, and ponies would laugh at me. So I just stopped talking when I didn’t need to and chose my words carefully when I did. That strategy hasn’t failed me yet.”
She looked over at me, eyebrow raised. “What’s your story?” “Me? Well, I come from a Stable where we were taught that a disease wiped out Equestria and…” “I already know all that. What’s your story? I grew up in a Stable filled with only earth ponies, but I know that even in a normal Stable, and pegasus isn’t an everyday occurrence.” “Well, I was born a Pegasi, and having been getting shit about it since. I was bullied as a child by most, including Click. Many ponies in the Stable grew up being taught that the Pegasi abandoned all ponies, and the end of the world is their fault. I don’t think the ponies at Stable-tec considered the idea that a pegasus might be born in the Stable. One day, the water processor broke, and I was voted to leave the Stable to find a new one. I had never felt so free. But now, I realise that I left of shithole for another.”
I looked out at the cloudy sky. The blizzard had slowed down and was now just a gentle snowfall. The snow had taken a dark shade of blue in the shreds of moonlight that made it through the clouds. It was three in the morning according to my PipBuck. When the sun rose and lit the wastes to the best of its ability, then we would continue to the Stable-tec facility. It was only a few kilometres from our cave. We would be able to get there and find the processor tomorrow, then make our way back to the Stable. We would be greeted as heroes.